I know an IRONMAN

It is a pretty cool thing to be able to say you know an IRONMAN. My cousin Logan (pictured here)completed another full Ironman this weekend. Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Although this was not his first, it is an amazing feat to me still. As I read his blog and others aspiring to be an Ironman, I am amazed and inspired.

10 years ago??? Logan moved away from Maine. At that point, Logan was not much of an athlete. Unless you consider beer drinking and having a blast with friends a sport.. Neither was I by any means either. I was usually drinking with him on the weekend.. I was smoking 2 packs a day and drinking several six packs a week. I then started getting e-mail from my cousin Logan. He was running in races. These were not normal races. He had to run or crawl through mud pits, climb walls or something weird like that. I thought the TX sun was getting to him for sure. It sounded like he was having fun though!!

Then I got an e-mail that he was doing a Triathlon!! I had no idea what triathlon was really about. I knew it was on TV once a year. It looked impossible.

To get a better understanding of what it was about, I volunteered at the Wildbear Sprint tri here in Maine. I was amazed that people of all shapes and sizes were competing. I decided then and there, this was something that I had to Tri...

I entered the Polar Bear the next year and have been competeting in Tri's since.. My wife got the bug too. We train and race together now. It is an amazing spot and has changed my life in so many ways. Thank you Logan!!

His blog can be followed here: http://coachlogan.blogspot.com/

Few pics from Pirate

Pirate Tri Race Recap

This was my first Sunday Race. Crystal's parents had taken the kids Saturday afternoon and they were spending the night. This worked out great. Crystal and I went into packet picket, stopped by Amatos for some spagetti and then hit the grocery store on the way home. We were able to leisurely get our gear ready without having to worry about who was going to give baths, who was going to change diapers, who was tucking who in.. It was nice.. This was my 6th tri in the past three years. My First was the Wild Bear with my sister Rhonda. As I went to bed that night and thought about the race, I realized this was the first time I truely felt confident in my training. I knew I was going to finish. I knew a lot of the competition was in NH for the weekend. My only concern was the funeral home.. I will explain in a bit...

The alarm went off at 5:30. I think we both were awake around 5:00 though. We were on the road by 6:30. Things were just going really smooth. Everything just felt right.

We arrived at Point Sebago around 7:15. There were no lines. We got right to the parking lot and unloaded. There were no porta potties. There were actual bathrooms. This was a welcome change! We got to transition and I was on the first rack. No one else was there so I grabbed the outside spot. Crystal was on the next rack. We took our time in setting up, getting marked and then getting our wetsuits on. Around 8:40, Crystal's Mom and Dad showed up with the kids. The kids were excited to see us. That is always cool.

Fast forward to 9:00 AM. Crystal and I are both red caps for the swim. Red caps are wave 1. Men red caps start at 9:00 AM. Female red caps start 30 seconds later. At 9:00AM, the canon fires. Yes an actual canon. It is the Pirate Tri...

The swim was crowded. of the 225 or so, there was only 4 waves. The water was brisk, but not too bad. I never really got into a comfortable rythem due to either swimming up onto someone or being swum?? up onto.. Chalk it up to first open water of the year.. I was out of the water in a little over 9 minutes. I was extremely happy with that, A PR for me for 1/3 mile..

T1 was rough. I was extremely winded. I struggled getting my wetsuit off and my Jack and Adams race shirt on . Thanks TX cuz for the shirt.. a disappointing 3 minutes...

Off I go on my bike. I am passing people left and right.. OK, settle down.. I do after about 2 miles.. We take our first right off 302. We start to climb. We continue gradually climbing for the next 6 miles or so. These climbs are seperated with short downhills or at least gradual uphills. We then take the right onto Quaker Ridge road. The sign says Hall Funeral Home 3/4 mile. There is a reason there is a funeral home at the top. By the time I get to the top, I am thinking about going in to the funeral home to check their prices... It was tough. A lot of people passed me. I need to definately spend some time doing some hill work. The view was great though. Clear views of Mount Washington. You could also see Sebago Lake. As the decent started, I realized just how long we had been climbing. I looked down at one point and was cruising at 40MPH. I pulled off the aero bars and slowed a bit. 40 is pretty fast. There were a few bumps...

As I approach T2, I felt good. The crowd was great. I passed a few people right before dismount. My confidence was high.. Bike time was 49:21. Since I do not have clip ins, T2 was fast. Dropped of bike and grabbed race bib. 36 seconds..

I took off fast out of transition. As I approached the 1/2 mile mark, I realized I was starting to cramp in the calfs. I ran through it and was fine by mile 1 marker. It is a lollipop course. I saw Kyle, a guy I work with heading back from his loop. He was cruising along. I realized that I was too.. I was passing people left and right. I then saw Crystal heading her her way out on the run. She was looking great. She hates running. She looked like a runner!. We did a quick high five as we passed. It was a nice boost.. At mile marker 2, I passed a girl who was my age and was in much better shape than I. I do not think she was impressed. She stayed on my ass all the way to the finish. I was not going to let her get by. She propbably took close to a minute off my run time. (She did get by, right at the finish... My run was 23:45, hers 23:44.)

I ended up 49th out of 105 men. 75th of 226 overall and 8th of 25 in my age group. I was extremely happy with that even though a lot of the competion was in NH. It was a great event and hope that it is held again next year..

On the weightloss front, I lost 8 pounds since the Polar Bear. Hopefully another 8 - 10 by Urban Epic...

2 weeks to go until Pirate Tri

With a couple weeks to go until the Pirate Tri, I am feeling good. Last week, I got in about 9 miles running, 35 miles on the bike and a mile and 1/2 in the pool.

Highlight of the week was that Crystal and I actually got to go for a ride together. Reggie and Vicki watched the kids. We did a nice 19 mile loop. She did great.

I took it easy running because my legs were just not there this week. Not sure what is up with that...

I started doing a 14 mile loop last week. Nice 1.5 mile downhill. The first time I did it, I average 16.5. I reversed it this week with the climb at the end. I average 16.7. I attached the elevation chart. Pretty good climb at the end. Hills are a definite weakness for me, so I am going to use this loop for training a bit over the summer. Nice route. Mostly bike lane and the uphill is freshly paved :)

It was Memorial day this weekend. I did have a few beers. 8 to be exact.. I have dropped 5 pounds. Hopefully, I can drop another 5 before the race. I have not tried my wetsuit on yet. Should be interesting....

Training, Yard Work and no Shipyard...

The week started off great. I ran Monday and Tuesday at lunch. Both days I did my 4.6 loop. Starts flat with a few challenging hills. I took Wednesday off.

Thursday I headed to the pool. I got in 1 1/2 miles in the pool. Time was not fast, but I felt good. I am now confident that I can swim that distance. I am starting to feel comfortable / confident in the water. I did not think this day would ever come....

Friday, I got out and did a 5.2 mile run after work. Felt good at my 8 min mile pace.

I had planned on biking this weekend a couple of times. That did not happened.. Instead we had T-ball, mowed the lawn, fertilized the lawn, went to Lowes to get plants, fertilizer, stone edging, lumber, burned the winter long pileup of a burn pile, went to the pool store to get chemicals, went to the dump, took my studded tires off the Accord and put my summer tires on, installed 50' of gutters (twice, I am a computer guy, not a gutter guy I have found out), fixed the patio steps, rehung the flag - don't ask.. Needless to say, finding a few hours to bike was not in the cards..

Week 2 of no Shipyard.. I miss my buddy... :) But, I dropped 4 pounds this week.. It is working!!

Work week summary

After seeing from pics from last weekends race, it became very evident that I need to shed a few pounds.. (10 -15 for starters...) As such, I have said good bye to my good buddy Mr. Shipyard for the next month.. I will miss you my friend. I will visit with you after the Pirate Tri and we can catch up :)

I have also changed my eating habits. Instead of several coffees xtra xtra, I am down to 1 coffee and a bowl of Total with raspberries on it. I read an article that antioxidants can help prolong endurance. I have also increased my protein intake. I did notice a difference this week in my energy level. Getting out of bed in the AM was not as tough and my energy level was up all day.. I have dropped a couple of pounds already..

As far as training for the week, time was tight.. I got a 3 mile run in on Monday at lunch. After work, Nolan had T-ball. That did not get over until 7:30. Right after that I headed to ST Joe's. I got there and there was only 1 other person in the pool. That was cool. I got my mile in and was able to practice some flip turns without an audience..

Tuesday, I got 5 miles in at lunch. I left from work and did back cove. It is a 5 mile loop from work to the cove and back. It was windy and cold, but i felt good. 39 minutes.. I was happy with that..

Wednesday, I did not have time to get out at lunch. I was bummed.. Wednesday night though, i got 10 miles in on the bike. I got a flat pulling back into our development though.. This is a good thing. Crystal needs to learn how to change a flat, so I am going to show her tomorrow..

Thursday I got in 4 miles at lunch. I was planning on swimming but the pool was closed for graduation...

Today is Friday and my rest day. It is usually the day I hang out with my buddy Shipyard... He probably misses me too..

For the weekend, I want to get in a 20 mile ride and a 10 mile ride. I also want to get in a 5 mile run and a 3 mile run.. We will see. We have a T-ball game, a load of loam that needs to be picked up, a lawn to be mowed, a mower that needs a blade put on and there is some crazy holiday this weekend...:)

Pics are Crystal's new bike, Paige with a crazy face, Nolan getting ready for the MS Walk a couple weeks ago

Polar Bear Tri recap

I was laying in bed that morning around 3:00AM and woke briefly to hear it pouring on the farmers porch outside of the bedroom window.. I said to myself before falling asleep for another couple of hours, "Great, another wet one like last year.."

When Crystal and I rolled out of bed around 5:00 to start getting ready, the rain had stopped. It was 50 and cloudy, but no rain..

On the way up, Crystal and I did not talk much. This was only her second tri. It would rain for a bit and then stop. She was checking the weather on her iPhone. It said rain.. As we got closer to Brunswick, the sky started to clear. While setting up transition, (which seemed extremely tight this year) the sun started poking through. You could almost see everyones spirits pick up.. By the time Wil starting talking, the sun was out... This was a good thing!!

Crystal and I were in the same swim wave..wave 7. Right before our turn to swim, Reggie and Danny showed up with Nolan to watch the race.. It was great.. Crystal and I got into the same lane. That was pretty cool.. Crystal works with a lady named Donna. Her husband Rick entered this year. This was his first Tri. He was in the lane next to us.

At the horn, I got out a bit in front of her because I do not like someone swimming right next to me. I can be a bit of lane hog. I stayed about a 1/2 lap ahead of her. I was out of the pool in 10:45. That is a PR for me..

T1 went slow. I had to pull shorts over my new fancy tri shorts I got. Those tri shorts are just a bit to revealing for me... As I was leaving T1, Crystal was coming in from the pool. She looked great..

Off on the bike I went. My speedometer was not working. Just like last year, I hit the sensor while setting up transition (or someone did) and was fliing blind.. I felt good though. I kept my cadence up. About 6 miles in, a group of 4 girls went by me on a hill. At that point, I said, hey it's race day, let's kick it up a bit. I ended up catching them and passing a couple. I stayed with the other 2 until the end of the bike.. I saw Katy with about a mile to go. That was cool. She drove up to see me and Crystal.. Ending up doing the bike in 39. Last year I was 46. Another PR for this course for me. (Last year I cramped up on the bike)

T2 was fast. I wear my running shoes on the bike so just a quick stop. Off I went on the run. The first 500 yards was tough. Calfs were cramping.. They loosened up and I settled into a good pace. When I hit the woods though, (2 miles in the woods), I started to struggle. Not sure what is was. Ground too soft, too many roots or whatever, it was not a good run for me. You have to do 2 loops in the woods. On the second loop, I saw Crystal just starting her first loop in the woods. I yelled out to her.. "Go Crystal!" She heard me.. I then said, I should try to catch her. She was about 400 yards a head of me. I did, but it killed me... I gave her a slap on the ass when I went by her.. I am sure she loved that :)

I then emerged from the woods and onto the sports field. From here there is 200 - 300 yards to the finish. As I came onto the field, I saw Nolan. He came out onto the field and ran the last 200 yards with me. It was great!. I finished the run in 25 or so. Normally I would be disappointed with 25 for 3K, but today, the sun was out, Cystal was racing with me and Nolan went over the finish line with me. The 2009 Polar Bear was a great event this year for me. I cannot remeber ever having such a good time at any other event..

1:19:18 for the Race.. More to come

Had to post a pic of Nolan doing the last 200 yards with me. This was the highlight of the race for me...

Only a few days until our first Tri of 2009

This Saturday is our first tri of 2009. Crystal has been doing great. I am also in much better shape than I was last year at this time. Last year for this race, I think my bike leg was around 48 minutes. I am hoping to take close to 10 minutes off that this year. We will see. They are saying chance of rain and in the 60's.

After reading my cousins Tri blog, http://coachlogan.blogspot.com/ I feel as though I have been slacking though... My running partners also are not shown in Triathlete magazine either though... Great job on your training Logan. You have been in inspiration to me when I am having trouble getting off my ass....

As far as training, I am doing about 10 - 15 miles a week running, 1 -2 miles in the pool and 15 - 20 miles a week on the bike... My numbers really need to start climbing after this race if I want to be ready for the 1/2 Ironman this fall..

Spring is near.. I just know it...

Had a good week of training. The snow is melting so it is nice to be able to get out and not be all bundled up. On Tuesday at lunch, I was heading out to do my 3.5 mile loop. Chris from work was also heading out. He was going to do a 5 mile loop. He asked me to join him so I did. It is a nice loop from the office to Back Cove and back to the office. I think we did it in around 47 - 48 minutes.

Tuesday night I headed to the pool. I have been doing 1 mile each session. 1/3 mile freestyle, 1/3 mile with flippers and a 1/3 mile with a pull buoy.

Thursday I got out for another run at lunch. I just did my 3.5 mile loop. That night I headed to the pool to get in my mile.

Over the weekend (Sunday) I went out for what I thought was going to be 6.2 My neighbor Renee told me about a nice hilly loop she is doing to train for the Beach to Beacon. After Crystal got back from her 4.5, I headed out. I got to the point in the run where the 6.2 could turn into a 7.5. I took the 7.5 turn. When I got to the point where the 7.5 could turn into a 10.5, I took the 10.5 turn.

So, almost 2 hours later I made it back home, a bit sore with a major blister on my little toe, an upset wife because I was gone for so long and she had gotten worried that I was dead in a ditch. But, I was psyched. 10.5 miles. No stopping. I have never run that far in my life! And today is Monday and I was able to walk. Actually walk!!! A little sore, but not bad.

So for the week, 2 miles in the water and 19 miles running. No miles on the bike though.. I know I know.. I plan on going to the gym tomorrow to try to get on the stationary. My bike is still in for a tune up. It is ready to be picked up, but it is in Freeport. We are waiting until this weekend to go up, because Jaimie is getting a Scott S30 in for Crystal to try out. Nolan is not feeling well tonight though. I may need to stay home with him tomorrow. If that is the case, I will not make the gym...