We've only just begun

I wanted to write a quick post to thank everyone in my life for helping me get where I am today and all those who continue to make me better every day. It still amazes me that just a few years ago, while I was in college, I wouldn't have been able to even dream of running a marathon or finishing olympic length triathlons. Or back squatting 265 pounds like I did this past Friday. Damn. 

The past...although it's behind us, it will always be a part of us and will forever linger. I still need to find the strength and energy to mentally move on from the ghosts of yesterday. The past still affects my life every day. I constantly think I am not strong enough or fit enough to do something. Most of the time I try anyway and am pleasantly surprised, but I just wish I could have a better understanding of my abilities and realize that I am not the same person I was. 

Anyway, here's to a happy and fit 2012. For me, the year started out rough, but I know my family, friends and especially my crew at CrossFit Hartford will continue to make me stronger every day.

December 2011

May 2003

A new sign of life

A lot has occurred in my life since my last post a couple months ago. Okok it was basically a year ago. Let's move on from that.

Anyway, I've crossed the finish line many times this season.

To name a few...
New England season opener triathlon
Falmouth sprint tri
REV3 Quassy
Falmouth road race
Litchfield hills triathlon

This weekend marks my last big race of the season. The Lobsterman tri in Freeport Maine. My main drive for this tri was to give the family the opportunity (not force I promise) to check out the tri craziness. The training had been going well up until Litchfield except the last few weeks I've not had the best diet or training, unfortunately. Really not good at all. Ice cream is the devil.

This brings me to my goals for after this weekend. I've been reading a lot about and listening to various people talk about the paleo diet and decided to take the plunge and try it for the next 30 days.

The name of the diet comes from the Paleolithic period aka the cavemen. Basically it involves eating a lot of meat, veggies, fruit and nuts. No grains and very limited dairy, if any. Yes that means no cheese and no ice cream, also no beer but limited wine is ok. ouch!

Just as in any diet it's all technically made up but with science to back it up. Ill give it as much as I want/care to. I'm intrigued to see how long I can go with all the chaos and non regularity in my life. It will be interesting.

I'm also going to check out a local gym a couple buddies are going to. They just started a crossfit session and crossfit has been something I've been thinking about to get me through the winter. The last two winters have seen me watch way too much tv and order too much take out. I can't have this again this winter.

And bonus, the blogger app (currently in use) just came out today so now I can blog on the fly about my daily eating habits. Hopefully I'll keep it up and have a nice record of my eats.

Hope you come back to find some tasty photo updates!

2010 ING Hartford Marathon Report: 'He's going the distance'

Mile 25 and still looking strong

Splits

10 mi      1:28:02   8:49 pace 

13.1 mi   1:53:38   8:41 pace

20 mi      2:52:45   8:39 pace

26.2 mi   3:52:35   8:53 pace

Weather 

Sunny and mid 60's. Absolutely great running weather. 

My goal was 4 hours, so I managed to beat that and still have a smile (read:serious face). 

More details to come after I have some time to gather my thoughts. But, for now, check out the photos.

It's the dream machine

Last December I decided to get a bike fit at Benidorm Bike in Canton, CT. The lovely Jan (who has a very distinct Pittsburgh accent), Master's BG Fit Technician, spent more than 3 hours with me on a snowy afternoon outfitting my Novara Strada to help me achieve a proper fit. It turns out the bike I bought from REI was a bit small for me, so Jan had to practically max out all aspects of my bike including some new parts. The process was expensive, but made me realize how much better and more comfortable biking can be when your bike has the appropriate fit, especially on the long haul bike rides.

Well all winter long I had it in my head that my bike was too small and even though Jan outfitted it for me, it still bothered me. I probably would not have done anything about the bike, mostly out of laziness and a lot because of cost, but my roommate decided that he wanted to get into road biking and inquired if I had plans to buy a new bike. He would mention it to me, I would say "probably sometime" and then forget about it. Until one day....

On a Saturday afternoon in May, I decided to take a ride back to Benidorm and just peruse the stockpile to see what goods were in store this season. Pete greeted me and even remembered my name (I hadn't been in the store since January). We chatted for a few minutes, talked about what I was looking for and then got down to the dirty work...road test!

I tried a few bikes out and then Pete had the gall to put me on the Specialized Tarmac. I instantly fell in love with the full carbon sweetness. After the test ride he asked me what I wanted to do next. I said that I wanted to sleep on it overnight and think about it. Pete then said "What is there to think about? I saw your face when you came back." Can't blame the man for trying to sell me the bike. He set up the bike according to my bike fit from December and told me to come back on Sunday for a ride.

I took the bike and all its brand new glory out on the road. The handlebars still wrapped in plastic, I managed to get better at the different brand of shifters and was amazed at the quietness of the ride. The road seemed to disappear. The ride wasn't as long as I wanted but it was getting hot and I had no water, so I headed back to the shop and bought it. Case closed.

Brought the bike back home, sold my Strada to the roommate and life has been pure bliss ever since.

First Race
Every other Thursday night during the summer there is a sprint tri in Marlborough, CT at Lake Terramuggus. Unfortunately, I've only competed in one of the sprint tri's at Lake T this summer, but the one that I did compete gave me instant fame. Well not really fame or notoriety, but my picture ended up in the Benidorm Bike July Newsletter.

I think this bike and I will have a long life together. Filled with many miles and much sweat.

Where has the time gone?

I'll skip the lame apologies for the delay in my posting and just get right to the meat and potatoes.

I'll start with the results from the Worcester Half Marathon. As I mentioned in my previous post, the Worcester half was supposed to be a friendly adventure with Kate. Unfortunately, I was stood up on race day (she even put in the effort required to receive the student discount!). Don't worry Kate, I'm not too upset, but I hope to see you in Hartford! The weather for the inaugural Worcester half marathon was cloudy and unseasonably cool (read: great running weather).

One thing about Worcester, for those of you who have never been there, is the amount of hills located in the city. The race route did not shy away from these hills to say the least. The route brought back memories of my times at WPI as well, which was definitely a mental boost since I could never physically run around the city while in school.

(Runkeeper with iPhone)

A little less than half through I had a small cheering section (thanks Adam and Eileen!). Not used to a personalized cheering section during a race, so that was fun and it was definitely helped with the oncoming climb. The race ended with some guy behind me giving me motivation. He kept yelling at me and I kept yelling back, but it definitely helped me sprint (I use that term loosely after 13 miles). After looking at the pictures from the race, apparently he was old and shirtless. Fun fact.

Results

bib number:	74
age:	25
gender:	M
location:	West Hartford, CT
overall place:	205 out of 1091
division place:	25 out of 66
gender place:	139 out of 458
time:	1:47:37
pace:	8:13

So after my third half marathon, my times are progressively faster. Personal records are always great, especially considering this course was significantly more difficult than the previous two courses.

Next road race: CIGNA Falmouth Road Race 7 miles, August 15, 2010

PS It was more than 4 months since my last post. Darn.

Race Photos

Created with flickr slideshow.

Flickr photostream

Capstone Photography did another wonderful job with the pictures from Sunday.

I forgot to mention in my previous post some other information about the race:

Bib: 57
Gun Time: 1:49:06
Net Time: 1:47:46
Place in division: 43/89
Results Overall
Results by Division 

Taking over the Capitol

Wow, work has been getting in the way of my swim, bike, run lately. Working more than 50 hrs a week really takes its toll on the available gym/life hours. It seems lately that I have to choose between going to the gym and grocery shopping/haircut/laundry, etc.

I didn't let my lack of gym time affect my performance last weekend. I completed my second half marathon in our nation's capitol, Washington DC. The race was the Gynecological Cancer Foundation Race to End Women's Cancer. My friend, Hillary, is a GC survivor and asked me to run the race with her last month after the Maine half marathon. It sounded like a worthy cause and I've never really run with someone else before, so I decided to go for it. Well after spending Saturday roaming around Northern VA with Hillary, she ended up going to bed with a headache and woke up on race day with a 101 fever. She was out of the race. 

I drove myself to DC for the 7am start, put my bib number on and listened to the opening ceremony. RACE TIME. The gun went off approximately 7:10am on a nice cool fall morning. Sunny and low 50s...perfect. 

The race started out with a straightaway towards the Capitol building, very nice mile or so, then the course turned right and now the Capitol was on my left and the Washington Monument on my right. Really puts into perspective the location of this race. I find it strange that people actually work and live around all of these landmarks that are so significant to our nation's history. I digress...The rest of the loop (race map) was, don't know how else to describe it but "eh." There were 5 u-turns for each loop and a total of 3 loops during the 13.1 miles. That makes a total of 14 times where there is just no way that you can keep your running stride. My other problem (and now life lesson) is that I did not use the bathroom before the run. This caused a little bit of a problem during the third lap because there were no bathrooms on the course. I had to go to a walking pace about 4 times to let things...settle down. Live and learn!

Results:

Even though I slowed down on the third lap, I crossed the finish line in 1:47:46 which is an 8:13 pace. This is a solid 2 minutes better than in Maine. I think I could have done better had I used the bathroom before the race. Oh well. 

Next event:

During my visit to Birmingham, AL to visit my family for Thanksgiving, I am going to run a 10k "Turkey Trot." The event is the 33rd Annual Montclair Run. My race history does not include a 10k; only 5k and 1/2 marathon. This should be interesting.

Pictures to be posted soon, thanks Capstone Photography! 

I'll try to update a little more frequently.

Swim, bike, run...LIFE