The Sunny Side of Training.

My training for the May 18, Cleveland 10K is going well. Last week we visited our daughter in sunny Florida. She recently had a baby girl and we got to spend time with her and her family. During our visit we spent a day at Epcot, went to the beach a couple of times, and hugged and kissed the baby the rest of the time.

I did my runs in the mornings when the temps were in the mid 80's and humidty at 80 percent. A 6 mile mid tempo run in 38:26 (6:24 pace) was bearable but the 8 mile long tempo in 53:19 (6:40 pace) was a cooker. I needed to drink some water after 40 minutes sooo bad. I was tempted to plop myself into one of the many ponds I ran by but after seeing 2 alligators already that morning I realized you don't go swimming in just any pond you see in Florida.

Today's track workout was a good indicator for me to prove the kind of shape I am in for a good 10K race. The main set was 3 X 1 mile (at 5:38 pace) with only 1 minute rest between. And if we have 80+ temps with high humidity on race morning I hope my mind and body remembers the tough run I did in Florida.

Fun in the sun.

We had a wonderful time with the family during our stay at the Deer Creek State Park resort. There was on average 30 of us together every day for the week. And to quote my youngest son, "I loved every minute with our family at Deer Creek".

Not only was it a perfect week of fun in the sun but the training for my half ironman was the perfect getaway place to train.

Grandma enjoying her 5 generation heritage.

My in-laws with the grand kids, including my 4 kids.

Biking on the country roads.

Swimming in Deer Creek Lake.

Saddled up to ride off into the sunset.

I now am in my final 6 weeks of training for the half ironman triathlon which is 4 weeks of speed/quality phase and then 2 weeks of taper. The schedule is not a very heavy load but it sure feels like it at the home front. My wife expresses with emotion that she is not happy with all "my time" of training and that it is all about ME. Boy, do I have to be careful when choosing the right time to take off for a 2 to 3 hour workout. I am including the family to bike along while I run my long runs, and we all have a great time.
The next 4 weeks look like I'll be swimming about 1000 meters and running 12 miles on Saturdays. On Sundays I need to bike 50 miles then go for a 20 to 30 minute run. If I can survive these next 4 weeks I'll be ready for that half ironman.

Help! I can't swim!

It's lunch time and I'm in the pool doing my laps and feeling fast and strong. I think my swimming has improved in the last 4 to 5 weeks, probably because of the added mileage I've been putting in the pool, that is, until the life guard waves me over to the first lane so that he could tell me something about my swimming style.

He tells me that when I lift my head to breathe the rest of my body does a fish tailing dance. He also points out that my right hand crosses over the center of my body and as a result I don't get a good catch of the water. He tells me between the fish tailing and improper catch I waste too much energy.

He tries to show me what to do and I think I understand what he's trying to show me but when I put it into practice I still feel like I'm fish tailing and don't quite have the proper catch.

I found on active.com where it states: "Crossover: When your hand enters the water at the beginning of each stroke, you must ensure it doesn't cross your body's imaginary mid-line running from head to toe. Crossing over puts a tremendous amount of strain on the shoulder joint and makes your body fishtail or swing from side to side, increasing drag.
Prescription: Single-arm and catch-up drills. Exaggerate the width of your entry point. At first it may feel as though you are entering far too wide, but this is simply because relative to where you were entering, it feels wide. Video analysis is usually necessary to monitor progress.

Now I need to figure out how to do the single-arm and catch-up drills.

I've got to find a swim coach to help fix my problems.

Next week I take the family to Deer Creek State Park for a week long family reunion. I'll not only enjoy time with the family but I get to enjoy swimming in a big lake, biking country roads, and running around the park.
Everyone enjoy time with your family & friends during this 4th of July.
Life is good!

Last fling in Maine

We are spending this week up in Maine to visit my son and his wife. This will most likely be our last trip to Maine because my son is getting new orders from the Navy for him to move to New Orleans.
During our time up here we will take a trip to the White Mountains in New Hampshire for some hiking and site seeing.

I will also run a 5 mile race to represent my son's squadron on the Navy base.

Here we are climbing one of the trails in the White mountains. Beautiful scenery! If I ever come back here it would be to run the annual foot race or the bike race they have going up Mount Washington.

My little backpack. He thought it would be good training to hike up the mountain with a 54 pound sack on my back. I wasn't smiling too much so I dropped the sack in no time.

No biking this week. The only run I'll do is the race on Thursday. I did manage to swim 2000 yards at the YMCA. I'm hoping to swim again early Thursday morning before the 5 mile race.

I'll be back in Ohio to start my summer season of triathlons for this weekend's triathlon in Toledo, Ohio.

Weekend get away.

Friday evening, I took the family, including the grand kids, out for a weekend getaway at a church retreat home to enjoy some rest and relaxation. We stayed in a log cabin home with 6 other couples. The home is located in a rural area of Ashland, Ohio.

Saturday I got up early, but not early enough to watch the sunrise, to run 8 miles. I had mapped out an 8 mile loop on country roads. The skies were overcast and the temps were around 50 degrees. The route was fairly flat and the only encounters I had that morning was 1 car, 1 horse & buggy, and 1 loose dog to chase me. I love running, or riding, on country roads and not have a car or dog scare me off the road. A dog, I can yell at to, 'go home', but a car is too big for me to mess with.

Sunday afternoon the weather was beautiful with lots of sunshine which was perfect for a bike ride. I was able to get out and ride an easy 30 miles.

I'm enjoying the easy pace and efforts of running and biking during the build up phase of my half irnoman training. Most of my training efforts is in the 110-120 bpm heart rate range which comes out to be about 17mph on the bike and 7:45 per mile on the run.

This Friday I will participate in a Maximal Oxygen Consumption Test (VO2max) and will get some real data to help determine my correct levels of heart rate for running easy or hard.

February elapsed before I could...

find time to put words on my blog.

Training for the Boston marathon is going well, even though I'm having to run most of my runs on the treadmill. I've ran 6-8 x 1/2 mile intervals, 3-6 mile tempos, and 18-20 long miles on the treadmill during the last 4 weeks. I still spin on the bike and swim 3 days a week. Also, I try to squeeze in weights, yoga, and stretching once or twice a week.

The most fun I'm having this off season is with yoga and swimming. After a yoga session I definitely feel refreshed. With swimming I'm learning to keep my head in the water longer by lifting it every 5th or 7th stroke and to breathe on both sides.

We spent 6 days in the Vegas and Utah area for my daughters wedding

Father with the beautiful bride.

and a few days hiking Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks.
Beautiful scenery.

I'm hoping for the month of March my training is more outdoors and I reach my peak fitness before the Boston marathon on April 16th.

More Maine Pics

These pictures are from Acadia National Park where we spent 2 days hiking and swimming at variouses places in the park. As you can see from the pictures the place is beautiful.
We had so much fun that my diet and training was put on hold while on vacation. We feasted and we played.
Now I have to see how I hold up in this heat on the track today. The heat index is supposed to be 110 today.

A Maine weekend

Papa Louie will drive up to Maine this weekend to bring home his grandkids that were visiting their dad. Before they return to Cleveland on Monday they will visit Acadia National Park for some site seeing and hiking. He will also try to squeeze in an 18 mile run and find a beach to do some open water swimming this weekend.
Updates to follow.
Everyone else have a great weekend!