First Race of the Year...

Today was the Four Points Sheraton Hyannis 10k, Half- and Full-Marathon event. This race is quickly becoming an early season highlight on the New England racing calendar, and this year was no exception. We had a beautiful day for racing. I don't know what it is, but there is something about seeing tons of people out running that just gets me fired up! Here are some photos from the day:



Here I am in full Psycho regalia just before the start of the race...



Maura all smiles at the start!!!!



Me at mile five of the run...still feeling pretty good...



Maura at mile five...she's still smiling!!! :-)



Rick and Dick Hoyt (Team Hoyt), inspiring all of us again (and again, and again...)!



Reunited at the finish line!

Man, what a special day...now all I have to do is get in a major nap to recover from the week...only 6 more weeks to Ironman Arizona!!!

Happy Training,

Coach P

Touching Down...

Well, I'm back. Or is it, I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! Either way, I am East Coast now, back in the land of the trainer. A lot of folks thought I was seriously complaining about my trip to AZ...so let me set the record straight: It was just what I needed!


Here are some photos from the trip! Note: All of these photos were taken with Vinu's cell phone...thanks V!


Here I am typing to you from mission control! :-)



We finally found some sun on Sunday....just not any roads. Here I am in a dead-end cul-de-sac.



Yes, those are mountains. No, I don't know how to get there. Yes, I am still smiling!



Me looking really serious. V wanted a picture with the cacti...not sure what's up with that.




V getting his 15 seconds of fame on the blog. Note his tastefully coordinated outfit.



Up close V....note, his unhealthly cactus fetish continues here...



Two clowns, delirious after our two hour trail run with no food or fluids. If ONLY there was a lightweight, durable "belt" that could hold our drinks and food....if only... Note V's self-proclaimed Mariah Carey head-thingy.

So as you can see, smiles abounded. We had a good time, and I can't wait to go back in...less than a week...to spend another 10 days training for IM AZ!

Hope you all are well!!!

Patrick

AZ Training Trip – Day Four

As the photo above shows, we got a bit of a slow start on Sunday morning. Some of us slower than others!!! I think that Saturday’s 80-mile ride in the cold, rainy weather took more of a toll on us than we had anticipated. In my opinion, however, it was as much the red wine as it was the exercise that had Vinu hiding from daylight. Somehow we managed to get motivated and check the Internet for the weather. With the afternoon looking better than the morning, we decided to start with breakfast to let things warm up / dry off.

After another carbohydrate-laden, caffeine-laced cholesterol-bomb breakfast, we were off to ride. We started south of the city as we were tired of a certain nine-mile climb (yes, nine miles; yes, all climbing). Our first few attempts at getting out of the city were pretty futile: we hit four dead ends before we found a pretty promising road. This lasted for three miles before…we hit another dead-end. So we turned around to ride the opposite direction. Which we did for 10 miles, until that road turned into a major highway. I am talking about a four-lane, 65 mile an hour highway. It was like biking on I-95, but without so many cars. After a solid 30’ ride, we turned around to go back (at least we knew where this one would dead-end!).

On our way back to the car, I realized we had only been riding for 3 hours. I also realized that I had no desire whatsoever to drive over to the other side of Tempe to ride out there. So we only had one option to make it to five hours for the day: a two hour trail run. The trailhead we had parked at was the start of a network of trails, some which reportedly stretched for miles. So out (and up, and over, and around) we went. It was pretty crowded at the start, but after 30’ or so, we were pretty much on our own. The out trip was no problem, but on the return Vinu (aka Magellan) decided to take a detour on the hidden valley trail. This resulted in some pretty difficult climbs and whole lot of bouldering. Being geniuses, we brought no food or fluids on this run, so by the end we were pretty darn thirsty. After the run I drank an entire thing of Gatorade in 20 seconds. I was thirsty for the rest of the night! J

So on this final day of training we managed another 5 hours. Totals for the trip were:

Swim 4200 yards
Bike 180 miles
Run 22 miles

Despite the weather, we were able to get some solid work in on the AZ course in preparation for April. I also was able to get some all important reconnaissance work done in preparation for our week-long camp in two weeks!

Thanks for tuning in!!!

Patrick

Day Three: It's Raining Really Big Cats & Dogs

Saturday started with rain. Lots of rain. Forget yesterday's traffic; we couldn't even SEE the cars on the roads. It was a slow start for the team today - not a lot of desire to get out in a 50 degree downpour. We grabbed a bagel and coffee from Einstein's and tried to brainstorm ideas:

1) We were too late for the pool, so swimming was out.
2) Vinu didn't want to get his shoes wet, so running was out.
3) We could go to the gym and do 5' on every machine...but when we saw the gym, we realized there were about 100 machines. That would be about 8h and 20m of exercise...so we ruled that out...

BUT, we did fly all the way here and couldn't sit around drinking coffee all day long. So we finally decided to do some recon on the bike course. We got in the car, busted out the map and set off on the bike course. We realized a couple of things:

1) You ride the first 10 miles in the city. That sucks.
2) It is windy. VERY windy on the way out.
3) The hills aren't THAT bad, but they will eat away at you.
4) The course could be super hot on a sunny day.

After the recon, the rain let up (a bit) so we decided to get out there and ride it. During the ride we realized:

1) The road is NOT that smooth.
2) The stretch on 87 is REALLY windy.
3) The hills are super tough.
4) The course is NOT hot on a rainy 50 degree day.

We managed 80 miles on a pretty CRAPPY day, so we were psyched about that...and were pretty beat up from the cold and wind...off to dinner and then bed!

More soon...

P

AZ report Day #2

A Full Day in AZ

Should have known something was up when I set the alarm for PM instead of AM. Theme of the day: So close, but just not right.

We managed to get over to the pool where the masters swim was, conned our way in and had an 8 lane, outdoor, heated pool to ourselves. Same 4200 including a main set of 5x (300 easy, 200 steady, 100 fast). Very tough 3k right there. Had breakfast at IHOP (No Weapons Allowed!) and then got ready for our ride.

We had to drive out of town as there is just too much traffic here. We had scored a map to a 55mile loop out around a local mountain. Unfortunately, a lot of the roads around Tempe/Scottsdale are just highways - the two lanes each direction with a shoulder (most of the time) variety. A highlight of the ride was a "9 mile climb" that was, in fact, a nine mile climb. No dips, flats, twists or turns. Nine miles, all up, all right in front of you. With a nice headwind. Very solid mental workout for both of us.

We had planned to do 2 loops, but it was getting very dark (rain storms) and the traffic was AWFUL in town. Vinu said we should have saved our money and gone to NYC to ride downtown. That bad. So we packed it in and resolved to make it up tomorrow...but it looks like a lot of rain!!! :-(

We did dinner at the Mongolian Barbeque, and our informal poll of the waitstaff @ Tempe Town Lake was:

Q: What color is the lake in the summer?
A: Brown. (how is it blue in the photos???)

Q: Would you swim in it?
A: (No hesitation, very strange look!) NO!

Q: Have you seen others swim in it?
A: Yeah....well, they use those paddle boats. (Note: Paddle boats not allowed in IM racing).

Q: Doesn't look good, huh?
A: I had a buddy who did some tests for school on that thing...they didn't come back so good...I would never swim in there.

Nice.

Stay tuned...

AZ Training Day #1

Well, it was a long trip. But I am here in Tempe and have completed workout number one (a 1.5 hour run). No digital camera, so you'll have to use your imagination! The day started with my wonderful wife, Maura, dropping me off for my 5am flight to Tempe through Charlotte, NC. The first leg of the trip was fine, once I had come to terms with the fact that I had left my heart rate monitor at home (nice one) and had two dollars left to my name. I could deal without the watch, but thanks to new flight protocol, my two dollars couldn't buy me half of ham&cheese croissant thingy. But I had four fig newtons, so I thought I was good. I chowed.

Landing in Charlotte, I was psyched to find an ATM and then buy some food when I glanced at my itinerary. Departure at 7:45am. It was 7:40 and I had yet to get off my first flight. End result? No snacks for Patrick. :-( But flight number two couldn't be that bad....it only lasts...FOUR and a HALF HOURS!?!? This was crisis time, as I was clean out of fignewtons. As I scrounged for food, I overheard the stewardess mentioning food options (a good thing): instead of a $5 croissant, we could get a SEVEN DOLLAR gourmet bagel thing. Ugh. Thankfully, was able to sleep through the hunger, eating lots of ice.

After getting settled in the hotel, I picked up Vinu Malik (fuelbelt.com founder & CEO) and after dropping his stuff off, eating like we hadn't seen food in 10 years, and putting our bikes together, we went for a long run (97 minutes) along Tempe Town Lake. Great path, very little lake at the moment...it looks more like a giant puddle of chocolate milk...but the photos show some blue water, so I have hope!

Tomorrow is 4k swim, 5 hour ride and hour run...stay tuned!

Patrick

Training Han Solo Style....

I've taken to calling myself Han Solo (of Star Wars fame) these days; mainly due to the fact that there isn't anyone else willing to either (A) sit on a trainer for 5 hours with me on a Saturday morning or (B) commit to lunch time swim hour. No, this isn't a cry for help...
(couldn't resist!)
...it's just a fact of my life right now. But training like Han Solo has it's ups and downs. Here is my top ten list of the Downs....(ups to follow later)...put your own comments in the tag box on the right! -->

"the downs" top 10 list
10. It sure can be quiet some times.
9. I already know the punchlines to all the jokes.
8. You can only pretend you're climbing the Alps so many times.
7. Lance always wins.
6. Getting strange looks talking out loud to your imaginary training buddy in public.
5. Patting yourself on the back after a 2k time-trial swim is too hard.
4. Feel especially dumb shopping in 7-11 in winter bike gear when alone.
3. Can't blame the group for making the ride too hard. :-)
2. Can't tell if those online training partners are really working out or making up their numbers.

And the number one reason training like Han Solo is tough....(drum roll)...

1. That person who farted? It's you.

:-)

Happy Training!

~P

Challenge Your Limits...

I am sitting here, drinking coke like it’s oxygen; wondering if I can figure out how to build an IV of this stuff...I think I saw Macgyver do it once. Shouldn't be too hard, right?! Wonder if it would affect my typing though... Anyway, as I work on getting focused for my 4.5 hour day tomorrow, I wanted to share my last week with you guys...this is 8 weeks to go to IM AZ, so it is crunch time for me! :-)

I logged a lot this past week (you can see the whole summary here):

Total time: 24.5 hours
Swim Distance 9950
Bike Distance 207
Run Distance 45.5
Weights (2 sessions)

With all the working out, the core work took a hit. I only got in core during weights (2 sessions) and once on its own (usually do 3 stand alone sessions). Swim sessions weren’t so great...all that yardage in 4 sesions! :-( I got caught at work a few times this week..need to be more disciplined with midday hours so I can up the distance.

This was my biggest week ever. I got up to 24 last year, but that included 3 yoga sessions (important, but not real hours). I am a bit spacy these days, but it has been a really interesting experiment so far. Amazing how a 1 hour trainer ride seemed like torture a month ago; now I am warming up for 90' before I start the main set!!! Swimming solo has been the toughest bit so far, but I am trying to come up with some cool mental games for that as well.

Anyway, today's run felt great; we'll see what tomorrow brings!

Thanks for all the support and encouragement!

Patrick