Sure, I wrote this post about overcoming a training slump a few weeks ago, but sometimes other people’s medicine is better than your own.
Because of that, I’m taking the medicine of of my teammate Jessi who recently started a 100 day challenge. 100 days straight of workouts. Any combination of swimming, biking, running, strength training, sweating or stretching/rolling counts. It just has to add up to 45 minutes each day.

Today was easy to check off since I came home to a brand new bike trainer! It is SO much nicer than the 6 year old bargain trainer that I got when I was in college and has see thousands of sweaty miles.

It is so quiet and smooth. Even more than I had expected and hoped. I bet my neighbors will love it almost as much as I do. I’ll have to do a review later on.

Day two, here we come!

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Categories: Training

Race morning had officially arrived. After a surprisingly good sleep, I was up, hit the bathroom and downed a bottle of EFS and some Clif Shot Bloks.

I decided that the whole day was going to be focused on two main ideas:
Take the whole day one mile at a time
Enjoy every mile of my only first Ironman
Those two mantras would end up driving me for the next 140.6 miles.

Other than a minor pre-dawn freakout in transition area. I was able to keep a pretty level head as I set up my bike, organized my transition area and filled up my nutrition bottles. I was pretty happy and surprised with my attitude. I’ve been a LOT more nervous for a LOT shorter races.
I’m not sure what it was, but I was just ready to race, get out there and start tearing up the course.
Heading over to the swim start and patiently waiting for the gun to go off. Sam was an amazing sherpa and helped me stay cool calm and collected up until the second I had to leave her and dive head first into the water. Just as I was starting to head through the start gate, she handed me her cell phone. It was my mom calling from Connecticut to give me some last minute last minute well wishes. Hearing how proud she was…

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Categories: Biking, Live Tracking, Nutrition, Race Reports, Racing, Running, Swimming, Team, Technology, Triathlons

Last week I got a surprise in the mail, the latest sweet pair of running shoes from Saucony, the Kinvara.

These things are super sweet and I was pumped to get to test them out before the went on sale to the rest of the world.

Ultimately, what makes the Kinvara more than “just another running shoe” is that it is super minimalist but can still be worn for longer road races. It looks like a futuristic version of an ordinary training shoe, but are only .7 oz heavier than my racing shoes.

My Experiments With Minimalist Running Shoes

Before I get into the shoe itself, It probably makes sense to talk a little about my adventures with running shoes over the past year. For the last two seasons I rocked a few pairs of Asics GT-2140’s. It is one of the best selling running shoes out there, I never had any major problems with them. My main irk that I eventually noticed with the 2140’s is that it was physically hard making the transition away from them to any other shoe. During triathlons I also noticed that they can take on a TON of water if I am water over my head (which is the cast in most races). Running with five pound sponges strapped to each foot for 13.1 miles is NOT fun.

The 2140’s were essentially like two big comfy couches for my feet. They felt…

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Categories: Product Reviews, Racing, Running, Training, Triathlons, Videos
Tags: minimalist running shoe, Product Review, saucony kinvara

In the spirit of my first sprint triathlon in 4 years, I am going to try to make this race report as abbreviated as possible.

Amica 19.7 Triathlon: Newport, RI

.5 mile swim | 16.1 mile run | 3.1 mile run

Less than two weeks of recovery since Cedar Point and only one 2.5 mile run since then. And my quads were screaming the whole time.

Low expectations except for the fact that I was racing against Sam’s family. I know all the guys had secret aspirations to take down the newly-minted Ironman. I had no plans on letting them win.

Pre-race dinner with Sam’s family and playing with their dog. It decided it was done with play time and decided to use my hand as a chew toy, shredding my forefinger. Lots of blood and while cleaning out the wound and making guesses on the need for stitches, I passed out cold. Apparently having a low resting HR makes you more likely to pass out.

I texted pictures of the damage to my dad (an ER doctor) and he gave me the green light to race. Sam was freaking out and worried, as any good girlfriend would be, but I was psyched.

Time to finish up the 2010 triathlon season.

Race morning:

Wild wind and surf that would make for a better day of surfing than swimming. Swim: canceled.

Replaced by a .25 mile beach (quicksand) beach run.…

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Categories: Athletes, Events, Family & Friends, Race Reports, Racing, Triathlons

You know that feeling when you running along and you can hear the buzz of the finish line in the distance? You know that it just out of sight and you can feel the anticipation building in your body.

I imagine that the feeling is a little different for everyone, but for me the pain in my legs goes away, I get a huge smile, a burst of adrenaline and my entire body gets that “pins and needles” tingling. It doesn’t happen at every race, but when it does, I know it has been a great day.

At Timberman last year, the run course was a two loop out and back. At the half way point as I passed by the buzz of the finishing chute, I started to get “that feeling” and had to mentally calm myself down because I still had 6.6 miles to go and didn’t want to drain my adrenaline reserves with so much left in the race.

Yesterday, I did my longest training run so far for my first Ironman. 19 miles of running with only stops/walk breaks at “aid stations” that I set up to top off my fuel belt water reserves. At about mile 13, I started to get that “finish line feeling.”

It was the realization that all the pieces were coming in to place. My training is going smoothly. I am able to run farther than I ever…

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Categories: Athletes, Events, Race Schedule, Racing, Running, Training, Triathlons

This week marked a major turning point in my adventure towards my big ironman (FullRev) race in September. As Jill so clearly put it, we are both now in uncharted waters. I’m floating around in some strange place where the finish line of a half ironman is not the end, but just another stepping stone towards a much greater goal.

Over the last three years I’ve managed to learn enough about racing and training to know what it takes to get myself to the finish line of a half ironman and that is what I did last week at Rev3 Quassy. Moving past that and keeping my momentum going towards a full 140.6 mile race is an entirely new animal. That is why I had this week marked in my calendar as my “re-evaluation” week. A time to sit back, look at the training plan I’ve been using, how well I’ve followed it, how my individual swim/bike/run strength is progressing and retooling my plan as needed so that I can nail the next three months and get myself to that finish line at Cedar Point.

Here is where it all stands:

• The “out of the box” training plan has been effective at getting me to a new course PR at Quassy, but is very bike heavy. My bike is definitely stronger than my run right now, so that focus needs to change.
• I’ve been doing regular track

…

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Categories: Race Schedule, Team, Tips, Training, Triathlons
Tags: rev3 cedar point

There is only one week left until Rev3 Quassy!

I’ve been looking forward to this race since last year. The race was a blast, but the course totally destroyed me. It is by far a PW half and I definitely have something left to prove.

This year I’m coming back with a whole new perspective on my training, a sweet new tri bike and a year of built up adrenaline to prove to myself that I have it in my to rock the course. I’m definitely not hoping for a PR since it is the hardest half I’ve ever done, but I’m at least hoping for a much smoother race day execution.

It is one of my favorite rides and when I heard that the RD made some changes, I must admit I was a little worried. After pre-riding it last week, all my worries were washed away.  There are some slight tweaks to the course, but its personality sill remains the same. I’m still very much a happy triathlete.

For all my buddies out there that I’ll see in CT next week, here are some tips for destroying the bike course instead of letting it destroy you.

• The first two miles is a nice easy downhill to help get your legs underneath you, but after that it is pretty constant undulation. Don’t bother waiting for that long flat section to hammer it home. It doesn’t exist.
• 90% of

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Categories: Biking, Events, Racing, Tips, Triathlons
Tags: rev3, rev3 ct, rev3 quassy

If you spend enough time outside training, your eventually going to see some crazy/fun stuff. That is why I’ve gotten in the habit of bringing either my Flip video camera, iPhone or still camera on just about any training day other than my speed workouts at the local track.

I was snapping some landscape pics for a blog redesign over at SwimBikeRunLive.com that I’m working on (to go live sometime in the next few weeks) during a 2 hour trail run on Sunday and ran into a big ‘ol snapping turtle.

Snapping Turtle

That is all. Just wanted to share this big honking turtle sighting.

Happy Training!

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Categories: Running, Videos

I started off a solid weekend of training with my old pal, Kim. I read her blog pretty regularly, so it feels like I see her all the time, but last week we realized that it has probably been three years since we’ve actually ridden together.For someone that lives 5 miles away from me, that is unacceptable. Time flies, eh?

We immediately amended this with a 50 mile ride on Saturday morning. Besides just catching up on all the “life” that happens between each other’s blog posts, I did some major brain picking about tips for ironman training. She rocked a major PR at ironman at Cozumel last year and I absolutely respect her training dedication. I tried to act like a sponge as much as I could during the whole ride.

This is what we decided.

• I admitted that I NEVER pee on the bike during races, even half ironmans. Nver. This is apparently a problem. I know that I need to get better about my pre-race hydration, and if I’m not peeing on the bike, I still probably haven’t fixed it. The goal is to have to pee somewhere around mile 35-45. This needs some testing, but should give me a good idea of how hydrated I actually am so that I can adjust my intake on the fly and I can rock the run.
• Don’t spend the day before bumming around the expo without a

…

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Categories: Biking, Nutrition, Triathlons

My pal Christine is starting up her #i8this challenge again. If you want to be brought up to speed, here are all the details.

The last challenge was simply to tweet one pic of 1 meal per day with the hashtag “#i8this.” It didn’t have to be healthy. Most were healthy and the ones that weren’t added a fun and relaxed element that I believe is super important in having a nutritionally AND emotionally healthy diet. This time Christine is adding an additional element to the challenge by encouraging an effort to improve upon something.

Want to play along? Here are the rules:

1. Ask yourself “What aspect of my diet/ health would I most like to improve”?

• Find creative ways to incorporate more fruits/veggies into my diet.

2. Look at certain foods or habits that you may want to remove or add.

• No drastic changes. I eat pretty healthy. I just ned to do the super healthy meals a little more often.

3. Decide on a number of days that works for you (maybe 3, 5, 7 or 9).

• Nine. All the way.

4. Set your intention by making it known to other #i8this participants (via twitter or email Christine at christine@liveandeatbetter.com).

• See this post. Done.

5. Try to be ready to start by Friday, though it is flexible. You can start now if you want. You’re the boss.

• I like those rules. I’m a really awesome boss.

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Categories: Nutrition, Recipes
Tags: i8this