Everyday has failed

So I have already failed at updating everyday but such is life. I have already dropped 5 lbs and weighed in at 232.8 this morning. Missed a few runs this weekend becuase of the cold weather. Will make up for the eventually. Running tonight should be decent temps.

First Run cut short

So my legs were in enough pain that I had to cut my 7 miler short. I only made it just over 4.25. I have a tempo run today and wanted my legs to be able to handle as much of that as possible. I will make up the milage distance on friday with a loosen up run. I am getting worried about how I am supposed to run 14 on saturday. Not sure how well that will work but I will give it a shot.

I am looking for a new computer, any reccomendations?

Pain!

So first run back after being sick and out for a few months. Weight is much higher than it was but I guess my brains didnt get that message and slow down. My pace was much faster than it should have been and caused some serious leg pain. I fought with myself to push through it which wasnt easy but I made it. I need to dress a bit warmer for these runs but that will be easy. The Stick has been my savior. I have been using it every 45 min or so to help my quads and hammies recover for tonight. Hopefully I am able to slow it down a little and be in a little less pain after.

On another note. I have decided to try My Fit Foods (www.myfitfoods.com) and am loving the food and portion control. This could be a real big help in the end if this ends up working out for me. They will also give free meetings with a nutrionist which I will probably take up just to maximize my training a bit more.

Hope everyone is having a great day.

First day!

Hey everyone! So I weighed in this morning and well lets just say it is not where it should be but being sick during the holidays certainly did not help. My stats this morning:
Weight - 237.8 lbs
Body Fat - 25.3%
Water - 54.2%

Needless to say these will all be changing and hopefully drastically in the coming weeks as I kick of training today with a 7 mile run. 2010 is going to be a hard year but nothing worthwhile was ever easy so it is time to sack up and just do it.

Here goes nothing.....

Getting ready to head north

So work was crazy today and I didn't make it to the gym. I am pissed about that but now I am packing up and getting ready for a nice vacation up in ma and me for the next few weeks. I will be going to the gym up there or running I have no choice. Hope everyone had a good day.

I'm Back!!! Or at least I will be soon...

Well it has been over 19 months since I last posted to this blog and well alot has changed.  I have moved around a bunch for work after graduating from Notre Dame and I am now living and working in Houston, TX.  I have hit a snag in my training and decided it was time to change things up again and I need to start blogging again.  I know that there may not be anyone out there that reads this but I am fine with that.  I just need to start putting my training into words.  I will offically be forcing myself to do this at least every other day starting on the new year, but I am going to work on getting into the habbit now. 

I havent really been able to workout much since the Chicago Marahton this year which I am happy to report was the best race I have ever had.  Everything clicked, it was amazing.  The month of October was crazy for me, between traveling to two Notre Dame football games, the Chicago Marathon and partying like I was still in college again I ended up getting pretty sick.  First I cam down with H1N1 which had me sidelined for a week.  This was followed by a nice hearty cough which developed into pnemonia.  After I beat that down and still had the cough turns out I managed to get bronchitis as well.  Talk about one hell of a trifecta.  I have finally started to beat the cough that developed from all this and have been getting back to the gym at least 4 times a week.  Granted I freak people out with the coughing that can occur while I am working out.

With all of this behind me for the New Year I am ready to really kick off what I am hoping to be one of the best and most challenging race years of my life.  I am currently looking at about 7 marathons and a handful of half marathons as I find some more.  My tenative schedule is shown below, if you have any reccomendations let me know.


3/14 - Rock and Roll Dallas Half
3/20 and 3/21 - Seabrook Trail Half Marathons
4/11 - Big D Marathon Dallas
5/1 - Beaumont Marathon
6/26 - Rock and Roll Seattle Full
10/10 - Chicago Marathon
10/31 - Marine Corps Marathon
11/14 - Rock and Roll San Antonio
12/5 - Rock and Roll Las Vegas

With this race schedule it looks like I will probably run in the ballpark of 2500 miles.  I am planning on taking up yoga 2 days a week to help with my flexibility.  Somehow I also plan on building in strength training, cycling and swimming too.  It will all work out.... I hope.

With all of this I am going to be having fun with trying to have some sembalance of a social/dating life.  This will be an interesting, difficult but worthwhile challenge.  I dont know how much if anything I will write about it in here but who knows it could provide for some interesting comments.

Anyways, if anyone actually still checks this thank you.  I hope that some people may start reading it again to give me some accountability, if not it will still be a great way to track my training.  I do plan on trying to link this to my trainingpeaks.com account and potentially even my facebook account but we shall see.

Have a great day!

Where have these past four years gone...

So I just finished my last undergraduate final, what the hell!?!?! I never thought this day would come. I have been dreaming about going to Notre Dame since I was like 8 and never thought the time would actually come to go to school here. Especially after getting denied the first attempt to come here, but I tried again and got in and now I am going to be receiving my diploma from the greatest university on the planet and I still cannot believe it. Like all great things in my life I am going to commemorate this with a new tattoo, I wish i had a scanner so i could share the potentials that I have been designing. But for now let the week of partying before graduation begin.

Cheers!

Update

So I should have posted this a week or so ago but hey I have a new PR in a half-marathon. I ran in the Holy half Marathon here on campus two Sundays ago and PRed by about 12 minutes with a time of 1:48:19. So that was very exciting and has really spurred my training to a new level especially my run, I think I can go faster so we are working on that. Training is going really well and I am almost about to lose my Clydesdale status which I am not sure is a good or a bad thing, dont get me wrong I would love to be lighter but I am not going to be able to compete with the guys in my age group. Meh, just compete against myself then I guess.

Anyways, with 11 days left of classes in my undergraduate career I am going nuts and trying to finish all the work I have. Which is the reason I am on here avoiding it.

Some questions I need help with

So I am debating a few things right now and could use some advice. I am looking at running the Flying Pig Marathon on May 4th but that same weekend is the Kentucky Derby which I could be going to as well. The training to be ready for the marathon is not going to add too much other than some distance to the Sunday runs. The second question is Clydesdale or not... I am down to just over 205 right now and by race day could easily see my weight down in the mid to high 180's but I could easily add the weight needed to stay at Clydesdale level by adding some weight lifting and adding the muscle. So I am looking for some advice on both of these subjects. Any help would be great.

Why hello everybody

How have you all been? I have been very busy with all sorts of different crazy stuff this past monthish. I cannot believe I let it go over a month without posting, oops! So here are a couple updates on everything that my last posts have brought up but did not conclude. First, it is a bummer but I did not make Team EvoTri, not even the first round, oh well. My second update is on the back injury, the bulging disk is no longer as bulging. For the most part I am back to 100% with only minimal stiffness when on the bike for extended periods of time but that will get better the stronger I get my back and core which is a major part of my current mission. I am in full training mode right now for the Patriot Half in July, I bought a training plan on Trainingpeaks.com and have been sticking to it almost 100%, I have had to move a couple workouts around for scheduling purposes with tests and pool closings.

I am feeling strong and feeling ready to really rock out this season. The rest of my season is still in flux because I still don't know where I am going to be located starting July 14th when I start work. Oh well, such is life. I am thinking about doing the Chicago Marathon because no matter where I am a flight should not cost too much to get there.

We are supposed to be getting some big snow and rain storms here this weekend which is going to really mess up my brick tomorrow, long bike Saturday, and long run Sunday, but again such is life. Even if it is life spent on the trainer. Hope you all are well i am going to try to update more often, ideally daily but that has yet to happen so goal for now is like 3 times a week. We shall see how that pans out...

So about kicking it into high gear...

Doctor's orders, no workout till PT guy gives me the a okay. GOD DAMN!! Probably going to listen for today, try lowering bike seat to see if that helps. First meeting is tomorrow so I will have a better feel if I am going to stay in the running for EvoTri.

Time for a Change and hopefully an Evolution...

So with this weather royally pissing me off and messing with any sort of real variety to my training and thus not sure what types of improvement I am making. I know that I am more than likely improving but I would love to see it on the real thing, not just on my spinner. I am also having huge issues getting up in the morning to hit the pool or run or anything becuase I am still working out the details of a training plan.

So...

Here it is, I am kicking it back into gear. I am going to try out a plan from training peaks using the two week sample that it has and hopefully by March 1st I will have a coach and be a member of team EVOTRI. I have made and submitted my video which will be at the end of this entry for anyone to take a look at and let me know their thoughts. This weekend is the deadline and the first round will begin. It is by popular vote so I hope that I am able to reach enough people to make it. I am going to get to bed earlier so that I am ready to go in the morning for what ever workout I have planned.

And with that here is my video and let the change begin...

Stress Fracture?

So I decided to finally get to the doc today to get an update on what may be wrong with my back. We were able to rule out anything that would need surgery, slipped disk etc. It leaves two options a stress fracture in my back from god knows what, or my leg muscles are too tight causing the muscles in my back to strain which makes it very hard for me to stretch, kind of a catch 22 huh?

So I am on a light next couple of days with massive amounts of stretching to pray my back feels better. We shall see. That and hopefully I will rock out and finish up my EvoTri video.

Until then...

Training Program Woes

I am trying to figure out my newest training program and not sure what I really want to use. The one last year worked well, I was able to finish and that was fantastic but I am not sure if I want to use it again this year or pay for a bit more intensive program to really improve my times. I have the time to work pretty much unlimited during almost any day due to only taking 12 credits, and not caring too much about classes, not that I am not gonna pass them just I do not need to work uber hard in them. That and I have about 2 months completely free before my race... I really am thinking about shelling out some cash and really drilling this one out of the park. See how much time I can shed off my time from last year. I will keep you posted.

Have Mercy

So yeah 4 hours on an indoor trainer is hell as is let me tell you this little story...

So the cycling team decided to have a nice trainer party today becuase we are also having a rave tonight in which we will all be getting slightly, no, completely bombed. We were planning on the four hour tid bit but I did not know about the dvd that would be featured as the center portion of this adventure. We began just spinning and watching Ren and Stimpy for a little over an hour and a half and then it was decided to put in the dvd "Have Mercy" a spinervals specialty. it is ranked a 10 out of 10 on the intensity scale. Add that to the fact that I have only spun for about 2 hours max lately and the fact that this ridiculousness is about 2 hours long... I knew it was gonna be fun. So included you get to see the HR, cadence and speed (which is completely inaccurate becuase its not calibrated).

But anywho a few hours later I am continuing this entry and am fairly intoxicated. The ride was good and i am not sure how I will feel about it tomorrow but we shall find out and that is a post for another time. Adios muchachos.

So yeah

I am sorry to anyone who actually tries to read this on a daily basis, not sure if anyone actually does, but first week of class nuttiness has caused me to get a little lax in the blogging area. My workouts have been kicking ass. Been running in the morning and spinning in the evenings. Not running this morning becuase those muscles need a break and the fact that I was out at Club Feve until 3 last night does not help in the whole get up and go run attitude. But is was a good time, had a couple drinks, danced a little (well if you can call what I was doing dancing), played some shuffle board, and caught up with a crowd i rarely see anymore, my friends who go out and party and drink. So all in all a good time. planning on getting a solid spin in this afternoon and relaxing tonight. WE have a cycling team party on saturday which I will be attending and drinking a fair amount so trying to plan a long cycling team spin for earlier that day. prepping my video to try to join team EvoTri I will post it here when I finish it up . Adios everyone

Qiuck Post

I am in the middle of packing my car for my last trip out to South Bend to my final semester at Notre Dame. This is so surreal I don't even know what to say. I did not have a chance to workout today but have been busy so its an active day off. Prob wont get a workout in tomorrow but possible if we make good time getting out there. Anyways back to packing I go...

So yeah about this posting everyday

So as you can tell posting everyday has begun. I assume that once I get myself back to school I will have a much more set schedule and will be able to hit this blog up everyday even better than now. As for how training is going so far this week, it is going well. I am already seeing fat loss according to the scale, weight loss not yet but that has to do with me upping my water intake again so that I am staying more hydrated and am able to have better workouts. I am trying to decide what plan I am going to use for my training or my half ironman, right now it is kind of haphazard just get some volume in to begin as I build up my wealth of knowledge on plans again. Any suggestions are always welcomed.

New Year horrible off season

So my off season fell apart and well I know I can make all sorts of different excuses but none of them are even going to begin to justify it to myself. I know i screwed up, I did not make the time or the effort to keep myself at the fitness level I was at. I am now officially registered for the Patriot Triathlon on July 5th of this year, it is a half-iron distance tri, out of Freetown, MA. I raced it last year and am looking to really improve my time. I know the spring holds a lot of interesting opportunities for me: I am now on the cycling team at school so that means I will have the opportunity to race about 8 weekends this spring if I want to. I also am looking for a marathon to run in the April to May time frame, there is a half marathon run on campus in the spring along with countless 5Ks which I am sure I will run a fair amount of. And lastly the biggest opportunity, I graduate this spring and move on to an actual career. I already have a job so i do not need to worry about that which is wicked nice, and I also know that I have about 2 months off before my half ironman in which I am going to have nothing else to do except train (very giddy about that). I am planning on being much better with this blog, updating on a daily basis even if it is just something as simple as today's workouts are gonna suck or something like that. For now I am off to the gym shortly to build my stamina back up which I do not think will take to long, the hardest part is going to be burning off the weight I added, about 10 lbs. So for now I will catch you later, maybe even running outside it is gorgeous out again today.

Hi everyone, its been a while

So I haven't updated lately because well my life has been go, go, go for the past few weeks and even the little things like sleeping have taken the back seat to Lab Reports, Problem Sets, tests and review sessions for Finals. My training has been greatly reduced but I am getting it in when I can, it has been hard to really find the motivation without being signed up for any races yet. I know that Ironman opened up a new race in November in AZ but after my debacle with attempting to sign up for IMFL and dealing with the anger and crapola that caused, I decided Ironman would have to wait a year. This really does make more sense in the end. In a little over six months from now I will be starting a new job and working some crazy hours in an area that I don't even know yet.

So this brings me to my "plan" for next season. I have two races that I know I am doing for sure: The Holy Half Marathon here at Notre Dame, they haven't released a date yet and the Patriot Half Ironman in Freetown, MA on July 5th. I am looking for a Spring and Fall full Marathon and a possible fall Half-ironman. And maybe throwing in some Shorter 5Ks or 10Ks or half marathons. I will also be racing for the Notre Dame cycling team starting in February, thats going to be some cold races.

So in recap, training is slowly beginning again but far from full swing. I am also pretty much a TTW challenge dropout now because of how poor my training has been with sickness injury and time, but congrats to everyone who has kept it up. I also hope to be updating more.

Oh yeah, what I am doing with all the money I saved not being able to register for Ironman, season pass to Sunday River, ME for when I am home to get back on my snowboard and really shred it up. I have to get my legs back into great shape again quick, they are pretty solid right now but not ideal.