My Daughter Mikayla running a kids race

Here is a video of my daughter Mikayla (almost 4 years old) running a kids race in Central Park on 7/18/10. Running next to her is her friend and classmate Annika. Listen closely to the annoucer commenting on their race, all the way to the end as they tied for first place.

Week 6 of 2010 Chicago Marathon Training Summary

I just completed week 6 of my 2010 Chicago Marathon training.  This week was tough, as I worked 100 hours this week (yes 100, it is not a typo).  At least 13 hours a day all 7 days this week, with 3 days of more than 16 hours.  A brutal week.  I barely saw my family at all the entire week, which was the worst. My mom was also in town visiting for her birthday, so I hardly spent any time with her, which was a bummer (although it was great having her here because she got to spend some quality time with my kids while I was working and the kids loved it!)  I had Rush tickets at Jones Beach for Saturday night (7/24/10) with my friend NN, and at the last minute I had to cancel (I felt guilty about leaving the rest of my team behind in the office when we still had a ton of work to do while I would be watching the show) plus, I was unable to go to the Walking with Dinosaurs show at Madison Square Garden with my family and some clients (although I heard everybody had a great time!). 

On the swim/bike/run front, working 100 hours this week made it very tough to get my workouts in, but I did it, always is a severely deprived sleep state.

I got 5 workouts in this week - 4 runs (total 28 miles) and 1 bike ride (30 miles).  My long run was 12 miles this week, in 85 degree heat with near 100% humidity.  Not fun, and as I was running, I thought to myself more than a few times "do I really want to keep running marathons?  6 miles seems like a long way, let alone 12 miles or 26.2 miles!".  Then I thought "do I really want to do an Ironman someday?  If I get a hot day, I'm going to be miserable!"

Here is a summary of the week:

Monday - OFF

Tuesday - 4.49 mile run, 8:10 pace, 158 average heart rate.  Slept only 6 hours the night before.

Wednesday - 6 mile run, 8:41 pace, 154 average heart rate.  Slept only 5 hours the night before (worked until after midnight the night before).

Thursday - 6 mile run, 8:37 pace, 154 heart rate.  Slept only 5 hours the night before (worked until after midnight the night before).

Friday - 30.2 mile bike ride of Central Park (5 loops) with my friend MH - 18.5 miles per hour (last loop approximately 20.1 mph), average heart rate 136, cadence 71, elevation gain 1,024 feet.   Slept less than 5 hours last night, up at 5am and in Central Park by 5:37 A.M.

Saturday - 12 mile long run, 8:58 pace, 158 average heart rate.  85 degrees, near 100% humidity, very muggy.  Stopped many times to drink water, went easy.  Felt good after the run.  Slept 7 hours last night after working until about 11pm.

Sunday - OFF.  Slept 7 hours last night.

I hope to catch up on my sleep this week!

Since I missed the Rush show last night, I looked for a video or two from the Jones Beach show last night.  I found this one, a very high quality HD video of the show.  These guys rock, this is a great video, check it out (La Villa Strangiato).

Pictures from my First Triathlon - 7/7/10

Here is the Brightroom pictures from my first triathlon - the Pat Griskus sprint tri in Middlebury, CT

At the start of the bike ride...

Check out those cool goggles.....I did finish in front of at least 1 guy (look closely)  :)

Man am I tired, thirsty, and hot!

Out for a nice, hilly ride....

Happy to be almost done, the finish line is 50 yards away...

My first triathlon is complete!!!!!

Feeling the heat (90+ degrees and humidity near 100%) - need water!

In the back trying to avoid the chaos (I'm all the way in the back)

Adjusting my goggles before the race..

Taking it all in, nervously......

Trying to avoid a rock while entering in the water...

Week 5 of Chicago Marathon Training is complete - plus some videos

Worked out 6 days this week - 4 runs, 1 bike, and 1 swim. Ran a 4 mile race on Saturday (7:28 pace, 176 average heart rate, it was 83 degrees and 90% humidity).  I ran 3 miles very easy before the 4 mile race (my marathon schedule had my long run at 7 miles this week).  Starting this weekend, my long runs generally range between 12-20 miles over the next 9 weeks.

Fun stuff - saw Iron Maiden at MSG this week (see the video I took below, who knew that Iron Maiden could still fill 17,000+ seats?), had a gig at our guitar player's house on Long Island for a BBQ, and checked out the 2010 Nautica New York City Triathlon (videos below also).

On Sunday, I went to check out the 2010 Nautica New York City Triathlon (an Olympic distance tri - 0.9 mile swim, 40k bike, 10-k run).  I wanted to do this race this year, but the registration was at 12:01 A.M. on 11/1/09, and I was in bed sleeping before the NYC marathon.  The race sold out in 7 minutes (they will lottery it for 2011).  My sinister side says that they intentionally scheduled the registration on the night of the marathon so marathon runners would be sleeping and therefore not get in!

So, I went down to the Hudson river (very close to our apartment) to check out the race.  I arrived at 5:55 A.M., as my friend AL, an elite woman triathlete, had a wave start time of 5:56 A.M (she later finished 2nd among all elites...congrats AL!!!).  My friend MH also was doing the event, and his wave time started at 7:33 A.M. (men 35-39 years old), so I had time to take some video of the swim.  Here are a few.

A video of the middle of the swim - the current was so strong that if swimmers got in the water without holding onto the rope, they started floating downstream! 

The middle of the Men's 35-39 year old swim.




The start of the Men's 35-39 wave start.  Note the rope that the guys in the water are holding on to in order to keep themselves from floating downstream.  I need that kind of current for my next tri!




Another shot of the swim....





When I asked them what this was for, they said "when people get anxious about the swim".  I said, "what about when one gets anxious during the swim?"  :)

Iron Maiden Concert (taken with my Iphone 4) - these guys rock




Here is a summary of the week:

Monday - 41 minute swim, 1 mile.

Tuesday - 4.55 mile run, 8:20 pace, 154 average heart rate

Wednesday - 5.11 mile run, 8:24 pace, 155 average heart rate

Thursday - 6 mile run, 8:38 pace, 148 heart rate

Friday - OFF

Saturday - 4 mile race (7:28 pace, 176 heart rate), ran 3 miles at 9:36 per mile pace and a 142 heart rate (total 7 miles today)

Sunday - Very easy 30 minute bike ride around the upper west side and central park

Ran approximately 23 miles, knees feel great.

Week 4 of Chicago Marathon Training Summary

Week 4 (7/4-7/11/10) of my Chicago Marathon Training is complete.

I had a good week, getting in 6 workouts in 6 days:  4 runs, 1 bike, and 1 swim.  Included in these workouts were 2 races this week - my first Triathlon (a sprint in Middlebury, CT) and a 10-K run in Central Park (my 8th race this year, only one more to go to reach the 9 races required for automatic entry into the 2011 NYC Marathon, although I still need to volunteer for 1 event).

I started to feel a little fatigue in my knees at the end of the week, so I took my long run on Saturday easy (10.6 miles, including the 10-K race) as well as my long bike ride on Sunday very easy (30 miles, 5 loops of Central Park, average heart rate was only 125 with a max of 159, including the tough great hill).

Here is a summary of the week:

Monday - 20 minute swim, 1/2 mile.  Bum very sore from 62 mile bike ride the day before

Tuesday - 4.55 mile run, 8:38 pace, 152 average heart rate

Wednesday - Pat Griskus Sprint Triathlon - 1 hour, 30 minutes (swim, bike, run) - half mile swim, 10.5 mile bike, 5-K run

Thursday - OFF

Friday - 5.19 mile run, 8:28 pace, 153 heart rate (peak heart rate 169)

Saturday - 10.59 mile run - 4.32 miles first, then a 10-K race in Central Park at a very easy pace of 8:36 per mile (finishing the last mile at under 7 minutes per mile).  I planned on running this race easy, but when I got to Central Park, I realized that I left the chip to record my time on my other pair of shoes (I changed them right before I left).  I didn't realize this until I got 1 mile into my run in Central Park, so I ran home fast, changed shoes, and ran up to 100th street on the east side to start the race.  I arrived at Central Park at the race start at 8:56 A.M., 4 minutes before race time, so my corral was closed and I ended up starting the race near the back of crowd.  When the race started, the "heard" of people I was with started out at about a 9:50 per mile pace for the first mile, which was awesome!  I needed to run slower anyway, so starting out very slow was perfect.  I felt so strong at the end of the race that I was easily able to run a sub 7 minute per mile pace to finish the race, which felt great.

Sunday - 30 mile bike ride in Central Park (5 loops) with my friend MH (who is doing the Nautica Olympic tri in NYC on 7/18, which I am very jealous of).  We took it extremely easy, averaging 17.4 miles per hour.   My average heart rate was 125 (peak heart rate 159, which is really low and I am happy about it).  We had 993 feet of elevation gain and my average cadence was 68.

Also signed up to do a sprint triathlon at Greenwood lake with MH on 9/12 and I am actively looking for some more Tris to do!

First Triathlon - The Pat Griskus sprint triathlon in Middlebury, CT

Today, Wednesday July 7, 2010, I did my first triathlon, The Pat Griskus sprint triathlon in Middlebury, Connecticut. This tri was recommended to me by a friend of a friend, and the race was said to be a good, well-run, USA Triathlon (USAT) sanctioned race.  It was approximately 80 miles from our apartment and the race started at 6 P.M.

The race consisted of a 0.5 mile swim, a 10.5 mile bike ride, and a 5-K race (3.1 miles, events done in the order listed here).  The race website says "The Sprint distance starts with a half-mile swim in spring-fed Lake Quassapaug, enjoy the challenging 10.5 mile bike around the lake, and the out-and-back 3.1 mile run."  I'd come to find out later that the bike ride was extremely challenging, as it was extremely hilly and very tough.

I got there early to register, get my race numbers for my bike and run, to get body marked (where the wrote 194 on my arm and leg along with "FT" to brand me as a "first timer", a phrase that I heard yelled at me while I was running a few times), and most importantly to set up my bike in the transition area, along with my shoes, race belt, watch, helmet, swimming goggles, and sun glasses (for the bike portion).  There were approximately 675 participants including relay teams (where teams of 3 split up each of the 3 events evenly) and I saw everything from super expensive road bikes to one dude with an old mountain bike (which I saw as he was passing me on the bike course).   As I had never done a tri before, I asked people around me a lot of questions to get set up. What was really cool was that everybody was really nice and was willing to help me (in fact, people actually seemed like they wanted to help me and the other 150 or so first timers). There was a guy next to me, DL, 54, also from Manhattan that I hung out with (he ended up with an extremely impressive time of 1:17:00, crushing me, 4th in his age group, just missing a 3rd place first timer medal). There was a woman with an Ironman bag, so I talked to her for a while, asking her about the Ironman since I'd like to do one someday, and she was more than open with me (unknown to me at the time, she is an extremely talented triathlete and she ended up winning the woman's race today by 2 seconds).  I love running and I say "hi" to everybody I run by. Most of the time, people just ignore me without even an acknowledgement, which I never understand. Some have suggested to me that it is because many runners are loners. Who knows. What I do know is that every triathlete that I was around today was friendly, which was a breath of fresh air.

I rented a Blue Seventy wetsuit for the race ($80, which I ended up applying to the $300 cost of the wetsuit when I bought it after the race). The temperature was around 90 and the water temp was 75, so they encouraged first timers to wear a wet suit to get the benefit of improved buoyancy in the water. Being a weak swimmer, I'll take all of the help I can get, so at 5:45 I put on the wetsuit and felt instantly like I had a 108 degree fever, as the wetsuit was hot!!! (I'd never worn a wetsuit before or done an open water swim before). Prior to 5:45, I did get in the water to swim without my wetsuit, and the water was very nice, and frankly I would have been fine without a wetsuit, but I really wanted the help.  So, being super hot with my wetsuit on and about 21 minutes until my wave would start swimming (wave 3, at 6:06 P.M., each wave being spaced 3 minutes apart), I jumped in the water to stay cool. The wetsuit was so buoyant that I floated without hardly doing anything!  Awesome, I thought to myself.

Not being a strong swimmer with little experience (until 4 weeks ago I hadn't swam lengths since high school), and also because all of my tri friends said the swim is like a war zone with people pushing, grabbing, scratching, dunking, and pulling on each other, I decided to hang at the back of my wave when our wave started. I also intended on being on the side to stay out of the "war zone". So when the race started, I calmly and very nervously walked into the water as many in my wave (which was the Masters wave that included people from 40-70+ years old) ran into the water to establish a position out in front of everybody. As I was walking in the water, I was so far to the side that there were a bunch of humongous rocks, and for a minute I thought to myself "great, now I'm going to sprain my ankle before I even start racing". Luckily, I was able to get in the water safely and I started swimming.

My tri friends had also prepared me for the worst at the beginning of the swam.  One of my friends CH said that he wanted to stop swimming within a few minutes of starting (he eventually pushed through his panic).  Another one of my friends, PN, said that I should expect to hit the wall at about 100 meters.

tri (TBD), which will probably be to start toward the front of my wave to avoid this problem, but then I'll be the guy getting pummeled).  So, I'd say it took me 3-4 minutes of stopping and starting to get around a group of swimmers to get back into my grove again.  At this point, I was already at the turnaround point (about 400 meters of the 800 meters swim).  My friends had warned me about being too close to the buoy, as it gets extremely crowded there, but luckily it wasn't too crowded when I got there.  Then I made the turn back toward the beach, sighted it, and kept swimming.  At about the 500 meters point, I hit a wall, big time!  All that energy that I used to get around people had finally caught up to me.  I pulled up to tread water to get my bearings.  The panic that my friends predicted had arrived.  I looked over at the guys on the boats watching us swim and thought to myself "man, I really want to stop swimming, I really don't want to swim anymore".  At this point, 300 meters seemed like 100 miles to me.  I thought to myself "if I were running, I could just walk, and that would be it", but when you are swimming, and you are exhausted (my lungs where wheezing loudly as I was breathing very heavy with anxiety), even treading water is tough.  I thought to myself "get a grip, all of your friends told you that this would happen, so swim easy for a minute or two until you get your bearings back".  So, I did the side stroke (I thought about doing the backstroke as many had recommended to me but I hadn't practiced that since I was a kid, so that was out).  The water was a little wavy, which made the side stroke tough, but I started moving again.  I also saw many other swimmers around me struggling just like I was, so that helped me recover.  I tread water a few more times until I got my confidence back, and then started swimming again (albeit not totally straight).  I got back into my groove and finished strong back to the beach.  I walked out of the water and walked to the transition area.

My swim split came in at 22:03, which easily included 90 seconds of walking to the transition area (which was included in my swim time because the transition mat for the swim time was well up a hill), so it took me around 20 minutes to swim 800 meters, which given that I stopped for at least 3 minutes, I was very happy with (I had been swimming a mile in a pool in 41 minutes consistently, so I expected to be much slower in the open water).  The wetsuit definitely helped.

Transition 1 (T1) time:  2:29

I took off the top of my wetsuit as I walked to the transition area, got some water, and got to my bike.  Of course, not having ever worn a wetsuit before, I struggled big time to get it off, so I had to sit down to pull it off.  I put on my shirt, helmet, sunglasses, shoes, heart rate monitor, and I was off!  I felt strange (like I always do after swimming), but overall pretty good.  I got on the bike and started cruising.  I was averaging over 21.6 miles per hour for the first 4 miles of the 10.5 mile course, but then the hills started.  They were brutal and I wasn't ready for them (even though I have been training on River Road and on 9W in New Jersey which are very hilly).  I was pushing and passing a lot of people even though it was hard, but I ran out of water at around mile 6 (I had 2 water bottles with me but I was extremely hot from the swim), and they don't provide water on the bike course.  So, I pushed through the bike ride, each time running into a new hill (I said "UGH!" along with everybody else as each new hill came up).  The rest of the ride was extremely hilly, and I ended up averaging 17 miles per hour for the entire ride (which I was working for, as my average heart rate for the bike ride was 172, peak of 177).  Normally when I ride, my average heart rate is in the mid 140s.  I'm sure that they heat played a huge roll in pushing up my heart rate (as did the hills).

Bike time:  38:06, average heart rate 172, average speed approximately 17 miles per hour, 748 feet of elevation gain (i.e., a hilly course for 10.5 miles!)

Transition 2:  I got off the bike, racked it, put on my running shoes, and took off.  As I started running, I felt numb, barely feeling my legs.  I got some water, which was filled with ice (which I really appreciated), and headed toward the run.

Transition 2 (T2) time:  1:32

As I started my run, I couldn't really feel my legs, similar to the way I feel at mile 20 of a marathon.  I told my legs to keep pushing, and I looked down at my watch for my pace.  It said 8:36 per mile.  "wow, I thought to myself, it feels like I am running a 20:00 minute per mile pace".  I kept pushing, as most of mile 1 was downhill (and frankly, all I could think about was how much I did NOT want to run back up the steep hill I was running down on my way back on the out and back course).  My mile 1 split was 8:17 per mile.  At this point, I was exhausted, but I was having a blast.  I had a big smile on my face and was really enjoying it.  I thought to myself "this is much harder than I thought it would be, I really love this".  Mile 2 had some much needed Gatorade and water, which I walked to consume, then ran to the turnaround point, knowing that I would be able to walk at the water/Gatorade station on the way back.  Mile 2 split 8:45 (which was an accomplishment for me given how exhausted and hot I was).  Mile 3 had that hill I mentioned, and as I started running up it, I noticed that every single person (except for 1 that was running slower than I can walk) was walking up the hill, so I decided to walk it also.  Even though I was walking, my heart rate was still in the 170s.  I was spent. My mile 3 split was 9:47 per mile despite walking up the hill, and I sprinted the last 0.1 mile to finish.

Run split:  26:50, around 8:50 per mile, average heart rate 173.

Overall time 1 hour, 30 minutes, 57 seconds, good for 246th place and 28 out of 42 in my age group.

Overall, I loved it and am looking forward to doing many more triathlons.  My goal was to have a good time and finish, so I was happy that I logged an OK time

Before the race in the transition area....

The transition area..

The swim course - I started on the left, swam to the end of the yellow buoys, and then swam down the middle to the finish

The road to run up after the swim to get to the transition area (or, in my case, to walk up after the swim)

the grass to run up to get to the transition area (or, in my case, to walk up after the swim)...

The medals they gave to "First Timers".  Very cool!

Roll it out

When I train for a marathon, I use a foam roller to "roll out" my IT bands, quads, and hamstrings on a daily basis. One day, both of my daughters tried to imitate me rolling it out. Here is a video of my younger daughter rolling it out at 17 months old (she started doing this on her own!)




I have recently purchased a Trigger Point Foam Roller, which I highly recommend, as it is firm and doesn't break down like my last 2 foam rollers.