Bike Swim

Good morning. Got up at 4:40. Beat the Sun out the door and rode by moonlight/headlight on the mountain bike for 30 min (Point and back) and then did 3350 yards in the pool with drills over the course of 1:40 and then rode home. I am excited to meet the daughter of our dear friends this afternoon too. :D

Just saw this today

Feeling great this morning

I had a huge swim yesterday in the Masters Class. Did the whole program (less one sprint - curse you time!) for a total of 3200 yards swum. Then at lunch I did a 45 min beach run and played in the waves off the beach club. Had a life guard that was worried when he saw I was in a riptide. Waved to me - so I swam out and came into talk with him. He said he just wanted to check my stroke and see that I wasn't in any trouble, wasn't worried when he saw me actually swim.

What I am doing...

Currently I am watching the live feed of the Womens Triathlon from Beijing. Pretty cool. The swim leg is in an amazing reservoir. ON bikes now. Back to live feed!!!

Well, well - look what showed up in my inbox

The good stuff starts half way down :) :) :)

August MESP Newsletter

Dear Athlete: MESP is proud to introduce you to our new monthly newsletter! We will keep you posted on the going’s on in the event world, keep you updated on the latest and greatest that MESP has to offer and introduce you to some of the folks who make our events so unique. Our motto is to “make a difference in people’s lives” – thanks for joining us as we continue to create and produce some of the most fun and enjoyable athletic events around the country ! If you get a chance – please click over to our South Beach website, we recently posted the event video up there – it was one of the coolest races we have been involved with, in a long time. The weather, the food, the course and amazing warm ocean swim all combined for a great day – so join us in Miami Beach, if you can – next year ! Take Care and have a great time working out ! Michael Epstein President MESP

Top Fundraiser: Are you the Chicken or the Pig?

“The pig and the chicken were on their way to breakfast, trying to decide what to have. When chicken said, ''Let's have ham and eggs.'' The pig then replied, ''That's fine for you, it's a small donation on your part, but it's a total sacrifice for me.'' –Unknown Rich Iazzetta the top fundraiser in the Nautica Malibu Triathlon presented by Toyota, who has almost reached his goal of $10,000, displays this quote on his fundraising page. When asked of the meaning he explains, “I wanted people to understand that they just had to give a little; that I would do the work of asking for donations, collecting money, training and competing in a triathlon!” His original goal was $5000, but he continued to get donations and increased his goal to $7,500 and finally $10,000. His secret; a personalized donation email to family, friends and clients with the incentive that he would donate $50.00 if anyone donated over $100.00. Talk about sacrifices! Rich has already donated over $3000. This is Rich’s first time fundraising with the Nautica Malibu Triathlon. He was motivated by his grandmother’s recent passing. Rich and his family in NY are gathering to celebrate his grandmother’s life on what would have been her 100th birthday and Rich is raising the $10,000 in her honor. Rich found his fundraising success through starting early, personalizing his letters, and finding creative ways to motivate people to give! If you haven’t had time to start your fundraising efforts for CHLA, click on the following link for more tips on how to be successful. http://www.fundraiserinsight.org/articles/neverfailfundraising.html And remember whether you’re the chicken or the pig, every dollar goes towards children at CHLA!

Athlete Feature: Finishing is Winning!

The Nautica Malibu Triathlon presented by Toyota not only brings out elite athletes, celebrities, challenged athletes and those triathletes who just enjoy the weekend challenge, but it also brings out the first time triathletes who overcome obstacles to race Malibu. Andy Mattick, a local Pastor in Malibu, is one of those first timers. After cheering on the 2007 athletes he was inspired to try the race. His first challenge; he was out of shape, weighing 360lbs, and if that wasn’t enough, he didn’t even own a bike. After dropping 35lbs while training and finding a used bike, he quietly went to register. Like other athletes, Andy found that regular race registration was sold out, which became his second obstacle. His church community helped purchase a charity slot and became the official sponsor of “Team Rev. Big Dog.” Andy’s last hurdle will be the triathlon. He is continuing to train, lose weight and enjoy his new healthy lifestyle. Andy’s goal isn’t to win his first triathlon, but he desires to cross the finish line that morning and ride up the block a hundred yards to proudly preach a sermon wearing his Nautica Malibu Triathlon finisher’s medal.

Saturday

Got up this morning and did the Master's Swim. I was not in the mood for all the breaststroke that the instructions called for so I focused on form and distance. I did my first continuous mile. 1800 yards straight - 72 laps. Oh Yeah!

Neglected you Thursday...

So here is my training log from BT for the day...

	34m 1000.00 yards -----
6:15 AM

Open Water Swim (OWS)

	1h 08m ----- -----	Avg HR: 138 Max HR: 171
5:45 PM

Spin Class

Swam open water with my trainer - strong after a warm up, and then did some body surfing and duck diving to get more comfortable in the ocean waves.

Friday: I rested but got a physical done. In good shape here.

Swam today

Did not make it up for the masters class (my children have decided to give up sleeping for the rest of the summer apparently), so I swam on my lunch. Did a 200 warmup, and then 1100 (29:31). Felt good.

Yesterday I got to the gym and did 30 min elliptical and 45 min of strength and core training.

What's that? Oh yeah. BAM!

Below is my training log entry for the day :D :D :D :D :D

	28m 53s 1250.00 yards 02m 19s /100 yards	Avg HR: 141 Max HR: 150
6:32 AM

Masters swim. Did a 200 warmup and then the 1250 straight.

	1h 09m 47s 18.00 miles 15.48 Mi/hr	Avg HR: 155 Max HR: 182
7:19 AM

Malibu tri course, beach, out PCH to Carillo and back

	53m 32s 4.00 miles 13m 23s/Mi	Avg HR: 167 Max HR: 176
8:35 AM

Race course along strand

OK - so... technically I am not a triathlete until I have raced, but I did the whole darn distance back to back to back today. Felt great to do. Legs a little dead in the last mile, but ran through it.

So Brett Favre is on the NY Jets now huh?

Boy being at camp for a week means you are definitely out of touch. In other non-tri related news, I am really enjoying the Olympics coverage. Especially the coverage of the disciplines I am working on.

I exercised yesterday and am resting today. To be honest, I felt like yesterday's double was a bust. I am hoping that my system was just tired out from camp, but I only went half of the masters class for about 35 min of swimming, and only ran 30 min instead of the hour I set out to do. Just felt cruddy...and a little depressed. Saw a lot of tri clubs out practicing on Saturday and felt pretty lonely out there.

On a cheerier note, I got my tri shorts in the mail yesterday :) They are shorts to be worn under my wet suit that are quick dry, have a little padding for the bike, but are leaner so that I can run in them. Very cool! B)

Back from Camp!

It was a success. The whole family even survived, not too worse for wear.

In the interest of time I am going to copy my training log from BT over here so you can track what I did for the week. Just spent 30 min updating it.

Fri, Aug 8 2008

Wt. 308

	23m 08s ----- 8.63 Mi/hr	Avg HR: 146 Max HR: 172
6:17 AM

Biked same road - less distance

	27m 43s ----- 15m 19s/Mi	Avg HR: 158 Max HR: 170
6:42 AM

Ran same road - less distance

	15m 09s ----- -----	Avg HR: 138 Max HR: 156
7:10 AM

Thu, Aug 7 2008

Rested - mostly because sharing a room with my kids is the suck.

Wed, Aug 6 2008

Wt. 308

	34m 45s 5.00 miles 8.63 Mi/hr	Avg HR: 154 Max HR: 182
6:00 AM

So while at camp in mountains rode up a trail road on my mountain bike. 25 min uphill, nine back down. :)

	35m 13s 2.30 miles 15m 19s/Mi	Avg HR: 160 Max HR: 171
6:50 AM

Ran on same trail road in for 1.15, uphill for 20, down for 15.13.

Also did 12 min of band strength exercises between.

Tue, Aug 5 2008

16m 51s ----- -----

Mon, Aug 4 2008

	1h 15m 40s 2.77 miles -----	Avg HR: 122 Max HR: 157
6:45 AM

Bah - this was a total bust. Bike flatted in mountains after a 2.75 mi downhill. It was then that I realized my saddlebag was still in the rental car...

Left for camp this day - just updated log for week.

more cat pictures

And it sort of counts as running...

So I did the whole length of the run section as my long run today. 4 miles all told, no stopping. I kept my HR between 155-170 and plodded along at 13 min-ish mile. Sigh. At least I finished and set a benchmark for myself. Ran in my new kicks - pretty sweet!

53:54 time
Avg 167
Max 179 (achieved when I cranked it up for the last 100 yds or so)

Then I power napped and now I am cleaning and packing for camp.

Saturday

Got in my masters swim this morning. 62 minutes of swimming and drills, 2100 total yards, avg HR of 139. Good times. I realized this morning that I am now required to say that my first triathlon is NEXT MONTH!!!

AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!

:)

I am ready. Just helping out with the kiddos at the moment and then I am headed out for a long ride.

Rest Happy Rest

I am enjoying an off day. I did however buy some new running kicks today. My middle school youth group raised $100 to offset the cost. :D

Been a good day

So its Thursday here. I got up early to see the SSP team off from our church and then went out to train.

I did 15 min OWS

a 62 min ride (14.7 mi out to Carillo and back) with an avg HR of 152

And a 31 min run (to tower 4 and back to the lifeguard station) with avg HR of 159

A

Big shout out to Connor, Brooks, Kat, and the folks at Spoke N Wheel for getting my ride bike back in order. Have the 700x25s back on, extra tubes, a chain cleaning kit, and I am ready to ROCK!!! Woohoo - reporting on a road ride tomorrow!

This morning I swam. Did a 600 yd warmup and then swam a 750 before running home. Cam had to get to church early today. Praying for her kids' performances tonight.

A

My Tri Story

Just keep swimming

So yesterday I swam at Masters for a total of 2200 yards. Yeah me :) Today I am off for a ride and then strength training. We had an earthquake today. I think it convinced me I have an inner ear issue as the 20 secs of rolling gave me a massive headache. Sigh... Working on a video for BeginnerTriathlete. I will share it with you later.


A

SWIMMING FOR ONE THOUSAND, ALEX.

Answer: What is the distance in yards I swam continuously for the first time this morning?

You are correct.

Took 23:51 but no stopping. Tri distance is 880, so being strong through at least 1K is a must.

Fighting a cold...

So I took a rest day yesterday. This morning, I got up and rode for 40 min (avg HR 139)on the mountain bike (hoping to do the road bike tires soon) including a trip up Trancas Canyon up to La Gloria. Someday I will make it to the top. And then I ran for 22 min (avg HR 157). I ran in the neighborhood, including up some side streets. Did a bit of climbing. Was a good workout. Tomorrow is Masters Swim (shooting to do 600-700 straight, race is 880).

Oh and logged into this today...

Masters Swim today

Yeah for me! Caught up with my exercise log and I had a heck of a swim this morning.

I did:

500 yd warm up free
4x50 @ 1:04-1:10
100 - streamlines
100 - Skates
4 x 50 @ :59 - :1:04
3 sets of 100 + 75 + 50 + 25

:)

1850 total yards (the length of the pool 74 times) is certainly a personal best for me :) :) :)


(ooh and possibly an exciting development about my training story...more to come)

Two cases of pink eye and a trip to vegas = ?

A blogger behind! Yikes - coming up on two weeks of inactive posting. Shame on me!

Be not dismayed, I am not out of the training loop. I just have not sat still long enough to track it all. So this post will be a quick rundown of my training gap and a reestablishment of the pattern of blogging. So, strap in - here is a breakdown of my calendar:

July 9: Masters Swim class for 35 min total of swimming
July 10: Rest
July 11: 25 min of running (again straight through - see July 8 post below)
26 min of strength and core training
July 12: Master's swim for 40 min (followed by a reallllllly long day at church supervising a rental group, then a BBQ for VBS and then a campout at church before worship the next morning)
July 13: Church in morning (went well, kids were fantastic) and then off to Las Vegas in afternoon
July 14: Much goofing ensued, training not-so-much
July 15: 30 min of lap swimming in pool (avg HR 130)
43.5 min of running straight (in Vegas on streets slow decent out, slow climb back :) but max HR of 177, Avg of 160).
July 16: Caught early flight home to deal with the pink eye outbreak in our home - Jackson home 2 days, Maddie home one.
Hit gym at night 40 min of Elliptical work Avg HR 139
July 17: 45 min run on beach Avg HR 148
15 min of stretch and core work
July 18: 45 min of stationary bike (still need to replace tire... :( ) Avg HR 139
26 min on AMT Avg HR 154
July 19: Masters Swim 40 min
July 20: REST
July 21: Paddleboard...performance improving, inner ear and balance issues are not - had a severe headache afterward and vomited all over PCH - WOOHOO!
July 22: 31 min run on beach Avg HR 160
26 min strength training Avg HR 150 (heavier weights - mostly on balance ball)

And I am back...and caught up!

So today, I did a double this morning: run and core/strength training.

I hit the beach by about 7:00 and jogged for 30 minutes. 30 minutes straight for me this time, no walk intervals. It was great! I ran "within myself" listening to music, focusing on breathing and not trying to run faster than I needed. I kept my HR well within a nice average for me. My max was 163 and my average was 150. It felt great to sustain it the whole time. It was also nice to be the only one out and around (except for the occasional surfer).

Then I hit Malibu Fitness for some strength and core work. It lasted 40 minutes and if you are not a fan of "gym speak" then by all means, be done with this post. :)

I did:

Straight arm pulldowns on a core disc: 15x20#, 20x20#, 20x35#
Torso twists with my arm static at hip on half ball: (12x30#, 15x20#x3) x2 (one sided)
Diagonal single arm cross body pulls to hip on ball: (20x20#x2) x3
Bent position Pull backs on ball: 15x20#x3, 10x20
Lat pulldowns: 10x95#, 3x125#, Dropset: 2x155, 2x140, 3x125, 5x110, 7x95, 8x80, 10x65
Chest press: 10x110, 3x155, Dropset: 2x170, 3x155, 3x140, 4x125,4x110,5x95, 6x80, 10x65

Monday

After resting on Sunday, after a great morning in church, I hit the beach at 6 a.m. on Monday for paddleboarding. Now it is improving...but I am still struggling with balance and core issues and staying on the stinking board. But nonetheless, it was a good time with Devo and we looked ahead to how to improve core strengthening in my workouts ahead. HR wise I hit a max of 174, averaged 132, and spent 15 min between 133-151, with much of that being above.