2009 Feaster Five

Here is a quick post of the results from this mornings race in Andover, MA

Time: 28:48
Pace: 5:48 / mile
18th Overall out of 2,734
9th Age Group M20-29 out of 228

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO EVERYONE!

A Call to Honor: A Triathlon in Memory of Rick Cashin

Official Results: 2nd OA, 1st AG M30 and under; 46:32

Pre-Race
The night before this race I only had 4 hours of sleep since Jess and I were at a wedding the night before. Despite the few hours of sleep I actually didn't feel tired that morning and the good thing about this race was that it was only a 10 minute drive to the start because the race was in Boxford at Stiles Pond, which is the next town over from where we live. Also, Stiles Pond is where my triathlon group, Tri-Fury does most of there open water training sessions and where I usually do my open water swims, but this year I've only made it out there twice.

Swim 1/4 Mile: 5th OA; 5:53 (1:27/100m)
I was in the first swim wave for this race along with everyone under the age of 30 and all the relays. With the race being small enough it wasn't a crowded swim start which was nice so I started out at the front. The swim was a rectangular clockwise swim. I got out to the first buoy faster than I thought and felt great and I was in 3rd or 4th heading to the 2nd buoy. I had predicted to finish the swim in about 6:30 because that was about the pace I was swimming this year, but I ended up being faster than I though.

Bike 10.5 Miles: 2nd OA; 31:39 (28:53 - 21.8 MPH)
My official time was 31:39, but this includes my T-1 and T-2 times so this is why the 31:39 seems slower than I actually was. I was excited to get to the bike leg of the race since I've really enjoyed this portion of racing this year. After exiting T-1, my heart rate was through the roof and didn't settle down until the end of the bike ride. The bike route was part of the Tri-Fury group ride that I do on Saturdays so it was very familiar to me, which was great! I was hoping to average around 22 MPH, but didn't hit that and I think that was because of the lack of sleep.

Run 1.5 miles: 1st OA; 9:01 (6:00/mile)
Coming into T-2 I saw my competition from the 2nd wave right behind me, Kevin Reen. I raced against Kevin at the JCC this year and I knew that he might catch me on the bike, but I just didn't know where. As I exited T-2 I was right behind him the whole way to the finish, but I knew since he had caught me that he had made up the 2 minute gap on me. The run leg was pretty cool since it was an out and back on an unpaved, but graded road. It was nice running on that instead of a paved road.

Post-Race:
Overall it was a well run race by the volunteers, the town of Boxford, the State Police (who Capt. Rick Cashin had worked for), and the Boxford Police. It was also a great end of the season race for me and it was awesome that is was so close to home for once.

Timberman 70.3 - 2009 Race Report

Official Results: 144th OA out of 1808 / 19th M25-29 out of 110; 5:01:19

Swim 1.2 Miles: 433rd OA; 33:50 (1:45/100m)
This was my worst swim ever! I think part of the reason why my swim times haven't been that great this year because I stopped lifting all together this season, unlike last season where I actually did a full body workout once a week. I also keep having the problem that when I get about 10 minutes into the swim I start hacking up flem and have to stop swimming at least 2-3 times to get rid of it. It's very strange since I've never had this problem before while swimming. The swim leg of the race other than what I mentioned above was pretty uneventful.

Bike 56 Miles: 114th OA; 2:32:35 (22.0 MPH)
After coming out of the water and into T1 I knew I had some ground to gain with an awful swim time. My bike times have definitely improved this season, which I've been pretty excited about and I've only done 1 ride over 50 miles this season and that was before Amica 70.3 RI. I have been doing more shorter rides during the week at a higher intensity, so I think that this has helped me get a little faster. Once I was out of T1 and heading out on the course, I realized that the climb out to the flatter part of the course was a little more challenging that I had thought after driving the course the day before the race. The climb from the Lake was brutal at some points where I was only going like 8-9 mph up the hills. Once I got to the flatter part of the course to where the turn around was I got into a good cadence and was able to go 22 - 25 mph. It was slightly downhill to the turn around, which was great. Once I hit the turn around I still felt great was able to maintain about 21 mph. There was one last hill left towards the end but it was nothing after the climb up from the lake. The downhills back to the Lake were very fast and I ended up hitting 47.5 mph on one of the downhills, which is the fastest I have ever gone on my bike! I think I had a pretty good nutrition plan on the bike portion of this race and ended up taking 1 accelerade bottle, 1 small Monster/Gatorade mix and 1 water bottle and a gel squeeze bottle that holds 4 gel servings and straps to the tube of the bike, so it makes it convenient to get at while your riding. I should have taken in some salt tablets because once I hit the run I struggled the first 2 miles.

Run 13.1 Miles: 204th OA; 1:49:09 (8:20/mile)
Coming into T2 for some unexplained reason I had a mental breakdown once I got back to my bike rack and was almost ready to quite. I think that was because I felt so unprepared for the upcoming run, but once I got out of T2 and headed out on the run course my mental state quickly improved and I felt fine even though I struggled the first 2 miles because my quads cramped up so bad that it was affecting my form. I walked into the first aid station, took in some water and 4 Endurolyte tablets and after that I was good for the rest of the run, but it took about 4-5 miles for them to finally get into my system for the cramping to stop. I would have liked to have had a faster run, but my running mileage is severely lacking this year. I've found biking much more enjoyable this year then running and I think this is because my hamstrings have been so tight that running has been on the painful side, but if I bike I can bike at a high intensity and not feel any pain at all. The course was a good course, it was a 2 loop out and back course and it was awesome having a huge TriFury cheering crowd out there cheering us on and taking pictures as we passed them.

Post-Race:
After crossing the finish line I thought I was still under the 5 hour mark, but then when the official results were posted I was 1 minute over, but that was close to what I had predicted for my finish time. The greatest part of the race was getting my finishers medal from Chrissie Wellington! In my opinion she showed some great sportsmanship by doing that. After she won the women's race she came back to the finish line to personally hand out finishers medals, it was the coolest thing ever! I just wish I had a picture of it!

Other Notes:
On another note this was an awesome race because I got to meet up with Jason Widstrom with whom I ran with back in high school when he was a senior and I was freshman. I think that was the last time I saw him and he still looked the same. It was great getting a chance to race with/against him. I was secretly hoping to beat him and I did, sorry Jason I had to put it on here! I knew if I didn't beat you that I would get a ton of crap from Scott DeWire! I'm just hoping that the three of us can do a race together next year and all meet up. All and all it was good race, I still wasn't able to get that Clearwater slot, but looking back on this season, it just wasn't meant to be. I feel like my heart just wasn't in it like it was last year and at times I lacked some of the motivation that I had last year. I'm hoping I can take the lessons learned from this season and use them next season. I'm just happy that the season is over. I'm signed up for the Bay State Marathon in October, but with 5-6 weeks to get ready for a marathon with not much running mileage, I think I'm going to scrap this idea and possibly do a spring marathon.

Ironman 70.3 RI - 2009 Race Report

Official Results: 180th OA out of 1,306 / 25th M-25-29 out of 130; 4:50:01

Pre-Race:

Race week worked out good and bad for both reasons. I was on vacation all of last week out on Martha's Vineyard with my family and Jess. It was the perfect week to taper before the race and being on vacation was a good excuse not to do much exercise wise. The worst part of this was that coming back from vacation was on Saturday, the day before the race. Saturday started out coming back on a ferry from the Vineyard at 8:30am and then driving from the Cape to Providence, RI, which was about an hour. After picking up all my race stuff we then headed over to drop off my run gear bag because that was required to be dropped off on Saturday. We then headed to Roger Wheeler State Park Beach to drop off my bike. After doing that we then drove the bike course back to Providence. Needless to say after all then we then had to drive to my parents place with a little side trip to Foxwoods because Jess wasn't feeling well and didn't want to be out all day at the race on Sunday she had her dad pick her up. I didn't get to bed until 8:30pm or so. I was exhausted and I slept very lightly Saturday night and then woke up at 2:30am on Sunday morning to get ready for the race. The drive from my parents place to Narragansett for the swim start was just over an hour drive. We left my parents house at 3:45am and got to the swim start around 5:00am. After getting there I then dropped off my bike gear bag and left my helmet on my bike. The swim wave starts was suppose to start at 6:00am for the pros and then 6:02am for the pro women, but because it was so windy on race morning the swim buoys had blown out of place and had to be reset and the race start was postponed 15 minutes. I was in the 13th swim wave and didn't get in the water until an hour after the pro start.

Swim: 1.2 miles: 319th OA, 52nd AG; 31:19 (1:38/100m)

The swim start was off of Narragansett beach and I've swam pretty close to this swim start before at Firmman Half last year and I knew what kind of conditions I was in for. The only difference from Firmman was that we saw out and back instead of parallel to the beach. The race conditions down at the beach were really windy. The flag was straight out and waves before the pro start were white caps but then the wind died down a very little bit before my swim wave went off. This swim time was not what I was looking for. I hoping to be around or under 30 minutes, but that didn't happen. I must have sucked in ocean water about 2-3 times heading out. Heading out into the waves was the worst. When the waves came in and you were swimming into them I was coming out the backside of the wave and slapping down between the next wave, very unpleasant. I felt like I never got comfortable during this swim. My dad said that he saw 5 people throw-up after coming out of the water from taking in to much water from the swim.

T-1: 3:25

This transition took more time than it should have only because when I got to my bike I had noticed that it had been knocked over from another racer...needless to say my bag was on the ground and then my helmet that was on my bike was placed on my bike, but I then had to mess with the straps to get it on since it had been knocked on the ground.

Bike 56 miles: 169th OA, 24th AG; 2:33:24 (21.9 MPH)

This is by far my fastest bike split at the half iron distance. The first 25 miles of this race was flat and fast along the shore of RI. Those first 25 miles I looked down at my bike computer to see that I was averaging 23.3 mph, but I knew that would soon come down because of the hills I knew that were in store on this course. There were about 4 good size hills on the course with the last big hill being at about mile 50, which I ended up going about 8 mph up...The down hills more than made up for it though. I hit 41 mph on one of the downhills while on the others I was going 38-39 mph. The good thing about being in the 2nd to last swim wave was that I was catching people all day and that made for an awesome incentive on the bike. I felt very strong and focused on this portion of the race, the only thing I regret is not taking in enough nutrition for the run. The bike course itself was very well marked and there were a ton of volunteers and police out there, which was awesome. The only part that sucked was that about 2-3 miles left to go on the bike when I was going over the train tracks my bike computer came loose on my chain stay and hit my rear wheel and went flying off the the bike. My brand new Cateye V3 was gone....I didn't know what the nose was until I looked down and saw that I was getting anymore feed back on the computer.

Run 13.1 miles: 198 OA, 25th AG; 1:40:02 (7:39)

I made my way out of T-2 in good time. The thing about the Ironman sanctioned races is that you have to wear your run bib number while you ride so it was one less thing to worry about when I hit the run. I headed out for the run and I felt like I couldn't get my legs going at all to where I wanted to run and then the first hill came and there is no way to explain how steep this hill was and I had to run up and down it twice. It was a grueling hill, but I refused to walk it. It was more of a shuffle up the hill instead of a run up the hill. Like I said earlier, I don't think I took in enough nutrition in on the bike for run because I hit up the 2nd aid station around mile 2 or 3 and then hit them all for the rest of the race. I ended up walking about 4-5 times during the race, but it was mostly at the aid stations. I just don't have the run mileage yet to run a good half marathon after biking 56 miles yet. After this race I only have 158 miles to date of running, which is no where near where I was when I did my first half of the season last year. The most surprising thing to me was that I dropped 20 spots overall on the run. The run leg is usually my strongest leg and where I pick up a lot of spots, but not with this race.

Post-Race:

Unfortunately, I didn't grab any of the Clearwater spots (3 in my age group) or the Kona slots (2 in my age group). All and all it was a great race and I can't wait for Timberman next month. For now I'm taking this week off to recover and then next week its back to some hard training in preparation for Timberman. Many thanks to my dad for driving my car from Narragansett to Providence and then driving me back to CT. My Aunt Joyce was also able to make it as well, which was great since my dad was the only one from the family that was healthy to make it.

JP Morgan Corporate Challege - 3.5 Mile Run

Results: 19:09 (5:28/mile) - There are no official results for placing for this race unfortuately, but my best guess is that I was in the top 20-30.

The last time I ran this race was 3 years ago in 2006 and my time was 19:59 (5:42/mile), so I was hoping to best this time. I was surprised to see the clock under 19 minutes coming down the straight away to the finish. If I had any energy left for a sprint I probably could have gone under 19 minutes.

This years race was awesome since we had such a huge Berry contingent there. I think we had about 30 people who ran it this year compared to about 15 that ran it back in 2006. The post race festivites took place at Solas Irish Pub in Boston near the Boston Marathon Finish Line and I didn't end up getting to bed until a little after midnight by the time I got home.

Ashland Lions Triathlon - 2009 Race Report

OFFICIAL RESULTS: 19th OA out of 190, 2nd M25-29 out of 15; 2:24:40

The weather on race day was an absolute washout! Thankfully before the race while I was setting up my transition area it wasn't raining, but I knew what was in store so I left a trash bag over my run and bike gear. Not long after I had finished setting up, it started to pour. Luckily there was a huge party tent that was setup nearby and I was able to stretch out under there until the start of the race. My parents got a little lost on there way and ended up meeting me here.

Swim 1 Mile: 30th OA, 4th AG; 23:11 (1:26/100 m)

The hike down to the swim start must have been at least been a 1/4 of a mile or a little more down a steep woods trail. Needless to say it was a good thing I wore a junky pair of old running shoes for the swim exit so that I can run up to T1. My age group at this race was in the 2nd swim wave which was awesome. There is something about being in the first swim wave and being caught that I hate. I love being out on the course and catching people when I start in the 2nd swim wave.

Bike 26 Miles: 29th OA, 2nd AG; 1:12:49 (21.42 MPH)

This bike course was very hilly, but the down hills made this course fast. On the uphills I must have only been going 9 mph but on one of the downhills I hit 39mph! It was a 2 loop course that went around the Ashland Reservoir and went over the Boston Marathon start, which was really cool since I've never been out to the start of the Boston Marathon. The bike leg went well and it was great to learn that I picked up a spot in my age group and in the overall standings.

Run 6.5 Miles: 10th OA, 2nd AG, 40:41 (6:15/mile)

This run course was a little hilly like bike course so I'm pretty happy with my time considering.

Race Recap:

Overall this was a great race and it was great that parents were able to make it to watch me race. It unfortunately was the 2nd race that Jess wasn't able to make because she has been busy attending 2 of her friend bridal showers for their weddings that are this summer. I hope this race is good indicator that I'll be ready for 70.3 RI.

Ludlow Boys & Girls Club Triathlon - 2009 Race Report

OFFICIAL RESULTS: 28th OA out of 278, 6th M25-29 out of 20; 1:16:07
I was on the fence with this race this year, but in the end I ended up doing it. I wanted to do the race so I could compare my time from 2 years ago when I first did this race, which was my first ever race in triathlon. On the other hand I didn't want to do the race because I have much bigger goals to worry about, like training for Amica RI 70.3, which is literally right around the corner. So instead of not doing the race at all I treated the day before the race as a regular training day and decided to go for a 43 mile bike ride. The ride went great and my legs felt very fresh on the 43 mile ride. I ended up averaging 20.7 mph on that ride. So with this long ride before the Ludlow Sprint I didn't have high expectations about finishing high up in my age group and I had predicted that I would finish in an about 1:20 and 5th in my age group.

Swim 1/2 Mile: 41st OA, 5th AG; 11:26 (2006 - 13:54)
This was my first open water swim of the season! Needless to say the swim went well anyway and I settled in comfortably and drafted someone the whole way out and back across Haviland Pond.

T-1: 2:26
I was happy with my swim time and when I got to transition I took my time in getting on my bike gear, which explains the amount of time I was in T-1!

Bike 13.58 Miles (actually 13.06): 67th OA, 10th AG; 36:58 (22.04 MPH) (2006 - 42:30, 19.17 MPH)
I was not looking forward to this portion of the race because of my long ride the day before, but I was still surprised to learn after the race that I still averaged 22 mph, which is great considering! The first 5 miles of this leg I could feel all the muscles I used the day before and it took some time for them to warm up and get use to biking again today. After those first 5 miles I was fine even though I knew there was nothing in the tank for this short 14 mile ride. It made me wonder what was going to be left for the run...

T-2: 1:54
This was pretty uneventful, but again took my time to get my running socks on only because last time I ran without socks was at the JCC race and I ended up with small blisters on my heels, but I think that was due to the rain conditions.

Run 4.02 miles: 5th OA, 2nd AG; 23:21 (5:48/mile) (2006 - 28:41 - 7:08/mile)
After the bike leg I had I was surprised that my legs actually felt great once I started running. I felt a little sluggish at first, but then it went away. I had no idea what I was going to pull off for a time here so I was shocked when I got home to find out I broke the 6 min per mile pace.

Summary: All and all it was a great race and I was happy with how well I did. I wish I had finished a little higher up in my age group, but that's okay, I'll take it. This past week was a great week for workouts and this performance really topped things off. I'll have another training report update in the next few days about my training volume over the last few weeks.

On another note my 2006 time was 1:25:06 and I finished 8th in my AG and 67th OA. I've come a long way since that considering I beat my time from 2 years ago by almost 10 minutes!

JCC Triathlon by the Sea - 2009 Race Report

OFFICIAL RESULTS: 5th OA out of 230, 1st M25-29 out of 6; 56:34

This was my first official race of the season and it was a great motivator to get me back into my groove and hopefully back to enjoying the training for my other races this season. I wasn't quite sure what to expect on how I would perform at this race this year since last year I was in much better shape considering I was training for a half in June. The race this year was back to the original course because last year construction work changed the course and made it a 10.5 mile bike and a 3 mile run. This year it was a 10 mile bike and 3.5 mile run.

The weather on race day was very rainy and 60 degrees. The good thing was that it was humid so it actually felt pretty warm and I was able to get away with no bike socks, arm warmers and leg warmers, which was a plus since they are pain to put on when you are soaking wet and its raining.

Swim 1/8 Mile: 4th OA, 1st AG; 3:39 (Last year 3:45)

The swim start is based on a seed time that you give the race director when you register since its a pool swim. So after the first person goes there is a 10-15 second gap between every swimmer in hopes that you don't catch the person in front of you. The good thing was that this year I was far enough up in the line, number 9 this year, compared to last year where I was 66 people deep. The only person I caught this year was the girl in front of me and it didn't cost me any time. I knew I would improve on my swim time this year since I was further up, but I also feel like I've been concentrating more on this. My actual swim time was 3:26 when I exited the pool, but by the time you reach the timing mat, it adds this time to your swim split, which is still a 12 second improvement over last years swim exit time, which is great over a short distance.

Bike 10 Miles: 19th OA, 1st AG, 31:38 (19.0 MPH) (Last year 20.2 mph)

I knew that going into the bike leg this year that there was no way I would be able to match or beat my average speed from last year, which was 20.2 mph. I just don't have the base mileage that I had this time last year. My longest ride to date is only 34 miles! I had predicted going into the race that I would be in around 31 minutes considering everything, but 38 seconds over isn't to bad considering the weather conditions. The bike course this year was awesome! The roads were well paved with little to no pot holes at all. The only bad thing was that you had to do 3 loops once you got out there and the turn to make the loop was very sharp so you had to slow down to make the turn so that I didn't whip out taking the corner. Overall this is and has continued to be my weakest link in triathlon and where I've been getting beat at the races. It looks like its time to get more time in the saddle and hammer out some miles!

Run 3.5 miles: 1st OA, 1st AG; 21:18 (6:05/mile) (Last year 5:33/mile)

This year the run was a half mile longer and I knew that I didn't have the speed work to pull of a 5:33 pace like I did last year. That was just a crazy fast time I pulled off last year. In fact my base running mileage is way off the mark for this time of year due to my injuries, hip tightness and hamstring issues. By the time I got to the run I was about 2-3 minutes behind the leader and knew I wouldn't be able to catch them, but I knew that I could at least try. Come to find out I still had the fastest time of the day and was able to gain a a minute on the winnder. I was all alone out there on the run course until about the 3 mile mark and I could see the 2nd finisher ahead of me in the distance, but with such a little distance to the finish and such a big gap I knew I wasn't going to be able to catch him.

Summary:

All and all I can't complain about how I finished in this race this year considering where I'm at training wise. Would I have liked to have done better, most definitely, but between my injuries and lack of motivation to train it has held me back from my true potential. My next race is in 2 weeks out at Ludlow, which I'm pretty excited about since Ludlow was where I did my first triathlon. I figured I'd do this race this year to see how far I've come since my first race ever in the sport.

Post Race:

I want to thank my parents and Jess for coming out to cheer me on today despite the very inclimate weather. That was great! After the race and awards we kept with tradition and went out to Brunch / Lunch with Jess's family where I absolutely pigged out on 6 pieces of french toast, 2 egg whites and 3 pieces of bacon!

Training Update

Okay so I haven't been as good keeping up with my blog this year as I had been last year. But the good news is that I've finally got my motivation back. Last week was finally a good week of training for me with the only exception being that I wasn't able to get in my long bike or run because I had to work both Saturday and Sunday. I've got the JCC Sprint Triathlon coming up this weekend and I'm hoping that this race will be a big motivator for me as well and help me get back on track for Amica 70.3 RI, which is in about 8 weeks. Here is my training volume for the last few weeks below.

Week 8:

• Swim - 4,928 yards
• Bike - 19.52
• Run - 10.28

Week 9:

• Swim - 6,106 yards
• Bike - 34.12
• Run - 5.39

Week 10 (Car Accident Week - suffered a mild concussion & sore lower back)

• Swim - 704 yards
• Bike - 0 miles
• Run - 3.01

Week 11:

• Swim - 6,336 yards
• Bike - 34.3 miles
• Run - 7.1 miles

Race Schedule Changes & Update on Training

As you may or may have not noticed I've changed my race schedule a bit. I was suppose to run Doyle's 5 Miler a few weekends ago, but decided not to do it since I need to establish a better base before I can start racing. I've also taken the Wrentham Duathlon off the race schedule since Jess and I are taking a trip to Washington, DC for the weekend, which will be something to look forward too since the both of us have never been.

Update on Training:
About 2 weeks ago my right adductor acted up so I had to take some time off. I did a speed workout session to early and woke up the next morning in pain. Since I've dealt with this type of injury before I ended up stretching it out 3 times a day over the course of the last week, iced it after any workouts I did and took Mortin within the first 24-48 hours. Sure enough after taking 2 days off I was back to good and I've returned to my normal training again, but I'm being cautious to what I do and how hard I go since my hamstrings are still very sore. I'm still finding that after running 5 miles my legs in general feel like I've run a lot farther.

Here are my totals for the past 2 weeks:

Week 5:

• Swim - 5,500 yards
• Bike - 163 minutes (40 min trainer ride & 25.54 mile outdoor ride)
• Run - 5.65 miles

Week 6 (Injury Flared Up):

• Swim - 3,256 yards
• Bike - 33.86 miles & 1 Trainer Ride
• Run - 4.03 miles

Week 7:

• Swim - 5,852 yards
• Bike - 23.74 miles
• Run - 6.06 miles

What Have I Been Up, You May Ask?

I haven't completely forgotten about my blog, but I just haven't had anything to really write about. Let me get you up to speed to where I am today. I'm finally done with Physical Therapy! Many thanks go out to Michelle Higgins and Calvin Marshall at Excel Orthopedics for helping me get back to my somewhat normal training regimen. My last PT appointment was 1 day before my birthday and at this time last year I was at Excel Orthopedics getting PT for my IT band. I'm almost a regular at this place!

Where am I today? Well, as of right now I'm entering my 5th week of training and to tell you the truth my training volume has still been pretty low. I've hit my swim distances, but have yet to hit my run and bike distances and times. On top of the training I've had to do yoga 2-3 times a week because my hamstrings are very tight and make it painful to run about 90% of the time. I'm hoping I get this problem ironed out in the next few weeks so I can amp up my running and biking.

Here are my totals for the last few weeks below:

Week 1:

• Swim - 4,180 yards
• Bike - 30 min
• Run - 3.25 miles

Week 2:

• Swim - 5,016 yards
• Bike - 0
• Run - 12.75 miles

Week 3:

• Swim - 4,928 yards
• Bike - 0
• Run - 7.8 miles

Week 4:

• Swim - 4,328 yards
• Bike - 90 min
• Run - 6.11 miles

Injury Status & Update

It's been a long time since I've last posted and it's mostly due to the fact that I've been injured and trying to slowly get back to some sort of training. While being injured with a strained left adductor muscle I ended up with another injury, my illiopsoas muscle, which is a very small muscle than runs between the bottom of the abdominal wall and the hip flexor. It's basically a stabilizer muscle for the hip flexor and groin muscle. So needless to say I was just about ready to be done with PT and then I ended up with this injury. I still have about 4 appointments left for PT and I think I'm almost there. On top of the 1 PT appointment a week, I've been doing 2-3 yoga classes a week. This past week I tried Bikram Yoga, which is a hot yoga. The first class was a little tough to get use to since the room is 109 degrees, but the second class I was able to make it through the whole way without having to lay down or stop. I've found that this hot yoga absolutely drains me and the next day I find that I feel like I did a triathlon the day before.

On a good note, this week I was able to run once and swim twice even though it was only about 1,500 yards, but I guess that's better than nothing. Based on where I'm at now with my training, I'm not going to do the Great Bay Half Marathon, which is pretty unfortunate because this was a great race for me last year and I wanted to compare it against last years time and was hoping to improve my time. My current training plan has me starting my half iron training the week of Feb. 22nd, but that is still TBD depending on how my injury feels.