Update & Goals for 2009

It's been awhile since I've last posted, but I thought I'd just give everyone a quick update and list my goals for the upcoming 2009 Race Season. I can't believe Christmas is right around the corner and the New Year is quickly approaching. Since B2B I have absolutely done no training whatsoever. I have to say it's finally started to bother me about 2 weeks ago. I tried to jump back into light training 2 weeks after B2B, but ended up with a strained left adductor muscle, which has sidelined any training that I was hoping to do. I should be good to go in the next few weeks to start running again though, which is good to report. Since I haven't been able to train I have at least started weight training so I could at least keep the holiday weight gain off. Besides the weight training I have also been doing yoga up to two times a week and regularly stretching out for about 20-30 minutes about once or twice day. One of my biggest limiters last year was not being loose and lead to a few annoying injuries such as my tight IT band rubbing on my knee at the beginning of the year and then my Achilles Tendinitis from having tight hamstrings. I'm hoping that I can continue to do yoga during the 2009 season and I'm happy to report that I can already feel the results from doing yoga.

As you may or may not have noticed I have listed my tentative race schedule on the right side of my blog page. Here are a few goals I have for the 2009 Race Season below.

Main Goal - Qualify for the Foster Grant 70.3 World Championships
(Clearwater, FL) Nov. 14, 2009
After having done 2 halfs and a full last year I decided to concentrate on the 70.3 distance in hopes of qualifying for the 70.3 Championship race. Hence why I have signed up for (2) qualifying half races, which are the Amica Ironman 70.3 RI (July 12, 2009) and Timberman (August 23, 2009).

Secondary Goal - Qualify for the Boston Marathon for 2010.
I would have liked to have done an early season marathon in 2009, but I don't think it will be in the cards for me. I hate training outside in the cold weather and there was no way I would make myself suffer in the cold to try and train for a February or March marathon. Instead, I'm hoping that I can do an end of the season marathon to qualify for the Boston Marathon in 2010. For those of you that don't know, I'm superstitious about odd and even numbers. (I like even race numbers.) Hence, why I'd like to run a Boston qualifier in 2009 and then run Boston in an even year. For whatever reason, I'd like to think that if I have an even number I'll have a better race. Case and point, B2B where I had the most unlucky number 313! We all know what happened there.

These are my goals for now and I'm starting to get psyched about getting back into a normal training regimen again by the middle of January.

2008 Season Recap

I wanted to take some time and reflect on my 2008 triathlon season.

My main goal for this year was to finish 2 Half Iron races and 1 Full Distance race.
Let me tell you that this goal sounded absolutely crazy at the beginning of 2008, especially since last year I had only done 2 Sprint Distance triathlons. I was so hooked on the sport of triathlon after last year that I really had to step it up a notch in 2008. So when I started thinking about the races I wanted to do, which was in November / December of 2008, I had definitely decided that I wanted to do 2 Half's and then shoot for a Full in 2009. That goal quickly changed once I spoke with Scott DeWire and he told me about Beach 2 Battleship in Wilmington, NC and that if I was going to do 2 Half's, why not just do a Full in the same year since training for a Full is just a little more volume. Trust me, it didn't take much convincing on his part! I think I thought about it and made a final decision in a day or two. I was scared, nervous, excited and overwhelmed at what training lie ahead all at the same time after I signed up for that race.

Now if you know anything about setting goals, you have to set small goals to achieve the main goal you are after. With that said, my small goals were to use the sprint triathlons as training races and improve my times at races and/or distances that I had done the previous year. The first real race of the year was the Great Bay Half on April 6th and the purpose of this race was to see where my training stood at that point, since I started training for my First Half Iron on January 20th. This race was a great first goal or milestone for me to reach in my training since I was able to PR my Half Marathon time by 6 minutes! After such a great PR for this race, I was really excited to see how I would make out at Mooseman, my first half iron race. After the Great Bay Half I used the JCC Sprint as another measuring stick for how I would make out at the Spring distance this year and yet again I surprised myself with good results by placing 3rd overall and 1st in my Age Group. With these small goals and sticks of measurement met and Mooseman less than a month away I was ready. As you may or may not have known, the goal at Mooseman was to A) Finish and B) try and finish under 5 hours. Even though I was very close to making my B goal, the weather didnt quite cooperate that day so I was very happy with how I performed, but also knew that I could have had a much better race in more ideal race conditions.

With the 1st goal met, it was time to switch training plans and start the Iron Distance training plan, which I thought was going to a very daunting task. B2B training started about 2 weeks after Mooseman and it wasn't long before I had my next race, The Powow Triathlon. This race was the 2nd time I had done this one and was the last race of the year last year. I was excited for this race because I knew that with all the base I had I could really improve my time this year from last year. I ended up improving by 4 minutes, which was great and I moved up in the standings and once again won my age group. After doing well at Powow I had some fill in races to keep my race fitness up and then I had the Firm Man Half, which I had scheduled in as part of my B2B training plan as another goal and measuring stick of performance. Firm Man ended up being an awesome race! Not only was this a huge PR for me, but it was the most comfortable I've ever felt racing. There were many factors that had helped me in my favor, the race was postponed a week because of a hurricane so I had to take a 2 week taper in lieu of a 1 week taper. Also, the weather was perfect and the course was flat. After a such an awesome performance at Firm Man I was even more pumped for the upcoming B2B race. Firm Man ended up having a few goals as well A) try and break Scott DeWire's PR at the 70.3 distance, sorry Scott, and B) Win my age Group and guess what, I did both.

With my 2nd season goal meet, it was time for B2B. The training that lead up to this was by no means easy, but would I do it again, most certainly!! I can honestly say there is nothing more exciting and thrilling than finishing an Iron distance race. B2B training consisted of some very long and mentally tough rides and swims. There were times when I wondered why the hell I was doing this in the first place. There were also the times I didn't even want to train or talk about triathlon. In fact, I think I ended up taking 2 or 3 days off in a row because I was so sick of the training routine, but hey sometimes you just have to listen to what your body is telling you. I've found that you learn so much about yourself, your body's limits not only physically, but mentally as well.

Now that B2B is over, it's now officially the off season and it feels like such a huge relief off my shoulders to be done with this season. All and all this season was an amazing experience and I can't wait for what next season holds in store for me.

Thank you!
Now, I just have to finish this post with a HUGE, I mean HUGE thank you to Jess who absolutely had to deal with my high training volumes during this season. I also have to give a GINORMOUS thank you the support my Parents, Mr. & Mrs Ellis gave me as well. Without them I wouldn't have been able to do what I did this season. My dad was a great support for me and has been for quite sometime. For those of you who don't know, they made it to all of my track and cross country meets in high school to support me and have been to every major triathlon event I've done. The exception to that was my 1st ever triathlon because I was superstitious about them being there since the first one I signed up for I ended up getting injured.

Beach 2 Battleship 140.6 - Race Report - Wilmington, NC

Official Results:
12:17:35
178th OA out of 397, 14th M25-29 out of 22

B2B was not only my first Iron distance race, but it was also the first time Setup Events had put on an Iron distance triathlon. Now I've heard all the great things about Setup Events from Triathlete Magazine, but I've also heard about them from two local triathletes who have experienced a lot of their races, Scott DeWire and Rebecca DeWire, who I also went to high school with and live down in North Carolina. Setup Events put on the most amazing race despite all of the logistical issues they had to deal with. The only other company I can compare them to is EndorFun Sports who also puts on Timberman and Mooseman up in New England.

Pre-Race Events..
Race morning started out with me getting up at 4:00am to have breakfast, shower and get ready so that Jess, Dad and I could make it to T1 by 5:30am. We got down to T1, got bodymarked and then I went into T1 to make sure my bike was all set before the race. I went to go top off my tires with air only to find my rear tire flat. So I went to go find the bike tech for the race only to find that many other triathletes had the same problems with flat tires. By the time he got around to my bike it was time for me to catch the 2nd to last bus out to the Swim Start. Since I had spent all this time making sure my bike was all set for the race I had no time to stretch out prior to the start of the race. Once we got out to the Swim Start drop off I hurried off the bus and was able to stretch for about 5-10 minutes only for race officials saying we needed to hurry up and get down to the swim start because we only had 10 minutes till the start of the race. After stretching a little I hurried and threw my wetsuit on and got down to the swim start. Needless to say my day was off to the wrong start and I felt so rushed race morning that I didn't have time for my usual pre-race rituals and stretching.

Swim 2.4 miles: 55:58, 113th OA, 11th AG
You'll look at this swim time and be wowed, but don't be fooled, the race took place in a tidal ocean channel. They told us that we would be starting our swim at the peak of the tide so the current would be really fast and it was! The water temp at the swim start was 68 degrees and didn't feel cold at all despite the fact that the air was 38 degrees at race start, but once we got towards the marina for the swim exit, there were pockets of some seriously cold/freezing water!

I finished the swim a little faster than I had anticipated because of the current. The swim exit consisted of climbing up ladders attached to a boat dock and then running / jogging 300 yards through a parking lot, across a street and then into T1 to grab my changing bag for the bike leg. The run from the marina to T1 was absolutely FREEZING!! The whole run I couldn't feel my feet and I felt like I was running with ice blocks on my feet. Once inside the changing tent, it was packed with guys changing into there bike gear, but luckily I was able to find a chair to sit on and put on all my gear. T1 took awhile because I struggled to put on my arm warmers and leg warmers since I was shaking violently because I was so cold and I couldn't feel my hands that well. While I was there I also put on gloves and for the first time on the bike leg I wore bike socks to keep my feet warmer. I didn't put on much warmer clothing because I didn't want to sweat later on the bike since that day it was going to get up to 72 degrees.

Bike 112 miles: 6:45:59 (16.55 mph), 284th OA, 19th AG
Two words come to mind for this leg: FREEZING & FRUSTRATING. The first hour to hour and half on the bike was absolutely freezing! I think that I was suffering from hypothermia for a little while and was ready to DNF that first hour. I was so cold that I was shaking violently while I was riding that I thought I was going to fall off my bike. After that first hour on the bike I warmed up enough, but didn't start to get feeling back in my toes until about mile 75 or 80.

The bike leg was very frustrating for me because I ended up having to deal with 2 front tire flats during the race, which cost me 45 minutes to an hour of down time. My first flat as you know was while I was in T1 before the race. My second flat came at about mile 45. I was able to get my tire off and the blown tube out and then new tube in, but then I couldn't get the tire back on because my hands were cold. While I kept trying to get my tire back on, bike support came by and finished it and got me back on the road in no time, but this 2nd flat cost me about 30 minutes of time. Once back on the road I started catching the people that passed me while I was on the side of the road and was getting back into a good rhythm. By the time I got to mile 60 it was warm enough to stop at the Bike Special needs aid station and I dropped off my arm warmers and gloves. I didn't take off my leg warmers since I still couldn't feel my feet. I then made it to about mile 85 and I had another front tire blow out. Since I had used all my spare tubes for the first 2 flats, I had no tubes left to fix it. Fortunately enough, someone going by stopped and gave me their last tube. I was very thankful of them, I just wish I had caught there number so I could contact them and tell them thank you. Again I had to wait for bike support to get my tire back on again. This time I was down about 15 minutes to 30 minutes. I knew that once I got my 3rd flat my family and Jess would be really worried that I hadn't been in my predicted time. Well sure enough, they were. As I exited the run I yelled to my dad that I ended up with 2 flats and that besides that everything was good.

Despite all my bike issues, I loved the flatness and openness of the bike leg, I just wish I was able to pull off a decent time.

Run 26.2: 4:18:16 (9:51 per mile pace), 86th OA, 9th AG
Heading out of T2, my legs were a little tired, but they didn't feel that bad. I had a hard time getting my mile splits on the first loop since the mile markers where a little off so I had no idea where I was time wise until I came around to head back out for my 2nd loop. I ran the first half marathon in about 2 hours. The 2nd loop was a different story. I ended up walking a little more since I was really starting to get tired. The portions I walked the most was when we had to head up the bridges and on ramps since these were the only hills to speak of on the run course. The run course was okay, but the best part was when we headed into downtown Wilmington and there were a ton of people down there supporting everyone that went by, which was great. The run definitely required a lot of mental strength and there were times where I thought I was just going to break down, but I just kept thinking of the finish line and seeing my family and Jess there waiting for me. I can't say that I hit the wall at all during the run. I made sure that I listened to my body and took in whatever I needed when I felt it coming on. I remember hitting the aid stations at miles 15 and 18 and eating Oreos and washed them down with water. I've never eaten Oreos that tasted so good! After fueling up between miles 15 and 18 I felt great again and ended up running strong from miles 18 until the finish line.

The finish line was amazing! What a great feeling it was coming down the finish line chute and they are calling out your name as you cross. After crossing the finish line I was quickly greeted by my mom, Jess, Katie, my parents friends and childhood babysitter Kari and Gary. Also, Mr. DeWire and my Dad came shortly after because they were down at the entrance to Battleship road to give me a high five as I came in.

Below is a post race photo of Jess, Scott and Rebecca Dewire and myself:

Post Race Comments:
I'd really like to thank my family and most of all Jess for supporting me during my racing and training for such a long event. I knew that it took lots of time for me to train for and now it's over. I'm really looking forward to spending more time with Jess and my family now that the triathlon season is over. Looking ahead to next season, I can't wait to tackle the 2 half's I'm signed up for and I'm already thinking of doing another Iron Distance race in 2010 because of this race performance, but we'll see.

B2B Quick Update

Back in CT for the night before I head back to MA after the long drive back from NC.

Results:
12:17:35 (S=55:58, B=6:45:59, R=4:18:16)
179th OA out of 500
14th M 25-29 out of 22

This was not the race I had expected nor wanted to have. Morning started off with a rear flat before the race started and then 2 front flats during the race.

Full report to follow.

Week 17 & The Long Weekend

Going into this week my goal was to get in my Long Bike and Long Run in this weekend, which I was able to do. This week I was also able to bike at lunch and then one day I biked from work after work and back and drove back home. I've found that the only way to get my bike mileage in is to modify the time in which I work out, hence the bike rides starting at work. So far it's worked out great and hopefully I can continue this until B2B. The only thing I regret this week was not being able to get in more than 2 runs this week and a brick workout, but what are you going to do.

This past week was also the first time I decided to give Yoga a try. All I can say is that the poses you see on TV or at the gym that these people do look much easier then when I tried doing them. I never thought I'd say this, but it was a great way to stretch out and get in a workout. One of my limiters in triathlon is that I've very tight and very unflexible. I just wish that I had started yoga earlier in my training to help me out. I'll have to remember this for next year and the off season to keep loose.

Friday was an interesting workout day since I had to move my long swims indoors. Where I've been swimming at outside has turned to cold for me, even in a wetsuit. I tried swimming there last Friday and it took me about an hour to finally get warm again! I drove home from Stiles Pond last Friday with my heat cranked in my car absolutely freezing my butt off! So needless to say Friday's workout consisted of swimming 92 laps in the pool.....talk about monotonous and boring!

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post this Weekend's goal was to get in a Long Ride in on Saturday and then a Long Run on Sunday. This last long ride before B2B was another great way to try one more nutrition scheme for B2B. I ended up using 1 Hammer Perpetum Bottle, 1 Hammer Heed Drink, 2 Water Bottles, a few gels and 2 Power Bars. I ended up using everything, but the Hammer Perpetum bottle. I used about half of the Perpetum, but I found that when I used this last time that I didn't like the taste so I was a little worried about using it this time. Needless to say it still wasn't that bad, but I think this is something I won't end up using for B2B. I think my nutrition that I used on my last long ride will work, which was 2 water bottles, 2 bottles of Accelerade, and gels. I think the only thing I'll modify is bringing a Powerbar with me since I just get sick of the gels after about 50+ miles. Saturday's ride consisted of riding of 94.6 miles and it was a tough 94 miles. I only ended up averaging 18.8 mph, which took me 5 hours to complete. I think the reason it was so hard was that the nutrition plan I had tried didn't work that well for me on this go around. After the ride I was absolutely wiped out and hungry as hell! I just hope that come race day, I'll be fine and I won't get hungry.

This past Sunday was the first time I had ever run over 13.1 miles. That's right, even in training for my Half Marathon and Half Iron distance Triathlons, I only ran up to 10 or 11 miles in training. I ended up running 19.66 miles at a 7:44 per mile pace, which my dad said was still to fast. Even after stretching out and getting ready for the run, I wasn't sure how my legs were going to feel, but they were still a little tired and sore from the long bike ride the day before. Needless to say, the 7:44 per mile pace felt great up till about 10 or 11 miles in and then I found myself having to stop and walk 4-5 times on the way back. I didn't want to stop and walk that much so when I walked it wasn't for very long, maybe at the most a minute or so. With this being my only long run before B2B, it will definitely make the marathon interesting come race day.

All and all it was a great week, but a very tiring and long workout weekend. I'm still on the ropes about going into a 2 week or 3 week taper since this coming week is suppose to be another hard week followed by 2 weeks of tapering before B2B. Anyone have any thoughts / experience they want to share? Feel free to leave comments and thank you to everyone that has been following my blog.

Here are this Weeks totals:

• Swim - 10,164 yards
• Bike - 140.76 miles
• Run - 27.84 miles

Week 16

Week 16
Since I haven't posted here in about 2 weeks I really can't remember anything to significant about Week 16, so here are the totals below.

• Swim - 6,556 yards
• Bike - 67.38 miles
• Run - 18.94 miles

Week 15 - Recovery...

At the beginning of this week I ended up taking Monday off to recover from my Half on Sunday.
Tuesday
I felt great and wanted to get back to my scheduled training so I decided to hit the pool and I was only able to swim 1,800 yards before my body had enough. I guess I still wasn't fully recovered from my Half and was still on my high from having such a great race.
Wednesday
I decided that it was time to bike to and from work since the days are getting shorter, it's harder to get the bike time in and I really don't want to get on the trainer just yet. It was a pretty uneventful day and my legs weren't to tired when I got home from work. The round trip ride is just over 32 miles, which isn't to bad.
Thursday
I really wanted to get back to swimming and this was the first time I was able to finish the scheduled workout. Then after work I ended up going for a 25 mile ride and when I got up on Friday morning my legs were toast!
Friday & The Weekend
Friday morning my legs felt like they had just done a race again. Needless to say I didn't workout the rest of the week and weekend and took Friday to Sunday off. I didn't want to take this many days off consecutively, but I had to since I had to travel to Long Island, New York for my friend Kelly's wedding.

Here are the totals for Week 15:

• Swim - 4,444 yards
• Bike - 58.15 miles
• Run - 0 miles

Week 14 - Ironman Training

Week 14 was the week of the Firmman Half Ironman and as you may recall this was suppose to be a hard week of training, but because the Half was postponed to this week, I had to take an unscheduled Taper Week to prepare myself for this race. I ended up taking the advice from my friend, Scott DeWire and only had 2 swim workouts, 1 bike and 2 runs this week, which doesn't include race day. I wasn't sure what to do going into this week, hence why I took Scott's advice. He was saying that because this is only my 2nd time going this distance that it would be a good idea to take a Taper week and then get back to hard training for Beach 2 Battleship. Well, as you may have read about in my race report, it was a great race and an awesome PR for the 70.3 distance.

Here are the totals for Week 14:

• Swim - 8,712 yards
• Bike - 76.93 miles
• Run - 21.48 miles

Firmman Pictures

Timberman Triathlon 70.3

As of this morning I've signed up for Timberman Half Ironman, which is on August 23, 2009. I also noticed that one of my old high school running teammates had signed up, Jason Widstrom. I just hope he can make it this year since he wasn't able to this past year because of injuries. I can't wait for this race next year!

Ironman RI 70.3 - July 12, 2009

It's official! I registered for the 2009 Ironman RI 70.3 distance race, which is on July 12, 2009. My main goal for next year is to qualify for the 70.3 World Championship race, which is held in November 2009. Qualifying for the championship race is very tough since there are only 45 age group slots available for that race. This means I'd have to at least finish in the top 3 of my age group, I believe. If I don't make it at this race I'll at least have another chance when I register for Timberman 2009.

2008 Firmman Half Race Report

Official Results:
14th OA out of 246, 1st M25-29 out of 19; 4:36:03

All I can say is wow! I blew away my predicted time by 9 minutes! I have never been so calm the day before and the day of a race than I had been at this one. I was actually able to sleep well and didn't even wake up thinking about the race, which was awesome! Usually I have the hardest time sleeping before a big race. The funniest part was that my parents and Jess were shocked that I was soo calm, I think they were more nervous than I was.

The day before the race we didn't have time to drive the course because we had a late start heading down to Connecticut because of prior commitments Jess had. We ended up staying at my parents house the night before the race because we also were celebrating my dad's birthday, which is September 23rd. We ended up celebrating his birthday at my favorite restaurant, California Pizza Kitchen. They make this killer pizza that I love called the Tostada, its basically a taco covered pizza. So that was the pre-race dinner "carbo-loading," if you will. Anyway, after celebrating my dad's birthday it was an early bed time at 9:30PM and we were up at 4:00AM the next morning so we could drive part of the race course. Needless to say we left a little later than we wanted because I'm so slow getting ready in the morning so we only drove the first and last 5 miles of the bike course and none of the run course. It really didn't worry me for some reason that we didn't drive the course because I figured there would be enough volunteers on course that I wouldn't be able to get lost and also because I was in the last swim wave and I'd be catching people all day.

Swim 1.2 Miles: 29:20, 50th OA, 6th AG
Since this race was postponed 2 weeks it was a cold start to the race. The air was about 50 degrees, but the good thing was that the water was much warmer and in the Upper 60's, if not 70 degrees. It was my first ocean swim ever in a triathlon, which was very interesting needless to say. If you don't know Narragansett Beach, then I'll tell you that the waves are about 3-5 feet high. Each swim wave started on the beach and then everyone ran into the crashing waves. After you fought the waves on the way out, it was pretty calm water. The good thing was that you were swimming with the current, which made the swim times pretty quick. I started in the last swim wave or the 5th swim wave. The start for me was a little crazy trying to get through the waves, but once I got through them I settled down and got into a good pace. It was tough to sight the buoys since I was up and down in the waves, so I think I spent more time sighting than any other race. The swim exit was also interesting since you had to fight the waves on the way back in, luckily that was pretty uneventful for me. Once I got to shallow enough water I stood up slowly because the last time I did a half I made the mistake of standing up to fast and my hamstrings froze up on me. This was the first race I came out of the water not feeling tired and my arms didn't feel like they were going to fall off!

Transition 1: 2:20
This was pretty uneventful, but there were no wetsuit strippers at this race, but I was still able to improve my time from my first half, since I didn't have to fumble around with my helmet. I did have a hard time getting my gels into my jersey pockets because my hands were cold from the swim, oh well.

Bike 56 miles (actually 56.34): 2:36.01 (21.5 mph), 33rd OA, 2nd AG
This was my best bike leg in a race to date! I've never felt so comfortable on the bike till now. My long rides seem like they are starting to pay off. As soon as I got on the bike I started drinking water. I didn't start to intake gels till about 1 hour into the ride. For whatever reason my body wasn't craving the food even as I started taking in the gels. I figured I should get them in now even if I wasn't hungry because if I didn't get them in early then I would pay for it on the run. I was catching people the whole bike ride from the 4 swim waves ahead of me. The whole bike ride I kept looking for guys in my age group and I didn't start catching guys in my age group until about 20 miles in when I caught 2 of them at about the same point and from there on I didn't see anyone else. The bike course had a few little hills, but nothing crazy and was pretty flat. The only thing that sucked about the bike ride for me was I hit a rough patch of road and lost of my premixed Accelerade bottles, so I missed out on some needed calories, carbs and protein, which was another reason why I ended up going through all my gels on the bike. The good thing was that I was prepared for this and had carried extra gels with me just in case. The only thing I ended up picking up at the bike aid station was an extra water. Returning to the transition area my legs felt great.

Transition 2: 1:39
This went pretty smooth, but lost some time because I had a hard time finding my rack...rookie mistake, what can I say about that. Once I found my area, I threw on my socks, shoes, grabbed 4 -5 more gels and my race number belt and headed out for my run.

Run 13.1 Miles: 1:26:41 (6:36/mile) 3rd OA, 1st AG
Time and Time again this has proven to be my fastest and strongest leg for the triathlon, so needless to say I wasn't that surprised to learn that this was my where I finished with my Overall place and Age Group place. I felt so good coming of the bike that my 1st mile split was way to fast at 5:48! I quickly settled in to a much slower pace after that 1st mile. I actually had upper abdominal cramps up through mile 4, but then they went away after that. I think that was because I ate 2 gels with about 10-15 miles left on the bike. I skipped the first few aid stations, but then started stopping at most them and took in HEED and water. I took my first gel in at mile 7-8 and then took a caffeine gel at mile 10 for insurance, to make sure that no one would catch me. The worst part of this was that run finish was on the beach. I had decided to take the longer run down to the water to avoid the deep sand and then worked my way back up to the finish at the transition area finish line.

Race Recap:
I knew I was on pace for a 4:37 half by the time I reached the 8 mile mark in the half marathon and because I was keeping track of my mile splits I had a good idea of where I was going to finish. I knew my goal was a 4:45, but I ended up crushing it. All and all this race has given me the confidence I need to continue my training for B2B and I'm looking forward to see how I make out at the Iron Distance Race. I also want to thank my Parents and Jess for all there support for coming to watch and supporting me during my training and races. I wouldn't be able to do it without the love and support of my friends and family. So here's a big thank you to everyone that has had a big influence on me in triathlon (Jess, Mom and Pop Ellis, Scott DeWire, Rebecca Dewire, Thor Kirleis and my other Trifurian training partners.)

Firmman Half - Quick Update

Talk about an awesome performance today! I beat my predictions and put an awesome PR in the books for the Half! I absolutely crushed the field and my age group division. I'll post a more detailed report later this week.

14th OA / 3rd AG 25-29 - 4:36:03 - PR

Firmman Half - Pre-Race Thoughts / Prediction

With the Firmman Half Ironman tomorrow, I figured I'd post my time predictions without having seen the race course. See below.

Swim
Even though my training volume for the swim has been up training for the Ironman, I think I may improve my time a little compared to my Mooseman time due to the fact that its an ocean swim and I've been told that its with the current. Predicted Time: 28-30 minutes

Bike
I feel like I've made some huge improvements here considering I have a much more solid bike base than I did going into Mooseman. I've been able to get in 3 rides of 50 miles or more and training weeks with about 100 miles of biking. I've also been able to maintain a good average speed for myself over these rides. I should improve here, but the only difference is that I won't have a set of race wheels for this race like I did at Mooseman. Predicted Time: 2:40 - 2:45 (21.3 mph - 20 mph average speed)

Run
Unsure of this one due to the fact that my longest run has still been a measly 8 miles while still trying to train for my Ironman, which in itself is scary. It's still been my strongest leg to date, not matter what my running base mileage has been to do date, so I'm hoping it will be faster or about the same. Predicted Time: 1:30 - 1:40 (7:00 - 7:40 per mile pace)

Overall
I'd love to be able to finish in the 4:45 to 5:00 hour range all depending on how hilly and/or flat the course is. I feel like I'm in good enough shape to really pull off a descent time tomorrow, but I guess time will only tell! I'll be sure to post a race report on how I make out.

Shawn M. Nassaney 5K - Smithfield, RI - Sept. 14, 2008

The Shawn M. Nassaney 5K Race/Walk is a race that I started doing since last year, because my 2nd cousin Stacey Nassaney (formally Bliss) married Ryan Nassaney, who was Shawn's brother. Shawn unfortunately was on United Flight 175 on September 11, 2001 along with his girlfriend Lynn Goodchild who were on there way to Hawaii. If you remember, United Flight 175 was the first plane to hit the Twin Towers. The race was put in place in Memory of Shawn Nassaney and Lynn Goodchild and is held as his Alma Mater, Bryant College in Smithfield, RI. Since I've started doing this race I promised myself I would do this race in Shawn's memory and will continue this race for as long as I'm able and as long as the race is held.

Race Day
I wasn't looking to set any PR's on this course or beat my time from last year since I just biked 93 miles the day before. Jess and I got to the race a little later than we wanted, but I still had time to stretch out and get ready. As you may or may not know and from what my dad keeps making fun of me for is that I hate having a slow time next to my name. So needless to say, once I got warmed up and stretched out I changed my race plan from just using this as a training run to I'm going to race this to see how I fair. After getting all warmed up, I headed for the start line and got a good luck kiss from Jess and told her I'd see her at the finish line when I got done. Jess did the 2 mile walk while I did the 5k Run. My parents and grandparents were also at the race to watch as well.

The race start is a little crazy for this 5K since it starts in a big open field and then narrows going up a short hill before looping around the baseball fields and then heads into the woods with the return trip that heads up a huge hill! This course is by no means flat. The start is so crazy because just about all the sports teams from Bryant College come and show there support for Shawn and sprint the first 300 yards like the race is only a mile long. It’s a little annoying if you’re a serious runner and you're trying to get to the front before getting into the woods where the paths are narrow.

The start of the race was much more chaotic this year than last year. We got all lined up and we were waiting for the gun to go off and then all of sudden you hear then just shout go runners over the PA to start the race. Everyone didn’t even know what to do so the race start was little delayed. After I got thru the pack of college kids that sprinted out the first 400 yards I was in about 8th place. I was even running with the 2 lead women runners. The first mile split was quick, a 5:24 pace! I unfortunately wasn’t able to get my other mile splits so I had a hard time judging where I was pace wise after that.

As a side note, the weather prior to the race start was absolutely nasty. It was down pouring the night before and even the day of the race. Fortunately it stopped about an hour before the race, but the race was enough to leave the course very muddy, slick and soaked!

Once I got into the woods I was able to get ahead of the 2 top women runners and pass 2 or 3 other guys. I exited the woods to find myself in 6th place and as I got closer to the finish I was reeling in the guy ahead of me at a decent pace and got him with less than a ¼ of a mile to go and held onto it to finish 5th Overall and 3rd in my Age Group 19-29.

Time: 18:16 (5:54 per mile pace) PR for this course by 13 seconds from 2007

Team Buddy / Ninjas
Yes, you may find this team name very funny, but my family knows that I use these words just about all the time, such as “YOU’RE A NINJA” or you’ll hear me say, “YOU’RE A BUDDY!” So this year my sister Katie decided to create a team called Buddy / Ninjas. I didn’t race under the team title, but my sister, her friend Nicole, my Dad, and my sister’s college friend Julia did.

It was on my way to my own finish that my mom shouted out to me where I was place wise, but also that my sister had taken a spill. I figured that okay she fell, no big deal and she was back up running and was going to finish the race. It wasn’t till I finished the race that I learned my sister took a really bad spill heading down the first hill into the woods. Let me tell you, it looked bad! It was her ankle and it was the size of Softball! They carted her over to an ambulance that was on standby for the Bryant Football game and the race. They thought that she broke it, but come to find out she severely sprained it, which is just as bad as a break.

Race Feedback and Personal Rant
As I mentioned before, I run this race for Shawn and will always run this race. With that said, I don’t mean to provide negative feedback on the race, but just want to make the race directors aware of what needs to be done in the future to improve the race. I heard from someone else that raced this with me that Race day Registration should have opened at 11AM, but wasn’t even up and ready to go till 11:30AM and was very disorganized with what they needed to give the runners and walkers. Also, I’ve never been to a race where 1 person gets 4 awards, I mean come on! I don’t mean to sound like a poor sport, but awards are meant to spread through out the field. Needless to say 1 runner, I won’t name any names, but he was awarded, the Team Award (for the 1st place team), 1st Bryant College Alumni Male Award, 1st Male 19-29 Award and then an award for finishing in the top 3 overall. I couldn’t believe what had happened! I was completely shocked! Last year’s awards were not done this way. I finished 4th in my age group last year, but I was considered the top male because the other 3 males that finished ahead of me in my age group were either part of teams or part of the Bryant Alumni. Needless to say I walked away with nothing for finishing 3rd in my age group.

Despite all this, it was a good race and was somewhat of a good measurement of where my fitness level is right now.

Week 13 - Peak Phase

I couldn't believe that when I looked at my training plan that this week was the start of my peak phase. I was excited and nervous at the same time because hitting the peak phase means that race day is getting that much closer. As each week passes I'm beginning to doubt my abilities of being able to finish the Ironman. The only aspect that scares me right now is the running portion and from looking at my mileage totals from the past few weeks, you can see why I'm worried even though I consider the run my strongest link in triathlon

All worries aside this week was a tough week to get bike workouts in since the days are getting shorter. I'm hoping that this week I can start biking to work so that I can get my workouts in. Friday mornings swim was my longest swim yet at 3,700 yards and it was a great workout. I had to swim this in 2 portions since I do have to be to work at 8am, so I swam 1.2 miles in the morning and than swam the rest at lunch time and then ran 8 miles after work. Another reason this was a great workout weekend was that I had my 2nd longest ride of the year over 50 miles. I ended up biking 93 miles on Saturday while averaging 19.5 mph. I also ended up doing the Shawn M. Nassaney 5k race on Sunday, but I'll do a seperate post on this.

Here are this weeks totals:

• Swim - 8,496 yards
• Bike - 120.46 miles
• Run - 16.65 miles

Week 12 - Recovery Week

Going into Week 12 I was really looking forward to the Firmman Half on the weekend to see how I'd make out at my second attempt at this distance, but that ended getting postponed until September 21st because of the remnants of Hurricane Hannah. I ended up getting in some great workouts in my recovery week and still took Saturday off as a recovery day since it would have been the day before the race, but also because of the weather. Well the weather ended up being great on Sunday so I decided to get in a brick workout. The brick consisted of a 45 mile ride at a 21.0 mph average followed by a 5 mile run at a 7:02 per mile pace. Needless to say I think race day I would have had a great performance.

Here are the totals for Week 12:

• Swim - 6,466 yards
• Bike - 84.19 miles
• Run - 19.64 miles

Week 11 - Red Soxs / Yankees & Bike Upgrades

I'm sure you are reading the title of this blog and wondering why I've put the Red Soxs and Yankees in the title and I'll tell you why later. Going into this week I knew that I was going to have a half day Friday for the Labor Day weekend and that Thursday I was going to be in New York for the Red Soxs and Yankees game at Yankee Stadium. Also, as part of this week I dropped my bike off at a fairly new bike shop in Peabody called Fitwerx. Fitwerx is where local elite triathlete Dean Phillips works and is co-owner of the Peabody shop. Anyway, I dropped it off for a basic tune up and also got a few new bike upgrades. While I had it at the shop I had them install a Chris King Headset and my new Ultegra SL brakes that I snagged off of eBay.
Since this week was short and crazy I missed quite a few workouts including Wednesday's bike, Thursdays Brick, and Friday's Long Swim and Long Bike. I was however able to get in a 4 hour, 80 mile bike ride in on Saturday, which was awesome, but very tiring.
So back to the Soxs / Yankees Game; every year our estimating department at work does an outing for team building. So this year we decided that we were going to go to the Yankees / Soxs game at Yankee Stadium since this is the last year of the old stadium. Thursday was an early morning since we had to catch the train at 7:00 AM in Westwood, which from N. Andover is a 45 min drive. We then caught the Acela train and took it to Penn Station. After arriving we made it to street level, grabbed a quick lunch and drinks and headed to the game. What a hot day to be sitting in the bleachers that day! Well to keep this short, the Soxs lost and I didn't get back till midnight and had to be at work on Friday, so needless to say Thursday and Friday were lost as far as my workouts go.
Week 12 is a Recovery / Taper week for which I'm suppose to be doing an Olympic this week, but since I couldn't find one I'm doing another Half Ironman in Narragansett, RI, the Firmman Half.

Here are this weeks total:

• Swim - 4,048 yards
• Bike - 93.05 miles
• Run - 4.95 miles (YIKES!) I need to get my butt running!!!

Week 10

Wow, what a week! Going into this week I felt great, but I wasn't able to get in some key weekend workouts. I ended up missing my scheduled brick on Saturday because Friday I decided, since it was my half day at work, that I'd get home from work and go for an 8 mile run and then try to go for a 2nd run later in the day. Well after making a very dumb mistake, I didn't end up going on the second run. Here's what happened, the route I usually run for my 8 miles is usually in the shade, but that's in the morning at about 9am - 10am on Saturday when I run it. Well when I ran the route in the afternoon I had planned on the same thing so I decided that I wasn't going to need any water with me on my run when it was 81 degrees out. I made it about 3-4 miles and I was suffering without water. The good thing is that I run a loop so on the way back I was able to stop at a youth center and hit a water fountain with a mile left to go in the run. I'll take it as a lesson learned that I'll always bring water with me from now on. Well after being whipped out from the week and the Friday 8 mile run, I decided not to do the brick workout on Saturday. Here are this weeks totals:

• Swim - 7,280 yards
• Bike - 81.97 miles
• Run - 13.12 miles

Week 9 - Ironman Training

The start of each training week I start off full of energy and then it tails off quickly as the week goes on and the workouts get longer. I wasn't able to get all my runs in this week, but as usual I did get in my swim and bike workouts in. The weekend was suppose to consist of a 4-1/2 hour bike ride, but was cut short because I was hoping to catch the group ride in the morning, but come to find out no one was there because there were so many people racing up in NH at Timberman. Since I had rushed out the door I grabbed everything, but my gels so the ride was cut short at 52 miles, which wasn't to bad, but I definitely need to get longer rides in. It wasn't a bad week, but I'm already looking forward to my recovery week.

Here are Week 9's totals:

• Swim - 7,476 yards
• Bike - 112.9 miles
• Run - 12.1 miles

Week 8 of Ironman Training - Recovery

It was hard to think of this week as a recovery week since the last 7 weeks have really been unproductive. The training plan called this week a recovery week so that's why I've labeled it as such. This was the first week I able to nail every single workout with the exception of 1 run. I was psyched to get in just about every workout considering the busy week I with work.

This weekends workouts were my best yet. Saturday consisted of a doing a brick, so I got up early to meet up with the Trifury Group ride. Even though where we ride from is only 1.5 miles from where Jess and I live now, I drove the car there so I could just throw my shoes on there and do the 5 mile run loop from the parking lot after my bike ride. I ended up doing 30.93 miles of biking with the group ride while averaging 21.7 mph and then ran 5 miles at a 6:57 pace. I can't say I was too disappointed with my run, but I wish I was a little faster. (I guess that's what 7 weeks with little to no running will do to you!) Sunday I was able to get in a nice 8 miler at a 6:25 pace, which was great! Oh and I forgot to mention that training here in North Andover is very, very hilly compared to Woburn. I've been going out for my runs lately and I wonder why I feel like I'm dying, then I remind myself that the first 2-3 miles of my runs were mostly up hill!

All and all here are this weeks totals:

• Swim - 5,403 yards
• Bike - 96.72 miles
• Run - 17.98 miles

A Long Awaited Post....

It's been a long time since I've posted on my blog, but there's a good reason why. My girlfriend Jess and I made the decision to move in together as soon as our leases were up on August 1st. So as of July 25th, Jess and I have been officially been living together. With all the packing, unpacking and moving the last few weeks have been a little unproductive with training for B2B.

Since I haven't written in a long time, I'm currently in Week 8 of my 18 week training plan for B2B Ironman on November 1st. As you'll notice I've hit most of my workouts for the swimming and biking, but my running is something yet to be desired. Here are the totals for Weeks 1 through 7 below.

Week 1:

• Swim - 4,638 yards
• Bike - 59.82 miles
• Run - 0 miles

Week 2:

• Swim - 3,806 yards
• Bike - 74.31 miles
• Run - 5.11 miles

Week 3:

• Swim - 4,532 yards
• Bike - 66.59 yards
• Run - 6.36 miles

Week 4:

• Swim - 880 yards
• Bike - 88.43 miles
• Run - 3.2 miles

Week 5:

• Swim - 6,292 yards
• Bike - 85.27 miles
• Run - 4.21 miles

Week 6:

• Swim - 2,552 yards
• Bike - 0
• Run - 5 miles

Week 7:

• Swim - 5,060 yards
• Bike - 107.57 miles
• Run - 2.62 miles

Powow Triathlon

RESULTS: 1:08:40, 7th OA out of 415, 1st AG M25-29 out of 16
The Powow Sprint was my first race since my half ironman and I was pumped up for this race since I'd be able to compare this years results to last years. The other reason I was excited for this race was that I wanted to win my Age Group again. Last year I finished 20th overall and 1st in my Age Group in a time of 1:12:01. Here are my splits from last year:
2007 Splits
Swim: 11:06 T1: 2:08 Bike: 36:41 T2: 1:17 Run: 20:51 Total: 1:12:01
20th Overall, 1st AG M25-29

The night before the race I figured I'd sleep fine, but needless to say I was up at 1:30AM not able to sleep and going over the race in my head. I was hoping this wouldn't happen since it was just a Sprint, but it did. There is no other race that makes me lose sleep than triathlon. I must say that I love it and hate it. I can go into a Half Marathon or any other road race and sleep fine the night before, but for some reason I get so anxious for race day the night before a triathlon. On top of all this the night before I had just come back from vacation on Friday afternoon. By the time I got home Friday from the Cape after taking the Ferry back from Martha's Vineyard it was about 4:15pm. Then I was off to get my race numbers and then drive the bike course to make sure it didn't change from the year before. Needless to say it was a hectic night before a race and Jess and I didn't get to bed till about 10pm, which is late for me before a race. Then to top things off, my alarm didn't go off in the morning and we were running around race day morning. Race day morning was crazy, we had planned to get up at 4:30AM, but the alarm didn't go off and I didn't wake up till 5am. When I saw what time it was, I jumped out of bed and ran down to eat breakfast and then I still had to pack my tri bag with all my gear, since I hadn't done it the night before. Luckily we still made it out the door by 6:15AM for a 45 minute ride to Amesbury, MA. Needless to say my warm-up consisted of allot of stretching and running a very little. Usually I like to get there and ride my bike to warm-up and then run and then just before the swim Start I usually swim a quick warm-up. Anyway here my splits and write up below.

1/2 Mile Swim: 12:12 (29th OA, 5th AG)
I was in the First Swim Wave, which consisted of Males 34 and under. We all had to line up on shore to go through the timing chip mat and then line up in the water a little more than waist deep. We waited about 30 seconds and we were off. I had a great jump on the field and going into the turn at the first buoy I was about 4th in my swim wave. I had definitely gone out way to hard and I was starting to feel it by the second turn buoy. By the time I got to shore I was 6th out of the water in my swim wave. I looked down at my watch and I was a little disappointed to see that my swim time was 1:06 slower than last year. I figured that I'll have to make up that time in the bike and run. (Come to find out, allot of the athletes were saying the swim was a little longer than last year and if you look at the overall the results, the times were a little slower than last year as well.) (2007 - 11:06, 4th AG, 30th OA)

Transition 1: 1:28
This by far must have been my fastest transition all year. It was great that the bike racks weren't to far away from the beach. I was also able to get my wetsuit zipper undone quicker and then rip it off my legs much better this time around. I haven't gotten comfortable with starting the bike leg with my shoes on my bike yet, so I had to put my bike shoes on in transition, but overall I improved my transition time 40 seconds which is huge! (2007 - 2:08)

12.6 Mile Bike: 35:02, 21.5 mph (17th OA, 1st AG)
The bike leg started out great with me passing someone in transition and then catching another rider about half way in. The only downside was that I ended up getting passed by 2 riders from the 2nd swim wave. Also while on vacation I ended up doing my 2nd longest ride of the season, 45 miles and could still feel the affects of this on the bike ride, but once I was about half way in, I felt okay. Overall, I was happy to find out in the results that my bike time was the fastest for my age group and that I had improved my time from last year by 1:39. (2007 - 36:41, 1st AG, 30th OA)

Transition 2: 0:56
As I came into to dismount the bike I had already taken my feet out from my bike pedals and was ready to run through the dismount line. This transition has been getting much better as my bike handling skills improve. Once I dismounted from the bike I ran to my transition area and threw on my shoes, I was going to throw on socks, but decided against it, since it was only a 3.2 mile run and I'm glad I did, otherwise I would have lost some time here. All and all I improved this transition time by 21 seconds from last year. (2007 - 1:17)

3.2 Mile Run: 19:05, 5:57 pace (2nd OA, 1st AG)
The run is and will always be my strongest leg. I felt great coming out of t2 and into the run. I ended up catching 1 of the guys from the previous swim wave, but in the overall results, it wasn't enough to finish ahead of him in the standing. The run was an out and back run and coming in from the bike I saw what ended up being the lead runner heading out for his run. I love the out and back runs since you can figure out where you are in the race on the way to the turn around. As I headed out to the turn around I started counting and found out that I was currently 5th overall, I couldn't believe that I was doing this well and I started to pick up my run as I came back in. I improved my time on the run by 1:46 from last year. (2007 - 20:51, 2nd AG, 13th OA)

Post Race:
It was great coming into the finish line and looking down at my watch to see that I had improved my time by about 4 minutes (Actual - 3:21) Of course this year I didn't have as many people cheering for me this year as I did last year. Last year my Parents, Grandparents, Aunt and Jess were there. This year at the finish line was just Jess, who is also my professional photographer and Number 1 Fan! (Sorry Mom and Dad, I know you were still on your vacation.) At the start of the race I was disappointed to find out that local Triathlete Dean Phillips was a scratch as an individual and learned he had joined up with a team. I finally introduced myself after the race and he remembered me from the JCC Triathlon, that he had won again this year. We got to talking and he told me that he hasn't been able to run since he has a knee injury, but he has been able to bike. I was hoping to pace off of Dean for the swim since he's strong there, but I knew I wouldn't have a chance to keep up with him on the bike since that is his strongest leg. All and all it was great race by Andy Hawkes, the race director, who I've come to know through my Aunt Judy who lives in Newburyport. Now it's time to get back to training for Beach 2 Battleship...stay tuned.

Half Max Qualified!

Well as of yesterday I received my official email saying I had qualified for the Halfmax National Championship in Nevada! I had qualified for the race based on my performance at the Mooseman Half finishing in the top 33% of my age group. I was excited to get this email, but I also know that I won't be competing because of the race being so far away and my other race goals. If the race location was closer, I would definitely compete to see how I would perform.

The Past Few Weeks & Upcoming Training Plan

The past 3 weeks after Mooseman has been a great time to relax, spend a little more time with Jess and catch up with coworkers for a few drinks after work. The first week after Mooseman was great to really reflect on what I had just accomplished and how well I had really performed considering the weather. It took a few days for that to all sink in after I really analyzed the results and talked it over with my dad. I spend the first 5 days after the race doing absolutely nothing, which was a great reward, but looking back, I should have stretched a little each day. After 5 days of rest I decided to give swimming a try and only ended up swimming 550 yards and then on Saturday I decided to try a group ride with TriFury to only bike 24 miles at a 20 mph pace.

Well after a week of rest, 2 weeks post Mooseman, I was hoping to get back to a some what normal training level only to find that my muscles still had that deep fatigue feeling to them. So my totals for my second week post Mooseman consisted of swimming 4,638 yards and biking 59 miles with no running.

Three weeks after Mooseman and I finally feel like I'm back to normal with no deep fatigue in my legs muscles and I started to amp up my miles this week. The only problem I ran into was the crazy Thunderstorms we were having this week really hampered my efforts with the swimming so needless to say I was only able to get 2 swim days in this week. I still ended up taking 3 total rest days and working out 4 days, which wasn't to bad. My totals this week were 3,806 yards of swimming, 74 miles of biking and 5 miles of running.

So what's to come, you may ask? In the big scheme of things my main goal is to concentrate on training for my 1st Ironman Distance Race, Beach 2 Battleship in Wilmington, NC on November 1st. I've been using this Secret Book, that my friend Scott Dewire mentioned on his blog that he has just learned about. I was surprised to learn that he didn't have this book with as many books that he has on triathlons. The book was issued by Triathlete Magazine and authored by Matt Fitzgerald. The title of the book is Triathlete Magazine's Essential Week-by-Week Training Guide - Plans, Scheduling Tips and Workout Goals for Triathletes of All Levels. I found out about this book while skimming through their magazine before I even started training for my first half this year. Needless to say it was a great guide and it has training plans from Sprint Distance to Ironman Distance. For every distance of triathlon it also has different levels with a Level 1 plan being the easiest and Level 10 being the hardest. I ended up choosing a Level 4 for my First Half and I've now gone through and picked a plan for my First Ironman distance. After looking through the different levels of training to see where they all peak out for mileage I decided to go with a Level 6 training plan for B2B. I figured that with the base I have from the training for my half that I'll be able to train at a higher level.

This coming week I'll finally be looking to get on track for my Level 6 training plan for B2B since I only have about 18 weeks left.

Mooseman Half - June 8, 2008

Results: 5:07:32, 84th OA out of 723, 5th AG M25-29 out of 36

This was my first half ironman event and I was so nervous and anxious the week leading up to this event that I never fell into a deep sleep all week. The worst was that by the middle of the week they were predicting weather in the 90's for race day. Needless to say the temperature reached 89, which was 1 degree of from the the record high up there. But on the course the temperature easily felt like it was in the middle 90's if not hotter with the dew point and humidity. This was the race I had been training for since the middle of January and the only downside was that I wasn't able to get in my long ride until race day. Needless to say I'm pretty happy with my performance considering the heat conditions and the hilly course. I was predicting myself to finish in around 5 hours, but 7 minutes over my predicted time for the race conditions I'm not going to worry about.

1.2 Mile Swim: 31:32 (151th OA, 10th AG)

The water was 62 on race day which was very chilly considering I have a wetsuit that doesn't cover my arms. The swim start was an in water start about waist deep. I had predicted that I would finish the swim in 30 minutes to 34 minutes. I was in the first swim wave, which included the Elite/Pro's and males 34 and under. It was really awesome to be starting the swim wave with the Elites in the front. The swim was pretty uneventful and there isn't much to report here. The worst part of this was that going into T1 and to the Wetsuit Strippers was that my hamstrings tightened so bad that I couldn't move! I was screaming in pain it was that bad! I'm not sure if it had something to do with swimming in the cold water or not, but it was painful! I would say that swimming is my 2nd best discipline in triathlon, but isn't that great for me this year I think. Part of this could be that I gave up lifting weights about half way through my training plan, which I think affected my swim time.

56 Mile Bike: 2:50:28, 19.7 mph (148th OA, 10th AG)

I knew the bike leg was going to be my worst event of the day and was something I knew I was going to suffer through after the first loop. The course was a 28 mile, 2 loop course that had 1 very gnarly hill and a bunch of rolling hills. I was very surprised that I ended up being ahead of a few people in the final results considering this is not my strongest leg. The first 4 miles of this course had some very rough road conditions from the bad winter here in New England. In fact for must of the course there was very few areas to actually ride in the aero position. Another reason I didn't want to ride aero was due to the fact I didn't want to snap my aerobars again! The first loop of the bike went well. I brought with me on the bike leg, 1 bottle of Cytomax, 1 bottle of Monster Energy Drink mixed with Gatorade, 1 Bottle of Water and 5 Hammer Gels. Needless to say I ended up going thru my water, Cytomax and the 4 gels in the first loop and ended up picking up a few waters, 1 gel and gatorade endurance formula during the rest of the bike. I had predicted to finish the bike in 3 hours so I was happy to finish 10 minutes faster than what I had predicted considering the hills.

13.1 Mile Run: 1:40:10, (59th OA, 2nd AG)

Going into T2 I was expecting my legs to cramp up heading into the run and have that awkward feeling, but they didn't. I started out my first mile very strong and much better than I had expected, a 5:50 first mile! After I saw that on my watch, my quads started to cramp and gave up on me, so I started to walk. I hit the first aid station and picked up water and gatoride. By the time I got to the run, the heat was starting to get really bad! There were plenty of aid stations on this out and back run course, which was great! I ended up hitting all the aid stations for the sponges and the occasional hose down from the neighbors that lined the course. The run only had 1 real major hill with 1 small hill. I ended up having to walk both of these hills because my legs were absolutely dead. I can't even count how many times I ended up walking the run. It was awful because I have never ever walked a run in training, needless to say a race! I was hoping to run a much better half, but with the weather and the fact that I hadn't done a long bike ride prior to the half; pretty much killed my run leg even though I ended up having the 59th Overall fastest run time.

Post Race / Comments:

Keith Jordan, the race director, puts on one great event! They had plenty to do post race for athletes as far as food, drinks, etc. and from what my parents and Jess said there was plenty going on during the race. It was also great that Jess and my parents were up there to share with me my great accomplishment in my First Half Ironman.

Week 20 - Race Week

Coming into Week 20 was great after having one last week of quality training in Week 19 and I was really looking forward to the up coming Half this weekend. I was definitely worried about the heat they had predicted for the weekend, since it was suppose to be in the 90’s. With my bike in the shop until Wednesday of this week, I only went out for one, 5 mile ride to see if everything was working okay. The reason for the ride was to test my race day setup. I ended up renting a set of Zipp 606 wheels for Mooseman. It was a good thing I went out for this short ride because I ended up having to run back to the bike shop on Saturday morning as soon as they opened. I had allot of front end vibration at only 15 mph and anything above that I thought I was going to dump the bike. After they took a look at it, for some reason there was an 'extra piece' of metal in the headset. There's nothing like a little last minute stress going into the race weekend!

This past week was a great taper week with only 2 days of swimming and 1 day of running. I was supposed to bike 3 times this week, but because the bike was in the shop I wasn't able to get the training in.

Here are the totals for this week (not including the race):

• Swim - 3,168 yards
• Bike - 0 miles
• Run - 5.93 miles

Week 19 - Taper

Well this was my first week of my two week taper and it's great to be that much closer to race day. This week was pretty productive considering it was my taper week. The downside was that I have no biking miles this week since I was waiting for my replacement aerobars and then dropping the bike off at the shop to get them installed. The good thing is I'll have the bike back in time for the race and that is all that counts. I was also able to get in a long run of 10.2 miles, even though it was a littler slower (a 6:40 per mile pace) than my normal training pace (6:09 per mile pace), it was still great to get out for my 1st long run since my half marathon in April.

Here are tht totals for Week 19:

• Swim - 7,084 yards
• Bike - 0 miles
• Run - 21.46 miles

Week 18 - Recap

Well Week 18 was eventful as you could tell from my previous post. This week was also my first open water swim in Stiles Pond in Boxford, MA. The open water swim had to have been the coldest swim I've ever been on. We were told the water temperature was 62 degrees, but it felt more like 52! I'll be looking forward to Week 19 and 20 with my 2 week taper for my 1st Half Ironman race on June 8th, Mooseman. Since I wasn't able to get my 60 mile ride in, my bike mileage is low this week. My running mileage is also low this week since I've been dealing with some achilles tendon tightness and soreness/tenderness. I was able to make it to the Orthopedic doctor on Thursday, May 22 and he told me that as long as I stretch it before and after my workouts and ice it after, I should be fine for my half. He told me that I'm just generally tight and that if I have tight hamstrings, then that will result in trouble with my achilles tendons. Along with stretching them out twice a day I was also taking ibuprofen for a few days to relieve any inflammation. As of this post, I'm back to my normal running and my achilles are much better. I'm back to the foam roller for my achilles tendons and since I'm using the roller again, I figured I should roll out my IT bands even though I haven't had any trouble with them for quite come time.

Here are the totals for Week 18:

• Swim - 5,850 yards
• Bike - 56.12 miles
• Run - 12.68 miles

Memorial Day Weekend - 60 mile ride....

Well, as I wrote about in my last post I was supposed to ride 60 miles this past weekend. I woke up on Saturday morning and meet up with TriFury for the scheduled 7:30am group ride at the Herman Youth Center in N. Andover, MA. I got there a little early at 7am, so that I could stretch out and pound my can of Monster Khaos for my ride. After stretching out, I felt great and the weather was turning out to be better than expected. The group ride started out a little after 7:30am and we were off. I took an early lead from the group and ended up pulling away from the group and was about 4-5 minutes ahead of the person behind me. I was having a great ride and I was averaging 21 mph. I made it 25 miles in and the worst happened......My new Visiontech TriMax Plus Flat aerobars ended up breaking. My left aerobar extension ended up snapping off causing me to loose control of the bike. The good thing was that I wasn't around anyone else. After loosing control of my bike going just over 20 mph, I veered off the road to the right, went up about a 4 foot embankment, which ended up slowing me down a bit. Once I was up the embankment I ended up flipping head over heals off the handlebars and rolled down the 4 foot embankment with the bike crashing on top of me in the middle of the road. Luckily, I crashed in front of someones house and they came running out to see if I was okay. Apparently, they called out after I crashed, but I was so concerned about how I was and taking an inventory of what happened to me and what happened to the bike that I didn't even hear them. All and all the only damage to the bike was the aerobars and everything else was fine. I ended up with a bruise the size of bike pedal on my left calf and a couple of cuts on my left knee and some road rash on my butt. I was happy that the crash wasn't that bad since things could have ended up much worse. I'd like to thank the good samaritan, whose house I crashed in front of, who gave me a ride back to my car, which was only 2 miles away after the whole incident. After getting back to my car I called it a day and went home to run 6 miles later that afternoon without incident.

Here are some pictures of what happened to the bike below.

Week 16 & 17 - Recap

Week 16 was a recovery week and I was able to get 2 - 20 mile rides in, not including my JCC race on Mother's Day. As of this post, I still have yet to get in a 50 - 60 mile bike ride, which will be happening this coming Memorial Day weekend. There isn't really anything significant to report for Week 16 other than the JCC Sprint Tri that I posted about previously.

Here are my totals for Week 16;

• Swim - 3,716 yards
• Bike - 53.24 miles
• Run - 15.6 miles

Week 17 was a complete disaster! Come Monday, May 12, I was fine when I went to work and as the day went on I seemed to feel worse and worse. I ended up taking the whole week off from training since I was sick with a bad head cold and running a fever over a few of the days last week. This really through a loop in my training plan since this week was my 2nd weak in the peak phase and I was hoping to get in my long ride and long run in this week. To finish off the week I decided to get a professional massage and ever since the massage I've been dealing with some morning stiffness in my right Achilles tendon. Hopefully this won't continue to bother me and I'll be able to continue my training for Week 18. I'll write more about this after I see the doctor this Friday, May 23.

Here are my totals for Week 17:

• Swim, Bike, Run - ZERO

JCC Triathlon by the Sea - 2008 Race Report

Official Results - 51:30, 3rd Overall out of 248, 1st M25-29 out of 10

Pre-Race: The day before Jess and I decided to drive the course, since someone from TriFury was kinda enough to send out a pre-race report on the road conditions, but I wanted to check them out for myself. Sure enough the roads were full of potholes and there were alot of turns. There were a couple of areas that were tricky if there wasn't anyone directing. The run also consisted of alot of turns, but was pretty flat except for one hill about 3/4 of a mile in. The swim was going to be interesting as well since it was a pool start. It started out that you swam down the first lane and then the next 4 lanes you swam both up and down and then the last lane you swam down and exited out the door and ran out to the transition area.

Well the night before we were in bed early at 9pm and up at 4:30am so we could be there by 6:30am to check-in and get my transition area set-up. I slept great for about 4 hours and didn't have the race on my mind at all since I've done a few of these last year. Then for some reason I woke up at about midnight and from then on I was having nightmares that I screwed up the swim and only did half the distance. Then, the next 2 dreams consisted of getting lost and taking the wrong turn and the last one being that I crashed hitting a huge pothole. My last dream then consisted that I took a wrong turn on the run. Needless to say after all these dreams last night I was a little nervous and anxious this morning.

Swim: 3:45, 6th OA, 1st AG

Well the swim was based on the seeded time that you had to submit when you registered for the race. The good thing was that I originally submitted a slower time of 4:30 and then changed it to 4:10, but needless to say that was to slow as well. Our race numbers were based on when we would be starting the swim. I was number 66 and I didn't enter the water for some time. They started people off with a 15 second gap per person so that you hopefully wouldn't have to pass anyone. Well sure enough, I caught the girl in front of me in the 2nd lane and then got tied up behind 2 people in the 3rd lane. I was able to pass them in the 2nd to last lane, but it cost me about 15-20 seconds if not more having to slow down behind them so that I could safely pass them since I had to pass them while people were swimming at me. I was also able to catch someone in the last lane as well. My enter to exit time from the pool was 3:38, but because the timing mat was so far from the pool, my official time was 3:45.

Bike: 31:08 (20.2 mph) 11th OA, 1st AG

I was worried how I was going to make out on the bike, not because of mileage, but because of the weather. It was cold this morning, but by the time I got out of the pool and back outside it wasn't that bad. I ended up wearing my tri top for the swim and I wasn't sure if that was going to cost me and leave me cold on the bike. Sure enough it was perfect on the bike with only my feet getting cold. My overall average speed is slow because this includes my transition time to my run. I ended up averaging 22.0mph according to my bike computer and finished the bike in 28:38. My transition time took me awhile because for some reason I tried to run with my aero helmet on, which needless to say, was pretty funny!

Run: 16:38 (5:33), 1st OA, 1st AG

Running has been my strong point, since this is the background I came from before starting triathlons. I had no idea I was going to dominate the run and have the fastest run of the day by almost a minute. (Beating elite triathlete Dean Phillips.) The run was mostly flat with only 1 hill at the 3/4 mile mark. This was where I caught alot of people before hitting the finish line. The only problem I had during the run was some cramping because instead of bringing water with me on bike, I brought with me my Cytomax drink. The cramps weren't bad enough to slow me down though.

All and all it was an awesome race since I was able to use some of my new gear. This was the first race that I was able to try out my new Vision Tech TriMax Plus Flat aerobars and the 2nd time I was able to use my Sidi T-1 shoes and my new Guru Advantage 2 Helmet. With it being Mother's Day, my parents were able to make it to the race today, which was great! Then afterwards the Ellis's were able to finally meet Jess's Parent's for the first time. It was a good day for racing and a great Mother's day for both Mom's.

Week 15 - Peak Phase

Week 15 is my first week of my peak phase and with next week being a recovery it was great to get through this week. I wasn't able to get in as much running or biking as I'd like this past week, but it's great knowing how far I've come with my training and what great shape I'm in right now. Despite my low biking mileage I still feel comfortable on the 30 mile rides, like I could go much longer, even though I still have yet to go on a 60 mile ride, I may have to wait till Week 17 to get in a long run and a long ride. I can't believe that Mooseman is only 5 weeks away. As I get closer to the actual event I find myself thinking about how the race will go and how I don't feel ready despite all the training I have done. What worries me the most is my actual race day nutrition. Thanks to Scott DeWire for some tips, I think I might be in good shape, but we'll have to see.

Here are my totals for Week 15:

• Swim - 7,832 yards
• Bike - 30.69 miles
• Run - 11.78 miles

Week 14 - Recap

Week 14 had some great training weather here in New England with the weather in the 70's and 80's this week. I was able to get in some great bike miles this week. Also, for the first time on Thursday I was able to ride with a group that leaves from my gym at 6am. The group ride was a little too early for me because I'm not the one that likes to get up that early to workout. We rode with about 12 guys and we did a 30 mile loop and we ended up averaging 21.4 mph, which was great for me! I was also able to go for another group ride this past Saturday with my fellow TriFury group. We had a great turnout of about 25 riders, but it didn't take long for things to thin out with myself and another local great triathlete, Thor Kirleis to take off on our own. The course for the group ride is well marked on the roads and we were told that it was a 30 mile ride, but it ended up being a 32.6 mile ride and we averaged 20.9 mph. All and all it was another great week for bike mileage, but my running mileage again was low.

Here are the totals for Week 14:

• Swim - 7,282 yards
• Bike - 81.66 miles
• Run - 10.61 miles

Week 13 - Recap & Bike Fit

Well the recap of Week 13 is a week past due. Between work, racing & my long weekends spending time with my lovely girlfriend, it doesn't leave me much time to post, so here I am catching up. Week 13 was a decent week considering I was able to add more miles to the bike this week, but I ended up slacking on the running. On Friday, April 18th I was able to schedule a professional bike fit at The Cycleloft in Burlington, MA. It was great to finally get dialed in and learn the process of a bike fit. The bike fit started by first analyzing my current setup. After looking at my current setup it was apparently very unorthodox. I was to far forward on my bike and my bike cleats weren't in the correct position. The bike fit ended up taking about 2 hours, but afterwards I couldn't believe the difference. Joel, the bike fit professional, made adjusts to my cleats on both my race and training shoes, adjusted the saddle and post to the correct height and then lowered my aerobars to give me a pretty basic tri-bike setup. I was also given a set of orthotics for my bike shoes. Come to find out it’s not normal to have your knees hit the middle tube on the bike. This was happening because from my thigh to my knees, they go inwards and then my tibia's bow out. The orthotics fix this problem almost making my legs straight when I peddle and relieving a lot of stress that I had been feeling on my IT band. I was able to test out the bike fit I had received on Friday in the Wrentham Duathlon on Sunday, April 20th.

Here are the totals for Week 13:

• Swim - 7,282 yards
• Bike - 37.1 miles
• Run - 9.94 miles

Wrentham Duathlon - Run 3 / Bike 11 / Run 2

This was a race I had put on my race calendar during the winter when I was planning out my season, but didn’t sign up for because I wasn’t sure what the weather would bring considering it was an early spring race. I still wasn’t sure if I was going to race this one or not until the night before.

The weather for race day was suppose to be in the mid 40's to lower 50's with the race starting at 8:30. When Jess and I arrived it was cloudy and about 43 degrees. It was going to be great running weather, but I knew it was going to be a chilly bike leg. By the time I finished warming up and setting up my transition area the sun was out and it had warmed up to maybe 50 degrees.

Run - 3 miles - 16:43 (5:34 per mile pace)

The first run went great and it felt like a relaxing pace. I didn't want to take the first run to hard because I wanted to save whatever I had left for bike leg since I haven't been able to put much time in on the bike. The run was pretty flat with no hills and was a 3 mile loop around the Wrentham Fairgrounds. I finished the first run 4th overall and 2nd in my age group. As soon as I went into the transition I was passed by a few people because I hadn't switched my running shoes over with the quick laces. This transition was also setup in the grass and it was soaked from the morning dew. My plan was to try and start the bike leg with my bike shoes clipped in on the bike and then tighten them up once I was going on the bike. I wasn't able to do this since we started on grass so I ended up putting on my bike shoes in the transition area and ran my bike out to the road.

Bike - 11 miles - actual -10.93 miles - 31:38 (20.7 mph)

Well I knew that this was going to be my weakest leg of the duathlon since I haven't put enough time in the saddle training for my half ironman. Well sure enough I was right. The course wasn't that hilly, but had some rolling hills, which I would have to say that I kinda struggled with. It didn't take long for me to start getting passed on the bike leg. I think I ended up getting passed by about 12 people on the bike leg, which put about 16 people ahead of me coming into the second run. This transition was done exactly how I wanted to do it. I ended up unstrapping my bike shoes and leaving them clipped into the pedals and pedaling with my feet on top of my bike shoes. As I approached the dismount area I was able to ride in and jump off and start running with my bike. This was a much quicker transition and was able to get my running shoes back on allot quicker even though I still had to mess with laces.

Run - 2 miles - 11:51 (5:55 per mile pace)

The last run wasn't to bad, but my legs could feel it from the bike leg. I'd have to say that they didn't feel like they did the first time I ever did a bike to run transition. My legs are getting use to the bike to run transition but I do need to spend more time doing this. This run was flat as well with a 2 mile loop going around the Wrentham Fairgrounds as well with no hills.

Finish

I was able to pass 2 people on the run to finish 14th overall and 4th in my age group with a final time of 1:00.14. I wasn't sure how I was going to finish as far as time or place considering I hadn't really examined the results from the previous year so I was happy that I finished in just over an hour. It was also great that my Aunt Joyce who lives about 20 minutes away was able to show up and be part of the cheerleader / support group and kept Jess company during the race. Also, as a I side note, Jess and Joyce said that I had definitely finished in the top 10 after the race so I was excited to find this out. So after waiting for the race director to post race results I found out that I wasn't even in the final results. Well, come to find out they weren't able to download the actual results since the cord that connects to their laptop wasn't working so they had to resort to manual timing. After talking to the race director and giving the my time I ended up placing 16th overall and 5th in my age group. I was definitely a little disappointed since this would be the first race of the season that I wouldn't come away with any hardware or prizes. Well we ended up sticking around for the awards ceremony for the 1st and 2nd place for every age group and then left. After we got home and checked the results online I had found out that I had actually done much better than I had originally thought.

All and all it was a great race considering the SNAFU with the results. It was also a good indicator that I need to put more time in the saddle to get ready for my half.