13 days to go and I have collected $5112!

"If God invented marathons to keep people from doing anything more stupid, triathlon must have taken Him completely by surprise."
P. Z. Pearce

Today, while packing my bike to be shipped to California, I actually heard about a, possibly, crazier event. It is 3 days of triathlons. The first day is a sprint distance triathlon. The second day is two Olympic distance triathlons (32 miles each). One in the morning and one in the afternoon. The third day is a half-ironman triathlon (70 miles). The guy I talked to was planning to race all four. Crazy? You tell me!

Wildflower is just around the corner and, man, has this been an eventful week! It all started friday a week ago when I received a summons in the mail to appear for jury duty this tuesday, 4/22. This is not something you can just ignore. I immediately saw my plans for Wildflower going straight down the drain. I started thinking about a plan "B". I promised to complete a half-ironman for all my wonderful donors and, by golly, I am going to complete a half-ironman - even if it ends up being the Cleveland triathlon in August instead of Wildflower in May. Well, I may still sign up for the Cleveland triathlon but I WILL be going to Wildflower afterall, thanks to an understanding judge.

Early tuesday, while I was waiting for word from the judge about my jury summons, I went for my third 13 mile run while in south Florida. The run went well and I felt like I was recovering nicely so I ran 3 miles the next morning and 5 miles the morning after that, Thursday. Well, the 5 mile run was a little more than my legs were ready for. And my left quad let me know it in no uncertain terms. Seems like bicycling, not running, is the best way for me to recover from a long run. Anyway, the best I could handle on friday was a 3 mile walk.

In the mean time I got word on Wednesday that my oldest daughter had gone into labor with my third grandchild, a boy, Evan Louis. Mother, father, and new son are all doing just fine. She left work at 3PM and Evan was born at 7PM, just 4 hours later!

Yesterday, back home in Mentor, I got together very early in the morning with some of my half-ironman wildflower teammates for a 56 mile bike ride. We were riding in the Cuyahoga valley on a beautiful, warm spring day. The ride included a number of sizeable hills which were good training for the Wildflower course. My left quad, still a little injured from the long run early in the week did not give my much trouble at all but I had to beg off on the run (after the ride) because I was afraid of doing more damage. That's now looking like a very good decision because an easy 12 mile bike this morning has me almost fully recovered from yesterday's long ride and my left quad is feeling pretty good. Although, I do think I detect a touch of tendonitis in the back of my left knee. Better get the ice pack!

As I said, it has been a VERY eventful week.

134 days and $1085 to go!

I was trying to introduce myself as America's woman champion, but I said the french word "Champignon," so I introduced myself as a mushroom.
-Nancy Neiman Baranet

What a beautiful day! The sky is clear, the roads are dry, as soon as the temperature reached 40 degrees, I stole a 15 mile ride on my bike. Winters in the "north country" are like that. It's sometimes hard to get out to run or bike. Open water swimming is certainly out of the question. This makes the occasional opportunities like today all the more wonderful. My friends in Florida would say to me that this is the perfect argument for moving to Florida. It's hard to refute them. But I'm afraid I would wilt in the heat the rest of the year. I do enjoy the cold weather - most of the time.

I did spend a good week in Florida, returning home yesterday evening. I was able to get in 3 runs of a little over an hour and 2 runs of a little under an hour. Temperatures in the morning were actually in the 50s and 60s which is a little cold in Florida, even for this time of the year. Had some success avoiding the leg cramps too.

We were in Florida for Mako's Christmas party on Sunday evening. Sunday morning my wife and I drove the 3 and a half hours to Key West, had lunch, and drove back to Ft. Lauderdale.

I found out that one of my new colleagues at Mako is a triathlete! He has been doing triathlons for about 2 years and has heard about "Team In Training". We spent some time sharing "war" stories about our training and racing. He has recently completed his first "Half Ironman". So, I will be looking to him for pointers as the race day nears. :-)

Merry Christmas!

146 days and $1920 to go!

I thought of that while riding my bike.
-Albert Einstein, on the theory of relativity

It's been an interesting week. Monday started my training week with 2 unexpected 5 mile training runs in the cold and snow. I had intended to take the day off but found myself with no car and a dentist appointment in 1 hour. What would you have done?

I am still trying to figure out if there is any merit to this idea of massaging muscles to prevent cramps while running. I am not ready to declare victory but I think I may be on to something. I bought this thing called "theStick". At $35 it's a little pricey for a plastic stick with handles, but if it works it will be well worth many times that price. I have been massaging my calf muscles all week with this thing. If it actually works I will let you know.

I did take Tuesday and Thursday off, doing only my yoga routine to stay loose. Cold weather bicycling is a wonderful thing as long as I don't go too far from base so that I can come back in when important parts of my body start to freeze. The best way to combat the cold is to wear layers of light clothes and something to break the wind around your torso and chest. I have found that my Mako Surgical scrub cap makes a great lining for my bicycle helmet.

Short (and sometimes slightly longer) cold weather rides completed my training for the week. Finding myself again without a car on Wednesday I biked the 4 miles to and from the bank to cash an expense check. Friday, I biked to my daughter's office to visit her on her lunch hour. Saturday I started on a 1 hour ride but flattened my rear tube about 10 minutes into the ride. I walked home, patched the tube and then went for my ride. One circuit on the path through the park convinced me that I didn't want to do that again. The combination of snow, ice, and wet board walks had me riding no faster than a walk. It's great training for maintaining your balance on a bike but it is very tiring. Happily, today I got out for a ride before the freezing rain started. It's raining now and I can see the icycles hanging on the branches of the tree outside my back window.

I'm heading for Florida tomorrow morning where I hear it's a little warmer.