Another First: Open Water Swim Tonight!

OPEN WATER SWIM: I will swim with the fishes...err well you know what I mean.
(or the weeds! Check out my Update below)

Well, I will be doing my first Open Water Swim (OWS) tonight at Lake Nokomis.  This is the location also for the swim portion of the Mpls Tri on July 9^th.  Nervous? Yes. Wondering how cold the water will be? Yes, BUT I will be wearing a wetsuit (another first!) and I am hopeful it will keep me warm and aid me in the swim.  I am losing my tri virginity left and right! (Ok that’s a bad joke).  Coach Teresa said there is no set length we are doing, but I am hoping to try to do the .4 miles that I will be doing for the Mpls Tri. Maria and the kids will be coming to see me try to swim in the lake, and we may have an impromptu picnic after which depends on how the kids are.  Hopefully she will take some pictures of me in my Neoprene clad glory (oh yeah!).

I did almost 3 mile run with the Team yesterday, and my SI pain was ok, and the knee stopped hurting after I warmed up. We did Kenyan Out and Backs, 10 minutes out and then we had to run back the same distance but in 8 minutes.  We did this twice and I managed to do .74 miles out and got back with 10 sec to spare.  That was a little hard, so I did a much slower pace for the second repeat and came back with 45 seconds to spare.  We did more core work and lots of stretching.  Not a bad workout!

Enjoy the day, look for some OWS pics tomorrow!

UPDATE (6/17/11): No pics (Maria had a hard time watching our crazy kids run in and out of the water and not get trampled on by our large (20+) tri group as we practiced entering and exiting the water.  Wetsuit was great, the water temp was 70, so it was nice to have in the cool water.  It made me very buoyant and I could easily float on my back and front.  Def worth the money, but....


I CHOKED!!!!



Besides....I freaked/choked when I started the swim.  I encountered apparently a very common occurence: weeds.  However at the time, it felt like I had a fish net wrapped around my feet, and I panicked (never minid I had a wetsuit on that would keep me from drowning) and I struggled and got free and swam back without finishing.  FAIL.  I tired again after everyone got back, and what do you know, this time I got my feet and hands tangled in the weeds.  OK, someone needs to take an underwater weed whacker or something to these damn things. Coach T suggested I do a lap in the cordoned off swimming area which was thankfully free of weeds, which I did.  I got a cramp in my right calf (probably from all the frantic kicking I was doing) which was painful, but that was near the end of the workout.


Final Thoughts: I NEED TO OWS!!! At least 3 more times in the next 3 weeks before the race to solve my 
1. Nerves
2. Sighting issues (like the crow flies is right!)
3. Confidence in the water
4. Get ready for the real deal!


Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions on what to do?  I appreciate any feedback!



Minneapolis Half-Marathon Report: My 2nd event with Team in Training! Part 1 Pre-Race!

Go Team!

One week ago (June 5th) I ran the Minneapolis Half-Marathon with Team in Training.  This was my second event with the Team, and it was an amazing way to run a race with 83 of your friends, and help raise money to find a cure for blood cancers.  I ran this race also in honor of Alie, my wife's coworkers daughter who will soon be 9 years old and has fought leukemia 3 times.  She is an inspiration to all of us on the Team, and I ran in honor of her and so decorated my shirt (really all Maria, she is the puff paint queen!)

My shirt was pretty visible...maybe thats why they took so many photos!

Pre-Race: TNT Pasta Party/Inspiration Dinner

On Saturday, the night before the race, Team in Training hosted an Inspiration Dinner/Pasta Party for the participants and their families.  Its a time to fuel up some carbs before the race and to remember why we are doing this, in honor, in memory of family, friends, and loved ones stricken by blood cancer.  As a mentor, I got there early and we had a red carpet for all the participants to walk down as they came in, we made a lot of noise!

Lots of Cow bells! Couple people looked shell shocked from the noise!

Once inside, everyone got to eat some nice pasta, salad, and chicken.  I had to man the incentive table for a bit (hand out shirts and goodies to the top fundraisers) and Maria took a picture of me being goofy with the cheer supplies

What does that mean in flag language? All clear?

After a bit, Maria and I sat with our friends Bob and Bonnie who were racing in honor of their uncle, Dwayne, who passed away from leukemia (they and their cousins and Bonnie's mother, Mary, formed Team Ironman in honor of Dwayne's battle with the cancer, he never gave up).  At this point everyone was in mass food consumption high gear

We then had a guest speaker take the stage, a TNT alumni who spoke of his reason for joining TNT; the death of his brother from AML.  Running became his way to deal with the anguish and loss of his brother, and with TNT he has raised over $20,000 for blood cancer research in the hopes of finding a cure.  We honored one of our Teammates, a survivor, who passed away midway thru the training season, and Coach Val gave a very rousing poem send off for our group (it was title the "Night before the Marathon").  We ended with our cheer and tried to get a group photo....

Too many ppl taking pics at once!

It was a nice way to prepare mentally for the race the next morning, and to reflect on the many reasons why I run.  My TNT group had so many amazing people, all of us united for one goal, which made it such a close-knit circle.  We had went through trials of pain, anguished over injuries, but had been uplifted in spirit and body by what we had trained for and overcame. I look back and I was happy to be a part of that, and it's why I came back this fall with the Team. 

Well that's its for now but part 2: Race day will be up soon!  Maybe I should title it Part 2: the Minneapolis Half-Marathon (or thank you Coldplay, Katy Perry, and Nikki Minaj for helping me up the last 1.5 miles of hills!) Seriously last 3 miles were rough!

Speaking of Katy Perry, check out her latest video....Kenny G is alive!?!?

25 days til my First "Real" Triathlon!

My "First" Triathlon!

25.  Twenty-Five.  XXV.....days and counting to the Lifetime Fitness Triathlon (I guess its the Minneapolis Triathlon now) on July 9th.  I am doing the Sprint distance, so .4 mile swim, 15 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run.

It will be my first triathlon (not counting my indoor I just finished) and I have this excited/nervous/pumped/crazy feeling going on!  Initially I really wanted to train hard for it, but with injury and also participating in TNT, I didnt get as much in as I wanted, BUT the most important thing is that I have been taking swimming lessons (Beginner's Master's Swim at Eagan LTF is awesome with Coach Teresa!).  Here is what I am doing in the days coming up to the race:

1.  Bike 
Get on it! I don't have a road bike, just my trusty Schwinn, which will have to do.  I haven't logged a lot of miles, which I need to remedy soon.  I did get fitted for my bike at the local cycle store, and I rode it briefly down the street and it feels much better than before.  I plan on riding the LTF course at least 3 times to get familiar with it (find a place I can collapse safely on race day). 

2.  Swim
1. I have been progressing nicely in my swimming if I do say so myself, the Master's class is really helping me in that aspect.  I need to build more endurance and work on getting that effortless feeling in the water without using my fins.  I practice without and I feel like my kick isn't strong enough, but I think the power in my stroke is good.  

2. Open Water Swim:  this Thursday!!!!!! My swim coach is having an OWS at Lake Nokomis on Thursday, so I will be joining them and I will be wearing a wetsuit!  Another first for me!  I rented one from Urban Tri (they are an awesome Tri store that just opened off of Lyndale Ave in S. Mpls, check them out!).  Its right by Minnehaha Trail, so you can bike all you want and stop at Urban Tri fuel up and they even have shower facilities!  They were very helpful and I recommend going there.)  That was an experience trying it on, I guess that's what Batman feels like when he wears his outfit. I love me some neoprene!

Run 
1.  Recovering from the Minneapolis Half the legs are doing better.  I went to the chiropractor yesterday since my nagging SI joint pain came back after the race.  It feels so much better now.  I will be training for a marathon with Team in Training so I will have plenty of time for the run.  I just keep telling myself, its only a 5K....after a combined 15.4 miles of swimming/biking.  No biggie, I got it in the bag.   

Final goal:  To enjoy and have fun with my first Triathlon experience, and to not collapse, or pants my poop....really! I got that quote from Marathon Thoughts, check it out below:

All hilarity aside, I am definitely pumped and ready for the Mpls Tri in....25 days!

Lifetime Fitness Indoor Triathlon Race Report: part 2 the Bike and Run...Finally!

Yes I know this is way late...but I won't list the many excuses, but will finish up my race report.  AND I have another post on my Minneapolis Half-Marathon, so double your reading/viewing pleasure! Or something... :-)  You can check out my Minneapolis Half-Marathon recap here (link will be up soon!).


LTF Indoor Triathlon part 2:  I spun and I milled!

Gatorade and water in hand I ran up the stairs to the cycle studio, and found a bike.  Music was blaring and the heat before mine was halfway thru their 30 min cycle.  Teresa, a friend from my Beginner's Master's Swim, was on her bike pumping away.  I gave her a thumbs up and cheered as I clambered onto my chosen bike (I had to pick the one with the biggest foot straps since I have ginormous duck feet, I didn't want my foot popping free, like it did the first time I tried a spin class).  The volunteers were awesome and got my seat adjusted to the right height, and I sett up my water and Gatorade and I was ready to go.  I started slowly biking, and we had 30 seconds til it was time.  Before I knew it they shouted GO! and I started spinning as fast as I can, which is pretty fast considering that there was no resistance!  That felt weird, but the object was to go the farthest as possible so they jack down the resistance to nothing.  I cam to regret that, but I will tell you that later.
Here's a pic of me on the bike:


Thumbs up!

 It was going pretty well, I felt good, and my new tri-shorts felt good too....(sidebar:  I should have used some chamois butter or bodyglide before putting them on.....there was some chafing later, not good.  Here's a product I saw at the tri store that made me laugh:  DZ-Nuts. And yes this is a real product, and its safe for work ;-)
Chafing aside I pushed hard at the bike, averaging about 29-30mph (no way I could do that in real life). I got another pic snapped at me with about 5 minutes left:




Working it!

 I pushed hard and was rewarded the last minute for my hard work, I ended up with 14.5 miles during my 30 minute spin. I mopped the sweat off my face and then headed to the exercise floor and got on a treadmill, and started it up.  I walked for about 3 minutes sipping Gatorade before the run started to get my legs going again.  I noticed my left knee was sore...not good.  Later on I think no resistance and maybe having the seat too low? resulted in the soreness.  As I blog, I still have that sore knee.  However, at the time I just pushed through, hoping my right calf would cooperate.  Teresa came by to cheer me on as she had just finished, and then I was off on the 'mill! 10 minute run, I can do this I said.  I set the speed for 6.0mph and went with it.  Again, I had one of the volunteers take my photo:




Still smiling!

 The run felt good up until about 7min, my calf was hurting.  I tried to ignore the pain but by 10 min, it hadn't let up.  I took it down to a quick 4mph walk and tried to walk it out a little for the next 2.5 min.  It was feeling better so I kicked it back up to 6.5mph and went for it (at the time I was just hoping to beat the old lady next to me, she had went 1 mile walking and I was at 1.2. Sad? Yep, but just wait till you hear that at my half-marathon I blew past an elderly power walker at the the finish, oh yeah!).  The last 2 minutes I cranked it up and did 7.0 and 8.0 mph:



So fast, my legs are a blur...

 And...it was over!  I ran a decent 1.81 miles in 20 minutes (decent for me anyways).  I was extremely happy, and glad I had done this.  My official score was 126 points, which was 13 out of 26 guys, not bad.  The indoor triathlon was a taste of what the real thing will be, at the Mpls Triathlon in July.  Maybe triathlons are my new "thing", especially since I have been suffering injuries from running, it would be a good way for my body to heal. Stay tune for more, but I will leave you with my post-race, I-Am-A-Triathlete photo



Still smiling....before I realized the chafing LOL!


Happy Swimming/Biking/Running!

Recovering from my Half-Marathon week(end)

Last week was a doozy....Mom came to visit, ran the Minneapolis Half-Marathon on Sunday with Team in Training (for more info check out the new issue of Runner's World!) I was very proud of all my Teammates and mentees I mentored through the program.  I didn't do the best, but was happy with not that much logging of long runs I was able to finish.  My calf/ankle injury did bother me, but I pushed through (it is still a little achy...is that a word?).  I had a great time, but was sad to see my Mom go, I do miss them being so far away in NC.  Then on Sunday, my 19 month old son came down with a high fever which he has had up til this morning....and the last 3 nights have been brutal, hence no race report yet!  I actually had something resembling sleep last night for the first time in 3 days!  Wahoo!  Here's hoping that will continue tonight and that these fevers are over after today.

Tonight I will do a light run with the Fall Team, and....finish some blog posts for your reading pain pleasure!  Tons of photos from the half-marathon, and I the complete Indoor triathlon report!

My Half-Marathon week(end)

Guess what this weekend is?  Race weekend!  On Sunday, June 5th, I will be racing in the Minneapolis Half-Marathon with Team in Training.  This will be my 2nd Half-Marathon, and my goal is to just finish (I haven't trained to hard b/c I got injured early on and couldn't run for almost 6 weeks) but maybe I can do it in at least 2:20 which is my one and only PR.  I will be really happy to do this event with all my Teammates, and also in honor of Alie, my personal honoree, and as I mentioned before one of the reasons why I do this.  Here is my race jersey that my wife decorated and I will be sporting proudly on Sunday:

For Alie!

The week led up to this weekend was pretty good, we had the holiday on Monday, and relaxed Tuesday (where my Coach told me I was looking great in the water, finally practicing paid off!). On Wednesday I got to meet Olympian Runner Carrie Tollefson, who is also a MN native (from Dawson, MN).  She came to our group run for Team in Training, spoke and even ran with us (she blew my doors off as she sped by me on the trail).  I was chicked! Coolest of all I got my Runner's World signed where she was the covergirl!
Here are some pics of Carrie and the Team:

Carrie telling us to Get After It!

Telling us to celebrate National Running Day! Which we did!

Here's a short video I shot with my Iphone:

Go check out Carries website: www.ctollerun.com, she does webisodes each week, and lots of sports commentary.  Its good stuff!


And then on Thursday my Mom flew in from NC to visit.  It is so nice to see her, its been less than a year since we last visited them in NC.  The kids are having a blast, and so is Grandma spoiling them.  She will also get to see me run for the very first time!  Pretty exciting!

And...I won a UTag Sports bracelet from Kurt @Becoming and Ironman and UTag on a giveaway on his blog. Thanks Kurt! Head over and take a look at his blog, and read about his adventures in training to become an Ironman and certified trainer.

Now time for some sleep!

Lifetime Fitness Indoor Triathlon Race Report Part 1 My (Sort of) Swim....

After being nearly drowned the day before running ( the Be The One Run 5K and 4 miles with my team in the torrential downpour)  I was like bring on the swim! Guess what? It was my first (indoor) triathlon!


Lifetime Fitness Indoor Triathlon: Eagan Style!

Pre-Race:  Ok, like the OCD person I am I got my gear ready the night before and packed it into my bag.  And checked it all after I was done.  Debated if I should wear my new tri-shorts (Pearl Izumi Elite In-R-Cool 7"inseam trishorts=fricking awesome to wear) on the way to the gym or change at the gym.  Decided to wear to gym to make sure I had plenty of time before my wave started (even though I had to be there at 8:30am for my 9am start, nerves!).  Anyways I got there ran into my friend Paul, who had just finished his swim, and congratulated him and then went and checked in and got my race bib:



Mullet Militia!.

 What a number, and I got a big black 69 marked on my left hand (stop those dirty thoughts!).  And off I went to get ready in the locker room.  I went out to the pool area and watched the heat before mine, where one of my Master's swim friends, Teresa, was swimming.  I cheered her on as she swam and watched this one woman who I swore had a engine on her back, b.c  she was booking it up and down the lane.  A little intimidating.....

The whistle blew then it was my turn to get a lane.  I lucked up and got a lane with just yours truly in it and didn't have to share.  Next to me was an older guy wearing one of those banana hammocks...really? At a pool? Those should be reserved for European men.  Anyways, I had to don a swimcap (which if you have met me in real life I have a giant basketball shaped head) was a little difficult and weird feeling. I went over in my head my gameplan:  swim a lap, then rest for 30 seconds and repeat.  I listened to the official tell the rules:  cant hold onto the buoys, and if the whistle blew while we were halfway back to the start it would count as a full lap AND you could walk the whole thing if you wanted it was allowed.  Hmmm...I didn't know that (which is a good thing it was allowed! Read on!)
Ok, the official counted down and the whistle blew and I was off! First length was good, but I admit I was anxious and nervous, and couldnt get that nice relaxed feeling in the water I had been working on.  Combined with all the running I did the day before = me really trying to hard in the water.  After 2.5 laps, I was really tired, and I gave in....I walked halfway down the lane then swam to the end, turned around walked/ran underwater to the middle point, and then swam to the end.  The last 6 minutes I ended up doing this.  Proud? Not really.  But I figured I didn't won't to flail around so much in the water and get tired before the end. One older woman in my wave didn't event swim at all she jogged back and forth the whole time.  And I know my limitations....I am getting better at swimming, but a lot of work to do on that.  So, after 10 minutes I did 18 lengths or 9 laps in the pool.  It was more than I thought, but I know I cannot touch the bottom of the lake when I do the Mpls Tri in July, so I resolved to practice 3X week plus my Master's swim class (which I have been doing!).  That was my main thought as I hopped out of the pool and went to the locker to transition to the cycle upstairs.  My PI tri-shorts managed to be only damp after I dried off and wrapped a towel around my waist as I threw on my shirt and shoes, grabbed my water and Gatorade and went upstairs to tame the cycle.....

They had a photographer taking pics and he was doing his thing while we swam.  Thankfully he didn't get any photos of me swimming but he did get my hand:

Me and my #69 on the back of my left hand in the top left corner

More to come in Part 2!