Friday, May 23, 2008

CHRISTMAS IN MAY

Have easily recovered from the half marathon and have my sights set on upcoming races. The Edinboro Triathlon is nextSaturday. I am on the fence on this one. Traditionally, its been the first one of the year, but this season, I have two Half Ironmans I want to race. I might pass on Edinboro. Beauty of this race in past years, is that you could sign up for it the day of. Mountaineer in Morgantown WVA Half-Iron is the first Half Ironof this season for me.The Greater Cleveland Half Ironman that Mickey Rzymek puts on is the second. I always do the Fairport Lighthouse Sprint. Best triathlon, dollar for dollar. This year, they added a kayak division for those who are nervous about swimming. Top that off, I am shooting to break 2:50 in the Portage Lakes Olympic triathlon. Somewhere in all this is my 55th, (June 17th) which will likely consist of 55 minutes, swimming, 55 minutes biking, 55 minutes running. 55 Stadium Stair Climbs and 55 One Minute rope skipping with 20 seconds rest. I will likely take a Pilates Class from the Master, aka THE BRIDE. that day. Ohh, yeah, and I'll blow out 55 candles. Speaking of my Beloved, we were putting up some Christmas lights all over our Forsythia Bushes that border our gorgeous patio and the next door neighbor. I was fiddling around while connecting one string to another....

THE BRIDE
"You plug the male into the female"
TRIGUYJT
"Hey now"!!!

"Thanks for coming everyone...try the veal!!!"
My hamstring is still sore and bothersome (injury not connected at all to any Christmas light plugging in..metophorically speaking, ahhh humm") I have been trying to stretch, ice it...rub it... talk bad to it....anything save calling my congressman. Still bothersome.. So I have been trying Icy Hot. which brings this question...Icy or Hot??? How does it know???

I am A Guppy.
Have graduated from mindless swim workouts to getting some intervals in. Have done some pull sets. Am now working on more kicking. In straight 100 yard sets, I have been able to go 1:45, 1:49 1:47 1:48 1:50, with 30 seconds rest. I can see some of the ability coming out. I have hit 2,700 yards tops for my workouts. Reminds me of 5 years ago, Jack Caress, who puts on the Cleveland Triathlon, invited me to do some radio work and set me up to train with Melissa Mantak., a former ITU 5-time World Cup Champ who coached from within the stable of Chris Carmichael.
http://www.empoweredathlete.com/Chris of course, coached the guy on the right in the photo with Melissa. You might have heard of him. Melissa was the only coach I have had. Fabulous. I had a sore foot at the time and she really got my swimming technique sharpened and helped me refine some biking skills. I recommend a coach to those who are somewhat new to the sport. Melissa runs a company called The Empowered Athlete. Check her out if you get a chance. LINK
Tomorrow, THE BRIDE has a Pilates class and I will use that time to run to North Chagrin Reservation. I want to log 2 hours of running and I am going to experiment with some GU's and different forms of hydration. I feel at the Cleveland Half Marathon, I might have semi-flamed out due to a lack of proper nutrition. So, I am gonna be my own lab rat. Finally.. the helping set of hands pertains to my next post. How a mysterious hand lifted one little boy to a second chance in life. Oh, yeah... a shout out to my southern buddie, WES, who competed in his first 70.3 recently and best to LILY, who runs the ING Ottawa Marathon this weekend.

Best to you.!!!!!

20 comments:

Lily on the Road said...

Isn't it great that the nice temps have finally arrived and you can get outside to "plug in" some festive lights!! Albeit sore & bothersome hamstring! Have a great weekend and thank you SO MUCH for the shoutout....it means a lot....

Rainmaker said...

Wow...a race in WV. Does it start in WV and end in another nearby state? Cause that would be logical. ;) J/K.

Unknown said...

Looking forward to upcoming races is always fun.

Interesting about adding a kayak division to a sprint triathlon.

Looking forward to finding the story behind the helping hands pic at the end of the post...

Viv said...

LMAO!! I love when you and the Bride do chores together.

Icy Hot I can so relate as I am sportin the patch right now.

Way to pick out the aces for the season! I would love to be married to a Pilates instructor the streches could be endless help.

Have a fantastic weekend and let us know if you decide to do the "last minute tri"

Kevin said...

Wow. All our races fill up here at least a week or more before race day. good idea to work on the nutrition during the long training run. Better to figure it out now then during a race

Anonymous said...

Icyhot is like an oxymoron, heh? (I'm just tryin to sound smart)

Great job in the pool...you're a fast guppy!

Christine said...

SOunds like you have some fun races lined up!! And the temps are probably just right for training...obv not in Lake Erie! I only made it 1800 out of the 2500 yards you prescribed/demanded...so maybe next time haha. Icy Hot is my best friend!

Marcy said...

uuuhhh Ooohhhh be careful being hte lab rat :P Might want to bring some toilet paper on that trip LOL

Triteacher said...

Huh. I thought that adding a kayak division was my own family's innovation; we host a family & friends tri every year and added the kayak division just last year. My super-strong-in-every-way sister can. not. swim. Cool to hear someone else does it too.

Love the 55 idea. You will need to catch 55 winks after that!

Dolphin Boy said...

Aloha Triguyjt--
Just wanted to say thanks for the kind words on Bree's post May 22.

Bree is the special person. She's an amazing individual first followed by highly talented athlete.

Best of luck with Ohio and WVA Tri season. I've done Olympic distance Tri in Cleveland few years ago. Vowed never to swim in Lake Erie ever again!! I'm orginally from Warren OH.

Pat---

Wes said...

Ah, the endless planning that comes with the sport of triathlon :-) Thanks for the shout out, JT! and don't sit on the fence too long!! unless of course you have your bike shorts on :-D

jahowie said...

I'm glad that you are recovering, now stop thinking and sign up!! LOL!! I wasn't sure that the Pistons would win last night. I'm glad that they did, but that team drives me nuts!! Actually some of my friends down in Ohio call me "The Diamond Cutter" because I cut through the wind for them. LOL!!

Formulaic said...

Sounds like your dance card is filling up fast.

It's always nice to have those races where you can decide to do the race on that day.

Makes life so much more relaxed.

ShirleyPerly said...

Thanks for the comment on my blog!

And congrats on your recent 1/2 mary. Sounds like you've got a lot going on with the racing, Xmas lights and whatnot. Man, I could have used a kayak division in my first tri. More boats to hold onto the better!

Marci said...

A kayak division doesn't sound bad at all for those who are nervous about swimming.

Good luck this weekend at your olympic tri :)

rocketpants said...

I agree with you on Icy Hot...how *does* it know.

Sounds like lots o' tri fun coming up for you!

Brian said...

IcyHot is old school. There is stuff out there much better that doesn't stink but I can't think of the name. I'll probably remember as soon as I hit the button to submit.

Brian said...

Nope. Still don't remember.

triguyjt said...

Brian--i remember my dad used this stuff called cramergesic or something like that....
thats all i smelled when i was a kid..he always had that on.

triguyjt said...

Brian--i remember my dad used this stuff called cramergesic or something like that....
thats all i smelled when i was a kid..he always had that on.