This is a long one

That’s what she said.

They say that “behind every great man is a great woman” but there are way more great women in the world than great men.  This leaves some of us “average Joe’s” with great women (woo hoo!).  I am one of these average Joe’s who has been blessed with an incredibly supportive woman.  The importance of having a loved one around cannot be understated; most people just cannot do a rigorous workout program without the support of those closest to them.  In my case, this happens to be my wife who wakes up at 5am on Sunday mornings to come cheer me on.  Waking up that early on a weekend was certainly not in our vows but she does it anyway.  I cannot thank her enough for doing it, I always get a boost in the transition area hearing her yelling for me. You can see her blog here 

Weekend WOD's

This past weekend I was supposed to do a triathlon…but the bike portion of the race got cancelled because the race organizer (Piranha Sports) FAILED to do their due diligence and make sure there was no construction planned for the weekend of the race. (Side Note: I will never do a Piranha sports event again unless I am compensated for this travesty of a race, I encourage you to do the same) I was none too pleased, but decided to do the aquathon or whatever BS word they used to make us feel better.  After delivering a long profanity laced rant to whoever would listen I warmed up for the 650 meter swim and 3 mile run. 

Artist rendition of me on Sunday Morning

The swim went well, I bettered my pace from the Philly tri and was out of the water in 15 minutes and some change.  I actually felt like I was getting stronger as the swim went on and really hit my stride in the last 100 meters or so.  I sprinted to the transition area to throw on my running shoes and head onto the run course.  I felt amazing going into the run; I was breathing well and keeping a steady stride.  Of course some competitors started passing me which was expected due to the run being my worst event, but I was holding my own.  I finished the 5k course in 23:48 seconds which bettered my PR by about 4 minutes!  To my surprise I held a pace of about 7 minutes 45 seconds per mile!  This is by far the best pace I’ve ever kept. 

By place, I came in 40^th out of 76 competitors…not so horrible.  But in my age group I again came in last (4^th)...by 7 seconds…beat by a friend of mine….who passed me with about 300 yards to go.  My kick just could not keep up with his (damn these stubby legs!).  The USAT age rules killed me as I am 29 years old right now, but because my birthday has yet to happen this year I am put in the 30-34 group.  I would have won the 25-29 year old group who only had 3 people in it (I would have been the 4^th)!  Oh well, in such a small field there is really not too much bragging room in winning.  In my mind, I far exceeded one my running goal (to get under a 9 minute mile pace) and just barely exceeded my swim goal of finishing in less than 16 minutes.  Win for me…but still lots of improvement to be made…time to raise my goals to the next level!

Diet

Eating this weekend was a fail, but I would not put it in the epic category.  I ate good food for the most part, but I ate a LOT of good food.  Saturday I had a 20 ounce NY strip steak at home and Sunday a friend had a gift card to Shula’s so I had a 24 oz porterhouse.  These portions were WAY too big.  Sure they were paleo, but a caveman would survive for 5 days on just those 2 steaks.  The good news was that they were delicious!  I still have to update my points and you’ll see them below. 

Sat: 8 points

Sun: -1 points

I got 3 workouts in this week for 0 points bonus.  

Days 12-14: Triathlon Success!

Finally the weekend of the Philadelphia Triathlon was upon me, I thought I was ready but there was still a lot of anxiety.   I've never swam in a wetsuit, will it be difficult?  Did I remember everything?  Did I train enough? Is 2 hours a realistic goal?   Ahhhhhh!!!!

Pre-Race

In previous triathlons (I've done 2 before) I always just jumped in the water and tried to start swimming...MISTAKKKKEEEE!   So using that knowledge, I decided to bike the run course (about 3.5 miles) so I can get the blood flowing and my heart rate up.  Then they allowed some practice swimming so I took advantage of that by swimming about 100 yards.  This was my first swim in a wetsuit and it was glorious.  After getting out of the water, I was ready.  There was little nervousness..just a  little uneasiness because of the results of my last triathlon (dead last place in my age group and second to last in males overall).   Let's do this.

Race (pictures coming soon)

I always wonder what other people are thinking as they are going through a race.  In my mind I am all over the place, I will go from crossfit to work to phillies to hoping not to die.  During the swim portion of the race all I could think was "don't quit".  I was doing ok in the swim but the whole not breathing thing just gets to me. (I should note here that the warm up, paid off.  The 0 to 60 was not nearly as much of a shock as it has been in races past)  To be honest, I almost quit twice just because I couldn't remember why I was doing this to myself.  Then I remembered I'm doing it to prove to myself that I'm not getting too old, that I can still push myself to limits that were previously unknown to my body.  I kept chugging along.

Leaving the swim, Karen saw me and cheered fanatically and was with my friend Will who had shown up while I was waiting to start.  Hearing friends and loved ones cheer you on really gives you some extra strength and can be the difference in your time.  So I ran to my bike, threw on my bike shoes, and hopped on.  I averaged 17mph through the bike portion which is a PR for me (far superior to the 14.3 mph at my previous tri).  I learned that I need to attack hills more, rather than just trying to get up them.

Finally, after 55 minutes of biking, I get back to the transition area where I need to get out of my bike shoes and into my running shoes. My legs feel like jello.  My back is hurting from the bike.  I am in pain.  But I know I am less than a half hour from being done with this gruesome test of fitness.  With the exception of stopping for water (about 10 yards) I never stopped running...if you can call a 9 minute mile pace running.  I hear the finish line and I start sprinting, holding back vomit and tears as I cross the finish line.

Post Race

Did I achieve my goal?  Where is Karen?  This was definitely need my wife kind of moment, where I just wanted a hug (I don't care how fruity that sounds).  When I found her and got out of the finish chute I just collapsed, I needed to sit, my legs just didn't want to function, body was physically and mentally exhausted.  After a few minutes on the ground and a bottle of water I feel up to walking and finding some food to get my body needed nutrients.  I have an apple, banana, and some muscle milk for the protein and start to wonder about my time.

Wandering around the ground we finally find the posted times.  I am nervous as I try to get through a number of competitors and look at a sheet of paper with almost 1000 names on it.

Searching....searching....Success!!!

The swim that I thought almost killed me was just the opposite..I killed it!  Sub-20 (19:54) minutes on the swim!   The bike I knew I did in about 55 minutes and the run was not great at 28:05.  For a final time of 1 hour 48 minutes and 31 seconds.  Beat my goal by more than 10 minutes!

Even with this completed goal I know I can do better.  Maybe that is the sign of my competitiveness...I will never be completely satisfied with my results.  I'm happy that I beat my goal, but I can go through the race in my head and  identify places where I know I can take another 10 minutes off by next year.  9 minute mile is not great, and my transition times are pretty weak too, throw on that my lack of attacking of the hills and I know I can do a sub 1:40 time.  I found that I am in the bottom half in both the bike and run...that's not very good and MUST be corrected.

In the end, it's always going to be me versus myself....but it's not always a bad thing to think it's me versus the world.

Points for the weekend:

Friday:  15 points
Saturday : -5 (I celebrated with a  few beers)
Sunday:  -10 (no beer, but I kinda splurged at the Phillies game)

Week 2: 80 Points
Week 1: 115 points
Total: 195 points

Day 9: Prepping for a Race

I have not mentioned it here but I am competing (competing is the wrong word, trying not to drown in a river is more accurate) in the Philadelphia Triathlon this Saturday.  It will be my third triathlon with the first two not ending the way I had hoped.  Will my crossfit training help my triathlon time?  It will be seen.

0.5 mile swim, 15.7 mile bike, 3.1 mile run

A question that I've been pondering for a while is how will I prepare for the race as the week goes on.  I did not want to take an entire week off because I think that would push me back in my training.  I also wondered if I should come off of paleo for the week and eat some more carbs because that is what everyone does....right?  WRONG!

I asked trainer Mike, a while back as he was preparing for the regional CrossFit games, what he will do the week of the games to prepare.  His response surprised me, but it made perfect sense.  He was not going to change a thing.  He was going to continue eating what he had been eating and will continue working out (albeit with his rest day set up the day before the games).  He said "why would you change what you eat?  You have NO IDEA how that change will influence your body".  and when you think about it, that should be common sense.  If you have been training by eating paleo your body knows how to react to that..and more importantly, YOU will know how your body will react to it.

So my schedule this week is as follows:

Monday: WOD
Tuesday: WOD
Wednesday: Morning WOD
Thursday: Softball with maybe an AM arm workout and stretching
Friday : light swim, short bike
Saturday: TRIATHLON DAY!

WOD

50 Sit ups-10 Dead lift-40 Sit ups-8 Dead Lift- 30 Sit ups - 6 Dead Lift - 20 Sit ups - 4 Dead Lift - 10 Sit ups - 2 Dead Lift

Dead Lift Weight - 205 pounds
Time: 8:29

Diet

Had to cut the piece of Salmon in half! 

Breakfast (3 points): Ham Omelet (2 eggs and ham), Cantaloupe, Grapes, almonds
Lunch (3 points)     : Garden Chicken Salad, Strawberries
Snack (3 points)     : 1 oz pork chop, peach, almonds
PW Snack (2 points): Protein, plum
Dinner (3 Points)     : Salmon, Asparagus, Olive oil on salmon, dessert of fresh Blueberries

Other points
5 meals +1
<5 hours +1
Water +1

17 total points for the day!