52 miler.

It was a great day to ride today. Dad and I went out around 3:10 and we were scheduled to have a long, hilly and hard ride. We hit all the major climbs around my crib. We had to sit all the climbs and jump out of the saddle and go at a good effort on the rollers. It was a very hard training ride and my legs are feeling pretty spent right now. I did weights yesterday and when I was doing squats I was saying that my legs were going to be sore and tired for the ride. But they actually felt great today! We finished with 52.2 miles and lots of climbing. Then the family assembled our new grill. Mmm, burgers and hot dogs.............. Perfect food for the training diet!! That's what my Dad says all the time when I eat junk food. haha.

END.

Malabar Farm Road Race.

Today was the Malabar Farm road race and what a beautiful day to have it. I raced the 1,2,3 race today and it had to be one of the hardest races I have ever done. The race consisted the usual super fast suspects. It was a 54 miler for the 1,2,3s which consisted a lot of climbing in a 10 mile lap. The first 3 laps were great for me. I wanted to race really smart because I was the only Lake Effect racer in my group. My legs felt great up the climbs and I was really happy with my performance. During lap 4, my legs were starting to cramp up and I was feeling really fatigued. At the start of lap 5, I bonked pretty bad at the top of the big climb and fell back from the main group. It sucked too because both of my bottles were empty and I already used up my Cliff Blocks and my gel. So I ended up riding a whole lap by myself and finished by myself. I didn't feel quite as bad because 1) There were a lot of racers that fell back from the field because the attacks up the major hill were crazy fast and 2) It is the first race of the season and there is a lot more racing to do this year. I lasted 4.5 laps with the field and it was an awesome race.

Dad had an awesome race. He raced the Master's race, which was 30 miles. It was the first race with his new Zipp 404's and those worked out great for him today. It was another very fast field, with him taking the win. The Master's field started 3 minutes behind the 3-4 racers and around the middle of the 3rd lap, Dad and a few other racers just about caught them!! They must have been haulin. That is sweet, first race of the season and already a win. Awesome job Dad!! Chris Riccardi raced the 3-4 field and placed, what he thinks 9th or 10th. Also, congrats goes out to Jeremy Grimm for a great 2nd place finish.

This week looks great, which means more training outside!

Later

It's here!

Well the pre-race nervous/excited feeling is again upon me. This weekend is the Malabar Farm Road Race. I'm racing in the Cat 1,2,3's. Hopefully the training I did this past winter helps me a bunch for Saturday. We have been riding a lot of hills lately, and Malabar Farm has a big hill, along with some other shorter ones on the course. I feel really good on the climbs on my training rides and I feel very strong punching it after corners. This is my first race of the season and I can't wait till race day!

Later.

Super Weekend.

Today Dad, Todd, Jared, Dave Steiner, and I rode from Squires Castle. Before everyone arrived, Thom and Derick from Spin rode up to say hi and talk for a bit. They already had a lot of miles in and was just ending their ride. We all rode for about 47 miles and quite a bit of hills too. It was pretty cold at first, then as soon as we started riding, layers of clothes were coming off. About 4 miles till the parking lot, Todd took a very hard pull, which led to a hard paced, race-like pace lines. We sprinted it out at the end and my legs were just screaming from yesterday's ride.

Yesterday was the TLE race strategy clinic. We were very happy to have Jacob Fetty work on the teams race tactics and strategies. After about an hour and a half talk, the team suited up and met at the the Old School in the Valley. Jacob had us group up into 4 teams of 5 people and each team had to come up with their own strategies and try to win a lap. We rode on parts of the old state TT course- about a 3 mile loop. Jacob randomly picked people to go out on breaks and the remaining people try to bring the break back. I was in quite a lot of breaks and attacked a lot too. We finished with about of 33 miles- A super hard 33 miles.

I felt great on Saturday at the LE clinic and my legs didn't feel too good on today's ride, but I am definitely ready for Malabar Farm this Saturday.

Git it Git it!

Thursday.

Today was a great ride. Dad, Scott, and I rode for 42 miles with lots of hills. It was getting a little cold and the skies were turning dark, which meant the rain was coming. We ended up beating the rain, which ended up turning to snow. I get home from school early tomorrow, so I'll be on the road again.

Peace.

104.5

miles in the past two days. Not bad. Dad, Scott and I rode the TT bikes today, finishing with 34.5 miles. It was another perfect day to ride. I'm going to try and ride before work tomorrow. I get home from school at around 1:35 so I might be able to get out for a little bit. It's going to be 65* tomorrow! But unfortunately the temps are suppose to drop by the end of the week. But, it's starting to get up there.

c ya.

Sunny Sunday.

Today Dad and I met Shawn, Rudy, other teammates and riders at the top of the Brecksville Reservation. It was about 10* warmer than at home so I was deciding if I should wear tights or not, because I had a pretty good chill from this morning when I woke up. I ended up sticking with the tights. It was a beautiful day to ride. We ended up riding 3 hrs 46 min. with 70.11 miles. Lots and lots of hills, along with some great tempo riding. After yesterday's race and today's ride, I'm pretty beat right now, but I felt really good throughout the ride. When we came home, I had to finish a painting for Art class, and it is due tomorrow................... haha. I'm definitely not going to be and artist when I'm older. Tomorrow, Dad, Scott and I are taking out the TT bikes and ride our 40k course. It is suppose to be SUNNY, WARM, and hopefully NO WIND.
Great day today and fantastic ride.

later days

St. Malachi Race

Today was the 29th annual St. Malachi race. Dad, Scott, and I ran the 5 mile race. Pete and Jane also raced the 5 miler. Good to see them. There was so many people there! There had to be over 1000 racers ( including the 2 mile race ). It was very cold this morning, but we chose to race in long sleeve shirts and running shorts, no tights. I'm really glad I didn't race in tights because it became hot very fast. I had a really good race. I finished with a time of 30:43 and 2nd in my age group ( 15-19 ). That is a 6:09 pace I guess. I didn't think that I was going to run that kind of a pace at all before the race went off. Dad did an awesome job as well. He finished with a time of 32:50. Scott finished in the low 34s, which was his PR. Scott said that there was no way he would keep a 7 minute pace. He ended up running in the mid, to upper 6's during the race! After a cool down and getting dressed, we traveled down to McCarthy's Ale House and had some cokes, (me) and beers (Mom, Dad, and Scott). Mickey was also there with his new GF. Nice to see him at the race also. We had some nice weather today and everyone had an awesome race. Tomorrow, Dad and I are meeting Shawn and others at the Brecksville Reservation to ride 3-4 hours with some hills.

Late.

28.5

miles on the bike today. It was so nice outside that we took our race bikes out! That's the first time I took my race bike out since last year. We took the ride very easy because we are racing the St. Malachi 5 mile running race tomorrow morning at 9:45. Race summary and results will be up tomorrow................

C ya.

Right on.

Great workout today. First, I ran 4 miles. Then got home and put on the bibs and some extra layers. The roads were very dry, which meant we just had to get out for a good ride. Dad, Scott, and I rode our 27 mile loop, consisting some good hills. My Dad and I took the hills and all the rollers pretty hard. We just wanted to get in the high intensity race feeling back in our legs. The first big climb was great. We usually keep it pretty easy riding up it, but we blazed up that hill! We took all the rises hard and the flats recovering. Tomorrow is supposed to be crappy again........... ugh, trainer >:0 My ankle is a whole lot better. The swelling has gone done a lot and I could run on it today. Right on!

END.

Two days in a row?!

Well it has been raining for two days now which meant I didn't get outside to ride at all this weekend! I had a good workout today though. After church, Dad and I hit up the pool and got in a good long swim workout. Warmed up for 400 meters or so, then did a nonstop mile swim which is 1600 meters (64 laps). Dad got more meters in but also swam for a mile nonstop. After our swim workout, we propped our bikes in the trainer and spun for about 45 minutes or so. Tomorrow, the weather is supposed to be nice and around 45*. I'll be riding outside for sure tomorrow.

Well i guess I will see yall later.

Another Saturday gone.

I was really looking forward to riding today in Brecksville with the team and some others. But unfortunately it was storming in Brecksville and raining pretty good at my house. This is the third Saturday that I wasn't able to ride in Brecksville. Shawn even bagged the ride.

Today my Dad and I went to the local running shop and my Dad got a smokin pair of running shoes for his training runs. After a little more shopping, we got home and laced up the running shoes to get in a longer run. During the run, I rolled my ankle pretty good and was forced to head home early. I told my Dad that I was fine to run/walk home and he went on running around 7 miles. I got in about 5 miles. As soon as I got home, I put the good ol' bag of frozen peas on my ankle, along with a few Ibuprofen. My ankle feels a lot better right now, I just need to keep the ice on it because I was planning on racing the St. Malachi 5 miler on Saturday. So I was pretty bummed today because of the weather. But, hey Spring is just about here and there are going to be a lot of days with it raining.

Peace.

Chemistry re-take.

So last week I took a test in Chemistry class at Lakeland and didn't get the grade I was hoping for. I received my test back last Wednesday and my grade was a 70%, the lowest "C" you could get. Thankfully, my professor offered the class to take the test over again and she would take the best grade of the two tests and use that as your test grade. I took my test re-take today and I thought it was going to be the same problems as the last test..... "Yea right!" is what my professor said. I studied pretty hard for the past couple of days my my re-take and I'm really glad I did because if I didn't, I would have definitely failed. The results will be given to me next week or something. I think I did better....... I really hope so that is. Two more tests this week at LCC. Another test in Chemistry class on Wednesday and then a midterm exam in my British Literature class on Thursday!!! Lots of studying this week along with lots of training planned this week.

Yesterday my Dad and I got the TT bikes and rode our 40k course and then jumped off the bikes and ran a 10k. Today I met my Dad at the pool and swam for about an hour, maybe a little less.

Do widzenia!