Long and tiring weekend

This weekend was very tiring for me. Friday Dad, Scott and I rode down to Fairport Beach and swam for a while, then rode back home. It was a very good recovery workout, and it would have been better if Scott remembered his swim goggles!!!! Its all good though. haha. Yesterday, I took off from bike and triathlon training. The training I did was Firefighter training. After we replaced a hot water tank in my garage, I was called to go to the fire station. I was there around 11:00 and stayed till around 7:00. When I first arrived, my Explorers class went over all the car extrication equipment on the fire engines. After all the reviewing, we had like a 2 hour meeting on Teamwork. At 3:00, we suited up in our fire gear and went in the back and saw three crashed cars. One, flipped on it's roof. The other two were on all four wheels but one had the tires flat and had the roof caved in. I was very surprised that I was picked to be one of the two Explorers to be picked to drill with the firefighters and do car extrication. My other classmate and I operated all the gear. We used the spreaders and cutters and basically cut all the cars to pieces. At the end, I was exhausted and was highly dehydrated. I have to get used to all the heat if I want to do this as a profession though. So truly............ I worked out too yesterday. I had a blast and I have a boost of confidence now that I was one of the two Explorers picked to drill with the actual firefighters.

Then today Dad, Scott and I did the whole Greater Cleveland Triathlon Olympic course. The swim was hard because it was very windy. The bike was hard at first because we had a 20 mph headwind. But, it was super nice on the way back. I felt great on the 10k run. We kept the pace pretty good and at the end of our run, we sprinted it out and headed straight for the water to cool down our legs. After our workout, we worked at my grandparents apartment, holding up dry wall and ripping up carpet. So right now, I'm beat and my shoulders feel like I have a 300 pound man pushing down. Tomorrow looks like rain so I'm not really sure what I will do. Until then........................... have a good day!

Hot

Today Dad and I skipped out on Westlake and rode for 60 miles in 2:50. We rode some hills also and took everything pretty hard. At the end of the ride, we averaged a little over 21 mph. It was very hot and windy today, making the ride a little harder. I took two water bottles and both of them were just about gone at around mile 50. After the ride, we drank so much that we didn't even want to eat supper. Tomorrow Dad and I are heading down to the beach for a 30 minute swim workout then running for about 4 or 5 miles. Also, our teammate/ friend, Scott Carter crashed in a training ride the other day and broke the head off of his pelvis and had to have surgery. The good news is the doctors say that he will recover quickly because he is in such good shape and very healthy. So his season is shot but hopefully he will recover quickly.

Late

HD Father's Day

Today Dad and I had a great workout. We wanted to get in a full Olympic distance triathlon for our training, but when we arrived at the beach, the water was so muddy and full of debris from the hard rains we had a couple days ago. So instead of swimming, we jumped on the bikes and rode the Greater Cleveland Triathlon Olympic distance bike course. We wanted to keep the pace pretty fast and we rode for about 1hr 12min, with some hills. After the bike, we put on the running shoes and ran for 6.9 miles. The run was great, our legs felt pretty good and we averaged around a 7:10 mile. After the run, we took the bikes out again and rode the Fairport Triathlon course, which was 13 miles. It was just a cool down ride, but there were parts that felt pretty hard. Hope all the Dad's had a great Father's Day and hope all the Dad's that raced this weekend had safe and good races.

Now I'm watchin formula one racing in HD with some chicken fingers and a nice ol' Dr. Pepper. Time for some chillaxin'.

Out.

Off but not

This morning was suppose to be one of the Greater Cleveland Triathlon training days down at Headlands Beach. We woke up this morning to pouring down rain, and also it stormed like crazy last night. When Dad and I arrived at the beach, Mickey was there of course with his tent all set up and ready to go. He's a trooper. Rain or Shine, Mickey is there. So when we were driving to the beach, the roads were all flooded and what not. We had some major rain last night and it even flooded the parking lots at the beach. There was only a few people that worked out, but there was people like me, Dad, Frank, Adam, and some other people that were just happy showing up and chatting with each other. Afterwards, Dad and I decided to leave and I happen to look down the other end of the parking lot and see Doug (mechanic from Bike Authority) blastin' through all the flooded water in his car. Very funny to see.

After we arrived home, we changed clothes and headed to my grandparent's apartment and worked for the rest of the day. So we took off from training today, but we did lots of work which technically, seems like we worked out today! Tomorrow, swim workout and a bike workout. The water is pretty warm right now, time for open water training.

Peace out

Lion's Duathlon

Sunday was the Lion's Duathlon in Willoughby hosted by NCN. While we were packing up to leave in the morning, it was pretty cold. I had to wear a sweatshirt and a beanie/winter cap. When we arrived at the race, we signed up, put everything in transition and got dressed. Before the race, Dad and I did a warm up run for about 10 minutes, and that warmed us up a lot. Plus the sun was out too, so it started to warm up.

The start of the race was very fast. Lots of adrenaline in everyone. I was in about 5-6 place in the first 5k. I finished the run in about 18:50, then jumped on my bike and tried to hit it pretty hard. I rode past all the racers that were in front of me on the run except one, which was one of our teammates. The bike course was 3 laps of a 6.5 mile loop, including some uphill sections. I was in second place in the start of the bike and ended my bike portion of the race still in second place. After I ran out of transition, I didn't see any other racers. I was feeling pretty good at this point, but I still wanted to run as hard as I could because I know that the second run is where all of your time decreases. I felt really good in my second run and ended up finishing second overall with a time of 1 hr. 30min.

Dad also had a great race. He finished 1st in his age group and probably in the top 10, but the results aren't up yet so we still aren't really sure. But, he said that he was suffering pretty bad on his second run, but he still finished strong and looked great. Awesome job Dad. The whole team looked great. Mike and Christina raced great, with Christina taking 2nd overall in the women's race and Mike looked great as well. Nice job guys.

Well, gotta go to work. See ya.

Great Weekend

We arrived at Clay's Park on Saturday to pre-ride the bike course of our triathlon, and all I can say is Chippewa Creek is nothing compared to this bike course. I ended up at the water park for a couple hours and Dad ended up riding the course and running afterwards. When the day was done, we arrived at our hotel and ate at a restaurant called, Rockne's. It is similair to an Applebees but much cheaper and I think a little better tasting food.

This morning we drove back to Clay's Park and we weren't the first ones there this time!! There was a lot of teammates also from the Bike Authority/Fleet Feet Team. The first wave, 39-, went off first. I had a great swim. I felt really good and I thought I had my technique down pretty good. I was fourth coming out of the water. I had a very slow transition, but still managed to bump up to 3rd out of transtion. The bike course was super hilly. There really wasn't any section of the course that was flat. O yea the parking lot was the only flat part of the course. I came to transition in first place in the 39 and under, with another teammate behind me. I was still in first place in the beginning of the run, but then Christian, my other teammate caught me and passed me. I was also caught by another racer and we worked together for the last mile or so, and we were really running fast. At the end, the racer I was working with and I sprinted it out and he finished about a half a foot length ahead of me. I ended up finishing 3rd in the 39 and under wave, with a time of 1:07.30 and 5th overall out of around 170 racers.

Dad's wave was the 40+ year old racers. He had a great race too. Lots of competition in his group and he was 2nd out of the water and had a slower transition also. He was 3rd on the bike and had a good transition before the run. Dad had a really good run finishing with a time of 1:10 and finished 1st in his age group. Awesome job Dad. The whole team did great. Brian Stern won overall, Nate Loman finished 2nd. Awesome job to them and the rest of the Bike Authority/Fleet Feet Tri Team.

So far so good.

This has been a pretty good week so far. Yesterday, Dad and I rode a pretty hard 40k with the TT bikes, then did a brick run after the bike. We ran for a little over 2 miles, but we kept it at a pretty good pace. When we were done running, we cooled down with a cool down spin on our road bikes. I was admiring and drooling over Dad's new Cannondale Super Six Hi-Mod bike. Today, Dad and I hit up the pool and did a short but fast swim workout. Tomorrow, I'll probably ride, and Friday is the last day of school for me so, I am hitting up the beach with my friends for the day. Then on Saturday, the family and I are heading down to Clay's Park for our triathlon, then racing Sunday. I'm really excited and hope the fitness is there to get some good results.

Later