Pumped Up Kicks

Last weekend I purchased the INOV8 Terrafly Trail Shoes from the Cleveland Running Company (http://clevelandrunning.com/) and I could not have made a better purchase. These shoes have a 6mm drop in the heel making it an essential shoe to make you land on your forefoot during your foot strike. It is definitely not like the new Altra zero drop shoe but the 6mm drop is perfect for me right now. I tried both the Altras and the INOV8s and it was a very hard decision in choosing which shoe to choose. After about 4 switches, including trying the different shoes and each foot, I had to go with the INOV8s simply because it fit my foot perfect, the lightness and I just plain on felt FAST in them! Today was the second time I've ran in them and Dad and I got 8 miles in on the trails in the North Chagrin. The new kicks felt great throughout the whole run and I'm looking forward to the runs in the future with them attached to my feet.

Pretty Cool

to be on the cover of Ohio Sports and Fitness magazine for this month. I definitely need to step up my training after this...I'm honestly not wearing any makeup or trying to look mean either!

January 31st?

Today's temperature was a high of 59 degrees, and it is one day before February. Using the great weather to our advantage, Dad and I rode a good tempo ride this afternoon, finishing up with 35 miles and close to 1500 feet of climbing. I'll take it! The training has been great lately as well. Lots of trail running and lots of time in the pool. Dad and I just signed up for the Dickson Endurance Triathlon in Nashville, TN for the first weekend of May. The distance is a 1 mile swim, 38 mile bike, and 9.1 mile run. So very similar to a Half Ironman. I'm looking forward to it and there is a lot of training ahead of me to be in 100% race form for it. Tomorrow is a run day after school, then sleeping before work.
I am now working for Lake Health at Tri-point Medical Center in Concord as a Nurse's Assistant. I'm working full time, consisting of three 12 hour night shifts. Some people call me crazy to work all night from 7pm to 7am, but once you get used to it, it's not so bad. The thing that I'm happy about is I am still able to train and race....every other weekend that is. But still, at least I can still what I love to do. Other than that, Medic School is going well. I passed my first quarter and now into Cardiology. My clinical time for this quarter will consist of my usual ER and Respiratory time, and new department locations such as the OR (where I will be performing endotracheal intubations, central IVs, and more), and squad time at Fire Depts. So with everything going on right now, I'm keeping busy. Stay healthy everyone!

Double Racing

Saturday was the Stark Velo Cross race at Kent State in Stark. The A race was of course stacked as always and the course was definitely a roadie course. Not a lot of twists and turns or technical sections. Just pure power sections including a long uphill that zapped all the energy left in your already beaten legs. The start was super fast. I had a pretty good position and tried to keep my heart rate low. After crashing around a corner and dropping my chain, I was soon in a position where I did not want to be. I did not panic, I just wanted to keep a constant speed and not blow myself up. I ended up finishing 12th in the race and found out at the finish line that John Proppe battled it out with the big guns and ended up winning overall. Big congrats goes out to him. Everyone from the team did well too and we had a great showing.

Sunday we raced at Westbranch State Park and it was a great day. My girlfriend Courtney goes to Ohio University which is around 3 hours away from the park, and she surprised me in showing up before my race and came to watch. Little did I know, everyone from my family knew about it and kept it a secret until she showed up. It was awesome! The race went well in the Sport division. I raced the Sport 20-29 and after a pretty big crash on my second lap, I finished 2nd. Dad finished in the top 5 in his division and we both had to take advil after the race because of the aches in pains in our bodies after the race due to the massive amounts of rocks and roots we hit during every pedal stroke. It was a great weekend for racing and this coming weekend, we are heading to Dayton for Crankfest Cyclocross Weekend. Should be a good weekend for racing as well!

Late

Laziness

Been a very long time since I lasted posted and I apologize for that. Since Fire Academy, I've had more time to train and race. Cross season has started and I have been training a lot. Also, last weekend was the last triathlon of the season at the Portage Lakes Triathlon hosted by HFP Racing. Woke up that morning at 4:00 and stepped one foot outside and felt the 45 degree temperature, and immediately ran back into the house. Starting temperature was about the same as 4:00. But, once the swim took off, I warmed up very quick.

I probably had one of the best swims I have ever had and existed the water 3rd. T1 was super slow for me but I tried to make it up on the bike. Fortunately I caught the two ahead of me on the bike and was then leading. I tried to keep my mind focused and tried to push it pretty good. T2 was a lot better than my first and then it was onto my run. Again, I wanted to keep a good pace, not wanting to fall into anaerobic threshold and to keep my mind focused. I ended up finishing first overall with the second place racer hot on my tail, only 6 seconds behind. I was extremely satisfied with my performance and my training leading up to the race. Dad finished great as well. He finished 6th overall and 2nd in his AG. As the race went on, the temperature became warmer and made it more comfortable.

I am currently in Paramedic School now and wow is it a wake up call. I am reading, studying and doing homework every night of the week. It is currently week 4 of the 50 week program and it is already kicking my butt. I have to try to stay motivated and focused so that I do not fall behind and make it any harder than what it really is. So life now consists of that, training and racing. This weekend is a double race weekend with Stark Velo's Kent State CX race and Westbranch Mountain Bike Race on Sunday. I'm very excited to finally be racing a full schedule again and I will post the results and the write up this weekend. Stay safe everyone!

Fire Academy Class of 2011

Well, I finished my Fire Academy yesterday and what a hard day it was. This weekend was the last weekend and included our final written exam on Friday and our final practical exams, including a live burn on Sunday. I was really nervous for the test on Friday. I'm always so nervous for written tests, and I'm always told to stay confident in myself and just stay calm. I ended up passing the written test which I was very happy about. Then Sunday was our final practical day. It included SCBA races, raising, lowering, and storing a 30 foot extension ladder by ourselves, forcible entry, and hoisting tools by certain knots that we were taught throughout the class. Once all of the practicals were over, we took a tiny break from the already 85 degree heat and then it was time to do our live burn. It included an attack line, to control the fire inside one of the rooms, and a search line team who had to search the building to find a victim. When the search team found a victim, they would inform the attack team and they would all exit the building, having the search team go first with the victim and the attack team close behind, keeping the front of their bodies facing the fire in case of something bad happening. Once everyone was finished with the burn, we all headed back to the station to clean all the hose, equipment and tools. It was a great day despite the high temperatures but the class walked out of the station that day Firefighters. July 29th is our graduation day and July 31st is my Firefighter Agility Test. Still a lot to do but it's finally all working out.

Have a good day.

Three More Weeks

Three more weeks until I graduate from Fire Academy. I have busted the books for almost 6 months and it is finally paying off. This weekend's class will be a Lubrizol Wickliffe Plant and we will be going over Sprinklers and Lubrizol's water supply systems and protection systems. Next weekend will just be pretty much a make up week along with a little EMS training and then the weekend after that are my Final Written and Practical exams. My graduation date will be on July 29th. THEN.....the next month after I graduate from Fire Academy, I start my Paramedic School. During Medic School, I'll be applying for almost every Fire Dept around and keeping my fingers crossed, be hired on one. That way if I am able to work for a dept, I could study with some of the already Paramedics, and turn to them for help when I will be needing it.