O yea.

Yesterday, Dad and I rode a fast, and windy 55 miles on our TT bikes. It was a perfect day to be outside. After our ride, we laced up our running shoes and did a brick run for 30 minutes. It was difficult to get used to riding and running in the warm weather because I am still used to training in the cold, but I'm not complaining! After our workout, I felt a burning sensation on my arms and legs. Wow! I have never been so happy to have sunburn. After a couple minutes of relaxing in the Cave, we washed our trucks and enjoyed the rest of the beautiful day. Today I won't be able to do any riding because I have lifeguard class from 11 to 4, which isn't so bad I am thinking because it is supposed to rain a little bit today. I'm hoping Easter Sunday is looking good for another good ride. Hope everyone is doing well.

Later

St. Malachi

Today was the St. Malachi 2 mile and 5 mile running race. Dad and I ran both races to have a total of 7-8 miles for the day. Dad raced the 2 miler and finished 6th out of 1,250 racers and ran with Kevin Ward for the 5 miler. Kevin ran great, averaging a 7:50 mile and looking strong on the finishing hill. I warmed up by running the 2 miler and then racing the 5 miler. I felt very strong throughout the race and I ended up finishing 21st out of 2,153 racers and 2nd in my Age Group. I wanted to keep the pace up throughout the race and I ended up averaging a 6:02 mile. I'm very happy with my result and it was a very fun race....despite the cold, windy and rainy weather.

After the race, we headed up to Bike Authority to upgrade my road bike from 9 speed to 10 speed and for some new parts. When I walked into Bike Authority today, my road bike did not have a rear derailleur, a rear shifter, cables and cable housings, or a 10 speed upgrade. When I walked out of Bike Authority about an hour and a half later, my road bike was fully upgraded and looking good with some new Ultegra components.

Overall, it was a very good day and next week is looking beautiful again..... more time on the bike and running on the trails. Later Days!

Nordic Flurry

Saturday was the Nordic Flurry 5k/10k ski race at Chapin Forest. I raced the 10k race along with Rudy. Right off the gun, it was fast. I felt strong skiing up the hills, but I couldn't keep my balance racing down the downhills consisting of corners. The 10k course consisted of two 4.9 mile laps. My first lap I was feeling great. I felt like I was in the top 10 until I reached a downhill that consisted of a sharp right corner. I couldn't keep my balance around the corner and crashed pretty hard and unfortunately, a couple racers passed me. During the same lap, I crashed again around a corner and was passed by another racer. The next lap was very hard for me. I was pretty tired from the first lap and I could feel the strength in my shoulders, arms, and legs fading very quickly; especially skiing up the hills. Although I did not crash during my second lap, I was racing with Dick Brink throughout the last lap and we battled all the way until the finishing stretch. Dick took off out of a corner and I could not keep up with him. He finished in 15th overall, and I finished 16th and 1st in my AG, and Rudy finished 9th overall. I was very happy with my performance and it was a great day.

Run For Your Heart 15k

Today was the Run For Your Heart 8k/15k trail race in the North Chagrin. I ran the 15k as well as Dad and Rudy. There was a lot of runners in our race, but I'm not really sure how many. I felt good right off the bat. I kept it at a good pace and I was in second place, running with the first place runner for the whole first lap (4.9 miles). Around mile 6, i started to fade a little bit and dropped off the pace of the first place runner, and ran my own pace so that I wouldn't blow up, because there was a lot of climbing in the race. I luckily had enough legs to finish second overall with a time of 1:22:47. I felt pretty good throughout the whole race and all the training Dad and I have been doing on the running trails seemed like it paid off. Dad finished 7th overall and had a great race he said. Rudy finished 6th. After the race, Dad, my Mom, and I did a fast walk a little bit past Squire's Castle and back. We walked for about 4 miles, so Dad and I ended up finishing the day with 14 miles and my Mom had 4 miles.

Later Days

Finally

Dad and I had a very nice ride today; not on the trainers either. It was finally a nice day, and the roads were dry! We have been running and swimming a lot lately so I haven't been on the bike barely at all this year. Instead of being a 'gloom and doom' day today, it was sunny with NO wind. Too good to be true. Dad and I ended up riding 35 miles with a few hills but nothing too bad, and kept it at a nice pace throughout the whole ride. It felt really good to be out on the roads again. The way I am making the day and the ride sound is like I haven't been on the bike in years. But, it was just a great day today which ended in a very good training ride. We are running again tomorrow then possibly skiing Saturday and heading out to the North Chagrin on Sunday to get in a 9 or 10 mile trail run. One more week until the Run With Your Heart Trail running race, so next week will be a little easier than this week.

Late

Well.

I'm not looking forward to this weekend. Tomorrow is my Grandpa's calling hours and Monday, is the funeral. To keep my mind off all the sadness, I have been running a lot. I'm feeling really good and I feel like how I was last triathlon season. I haven't really been on the bike lately. Just on the trainer. I hate the trainer. It's so boring and I can barely stand riding the trainer for 45 minutes. Next week, Dad and I and maybe Uncle Scott are going to hit the pool again. We haven't swam in a couple of weeks, so we definitely need to get back in. Hope everyone has a good weekend.

Later days

Current Training.

Not a lot of time on the bike lately. Dad and I have been running a lot and we now trying to ski at least one day a week. Since the weather has been so crappy, we have been riding the trainers with our TT bikes. We have our powertaps on our TT bikes simply because we are going to be more focused on Triathlon this year. I've been putting in a quite a bit of miles in running lately which is good because I would like to do a Half Ironman towards the middle of this year and there is a trail running race coming up on February 14. I would also like to race The Nordic Flurry at Chapin Forest this year also. I would have to get in more skiing but thankfully, I still have some of my fitness left from cross season. So hopefully I can get into shape for that.

Later Gator.