22 June 2010

Holy Cookie Monster Weekend!

Wow, what a weekend. I had a solid week of training capped off with a 13.45 mile run Saturday morning with Vanessa and Adam. It was a great run. We left about 7:15 in the morning. By running standards, that is considered pretty late. I mean, heck, by eight o'clock it was already pretty toasty outside—mid-80's—with a bazillion percent humidity. The first part of our run was a really slight gradual uphill, followed by an increasingly steep incline. Once we got to mile three, it was pretty much smooth flat sailing to about mile eight. At the turn around is when the run gets a little more challenging. There is two-mile, steady incline that was making us work. Once we got to the top, the challenge was not to let our legs go and shred our hamstrings on the steep decline. The view on the run was spectacular. That is what I like most about going out on these long runs. I am out there, in the middle of these farms and ponds, and long roads with zero traffic. I have my nutrition with me, and my Fuel Belt on, and I am just going. Mile after mile. The sweat starts to drip off my face and onto my sunglasses. I am toasty warm, and all I can think of is how spectacular the scenery is and how much of a rock star (a.k.a. triathlete) I feel like—minus the throwing of televisions out of hotel windows, and not being able to differentiate between night and day.

Adam was so hot after our run that he had to be hosed off by Vanessa. Here he is seen doing his best Flashdance impersonation.

The Three Amigos one last time (for a while anyway)

After getting home, I had to quickly take a shower and get ready to go to my twin's first dance recital. They danced for about two and a half minutes, in which time they pranced, galloped, crawled, and twirled on stage. They were awesome. Stella even snuck in for a picture with the dancing queens. 

Ah, not ready to claw each other's eye sockets out over who gets control over the Magna Doodle, book, or doll.


Just look at those beautiful lines!


Sunday was a lot of fun. It was Father's Day, so while my wifey was at rehearsal from 9:30-1:30, I got to be... a father. Afterwards, she came home and Adam and I got together for a 50 mile ride followed by a 5k. Adam and I had a great ride out to a state park next to Lake Ontario. It was about fifty miles round trip. Cookie Monster (my new ride) was fast, real fast. I know everyone says, "It's not the bike, it's the engine." Yeah, well, true as that may be—I agree there is NO substitute for training—it is the bike a little bit as well. I pushed hard into the wind on the way there, but I never really felt fatigued at any point. On the way back, I averaged a pair of 31 m.p.h. (49.89 k.p.h.) splits on some fast flats. No offense Madone, but I never did that with you. I am excited for Musselman coming up on 10 July. That HIM left be bewildered last year. I had no idea what to expect, no idea at all about nutrition. Seriously, I drank less than 30 ounces of fluids on the bike. What was I thinking? Oh, I wasn't. I have the nutrition down this time around, so I am excited to see if I can knock off some serious time and set a new PR on this course. Our run felt fine. We ran a solid 8:20 pace off the bike. We were not trying to run hard. In fact, a couple of times, Adam and I had to slow each other down because we felt ourselves gradually get faster (oh, and Adam was sporting his Garmin 310 XT, so he knew exactly how fast we were going at every second.) That gets annoying really quickly!

Monday: OFF


Tuesday's Morning Speed Workout: 


2 mile warmup
Fartleks on roads: 10 Farletks at 90 seconds, with 2:00 minute recovery run in between. 2 mile cool down.

Finished my Fartlek's and made Julian's graduation just in time. Congratulations Graduate!

Lastly, congratulations to Luca and his friend Bradley for making the All-Star Team this year. 
Good job guys!



More soon: A cool review opportunity for me, and a GIVEAWAY!

Train Smart!

12 comments:

Barbie said...

Glad you had a great Fathers Day and an awesome training session to boot.

KC (my 140 point 6 mile journey) said...

That cookie monster name for your bike is the best. I really do like it. Great workouts all the way around! I know what you mean about starting late on a run...anything after 6am here and you're screwed!

Caratunk Girl said...

Awesome workouts! Your kids are adorable, the one with the girls showing their awesome lines is the best!

KovasP said...

Cookie Monster was always my favorite - great name for a bike! Glad the training is going well - things sound good for Musselman.

RockStarTri said...

Cookie Monster is a great name for your bike. Of course, Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem was a great name for the band too. They rocked.

wendy said...

Cute ballerinas and baseball players! Hope you had a great Father's day, it sounds like you had some awesome workouts in there as well!

I agree on the bike. I borrowed a new one this morning, way faster (and I KNOW it wasn't the engine, lol!). Haven't named it yet though and now that Cookie Monster is taken, I'll have to come up with another good one : )

Take care, have a great week!

Jon said...

Gonna have to follow everyone else and say that the name of your bike is indeed the most appropriate one.

Julie said...

Nice job on your crazy workouts! I am loving all of the fantastic pictures both of you and the kids:) Enjoy all of these younger years because they will fly by in a flash! Enjoy your week!

Medievalist said...

love all of the pictures - your children are so beautiful!

Unknown said...

cool pics..the all-star games should be fun...

Molly said...

Sounds like your long run was a lot like mine....without the sprinklers. I need to haul the baby pool out to cool off my barking dogs. You've got some cute kiddos.

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