2 Guys, 112 Miles, 6848 Calories ,One Flat, And Saved By The Kindness Of Other

Adam and I got a late start on our 112 mile excursion to Letchworth State Park on Saturday. We did not leave until a little after 10 a.m. The truth of the matter is it was pretty wet Saturday morning, and I did not know if we were going to get out at all. I thought, maybe I will just switch my rest days—take today off, and bike tomorrow. Whenever you think that it might be a good idea to change your rest day, DON'T DO IT unless absolutely necessary. This morning ended up being cooler, wetter, and a downright miserable day for riding. We would have had to spend 5+ hours on the trainer. BORING. And, there is no way to simulate those hills down in Letchworth. Brutal rollers. I am almost embarrassed to admit this, but this was the first time I had ever been to Letchworth State Park. I've lived less than an hours drive away most if my life, but have never visited—criminal!

We were a little over an hour into our ride and motoring—averaging a nice 21 m.p.h. (there was little wind when we started out this morning....this morning.) Well, leave it to me to allow something completely unexpected to nearly sideline our day completely...

I am riding into this little town of Caledonia when I notice a little extra float in my pedal. "That's weird," I thought. So, I unclipped from my pedal, and clipped back in thinking my pedal would miraculously work better if I willed it to. I looked down again right before we were about to make another turn, and decided to pull into the gas station at the corner. Unfortunately, the problem was a tad bit more severe. It seems like my crank arm had come loose. Yes... I said my crank arm came loose.
You know, I carry the usual things on my rides: tubes, tire levers, nutrition. 10 mm hex allen wrench with a super-long handle to torque the hell out of my crank? No. Do not carry one of those ever. I figure the weight of such a tool might drag me down a tad. I am standing there quite befuddled for a moment. We are in the middle of nowhere. It is a Sunday morning. Everything is closed, but it would not have mattered. Caledonia does not have a bike shop. How do I know this? On the way out of the little convenient store gas station comes a man on his way back to his car. I almost did not even speak to him. It turns out, speaking to him was the best decision I made that day. I said:

ME: Excuse me, sir. Are you from town?
HIM: I sure hope so, cuz' I'm the mayor.
ME: "Wow. Say, is there a bike shop in town?
HIM: (Chuckles) No. Why? What do you need?
ME: Well (heavy sigh) It seems like my crank arm came loose, and unless I fix it, I am done for the day.
HIM: What's a crank arm?
ME: This thingy right here that my pedals are connected to (now pointing)
HIM: Well, there is this guy in town who was really into biking. He has all sorts of tools, I know. What was his name....Dave Stone.

So, armed with this information, Mr. Mayor goes into the convenient store and looks up the dude's phone number in the phone book for me. He leaves a message on his machine, looks at me and says "It Sunday morning, he's probably out praying to God somewhere." Then he thinks for a minute and tell me that he will be back in a little bit. Adam and I sat at the store for about five minutes talking to the ladies working the counter inside. A couple of young ladies. She asked us where we were biking to. When Adam told her we were biking through Letchworth she thought we were just kidding. Oh, I love hearing people's responses when you tell them you are doing a 100 mile bike ride.

After some fairly banal, and innocent chit-chat with the convenient store girls, Mr. Mayor was back with tool in hand. He said he got it from one of the auto repair shops around town. I will have to get the name and thank that shop. One minute later, we had that crank arm torqued and ready to motor again.

After some testing in the parking lot, we were okay for takeoff.

That is, until we got another 10 minutes down the road and I got a flat tire. So, I went to grab a spare from the back of my bike, and I realized that I had given my tubes to Manuel the previous week on a bike ride and I forgot to put new ones on my bike. Oops. Luckily, the bike gods were still with us. A couple of minutes into changing my tire, this young dude rolls up in his Toyota Yaris and asks us if we need a hand. Young dude is equipped with tubes, a bike pump, nutrition. He had a bike shop in the back of his Yaris, not to mention his bike. Thanks bike god Phil for hooking us up. We'll hopefully get out there for a ride after Rev3.

I had no idea what these Turkey Vultures are doing perched

on the damn, but it kind of freaked me out a little. I felt

like we were about to be roadkill. 

 Look whose wearing a shirt!
Too beautiful to just ride through.

RIDE RECAP: The ride was amazing. On the way out, we we're cooking, until we hit the many steep rolling hills of the park. The most difficult part of the ride—by far— were miles 80-90 for me. I did not have enough solid food (one Clif bar the whole ride.) Ride and learn, I'm afraid. Even more than that, I just think that psychologically, that was the most difficult part of the ride because you've already rode so far, but you know you have another thirty miles left to pedal. I had my head down most of the time trying to just submit to the fatigue. I know now that I am going to have some solid food in my special needs bag come 12 September. I am thinking about a couple of peanut butter sandwiches, a banana, and apple, a whole turkey, a Snickers Bar, jell-o.  When I got home, I was  a little nauseous from starvation. Seriously, I was famished, and my stomach just couldn't stand any more fluid to drink. When I got home, my wife had a sheet pizza waiting for dinner. A little food in me, and I was fine again. I celebrated that evening by taking my family out to see Toy Story 3. I highly reccomend the movie, although, there were a couple of parts that were scary for me, not to mention my four year olds.

Anyway, I had a great ride and I can not wait to race and roll over my training for next year now that I am more efficient with my training have a really great fitness level. For all of you data dorks like me. Here are the unimpressive numbers and charts from our ride:

Time:	05:44:53
Distance:	112.82 mi
Elevation Gain:	3,247 ft
Calories:	6,748

Time:	05:44:53
Moving Time:	05:39:04
Elapsed Time:	07:48:28

Avg Speed:	18.4 mph
Avg Moving Speed:	18.7 mph
Max Speed:	43.6 mphd

Elevation Gain:	3,247 ft
Elevation Loss:	3,251 ft
Min Elevation:	483 ft
Max Elevation:	1,332 ft

P.S. Cool helmet, huh? Wait until you read my review!

Train Smart!

Yet Another Triathlete Film

Don't you love it when you are somewhere with family and they start asking you questions about triathlons? I mean, much to many people's dismay (especially my wife,) I could talk triathlon ad nauseam. I have to be careful when I am around my colleagues and family, because I am sure none of them care as much about the sport as I do. I don't think anyone I know who is not involved in the sport could name one professional triathlete, let alone last years Kona champions Craig Alexander and Chrissie Wellington. Here are some of the questions—in no particular order—I receive to make me wince just a tiny bit, but I am more than enthusiastic to answer:

1) So, is an ironman, like a triathlon as well?

2) So, what order are the events in?

3) Okay, why is it you do this?

4) So, is it a full Ironman?

5) How long is the marathon, like ten miles?

6) Do people die doing this?

7) Is this over several days, or just one day?

8) Don't you get hungry after a couple of hours?

9) Have you done that one in Hawaii?

10) That must take you, like, eight hours?

Luckily, I have a movie—thanks to my friend Annette—that will help illustrate a normal conversation between triathlete and mortal:



Well, there you have it. Feel free to distribute to your friends, co-workers, enemies, etc.

Training Update: Exciting run day. I ran a short 10.4 miles and averaged exactly 7:30's. I don't know what the heck is going on. That is pretty fast for me. Maybe the training is paying off? Maybe it is the enormous amount of pasta I've eaten the past week, keeping those glycogen levels at Everest-like levels.

More soon. Train Smart!

Back By Popular Demand: More Me!

Yeah, okay, I am just kidding, although, it feels like forever since I have written my last blog post. The truth is—aside from being incredibly busy right now ramping up for the semester—I have been gearing up for this little Ironman thing in Sandusky, and putting time in the bank at home.


Here is the update (some exciting training happening lately—especially in the swim!)

Tallest newlyweds on Earth, Ryan and Kate.
Congratulations!

Okay, after I got back from Canada I have been pretty religious about training, almost manic. I have had to mix things up a little bit on account of my brother-in-law getting married this past weekend. How selfish can a guy be? I mean, really... to schedule his wedding right around the time that I am peaking for Ironman. What the heck?! Did I mention that my brother-in-law is the tallest human being on planet Earth? Not really, but at 6'10 (182.88 cm,) he definitely has no trouble getting your frisbee out of that tree. His wife, Kate, a mere 5'11 (as is my wife,) had a bridal party of sequoia-like ex-basketball players that rounded out the tallest wedding party in recent family history. 

Stella and me rocking it out at the wedding.
What the heck is with my tie?

This also marked two family functions out of town in two consecutive weekends. This can really put a damper on someone's training for Ironman. But, then for a little inspiration, I always revert back to the greatest film ever made about lasers liquidating human targets from outer space–Real Genius. It was Val Kilmer in his Oscar-worthy performance of Chris Knight who said, "...but these little set-backs are just we need to take a giant step forward." Instead of fretting/freaking out/panicking/throwing myself off a ravine over not being around to gear-up and head out for my normal workout because of my brother-in law's wedding, I decided I would just ride my bike to my brother-in-law's wedding. Actually, the wedding was only forty miles away. I say only forty miles away, which completely cracked Adam and me up when I told him that, because three years ago, forty miles might as well have been forty light years away. Now, I think to myself, how can I make getting there around 70 to 80 miles? Ah-ha! Google maps! If you have not used Google maps yet, my guess is you do not travel anywhere but from work to home, live on a commune, Caprica (for all you Battlestar Galactica fans,) or just do not understand the amazing tool that it is. You an plot out bike specific courses, and automatically change routes just by dragging it from one street to the next. Useful. When it was all said and done, I ended up making my forty mile bike ride about 72 miles long. My family had just arrived by car about a half hour before me and everyone was revved and ready to hit the beach for our pre-wedding day craziness swim. The wedding was in Sodus Point, New York, home of the small and well organized Sodus Point Triathlon. Wouldn't you know it, much to my surprise and delight, it was race weekend. I know what your thinking. I did pack my wetsuit in the car. I rode my bike there. I went out for a recovery run the next day. I was primed and ready to take part, right?  Not if I want to stay married. I "jokingly" told my wife about the triathlon SUNDAY morning, after the wedding day fun. My wife was in the wedding, so I got to spend mucho time on Friday and Saturday with the kiddies. After the rehearsal dinner Friday night, wifey went back to the party for more dancing and adult beverages. I was whooped. I did not mind going back to the cottage we were renting, putting the kids in bed, and getting myself in bed shortly there after. Nor did I mind getting everyone in bed Saturday night. I can barely stay up past 11 o'clock anymore. If I do, I am usually in my bed typing some lame blog post that six people might read. But I digress. 

On Saturday morning, I took the kids to the beach while Alaina was getting her hair done. That's Julian way out there with grandpa. The water was pretty nice Saturday. Plus, it was really warm out, so it was refreshing. This was not to be the case Sunday morning. Every once in a while, I think about trading in my long sleeve wetsuit for a sleeveless. I mean, it would be ideal to have both, so that you could decide during training and race morning which one you would want to wear. Swimmers—which I am not—really like the short sleeves so that they can "feel the water," whatever the heck that means. Crazy swimmers. Unfortunately for everyone running the triathlon the next morning, the lake turned over later that afternoon, and the temperature started to drop—dramatically! When I first got out to the beach race morning, the temperature of the water was 60 degrees fahrenheit (15 celsius) and dropping. In fact, when the gun went off, the temperature was a bone-chilling 56 degrees. The race director said that had the temperature dropped to 55 degrees, they would have cancelled the swim altogether. Kudos to the race directors who had the presence of mind to shorten the swim course race morning. I would like to also acknowledge the brave young lifeguards who paddled out on their surfboards sans wetsuits to keep athletes from drowning. How they would have handled not getting hypothermia is beyond me. I have never seen so many people turn around during a swim and head back to shore during a swim. When the water is that cold, it feels like your face is stinging the whole time. It is difficult to even catch your breath. 

Amy with all the boys still chasing her down
on the run. Nice job Amy!

One of my friends, Jackie, had to turn around and come back. She was completely bummed out. I told her not to even worry.  She had a sleeveless suit on, and her skin was purple for the five minutes she was actually in the water. 20% of the athletes did not finish the swim. The water was 51 degrees at the turn around. My  friend, Amy, was first out of the water. As she was exiting, she looked over at her husband and me standing at the swim exit and said "... that was the coldest %#*&! swim EVER!" I believe her. It is amazing what one day will do.


Speaking of swimming, I had some really great swim workouts the past week. I skipped my normal Sunday workout  to watch the triathlon, but Monday I went to Canandaigua Lake (one of western New York's Finger Lakes,) for two loops around the buoys. The water is pretty choppy, and I was pretty spent still from the weekend, but I got it done:


1.9 miles in 56 minutes


Adam and I went out for a swim on Wednesday. Less choppy, and I did the same course in 45 minutes. That was a PB for me. We followed it up with a nice 8 mile run. The first part of the run was all uphill out of the bluff. I thought it was never, ever going to end.

I know what you're thinking. How odd that neither of us
have shirts on. 

I ended up swimming today. While down at the lake, I ran into my blogger buddy Alexa. She said she was going to swim for 45 minutes. I said, "perfect, let's do two loops." She gave me a look, and insisted that we—but really she meant me could not swim two loops in 45 minutes. Ah, that sounds like a challenge. Having just done it the day before I was pretty confident I could swim around the same pace. Sure enough, when the lake is just right (i.e. no wind, waves, or choppiness to speak of,) I can move a little faster than a gorilla in the water—not much faster. I am remembering my recent lesson with coach Jack, who told me that if all else fails, keep your head relaxed, reach far, and stay relaxed in the water. It is starting to pay dividends. Ah, swimming!  How I love to hate you until it starts going well again, and then you bring me back in. Why? Why do you do this to me?!

Okay, that's about it. Oh, and my wifey picked mucho basil out of our garden to make some pesto this week. 


Awesomeness!
























Okay, more soon. Train Smart!

C "EH? "N "EH?" D "EH?" A WHOLE LOT IN A LITTLE WEEKEND!

Ah, I can not pass up any opportunity to poke fun of our biggest trading partner to the north.

I had an UNBELIEVABLY busy and fun weekend in Canada. The reason for the trip was to celebrate my Nonna's (Italian word for grandmother) 90th birthday... 90! How cool is it to turn 90 and have everyone show up to your birthday party from all over North America? Just to put things into perspective, here is the breakdown of the matriarch's family:

5 children

12 grandchildren

20 great grandchildren

1 great great grandchild

Now, that is some vast progeny!

The whole clan arrived just in time for dinner. Have I ever mentioned that everything revolves around food in our family? Seriously, we often have conversations about what we ate last evening, what we are eating tonight, a good recipe, a decent restaurant. My wife and I are self proclaimed foodies whose favorite shows are Top Chef and Iron Chef. We arrived in Brampton, Ontario just in time for me to drop my bike off in the hotel room and head to dinner at 6:00

I forgot to take pictures of the two amazing antipasti plates that were already waiting for us when we arrived—thanks to my brothers who had the foresight to pre-order some appetizers for the hungry clan of little people and parents who were arriving.

Among the things I enjoyed was the beautiful grilled calamari plate over mixed greens:

It was all mine and Julian's. The wifey and Luca are not big fans, of grilled calamari. Although, to be honest, Luca will eat dirt if he is hungry enough, and he managed to steal a few bites of this as well. That kid has an appetite like a grown dinosaur. I can not even imagine what it is going to be like with five teenagers in the house. Girls eat less than boys, right?

For my main course, I had the pasta special—pretty much seafood in pasta with some fresh asparagus. I was so famished from our ride over the border that I actually ate the parsley as well. Who says garnishes can not be eaten?

 

Alaina had the penne vodka. We both noticed an unusual flavor in the sauce—cinnamon. It was good though. 

Janina at dinner finishing up her Caprese salad with her beautiful purple ballerina outfit.

Stella was also very enthusiastic about the eats!

Love this one of Nonna and Luca!

We went back to the hotel after this. We got the kiddies in bed. I went to bed early—with the kids—so that Alaina could go down to the lobby and enjoy a couple of cocktails with the rest of the family. I also had a long bike to do in the morning. I was suppose to go riding with my cousin's boyfriend, but he got called into work that morning and couldn't ride. So, my Zio (Italian for uncle) Vico met me in front of my hotel at 6:30 with his Harley for a guided tour of northern Ontario. Unfortunately, I left the camera at the hotel this morning, thinking Alaina was going to use it to take some pictures of the bambini—nope. It was pretty cool—literally and figuratively—that morning riding down Steels Avenue at around 40km. My uncle rode up from behind me and said "Is this your normal pace? You are cruising!" I felt like Lieto leading the way in Kona as he sped up along beside me indicating where to turn before I got there. I felt good and fresh this morning.

Zio Vico cleaned up after the one-man motorcade. 

Little did I know that I was about to get a history lesson along with the ride. He took me up Caledon Mountain. I am not sure how long or steep of a climb it was, but I was spinning around 8-10 m.p.h. the whole ascent. When I arrived at the top, I was excited to see a dedicated bike lane heading back down the mountain. My uncle had just gotten off his bike and was about to wait for me at the bottom when I pulled up right behind him. He was surprised to see me. I told him you can get down a lot faster than you can get up. On the way back, he said, I will show you the one room school house where me and you uncle Phil and Aunt Gina went to school. Then he said "Now, I'll show you where we use to walk from." You know how those old timers say things like "... and it was uphill both ways!" Well, I understand what they mean now. He showed me the farmhouse my grandfather owned. It was right in the middle of a hill. You walked down the hill, then back up another to get to the school. No wonder that Canada produces so many fine triathletes—you know—with all the snowshoeing and bear wrestling they have to do on their way to school. My riding time was only 2:45, but it was alright. I got something in. My uncle was a little worried that we were not going to get back in time (lunch was at noon,) but it was still only 8:30 by this time. I assured him that we could climb the mountain and head back down at least once more, maybe twice. He thought I was delusional, or perhaps getting high on the smell of methane gas coming off of all the cow manure in those Ontario farms.

Anyway, we turned to go back south, and I was rocking once again—pushing 26, 27, 28, 29 m.p.h. on those gradual downhills. I was not trying to go fast. I was just spinning, but after a couple of hours of gradual climbing and one steep climb, my legs felt really fresh again. I only managed to squeeze in 52 miles, but it was a quality ride and I got to spend some quality time with my uncle as race leader in my imaginary Ironman. I got to the hotel, met my family in the pool, and swam with them for a bit before we had to get ready for the party. The place we were staying had a really cool 2 and a half story covered slide. Awesomeness. I made much use out of this. I think Slip and Slide's should be mandatory at every triathlon. Instead of running to transition, they could just cover a Slipandslide with Jello, or GU, so you could rehydrate and arrive at transition much faster. 

A pipe dream perhaps, but I intend on suggesting it to the USAT and ITU.


Can you imagine how fast you would hit T1 riding this puppy? I think we should start an online petition for Slip and Slide's

We finally got cleaned up, and it was time for the Queen to make her way into the party at the restaurant we met at. My nonna thought she was meeting her one daughter, and son, and grandson for a quiet little lunch. She was incredibly surprised!

Amalia and Amalia

Love this one of Luca with Nonna!

It is great getting together with family. Even though we do not get to see my extended family a lot, it is amazing how we all bond and talk about our similar interests. Case in point:

Luca and Julia rocking the gameboy. 

Julian and Ayrton rocking the crazy long straw. I am not sure if this was a cool engineering accomplishment, or just really, really gross.  Julian later told me that "no vacation is ever complete without a crazy long straw." I AM NOT KIDDING!

Stella decided that, like her father, she would find the nearest fountain to jump into to train for IMLP 2024.

If that was not enough fun for one day, later on in the evening, after swimming for a couple of hours, we decided to take the kids to this giant, well... the only way I can describe it is a casino for children. It had video games, batting cages, go-karts, bungee jumping (not the really dangerous kind mind you.)

I will let the pictures do the talking:

Julian shooting hoops.

Amalia and Janina both rocking learning about gravity. They both managed to keep their dinners down.

Speed Demon Stella. Look out Danica Patrick!

"Zooming" around with Amalia. 

Amalia struck it rich. 175 tickets later! She picked the right color on kiddie roulette. What are we teaching our children?!

Well, it was great fun, but we got back to the hotel late, and could not avoid a couple of meltdowns along the way. One was by me. I was hungry—REAL hungry. It was ten o'clock and we hadn't eaten since three. The wifey was fine, so she was in no hurry to get out of this place, which completely annoyed me and left me irritated beyond belief. When I get hungry, I get very cranky. I turn into this guy:

Me hungry.

On the way home, we decided to stop at Niagra Falls and let the kids experience a dose of corporate greed and global capitalism amongst one of the most incredibly scenic natural wonders of the world. However, on the way, my wife and I found this sign especially amusing:

C'mon ladies. While you are getting your oil changed, why not stop

in for a little manicure at the car dealership. Genius! 

Canadian Falls. 

Walking back to our car, I got a little nervous when I saw a slip of paper that appeared to be a ticket on our windshield. I said to myself "Puh-leeeaaase don't be a ticket now." We parked on the street and paid for parking with one of those automated systems. This is what I was left with:

Yeah, that's my wheel. It seems as in my hurry to get my bike off the rear bike rack

and into my car—so it was not stolen while we were visiting the falls—I completely

forgot to put the wheel in the car that was leaning up along the driver side body.

Luckily, Alaina and I noticed that the car behind us also tucked their Trek triathlon

bike into their car as well. Whoever you are—THANK YOU!

On the way home, we made sure to stop for gas:

We were confident this place had some:

Okay, that's enough fooling around. I had a self-imposed off day  on Sunday, but I was back out there Monday with an hour ride, followed by an hour run. Headed to the pool here in a bit for a more serious workout. I love swimming. Really. I do. It's fun. Yay!

TRIATHLON MATH: 80 MILES+22 MILES=LESS PAIN AT IRONMAN

I had another incredible training session this past weekend—if by incredible you mean incredibly difficult and incredibly painful on the body on my recovery day. I took the family into consideration when I asked my training partners to be AT my house by 6:15. I know how getting out on a long bike ride goes. You spend about 45 minutes preparing nutrition, filling up water bottles (no one did this prior to arriving at my house, of course. This meant I had to remind my young single friends not to continually let the front door slam shut so as  not to wake every member of my house up.) This, of course, proved futile. By the time we were getting ready to take off, everyone was downstairs watching Scooby Doo.

However, if it were not for Luca waking up, we would have no one to take this super cool picture of the whole crankskins.com team heading out before the big ride.

The ride started off well. We rode south, gradually uphill for the first 15 miles. We were clipping right along until Manuel decided it was time to get a flat tire. How selfish. Anyway, it is good practice. The rest of the team used this time to duck behind the giant prehistoric plants behind us and take care of some excess fluids in the body.

Approximately 20 miles in. Notice we are still all smiles. 

I tried to stay in front, but comfortably spinning most of the way. I know that come 12 September I am not going to be able to draft anyone, so I figured I better not get too comfortable with that now. Our goal was to make it down to another one of our beautiful western New York Lakes—Conesus, but we never quite made the right turns. It was kind of nice sort of knowing which direction we were traveling in. I had mapped out two bike courses. One was the shape of Texas and was 114 miles, the other was about 80. The menu called for a four bike with a 1 hour run sprinkled in for good measure. So, we all decided that the 80 miler made more sense. We arrived (in a very circuitous manner) in the lovely town of Geneseo—a college town where my wife went to school.

Manuel was off at the local bike shop getting some extra tubes. 

I loved the t-shirt of the young woman who took our photo:

Luca and Julian found this t-shirt absolutely hilarious.."you know... because
they are saying warm you buns, like you butt."

On the way back, guess who got another flat tire? You guessed it, Manuel. This time, Adam wasn't very enthusiastic—or anyone else—about Manuel trying to change another flat. He decided to do the dirty work  himself. Could it be that he found Manuel's nearly 30-minute flat repair a tad tedious?

Oh yes, it was great joy. Adam fixed the flat in under ten minutes (good thing we weren't racing!) We went another couple miles down the road when... you guessed it, Manuel suffered his third flat of the day. It turns out that really deep gouges in a tire are not the best thing in ensuring a flat-free ride. Anyway, by this point, I have to admit, we were all growing steadily annoyed at the continual stops, especially me. Finally, I told Manuel that I had to keep spinning. He totally understood. 

When we got back to my house (minus Scott who had to get back to his wife and baby daughter,) we threw on our sneakers and went out for an hour run. The legs were okay. Nutrition and hydration are really the keys for me. Adam and I ended up pulling away from Manuel and Mike a little bit. I was a little surprised because Mike is such a strong runner—a marathoner with several to his credit—but he competed in his first HIM this year and has not had a lot of experience running off the bike yet. When we all got back, we decided it was a perfect opportunity to go out and get some milkshakes. I was the champion of my family that day coming back with milkshakes for everyone. 

Hey look Alexa and Kelly, I AM wearing a shirt!!

Alaina made fun of me because she said I am flexing my legs in this photo. I can not help it if I have big muscular, Italian, non-running legs that are only made for biking AND act as 40 pound weights in the water while I am swimming.

I followed up my 80 mile ride and 10k with a 16 mile run on Sunday. I ran from my house to a public beach on Lake Ontario. It was pretty cool. At the very end of my run I envisioned myself running the last couple miles of Ironman with people cheering. I even threw up my arms at the end of my run to practice my triumphant finish line cross. My family was there on the beach waiting for me. I immediately jumped in the lake to get a minor ice bath. I had a scary thought:

The wind was whipping really hard and the waves were about 4 to 5 foot swells. I thought if Lake Erie is like this for Rev3, I am in some serious trouble. I may need a one man submarine to navigate the swim course. I mean, it is one thing swimming in the calm and placid waters of the finger lakes, and a completely different thing swimming in this huge pond. Luckily, the race organizers have a secondary swim course in case the waters get a little too treacherous for you average mortal swimmer.

I am managing to get in all my "competitive weeks" workouts in, but it has been challenging. I have a 1:30 run and a 2 hour bike ride scheduled for today. I think I may have to truncate the bike a little bit because of time. I am working all day and am going to take the boys to soccer tonight. Then the wifey has a rehearsal. Tag team parenting at its finest!

None of you guessed where the beautiful campus is that I will be teaching this year. Here's a hint: it is in the town of my favorite HIM! I leave you with this lovely picture of the wifey and me:

Train Smart!