I Wish I Had Gills

I wish I had gills. Although, I am not sure that it would really help much.

This week marked the beginning of my Ironman base training with Coach Mary. Coach Mary coaches a lot of athletes, but somehow she gives the personal attention that makes you think she has a camera set up in my house and is aware of each time I delve into"slacker mode." She is already on me like white on rice. I rather like this. I mean, this is why I wanted a coach this season. I have quickly learned that when you have a coach, there is no such thing as not logging your workouts.

I took my swim test yesterday. This included a moderate length warm up, followed by the yardage to find my 100 pace. My warmup felt great, maybe too great. By the time I got to my pace set, I was a little tired already. I think part of this is that I am still going to bed too late. I have to work on this. Needless to say, my 100 pace is NOT terribly fast. The good news is that Coach Mary is a swimmer, and if anyone can help me with an analysis of my swim, she can. She makes Aquaman look like a chump (or so I've been told).  What is the deal with Aquaman exactly. I mean... honestly, there is no Aquawoman. Doesn't he get a tad lonely down there in the eerie green deep with all of those prehistoric looking sea creatures?

Training thus far is going relatively well. I dig training when I have specific goals. It was weird just jumping into the pool and going out for a run without any real specific plan. I have been noticing a familiar sensation that usually accompanies my workouts: hunger. Yeah, I am pretty much extremely hungry all day. I joke, but one of the reasons I love training this hard is that I can consume as much food as  some of those on the competitive eating tours. Honestly, I am not proud of this fact, but I can pack away a pound or pasta in one sitting.

I have some exciting news about some of the sponsors for Team Trakkers this upcoming season.

Kestrel will be the official bike sponsor of Team Trakkers for the 2011 season.  Yes, this means I will be rocking a brand new bike this summer. Will it be this one pictured here? No. This bike is far too small for me. I mean, even on the largest computer screen, this bike would only measures four or five inches long.

Seriously, I am figuring out what bike and component group to go with. Any suggestions?  Just go to the Kestrel website and pick out a bike for me. Maybe I should put an online poll up. I could also have a donation page for anyone wanting to fuel my lifestyle. Nah—just kidding. I will be selling my ole' trusty steed to one deserving triathlete. I shall miss you Cookie Monster. We had some good times. Thanks for getting me through Rev3 Cedar Point. I shall miss you.

Avia is the official shoe sponsor of Trakkers. Although I have never worn Avia's, I have heard good things about them from a number of athletes. How cool is it that their racing flat comes in Trakkers green
and black


I am really excited to report that the official nutrition sponsor of the Trakkers team is First Endurance. I am really excited because most of my training partners from this past season got on board with First Endurance with me. So, I know it is going to be really easy to promote their awesome products.

I will be posting some lengthy reviews of my gear once I get underway with all of it.

Okay, I am off. I have an hour bike ride tonight. I will probably watch an episode of Iron Chef while I am on my trainer. Iron Chef is the greatest cooking show on the planet. Two chefs go head to head to create culinary masterpieces with a single featured ingredient as the main focus of a dish. So, they will have these chefs making four to six different courses with things like broccoli, herring, kobe beef, and mushrooms as their featured ingredient. I think I dig this show because I am a composer. Composition is just like cooking when you get down to it. It is all about different colors, texture, presentation.

Training: Coach Mary gave me a swim workout for tomorrow that reads: Do as much as you can in the time allotted. Huh? As much as I can in an hour? Clearly, she is trying to drown me. More soon. Train smart!

T Minus ... Holy COW, It's Iron Week!

Yes, Rev 3 Cedarpoint Iron Distance is right around the corner. Am I ready? Ha!  Are you ever truly ready to go 140.6 miles? Really?

Have I told you how much I enjoy tapering?  It's a good thing.

Last week was a blast. Wifey and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary in NYC. I had to be in NYC for a concert of my music, so I surprised wifey by asking our families if they would chip in and watch the kids for the weekend. Everyone was down, so I bought a couple of plane tickets, booked a hotel, and we were off to celebrate 10 years, five kids, a mortgage, and more fun times to come. For a while there, we were averaging a kid every 1.6 years. Not bad, eh?

The wife and I are very different people in a lot of respects. She's a planner when it comes to the kids—you know, the juice boxes are ready, snacks, lunch if we're out too late, etc.

Me? If I am taking the kids out for the afternoon, I play it by ear. I am usually scrambling to find bathrooms, water fountains, and inexpensive places to feed five children. However, when it comes to an itinerary for our mini-cation, we had absolutely no prescribed agenda (other than making my concert Sunday afternoon on East 74th.)  We flew into JFK and took the Airtrain into the Jamaica Station.

Evidently, I am not from Queens.

Of course, the one thing I was concerned about was getting in some workouts. Despite how tempting it was with all the heat, I am not about to swim in the Hudson. Sorry Gotham dwellers, that is where I draw the line. I will not be running the New York City Triathlon anytime soon. I did, however, look for a hotel with a pool. Unfortunately, and fortunately, I got talked out of staying further south—we stayed on East 52nd so that we could be in the center of everything  midtown. So, I did not end up getting a swim in, but it was okay. The hotel had some treadmills. Wifey was a little concerned with me going out for a run, when really, I don't know where the heck I am going, and I would most likely get hit by a car my with my attention span. Secondly, I have the internal compass of a blind giraffe (I don't even know what this means, but the point I am trying to illustrate is that I have a lousy sense of direction in cities.) It had been a while since I've been in New York. It is almost impossible to get lost in NYC though. I mean, the city is pretty clear. It is laid out like a grid. Avenues run north-south, and streets run east-west. The only confusing thing is that 1st and 2nd avenue are on the east side, and the numbers get progressively higher from right to left—weird.

After dropping off our accoutrement at the hotel, wifey and I were famished. Despite our hope to get some good street food—you know: meat on a stick—we ended up going to a pretty good
"Mexican-y" type restaurant for burritos, beer, and margaritas. Actually, I had the beer. Wifey had the margarita. Of course, after just one, I had a nice enough buzz that I could quite possibly pass out. Shortly after that, we walked to a bike shop further uptown to see about renting a bike in the morning. I had to get out for a run in the morning, and Alaina said she would join me. Then, for some reason unbeknownst to me, Alaina talked me into getting my very first pedicure. That's right ladies and gentlemen, my nasty feet were pampered, exfoliated, rubbed down, and filed with the utmost care and precision. I am a little embarrassed to admit this, but it was pretty awesome. Can you imagine a bunch of dudes going out to a spa, drinking white zinfandel together, talking about triathlon and getting pedicures. Don't answer that. You can not see our feet in this picture, but trust me, they are in heaven.

 So after our pampering, we walked about fifteen city blocks back to our hotel to get ready for dinner. On the way there, we ran into the most amazing candy store on Planet Earth called Dylan's Candy Bar. This place was the REAL deal my friends. Three stories of candy and chocolate from around the world. A joint that would make any dentist smile from end to end. The top floor was an ice cream and candy bar. Very dangerous. We could not resist this opportunity to get a picture with the Dylan bunny. Ah, yes... that's all the wifey and I need around us, more symbols of fertility. 

We were pretty excited about dinner. We planned on going to Enio and Michaels, a restaurant in the Village, just south of Washington Square Park and NYU that is so Old School that it existed in SOHO before there was a SOHO and adamantly refuses to create a restaurant webpage, Facebook page, or any other of that frivolous stuff that has nothing to do with food. Despite a zero advertising budget, they manage to stick around while neighborhoods come and go around them, relying merely on their exceptional food, and word of mouth as their sole source economic sustenance. Imagine that. 

After dinner, we decided to take a cab back from the Village to midtown—a good three and a half miles. Well, we started walking, and never quite decided on hailing a cab. So, we walked all the way back to our hotel, Alaina's feet were killing her (good thing she had gotten that pedicure earlier in the day.) I ended my day with a 10k interval training workout in a stifling hot workout room in our hotel. It was tiny, but it did the job. 

The next morning wifey said she was going to come and run with me in Central Park. My wife never runs—unless chocolate is involved—but this morning, she threw on her shoes and went out there with me. Little did we know that the NYC Road Runners Club was going to be in the park that morning. We jumped in and just started running the course. People were amazed at how unbelievably fresh we look for mile fourteen. On the way back to the hotel, we ran into a crime fighter who is obviously really down on his luck. Apparently, crime fighting just doesn't pay what it use to. 

Later that evening, we did the Broadway thing and checked out Tony and Maria.

After the show, Alaina posed with the Statue of Liberty.

The following day was my concert at Jan Hus. What a great performance by everyone involved. The musicians were exceptional, the dancers well rehearsed and added sophisticated, intelligent choreographic essays to the music, and the space was beautiful. Here is the whole gang after the gig:

After the concert, most of us stopped and got some good eats at 

this unbelievable Italian restaurant that Alaina and I passed on the way up to the concert and thought "hey... that looks like a good place to eat."

And, boy was it ever!

Here we all are at Bella Blu 

One of the greatest parts of the whole trip—despite the obvious 10 years of marital bliss—was that I shared a concert with one of my former students who is now starting his PhD at the University of Kanas City Missouri, and another—Aaron Copland Hyzen—who studied piano and composition with me, now teaches guitar in the city, came to the concert hang and get some good eats. 

Nick Aaron and me at Jan Hus Church

On the way back from the restaurant, I told Alaina to break out the camera and take a picture of this dude. I don't know who he is, or what the heck he is doing, but it was about 100 degrees in the city that day, and this guy is just hanging out with a trench coat. I can not prove this, but somewhere inside that coat, I am sure he has a copy of J.D. Salinger's The Catcher In The Rye stashed away.

Eventually, all good things must come to an end. It was time to pack up my stuff in my car and motor out of the city.

Oh, and am I stressed about Ironman? Nah, not really. I don't have any expectations, except for trying not to drown during the swim and finishing come hell on high water. 

I have been feeling a bit under the weather this week—I was totally stressing about this all summer, and sure enough, not feeling 100%. I am just trying to take things easy and hydrate as much as possible this week and relax. Pshaw... it's only an Ironman anyway. (I am kidding Ironman gods—please have mercy on my soul!!!)

Next Up: Ironman post AND a really cool review of my totally awesome new super-duper fast helmet. Thanks Lazer!

The Duh Report, And Other Odds And Ends

There are things along my journey towards ironman that I think should be plainly obvious to me, but yet have struggled immensely to grasp.

For instance, training for ironman takes time. A lot of time. It takes a supportive family. When I finish (hopefully) Rev 3 Cedar Point, I am taking that medal and putting around the neck of the person who really deserves it more than anyone else on the planet—my wife. She put up with all the weekend bike rides, with my crabbiness after I get the kids in bed because I am thinking about:

° How I did not train as much as I was suppose to
° Whining about how frackin' tired I am all the time (no sympathy from her there)
° How sore I am from swimming, biking, and running more in one day than I have up to that point in  my life.
° How I will have to turn off training for a while come 13 September and remember how to be a composer and musician again.

Then, of course, there are some things that I could have never have anticipated. Because my first obligation is my family and work, there have been times when I have had to make the easy, but painful choice between training or spending time with my family. Given the choice, I am always going to choose my family, even it means I will not be able to feel my quads for weeks following ironman. This past Friday, I was scheduled to do a run/bike/run. The run was suppose to be 1:45, followed by a 45 minute bike ride, followed by a one hour run. Seriously? Get real training schedule. As it were, Luca had two afternoon baseball games. So, I ended up fitting in my workout in between his game, truncating each section a little bit. Okay, to be honest, I only ended up running about 15 minutes of my second run. The legs were fine. My nutrition was solid. I felt pretty good conisdering how hot and humid it was. The first one was at 11:00, the second at 3:00. Could I have gone out early in the morning, say 5:30, 6:00 and been done in time for his first game? Sure. But burning the candle at both ends has me spending some quality time with the wifey talking until 11:30,  midnight. One thing I seriously have to work on this next month is getting my butt to bed early—real early—and trying to start up my early morning routine again.

However, there are quite a few things that I have really enjoyed about training for ironman:

° Eating an insane amount of food  at all hours of the day.
° The camaraderie of training with people that make you work harder.
° Improving technique (my swim technique can only get better)
° The conversations I have with people when I explain to them.."Yes, it is all in one day."

Adam and I had a nice two mile swim on Wednesday followed by an hour bike ride. We then decided that we should take advantage of Wednesday night all you can eat sushi at one of our favorite sushi bars.

Our sushi chefs, Maria and Julia made us some hand rolls first. Too delicious!

 The ever shy Maria getting ready to slice and dice some avocados.

Julia did 99% of our rolls.

Two hand made hand rolls= YUMMY

Then, it was time for the smörgasbord. Yes, I successfully worked in the work smörgasbord AND and an umlaut in the same post. BONUS points.

I can not even remember what everything was, but man, was it delicious!

In the spirit of all you can eat sushi, Adam and I thought it would be almost offensive—like eating dinner at an Italian household—if we did not ask for more rolls after this. So, we shared three more rolls between us (in addition to the three we had after the hand rolls, and before this beautiful array of culinary art.

Adam posing with his new best friends. This is the face of
a sushi-drunk human. Did I mention ladies, he single?

OTHER NEWS: Did I mention I am also transitioning into a new gig? Check this place out! Isn't it just beautiful?

Okay, this is  not the building I will be teaching in, but it is right
next to it. 

Not a bad view of the campus from my blimp, eh?

Okay, go ahead those of you not in the know. Where is  

this mysterious new campus I will be teaching at

starting this fall?

Okay, I am off to the lake for another disciplined two mile swim. I did a 2-miler Wednesday with Adam. He finished before me, but it took me about 55 minutes. At least I know I can go the distance now, and the time. 

Okay, more exciting news coming soon. I have a meeting scheduled with Aquawoman. 

Train Smart!

Ramping Up During A Recovery Week: Great Fun!

Only FIFTY days left until Rev3 Cedar Point Iron Distance, but who's counting?  Me. Every day, minute, and second. Nothing like running a HIM and throwing yourself back into the fire to prepare for an iron distance event. I did some serious work during recovery week—if you can call it a recovery week. I managed a 12 mile speed workout, two open water swims of about two miles, a hundred mile bike, followed up the next day with a 14 mile run. Yeah. Feeling good. Thank goodness today is a rest day. I am resting, and hydrating. My legs felt surprisingly well on my run for beating the heck out of them on that ride the day before.

The week was also filled with a lot of family and job related activities. This past weekend, Luca participated in four All-star baseball games over three days. It was a family event. We had a picnic during his afternoon game Friday, and the wifey brought a sheet pizza to his second game on Saturday. This pizza was consumed with great vigor after my hundred mile ride earlier that morning. I am also amazed at the appetite of my four year old twins. How is it that little girls can eat so much food? Don't worry, we packed plenty of veggies to accompany the gobs of yummy melted mozzarella cheese and delicious pepperoni and mushrooms. For dessert, Alaina broke out a watermelon and we cleansed our palettes.

Here is how it went down:

Traveled south into the wind. Averaged around 17.5-18.0 m.p.h.  Then we travelled east. Felt a little better. We had moments when the wind died down and we were cruising at a nice 23-26 m.p.h. pace. Then we rode around Canandaigua Lake. We traveled south along the west side of the lake first. Not blazing fast. A lot of spinning here. We were all really looking forward to the big payoff; diving down from the bluff to the east side of the lake. It is a decent four mile descent and really fast. You can easily go over fifty m.p.h. (80 km.) on this stretch of road if you do not value your limbs, or teeth. Personally, I value both my ability to stand upright and my chiclets, and start to consider how tightly I put that skewer back on my front wheel after getting it down from my roof rack any time I am going over thirty miles per hour. I mean, seriously, at 30 m.p.h. you may as well kiss your sweet cuspids goodbye and sign yourself up for a lifetime of permanent dental work if you crash at that speed. Okay... better not to even think of that. The worst part—I did not have to think of it at all. Adam plotted out a fine course a couple days prior to our departure, but how was he to know that the fastest part of our day was going to be the slowest because the road was ground up awaiting resurfacing? So, I rolled, er, moseyed on down (yes, I used the word moseyed,) this steep decline at the speed of a constipated tortoise. I was not about to wreck my rims, break a spoke, get a flat, or fall on my butt by trying to defy the bike gods on this day. They have spoken. Let these Crankskins fools not go fast down a hill on this day. And so it was. To be honest with you, I never really go  more than I am comfortable with, even in a race. I am sure I could handle my ride just fine, it is my children that I think about. They need their daddy, and I need to be there for them.

Riding north along the lake ended up boosting our daily average nicely. On our way back, we stopped in the town of Canandaigua to see a couple of friends who were racing a two mile open water swim in the lake that day. What kind of imbecile does this you ask? Alexa, that's who. I also met up with a couple of super Aquaman type swimmers who I am convinced have gills behind their ears like Kevin Kostner in Water World (the finest film ever made about post-apocalyptic water covered Earth.)

Okay, this weekend I am taking a trip to the triathlon Mecca of the east coast. Need a hint? Think 1980 Olympics' Miracle on Ice. Going there with Adam to volunteer for IMLP. The goal was to volunteer so that we could both get in line to sign up for IMLP 2011. However, life has a funny way of derailing you—sometimes for the best—and making us adjust our trajectory. I have not mentioned anything as of yet, but I have accepted a position to teach at a small private institution that shall remain nameless for the time being, but it is exactly the right opportunity at the right time, and I am thrilled to be a part of the faculty. Of course, I would love to run Placid next year, but performing well and maintaining an active career trumps any desire I have of competing in another iron distance event for the foreseeable future. Like I said, I will not tell you were the new gig is (and please don't spoil it—all you in the KNOW,) but isn't the campus just lovely? I mean check out that quad. I haven't seen a quad like that since Greg LeMond in the 1989 Tour de France time trial versus Laurent Fignon (who arguably has a far cooler name.)

If the blog posts seem few and far between these days, it is because outside of my family and work obligations, I am trying to fit in the miniscule amount of time I have left over to train. 

On the docket today: A lazy 45 minute swim and half hour run. Yawn. Barely a workout. Of course, I am suppose to have a 5:15 bike on Saturday. I don't see that happening. Story at eleven. 

Train Smart!