Christmas In March - My New Cervelo P4

Who doesn't love free speed? I sure do love it as the reason for my new post. Yesterday a giant package arrived containing my new aero helmet. My Rudy Project Aero Helmet has treated me very well the past five years but an upgrade was long overdue. You wouldn't think that buying a new helmet should not be a hard decision, but it was. I've had my eye on the new Specialized TT2 Aero helmet since I first saw Macca wearing it in Kona in 2008. Trust me, I would have bought this thing then if I could, but until recently this helmet was not SNELL approved which means you couldn't buy it in the USA. European riders seem to always have these really wicked fast helmets on and the USA is always a couple years behind because of safety standards I assume.

My first impression of the new helmet was that it was everything I had hoped it would be. I have an odd shaped head and it's sometimes hard finding a helmet that fits. When I strapped this thing on, I new it was a good decision and I lucked out. Yes I looked like I was from a different planet, but if that makes me faster who cares right?

In other news, my new bike for the 2010 season is ordered! Starting in May I will be on a new 2010 Cervelo P4.

Cervelo spent over one million dollars in wind-tunnel time alone in the development of the P4. In addition to this, they used new fluid dynamics computer modeling so sophisticated it required 5 computers working 24/7 to masterfully design tube shapes so aerodynamic that the new P4 creates over 100 grams less drag that the next fastest TT bike in the pro peloton. And if that means little to you, this will mean a lot to triathletes: 20 grams of drag reduction means 10 seconds at 25 mph over 40 kilometers. In short: the P4 is 50 seconds faster than the next fastest aero frameset over 40 km at a very manageable 25 mph (source). That equates to over 4 minutes of free speed at the Ironman distance!

The bike is going to be fully equipped with SRAM Red components and 3T Carbon Brezza Aerobars. Once I slap my Zipp 999's under this puppy, we're talking about a really FAST bike! All I need to do now is fine tune the engine and make sure all cylinders are firing come race season! Trust me, I'm already working on that.

I'll be selling my current tri bike once I get my P4 if anyone is interested in a top of the line tri bike that is still in great condition. My current bike is a 2007 Felt DA with full Dura-Ace 7800 components. It also has Oval Concept aerobars with a complete upgrade to Full Carbon s-bend extensions. Bike would also come with Velomax (Easton) Circuits that have a brand new hub. The frameset alone retails for $4,700. If you think you may be interested, please send me an email or add a comment to this post.

Master's Swim

I'm still wondering why it took me so long to join the Pitt Master's swim program. Maybe because since I did not come from a swimming background I thought that you had to be a top tier swimmer to get to swim at Tree's Pool. This is so not the case as I found out when I started swimming with Pitt Masters last Fall.

Even though the alarm wakes me up at 4:50 AM, this is starting to become one of my favorite workouts of the week that I look forward to. I think it's mainly because every workout there is someone pushing me to get faster. This morning was no exception.

I swam this morning in a lane with Matt and Ryan, both great swimmers. Our workout today was 20 x 100's. I wasn't sure how my body would react after an awful bike session last night. I rode the trainer for three hours and my legs were slow and heavy for the duration. The first 10 descended on 1:45 then 1:40 then 1:35 then 1:30 then 1:25. I felt good in the water swimming most of the 100's in under 1:25.

The next 10 included 5 all out sprints. My goal was to hit these in under 1:15 and after I did my first one I came to the wall in 1:13 still feeling like I could have gone faster. At first I thought that I did the math wrong but as I later verified with Ryan, it was true that I swam a 1:13. Now in no means is a 1:13 fast in swimming standards, but this was fast for me and actually tied my previous 100 personal best. But the real excitement was knowing that I really didn't push it that hard to swim the 1:13.

Now I was on a mission to go even faster. My next 100 I went 1:11 and still felt like I wasn't going as hard as I could have gone. My next fast 100 was even faster at a 1:10. Still I could do better I thought. The fourth 100 I turned it up a gear and hit the wall in 1:08! Five seconds faster than my previous PR and it still wasn't an "all out sprint". Now I also didn't factor in that Matt went off the wall five seconds ahead of me and I was more than likely getting a slight draft off of his 6' 4" frame. I was still swimming my fastest 100's ever. My last 100 was slightly slower but was still around a 1:10.

After the set of 20x100 I was feeling really good in the water and didn't want to stop. Matt suggest an IM set (fly, back, breast, free). I usually do not look forward to these sets, but I've been working a lot on my dolphin kick and I'm starting to get good at it (at least with flippers on). This was the first I did the butterfly actually feeling like I was doing the stroke correctly. I was doing a dolphin kick and the fly felt easier than normal. It's small gains like this that really make your day.

Tomorrow morning I head back in the water for a long swim set with Matt. I'd really like to get in a 5000 yard workout, but I have a feeling I'll only squeeze in 4500 unless I crawl out of bed at 4:00 AM.

As for tonight, I hit the road for a 1 hour run and a speed session on the bike. Loving life and loving training!

The Weather Has Not Been Kind In Pittsburgh

(The training studio - aka downstairs)

As the title indicates, weather here in Western Pennsylvania has been anything but kind. This makes things especially tough for someone that is used to training hours on end outdoors. Just to put in into perspective and to make it look like I'm not just complaining, here are some interesting snow facts. To be honest, I haven't seen this much snow since the blizzard of 1993, when I was just 13 years old.

This year currently stands as the 4th largest snow storm on record with 21.1" on February 5-6, 2010. The frequency in which we receive a snowfall greater than 16 inches only happens once in fifteen years.

This season ranks #1 on the list for the most snow in a two week span. (21.1" on Feb 5-6 and 7.9" on Feb 9-10). Also for the month of February, this year ranks #1 on the list with the most snow ever with 48.7". Second on the list was in 1993 with 25.3".

Obviously, I could go on and on and on but the bottom line is I'm ready for spring, extra daylight and NO MORE SNOW!

As my recent blogs have indicated, my training has been limited to indoor treadmill runs and indoor trainer rides. Here are some pictures I've gathered over the past couple weeks.

From left to right (Chad, Jen, Kim, Heidi, Matt, Jeremy)

Hammering it to another Spinerval

Jeremy sure is focused.
Here we are this past weekend on my 4:45 trainer ride.

Sinus Infection, a Swim Race and a Bonk

Last weekend I left off saying that I was feeling a cold coming on. Well by Sunday afternoon (2/21) I got hit really hard and was forced to do nothing but lay on the couch. This was the first time I was sick since the fall, so I must say I had a good run going. Luckily for me this was not a case of the flu and was in and out of my system by mid-week. I did play it smart last Monday and took a day off from training knowing it takes a day or two of reset your aerobic metabolism and getting healthy is the number one priority. Tuesday I was still a little under the weather, but managed to get in my speed run and weight lifting workout.

I was also slated to do a swim race this weekend, so I knew that this week would sort of be a recovery / taper week for me. I say sort of because by the time the week was over I still put in 16 hours of training.

Pittsburgh got hit with another snow storm last week which meant that I went back to indoor running. This year has to be the most I’ve ever run on a treadmill and I can really tell it’s taking a toll on my body. I don’t know if it’s just me, but the treadmill really beats me up. I try to focus on staying light on my feet, but with the treadmill set between 8.5 – 9.0, that can be hard to do. On Friday I ran 80 minutes on the treadmill and thought that I was going to go bonkers. Being able to keep a low heart rate while running I need to basically run sub 7 minute miles to keep my HR around the 150 mark (still 10 beats below my ATHR which is the heart rate that I’m burning around 50% fat and 50% carbohydrates for fuel). Besides being stuck on the treadmill I’ve managed to get in some solid training swims especially a solid 5,000 yard swim w/ Matty Mo and Cousin Nate. Nate is currently training for Ironman St. George. Who seriously signs up for a spring Ironman when living in Pittsburgh. I’d like to say I warned him about this but he insists I didn’t warn him until after he forked over the $550 entry fee to Ironman. None the less, he’s getting in the miles and should have a great race in Utah.

Saturday was a recovery day for me which was good because for once I had non-training obligations to meet. I did a easy hour on the computrainer and then it was off to my twin niece’s 6th birthday party. And wouldn’t you know it, their party was at a swimming pool. Apparently I don’t spend enough time near a pool. There had to be at least 20 kids at the party and everyone seemed to have a good time. For my sanity, I left my swim suit at home.

After the pool party Jen and I headed to Trek of Pittsburgh for their annual VIP customer sale. Lots of great deals were to be had and I walked away with a new jersey and Jen walked away with some cool new gear as well. Thanks for the invite Trek!

After what was to be a easy Saturday, Sunday was the complete opposite. Sunday was the type of day that I live for. First on the agenda was a 1 mile (1650 yard) swim race. I was supposed to go to the annual Carnegie Mellon swim meet, but since I never sent in my entry form, I decided to just do the time trial solo at my local YMCA. The lifeguard on deck let us use the plastic lap counters and Jen counted my laps and vice versa. After what was about a 500 yard warm-up I was ready to rock and roll. My goal was to swim faster than my previous mile time (22:52). I swam a 22:52 back on January 30th, but this was after a 4 hour brick workout. I knew starting fresh would make a world of difference and boy was I right. I swam my first 50 in 34 seconds. We’ll just say that one was a little bit on the fast side. After about 200 yards I found my rhythm, zoned out and inched my way closer to the end. I finished the mile with a 1:21 average 100 pace with a time of 22:23. Almost 30 seconds faster than a month ago. It was a nice improvement all be it only 1 second faster per 100.

From the pool it was back home and to the basement for my 5 hour and 15 minute brick. When I saw this on the schedule I didn’t know how I was ever going to survive a 4:45 trainer ride, but then I remembered Mr. Computrainer. The computrainer is a godsend for my training this year and has made those ridiculously long trainer rides somewhat enjoyable. Plus I got three new ErgVideo’s this week which meant something new! I was able to nail the bike workout keeping my HR in the low 140’s as an average while also inserting some tempo and hill sessions which pushed my HR near the 160 mark. I transitioned to a 30 minute run and I would love to say that went well, but it didn’t. I felt good the first 20 minutes but then at the 20 minute mark I fell apart. My blood sugar dropped, I was starving and knew that I missed my nutrition today by a mile. I was forced to walk for a couple minutes and was even tempted to go and knock door to door in search for some instant sugar / candy. I made it home with a slow jog and didn’t care about my heart rate anymore. All I cared about was making it home without keeling over.

This just goes to show you that even after 10 years you still have to use your brain and there is no such thing as auto-pilot in this sport. Here is what I ate through the duration of my workouts.

Bowl of cereal (200 calories) before swim.
Right after swim and before bike I drank 2 Ensure's (500 calories).
On the 4:45 bike I drank 4 bottles of MAO Infinit mix (216 calories per bottle / 864 calories total)
I also had 3 Glucoburst Gels on the bike (70 calories per gel / 210 total).
In addition to the Infinit I also drank 3 bottles of just water.

Once you do the math, I basically only took in around 190 calories per hour for my brick workout and started my TT swim on an empty tank because my liver obviously empties overnight. I told coach Luis about my bonk and he said in a nutshell “Chad please”. I love how Luis is to the point. I knew I screwed up but February is the time when it’s okay to experiment and have these hurdles right? This just gives me something to motivate me more and something I need to work on before race season.

I promise that my next 5+ hour training day will be a different story. I plan to try something new and concentrate my drink mix so I have more calories per bottle plus I plan to take in my usual 750-1000 calorie breakfast before my long training sessions. In my opinion, this is one of the main reasons that makes the Ironman distance so hard to perfect.

Newton Stability Trainer's and a training update

When I got home from work on Thursday I had a new pair of shoe's waiting for me on front porch from the greatest shoe company in the world! Newton signed on again as a title sponsor for the Mark Allen Elite Team and also new for 2010, Newton Running changed up their colors (to my liking) and didn't change the fit. The thing that drove me crazy with my previous shoe brand was that they for some reason felt obligated to make small tweaks to their shoes year to year. It would be just enough to make a runner crazy. Newton seems to go against the norm and they stick with what works! If you have never ran in Newton's I suggest you get out there and try them out. For retailer locations near you, check out the Newton website at http://www.newtonrunning.com/support/retail-locator/retail-united-states . If you are not familiar with Newtons, the encourage running on your midfoot/forefoot, a technique and position that helps keep you running more efficiently, injury-free and faster, no matter the distance. Since wearing Newton's I've PR'ed in every distance of every race that I've toed the line at and there's not much more I can say. I love these shoes!!!

In other news, there really isn't much to report on the training front. I've been putting in between 15-17 hours per week which is not bad considering I'm still over 20 weeks out from Ironman Lake Placid. However the training that I have been getting in has been tough. Due to the recent snow that won't seem to melt, I've been stuck indoors training around the clock.

The indoor training has led to some crazy workouts such as a 17 mile treadmill run a 4 hour trainer ride and 400 repeats on the treadmill at 12.5 mph. I'd much rather be outside to say the least. After a good weekend I came down with a sinus and small head cold that I"m hoping I can shake with Sudafed and lots of liquid. I start Ironman training in two weeks and I sure hope it warms up by then because I'm in no mood to do this indoor training through March.

Travel Nightmare but I'm Home

In my last blog post I said "I'm currently at the airport and am wondering if I get to go home today, especially since today is Jen's birthday. I have my fingers crossed." Well I guess I should have also crossed my other fingers and toes because the last 48 hours were awful. When I departed San Diego to my connection destination I was under the assumption that Pittsburgh International Airport would be open by the time my flight was to land, 5:00 PM. When I touched down at Midway airport in Chicago I powered up my phone and logged onto Southwest.com only to find out that my flight was CANCELED! Then the flight attendants said over the loud speaker, "if you are flying to Pittsburgh, go to the desk agent to reschedule your flight. I knew I had to act fast and made sure I was the first one off of the plane and first in line to reschedule. The front desk agent put me on the first flight to Pittsburgh which didn't leave until the following morning. I was upset that I wasn't going to make it home on Saturday for Jen's birthday. I was also upset because the agent said that there was NO way for me to get my bicycle and assured me it would be on my flight in the morning.

I went to the hotel, ate lunch and got the wheels in motion for plan B. A co-worker of mine touched down in Midway on the flight after me and called as soon as they touched down. She said that the Southwest agent told her that the earliest flight that she could get booked on wasn't till Tuesday and she was able to get her luggage. I decided to head back to the airport so I could get my bike. Once I had my bike I had a big decision to make. Do I risk it and wait this storm out or do I drive the 7.5 hours back to Pittsburgh.

I choose the latter and drove Saturday evening until 2AM Sunday morning. I overnighted with my coworker in Streetsboro Ohio and we made the last part of the drive back to Pittsburgh. When I arrived at my car, this is what I found. I had to dig my car out using my ice scraper (not fun).

My coworkers battery was dead and we had to wait for help. It was very frustrating. While we waited I went into the airport and looked at the arrivials screen only to see all flights into Pittsburgh from Chicago were canceled. I made the right decision otherwise I'd still be stranded in the windy city! The drive home was a little dicey and both cars and tractor trailer trucks were stranded. I have never seen anything like this.

Here is a picture of Jen's car once I got home. This is a Honda Civic, not an SUV.

Once I got home I finished up clearing off the car and shoveled what was left of the driveway and steps. Here are our front steps.

Jen's big birthday surprise was a new set of Cross Country ski's and I couldn't think of a better way to have fun in this snow. All of our streets still had inches of snow so we actually skied down the streets and eventually ended up in a local playground by our house. We trailed out about a 1/4 mile loop through the snow and skied laps around the ball fields. Leave it up to Jen and I to figure out how to get a workout in under these crazy conditions. Once we carved a good path it was actually a lot of fun.

Overall the weekend was a travel nightmare, but I couldn't be more happy to be home.

Now the bad news is, we may have round two of this snowstorm tomorrow as it looks like we may get another foot of snow. I have no idea where we're going to put it.

San Diego - A triathlete's dream especially in Feb.

San Diego is often called the Triathlon capital of the world. I had a work trip in San Diego this week and couldn't think of a better way to kickstart my 2010 season. I arrived on Sunday, put my bike together and headed out for a 1 hour easy ride which soon turned into a 90 minute ride. I had planned to bike from Downtown San Diego to Mission Bay and back but apparently there is no easy way to get there from downtown by bicycle (at least that I know of). At times I was riding on busy highways with cars buzzing past me at 60 miles per hour. Once I got to Mission Bay however, I didn't want to head back. Once I got back from my ride I got in my car and drove to Torrey Pines State Park for my long run. I parked my car near the beach and ran up and through Torrey Pines State Park.


The only problem was that the park closed at dusk so I had to find somewhere else to run for the remainder of the time. I choose to run on Hwy 101 North because I knew there were bike lanes, but what I didn't realize at the time was that there were no street lights to guide the way. The moonlight was also non-existent and it was hard to see a foot in front of me. Luckily I made it back safe without a twisted ankle.

Monday was a day full of training. The day started off at 8AM at the Mission Valley YMCA Outdoor Lap Pool.

There was Masters Practice going on already and I asked the coach on deck if I could jump in. Without hesitation he agreed and I had a great swim with the masters folks. After the practice I swam an additional 1400 yards giving my around 4500 yards for the workout. Directly after the swim I took advantage of the weight room which was by far the nicest weight room I've ever seen in a YMCA. Outdoor pool, awesome weather, great weight room...the jealousy was growing by the second. I lifted for an hour and after a recovery smoothie it was time to climb Palomar Mountain. The climb on Palomar Mountain Road is often compared to Alpe d'Huez (according to some websites I read). Both have 21 or so switchbacks and the mountains are similar in elevation. Palomar has more pine trees at the top, but there are no Alpine glaciers nearby. Alpe d'Huez is a bit longer and much steeper. However for Southern California standards, this is one of the best climbs around. Many locals think this is the hardest climb in Southern California. From San Diego it took about an hour to get to my rendezvous point, Harrah's Casino. I thought about calling the ride off and spending the day gambling instead, but now that wouldn't be much fun would it?

As I changed in the parking lot I thought about all the video cameras that must have been focused on me. It was a casino after all. Once I got underway I headed to the base of the climb which was only about a 2 mile warm up.

Jilberto's Taco Shop marks the start of the 13 mile climb and I knew I was in for a nice challenge.

The first part of the climb was rather pleasant. Not too steep, gradual and a large shoulder. I passed a couple of orange orchids which is something you just don't see in Western Pennsylvania. The first part of the climb took about 40 minutes before you veered left up the mountain.

I'm sure these pictures don't give the climb any justice, but let me tell you it was a leg burner. Every time you thought you were at the top, you went around a bend and kept going up and up and up.
In some places it was if you were biking into the sky.


When I hit the 5000 feet mark I had no idea that the climb was this high. After I was done my altimiter said that the climb was around 4500 feet in just 90 minutes of ascent.


It was right around 5,000 feet where it really started to get cold and snow began to appear. Yes, I go to sunny Southern California and somehow find snow!

Once at the top I considered going down the other side and contemplated climbing up the south side of the mountain but the cold in the air changed my mind. Plus my ride was only scheduled to be 2 hours in length and there was no need to push it longer just because I could. Here I am at the little General store at the top of Palomar.


Here is my heart rate file for the climb. My average heart rate for the climb was 151 bpm which meant I was able to stay aerobic the entire 4500 foot climb. Let's just say that my aerobic engine is getting even bigger in my second year training with Coach Luis.

What took 90 minutes to climb took less than 30 minutes to descend. I've never rode downhill for this long and man was it fun (and a little scary at times). I kept waiting for my brakes to overheat. I finished my Monday with around 4.5 hours of training. Not bad for a weekday in February. Two more times this week I would swim with the YMCA Mission Valley Masters Team. I must admit that I think I was one of the slowest swimmers in the pool and I was swimming my 100's sub 1:20. These cat's were smoking fast! I also did three runs this week in downtown San Diego along the Harbor. There was so much scenery to look at including the U.S.S. Midway. I wish I had enough time to take the carrier tour. Maybe next time.

Thursday I only had to work for half a day so after I was done with work, I headed to Encinitas to visit one of the coolest triathlon shops in the country, Nytro. I knew that I wouldn't have time with travel this weekend do do my long bike and took this opportunity to do a long ride up the coast. I started in Encinitas and rode south to Torrey Pines, turned around and rode north all the way to Oceanside, home of 70.3 Ironman California. Once I got to Oceanside I turned around and rode south again. The ride was really nice especially the long stretches along the coast. My 55 mile ride went by super fast. After the ride I transitioned to a 30 minute run and called it a day.

Friday I had to work again and after work did a 10 mile run in the pouring rain. It wasn't bad at first, but by the time I got 5 miles away from my hotel it was coming down sideways. Luckily the temps were in the 60's so it wasn't too cold.

That pretty much sums up my awesome week in SoCal. While I was having fun in the sun, Pittsburgh got pounded with 18-20 inches of snow, the most snow in a 24 hour period since 1993. I'm currently at the airport and am wondering if I get to go home today, especially since today is Jen's birthday. I have my fingers crossed.

Another Epic Training Day in January

For the month of January I must say today was another great training day. The day started off at 7:30 AM with our friends Jeremy, Jocelyn and Lisa. The plan today was a 3.5 hour indoor trainer ride followed by a 30 minute run and then a 1 mile (1650 yard) swim meet at my Greensburg YMCA. Last night I installed the Real Course Video of the St. Croix 70.3 Ironman race on my laptop and after a 15 minute warm-up I began the St. Croix course on the computrainer. I must say, that I can't believe I've gone this long without one of these. This is totally going to change the way I ride a bike!

Basically you ride the St. Croix course and the computrainer adjusts the tension automatically as the course profile changes along with the faster you ride the faster the screen moves so it's as if you're really on the course! Very cool technology. I can't wait till I install my IM Lake Placid Video. In addition to the all of the cool visual factors, I also get to train with power / watts. I don't know exactly how long it took me to bike the course but I know that my average speed was mid 18's and my average power was 200 watts and my HR average was 151 for the entire ride. Right where I needed to be for 60+ miles on the trainer of continuous cycling.

The bike ride flew by as we all chatted it up (mainly the girls).

Picture of Jeremy and Jocelyn at the end of the ride. After the ride we all transitioned to a 30 minute run and I gave Jeremy the tour by foot of downtown Irwin, PA. My legs felt great just like last week and the time really went by fast on the run too. After lunch, all of us except for Lisa (still recovering from a broken wrist) headed to the pool for my first ever swim meet. One of the things Coach Luis wants me doing this year is more racing in all three sports. This meet will be the first of two mile swims I plan to do in the next 30 days.

Jen and Jeremy entered into the first heat that went off at 2:30. All four of us got in some warm-ups before the start. The two of them had a great swim considering the grueling 4 hour brick that we just went through hours before. Jeremy swam a 21:45.15 (1:19 pace per 100y) and Jen swam a 22:20.23 (1:21 pace per 100y).

(Jen on right, Jeremy on left)

Up next was Jocelyn and I. Since I've never swam a race before without biking and running after I really didn't know how to pace myself, but I figured I'd start conservative the first half and go from there. Couldn't be much different than running the 2 mile in track right? Then I realized that I haven't ran in a track meet in 12 years...ok I had no idea how to pace this thing.

My first 100 was a 1:17 but after that I settled into a rythem and was swimming between a 1:22 and a 1:24 pace. Everything was fine and dandy until I hit the half way mark and started to cramp. It was Triple T all over again. Now i know why (besides the drowning factor) the swim comes first in a triathlon. First is was a slight cramp in my foot when I came out of my flip turns and then it was my quads that locked up. I tried to block it out and kept swimming strong. I had no idea how fast I was swimming but I was winning my heat and wasn't really getting pushed to go any faster (not that i could or anything). Finally I hit the final 25 and went as hard as I could go and swam my final 100 in another 1:17. My finishing time was a 22:52:.60 which equated to a 1:23 pace per 100. My goal was to stay under 1:25, so I was happy. At the end of February I'm going to swim another mile race but with fresh arms and legs. I'll be excited to see how it goes and maybe I'll be able to get into the low 22's or even sub 22.

Here is the groups results. Great times!

It's been a busy week since turning 30

January is almost over and 2010 is off to a pretty good start. On the second week of January I transitioned from my Mark Allen Online Maintenance plan into the Peak Performance plan. Typically you enter into the Peak plan when you are around 20 weeks out from your next "A" race. Looking back at my 2009 log, my training this month has been pretty consistent to what I did this time last year except for being healthy this year (knock on wood). I made a ton of little changes this year that will hopefully set me up for success come spring time. One of those changes is diet. In 2009 when I was in top form leading into my Ironman races, I was weighing in at around 158-160 pounds. After talking with coach Luis, we knew that this was one thing that needed to change. In order to play with the big boys in the 30-34 age group I needed to lose around 10 pounds if not more and become a leaner triathlete. In order to jump start this weight loss I took on a mentally challenging juice and water fast for seven days and have changed everything in my diet. I don't want to give away all of my diet secrets, but lets just say I cut out the occasional pizza and pasta and switched my focus to fruits, veggies, lean protein and healthy fats. The other change I made was I'm now swimming with the Pitt Masters Team twice per week. Since this time last year I've taken 10 seconds off of my average 100 times which is like a 10% improvement. The third change is my running form. Since attending a clinic in December that included talks from Olympic running coach Bobby McGee, I've been trying to focus on my running form and the little things I need to do in order to improve my running efficiency. Let's just say, it's working!

Another exciting thing took place this past weekend. I took part in a triathlon clinic at REI presented by the Pittsburgh Triathlon Club in Robinson Township. I gave a presentation on triathlon basics and some tips that you should do during the winter months. We had a really great turnout and actually the room was too small to hold everyone. It's great to see this sport starting to take off in Pittsburgh and I'm glad to be a part of it!


The weather in Pittsburgh has been brutal the month of January. I've only made it outdoors on the bike one time which means that Ive been putting in a ton of trainer miles which brings me to my next topic. The Computrainer! I needed a change and have been lacking the motivation for those two and three hour trainer rides so I decided to buy a Computrainer. Basically a Computrainer is a trainer that you hook up to your computer and you get to race the terminator. I swear that this little silver guy is as strong as Arnold Schwartzneger and has an aerobic engine like Lance Armstrong. This little guy keeps me working.


The system arrived on Tuesday this week and I had it setup for my Tuesday night ride. I had no problem keeping up my Heart Rate like I usually do and also loved the fact that I can now train with power (watts). I can also save my ride performance and at a later time I can use that saved ride as a pacer later on in the year to measure my performance gains. I also purchased the St. Croix Real Course video and Lake Placid Real Course video. These are slightly different than the Nintendo 64 type graphics shown above and actually show you high definition video of the actual race course. I may try this out on my 3.5 hour ride tomorrow.

Now onto my next topic, Ironman 70.3 St. Croix. Last year both Jen and I signed up for the St. Croix race which is held every year in early May. I've been training really hard this month for that race but unfortunately it looks like I'm going to have to pull out. Trust me when I say, I'd really love to go to the Virgin Islands in May, but there's just no way for us to swing it right now. If we were to go for a four night stay it would cost us over $3,000! I think my money would be better spent towards a new bike or maybe that new sub zero Zipp disc wheel don't you? I'm really upset about it but unless we hit the lottery it just isn't going to happen.

So now what do I train for? Great question! I'm working out my first 6 month race schedule with Coach Vargas as we speak. There is a half Iron distance race in Virginia on 5/8/10 that I'm considering doing, but it will need to be approved by coach. Here are the races that I've been given the thumbs up to do or have already done.

5 mile road race - 1/10/10
1650 Swim meet - 1/30/10
5 mile road race - 2/14/10 (tentative)
30 minute Bike Time Trial (sometime in February)
1650 Swim meet - 2/28/10
5K Race 3/7/09
4.2 mile road race - 3/21/10
Miami South Beach Olympic Tri - 4/11/10
Eagleman 70.3 - 6/13/10
IM Lake Placid - 7/25/10

Getting back to my training, I'm projecting around a 20 hour training week this week slightly higher than my 18 hour training week last week which consisted of some awesome training last weekend.

Last Saturday Jennifer and I headed over to Mark's house for a 3.5 hour brick (bike followed by run) with some of the local area triathlon rock stars.


Virtual Coach Troy led us through a three hour spinerval ride on the big screen!

After the ride everyone transitioned into their cold weather running gear for a 30 minute run. Now let me tell you that this can be a dangerous combination when you get a training session going with Matt, Jeremy and Mark. All three of these guys are capable of sub 3 hour marathons, Jeremy just raced Kona and all of them are stinking fast. We ran a 4 mile out and back course and Matt set the pace. A six minute mile pace that is! I said okay, and went with it since my HR was still under my aerobic max. We hit the two mile mark in about 12 minutes and I had no words for Matt. Matt played it off and acted like he didn't know we were running six minute miles. He made it sound like we were going to slow down on the way back, but obviously we didn't!

My HR average for the run was 158 (the top of where I should have been) so let's just say I may have went over my aerobic max just a little bit. I'm just glad the run was only four miles. After the ass whipping, I mean run, Mark's wonderful wife had breakfast (or maybe it was lunch) waiting for us. It was a great day, but wasn't over yet. After the long brick, Jeremy, Jocelyn, Jen and I headed to the local Cranberry YMCA for a 3000 yard swim.

I was really working to keep up these guys as they're all amazing swimmers.

After a long day of workouts it was time for fun and games. This pool had waterfalls and best of all, a waterslide!

I forgot how fun being a kid was!

That pretty much wrapped up our Saturday last weekend and my first training week as a 30 year old. On Sunday I ran 15 miles at around a 7:20 pace while keeping my HR below 158. It was a great weekend and I'm really happy with where my swimming, biking and running is at right now. Tomorrow morning Jen and I are hosting a 4 hour group brick session followed by a 1650 yard swim meet at my local YMCA. This should be classic especially since my arms are fried from my three swims and two weigh sessions I've already done this week.

Sunday morning I leave for sunny San Diego! I'm taking my bike with me and if things go as planned, I'm going to bike up Palomar mountain on Monday and hopefully get in some training with my friend Marit who lives out that way. Looking foward to it.

Winter Freeze and Spring Tease

In the past eight days the weather here in Pittsburgh has gone from -5 degrees to 48 degree's. It's safe to say that this has lead to some interesting training.

Until yesterday, it's been snowing every single day (at least it seems that way) since mid December. This meant great snow for XC Skiing up in the mountains. Even though I had a race the following morning I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get out into the woods. I tagged along with my good friends Drew and Sandy for a long day a top Laurel Mountain tucked away outside of Ligonier Pennsylvania. All the times I've skied here, I've never seen it look anything like this. It was the best skiing conditions and the views were breathtaking!

Drew and Frank

Taking a break on Lippos Loop

Sandy trying to take a picture with her camera phone

Moving on to Sunday, I ran my first road race in almost 2 years, the Frigid 5 Miler in North Park. The frigid 5 was just that, frigid. Coach Luis wanted me to get some speed back so over the next three months the local Pittsburgh scene may see at some local running events! Jen and I were up early Sunday and drove to North Park. We met up with Beth and Oscar for a 30 minute warmup and it was time to get ready for the start. I lined up at the start with Oscar, the siren sounded and we were off. Not even 30 seconds in I was already anaerobic but felt under control. My plan was to not look at my Heart Rate monitor the entire race and just go for it. Oscar and I jockeyed for position and we were running with two other guys and I believe we were all running for 5th place. The four other guys ahead of us were off the front like lightning and were flying. I didn't click my watch the first mile but remember glancing down at it and heard Oscar say something like "oh my", which meant we were going a little fast to say the least. I think our first mile was between a 5:30 or 5:40 mile. The second mile we settled in a little bit and it seemed like I would surge on the downhills and Oscar would then surge and pull ahead slightly on the uphills. We hit the mile 2 in 11:25 which put us at a 5:42 pace for the first 2 miles. I was afraid to look at my HR monitor because I knew I was pushing it harder than I was used to so I refrained from looking. The next two miles we continued to run together but our pace slowed down to a 5:57 average for the next two miles and the two other guys we were running with put about a 20 second gap on Oscar and I and it was also at this time where Oscar surged on a slight uphill and gapped me by about 10 seconds. On the next downhill I knew that he was running stronger than me on the uphills so I needed to put a gap on him if I wanted to have a shot at finishing ahead of him on the final half mile 300 foot vertical climb. I caught back up to Oscar and surged ahead but he stayed right on my heels. We approached the half mile climb together up to the finish but he pulled away and all I could do was hold on to my position. Oscar would actually go on to catch one of the guys that was up ahead and finished in 6th place overall and I came in 8th place overall. My finishing time was a 30:32 (6:06 pace) and I was happy with my results considering I haven't run hard like this in almost two years. Obviously Oscar had a great race as well, and to no surprise, Beth won the female race! Doug (aka Toona) had a great race as well. Afterwards we all ran a 25 minute cool down and headed inside the lodge for warm pancakes!

After the race

Looking back on my Heart Rate data, my HR max only got up to 187 bpm so I started to re-think if I pushed myself hard enough aerobically but I know for a fact, I didn't have anything left in my legs on that final climb and my turnover was not fast at all. Excuses aside, I'm sure all that skiing on Saturday didn't help. :) None the less it was a GREAT day with great friends.

The past week my triathlon training was solid with over 13 hours of training in for the week. I've been spending a lot of time in the water and swam 12,500 yards this week including a new PR! Not quite Ironman yardage, but good enough for January. Although not impressive by swimming standards, I swam a 1:11 per 100 during my swim workout at Pitt on Thursday. Up until Thursday, my PR has been a 1:13. I really tried to get my 100 time below 1:10 but that will have to wait for another day. Coach Jen spent some more time with me analyzing my stroke more via the underwater camera lane. The real improvements have come in my longer intervals. Instead of swimming around a 1:25 to 1:30 pace, I've consistently been swimming between a 1:18 and 1:24 at the same effort. I'm looking forward to getting even faster in the water in the months to come!

Thursday night was not a fun run for me. I ran my normal Thursday night 6 mile course and on one of the bends I hit a patch of black ice and down I went. It took about 30 seconds to shake it off and I had to wince in pain the last 4 miles of the run. The fall left a pretty big gash in my left knee, a tear in my running tights and a golf ball size bruise where the swelling is just now starting to go down. Just all the more reason for excitement of the heat wave we saw yesterday.

Saturday morning Jennifer and I headed over to the Cornman's and joined them for a morning swim. The main set consisted of 6x300's and I felt really good on the first four but I think the week was catching up to me and the last two were just so-so. After the swim we grabbed a quick bite to eat and Jeremy and I headed out on the bike for a 42 mile ride! This was the first time I had biked outside since November 28th and boy what a treat! Both Jeremy and I agreed that we could have easily stayed out another hour or two but our fitness wasn't there and after 42 miles, it was time to call it quits. We transitioned to a ~3.25 mile run off the bike and finished the day with close to 4 hours of training! What a difference outdoor riding can make. Later that evening Jen and I headed into town and met up with some good friends for my birthday celebration. We ate dinner at Yokoso Japanese Steak House in the Waterfront and as soon as we sat down we were greeted with champagne. Our good friends Matt and Kristen unfortunately couldn't join us for dinner but called the restaurant and ordered us a surprise bottle of champagne. The champagne came with a special note that said "Sorry we couldn't make it. Happy 30th. Don't forget you got a run tomorrow morning." It's kind gestures like this that really makes you appreciate who your true friends are. Every day we're blessed to have such kind and caring friends.


Cari and Nick


Ryan and Lisa

Kim, Garvin, Jeremy and Jocelyn

Now as Matt said, "don't forget about your run", I still need to get out and get 'er done. One problem though. It's raining cats and dogs and there is no end in sight. I think the treadmill is calling my name.