Mark Allen Elite Team / Birthday Weekend

Have you ever had one of those weekend where everything seems to happen in warp speed? Well this weekend was for sure one of those for me. Friday night, Jen and I headed to the Penguin game with some friends and walked away witnessing a Pittsburgh victory. Saturday was my 29th birthday and I couldn't have had a better day. The snow here in Western PA has been coming down like there's no tomorrow, so Jen and I along with our friends Drew and Sandy, opted to skip the 3 hour trainer ride and instead head to the mountains for an afternoon of Cross Country Skiing. XC Skiing is a great cross training tool for running, not to mention getting a chance to be out in the Laurel Mountains this time of year. After we got back to the car I looked at my Blackberry and noticed a new email from Luis Vargas (Mark Allen Online (MAO) Coach). Back in December I had applied for the 2009 MAO Elite Amateur team and to much surprise I found out on my birthday that I made the team. For those of you that aren't aware of Mark, let's just say he's one of the most successful triathletes to ever live. He's won Kona six times over the course of his career.

Joining MAO sounded like a no-brainer decision, but the decision was actually much more complicated than that. Over the past 13 months I've been working with Coach Kevin Paladino and he coached me to personal bests in every race I entered at all distances. He guided me to a 2:06 Olympic Triathlon, a sub 10 hour Ironman in terrible weather a 4:16 half Ironman and even a 2:55 marathon on one of the most challenging courses in the USA. Kevin is a great coach and we've become great friends over the past year. I highly recommend Kevin to anyone out there looking to improve.

To tell you the truth I thought that making the MAO team was a long shot but went for it anyways. Most athletes that make the team at my age go on to turn professional.

So after skiing all afternoon Saturday Jen and I met up with my entire family for dinner at Red Lobster. My dad, who's also by far my biggest supporter (remember the Kona Tattoo) was very happy to hear the MAO news as was the rest of my family. They see the day to day grind and how hard I've worked to get where I am today. We had a great dinner and headed back to my mom and dads for cake.

Sunday came and went just as fast as Saturday. My little sister took a job in Medford Oregon and flew out of town early Sunday morning. It's going to be very hard on me and the family to go through the next year or two without her around. Stace -- we'll miss you for sure! So later on that morning, I ran my first race of the year, well sort of. I did a 10K trail race in South Park. The race is called "The Bushwhackers Nightmare Trail Run" and yes it's as hard as it sounds. The course is hard in the summer when the trails are clear, but since we had over a foot of snow on the ground the race was just insane. The course is two 5K loops. I hung in there with the leaders for the first loop but my heart rate was way too high for a workout in mid - January. I don't need to peak for another couple months and decided to back off and take it easy on the second loop letting the three guys ahead of me take off. Actually the way they were running, I don't think I could have gone another 5K at that pace, so kudos to the winners!

Sunday evening I was right where the rest of America was (or should have been)! Watching the greatest sports franchise ever, the Pittsburgh Steelers, steam roll over the Ravens on their way to their seventh Super Bowl appearance. The game was a late one which meant I was up way past my bedtime. When the alarm went off at 4:45 this morning I was hurting.

To celebrate MLK day, Matt Mauclair, Jen and I did 500 yard repeats. Nine of them to be exact. This was so far my longest swim of the year and my arms felt fresh the entire workout!

In other news I received my "official" results from my VO2 max test I took in the fall along with Lactate results among others. The test was conducted by the UPMC Center for Sports Medicine - Neuromuscular Research Laboratory and entitled "Injury Prevention and Performance Optimization in 101st Airborne Soldiers". The staff assessed bio mechanical, musculoskeletal, and physiological characteristics for 13 local competitive triathletes. My results can be found by clicking here. The “Triathlete Data” heading contains the average result of the 13 triathletes tested to date. The “Athlete Data” heading contains reported data compiled from extensive years of published research in the typical competitive athlete. The “Subject Data” column contains my personal results. My VO2 max returned a value of 75.8 mL / kg / min and my Lactate Threshold Heart Rate was 172.

That about sums up the past couple of days here in my life. I'm looking forward to the new journey with my MAO team and the support from my new sponsors. This is just what I needed to jump start the season. Here's to kicking butt in 2009!