Ride & Swim

So i finally went for a ride eysterday. 31 miles with over 2,000 in elevation. I have not been on the bike much and was hurting. I also swam for the first time in over a month only about 1500 which felt good. I am going to start traing pretty regularly now.

Happpy Thanksgiving #2

We had a great Thanksgiving yesterday spending time with both my family and Court's. Court's parents and aunt came to our house for breakfast and we went to my sister's house for dinner. My sister just had her 3rd child and it is nuts over there. This afternoon we will be having our 2nd Thanksgiving feast with Courtney's family. We are so lucky to have family that we get along with so well and that live so close together. We see everyone quite frequently.
This morning Court decided to hit up the sales at Black Friday and decided to get a little run in. I ran 6 miles and felt pretty good. Total 6 miles. Avg HR 149 Avg/min 9:43. I have a lot of work to do but plan on starting to be very consisent. Tomorrow I hope to get on the bike, it seems like forever since I have.

Happpy Thanksgiving

It is raining in California. The last two days we have seen quite a bit of rain which is very unusual for us. Yesterday I ran six miles with my wifes cousins who were in town staying with us from Baltimore. They are super cool people. They both just did a marathon last month in under 3:45 so they put a pretty good hurting on me. I have been doing most of my running in the gym on a treadmill so being in the hills outside was extra hard. When I was training for the Vineman I was always running outside and because of where I live it is all hills almost no flats. I need to continue to run outside, I was so pleasantly surprised with my Vineman run time and I have to credit it to the hills of Talega.
FYI- I am making a resolution starting today. My plan from now until Xmas is to do at least 100 push ups and 10 mins of core work everyday. It seem relatively minor but I am sure it will make a huge difference. I really need a training partner by the way. It is too easy to not be accountable this time of year.
Thanksgiving- I just want to let everyone know how thankful I am. I have a wonderful wife, a beautiful son, daughter on the way and a loving family. I have a great job and God has provided for me and will continue to provide for my family. There have been many changes this year. Some setbacks but a lot of progress. I read a lot of peoples blogs on the net and it seems like we are most concerned about how our bodies feel. God has blessed us all to be able to do a trememdous amount of physical activity and build relationships with people from all over the country and in some cases the world through the sport we love. That is truly something to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Weekend of Nada

This weekend was very productive for me. I did nothing. I did watch my buddy complete and ironman via ironman live while I ate disgusting food and probably packed on 5lbs. I do want to congratulate Aaron for his efforts at IM Arizona. Aaron completed the race in 12:12. I can't wait to hear from him about his performance. Aaron as I have said before is a large triathlete, mix that in with he and his wife having a brand new baby in the house (less than 2 months old) and Aaron working late hours at the hospital just to compete is quite an accomplishment.
This should be a pretty easy work week which should allow me some time to actually get on the bike, so I am excited. We have some family from back east arriving today.

Morning Ride, Not!

So it have been a little while since I have been on the bike. This is only my 2nd week at my new job so I haven't felt good about getting in too late. And I am not a real fan of riding in the dark. And seeing that it is the off season I am just not motivated to ride the trainer at 5am. So work has been going well and I decided today I would hop on the bike with a friend and ride for 90 mins. or so before work. That was the plan. Does anyone have the friend who is generally a 50/50 possibility of showing up? Well my boy did it to me again this morning. I woke up to a text message saying, "dude I don't feel so well." It really doesn't matter what it says and if he doesn't feel well I hope he feels better soon, but like I said he is a 50/50 shot of showing. The great thing was I got my bike loaded in the car last night and all my sh--- ready to go. So now I am headed to the gym to get on the treadmill and run for an hour. Running and weights is all I have been doing lately. There will be a 50 mile ride this weekend or bust!!! I missing riding on PCH and looking at the ocean.
To everyone doing IM AZ good luck this weekend. Especially my boy Aaron. The king of the clydesdale division. Aaron has worked his ass off and mix that in with having a new baby girl a month or so ago he is due to have a great race. I know that JK has been talking to him over the last few weeks and I am glad that they have formed a friendship. They are both great guys. When they get a chance to meet JK will find out that he will be looking at Aaron in the stomach not the eyes . It's ok me too. There is something about getting advice from a guy who kills it over in Kona annually that makes you feel a hell of a lot more confident come race day. Good luck Aaron.

Too Much Smokey

Yesterday was too smokey so I ended up running at the gym and doing some weights. I have not been running with a hr monitor lately because it has been a little frustrating. Yesterday I ran 5 miles not too hard. This is probably the first time in my life that I have ran 4 days in a row. I got some new kicks and they are awesome Saucony Rides.
We still have our house guest and they are beginning to be a little trouble. The kids don't get along that well which makes it not very fun. I was happy to see the work week come my way so I didn't have to deal with two little boys who are unfamiliar with the word, "share." Luckily the guests will be going home tomorrow and life should return to normal.

House Guests

So I finished the first week of my job and am starting to feeling comfortable in my new situation. I have been able to run the last 3 days, nothing major between 30-50mins each day. I have also started to add in so weights. Hopefully if the smoke isn't too bad from the fires today I will get 40 miles or so in on the bike. It seems like forever since I have been on the bike.
We have some house guests. My wifes best friend and her son are in town from Sacramento for the next few days. It is weird having Connor, who is two and Josh, who is three running around the house like caged animals. They play until they pass out.

Sick of Being Sick

Lots of changes in the last 10 days. I started a new job which I am loving. Still in commercial real estate but now working with tenants exclusively. My company is the best in the industry and there are endless opportunities.
I got sick last week and I am only now starting to feel better. Until this morning I hadn't worked out in nearly 10 days the longest stretch I can remember in the last year or so. This morning I ran (jogged) about 35 mins. It felt great just to sweat. The nice thing about my new office besides the incredible ocean views is that we are directly adjacent to a 24 Hour Fitness. I really should have no excuse to not work out even if it is indoors.

Jeff Keil

I was looking around on the internet this morning and saw an interview with a friend of mine , on xtri.com. Jeff Keil is a world class triathlete and a world class guy. Jeff was the 1st overall American amateur in Kona this year and ran a top 15 marathon. I think 2:58 is a fast marathon, lol... Jeff and I have a mutual friend and we met when he was out in Cali winning his age group in the California 70.3. Jeff and I have stayed in contact over the last 8 months and he has helped me in a big way with my training. Hopefully if things work out we will be able to do a race together this year. Below is the link to the interview.http://xtri.com/features_display.aspx?riIDReport=5095&CAT=21&xref=xx

It's a Girl, Most Likely

So life has been a little busy lately. I am in the process of changing jobs which I am really excited about. The same industry for a far superior company where there is more opportunity. Court and I went to the doctor for an ultra sound and they told us that they were pretty certain we are having a girl which is great. I think if we were having another boy Courtney may have wanted to go one more time to try and get a girl. We are both really stoked. We have picked a name but we never tell anyone. You get too many comments.
I have been doing a little riding. Yesterday I was riding on Pacific Coast Highway near Long beach and had just made a turn heading back to Newport. A hippie looking guy rolled up on an old Schwinn and asked me if I minded if he drafted I said I didn't and thought I would drop him anyways. He hung with me the whole time going 19-25mph.(Its flat) Later he told me that he started riding in Oxnard (probably 90 miles away) and was trying to get to San Diego before dark. And he had actually started riding in San Francisco on Tuesday. Classic. It just goes to show you equipment doesn't mean as much as the motor.