Wiiiiiiiiiiiii

I got a Nintendo Wii for Christmas, and I can't stop playing it. I am almost pro at tennis and bowling on the Wii sports game. I mean, I am kind of a big deal, people know me, haha. I have already beaten the Crossbow game that comes with the gun controller. Now, I'm working on beating 007. And according to the Wii sports game, my Wii fitness age is 30. I was 36 yesterday.
However, I have not won a bowling match against my family. I am never last place, but I've never won. Last night, my brother beat me, my dad beat me, and my sister beat me in three different games. I did come through with a clutch strike in the 10th frame to get second in two of those three games though. But I've got some work to do to get to first.
I also watched a great movie last night, "Cars." I've heard that it was good, but I have never sat down to watch it until last night. I am really enjoying the ABC Family 25 days of Christmas. My favorite movie is still "The Incredibles." And "Wall-E" is up there too. Those are 3 great movies.

Last week, I ran 45 miles and swam 24,400 yards. This is only the second time I've hit 45+ miles for a week since the 3rd week of March. I did not realize how little I've been running this year. I ran over 40 quite a few times, but I guess not much more than that. And this was the first time I've swam over 24,000 yards since the first week of April. No wonder I felt a little tired during my long run on Saturday.
The weather is crazy. It's 13 degrees right now, and it was only 6 degrees just a few hours ago. In two days, it is supposed to be close to 60 degrees. Not my idea of a White Christmas. Today is a super easy run, so I'll probably just jog on the treadmill so I don't have to fight the bitterly cold wind. I tend to push the pace in the cold, I guess to stay warmer but I don't know.

Merry Christmas!!!!!

Tony

Disclaimer

In my last post, I discussed how my buddy did a solo marathon with the help of his wife. I was not putting them down in any way. I was giving them props for completing the feat. My mom asked if they were upset about my post and I said that I didn't think so, but she stated that my post seemed negative towards them. I apologize to Eric and Beth for this.

In other news, I got straight A's for the second semester in a row. I'm sure that I'll get some slack from my uncle about how easy Graduate school must be for me to get straight A's, haha.
I swam with the UK swim team for the first time, and got a nice little slice of humble pie. But I would rather swim with them and be slightly behind everyone, than swim with the HS team and be a little behind them. We swam 6300 yards, which is almost the furthest I've ever swam for a single workout. I do believe the swim coach was a little surprised that I finished the whole workout.
I also have a bet with one of the girls on the team. We are racing a 200 yard freestyle. And I believe her PR is about 6 - 7 seconds faster than mine, so I might be in a little over my head. We haven't finalized the terms of the bet, but I would be smart to place a small bet, such as ice cream or coffee.
I just ate one of my top 5 favorite breakfast meals, so now I'm going back to laying around the house and doing nothing. It's awesome.

T-Bird

Things that Boggle my Mind

My buddy Eric decided a long time ago to do a "birthday challenge." He decided that he would run a trail marathon on his birthday, the 14th of December. He later on decided that the marathon that he chose to run wasn't worth the drive, money, or time so he would run a solo marathon at Cave Run Lake. With the help of his wife, he ran 26.2 miles on this trail to finish his birthday challenge. Something that I don't think sounds very fun. Beth ran 25 miles herself, haha. Some pacer. She ran the first and last of 3 laps with Eric, and she decided to run for 1 hr, 20 minutes between the laps. I mean, why wouldn't you run 25 miles for a long run, haha.

And something I'll never understand is the philosophy of the students in my classes. They tell me to my face that they don't take my class seriously, will skip multiple days, or even skip the final, and then expect me to go out of the way to give them an A for something they didn't do. I know that other courses require more work outside of class, but all you have to do for my class is show up and swim/run for 40 - 50 minutes. It should be an easy A. I had two kids skip their final last week and one girl is telling me she was never informed about the final because it wasn't on the original syllabus or because I didn't send an email. Nevermind, the facts that I gave out a revised schedule/syllabus during the first week of November, that I announced the take home final due date for 2 straight weeks, or even the fact that the students voted on which day to perform the swim final. It's my fault for not communicating with the students well, according to her. It's not her fault, even though she missed the last 2 weeks of class.
The other kid just slept in, he knew about the final.

And another ice storm is supposed to hit Lexington tonight. I guess I'll be running on the treadmill in the morning, but we'll see. Lexington has more ice storms than anywhere I know, but I guess I don't really keep up with the number of ice storms that hit other locations.

My fantasy football future is most likely over. Unless DeSean Jackson of the Eagles can score about 40 points tonight, then I'm going to lose in the semi final match. For him to score 40 points then he would need to score 3 td's with 220 yards receiving. Highly unlikely for any receiver in the NFL. maybe in the NCAA, but not the pros.
AND,
My semester is officially over. I took 2 finals today, and I emailed my final paper to my EDP600 teacher just about an hour ago. I only have 1 more class until I receive my Master's. Then the future after school. SCARY!!!!!!

Tony

Almost Done

I gave a group presentation and turned in a paper in one of my classes last night, leaving me only 2 exams, a group project, and a paper due in the next 6 days. I'm really excited to almost be done with the semester.

And now onto what's really important..... I'm in to the final four of my fantasy football league. The Arizona Cardinals' Defense really came through for me by scoring 2 td's and putting up 23 fantasy points. I won this weekend's game 104 - 84. The top four ranked teams are in the final four so it's going to be tough. Technically, I'm the higher ranked team in this weekend's match up, but his team is good. They scored 159 points this past weekend. Hopefully his team is tired and they score a lot less this coming weekend.

I have found a blog that is probably the funniest blog I've ever read. It's called failblog.org. Everyday, they post a sign of some sort that doesn't really make sense. It's really funny.

And my first full week of training went pretty good. It was hard to not go all out, but I took Saturday off to make sure I didn't do too much. I'm still taking time off from the bike, but I swam and ran 5 times.
Run = 35.5 miles
Swim = 20,700 yards
And I did pull ups 3 days, and abs 3 days last week. That is something I'm really going to work on over the winter is getting a little stronger through pull ups, push ups, and abs. I'm not a huge fan of weights, so I'll just stick to these for now.

Tony

The Art of Procrastination

I'm waiting for the last class that I have to teach on Monday to roll around and I'm just killing time. It's 12:31 pm and I have just finished my first swim workout in about a week. I'm scrolling through the emails to find one from my partner in my group from my "Team Development" class. The emails says that not only are we presenting our group project Monday night but that our individual final paper is due as well. The class begins at 4 pm and I teach until 2 pm. I knew that we were presenting but I thought the paper was due the following Monday. I quickly ran to my office, grabbed my notes/textbook, and went to work. I put the outline together for the paper in about 15 minutes, then I had to go teach. After class, I walked swiftly home to start typing (my computer is at home). I started typing around 2:15 and was finished before 3. I didn't even check the paper, I just emailed it to myself and walked straight back to my office to print it off. I printed the paper, got everything set for our group presentation, and walked in class at 3:58 pm. About 5 minutes into class, Dr. Weiner (pronounced "Why-ner"), he asks who has their "Team analysis" complete and who was going to PRESENT it. Of course, he calls on me first. I walk up there and basically just go through my paper in front of class. I analyzed the "Mid East Elite Triathlon Team" (my team) and he loved the concept of our team. Not only did he enjoy that, but he stated that I encorporated the whole class into my paper and that I did a wonderful job. haha, who says they need to work on papers that are worth 25% of your final grade for more than an hour. And the group presentation went great as well.

So that was two out of nine graded assignments that are due in these last two weeks of school. I have an exam today, and then I'm finished for this week. I have a paper and 2 group projects next week, and then 2 finals and a final paper due on Monday, Dec. 15th. Then I'm Dunzo for this semester.

And I'll give a shout out to David Garrard, the Jacksonville Jaquars, who scored enough points last night for my Fantasy football team to win, put me in first place in my division, and also into the playoff's for my league (which begins this coming weekend). Nice Game Mr. Garrard!!!!

Dub - C

FFOOOOODDDDDDD!!!!!!

I have made the week of Thanksgiving my transitional week into my "Winter of Fun" Training plan which will begin on Monday, Dec. 1st. I figured that I would run every other day and put in about 20 - 25 miles this week. However, I have only ran once in a span of 4 days. I'm thinking about running tomorrow AND Saturday but we'll see if the motivation is there.

And this week is usually my week of eating whatever I want. For the past 6 years (beginning in 2003), I have started my week of Thanksgiving off with a trip to the NCAA Cross Country championships. So I usually leave on Sunday, return on Monday, and then head home or to my grandparents' for the holiday on Tuesday after I'm finished with class. And this week was no different. Here is what was all consumed on my trip to Terre Haute:
Sunday lunch: 2 jumbo slices of pizza from Pazzo's before we left.
Sunday dinner: 12 hot wings from Buffalo Wild Wings and some beer
Sunday 4th meal: double cheeseburger and fries from McDonald's
Monday breakfast: HUGE omelete and 3 pancakes from IHOP
Monday lupper: triple steakburger, fries, and a large strawberry shake from Steak' n' Shake

Wednesday was full of food thanks to my gram's cooking. French toast for b'fast. Potato soup, cornbread, and ham for lunch. A large, large meal for dinner followed with two servings of dessert.
Thursday was just a few eggs with sausage for breakfast. Lunch was my Thanksgiving meal at my dad's. My stepmother and aunts made a ginormous meal and I tried to eat it all. Dinner consisted of leftovers from lunch. I am now awake at 11:30 trying to let all of the food settle because my stomach hurts extremely bad. I'm thinking about fasting for about 72 hours, or maybe 1 - 2 weeks, ha.

But I would like to give props to everyone who cooked food over the past few days that was eaten by me. Everything that I ate was extremely good and I could not ask for a better family to spend the holidays with.

Maybe in a few weeks I'll have some blogs about my training, but until then I'll enjoy my rest.

Tony

Official Race Photos

Leisure Time

Since I'm not exercising at the moment (with an exception to a few short swims), I have had a crazy amount of free time. I have watched movies, taken naps, and played on the internet a lot. I should be doing homework, but its hard to get motivated to do homework when it's not due for a while. And today was a lucky surprise. We got snow for the first time this fall so I cancelled my running class this morning. My other two classes got cancelled on Wednesday because the pool is closed today due to a swim meet that is going on. So today is a day off that I wasn't expecting.

Last night was my big intramural swim meet, haha. My team had an amazing showing. My buddy, Will Vietti, went 3 - 0 in his races. He won the 100 IM, 50 breast, and the 200 free relay. I happened to win the 100 free, get 3rd in the 50 fly (my worst stroke), and also contributed to our 200 free relay victory. Some of my other buddies told me that some fast guys usually swim, but I guess they weren't there this year. I was only one of two guys under :60 for the 100 free, when I heard last year the winner went in the low :50's. And our relay won by almost 15 seconds. I didn't expect to dominate like that at all. Our other two team members placed well in the 50 free, 100 IM, and 50 breast. But I guess when we're swimming against a bunch of out of shape frat guys, it's not fair, haha.

On Sunday, I'm headed up to Terre Haute, IN to watch the UK girls and Adam Henken from UK compete in the NCAA XC meet. I have gone every year for the past 6 years, but this is only the third time that I have someone from UK to root for, and only the 2nd time I'll have the whole team to root for. My old roommate Chris Millisor and I are headed up with a group of guys from the team. We may have to start off the trip like we did 6 years ago with a dozen of donuts being consumed in the first 30 minutes of the trip.

Go Cats

Tony

Fight Night

On Thursday evening, I went to "Fight Night" for the first time in my college career. Fight Night is an annual event that the Fraternities and Sororities put on to raise money. This consists of many Frat guys beating the crap out of each other. They had different weight classes to make it fair and they would box for 3 short rounds. Most of the fights were very entertaining. It made for a great laugh.

This week has consisted of homework and movies. My school schedule works out great for training, but when I'm not training, it makes for a lot of down time. I watched a movie almost everyday this past week and I have actually done a little homework. I have 3 groups projects and 3 papers due in the last 2 weeks of school. I also have 3 exams in those 2 weeks so those first 2 weeks of December are going to be fun.

And my next BIG race is this Thursday. I'm competing in the intramural swim meet, haha. I will be swimming in the 200 free relay, 100 free, and 50 fly. We'll see how it goes considering I haven't done any structured swim workouts in almost 2 weeks but I'm not too worried about it.

Just a Few Pics from the Race

I will look into getting a few more pics. My dad took several good ones. These are all from my coach, Beth Atnip.

IRONMAN 70.3 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

The last race of the season was another great race. I would have posted my race number and a little more info about the race last week but there was only one computer for the entire hotel to share in the lobby so I didn't get on the internet at all from last Wednesday until Saturday after the race.

I drove home on Tuesday to vote for the prez, and hang out with the family a little before I left for Florida the next morning. Wednesday was spent in the car. Beth and Jeff left Lexington around 7 am and picked me up in Corbin a little after 8. With traffic around Atlanta, and stopping at Bob Evan's for dinner (I think this meal was why I did so well, haha), our trip was pretty long. We didn't get into Tampa until about 9 pm or so. We were lucky enough to have a good friend, Ann Skerkoski, who works for the Ironman company who let us stay at her place that evening since our hotel reservations didn't begin until Thursday evening. We crashed for the evening after Beth went to the airport to pick up Eric.

Thursday morning, Eric and Beth worked all day while Jeff and I prepared for our race. We swam the swim course that morning while picking up our packets, going for a short run, and eating lots of food throughout the day. The race provided a very nice "Welcome Dinner" that evening for us. Friday, Jeff and I woke up and went for a little spin on our bikes just to loosen up the legs and make sure the bikes were working properly. We had to check in most of our equipment for the race today and leave it over night, which makes a less stressful race morning.

Race Day: I wake up at 3 am and I can't go back to sleep. Our wave doesn't start until 8 so our alarm was set for 5. But I was just too excited about the race to sleep. I had a Panera bagel with peanut butter and a banana for breakfast with some coffee and Jeff and I headed down to the transition area around 6 am. We got body marked, hung around and got everything in the transition area set up, and just waited around. The key thing before the race was to listen to "This is Why I'm Hot" by MIMS, which was the official song of our trip, haha.

It was a wetsuit swim since the water temperature was just under 70 degrees. The swim started out a lot slower than I'm used to, and was pretty uneventful. I felt comfortable the whole swim and I ran up on the beach in just over 25 minutes. The wetsuit strippers were waiting for me at the beginning of the transition area, and I've never had any experience with wetsuit strippers. I wasn't sure whether to use them or to just strip it myself. Luckily, I layed down, a stripper grabbed my wetsuit, and less than a second later I no longer had my wetsuit on. They were awesome. I came out of T1 feeling great. I hoped on the bike and started hammering.
I got about 6 - 8 miles into the bike and I passed a large pack of cyclists (which is illegal). Right after I passed them, they tagged onto my wheel and shortly passed me back. They went from 23 mph to 28 mph just to pass me. I fought with this group for about 20 - 25 miles. I would try to get away from the pack and they would just stick to me like glue, and swallow me back up. The enevitable happened and I was stuck in the pack for the entire bike.
This was a bittersweet bike considering it's illegal to draft. I knew that I was one of the stronger cyclists in the group and if we were all not in a pack I could be in the front. But everyone that I talked to before the race said that everyone drafts at this race because it is so flat and because everyone is almost equal in their ability to bike fast. I ended up having the fastest amateur bike split of around 2:06:37 (26.5 mph, I think).

Anyways, I came into T2 feeling awesome. I had a quick transition and I took off flying. I went through the first mile in 5:21. I immediately tried slowing down. I knew that was stupid of me, but I just felt so good, it didn't feel fast. I started hearing footsteps around the 4th mile. I didn't look back, I just tried to keep pace. He ran right past me and accelerated. I managed to stick on his shoulder and we traded the lead for about 3 miles. Right after the 7 mile mark, there was an aid station that he skipped and I slowed down to get a little water and gatorade. He put a few meters on me and I never got that gap back. I slowed down a little over that last few miles with my last two miles being right around 6:20 for each. These were slow compared to the 5:50 pace I held through the 8 mile mark. I crossed the finish line and don't really remember much of what was going on.

I found out later that the guy I was running with WAS in my age group, but he was also the overall amateur champion. I finished 2nd in my AG while also finishing 2nd overall and as the top American. I was 24th overall including all of the pros.

I was extremely pleased with my result, and I am know limping around attempting to teach classes, haha. Now for some Rest and Recovery.

Sorry for the length of the post.

T-Bird

Oct. Fitness Challenge Results

The epic battle between my car and my bike is over with the bike coming out on top.

I put 726 miles on my bikes this past month while only driving my car for 574 miles. So I guess living close to campus really pays off. I put almost 100 miles on my commuting bike alone.

And today was my last brick workout, and officially the coldest brick workout that I've ever done. It was 43 degrees when I started this morning so I put on all of the cold weather clothes that I had for the bike. It did warmup but not until later in the day. It is now in the upper 60's but I had to work at the pool so I did not have the luxury of doing a warm, afternoon workout.

So I guess the hay is in the barn and now the last 7 days will be pretty laid back.

Tapeworm?

My weekend workouts all went really well. The big brick workout on Saturday went great. It was a little chilly and cold, but I survived and had a great run off of the bike. Monday I took a day off to recover and yesterday I had a bike ride with some hard efforts. I didn't feel up to the task of fighting with a bitterly cold wind so I rode the trainer while I watched a movie. Today was a race simulation swim set with an easy bike. The bike ride was outside, but still cold and windy. I hate riding in cold and/or windy conditions but I guess sometimes it has to be done.

And I have a feeling that I either have tapeworm, an overactive metabolism, I haven't been eating enough (which I don't believe), or the scale at the pool is broken. Exactly 2 weeks ago, I weighed myself after my swim and I weighed in at 164 pounds which is right in my normal range of body weight. I have always weighed myself after a swim workout simply because they have a nice scale at the pool. All year my body weight has been between 161 - 167. Very rarely am I ever out of this weight range. I haven't weighed under 160 pounds in almost 3 years. Last Monday (two days after my illness) I weighed in at 159. I kind of expected that because of how much came out of my body that Thursday night, and how little I ate on Friday. So I made it my goal to eat a little more than usual last week to get back up in my normal weight range. Last Friday I weighed in at 158. Even though I was eating like crazy, I still lost a pound. Today, I got out of the pool and headed to the scale. I turned it on and stepped on the scale only to be shocked at the number that would pop up. It said 154. There is NO WAY that I have lost 4 more pounds in 5 days. I ate 2 large bowls of chili, two large helpings of cornbread, a large bowl of veggies, and two large brownies last night. This morning I had 3 bagels from Panera. I only eat 3 on the mornings that I'm extremely hungry (which happens most mornings, ha). I am still in disbelief about the weight that popped up on the scale today. I don't think it's possible for me to lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks. I talked to a UK swimmer who said that scale says he's lost 30 pounds since the beginning of the summer. He did say he is lighter but he doesn't think that he's lost 30 pounds. So, I need to find another scale that has recently been calibrated.

That's it for now. Only 10 more days til Clearwater.

T

This Week

I have completely trained myself into the ground this week. The Long run and easier ride on Tuesday started the series of hard days. Wednesday was a hard swim and a hard bike. And the windy condition here in Lexington didn't make the bike ride any better. Thursday was a 40 minute tempo run and a moderate swim. That morning was in the mid 30's and the coldest weather that I've run in since the spring. So doing a 40 minute effort in that weather was not my idea of fun at 7 a.m. but I needed to get it out of the way for the afternoon workout. And the afternoon swim was going to be a garbage yardage set until I ended up in the water with the HS club team that practices at my pool. I ended up swimming 4500y with a lot of butterfly (which I hate). Yesterday was an easy swim and a trainer bike ride thanks to the rain. It was my first trainer ride since May so I guess I can't complain. And riding the trainer is good practice for the flat roads in Clearwater.
Today I have my last significant brick workout with my last longer run tomorrow. I can't wait to go outside and ride in the cold, haha. But 50 degrees isn't too bad, it just feels cold out on the bike. But I'm really looking forward to the afternoon of watching college football in my warm apartment. It will make it sooo much sweeter after my ride. Maybe the CATS can pull off an upset over the Gators even though we have lost two of our star players of the last two weeks (Locke, Lyons Jr.)

GO CATS

T-Bird

The Adventures of Tony

So it's been a few days since I last posted and there have been all kinds of little things that have happened to me. Starting with last Thursday, I was riding my commuting bike back from class and I clip the sidewalk wrong and I crash, haha. Nothing serious, just more of an embarrassing moment for me since there were several cars passing right when I did it. Not 2 hours later, I'm out on a training ride and I almost get in a fight with a passing car. If I were not on my good bike, then there would have been a fist fight in the middle of the road. Some kid tried to run me off the road several times, we had a few choice words with each other, and I got in the last shot by spitting on his windshield as he made a left turn onto a road where I was making a right turn (haha, classy I know). During the altercation, I thought better of what I was doing ONLY because I was on my good bike. If I were on my older bike, I would have just thrown it aside and gone after this guy.

Anyways, that evening I managed to eat something that didn't sit well on my stomach. I spent most of the night and some of the morning in the bathroom "praying to the porcelain gods." I did not teach any classes on Friday, and as a matter of fact, I didn't even leave the apartment. I laid on the couch all day long, either sleeping or watching tv. I didn't eat anything until about 4 pm and that meal consisted of a little dry cereal. So I didn't work out Friday or Saturday since I was recovering from this illness.
Saturday I had a big day planned with my sister, Bethany. She came up for the day and we went to Keeneland and then the UK/Arkansas football game. This was a really exciting day even though I lost a little money at the horse track.
Sunday I had a long ride to deal with and I wasn't sure how it would go. I rode with two other guys and I rode 65 miles at a pretty easy pace. It wasn't a bad ride considering what I had gone through 2 days before. However, I did miss my longest long run which was scheduled for Saturday so I had to make it up yesterday morning. I ran 15 miles and it was one of the best long runs I've ever ran. I did a 5 mile loop three times so that I could stop for liquids and gels at the 5 and 10 mile marks. I ran the loop faster every time with the last 5 miles being run at close to 6:12 pace. The avg. pace for the whole 15 miles was just under 6:30 pace, which is faster than I usually run for long runs.

And I also rode my bike yesterday, and I happened to log enough miles to pass my car in the OFC. My car now has 470 miles compared to the 482 miles I have on my bike this month. I have several more rides this week so I should stay ahead of my car.

Sorry for the long post but it's been a few days since I last blogged. Hope you enjoyed.

Tony

October Fitness Challenge Update

As of 6:30 pm on Thursday the 16th of Oct. The car is winning. The car has 422 miles compared to the 374 miles I've put on my bike this month. I have made two out of town trips in my car with another possible one in about a week. But I also have 100+ miles planned for the bike in the next two days. So I feel like I'm doing pretty good for the amount of out of town trips I will end up making in my car.

Training has been going pretty well lately. My best friend (and my coach's husband) called me a masochist meaning that I like to torture myself or that I enjoy pain. I had a bike ride on Tuesday that was 2 x 30 minutes at race pace effort. It was supposed to be a 40 - 45 mile ride that ended up being 61 miles. All of my workouts have been a little harder/longer this week than they have supposed to have been. This morning was a track workout that was pretty easy compared to some of the silly workouts that I've done. I did 8 x 800 at a pace that I usually hold for mile repeat workouts. I'm used to running AFAP during workouts and I end up really hurting towards the end, or I end up cutting the workout short. But some of my running workouts lately have been pacing (still a pretty fast pace) workouts which turn out pretty well in the end.

My legs are a little tired right now but tomorrow isn't a horribly hard day and I have a big ride with a short run on Saturday. My longest run before Clearwater will be on Sunday with a recovery swim in the afternoon. So I'm excited about everything that is going on. I haven't worried about motivation or anything, I have just been waking up without a second thought and lacing up the shoes for a run. This afternoon was dark and dreary and I still just came home from class and went for a bike ride without even thinking about skipping it. So I guess that means that I have a lot of motivation right now, ha. I just have to keep this up for 3 more weeks.

Tony

Motivation Levels

My four huge days are over and I'm looking forward to my recovery day tomorrow. I ended up running 11.7 miles yesterday at a pretty decent pace. I was worn out after this run so I ended up just eating some french toast, scrambled eggs w/cheese, bacon, hashbrown cassarole, and baked apples, and then taking a nap while watching some college football. But I made up for the missed workout today. I ran another 10 miles this morning and then went for an easy 2 hr. bike ride with two of my buddies. Somehow I ended up at the pool for an easy afternoon swim around 3:30. I just finished some school work and am now ready for my second supper. I've eaten enough food this weekend to feed a small nation.

Motivation Level is what is hardest about training for these big races. I know that I want to do well, but sometimes when the alarm goes off in the morning, or you are tired from a previous workout, all you want to do is sleep. So here is what my motivation levels looked like all weekend.

I was excited about the big weekend ahead of me so they started out good.
Friday morning before the long ride - Motivation Level (ML) - around 95%
ML after ride/before run - 65% (so I ended up running even though it was only 1.5 miles)
Saturday morning before long run - ML: 90%
After run - ML: 10% ended up cancelling my afternoon workout
Sunday morning before second long run - ML: 60% just enough to get me out the door
Before bike ride - ML: 50% only this high because I was riding with others
At 3 pm after waking up from a nap, right before my swim - ML: 15% ended up swimming because I told someone I would meet them there

Somedays I just wake up and go without thinking about what I'm doing, but others, I lay there and think about my schedule and when I would be able to squeeze in this workout if I skipped it. If I can squeeze it in at a later point in time, then a lot of times I'll skip it. Most weeks I'll end up skipping 1 to 3 workouts per week. All depending on the motivation levels, haha. I never skip a "key" workout though. The skipped sessions are usually easier rides, swims, and runs.

Hope you enjoyed.

Tony

Home, Sweet, Home

October Fitness Challenge Update: Car - 304 miles vs. Bike - 228 miles
Right now I'm losing miserably to my car, but this includes two days on the road with another to come tomorrow. The next two weeks should be pretty good since my biking miles will be up and I will not be making any out of town trips.

Right now, I'm in my home town of Corbin. I travelled down here to get my car worked on (by a trusted person, not the dealer who tried to get 1,500 dollars out of me about a month ago, all for tires, shocks, brakes, and power steering fluid), watch my sister cheer at a HS football game, and to hang out with the fam. I got in a great ride this morning, going almost 62 miles in just over 3 hours of riding. I love the roads around here. And I got in a short run of 1.5 miles after the ride just to loosen up. Tomorrow I have a longer run of 10 - 11 miles with my bro, an easy bike ride, college football to watch, and a trip to the soccer fields to watch my sis play.

Today was day two, of the 4 days from hell. Yesterday consisted of a running workout of around 10 miles, a swim of 4,000 yards, and a bike ride of 30 miles. Today was the long ride and a short run. This weekend is another easy bike, two long runs (both around 10 miles), and a longer swim on Sunday. I guess the weekend won't be too bad, but I'm pretty tired from yesterday and today. We'll see how those two long runs go. Then it'll be time for an active recovery day on Monday. Too bad that I have class all day, allowing me no time to lay around and sleep, haha.

T-Bird

Tri For Sight Race Report

Today I competed in the Susan Bradley-Cox Tri for Sight here in Lexington, KY. I have won this race in the past, but I have also finished 2nd to my good friend, and training partner David Kuendig, who was also racing this year. I woke up at 4:35 am and drank some coffee and ate my good ole banana and peanut butter sandwich for breakfast. Coffee is a must on racing mornings. And, I live only 2 miles from the transition area, so I just rode my bike to the race from my apartment.

The race consisted of an 800 meter swim (in a pool), 18 mile bike, and a 4 mile run.

I was seeded 4th in the swim and would enter the water 30 seconds behind the leader. Each swimmer had 10 between them and the other swimmers, as this was a time trial start. I felt extremely comfortable during the swim and went through the 400 m mark under 5 minutes, which is pretty fast for me. I wasn't making up ground on the UK swimmer and Dave, but I had already passed the guy who started right in front of me. I was hurting a little towards the end of the swim, but I finished in just over 10 minutes. My last 800m swim I ever did was in 10:46. My official time was 10:16 but that included a little run from the pool to the chip timing mat.

I passed the UK swimmer in the first mile of the bike and was aiming for Dave. I was feeling good, but I felt like I wasn't making up ground on Dave. I had ridden almost 6 - 7 miles and still didn't see him. I was hammering hard since it was only 18 miles, and was fortunate enough to see Dave about a mile before the turn around. I passed him about a mile after the turn around and there was no looking back. I finished the bike in 44:10 (for 18.4 miles, 24.9 mph avg.). I was hoping to break 44 minutes but I was satisfied with the effort.

I took off onto the run in first place, and I felt like Dave was close behind. I felt horrible for the first mile but then I settled into pace and finished the run feeling strong. I realized about 2 miles into the run that Dave wasn't close. I finished the 4 miles in 21:44.

The finishing time was 1:19:00, a new course record, breaking Dave's old record. I'll make sure to let him know several times this week, haha. Now back to training for Clearwater. I've got a rest day tomorrow, an easy day on Tuesday, then a hard five days of training before another recovery day. Thanks for reading.

Tony

Results link:
http://www.besttimescct.com/results/Sight08.txt

Boredom

So today is the 3rd day of October and I'm dominating my car (mileage wise) in the October Fitness Challenge. I have ridden 46.7 miles on my bikes compared to the 16.6 miles I have put on my car. I did not drive at all today or the first day of October. If I just stop taking girls on dates, then I won't need a car at all, haha. I have a shorter ride planned tomorrow and the Susan Bradley-Cox Tri For Sight (http://www.triforsight.com/) on Sunday. We'll see if I can keep this up all month.

Training has been going pretty good lately. I've had some good workouts, and I've backed off a little this week for the race this weekend. Today was an easy swim. Tomorrow is just a loosen up day, and then the race on Sunday. My goal for the race on Sunday is to break 44 minutes on the bike. The course record is 44:35, which was set by my buddy Eric Bell at last year's race. I went 44:55 two years ago, and I feel that I'm a much stronger on the bike, and I'm riding a much nicer bike. But we'll see how the weather is Sunday morning. Obviously, the main goal is to win the race.

And it is Friday night, and I'm bored out of my mind. I am sitting in my living room, watching a "That 70's Show" marathon on ABC family, and I'm writing on my blog. I will end up going to bed early, but I hate just sitting around doing nothing on nights like this. I'll probably hit the sack soon since I have to wake up at like 4 am on Sunday morning.

Thanks for reading.

SFC Update

The September Fitness Challenge is officially over, and I failed miserably, haha. The swimming part of the deal ended almost as soon as it began. However, I was cutting it close with the running challenge all month. And I left it all up to the last day of Sept. to close the deal. I usually do not run twice in a day, but did several times during this month because I do enjoy the occasional two-a-day. However, on the 30th of Sept. I needed to run twice to finish the 27 runs. I had an exam at 12:30 pm and a bike workout (which was the key workout of the day), so it looked highly unlikely that I was going to do it. And I didn't, haha. I woke up to get in a short morning run, but remembered that I needed to study for the exam. I did run after my bike WO so I ended up with 26 runs in Sept. which is a lot more than the previous several months. I only ran 17 - 18 times, avg. about 25 MPW in August. July was only 16 runs, avg. in the low 30 MPW. So, the challenge did encourage me to run a little more than I have been lately, I avgeraged over 40 MPW, and also had some really good workouts.

Off to school.

Tony

My Mondays

Man do I hate Mondays. Here was my schedule today:

5 am - wake up
5:30 - 7 am - lifeguard at the University pool
7:05 - 7:45 am - easy run
8 - 10:45 am: Teach two classes with office hours between the classes
11 - 12: easy recovery swim
12 - 1 pm: eat a little food
1 - 2 pm: Teach another class
2 - 4 pm: A little break before class, studied for exam, eat food
4 - 8:30 pm: Attend two classes (both meet once a week for 2 hrs. each)
8:45 pm: Dinner
9 - 10 pm: Watch new episode of Heroes
10 - bedtime: study a little more, snack, go to bed

I usually don't lifeguard at 5:30 am on Mondays but it still makes for a long day. Anyways, back to Heroes and studying.

My next Challenge

So September is almost up, and the running challenge is almost finished. All I need to do is run three more times in the next two days. Tomorrow is supposed to be my active recovery day, but would be my better day to get in two runs when compared to Tuesday. Tuesday is usually my bike workout day. And with the end of September comes the beginning of October, and possibly a new challenge?

My October challenge is going to be about the bike. I'm going to try and ride my bike more miles than I put on my car. There doesn't need to be any crazy rules or anything. Every time I ride my bike, those miles will count. I commute to class on my bike so those will count.

And today, for some reason, I decided to do an epic swim. I had a meeting at the pool at 4 so I decided that I would get in the water sometime around 2 and just swim until the meeting. And I also had to swim a 500 at 5 pm for my life guarding job. I ended up getting in the water a little late, but I still managed to get in 6000 yards before the meeting and then an extra 500 after the meeting. So I ended up with 6500 yards. This is the second most I've ever swam in one day. Obviously, I did not swim competitively in HS or college, so that would explain why this is a big swim for me. And this gave me almost 24,000 yards for the week, which is my biggest swimming week in forever.

Time for a little Family Guy, homework, and sleep.

Dairy Queen

So an update on the SFC: I've ran 19 times in the 23 days of Sept. I plan on running twice on Thursday and running everyday that is left in this month. That will give me 27 runs in the 30 days of Sept.

And I have rediscovered my love for Dairy Queen. I got a strawberry blizzard two days ago, and I forgot how good those things are. I fought off the urge to get one tonight, but will probably go there tomorrow or Thursday. I even went to Kroger and I didn't want ice cream from there because it just wasn't the same, ha. And these help me daily caloric needs. I mean, blizzards count as dairy, right???
After biking for 2:15 hrs. today, running for 45 minutes and swimming for an hour, its hard to eat enough food to keep me energized for the next day's workouts.

Back to watching some Scrubs, and then hitting the sack. Got an easier day tomorrow, but I still have multiple workouts. "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" comes out 1 week from today and I couldn't be more excited. So does "Ironman."

Tony

My Big Week

This week will be the biggest training week that I've put together since the week of July 14th. I still have tomorrow's long run of 14 - 15 miles and then a swim workout, which will add another 3 hours of training. So far, I've got almost 16 hours exactly. I've put in 160 miles this week on the bike, including today's tempo ride of almost 55 miles. I also had a really good run workout yesterday. It was 6 x 1 mile on a 1/2 mile dirt path. It's been a while since I've done that workout, but it was almost easier than I remember it. Run workouts are never really "easy" but this one sure didn't destroy me like some of those others have.

And I have made the decision to stay local and race the Tri for Sight here in Lexington, KY instead of traveling to Dallas, TX and race in the U.S. Open Triathlon (Elite Amateur championship race). This may seem like a strange decision, but my main focus is the 70.3 race in Clearwater in November. I didn't want to taper for Dallas and then build up again afterwards. And I didn't race in Chicago with the mind set that I wanted to qualify for Dallas. I just happened to qualify. I do feel bad turning down my spot, but I have several obligations here in town that weekend.

But, other than that, there has been nothing exciting going on so I haven't posted in a few days, and this isn't really much of a post, haha. But it's time for a nap and/or watch some more of the Ryder Cup.

Go USA!!!!!

T-Bird

The Lonely Road

Another training update,
I've started the week off pretty good while finishing last week up ok. All I did Sunday was my long run of 12.5 miles. It actually felt a lot better than the last long run so that's always positive. Yesterday was a hard swim and an easy run. I swam 6 x 400 yards - HBA (hold best average). This is a "test" set that I do in the water once every 3 - 4 weeks or so, and this was by far my best ever. I usually average about 5 - 10 seconds slower and only swim 5 400's.
Today I followed up with another easy run, and hill repeats on the bike which I just finished up about 30 minutes ago. Man, I love the wind that Lexington has during the Spring/Fall seasons. I forgot how hard the wind can blow here in town.

Update on the SFC: The swimming challenge is pretty much out the window. I have failed miserably. I only swam 4 times last week, giving me a total of 9 swims in the first 14 days. Running on the other hand, is going pretty well. I have ran 13 times in the 15 days. As long as I only take one more day off from running, or do a "two-a-day" or two and I'll be set on the running challenge. I forgot how much I enjoy running.

And motivation is hard to come by when all of your training partners are off racing, taking a little down time, or out of town. I did manage to find someone to ride part of the way with me this past Saturday on my long ride, but all of my other workouts lately have been by myself (with a few exceptions in the pool). Those 2 - 3 hr. rides are kind of boring when you're all alone. It's hard to head out the door when there is no one there to push you along. I don't hesitate about workouts when I'm meeting someone, but when I'm by myself, I can always find an excuse. But I've only got 8 more weeks until my tri season is over for the year, haha. And several of my training partners will be back in a week or so hopefully the motivation will stay elevated until after Clearwater.

Now I'm off to the pool to get in a little "garbage yardage" just to loosen up.

Tony

Training and Fantasy Football

I ran twice yesterday which might have been a huge mistake. I woke up and ran 5 miles with my "Preparing for a Half Marathon" class that I teach and I decided to run again with a friend later in the afternoon. This was a horrible decision. The second run ended up being about 7.5 miles and one of the longest 7.5 mile long runs of my life. However, I did manage to get in a good swim around noon. "Three-a-days" aren't my favorite thing to do, but when they're all fairly short, it's not too big of a deal.

I did make up for it by going on a date last night and eating my body weight in food, haha. Probably not the best thing to do on a first date, but we had fun. I consumed several glasses of sweet tea, a very large plate of baked spaghetti, two scoops of ice cream from Baskins Robbins, and a large Coke from the cinema. I felt like I was going to explode during the movie.

And today's workouts went fairly well. I completed my longest ride since before my 70.3 race. I rode just over 60 miles in 3:15. And I finished that ride with 3 miles of running, which didn't feel great, but I was able to finish. Now I just have to finish my long run for the week tomorrow morning with the possibility of biking and swimming as well. Man, I love those three-a-days.

I have the curse of having 4 pretty good RB's on my fantasy football team, and I cannot decide who to bench. I have Clinton Portis from Washington, Frank Gore from San Fran, Chris Johnson from Tennessee, and Earnest Graham from Tampa. Portis didn't have a good game last week while Johnson had an amazing game (and he was on my bench). I'm thinking I'm going to bench Portis, even though he's still ranked as a top 10 RB right now. Gore is my only definite starter right now. Who knows, maybe I'll change my mind before tomorrow, but if anyone has any suggestions then let me know. Fo sho.

Thanks for Reading

Go Cats.

T-Bird

The Good and the Bad

So I wake up on Sunday morning and I don't feel good at all. I just figured that it was because I had a long day on Saturday with my long bike ride, tailgating for the UK football game, the actual game itself, and then staying up late for really no reason at all. I did manage to do a long run on Sunday, but I didn't feel good after my run. I ate a little food, but it seemed like I had a minor case of food poisoning, or the stomach flu. I ended up laying around on the couch for several hours before going to bed. These past few days I've been stopped up, had bronchitis, and these have cut my breathing a little short. My workouts have been mediocre, but have felt extremely hard because of this "shortness of breath."

Well, yesterday I was finally feeling a little better (not perfect, but better) and a track workout was my main workout of the day. I had 3 x mile and 4 x 800. This is one of the harder running workouts I've done since July. On the second mile repeat, I step on the railing on the inside of lane 1 and roll my ankle. I usually roll my ankle about 3 - 4 times a year on a run and it is never serious, so I just kept going. It felt a little weird at first but I finished the workout with no problem. Well, as the day progressed, it felt worse and worse. I swam yesterday evening, and could barely kick. I did a long set of pulling and swam only 3000 yards (but it was also my third workout of the day). I then limped to and from Pazzo's (my favorite pizza place in Lexington) which is only about 4 blocks from my house, and realized that this might take a few days to recover from.

So now I find myself skipping my easy morning run so I can ice my ankle and post on my blog, haha. I guess this could be a blessing in disguise since I have a lot of reading to do for my class at 12:30 this afternoon. This whole school thing is cutting into my training time, haha. And I also have a hard bike ride right after class. So I'm sure I'll be fine and back running tomorrow.

SFC report - So far this month, after 10 days of September, I have ran and swam 8 times. My ankle will set me back just a tad in the running department, but it nothing that several two-a-days can't solve, haha.

Thanks for reading.

Tony

Week of Training

Hey guys,
It's late Sunday afternoon and I just finished my last training session of the week. I'm enjoying a little football, while keeping track of my fantasy football team, and watching the U.S. Open on TV. I just completed my longest run since my 70.3 race on August 2nd. It wasn't the best run in the world but it topped off my good week of running (43 miles). This week has been a pretty good training week. I got in a longerish bike ride yesterday morning before I went to the UK/Norfolk St. football game. I rode about 56 miles with two buddies at a pretty leisurely pace. That was also my longest ride since the 70.3 race. My class schedule doesn't work out great with the pool hours, so I'm getting in some short and sweet swim workouts, but nothing too arduous. Hopefully, I'll be able to do some longer swim sessions in the next few weeks. I ended up swimming 5 times, running 6 times, and only biking 3 times this week for a total of 17 hours of training.

Next week, I plan on running and swimming at least 6 times each while biking at least 4 times. So hopefully I'll continue my build up for Clearwater here in the next few weeks while keeping several intense workouts per week.

Well, I'm off to church. Thanks for reading.


Tony

SFC Official Rules

Rules for the run:
a) Must be at least 4 miles if it is an easy run.
b) Must be at least 3 miles if it is an intense run (run after bike, faster paced run, etc).
c) Can run 2 times in one day but must have at least several hours between runs.
d) Long runs cannot count as two runs, no matter the distance.

Rules for swim:
a) Must consist of at least 3000 yards.
b) Can swim twice in one day with at least several hours between swims.
c) Longer swims cannot count as two swims, no matter the distance.

So, there is nothing special about these rules, but there had to be some rules made for the challenge so I couldn't cheat. And so far, I have 3 runs and 3 swims after 3 days of Sept. At worst, I will have had a good start of September.

And congrats to Lewis Jackson (who I mentioned in my last post) for qualifying for Kona. He placed 5th in the 25 - 29 age group at IM Louisville.

IM Louisville and my Sept. Fitness Challenge

FYI, the track TT on Friday actually went ok. We had 5 people start the "race." Two guys dropped out before 5 laps, I dropped out at the 2 mile mark but Kuendig was able to finish in 15:58 which was exactly what he was trying to do. I competed in the Chicago tri 5 days before this, so I was still feeling a little tired and have not done anything at that kind of speed at all this year. I still managed a 10:10 - 2 mile which is my 2nd fastest ever. I think I'll attempt another 5k on the track in a few weeks after some speed work. That way, that speed doesn't feel like sub-4 mile speed, ha.

I volunteered at IM Louisville this year and it was crazy. I have all of the respect in the world for IM athletes. I am not willing to sacrifice the amount of time it would take to race an IM race. My good friend Lewis Jackson had an amazing race and finished in 10:12, which is close to 30 minutes faster than last year. Also, congrats to Mike Hermanson. He is on my "elite" team and he won the 18 to 24 age group while punching his ticket for Kona.

And I'm also stealing an idea from my good friend and training partner, David Kuendig. I have not been "training" like I was before my 70.3 race in early August. I managed a few decent workouts between the 70.3 race and the Chicago triathlon and I have almost taken this past week completely off. I ran twice, biked once, and swam twice (if you count either of those swims I did as a workout - 2000 yards total yardage between the swims). So starting today (Sept. 1st), I am going to run and swim 27 times each this month. I am still going to bike my normal amount (4 - 5 times weekly). Hopefully, all goes well and I get in pretty good shape before Dallas and Clearwater. So, I guess we'll see how this goes.

Fast 5k on the track

This evening, me and several of my running buddies are all going to attempt a fast 5k on the track. The goal is to break 16 minutes (which may sound like a walk in the park to many of you). The whole reasoning for this is to achieve the "B" standard for the USAT developmental team. To make the team, a person must have either the "A" standard in swimming or running, then have the "B" standard in the other sport. David Kuendig already has the "A" standard in swimming so he hoped to achieve the "B" standard for running tonight. On the other hand, I do not have either mark. I am hoping to improve my swim enough this fall/winter to be able to go under 5 minutes for 500 yards. That is the best shot that I have at achieving an "A" standard since the "A" standard in running is something ridiculous (14:50 ish - 5k, 31:00 ish - 10k). We have another friend, Bradley, how has never broken 16 for a 5k, but has come close many times. An ex-UK runner, John Thompson, is going to pace the three of us, CT Ransdell and Sean McNulty, on the track this evening at 7:30. All of us have have ran low-16's and high-15's for 5ks, so it is just a matter of running smart, and being strong for right around 16 minutes. John Thompson is the only one of us who has ran under 15 for a 5k so this should be pretty easy for him.

This week in training has been pretty low key for me. I have just laid around and prepared for my classes while. I just finished the Chicago Triathlon 5 days ago, and was looking forward to some down time. This week was good to lay around a little and get some energy back. But I will be training full throttle starting next Tuesday thanks to my late season races, Dallas and Clearwater.

T

Intro to blog

Hey guys,
This is my first ever blog so I figured I would just give a short intro before I wrote anything on here. I'm 23 years of age and am currently in my second year of graduate school at the University of Kentucky. I'm studying Health Promotion and should graduate in May of 2009. Don't ask me what I plan on doing after that because I do not know, haha.

I started competing in triathlons in 2005. The previous year was a horrible year for me when it comes to running. I stayed hurt the whole year and I slowly picked up swimming and biking to try and maintain fitness. I only raced once or twice that whole year which was a first for me. I decided over the winter that I would do several triathlons in the upcoming year. I started to swim a little more during the fall of 2004 and I also bought my first road bike. It was a 2004 Trek 1500 road bike, which I still own to this day.

This is now my 4th season competing in triathlons and each year has been filled with it's ups and downs. I just got my feet wet in 2005 by finishing well in most of the triathlons that I competed in. I raced in mostly local races and relied on my run to catch everybody since my swim and bike were average at best. 2006 was a breakout year for me because it was my first year racing Nationally and Internationally. I finished 8th in the 20 - 24 age group at my first Age Group Nationals in Kansas City. I went on to finish 17th in the same age group in Switzerland at the Age Group World Championships. After my 2006 season, I got a coach by the name of Beth Atnip. She is still currently coaching me and has helped me achieve all of my success. 2007 was a hard year for me due to the amount of disapointments I had. I got injured early in the year, had flight troubles while traveling to nationals, and only raced 5 or 6 times. In that last race of the year (in August, which is extremely early to end a triathlon season), I managed to qualify for the US amateur team for World's in 2008.

This year has been my best season by far. I was picked up by an "elite" amateur team before the season began. It's the "Mideast Region Elite Team." I started the year off really well by finishing 8th overall at Collegiate Nationals and then 4th overall (elite amateur) the next weekend at St. Anthony's. My training has gone extremely well all year with very little setbacks. I went on to finish as the 2nd amateur overall at Memphis in May (losing by 4 seconds). In June, I traveled to Canada to compete at the age group World Championships (duathlon due to water conditions) and was able to to win the 20 - 24 age group and finish 12th overall (if I remember correctly). I finished as the 1st amateur overall at the Waterfront Chattanooga Triathlon, 2nd amateur overall at Whirlpool Steelhead 70.3 (another duathlon due to water conditions and also my first 70.3 distance race) and 3rd amateur overall in the elite amateur division at the Accenture Chicago Triathlon.

This year has been extremely exciting. Not only because of the success I have had in my many races, but also because I qualified to turn "pro." Next year will be my first year as a "professional" triathlete. No, that does not mean that I'll be making a lot of money, right from the start. All of the money I will initially make will be based on my success at races. Being a "professional" pretty much means that I'm elgible for the prize money, which is usually not given to amateurs.

I am currently getting back in the swing of things with school starting back only 2 days ago. I am teaching 4 classes: Beging Swim, two Aerbic Lap Swimming classes, and Preparing for a Half Marathon. I am also taking 9 hours worth of graduate courses and lifeguarding at the aquatic center on UK's campus. I am currently training for the U.S. Open Triathlon in Dallas on October 5th and the 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater, FL on November 8th.

Thanks for reading.

T