Ciao 2008

2008 was certainly a crazy year. Unfortunately my worst year athletically coincided with Janda's best year. I languished on the track, running 2+ seconds off my PR, while Janda was chalking up podium finishes where he outran or outbiked (or both!) just about all the other top pros. 2008 started with my slowest 200m since I began training again post-college, but on a happy note it finished with my fastest 200m since Feb. 2006. Things are looking up for 2009!

Janda and I also traveled a record amount, and even left the country, although Canada isn't exactly foreign. We look forward to traveling less next year but more significantly. A trip to France is being considered to celebrate my 30th birthday. Hopefully everything will work out and it will happen next summer.

Janda and I have also been househunting and I think that it's safe to say that we will finally find a house that we both love by the spring/summer.

Now that I think about it, 2009 could be a banner year for us! Happy New Year!

The highlights of '08!

Our first trip of the year- Columbia MD.

The best surprise of 2008- Girly-Girl's kittens.

Summer is always too short.

Us at Niagara Falls (I look a little crazy!).

Finishing the season at Clearwater.

Us and the babies by our perfect Christmas tree.

Christmas Week

Training the past 2 weeks has been a little jumbled up because of snow and the holidays, I got all the workouts in but not exactly when and how I wanted to. The result was the fastest 200 that I've run since February 2006, 27.70. I don't attribute it to the wacky training schedule, I guess it happened in spite of said schedule. But the good news is that it happened and maybe by outdoor I'll be back to where I was from 2004-2006.

Christmas

Our apartment all Christmased out.

Of course we also had Christmas and I got some great presents, which I love. I also gave some pretty cool presents, so I hope that all the recipients love theirs too!

(almost) The whole family

My sister, mom, aunt and cousin

Janda and my cousin's daughter

Most of my Christmas presents and the cat who loves them.

The presents under the tree.

Snow

Our first snowstorm of the season! I'm pretty excited as I love snowy nights. When we were fist dating, Janda and I had an awesome date during a snowstorm that dumped 27 inches on Cape Ann in one day - even with all that snow we were still able to get Chinese food! I also strangely enjoy shoveling and there's nothing better than being outside late at night shoveling in total quiet with the snow falling.

This Week in Training

Monday: (First day of coaching)
.5 mile warmup, drills & strides
4xbounding 10 steps, 6x10m starts
6xflying 30 3 min rec

Tuesday:
.5 mile warmup, drills & strides
2x100m, 2x60m
Weightlifting

Wednesday:
.5 mile warmup, drills & strides
10x100m strides 100m walk rec

Thursday:
Off

Friday:
.5 mile warmup, drills & strides
4x40m

Saturday:
Meet
55m 8.09
200m 28.47

Sunday:
Weightlifting

Still got a long way to go to get back to peak form!!!!!

Fun-filled weekend

Our weekend started last night with a bowling game with some friends who are moving to Vermont today. Janda won round 1, and I sucked with a 43! Then I got my mojo back and started out round 2 with a spare and a strike! I won round 2 with a 103, maybe my best score ever.

Today was the first indoor track meet of the season. I had high hopes and they weren't really realized, but at least I ran faster than I have since 2006 (albeit only slightly). Hopefully my next meet in two weeks will be better.

After the meet we went to Harvard square to do a little shopping and then we met Amanda & Matt and Nick & Maya at the Border Cafe for lunch. It was a tight squeeze in our booth but we had a good time. Unfortunately I was starving when we got there and I ate way too much. I didn't feel better until dinner time, which I am skipping today since I'm still completely full from lunch.

Now it's time to get back to the drawing board to figure out what to do to get me faster.

This Week in Training

Monday:
.5 mile warmup, drills & strides
6x10m starts, 4xbounding 10 steps
6xflying 30 3 min rec
?, 4.85, 5.09, 4.89, 5.03, 4.90
(still not exactly 30- Gordon doesn't have football markings)

Tuesday:
.5 mile warmup, drills & strides
4xbounding 10 steps
4x120 6 min rec
17.66, 18.04, 18.03, 19.24
Weightlifting (8-6-6-4-4)

Wednesday:
.5 mile warmup & drills
8x100m strides 100m walk rec

Thursday:
Knee swollen no running
Swiss ball routine

Friday:
.5 mile warmup, drills & strides
4xbounding 10 steps
6xflying 30m 3 min rec
4.23, 4.23, 4.22, 4.09, ?, 4.26
(Actually 30m, I bet it's accurate within 1 m!)

Saturday:
.5 mile warmup, drills & strides
4xbounding 10 steps
4x120 6 min rec
16.81, 16.69, 16.76, 17.14

Sunday:
Off

My first meet is next week and my knee has been a little sore and swollen, so I'm trying to give it a little extra rec this week. my workouts have been going pretty well, so maybe my first meet won't suck!

Rainy day

Imagine this but on a track.

Today I had a hard track workout that I couldn't switch up because of the things that I have to do the rest of the week. So after school I put on my waterproof jacket, pants and shoes and headed to the track. It had been raining all day, so the track was pretty wet and it was still very rainy and windy, so I zipped up tight and pulled the hood down so tight that only my nose and mouth were sticking out.

20 minute warmup goes well, get everything down, not too cold and not too wet.

Repeat 1, felt good, still fast and still warm. 6 minute recovery.

Repeat 2, starting to feel tight. As I finish repeat 2 I notice that my waterproof pants have given way (these kept me dry at Pumpkinman and Muskoka!) and my legs were definitely wet.

Repeat 3, still tight and hard to run in wet clothes. As I finish repeat 3 I notice that my waterproof shoes are now full of water. It must be water running down my pants into the cloth part of my shoe and capillary action is bringing it right into the protected, dry part of my shoe. Conveniently, the fact that the shoes are waterproof actually prevents the water from getting back out like it would in a normal shoe. Each step is now like stepping in my own little puddle.

Repeat 4, my shoes are so wet that I honestly think that my shoes will fly off at any moment. I have to run slower and very deliberately to keep my shoes on. Worst repeat ever!

Back to the car and all of a sudden it is raining way harder! I'm trying to get my drench outer layer off so that I can get in my car and get dry. As I'm struggling to get off my pants (after my jacket is off), I get drenched on another layer of clothing. I threw all of my wet clothes into my umbrella to protect my car and hopped in the front to throw on my dry clothes. This whole process must have taken 10 minutes and then I headed to the gym to finish my workout.

Late Fall Sunrise

6:20am

6:40 am

I hate getting up early, but I do get a beautiful view eating breakfast, especially in the late fall/winter/early spring months.

This Week in Training

Monday:
Off

Tuesday:
.5 mile warmup, drills & strides
6x10m starts, 4xbounding (10 steps)
6xflying 30 3 min rec
?, 5.24, 5.36, 5.24, 5.29, 5.20

Wednesday:
.5 mile warmup, drills & strides,
4bounding (10 steps)
4x120 6 min rec
17.13, 17.33, 17.68, 17.82

Thursday:
1 mile warmup
12x200 40s each 30s rec (treadmill)

Friday:
.5 mile warmup, drills & strides
6x10m starts, 4xbounding (10 steps)
6xflying 30 3 min rec
?, 5.28, 5.53, 5.52, 5.79, 5.48

Saturday:
.5 mile warmup, drills & strides
4xbounding (10 steps)
4x120m 6 min rec
17.25, 17.57, 17.80, 17.33

Sunday:
Off

PS- After running inside on a track marked for 50y races, I realized that the 30m workouts that I have been doing since this summer have actually been just about 50y also. I thought I was crazy, then I went and checked the track, at some point I must have measured from the wrong start line. I measure my distances on the track by the football marks, so obviously there is a lot of room for error. (Although a 15y error is just dumb!)

This Week in Training

Monday - Back to reality:
.5 mile warmup, drills & strides
6x10m starts, 4xbounding 10 steps
6xflying 30 3 min rec
The malfunctioning watch struck again
Weightlifting

Tuesday:
.5 mile warmup, drills & strides
2x6x200 30s rec
39.4, 42.6, 42.0, 44.0, 43.7, 44.3; 41.7, 43.6, 43.6, 44.8, 46.2, 42.1
Core- abs and hip flexors
Cold and windy- catchphrases for weather in New England in November

Wednesday:
.5 mile warmup, drills & strides
6x10m starts, 4xbounding 10 steps
2x80m 4 min rec, 2x60m 3 min rec, 1x30m
11.70, 11.37, 8.99, 9.10, 5.42

Thursday:
off

Friday:
.5 mile warmup, drills & strides
2x6x200m 30s rec
42.9, 43.1, 42.7, 42.2, 42.6, 43.3; 41.7, 41.4, 42.6, 42.7, 42.4, 38.6

Saturday:
Weightlifting
.5 mile warmup, drills & strides
4xbounding 10 steps
8xflying 30m 3 min rec
5.83, 6.08, 6.10, 6.01, 5.96, 6.11, 6.09, 6.04

Sunday:
.5 mile warmup, drills
20x50y strides walk back rec

70.3 World Championships

Back to the beach!

This past weekend was the 70.3 World Championships. Janda didn’t race as he was planning on doing Ironman FL until he got injured. Since he had 9 of his athletes (about 1/3 !) qualify, we went down to support them. They were all down

there well before us, since we got down there late Friday night, but we caught up with them on the beach Saturday morning. Everyone was nervous and excited, including me and Janda. This was the first race that Janda has purely spectated, so he got a taste of what it’s like to be me !

The sun rising over Clearwater Beach

The Beach Shanty, go there if you go to Clearwater

Since we had a long day of spectating ahead of us, we hit our favorite little diner for breakfast before we headed to the beach. Really good and cheap- perfect! The athletes that we were watching went off between 6:45 and 8:00, so we were pretty busy the whole day long. First was the pro wave (Nick) and we saw him come out of the water, but we couldn’t pick him out of the group. Next the 30-34 women (Amanda and Kelly) came out of the water. They were pretty close together and we saw them head out on the bike. Next it was the 35-39 women and Mary Ann flew by us out of transition, all smiles ! The final 4 guys (Craig, Dave, Evan & Liam) were in the 18 -29 wave. After we watched those guys get out onto the course, we headed over to the computers to get splits. The conditions in the water were very flat and calm and everyone had a great swim. Once we figured the splits out, we headed out towards the bridge (the only "hill") on the course.

Matt, Janda and I found a spot on the median where we could watch the bikes go by on one side and the runners go by on the other. We were watching Nick and our friend Chris Bagg out on the run in the pro wave while we were trying to find the cyclists in the packs that starting coming by as the age-groupers made their way back to transition. We saw a few and missed a few. We missed Mary Ann, but thanks to Janda’s lime green Craft shirt, she saw us and got our attention. Everyone made it in from the bike in a good time except Liam. We weren’t sure if we missed him or not, so we kept our eyes peeled for him.

Out on the run, everyone looked really great going out on the first loop. Almost everyone was smiling and giving us the thumbs up. We saw just about everyone on one of the loops, except Kelly and Evan, who slipped by us twice ! We finally saw Liam go by and he yelled to us that he flatted. Just before we expected the age groupers to finish Nick and his girlfriend caught up with us and we all headed back to the finish line. We also ran into Chris Bagg, who saw Janda’s green shirt a mile away. After everyone finished we regrouped out by the food tent in a shady area. Most everyone caught up there and we got to hear how everyone’s races had unfolded. The only big disappointment was Liam’s flat which cost him nearly a half an hour. Another one of Janda’s young guys, Craig, had been hit by a car a few weeks ago and hadn’t run since, so he had a great swim and bike and limped home on the run. The best news of the day was a 4th place finish in the women’s 35-39 age group.

After everyone was done talking and rehydrating/refueling, we went our separate ways. Janda and I ran some errands and checked into our second hotel, which looked out onto Sand Key. After showering up and resting, we headed over to Sand Key for the banquet. It was same old/same old- no kidding, same menu for the 3rd year in a row!

Our hotel is the small one hidden between the huge ones.

The beach at sunset

Half the gang at the banquet:

Janda, Dave and Rachel on the far side, Matt and Amanda on the near side

After the awards, videos and fireworks, we headed to some little restaurant on the beach in Clearwater Beach and hung out for a few more hours. Everyone was pumped up, so staying out (way) later than usual wasn't that hard.

Rachel, Dave, Maya and Nick at Frenchy's

Janda and Liam at Frenchy's

Kelly and Craig at Frenchy's

Amanda and Matt at Frenchy's

Me and Janda at Frenchy's

The next day Janda and I hit the continental breakfast at our hotel and packed up. We headed to the beach at about 10:30 and hung out there for the next few hours. It wasn't as warm as last year, but it was a lot warmer than Gloucester!

Hanging out on the beach

Pier 60

Janda and me sitting on the wall at the beach

After lunch at our favorite little Clearwater diner, we headed out to mini golf. We were originally thinking of calling whoever was left in Clearwater to play, butwe forgot, so it ended up being Janda, me, Amanda and Matt. It was probably a good thing that we forgot because right when the game was done we had to head to the airport. If there had been more players we would have been in trouble. Janda and I got to the airport just in time to chow down on the "Cuban Catch" at the Bacardi's restaurant. It was an awesome breaded fish sandwich- possibly my favorite meal of the trip. Just as we finished they began to board, so it was home to Boston. A few short hours later we were settling into bed at our own place, always a great feeling after a trip!

This Week in Training

Monday:
.5 mile warmup, drills & strides
6x10m starts
4x10 step bounding
6xflying 30m 3 min rec
(Watch probs again, I think the times were between
5.80 and 5.99)
Weightlifting

Tuesday:
.5 mile wamrup, drills & strides
2x6x200 30s rec
(between 39 and 42)
Core - Hip flexors and abs

Wednesday:
.5 mile warmup, drills & strides
6x10m starts, 4x10 step bounding
6x30 strides
(1st time ever, practically falling asleep during active rec!
Cut workout short)

Thursday:
Weightlifting

Friday-Sunday:
Clearwater

This Week in Training

Monday:
60 minute walk
.5 mile warmup & drills
12x150 30s rec
.25 mile cooldown
Core- hipflexors and abs/back

Tuesday:
.5 mile warmup, drills & strides
6x10m starts
4xbounding (10 steps)
5xflying 30m 3 min rec
Weightlifting [10-8-6-6]

Wednesday:
.5 mile warmup, drills & strides
8x200, 4x100 30s rec
Windy, no bothering with times
Core- hipflexors and abs/back

Thursday:
.5 mile warmup, drills & strides
4xbounding (10 steps)
2x80m 4 min rec, 2x60m 3 min rec, 1x30 2 min rec
Stupid watch didn't work

Friday:
.5 mile warmup, drills & strides
10x100m strides walk back rec
Core- hip flexors (hurdle drills) and abs/back

Saturday:
.5 mile warmup, drills & strides
6x10m starts
4xbounding (10 steps)
8xflying 30m 3 min rec
5.87, 5.97, 5.80,5.99, 5.83, 5.865.885.81
Weightlifting [10-8-6-6]

Sunday:
Off

What we've been doing this fall

Hanging out by the ocean in Lanesville

Picking apples

Meeting the cows at Appleton farms

The tree-lined lane at Appleton farms

Walking near the Annisquam lighthouse

Michelley and the mouse

Michelley, aka the Swiss Miss, is not fat and here is the main reason why: exercise.

My Fat Cat

It has come to my attention that little mister Kongy is starting to put on the chub-chub! Janda and I need a bigger house for him and his sister to run around in.

This Week in Training

Monday:
.5 mile warmup, drills & strides
12x200 30 s rec
Not really sure of rec and times b/c watch died again
I just guessed
Core

Tuesday:
.5 mile warmup, drills & strides
6x10m starts, 4xbounding, 5xflying 30's 4 min rec
6.12, 6.21, 6.11, 6.36, 6.23
Weightlifting (3 sets)

Wednesday:
Off for sister's b-day

Thursday:
.75 mile warmup, drills
16x150m 30s rec
.75 mile cooldown
Core

Friday:
.5 mile warmup, drills & strides
2x80m 4 min rec 11.97, 11,8?, 2x60m 3 min rec 8.91, 8.83, 1x30m 6.55

Saturday:
.75 mile warmup, drills & strides
10x100m strides walk back rec
.75 mile cooldown
Core

Sunday:
.5 mile warmup, drills & strides
6x10m starts, 4xbounding, 8xflying 30's 4 min rec
6.01, ?, 6.19, 5.92, ?, 5.93, 5.96, 5.92

This Week in Training

Monday:
3 mile progressive run

Tuesday:

1 mile warmup, drills
12x80m hill repeats
.5 mile cooldown

Wednesday:
Off

Thursday:
.5 mile warmup
10x80m hill repeats
.5 mile cooldown

Friday:
.75 mile warmup, drills & strides
10x150 30s rec
.75 mile cooldown

Saturday:
.5 mile warmup
drills & strides

Sunday:
.5 mile warmup, drills & strides
12x30m 2 min rec

This Week in Training

Monday:
3 miles easy
Core

Tuesday:
Parents' Night (Ugh)

Wednesday:
.75 mile warmup, drills
10x150 30s rec
.75 mile cooldown

Thursday:
.5 mile warmup, drills & strides
3x200/100 30s/10 min rec
31.2/16.8, 31.2/17.0, 32.8/17.0

Friday:
.5 mile warmup, drills & strides
2x4x200 30s/3 min rec
39.2, 41.2, 42.8, 40.6; 39.6, 40.7, 41.5, 40.8

Saturday:
Ran out of time

Sunday:
.75 mile warmup, drills & strides
4x100 4 min rec; 6x30m 2 min rec
13.9, 13.9, 13.9, 13.9; 6.29, 6.42, 6.38, 6.38, 6.34, 6.45

This Week in Training

Monday:
3 mile easy run
Core

Tuesday:
.5 mile warmup, drills & strides
4x100m 4 min rec
14.2, 14.3, 14.0, 14.1
Weightlifting

Wednesday:
60 min general strength circuit
core, hip flexors, lower body, upper body

Thursday:
.75 mile warmup, drills
5xhampton hill 3 min rec
.75 mile cooldown

Friday:
.75 mile warmup, drills
10x150 30s rec
.25 mile cooldown

Saturday:
.5 mile warmup, drills & strides
3x4x200 30s / 3 min rec
39.8, 42.7, 41.1, 41.9; 39.6, 41.8, 42.6, 41.9; 41.2, 41.1, 41.6, 40.9

Sunday:
.5 mile warmup, drills & strides
12x30m 2 min rec
6.36, 6.40, 6.52, 6.35, 6.33, 6.37, 6.43, 6.35, 6.50, 6.43, 6.44, 6.42

Summer Projects

I went into this past summer with high hopes of getting many many projects done. I didn't exactly finish as many as I'd have liked,but I did get a few done. Since summer officially ended last week, here's what I accomplished.

An old dry erase board turned into a retro chalkboard.

Mini-quilt, of course it's cat themed.

A pink silk cabled scarf, modeled by the most beautiful girl I could find.

The biggest project of them all, the family of cats. Luckily I had help with this one from my dad and the rest of my family. They were quite a handful and boy do I miss them. I'm glad that Girly-girl got to stay!

Muskoka 70.3

On Friday morning when I headed to work (lucky me) Janda headed up to Canada with Amanda and Matt. After flying to Buffalo and driving to Muskoka, he was there in time to register on Friday and enjoy the welcome dinner. Luckily they had free phone service at the resort, so he could call me a couple of times that night (it was pretty lonely just me and the cats.)

The next morning I caught my flight to Buffalo. I got there around 11am and started the 4 hour drive up to Muskoka. There is tons of construction happening around Toronto, so some parts of the drive were pretty hairy. Once you get north of Toronto, you head out onto some smaller highways and those were some long roads. Finally I arrived in Huntsville around 3:30 or so. A couple of minutes after I pulled into the hotel Janda, Matt and Amanda pulled in from driving the course. We all headed over to the resort where Janda and Amanda set up transition and Janda had the pro meeting. Since I had been stuck traveling all day I went out and did my workout, 12 hills sprints up a short, very steep and somewhat slippery grass hill. After I jogged back I found Janda fixing his bike in transition. Once he got his bike back into top form we headed back to the hotel to shower up and get some dinner.

Transition in front of the fancy resort

Since the race didn’t begin until 8am, we actually got to sleep in a little, until about 5:30. At 6:30ish we headed over to the resort. Matt and I dropped off Janda and Amanda and headed to the airstrip. Driving down that road with a minivan was a little crazy, but we got a spot and immediately jumped on a bus to get to the resort. Janda was out running when I got there, so I hung around the pro transition (I hope that no one thought I was an Alexander groupie!) and waited for my guy. When he got back I was trying to hurry him up so that he could get in a good swim warmup, but anyone who knows Janda knows that it’s impossible to get him to hurry! We ended up running down to the swim start and somehow I made it past the checkpoint and onto the beach with the athletes (off to the side and out of the way obviously). Once on the beach I helped Janda yank on his wetsuit (harder than usual when you’re already wet) and he took off for a short warmup. They called the athletes back, played the anthem and the race began. It actually began before the gun went off, everyone just started swimming. Janda told me post race that Cunningham and Lessing were joking around out there and just started going. At that point everyone started swimming and the guys on the beach hit the horn. It was strange.

Janda getting ready before the race.

Janda heading out on the swim (to the far right with sleeves).

After a short delay (getting lost on the resort!), I made it up to transition to wait for Janda. After the swim, which seemed a little long, the athletes have to run up a pretty steep hill to get back to transition, so it felt like I was waiting forever. The tops swimmers all came out and headed off and 

then about 6 minutes later Janda came through.

Janda in transition after the swim.

The bike is the worst part for me because there is such a long wait and so many things can happen on the bike. I'm edge the whole time. For the first time ever in a race I actually sat down and ate while Janda was on the bike. After we watched Amanda head out, Matt and I went into the resort and had a good but ridiculously overpriced breakfast. (Thanks Matt!) We made it into the restaurant just in time, as we were eating a line developed outside and by the time we left it was all the way back to the lobby, about 60-80 people long.

Janda running his bike in.

We went back outside to wait for the riders to come back to transition. The ride was about 4k long, so it seemed like forever. After heading out on the bike in 18^th, Janda made it back to transition in 9^th, with the lead pack of 5 and a chase group of 3 in front of him. The first section of the run is 9-10 miles out on the roads of Huntsville and the last 3+ miles are around the golf course. As he was heading out onto the golf course Janda was in 6^th place with the 7^th place guy hanging on. About a half mile later, Janda had shaken that guy and was rapidly closing in on 5^th place, Brent McMahon. Every half mile he was taking back 30ish seconds. Because they were winding around the golf course, I could see how close Janda was getting to that guy and with 3k to go the deficit had dropped to 35 seconds. I could hardly contain myself I was so excited.

Janda at about 9 miles.

Janda solidifying 6th place and moving on 5th place on the golf course.

After he ran by me the last 3k were on the other side of the course, so I went to the finishing chute and waited. In came Alexander with a pretty big lead. Next were Cunningham, then Bretscher and Lessing. Now I was getting nervous, would Janda be 5^th or would McMahon hold him off? I didn’t have to wait long; a minute and a half later Janda came storming down the chute. Because of the humid conditions, Janda was having some asthma problems, but a few puffs of his inhaler and some sport drink and he was doing better.tter.t

You know it's a tough course when Janda does a 4:20!

We headed down to the beach so that he could clean off and while we were there it started pouring again. Thank goodness there was a gazebo, so we just hung there until it subsided and then went back up to the finish to see Amanda finish her race. She was second in her age group, so it was a successful day all around.

Janda on the podium with the top 8 pros. For some reason they lined them up all out of order, but the top 5 starts with Janda and goes left. That's Alexander next to him. Not bad company, eh?

We went back to the resort to dry off, eat and wait for the awards. It was pretty cool to see Janda receiving his award (and cash prize) up there with Alexander, Cunningham, etc… After that we got the stuff from transition and headed back to the hotel to survey the damage. Most every was wet and dirty, so there was a lot of cleaning, newspaper stuffing, blow-drying and hanging of our stuff.

Another 4 hour drive the next morning and we stopped at Niagara to visit the water falls, which were awesome. We walked all along the falls on the Canadian side and went into the underground, under the falls tunnel. After a couple of hours there it was back to the airport and home to see the kitties.

The far side of the Canadian falls.

Janda with the mist rising behind him.

The Canadian side of the falls.

Me getting drenched on the observation deck. All of a sudden the wind blew half of the waterfall onto my head.

Luckily we have no more traveling until Ironman Florida. But then it will be 2 consecutive weekends in FL- 1 for Ironman and the other for Clearwater (just spectating/coaching as 8 or 9 of Janda’s athletes qualified). It’s hard to believe the season’s almost over for Janda, but it’s sure been great so far!

Looking back over the clouds on the plane. Goodbye Canada.