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May 23rd, 2012 at 9:30PM
Triathlon Season Is Here !!!

Last weekend was my Tri Team’s annual training weekend.  This is an event I’ve been looking forward to this event since joining the team last year. We were able to invite guests to the event and I registered my friend Gary to come along for the day.  He had such a great time he ended up joining the team !
The day started out with registration under the tent and the distribution of our 2012 team shirts.  One of our new sponsors this year is Magners Irish Cider and I think the logo came out really well on the shirts.  Once everyone was checked in we split into group and rode a few towns over for the Strawberry Shortcake 10K road race.  The race was tough, a bit hillier than I expected and the weather was hot.  I put myself in the pain cave, pushing my heart rate around 180 and trying to hang on after a fast start.  I ended up finishing 17th with a time of 41:59.9.  After all the usual post-race goodies, all the runners got bowls of strawberry shortcake before the awards ceremony.  It was at this time we got the whole team together in front of the tent for a picture. 

Next up were the group rides. I jumped into the 30 mile, 18-20mph pace group.  Club president Jeff spent some time showing me the ropes of the group ride. I worked hard at keeping the gaps closed up while moving up towards the front as each leader dropped back.  We eventually passed some of the faster group who were changing a flat.  When I moved up for my turn at the front, the fast group freight-trained by and I thought they said to stick with them to make the group bigger, so I gave it all I had to stay with them.  I hung on for a while, but ended up getting dropped after 5-6 miles, this put me way ahead on my group though and I had no idea where I was.  After reaching an intersection, I paused the Timex and waited for my group to catch up.  I then dropped to the back for the rest of the ride.  

After lunch it was time to jump in the water !  I got to demo an Xterra Vortex Pro wetsuit.  I immediately noticed a difference in buoyancy compared to my generic wetsuit. The swim is by far the weakest part of my triathlon and I took the opportunity to learn some swim tips from some of my more experienced teammates.  I got some good advice with regards to my swim stroke, to limit how much of my face comes out of the water with each breath and I was encouraged to go easier with my kick.
The day finished off with an awesome BBQ, during which we got our sponsor packages which included some running hats, water bottles and some pint glasses and sample product from Magners. 
The day was awesome, I send a huge THANK YOU to everyone who helped plan the day.
Triathlon season is here !!
1 note #triathlon#training#swim bike run; repeat
May 11th, 2012 at 6:47PM
I don’t know of any other athletes who train as much or as hard as triathletes do. I’ve heard other athletes say that they do, but I can guarantee that if anyone came out and tried to spend a day or two doing as much as work as we do, they wouldn’t be able to stand.Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/olympics/05/10/shoemaker-chrabot-triathlon-q-a/index.html#ixzz1ubUdebgM Awesome to see my sport getting mainstream press heading into the Olympics !

I don’t know of any other athletes who train as much or as hard as triathletes do. I’ve heard other athletes say that they do, but I can guarantee that if anyone came out and tried to spend a day or two doing as much as work as we do, they wouldn’t be able to stand.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/olympics/05/10/shoemaker-chrabot-triathlon-q-a/index.html#ixzz1ubUdebgM


Awesome to see my sport getting mainstream press heading into the Olympics !

4 notes #triathlon#olympics#training
May 8th, 2012 at 4:28PM
Race Report: Long Pond Mock Tri #1Sunday I took part in the Cape Cod Triathlon Team’s practice triathlon at Long Pond in Brewster, Massachusetts. Club president Andy invited those of us on the Bay State Tri Team to participate. Given the locale and my desire to swim in the wetsuit last weekend I decided to take him up on the offer. Upon arriving to the venue I was happy to meet a couple other Bay Staters. After signing my waiver and looking over the course maps (well laid out with swim buoys and good clear markings on the bike and run courses) I was ready to go.Due to the 55 degree water, only 4 of us elected to swim and I jumped out after 1 lap to go into T1. This was my first time using the “Multi-Sport” mode on my new Timex Global Trainer and I was careful to the hit the “next” button rather than the “split” button to advance through the screens as the race went along. I had already put my shoes on the bike so I was practicing that trick and it is something I need to keep practicing, I lost time on the bike getting my feet in and the straps secured. Once I got up to speed the bike went great, nice flat, fast course. The first few miles were into a pretty stiff headwind which got my legs heavy, I was feeling the effects of Saturday’s 56 mile ride. Coming into T2 I was excited though to see I had got my average up over 21 mph despite the slow start. Coming out of T2 I decided to really push the run and see what I could do off the bike. The run course is a simple out and back along a bike path. Uphill to the turnaround, its perfect for running negative splits. My legs felt good after the first half-mile and I’m REALLY, REALLY happy to have run sub-7’s off the bike.Here’s the Strava map of the race, I set segments for the bike and run legs: Thanks to Andy and the Cape Cod Triathlon Team for a great time ! I look forward to future training events on the Long Pond course (its also marked for olympic distance).2 weeks to the Bay State Training Weekend, 4 weeks to Escape the Cape Sprint Tri and 6 weeks to the Patriot Half-Iron !!!

Race Report: Long Pond Mock Tri #1

Sunday I took part in the Cape Cod Triathlon Team’s practice triathlon at Long Pond in Brewster, Massachusetts. Club president Andy invited those of us on the Bay State Tri Team to participate. Given the locale and my desire to swim in the wetsuit last weekend I decided to take him up on the offer. Upon arriving to the venue I was happy to meet a couple other Bay Staters. After signing my waiver and looking over the course maps (well laid out with swim buoys and good clear markings on the bike and run courses) I was ready to go.

Due to the 55 degree water, only 4 of us elected to swim and I jumped out after 1 lap to go into T1. This was my first time using the “Multi-Sport” mode on my new Timex Global Trainer and I was careful to the hit the “next” button rather than the “split” button to advance through the screens as the race went along. I had already put my shoes on the bike so I was practicing that trick and it is something I need to keep practicing, I lost time on the bike getting my feet in and the straps secured. Once I got up to speed the bike went great, nice flat, fast course. The first few miles were into a pretty stiff headwind which got my legs heavy, I was feeling the effects of Saturday’s 56 mile ride. Coming into T2 I was excited though to see I had got my average up over 21 mph despite the slow start.

Coming out of T2 I decided to really push the run and see what I could do off the bike. The run course is a simple out and back along a bike path. Uphill to the turnaround, its perfect for running negative splits. My legs felt good after the first half-mile and I’m REALLY, REALLY happy to have run sub-7’s off the bike.

Here’s the Strava map of the race, I set segments for the bike and run legs:


Thanks to Andy and the Cape Cod Triathlon Team for a great time ! I look forward to future training events on the Long Pond course (its also marked for olympic distance).

2 weeks to the Bay State Training Weekend, 4 weeks to Escape the Cape Sprint Tri and 6 weeks to the Patriot Half-Iron !!!

2 notes #Race Report#triathlon#training
May 1st, 2012 at 11:08PM

April Training Update

This month I continued to increase mileage on the bike while getting back into speedwork during my run workouts.  I trained every day except for April 20th when I went to NYC for the weekend with the family.  After building over the previous 3 weeks I cut back on intensity and volume from the 9th through the 15th in order to recover.  The past 2 weeks I’ve resumed building up the volume and intensity again and I’m definitely feeling it. I was in the hurtbox on Sunday after my 60 mile bike ride, mostly due to running 10 miles at marathon pace the day before.

While in NYC with the family I did my Saturday run in Central Park.  We were staying at the Hotel Pennsylvania across the street from Madison Square Garden on 7th Avenue.  It was surreal running through Times Square at 6:30 in the morning, it was empty but all the billboards and screens were still lit up.

I’ve been training for the past year using the Runkeeper app on my iPhone to track distance and pace.  I decided with the half-iron races this year to step up to the GPS watch and bought the Timex Global Trainer. I got the package with the heart-rate monitor strap and have started collecting this data. I’m not doing anything with the HR data but its interesting nonetheless.  I would give a review of the watch but DC Rainmaker did a comprehensive review that covers more than I would be able to.

In the pool I’ve been working on swimming really smoothly and I’ve succeeded in becoming a bilateral breather which should help with the right to left ocean swim at the Falmouth Sprint Triathlon.  On April 22nd, I achieved a personal milestone of averaging over 20 mph for a 50 mile bike ride.  This ride was cold, wet and finished in the rain, so I’m gaining confidence that I can average over 20 mph on the bike during my 70.3 races this summer.

I’ve also updated my upcoming races page. Everyone get out there and crush it for the month of May !


#triathlon#swim bike run; repeat#training
April 3rd, 2012 at 8:36AM
March Training Update  You’ve got to have goals and I’ve been kicking one around for a while. This weekend I decided to put it out there, I want to finish the ironman distance Beach 2 Battleship Triathlon in 2013. I know a lot can happen between now and then, but this race will serve as a long-term goal and my training for and competing in 70.3 distance races this year is part of the preparation for my long-term goal. Now onto the training update… Coming off the marathon at the end of February I wanted to back off of my run training some to get my legs back.  At the same I needed to get back in the pool on a regular basis and start ramping up my mileage on the bike.  I’ve made it to the pool once a week and focused my sessions on speed development with interval training and technique with use of the drills found here. On the bike I was surprised how easily moving up to 40 and 50 miles for my long rides went.  I guess the increased endurance from the marathon training is paying off here.  I’m pleased with my speed on the bike, but would like to gain another 1-2 mph over the next few months. I’ve also made it a point to get in a strength training program at least once a week rather than foregoing this as I did last tri season.  I would like to get yoga sessions in more often than I do because I feel this helps me with my swimming by keeping the hip flexors loose, letting me get longer in the water thereby creating less drag. The basic weekly layout has been Mon: Gym, Tues: short bike, Wed: running (tempo or repeat miles), Thurs: short bike, Friday: swim, Sat: long run, Sun: long bike.  I do mix around the sat/sun long runs/rides depending on weather or if I want to do a brick I’ll sneak a run in Friday afternoon and rest Saturday before doing the brick on Sunday. I came across this article; (My) Secret Sauce to a Sub 9hr Hawaii Ironman: Unconventional Wisdom which has helped to shape some of my training philosophy.  My time for training is limited; I have work obligations that limit me to an hour a day during the week and a family that I want to spend time with on the weekends.  This means my training needs to be more about quality than quantity.  Influenced by a Chris McCormack blog post “Keep It Simple” I don’t use a heart rate monitor or power meter.  Mileage Totals for March Swim: 4.5 miles Bike: 280.3 miles Run: 47.6 miles  I kicked off the month of April with my 1st BRICK workout of 2012, doing Olympic Distances.  The bike went well with an average just over 20 mph and though I didn’t feel really great on the run, I’m really happy with how I ran.

March Training Update 

You’ve got to have goals and I’ve been kicking one around for a while. This weekend I decided to put it out there, I want to finish the ironman distance Beach 2 Battleship Triathlon in 2013. I know a lot can happen between now and then, but this race will serve as a long-term goal and my training for and competing in 70.3 distance races this year is part of the preparation for my long-term goal. Now onto the training update…


Coming off the marathon at the end of February I wanted to back off of my run training some to get my legs back.  At the same I needed to get back in the pool on a regular basis and start ramping up my mileage on the bike.  I’ve made it to the pool once a week and focused my sessions on speed development with interval training and technique with use of the drills found here.

On the bike I was surprised how easily moving up to 40 and 50 miles for my long rides went.  I guess the increased endurance from the marathon training is paying off here.  I’m pleased with my speed on the bike, but would like to gain another 1-2 mph over the next few months. I’ve also made it a point to get in a strength training program at least once a week rather than foregoing this as I did last tri season.  I would like to get yoga sessions in more often than I do because I feel this helps me with my swimming by keeping the hip flexors loose, letting me get longer in the water thereby creating less drag.

The basic weekly layout has been Mon: Gym, Tues: short bike, Wed: running (tempo or repeat miles), Thurs: short bike, Friday: swim, Sat: long run, Sun: long bike.  I do mix around the sat/sun long runs/rides depending on weather or if I want to do a brick I’ll sneak a run in Friday afternoon and rest Saturday before doing the brick on Sunday. I came across this article; (My) Secret Sauce to a Sub 9hr Hawaii Ironman: Unconventional Wisdom which has helped to shape some of my training philosophy.  My time for training is limited; I have work obligations that limit me to an hour a day during the week and a family that I want to spend time with on the weekends.  This means my training needs to be more about quality than quantity.  Influenced by a Chris McCormack blog post “Keep It Simple” I don’t use a heart rate monitor or power meter. 

Mileage Totals for March

Swim: 4.5 miles

Bike: 280.3 miles

Run: 47.6 miles 

I kicked off the month of April with my 1st BRICK workout of 2012, doing Olympic Distances.  The bike went well with an average just over 20 mph and though I didn’t feel really great on the run, I’m really happy with how I ran.

#triathlon#training update