Wednesday.....

So... I guess I lied yesterday... I just couldn't pull myself to get out of bed... Just too damned early for me today. So I got up and went to the gym again. Lifted and swam again this morning. Nothing spectacular... just got up and moving that's what mattered. It's Wednesday and we know what that means... TNT training day.. The group I have is great they are very self motivated and training for the marathons are going VERY well. I get to go and sit and watch, and bring water and sports drinks for them. Need to be sure my peeps don't get dehydrated. Well that's it.

See you all tomorrow morning at the Gym for Lifting, Swimming, and Running in the water.

OK so I skip a few days of writing on this thingy....

Tuesday August 29, 2006

Tuesday the 29th..... 5:40 am.... pull my butt out of bed spend about 10 minutes stretching... yeah why so late Steve? well unfortunately the gym doesn't open till 6. So I stretched at home for a while. Went to the gym, dropped my pool stuff off in the locker room... went upstairs to the gym. went to the stretching machine to work some muscles I can't do at home by myself. just as I start to get stretching the fire alarm goes off.... we spend the next 20 minutes outside waiting.... then I head back up to the gym... just as I get back to the same spot stretching... it goes off again... I thought I did something wrong.

Well after that fiasco I spent about 20-30 minutes lifting... some good upper body work. Arms and chest.... felt good ... a little rushed... but good.

After lifting I headed down to the pool with not enough time to both swim and "run" in the water so I was a toss up. .... run in the water wins... why? open water swim night tonight!!! FAVORITE NIGHT OF THE WEEK!!!! So spent the day at work... well went ok.. nothing spectacular. Then about 4:3o checked the CTC web site... Bacteria level 98%.... BAD... AND White caps at 200 yards... would have been a fun swim other than the bacteria... so No open water swim... so what is a guy to do?

Well hit the gym for a while.... Lifted back and legs.... then swam about 2500 yards... so Guess what ..... STILL GETTING MY BUTT UP FOR MASTER SWIM PRACTICE TOMORROW!!!!!... but what does he do in the mean time? make Chicken Kiev on the grill.... what? it's not supposed to be done on the grill? are you sure??? Well I did it.... WHY? well I'm cooking for my friends rehearsal diner Friday night and they want everything grilled... I just need to well "snooty" up the grilling that all... So a good day for me...

See you next to the grill!!!! or in the chlorine.... which ever comes first!!!

Guys Weekend.

I need to get some guy friends who when the ever present "guys weekend" comes around it doesn't involve beer and seeing the wrong side of 5am.... followed by a 10:30am Tee Time which of course MUST involve take a guess!!!!

Nothing? You've got nothing?

Come one.. One syllable four little letters.... NO NOT a swear word. well maybe to some...

Ok one more hint... Homer's favorite is Duff....

THAT RIGHT! BEER.... again. I know what your saying... Steve! on 5 hours of sleep... OH NO NO NO!!!! Hit the pillow about 5:30 am. Was awakened prematurely by my cell phone... buddy's couch must not have been too comfortable....it was 6:48 am. "Steve I left my water belt in your car"

"ok... use mine"

"yours isn't here and I don't have time to go get it and still make the 16 mile run"

"what do you want me to do... it's like 6:30 am and I just got to bed at 5:30"

"could you bring it to me?"

"UUUUggggghhhhhhhhhhh..... ok..."(rubbing my eyes trying to find my eyeballs to put them in in the dark in my buddy's living room with 5 other people sleeping on the floor around me.)

So I drive from Lakewood to Breksville to drop off the water belt. (remember I've been asleep for a grand total of 1 hour 18 minutes) Drive back to my house, arrive about 7:30 am. I NEED to be up by 9:30 at the latest to make the tee time.... cuz it's back out past Lakewood, and I live near breksville. Ok so hit my bed about 10 minutes later 7:40ish. LIGHTS OUT! Phone makes noise...... eyes open... I'm not allowed to sleep am I??? It's a text message from my brother... who lives in China. So I text with him for a few minutes.... it's now 8:15.... eyes close again..... seems like 2.5 seconds later my alarm goes off......it's 9:15... I pull myself out of bed and stumble around my room finding my golf clothes.... clubs and shoes are in the car already... Ok this drive is GOING TO SUCK! so I drive out to Highland lakes Golf club for our 10:30 Tee time. Park my car about 10:10.. I'm the first one there. I make my way to the club house... [my mind pleads with all things holy.... If I can't sleep please let me hydrate.... YES YES YES!!! They do.]

Rest of the crazy's show up and we get in line to tee off.. the start is backed WAY up. We're like the 6th and 7th foursomes waiting... and this is when things get bad... we're a bit rowdy to begin with and I'm sure we did not help the concentration of all those as they tee off. I'm watching keeping my mouth shut as they step up one by one and tee off..... This guy with his Nike Shirt and OVERSIZED Diver (probably a $300- $400 club) steps up and puts his ball on his tee... Looks out at the fairway and takes one practice swing....steps up to the ball... looks again at the fairway visualizing his perfect drive no doubt.... draws his club back... swings through the ball... WHAT A HIT.... it went straight back through his legs and hit the tree about 12 feet behind him.... I can imagine that was not the perfect drive he was thinking of. One of his foursome throws a ball at him and says "HIT IT AGAIN"... the ritual begins again.... this time with a much better result... it got past the ladies tee and everything.... went OH... I'd say 220 yards...very impressive drive...if you're teeing off with a 3 Iron.... if that's how you play golf, DO NOT BUY A $400 DRIVER! YOU DON'T NEED IT.... YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO USE IT!!! SO DON'T!!! try learing how to hit regular clubs first so that when you move to a larger more powerful driver you can control it. So at that exact moment one of my 4-some comes up to me and says "I hate this" "What?" I reply. "I hate when you have an audience when I tee off... it makes me nervous", to which I respond in probably not as subtle of volume as I was hoping for "trust me dude you have NOTHING to worry about after that guys monster drive of 12 feet.... straight back!... actually I'll give you $20 if you can do that!!!!" there was multiple snickers and chuckles from people who were not in our 8-some... I hope someone in their party made a joke.... and I wasn't as loud as I think I was.....

I had a great round for me, for having slept for a total of about 3.5 hours. Nice and calm... first 12 holes went very well, par'd 4 holes. I kind of imploded on 13 and had a downward spiral from there... BUT NOT BEFORE the monster drive of monster drives that I've ever had... the guys with me were calculating the distance... they came up with somewhere between 330 and 340 yards.... THAT'S HUGE!!!! maybe I've figured out that driver! Just need some consistency.... so guess what that means... just like this tri stuff... practice. practice practice.!!!!!

See ya'll on the links...and try to get some sleep... I know I'm trying.

Wednesday Night Fundraiser for The Leukemia Lymphoma Society

We had a fund-Raiser for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society Wednesday night at Panini's Gateway. They were very generous and I believe you should support business that support good causes and this IS a GREAT cause!!!


A couple of our good friends enjoying the music and each other's company during the fund-raiser.
















Some of the MANY Turner Construction contingent who came to support the Fund-Raiser. We thank them VERY much for their support.
















Last picture of the night (VERY early on by the way, I got busy behind the bar.) The BAND! We Thank Jugular Jack for playing the fund-raiser for us. They were GREAT!! Again we are very thankful for their support and donating their time and talent to us for a very successful night.















Keep Partying? Cleveland!!!! Hope to see you out there enjoying the wonderful night life Cleveland has to offer... just don't forget to hit the Pedals, Paths, or Paddles........ Pull buoys? Nose Plugs? Nothing good with swimming starts with a P).

Tuesday Night Swim.... to Canada

Tuesday Night Open Water Swim……

Fairly nice evening for an open water swim. The lake was agreeing with us for the most part, some fairly mild waves. Water was a bit cooler today,… the “wet suit” wearing people are getting closer to the point where wearing them isn’t cheating…. HA HA… that was for you Texas since you said I didn’t make enough fun of you for wearing it today. Pretty soon I’ll have to stop swimming or buy one myself…. Damn the cold. The great equalizer…well sort of. I really thing those things are cheating unless you need them of course like escape from Lake Erie, and Escape from Alcatraz. Well someday Texas we can have a good race with out wet suits…. I look forward to that day!

Yeah so back to Tuesday. My friend D is preparing for the Olympic Length Lorain Triathlon this weekend and he has not yet done a mile in the water. He did today! We did four lengths of the bay today. D did well…. a little winded at the end but completed it for sure and will have enough gas left in the tank to ride and run this weekend. I’m sure that he’ll do great.

OK….again back to Tuesday….. There are A LOT of boats driving around like mad men. We had several pass while we were swimming, pretty close but nothing like the 2 or three boats and three or four jet ski’s that were WAY to close to shore while we were walking down the stairs. If you don’t understand why that’s an issue think about driving your car and looking at the horizon (as you do when you drive) and actually NEED to be looking for a head in the water swimming towards you that’s about……. well the size of a head in the water…. OH and a boat without bow planes will have the bow up quite high, so you visibility right in front of you will be diminished…..So we’re doing well. I feel particularly well today. Nice long strokes, strong and fluid. I’m moving through the water well and JT is there so I have someone to keep pace with, which is always nice. Someone to push you harder and make you swim faster…. SO… again thanks JT for pushing me. So speaking of JT. We were on bay crossing number three heading straight into the sun, which is ALWAYS fun, and if you ever read JT’s blog…. it’s her favorite thing to do. On the first pass into the sun JT was on the inside of me so that may have helped with the problem that occurred on this third pass. We started crossing the bay, moving quickly and it’s always fun to sight into the sun. I use an interesting technique, which is I find a the line in the first few strokes, and keep the sun in the same spot “underwater” only checking the actual “sighting” fairly rarely, because it takes so long for your eyes to adjust to the sun to be able to actually see the land to sight off. So I use the land to my left to know how far I am across the bay and use the sun in the water to keep straight…. Ok… so we’re moving along JT and I are out in front, Texas and D are not too far behind. I catch sight of JT ever six strokes as I breath to the right, looking out in the lake, and as we are moving across the bay …. She’s getting further and further away from me…. So I stop to do two or three strokes of breast stroke in an attempt to ascertain if I’m heading in to shore or she’s heading out… and she’s MOST DEFINITELY heading out. I proceed to keep an eye on her as we move along the bay hoping that she’s going to start heading back in soon. She doesn’t. I stop and start to do breast stroke to see how far out she is and if there are any of our excellent boater friends coming. She just keeps heading out… so I start to tread water and use my hands to whistle at her in hopes of her evaluating her distance from shore and turning back in. At this point Texas pulls up next to me and starts yelling her name. again to no avail. she’s really starting to get out there now. I resign myself to the position that I’m going to have to try to chase her down and grab her. So I take off, luckily when we do these distance swims NONE of us are sprinting, so I can make up some distance. I’m swimming hard, arm turn over is up, legs are going like mad (I usually use a drag kick for these long swims), head up in a typical sprinters stroke (good thing my body remembers how to do that I thought). I’m now heading out to sea as fast as I can go, sighting on JT to be sure I don’t over/under swim her line and miss her. I’m starting to get quite a bit out, and it runs through my head that, hey wait a minute…. Do I really want to get out that far? What if a boat comes by, then we’ll both get hit….. I’m still heading out. I take one last attempt at stopping and whistling at her, I’m bellowing out this high pitched screech that had the dogs on shore (now about 300 yards away) barking like mad. I see her look at my a couple of times breathing every two strokes to the left, and I start to wave towards shore. She turns back towards US waters. Texas and I believe she was making a run for the boarder! I’m not sure what kind of trouble she could possibly be in, but running to Canada was not the answer….. Of course someone brought it to my attention later that she might have just been heading to Put-In-Bay to start the weekend off a little early. But whatever the case, we all made the rest of the swim without being northward bound. Ended up with an excellent swim.

See you in the waves!

Since my last Blog...

Ok... Since last Wednesday. Thursday lifted for about 35 - 45 minutes then Swam at the Rec for about a half hour straight... some where around 2000 - 2500 yards. Good workout. Cannot complain about how the swimming's been going at all. My stroke is long and strong, Breathing every three strokes currently, and soon I'm going to move to every four in the pool, and then you know where we go from there right? That's right! Every 5! I need to get the aerobic endurance back.... I can do that right? Get back to when I was 18? a 31 year old can get there ...... right? RIGHT!?!?!

Well as long as I can get close I'll take it be happy. I doubt I'll get back to 175 lbs and 10% body fat.... I just don't see it happening, I'd be happy if I could get back down to 200 lbs. That would be good... Of course I have quite a bit more "MEAT" on me than when I was 18. I wasn't "frail" or "Wiry" by any stretch of the imagination, but I didn't start to really retain any bulk muscle till I was in my 20's. I'm spending at least two days a week in the gym lifting to build some bulk/Endurance muscle. Say What Steve? Well I lift 90% of max as many times as I can, 20 - 25 reps for 3 - 4 sets. When I can easily do 25 reps for all sets, move up weight. About once a month I do "Bulk" work. Lifting 100% of max... and you'll find it interesting, building the repetitive "endurance" work will help with your "bulk" lean muscle mass. Ok. where was I Lean muscle mass...no no no... what've I've been up to.. that right.... I get so lost somedays?

Ok.. So then this weekend I headed to Indianapolis for my Grandmother's Funeral. It was a nice day and get to see some relatives that I haven't seen in quite a while. I'm hoping that my cousin and his fiancée are going to come up later this fall to see me. Don't see him much, and they've never been to Cleveland, I think it would be a good trip for them... and fun for all of us. by the way that drive is hell when you don't leave the house till about 8 pm... you don't get to Indy till about 1:30 in the morning. Drive home was nice. We stopped at all sorts of weird places... like some place that could have been called candle heaven.... very interesting...

Monday night I hit the gym again. Lifted for about 45 minutes. That "my muscles are completely dead" is such a good feeling isn't it? I love it... of course that the time to really push yourself, the time to get your body ready for those late race pushes. You know the time when you're whole body is starting to feel like it needs to slump over and you don't feel like you can even lift your body if you were to fall over... THAT'S when you need to push your self. So I do that to me via the weights and then move the pool for a nice swim... another 30 minute swim followed by 30 minutes of aqua jogging. I as still amazed with how much that can just tear you up... who would have thought running in the water would be that hard.!! well I guess someone since they have aqua jogging rehab programs and such. I was just a little late getting on the bus. I actually enjoy it so much that I think that not only during the rehab of my leg will I use it, but also during my training, to keep from injuring my leg in the future. I will train on land, don't get me wrong, but I think that I'm going to do a lot water training for my running, to keep from injuring my legs. Well I gotta run and... BOY oh BOY do I still have lots to say... I have to tell you about our Tuesday night Swim and our friend JT's attempted escape to Canada, and then the Fund-raiser on Wednesday night... etc etc etc.... BUT alas I must run... so I'll fill you in on that soon.. Why has it takes so long this time? well because I wrote all of this once and then crappola happened and I had nothing... so I get to write it twice. See you all soon!

Slacking again

Been a very busy.... asd slacking on my Blogging. I'll be back later tonight... LOTS of fun things to yap about.... talk to you soon

Golf, Endorphin replacement for Running??!!?!?

My latest Physical Fitness/ Natural High question:

Will golf make up the lost endorphin rush that I've been looking for since the stress fracture diagnosis????

SURVEY SAYS????
Yeah probably not. But it sure is fun. I'm enjoying golf so much right now I'm wondering why I had such a hard time with it as a child? Why would I get so mad and have such a problem with loosing???......

Oh yeah. I'm competitive.

It's very easy to deal with competitiveness on the golf course... have another beer. Does nothing for your game, but you sure as hell don't care as much. Not advocating drunken golf so don't start, but it sure does take that edge off and you can just enjoy the day, the beautiful scenery.... the sound of a well struck ball.... I need to spend more time on the links. Yeah that's easy to say.... when Steve? you're trying to ramp UP your workouts for the Triathlons NOT DOWN! Well... as luck would have it, work sometimes involves golf. So. I just got a new Driver from one of my co-workers, I need to spend some time with it. The shaft is a lot more flexible than the one I should be hitting.... SO... if you know anything about golf... my hand get way past the ball before the head strikes it. NOT the best place to be if trying to hit the ball straight. So I've moved the ball further back in my stance and I'm hitting it mostly straight.... and tomorrow I'm going to buy a new driver with a stiffer shaft. (YEAH I KNOW! SOUNDS DIRTY......SO WHAT!?!?!?).

I'm enjoying my resurgency in to golf, it's been a very good experience. I've not been playing at all for the last few years and now were near as much as I did as a child. Grandpa used to take me golfing all the time, that's back when he hit a hole in one while we were out. I was all of .... Oh 10 maybe 12? He used to hope I would loose the temper and overly aggressive alpha male about everything mentality... Took me a long time to cool down. Didn't really get a grip on any part of that till maybe 16 or 18. Didn't have it all wound up till my mid 20's.... Still have a bit too much competitor in me at times though..... thus the dislocated shoulder from flag football... I mean seriously who dislocates their shoulder while playing FLAG football??? Who dives for an extra point in a game your team is winning 42 to 7?!?! That might answer the question? THAT was fun... rehabing from a dislocated shoulder and trying to continue to train for my first triathlon. Running was shear agony, and swimming was out of the question for a while.... biking... well luckily the pain from resting my weight on the shoulder wasn't bad enough to stop me from riding.... after a few weeks of rest and pain killers.... followed by a few weeks of rehab..... dummy started biking and running again... I had my arm / shoulder ace bandaged to my body when I did my first 10K ever... The Cleveland Marathon/Half/10K last year....2005 that is... NOW THAT WAS FUN.... didn't have any real pain to speak of until about mile 5... last mile.2 was wowzers! FUN FUN FUN!...

Where was I going with this.??? OH GOLF as a replacement for the endorphin rush of running. Yeah..... NO! but a fun past time to take up if you have some time and a lot of patience. Helps to have a set of clubs too.... not necessary, but sure helps... could get expensive renting clubs every time.

Maybe I'll see ya on the links... I might be the one chucking my 7 Iron into the lake.... or more probably I'll be the one smiling and having a good time swinging away trying to keep it in the fairway. Doesn't seem like something to get angry about anymore.... it's something to enjoy. So get out there and enjoy IT... it's is summer after all... and it will only be this nice for so long. Who cares about reruns of American Idol anyway?!?! Get outside... Weather its on the roads riding with us or in the lake swimming with us, or on the path running with us.... or on the links golfing with me!!!! get out here! Enjoy!

Hope to see you all soon.... Maybe we should have a CTC Golf outing??? It would be fun!!!!

Later Kiddos!!!

Tuesday Night Swim

Once again a beautiful night for an outdoor open water swim. The conditions... fairly calm, and mostly flat, however, it was definitely moving in one direction. The wind was coming North West to South East. It was definitly moving the water in that same direction, which gives way to some really fun swimming. When swimming with the wind you move smoothly and quickly, but when you are moving in the other direction, however, you might as well be a salmon, because that's what you feel like as you take stroke after stroke and breath looking at the same spot of land just to your south which appears to to stay exactly the same. We did make it across the bay three times yesterday, so it was a good workout.

We had a good group last night, seven of us I think... As always lots of wet suit wearer's.... (cheaters)..... just kidding. I like to give them a hard time about cheating. There is nothing wrong with using a wet suit. I'm a big proponent of pushing your swimming... and if you can do that without the wet suit you will be in better shape to compete in the wet suit.... well that's my logic... and my soap box. So I know, I know.... get down off it Steve. ; - }

I hope you are all well! I'm glad this cold is finally breaking... I was a little worried swimming in the wonderfully clean water of Lake Erie would not be of much assistance in keeping me healthy. I have to say that I feel better this morning than I have in days! So what's going on today? well I was lazy this morning and didn't get up to lift and swim..... SOOOoooo I have to take all day off .... why? becuase I have my standing weekly run with the Leukemia Lymphoma Society's Team in Training.... I'm mentoring a great group of people who are doing FANTASTIC on their training for a marathon or half marathon. Since I can't run I make sure they all stretch, and have enough water and Sports Drinks to be well hydrated and healthy... they had a nice 14 mile run last weekend, so I'm sure they'll be a little sore today, but we'll have a great run anyway.

Can't wait till the next good training day for me! and I hope to see you out there! It's been a GREAT year for training outside, so get outside and take advantage of it.!

Go to your Happy Place.... Happy Place....

I would LOVE to go back... only got to spend a couple of fantastic weeks there.... but will love "family" time if my brother moves back.















happy places....














I would love to have been training when I was there .... in hind site that is.... not a lot of places better to spend your time "sight seeing" by foot....

Hi....hey.....Hello.....HELLO!!!!!!

Hmmmm where to start on my rant.....

So I was once again recruited to be the Water/Gator Aid Mule for a long run. This time we're doing 14 miles... of course as you all should know by now... I'm not running, because of the stress fractures, ... so I'm riding along at a very nice slow leisurely pace so we could talk and I could not only tote the water but keep company as well.

Ok so Pet peeve Number 1 for Steve when he's on a wonderful public path... When I say hi, hey, hello, etc etc etc... YOU MIGHT WANT TO HAVE THE COMMON COURTESY TO REPLY!!!!... ok sorry got a little over worked there. So were moving along, BEAUTIFUL day... when I say beautiful I mean beautiful... mid 80's not a could in the sky... Perfectly blue fantastic.... a day anyone of us would have killed for... to be outside enjoying the sun and warm weather training... Running biking, anything. Outside and I know as much as the next triathlete that when your training and pushing it hard you might not want to be chatty with people you pass but I think we all "get it" and at the very least you can nod your head, wave your hand, say hey, hi, hello... or any one of 900,000 other ways of expressing "good to see you out". But what is it about the "others" on the path.... why are they so rude and so .... Depressing.

When your enjoying the path whether you are a triathlete or an "other" you should have the courtesy of saying hi to you fellow enjoyer's of the outside. When a beautiful day comes along and you are out enjoying the wonderful weather... should you or should you not naturally be in a good mood? I vote for good mood. if you are in a good mood then you should be cordial to your fellow travelers??? no? So WHAT is it that makes people NOT have a pleasant mood and want to enjoy the outside with fellow peeps? Seriously, what could make you not want to say hi to other people, especially when they say hi first? you don't have to even initiate when I'm on the path, because I say hello to everyone.... so there's no excuse. So if you see me on the path you had better get that hand ready, or those vocal cords warmed up... Because I am going to say Hi and I sure as hell want you to return the salutation.

NOW pet peeve number 2!!!! When passing...... when on a path... you really, really, really need to notify your fellow travelers that you are passing. So we're moving along and people don't spend the air to even say "Passing left" or something close to that. Now don't get me wrong not everyone is rude, there are those who know common courtesy and notify you that they are passing. Not only is this a courtesy, but for both parties involved it's a "safety" thing. If I don't know you're passing me and I move slightly to the left or swing my arm out too far, or any other number of different scenarios that could harm both you and I. I mean I'm not exactly the size of a truck, but if you hit me I'm sure that it won't be a good experience for either of us. If you hit me with your "land cruiser" of a bike I'm going to take the 80 - 20 spread that you hit the pavement, and if you are so rude as to not notify me that you're passing, then I won't feel sorry for you.

OH... well thanks for letting me rant about people and how they help to ruin my wonderful day. So anyway we had a nice 14 miles other than a few dozen people who don't like other people.... a few dozen like 4 or 5 dozen..... it was a fantastic day and nothing better than being in the great outdoors.

On an unpleasant note.... I was planning on helping out at the Greater Cleveland Triathlon on Sunday Morning.... even set the alarm for 4:10 am.... I unfortunately caught a summer flu this weekend and I spent all day Sunday sleeping

I Hope the conditions were great for everyone's race.

I'm meeting a friend and the CTC tomorrow night for a swim at the Bay. Dave is new to triathlons and very new to open water swims, so hopefully tomorrow won't be so choppy for the swim and we can get in a mile or two.

See you on the path! and try to say hello to me... it makes me feel like you don't like me when you can't even say hi.... and how could you not like me???? I mean seriously I'm the nicest guy I know! HA!!!! keep smiling Cleveland!

Waves Waves Waves.......

Wish I had my camera today for to take some pics at the CTC open water swim at the Bay today. By the time the tree of us were finishing up I would say the swells were up to about 3 to 4 feet. I'm telling you! It sure made the swim lots of fun. Only got in a little over a half mile before we called it quits. I even gave up on the extra drag suit because I was worried about my own abilities in these waves. Crazy... didn't think that I would actually spend time in the waves when I was worried about my own abilities. Good work out though... had some fun experiences.

So I'm swimming along... towards the sun, which always make sighting fun!, and I'm trying to judge the size and ferocity of the waves based on how quickly and completely the sun that was visible to through the muck that was the water this evening would disappear into darkness. Fun trying to make those judgments while concentrating on my stroke and be sure to keep it long and powerful.

I always love this part too, when your swimming and you turn your head to breath and you still don't get to see anything because the wave crashes over your head and there is only the sight of running water and bubbles through your vision. It's that clip they use in the movies.... when they're showing someone drowning. You see the rushing water and the bubbles shoot across the screen and then the darkness of the water again.... yeah so that was a fun thought running through my head as I swam across the bay and back... Then I was thinking it's probably good that a couple of the people I know weren't in there swimming today... not any of the CTC members mind you, they all seem VERY competent and level headed. I know a few new swimmers who might have been a bit overwhelmed by the situation.... so it was good they weren't there. That could be very overwhelming for a not so experienced swimmer, so my advice to you if you are not experienced in the waves and rough water DO NOT enter the water when it's 3 to 4 foot swells to swim even a half mile, unless you're sure about how you will react.... I was really not sure how some of my friends would deal with the situation....So be careful when you enter the water!

Keep on Swimming Cleveland & I'll see you in the waves!

Missed'em again.....

Once again tried to make the Monday night Brick at RR.... Missed by about 10 this time. Not quite a disheartening as missing them by about a minute or two.

Left work "on time" to make the ride... then the 176 - 90W interchange was all stopped up and there went my time buffer to make the Brick. I'm getting to the point where I may just head out by my house or try to set up a ride of my own with some friends.

My right knee was a bit off tonight hurt a little on the way back after about 15 miles. Only got about 20 miles in this evening, but I went pretty strong, so I'm not tooooo disappointed. I need to take the bike in for tune up, think it's about time to make sure everything is tight and running well. I need to start stretching out those rides to more like 30 or 40 miles. I need to push those out and start to pump up the speed.... I think I need to spend some time at the gym simply strengthening my legs with some Squats, Lunges, Extensions, Curls... Think those are on my acceptable workout routine with the stress fractures? I DON'T THINK SO!!!! I guess I won't be doing that for a couple of months... Not sure how to accomplish the strengthening I need to get faster with out the ability to build the stronger larger amounts of good ol'Lean Muscle Mass. Well I guess I'll need to find a way NO? Suggestions? Would love to hear'em!

Keep on pedaling Cleveland!

BACK AT IT..... Ughh.

Always hard to come back when you've been off for a whole weekend because of a vacation.... we went to Chitown this weekend for a friends birthday and catch the Buffet concert. The concert was great. We had a fantastic time there .... once we got there... MY GOSH! The traffic was horrific it took forever to get there, and to get home! But... took a break from the gym, pool, and pedals... so now I have to pay the piper and get back in the saddle. Chicago was great and birthday wishes were passed around and a good time was had by all.... so Now I'm back to the gym in the morning to swim and lift and then biking in the evening... hopefully I can make the brick this week!!! I am always about 5 minutes late and those guys hit the pedals RIGHT ON TIME....so I end up riding by myself, but I'm still riding..... so That's what matters.

Ok so I'm thining about joining one of the masters swim clubs here in Cleveland.... I was talking with JT the other day about it.... I think I'll make her my personal Triathlon advisor. She has lots of good advice so far.

Well Off to bed. Gotta get up early tomorrow. Hope you all are well and everything is going fantastically and you are having a great summer training season!

Yeah so I'm not in bed yet obviously... I got the bone stimulator Thursday afternoon from the doctor. Finally that took long enough. I would have like to have been using it for several months now, since I have to use it for months before we even get close to letting me run again. I thought I knew what the idea was behind this thing but apparently I was mistaken. I was under the impression that it was a electro-shock therapy thingy mabober, but apparently in fact it is a electromagnetic field thingy ma-hickamadoogy. VERY technical terms I know! Especially for an Engineer.... Like a good geek I should do some more research on this device and see exactly what it is, and how it works.... I own little EMP generator for my leg... how cool is that!

Bone stimulator treatment number 3 went swimmingly as usual.... I REALLY hope this thing is working. I do NOT want to be under the knife having steel put in. Seriously now I'm gong to bed.

SLACKER!!!!

Ok so I've been slacking on my posting.... So ... Sunday it was about 90 some degreed out... and we did the Sweet Corn Challenge - 50 Mile ride... I think they made this year harder than last year. Some of these hills were just dynamite! I had issues with one of them. Thinking I started to become dehydrated which didn't help.... Quad cramping and all that fun stuff.... It was a great day though. Sunny, beautiful scenery and everything. We had a great time, and as it looked so did everyone else. Ran into a few people I hadn't seen in years. That was nice. Always nice to catch up with people.... Especially if you've lost touch.


So... Um ok yeah so Monday I said well... Gotta get out there... 91 degrees or something close... went to meet the CTC Monday night Brick workout group and once again missed them by a couple of minutes.... like 4. Never caught up with them, but did see them on the road again... we passed near the turn around point.... Did a total of about 25 miles Monday night.... SWEAT LIKE A MULE..... This heat is amazing. I put down three bottles of water on that ride. Didn't even seem like there was salt in the water "running" off of me. I would guess that if you were behind me you would see a constant stream of water coming off the back of me.... felt good though.


Tuesday! Had another good swim with CTC in Bay. Didn't put in quite as much distance this week... actually felt quite sluggish and headed in a little early, but did get a decent workout in. I need to start getting up in the mornings.... hitting the gym. I'm a little worried that if I don't start lifting a little more I'm going to start using the muscle mass for fuel during all this cardio.... I also want to get back into the pool in the mornings... I need to start getting in like 8,000-10,000 yards a week.... boy oh boy.... lots of time. I need to start doing sprints... I just have not done enough speed work.


OK! so I was browsing around and ran into the blog of another CTC member... so now I feel like a pansy. She signed up for her first IRONMAN without ever completing an Olympic length tri.... I've done that... but don't have the gusto to sign up for a race... Now I'm not allowed to run.. but I need to sign up for one of these races about a year in advance... so I had better suck it up and pull the trigger!!!!

Ok... that's it for now...
Stay Cool!!!