The weather today

was just plain amazing. Even though it was 90°F, it felt like it was in the 70s. Probably thanks to the downpour on Monday. There was hardly any humidity.

Today's ride was great. I'm getting better control in the aero position. woot! I got passed by a peloton...yea yea. I had the urge to catch up to them, but I didn't. Gotta follow the coaches orders.

After my bike (~1h, 16miles — easy pace) around Hains point, I decided to go on a run given the weather. Well, after having lunch/breakfast. And a few episodes of Law & Order. (Speaking of which this is kinda creepy A Revenge Plot So Intricate, the Prosecutors Were Pawns from the NYT.) Back to my run. I ended up doing my usual loop: across Key Bridge, down by Roosevelt Island, across Memorial Bridge and down the path to the left (back towards the Kennedy Center). I stopped at Thompsons Boat Club, and walked home/tried to cool down. It ended up being 3 miles in 26:46 minutes, not to shabby for me.

I made some rice, an egg and some frozen fish for dinner. I wanted to go to bed early (~9-10), and I was in bed by 9:30! WOO! But then I got a text from a friend at around 10. She lives above Georgetown Cupcakes...and is friends with the "cupcake bouncer" (I am too...but I guess not to the same extent.). She got some cupcakes. And she had some salted caramel, which are my favorite! Although, I am committed to Baked & Wired, I'll eat a free cupcake. I jumped outta bed and headed to her place. Scarfed down 2 cupcakes and talked to her for a bit (about the debt ceiling and how her passport is still at the UK embassy...and she can't go to Greece!). Now I'm home. And in bed. And I'm on a sugar high. Shucks.

yesterday

My coach had me doing a swim workout. I had missed 2 of 3 swim workouts last week, so I was excited to get back in the pool. It was a simple workout. I breezed through the warm up, and started the first part of the main set (1 x 200; I'm a n00b in the pool. ugh). I felt great. Then at about the 150 mark, I something in my left shoulder start to hurt. It didn't hurt that bad, and I finished off the piece. I rested for a few minutes and massaged it as best as I could. I tried to do the next part of the workout (5x100), but I was about 12.5 meters into the first piece and my shoulder just felt insanely weak. I massaged it some more, and tried to stretch, but even that hurt. UGH. So I got out, tried to do some hot/cold water remedy in the shower. And yeah that's it.

It's feeling a bit better, but I'm bummed I didn't finish that workout. I'll probably tack it on sometime this week. 

I'm thinking of supplementing my coach's plan with some more running (she only has me running two-three times a week) and maybe Major Armstrong's pull-up/push-up work out. I started yesterday (w/ the Armstrong workout) and I am starting to think that the set of 3 x max push ups in the morning really strained my shoulder.

Anyways. Today's plan is to do 1h or 1h30 of nice easy biking and some lower body stuff. Apparently it's an easy/rest week. Shucks. I really need to get on top of my workouts. I may go see a movie (Captain America). Or I may just create a list of companies I like (read: that I could work for). I really need to figure out what I'm going to do after graduation. My mom wants me to get a job. I'm not going to go back to Paris, and I think I want to be in NYC. Oh and I want to travel a lot. Not that I don't travel a lot already.

Great video.

half century ...

well kinda.

I woke up this morning after going out last night. Had a great dinner with some friends at Central and then hit up some Georgetown bars. I ended up getting a rower friend of mine drunk (I hadn't gotten him a shot at Tombs on his 21st as is customary at Georgetown). Well, we both got drunk. And then I had late night. A slice of pepperoni pizza w/ ranch dressing, parmesan  and red pepper on top. Amazing.

I got up at around 6:30 (after going to bed at 2:30....), but stayed in bed/tried to sleep till about 8:30. Boy was I hung over.

I got ready and went for a long easy ride (which I was supposed to do yesterday! UGH). I crossed key bridge and took the curtis trail to the washington & old dominion trail. It was beautiful. AND NOT HOT! Well it was hot, but not scorching. My coach wanted me to do 2:30, but I ended up doing 3:15. I did about 44 miles along the WOD trail. And when I got back to key bridge, I decided to just do a half century. I took the Mt. Vernon trail to the Jefferson Memorial and then just headed back to Georgetown.

Great ride. It ended up being 49, but what's 1 measly mile!

One complaint about the WOD trail is those annoying stop signs. SO MANY. They interrupt my flow. Ugh. I know selfish.

Definitely going to do it again.

Once I got back, I made myself breakfast, had some milk, carrot juice and water. Yum. And then slept on the couch while watching an amazing time trial at the tour de france. Cadel Evans is a beast.

Anyways. Now for the rest of my day: perhaps a long run on the treadmill and a swim. That sounds like a plan. Oh and I'm probably gonna go look at bikes again. Mine is a bottom of the line trek that I think I've out grown. Not to mention it's been making weird noises. I've got to decide if I want a tri bike or an aero road bike.

Mini-Update

Yesterday I ended up just doing a swim, track and upper body/core. Today's plan is long ride+short run, swim, and lower body.

Oh my Garmin Forerunner 610 is kinda falling apart. 

Today's training

So I was behind on my workouts this week because I was in NYC until Tuesday night stuffing my face courtesy of my mom being in town. I missed a swim, lower body, and a tempo bike + run. Ugh. Yesterday my coach had a track workout and a swim planned. I ended up doing an 1h30 brick. Today she has me doing a swim and upper body.

My plan is to do 2 swims, the track workout and the upper body today. I've done the track workout and a swim. Going back to the gym after I eat.

Tomorrow calls for a long ride and a 20 min run. I'll add a swim and lower body. That should get me back into time.

I know I'm not supposed to do this, but I feel fat as fook. So it's ok. Plus what else do I have to do besides read.

Exactly.

Fuz

Background

This is my first post. I've decided to start a blog about my training, racing, goals, qualms etc. Obviously I won't let it be restricted to just that, but that anything related to triathlons will be the main focus.

Some background:
I am a senior at Georgetown University. I'm in the tri club. I'm a (former) varsity rower. I use (former) because my status isn't very clear to me; I may try to rejoin the heavyweight or lightweight team depending on how much I weigh. Duh.

There are a few reasons why I decided to try my hand at tris. I'm pretty sure my dad did one or two back in the day, which kind of planted the seed. What really packed in the seed was when my friend DN told me he was planning on doing a triathlon. So the idea stuck; I wanted to do a triathlon. Then some kids on the crew team quit and even though I was the slowest guy I was left holding the short end of the stick. (You need multiples of 4 for a boat. The team dropped from 20 — 2 8s and a 4 — to 17. So I needed to find a way to stay in shape (read: get in better shape) besides erging (rowing machine). Erging is literally the bain of rowing. It is the worst thing in the world. Ask any rower. Most people do not do it right, nor do they do it for long distances (5k +) and certainly NOT everyday. It gets lonely. And monotonous. Ugh. And there are only so many times you can play the same songs. That said, erging is the best cardio workout ever. EVER. just insanely boring. 

So I signed up for The Nation's Tri 2011 (Oly)  and joined the tri club. Then I signed up for the DC Tri (sprint) 2011. And then a tough mudder (oct 2011). I thought to myself making sure I get myself into shape for these events will most definitely make me competitive for the crew team.

That was in March/April 2011.

I trained with the tri club, it was fun. The arrival of May meant finals, meaning no working out. After finals I went home for a week (Paris) before returning to DC for graduation (still no working out). Then I went up to CT, NYC, Boston for about a week (still no working out). Finally I came back to DC around June 3. I did some workouts, but I wouldn't call it training. It was horrible. I also left DC every weekend.

Then came June 19 and the DC Tri. I had a caught a cough in NYC (I went back up the second weekend of june) and I hadn't gotten rid of it. I had also hired a Coach (AM); she suggested I not do the triathlon if I wasn't feeling well. Everyone else I talked to said to do it. So I did it.

It was AMAZING. I loved it. Even though I hadn't learned how to swim at that point. I swam the whole course on my back. I didn't care. I loved the bike, I was passing people left and right: sheer bliss. The run killed me, but I still enjoyed it. My 2 goals were to finish under 2 hours and to actually finish. And I did both.

I signed up for a bunch of different races afterwards. I love it. And I've been training, and really giving it my all —albeit with some hiccups here and there.

Anyways I am signed up for:

The Nation's Tri (11/9) — Oly
Savageman 30.0 (17/9)
Giant Acorn (2/10) — Oly
Tough Mudder (22/10) — 10.1 Mile obstacle course
Philadelphia Half Marathon (20/11)


I may add the Marine Corps 10K, Jingle All the Way 10K and the Key West Tri (Oly).

Anyways that's all for now.

Fuzzy

Oh and about my nickname fuzzy. Well I came to Georgetown with an afro. Well not an afro, but close. Anyways some guy on the team started to call me fuzzy. And it kinda stuck. (btw his nickname is Porkchop. He's a good friend.)