Some CX Riding & Mtn Biking Pics

I thought I'd give my tri bike a break for a couple of days, so my cross bike and mountain bike got a little loving...

My mobile locker room...

The trails look nice here

Love that bike!

The trails got a little sketchy...which equals fun

Mountain Biking in December

Before...

After...

Not sure how it still shifted, but it did

The aftermath...



My First Run...

...in the Zoot Ovwa's was awesome!  I usually like running to a destination, so yesterday I set out from school to run home...at the start of the run it was super nice, the temp was comfortable, no hat or gloves needed, it wasn't raining and I was running easy in my new Zoot's.  So I decided to go a little longer, yep I was getting greedy, that's when the sky opened up.  Luckily it wasn't cold, and I always wonder what people in cars think when they see this idiot running in the pouring rain.  When I witness it I'm usually jealous and wish I were out there!  If you're looking for some new running shoes I would definitely recommend the Ovwa's.

Today is Day 15 of the running challenge, the challenge is going well, and I'm ahead of my goal mileage for the month.  Acutally I'm pretty dead on for swimming, biking and running.  I might be a little behind on the bike, but with winter break only a day away I am sure I'll be putting in extra miles in the next two weeks.  I'm also kicking around a challenge within the running challenge for break.  It's kind of over the top, but I wouldn't have it any other way...that's why it's a challenge right?

So if you're looking for a little motivation to get started again here is Simon Whitfield helping you out...

An Early Present for Me...

Yesterday I got home from work to find a big box on my doorstep.  I was pretty pumped to come home to a box of goodies from Zoot.  I'm all set to take on my winter training thanks to Jake and the crew!

I'll get some better pictures later to throw up here, but I wanted to get this one up right away. Inside of my awesome package I had a pair of Ovwa's (which I'll run in later today), a pair of Ali'i 3.0's (those are in the middle and are pretty sweet!) and another pair of the Ultra Kalani 2.0's (which have been my go to shoe for long training runs).  In addition to the sweet shoes I got a few running jackets and a pair of running pants too.  I feel extremely fortunate to be able to work with such an amazing company, and their gear is by far the best I've worn!  If you haven't checked them out this would be a great time to cruise over to http://www.zootsports.com/ and give them a try.

Last night after swimming I'm not sure what it was, but Winther was absolutely crazy!  I know he's feeling better because he keeps on bringing a ball to me and dropping it in my lap wanting me to throw it for him.  Unfortunately I can't do that yet...soon enough though.  I'm glad he's feeling better though!

Yea and I really wish this rain we're getting were snow right now!  It's mid-December!!  Why the heck don't we have any snow yet????

An Experiment Continued...

I've been pretty fortunate to have trained relatively injury free throughout my triathlon career (if you can call a hobby a career...I just had no better way to describe it I guess).  I dealt with some plantar fasciitis for about a season and a half, and luckily it's gone now.  Because I've been pretty lucky (maybe it's not luck and it's proper training) I haven't really needed to have treatment on anything.  However, I have been told (and now sold) on the fact that some treatment can help to keep you in top form...from what I've learned I don't think I've been able to train and race in that top form.

For some reason Brittany likes to inflict pain on me...not sure why but I can tell she takes great pleasure by pressing on muscles until I'm nearly in tears.  So last night she worked on my right leg...well I asked her to and I wanted to see how it would feel with a hard bike workout in comparison to my left leg.  The difference was like night and day. My right leg felt loose and fluid and ready to rock.  My left leg didn't feel bad...but it didn't feel as good as my right.  She just finished her Graston certification and its amazing how much this helped.  Little does she know that she just opened pandora's box.  If you've got some aches and pains I would definitely recommend it, if you don't know who to go to I might have someone for you.

The running challenge rolls on...day 13 and 30 minutes...here we go!

Dangerous

So heading over to my parents house is usually pretty dangerous.  It has gotten better but whenever I go drive up to Niles there happens to be much tastier food than I keep at home...and by tastier I mean desserts galore!  I'm pretty sure I know where I get my "go big or go home" attitude from...when my Mom bakes, she goes all out...and she bakes a lot so it's like a mega exercise in self-control which I usually lose.

Thanks to training yesterday I didn't feel as bad about eating some cookies at my parents house...ok and some on the way there that Brittany had made too...it's like this conspiracy against me.  By no means am I complaining...keep the good food coming, just make sure I keep getting workouts in otherwise I'll be a blimp.

The running challenge is on day 12.  Just an easy run today which will be nice after a pretty tough weekend of running.

It's Fender Time

Well we did get a dusting of snow last night.  I always love waking up and seeing the ground white. Obviously I wish we would have had a little more snow, but I should just be satisfied that we have some.  Riding in to work was awesome this morning, but reminded me that I need to get some fenders for my bike...the spray coming off of the rear wheel can get pretty bad and I keep telling myself that I need to get a fender.  So I just went online and ordered a fender.

The running challenge is cruising along...day 9 already.  Kind of crazy. I'm looking forward to getting my run in, the sun is out, the temperatures are cold and my legs feel pretty good.

Ironman Hawaii will be on NBC tomorrow at 3:30, should be cool to see how the pro race plays out, and to see some of the footage from the race!

It's getting cold...

I would say that winter is arriving in Chicago...this morning on my ride in my hands were cold.  I wanted to hold off on wearing the lobster mitts as long as possible, and I'm thinking if it gets much colder I'm going to have to resort to them.  I haven't had to throw on the down jacket yet to ride with so that's a bonus...and hopefully that will stay in the closet for a while.  I have no problem with cold weather...as long as there is snow!  We have yet to get any snow and it's December 8th...what's up with that?  Not to worry though there is already salt on the roads.  Why...I'm not really sure.

The running challenge is now in its 8th day...and I haven't been out for a run yet today, but I layed down a nice base last week.  The consistency will pay off.  I like where my mileage ended up...and without even having a long run thrown in there.  It's the first week in quite a while that I haven't had a "long" run...but that's alright, I definitely feel good with where my running is right now.  Today's run is 30 minutes...that's pretty simple, and I may go a little longer...then again I might not.  My legs are feeling this mornings computrainer effort a bit.

Time to bundle up and embrace the cold while riding.  I think some more mountain biking might be in order!

Getting over the hump...

The running challenge is now on day 7.  I am ahead of where I have been in the past, and I'm not putting in a terribly high amount of effort.  Actually I'm just kind of keeping things low key as when volume increases I think you have to be really careful with the intensity of workouts.  Seeing as some bike and swim workouts have been more intense I'm glad that I'm keeping things in check running.  After 6 days complete (I'll run later today) I'm really enjoying running right now.  I ran right before swimming last night and the temperature was awesome...a little chilly to start but after about 5-10 minutes I was good to go.  My Zoot Ultra Race 3.0's were clicking off miles super easily and I sort of got into the zone, I wanted to keep running and was kind of bummed that I was out of time.  Part of it could have been running in Naperville too...its always nice to have a change of venue to run.  At this point I think I'm over the hump of initial fatique and I'm good to go.  I anticipate another short bit where it will be tough to get out the door to run, it's usually days 16-20...but knowing that going in helps my mind prepare for it.

The Zoot Race 3.0's...I raced 2 Ironmans this season in these and they are awesome!

I need to pick up the bike training a bit...in terms of volume that is.  I have some intense sessions throught the computrainer classes, but I need to start laying down more base miles.  I'm not going to lie though, it's tough to get up and ride on the trainer when you've been up swimming late.  I just need to suck it up and get it done though.

If you're looking for some holiday gifts for triathletes/runners/BAMF's...whoever check out the stuff over at Zoot.  They have free ground shipping on orders of $50 or more through 12/10/2011.  Trust me their stuff is amazing!  I wouldn't wear anything else...I have well over 1300 miles running sockless in Zoot shoes this year and would do it no other way!

My Find...

On Sunday I met up with a couple friends to swim early, since I wasn't going to be able to swim at masters later in the day.  It's always nice to get workouts done early in the day.  Anyway, as I stepped out of my car I looked down in the parking lot and there in a puddle was a $20 bill.  Sweet!  I was the only car there, so as they say finders keepers right?  What better way to start the day than to find twenty bucks!  Not going to lie I was pretty pumped about my find, and it made for a solid swim set.

The running challenge is now on day 6.  Today's run is 25 minutes.  I've really tried to keep the intensity in check since the volume will be up a bit...like I said I've "tried" but I'm not always successful with that.  Typically if I run on my ghetto treadmill I can keep things in check because it doesn't tell me how fast I'm running...yesterday was the ghetto treadmill day.

Not too much else going on really.  Ready for a couple weeks of relaxation over the holidays.

Cory's Triathlon Training

Apparently Cory wants to race an Ironman...here he is preparing...

Songs...

I get songs stuck in my head pretty easily.  They could be good, bad, whatever...they just get stuck.  Last night on the way home from swimming I heard the new Jay Z and Kanye West song.  I'll refrain from posting the title since it's not the most "PC" thing to put up.  Certain lyrics are hilarious to me as well...again not sure why but they are.

So I had that song running through my head all night and I thought to myself that I needed to go onto iTunes and buy it today.  Right as I was thinking that I turned on my iPod pressed play and what do I hear...exactly what was playing through my head.  Apparently I had the album on my computer already, thanks Chad, and I didn't even realize it...so you better believe I listened to the song on repeat the whole ride to work this morning.  Not only was it an awesome morning to ride, I was pumped to have some good tunes along the way.

Today is day 2 of the running challenge, 30 minutes.  Last night I had a nice and chill run with Chad before swimming, it's amazing how much nicer it is to run with someone.  Yes I know come race day I'll be solo, and I'm fine with that, but training with people makes it so much easier and more fun.  Thanks Chad, this might have to become a routine before swimming.

Winther has been doing well at home, we definitely miss having Roxy around though.  It's probably better because he wants to play all of the time.  His limp has gotten better, but I don't want to risk him hurting himself again this early...it's only been 3 weeks since his surgery.  So he's stuck with me...looks like he's living a tough life doesn't it?

December Begins

It's crazy to think that today is December 1st.  I needed to hit up a little bit of work last night in order to hit my November goals, I was happy to hop on my bike to finish off that goal, but not all that motivated to run.  So thanks to Brittany I jumped on the treadmill to finish off what I had set out to accomplish.  I'm not going to lie after the strength session that she dreamed up it wasn't all that easy to ride or run!  I did take my Ridley Dean on the rollers for the first time...and let me tell you riding a tri bike on rollers can get a little sketchy.  I went down into the aerobars for a short period of time, but didn't want to fall and embarass myself so that was short lived.  This might be a new little challenge though...I should have had a video camera on me because I'm sure it was humorous, and I probably had a super serious look on my face because I was trying not to fall.

December brings a new challenge...the running challenge.  This is the third year that we're doing this (I say we because I think it was Chad's idea originally).  I think there are far more people on board this year which should make it fun.  If you want to know what it's all about shoot me an email or leave a comment here.  Along with the running challenge I have a few other goals that I want to make sure to meet this month.  So my spreadsheet is all up to date and ready to roll.

This morning on the way from Endure It to work I jumped on that little super short trail again.  Today I decided to try to take a video of it, and although it's not the best quality (pretty good though considering it is shot from an iPhone) I'm glad I had it running because a huge hawk flew out in front of me towards the end of the ride and I actually got it on video.

Enjoy, and get out to run...today's run is only 20 mintutes!!