Nov 30, 2006

November Month End

Here's my month end totals for November 2006.

  • Swim - 3,500 yds - 1 hr
  • Bike - 279 miles - 17 hrs
  • Run - 52.9 miles - 9hrs 20 mins

Pretty light on the swimming, but I'm working on trying to find a Master's group to swim with. My biking was solid, and the run as well as I'm getting more consistent with my workouts. Interesting to compare to last year, numbers were as follows.

November 2005

  • Swim - 5,500 yds - 2 hrs 20 mins
  • Bike - 93 miles - 5 1/4 hrs
  • Run - 21 miles - 3hrs 30 mins

2005 was my first real year of training all year round, and I was still having a lot of trouble running without getting injured then. I went from 215 hours of training in 2005 to close to 300 this year.

I'm aiming for 350 - 400 hours in 2007.

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Nov 27, 2006

Manchester Road Race

Just a bit damp...

The Manchester Road Race is run on Thanksgiving day in Manchester every year for the last 70 years. I haven't been running for quite that long, but it is a race I enjoy. This year we had the biggest contingent from my family as there were 6 of us who braved the "chance of rain" to head to the start. We were dwarfed by the 12k or so other runners who also made their way to Main Street in Manchester for the 4.8 mile race.

Myself, my uncle, my brother, 2 brothers-in-law, 2 sisters-in-law and my father-in-law headed out in the light rain to the start area. My uncle needed to use the bathroom, so we waited in line a bit before shedding my shell pants, and since the wait was a bit longer than expected, we ended up at the back of the start line, not a good position if you are trying to run fast. However, I was not concerned since this would be the first race of this distance for a few of my companions. As usual, the gun went off and we stopped. Sensing this was the right moment to cheer us up, the skies opened completely and it began to pour. The temperature stayed just above freezing so we could enjoy the rain and still be really cold. Good times while you wait!

It took just over 5 minutes to get to the start line, but we began jogging at that point, and began the trip up the hill for the first 2 miles. I ran with my uncle, and we spent most of those first two miles dodging other runners and walkers, occasionally darting on the sidewalk and embankment to get around slower runners. It finally began to thin out as we headed down the hill for the start of mile three. I missed the first mile marker, but hit my watch at 2 miles in 20:48, not bad considering we were fighting traffic the whole time.

My goals for the race were pretty simple, have fun and beat my uncle and brother :) Since I was the only one besides my sister-in-law and father-in-law that really trains seriously, this shouldn't be do hard, but the repurcussions of letting one of the others beat me would have been serious. Both my uncle and brother are decent athletes, and my uncle in particular has always managed to be just a little better than me in most sports so it would be pretty important to keep him in his place in this race! With that being said, going into the 3rd mile, my uncle was right with me and I figured I needed to drop him early since he would have all the motivation he needed to outsprint me if he could see me at the end. With that in mind, I opened the throttle and went to my top speed, about 8 minute pace :) Not extremely fast, but I knew I could hold it and he probably couldn't. The strategy worked, as he slowly faded from view behind me (at least as far as I could tell, it was still pretty crowded). I went hard to the line and finished in 42:23, a new personal best for me at this race.

After finishing I hung out in the chute freezing and waited for the others. It turned out that only 1 person beat me, my sister-in-law (a very good runner) in 36 minutes or so. Overall a very fun race, although it was very cold!!

Afterwards, a good Thanksgiving with lots of turkey, potatoes and stuffing (the big 3)

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Nov 20, 2006

Over the hump

It had been a tough week with the funeral on Monday, but I'm feeling much better at this point. I went for a run yesterday from my house to the cemetary and back, and it's a really peaceful place. Exercise has become a stress-reliever for me, something I never thought I would say. Riding my bike especially can be relaxing and good time for thought, but even running you can focus on your breathing and enjoy the scenery around you.

Good to see Uncle Rick too, welcome home!

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Nov 16, 2006

A Big Loss

I've struggled for a while thinking about how to write about this subject, but I'm going to attempt it...

As you may have noticed, there is a section to the right regarding the Janus Charity Challenge, a fund-raiser to support cancer research that I'm doing as part of my goals for participating in Ironman USA next year. It seemed like an appropriate thing to do, using my push towards achieving a huge goal, to raise awareness, and help in the fight against cancer.

One of the primary reasons I choose cancer research was that my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer about 10 months ago. This was a pretty tough blow for me, Grandma Carol was a major part of my life, being 40 years old when I was born. I spent much of my childhood being raised by both my parents and grandparents. My brother and I, my oldest cousin and my youngest uncles where all within 5 years or so of each other and spent a great deal of time together at my grandparent's house. I had been fortunate in my life, not being greatly affected by the ravages of this terrible disease, but when it struck, it hit in a spot that really hurt.

I can't do much to help my grandmother in her battle against the disease, she's passed away this past week. I can try to keep her memory alive, and do what I can to lessen the impact of cancer on others. Please read her obituary for just a few details on this remarkable woman.

Thanks for reading, and if you can help please consider donating something to cancer research whether it be your time or money. The charity I selected is doing good work, and can benefit from your help, but really anything you can do to help in any way is appreciated.

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