Back in the Saddle

So things on the triRunningDad front have calmed down a little bit to where I feel like a normal human being again.

As a result, I realized a few days ago that my Rev3 Age Group Championship race is less than 2 months away.  Thats crazy.  I remember when I was signing up for it and then having this winter which was so bad and trying to fit training in outdoors.  I kept saying I have a lot of time.  Well guess what, I don't have that time anymore.

I feel like for the most part I'm ready for the race.  I ran an unofficial PR for a half marathon last weekend.  It was an actual race, but I ran a Half and clocked my best time on the hilly Central Park course by over 3 minutes.  I probably could have run more, but I figured it was time to go home so I didn't push it any more.  It's weird, my running is significantly faster now than when I was training for a marathon or in warmer months.  I hope this continues.

My biking is really strong.  Thanks to the Kickr, I can feel how much stronger my legs are getting.  And since the race is only a 40 mile bike ride, I should be able to complete that in about 1:45-150 depending on the course.  I've been on the trainer for that long which says to me, my legs are ready to go.  The one thing I have not down is taken my bike off the trainer and brought it outside.   I'm a little hesitant to do that since my training is so much better on the Kickr, and I haven't gotten my bike tuned up, its still cold outside, and its so convenient for me to jump on the trainer and ride.  I know I'll have to do it soon, but that would require me to get my bike serviced and thats such a process.

The one area where I'm still struggling is the swim.  I'm getting faster no doubt, but I can stay in the pool that long.  Its so damn boring.  I have this internal clock that makes me get out of the pool anywhere between 20-30 minutes.  That just aint going to cut it.  My workouts are good, and fast, but if I look at my watch and see I have been swimming for 23 minutes, I'm itching to get out.  I really need to focus on my swim and get that going.  I can't afford to lose that much ground during the race on the swim. The other competitors will be that much better and I probably won't be able to pick them off on the bike or run.

My goal is to finish the Age Group series ranked in the top 5.  Thats going to take a lot of work and some help, but it is possible.  With 2 months to go, it's time to kick the training up a notch.

And thankfully, my life and everything in it, has returned to some normalcy where I can afford to do that.

Been Down recently

So things have taken a bad turn in the world of TriRunningDad.  Everyone is ok, healthy, good and nothing crazy, but there have been some developments that have kept my mind in so many other places.

It's times like this that you see who is in your corner, who is rooting for you, who is helping, and who you can really appreciate.  I can say that the wife has been the best recently.  It has shocked me how much.  That isn't a shot at her, but she is being extra amazing in this time and I really appreciate it.

Yes, I'm being quite secretive as to whats going on, and for a good reason.  No, its nothing life altering.  It's just one of those hard times that we all go through at some point that when we come out the other end, we come out better.  Right now, I just want to get to the other end.

As a result of all this my workouts have also suffered.  I can't find the desire to really push myself, sit on my bike for a long time or anything like that.  I tried to run last week and they all sucked. The only good run was last weekend where I zoned out and just went.  It was the first time in 2 weeks that I had a good workout and I really needed it.

Either way, I'm looking toward the future and hoping everything will get back to normal soon.  Until then, let's hope I can use my workouts as an outlet and take my mind off of the craziness.

Skora Fit initial impression

Skora Fit

About 5 days ago, I got a long blue thin box delivered to my apartment.  I knew exactly what it was, was expected it, but even so, I couldn’t wait to rip open the packaging and see what had arrived.  When I first heard about the Skora Fit’s, what drew me in to them was their obvious look.  They just looked amazing.  Bright orange, you cant beat that (except for my bright yellow Skora Base).  I have been hearing about The Fit’s for a few months because of my association with Skora, but all I was told is “they are coming, relax”.  So when they finally came, I couldn’t relax.

I have been wearing them for a few days now and, my initial impression of the Skora Fit’s are as follows:

Riley will eventually be old enough to wear them

1)  They are sleek, sexy, cool, and awesome.  Even the female colors are cool that I would wear them. The colors range from Orange, Pink, Yellow, Grey with Blue,  to name a few colors.  But they aren’t obnoxiously loud.  They are the right amount of bright but with some subtleties in them.  I love bright shoes, and these definitely fit the bill.  But the toned down colors are very sleek looking and just look fast.

2) They feel absolutely amazing.  I slipped my foot in and it literally feels like I am wearing a slipper.  This is no joke, no overstatement at all.  The Fit's were the most comfortable shoe I have ever put on.  I don't like to wear my running shoes for anything other than running, but so far I have not been able to take them off.

3) On the run, there is no shoe that is more comfortable. For those who don't like a "minimal" feel, you don't have to worry about this.  There is (in my opinion) more cushioning than any other Skora that I own, but still less than most shoes on the market.  What this does is allow for more ground feel but you don't get that "tired foot" feeling after putting so many miles on your feet with the added cushioning. I can make somewhat of a comparison to the Saucony Kinvara.  However, with less cushioning, more ground feel, more responsiveness, and an overall better ride. I ran in the Kinvara's for 3 years so I was a fan of them.  But in my opinion, the Skora Fit blows them away. 

All ready to get outside and run

I've had the Fit's for 5 days now and I have put about 50 plus miles on them already.  There was a mix of workouts from a 14 mile run, 7 mile tempo run, hill workout, and even a treadmill run.  The Fit's were comfortable on all of my runs and my legs didn't feel as tired as they normally do. 

The only concern I have right now is there seems to be a lack of ventilation in them.  On 2 of my runs, I felt my feet get hotter than normal, and this is including wearing them in colder temperatures here in the North East.  What was weird is I didn't notice it during my last run in the warmest day, but I did on the colder days.  I wore the same socks so I know it was that.  I'll continue to monitor this part though.

Even Thunder wants in on the action

My initial impression of these shoes are they are as close to perfect as you can get in a shoe.  There are a few things that I might like in other shoes (no laces in the Base and ability to wear them sockless during Triathlons), but as an overall shoe, this one is at the top of my list in just the first 5 days. 



I'll update after I put a couple hundred miles on them, but the way things are going, that wont take long.  This is my go to shoe right now because of how absolutely comfortable they are.

Check out Skora
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95th Birthday Celebration

This past weekend, my entire family went down to Florida to celebrate my grandfathers 95th birthday.  My grandfather lives down in Florida with his "lady friend" and is totally with it.  He still drives, goes to dinner, drinks, is active, and has the best memory of anyone I know.  So my family including my parents, sister, the wife, Riley and I joined my 2 aunts, 2 cousins, and their children to have one big celebration for him.

The entire celebratory crew

It was also nice to get out of the nasty snowy North East.  Temperatures above 25 degrees with no snow was more than welcomed. 

During the weekend, we had one big lunch for everyone and a few dinners if people wanted to attend.  For the most part it was a tale of a few different vacations.  First, we went to see my grandfather.  It is was only the 2nd time he got to meet Riley so this was nice for them to spend some time together.  The wife and I went down a few days early since the flights were cheaper and it also gave us some time without the entire posse there.  So we got to see some friends that we haven't seen in a while. 

The other part of the vacation was a typical vacation with the family. I mentioned this when we went to Maine in August last year. Everyone says they want to help out and give the wife and I a break, but it turns out that is only true when it is convenient for them.  It was so frustrating.  Riley is also in a "the only person I want to spend time with is Daddy" stage so no matter who was with him, he would cry and reach out to me.  This meant that everyone else got a nice vacation and could enjoy their meals peacefully and I was the one standing outside the restaurant with him when he was cranky, or I was the who couldn't relax since he would always want to be around me.  For the most part, I love when he's like this.  But every so often its nice to have a break. No such luck this past weekend. 

The before doughnut bite

The after licking his lips to get all the sugar he can

This also marked the first time Riley went on an airplane.  He did pretty well.  We planned the flight times around his usual nap time thinking this would give us an advantage.  Yeah, we struck out.  The flight going down to Florida, Riley was his normal playful self and then he fell asleep the last 20 minutes of the flight. No huge complaints here. The flight back, well, it was a nightmare.  He was so cranky and whiny and of course wouldn't go to mommy.  So I was that parent who had the crying baby on the plane.  Just about 20,000 feet on the decline Riley woke up from his short little nap and was wailing.  There was nothing we could do.  I kept apologizing to everyone I saw, but for 15-20 minutes the screeching that came out of him was intolerable.  But he calmed down and was good after that.  All in all, I would give Riley a B+ on the plane.  I would give the wife a big fat F though.  She said she would help but all she did was play cards with a random 8 year old girl on the plane, then read her book and magazines while I was playing with Riley. Even when I asked for her to help and get me something, she had an attitude and looked at me like I had 3 eyes or something.  I'm definitely owed for that one.

The one thing that I really took out of this past weekend was how appreciative my grandfather was of everything. It's not every day that you turn 95 and that we got to celebrate with him.  It was really nice to see 4 generations of family there.

4 generations of the men in the family

He can't wait to get in the pool

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Why are we so competitive

Recently I was talking to a friend of mine who just got the Wahoo Kickr.  Since him and I spoke a few months ago when I got mine, it was natural for the 2 of us to talk about his new purchase.  As time went on we found out we are both using the program TrainerRoad for our workouts.  For those of you who don't know what TrainerRoad is, it basically controls your Kickr (or other resistance trainer) for you.  You just pick the course you want to ride, and based on where you are at during a given ride, TrainerRoad will communicate with the Kickr to either add or decrease resistance.  I have to say, its an awesome program and I can feel how much stronger I am getting.

Anyway, back to the story.  As we went back and forth we started speaking about our FTP, power outputs, courses we ride, how long we can sustain rides, and stuff like that.  It was great to hear how both of us were using the programs and getting the benefits.  The problem was, as we kept talking it was like we were trying to one-up each other. I actually couldn't care less about one-upping him since we are 2 totally different riders.  He rides for fun on a road bike, while I train on my Tri bike.  He is definitely a stronger cyclist than I am.  He loves to ride, where I love to run.  He weighs about 50 pounds more than me so of course his natural wattages will be higher than mine.  But it just seems like the more we spoke, the more we were comparing ourselves to each other.

He asked for my TrainerRoad ID so he can check my rides, which is really cool, as I got his and have been looking at his.  Which got me thinking.  Why do I care what other people are doing?  I have no idea, but now I keep trying to out do him and his weekly rides.  I want to have a higher TSS, IF, and better rides than him.  I want my NP to be so much more than him, but I weight 50 pounds lighter.  He should have a higher NP than me naturally.  But for what reason do I care so much?  We are 2 totally different people and not competing with each other.  So why do I care what he's doing?

I guess it's just naturally ingrained in us to be competitive.  I am randomly getting emails from him showing me a certain workout he did, and I thus feel compelled to share with him mine.  Every one of us is competitive.  Its just a question of how large or small.  The wife is competitive with her friends, but obviously to a different degree.  She wants to have a better party than her friends, have Riley walk, talk, or do something faster/better than his friends, have a better SoulCycle class than her friends, go on a better vacation, etc.  It makes no sense.  Her being competitive with her friends has no relevance on our lives.  We have a great life and we both know it. Yet, if one of her friends does something, she gets so mad and has to out do them. 

I understand why we are competitive when training or racing, but I just don't understand why we are so competitive in our daily lives.  It's just something we all do, but for no good reason.

The Power of the Ring

I used to play in a football league on the weekends which was so much fun.  Our team was really good and was always competitive, made the league playoffs, and won a few championships over the years.  It was really fun, but back in 2010 it caused some problems with the then fiance.  The wife and I got engaged in 2009 and spent a lot of 2010 planning our special day.  Playing football and getting married never conflicted with each other.  Until 1 day in particular which changed a whole lot.  The day before our engagement photo shoot I had a football game.  No biggie, right?  Wrong.  About 5 minutes into the game, our quarterback threw me a pass down the middle of the field and 2 defenders smothered me and deflected the ball into my fingers and ended up breaking 2 of my fingers on my left hand.  Man, was the fiance pissed since I called her from the hospital and now we had to change our photo shoot the next day.  Not good.  What was worse was that one of the fingers I broke was my left ring finger.  Yup.  That one. 

The reason this is important to this post is, the fiance and I decided we would buy a cheap "throw-a-way" ring for our actual wedding since my finger's swelling didn't fully go down.  So we couldn't get a proper wedding band since we had no idea how large my finger would be on our actual wedding day.  After doing some research, I settled on a $25 tungsten ring.  Actually, I settled on 2 rings.  One one size, and a second a different so we can decide how large my finger was on a our wedding day.  Great plan we thought.  Obviously we got married, and I have been wearing that ring for the past 3 plus years.  I surprisingly love the ring even though it was so cheap.  I love the color, the fact that its impossible to scratch, the feeling of it and a few other things. 

My old ring on Riley's newborn foot

The problem is, the ring is so damn heavy.  Plus, since my knuckle is permanently swollen, the ring gets over my knuckle but is loose around the base of my finger.  As a result, I have never worn my wedding ring when I train, race, workout, etc.  The wife hates it.  And because I work out so much, I forget to put my ring on all the time.  I even forgot to put my ring on to go to a wedding with the wife.  Talk about pissing off your significant other.  That was not a good look. 

Since then, I have been looking at alternatives to solve this problem.  I'm always jealous of people I see at races who have wedding rings on.  I just couldn't be that person. 

I did some research and came across SafeRingz.  I remember hearing about them, but the more research I did, the more I started to love the brand.  Basically, its a rubber ring that is painted the color of metallic to look like metal.  I ordered one and haven't taken it off since. 

All rubber rings

Because of the ring being rubber, I don't even notice it on my
finger.  I have completed swim, bike, run and weight workouts all with this ring on.  In some ways, I think it actually helps me during my workout.  This might sound cheesy, but since I never worked out with a ring, now that I do I look down and know what I'm training for.  When I'm out on a run and I feel my ring, I don't get as tired, I don't feel sluggish.  I know I can push myself.  It makes it seem like there is something more important than what I'm doing at that point so I tend to push myself a little harder.

There are times when the wife is a little upset that I have this ring on because its not the ring that we actually got married in, but I make her remember that the plan was always to have a replacement ring.  So maybe on important events, I'll wear my actual wedding band, but for now, I plan on wearing my SafeRingz.  I cant wait to have a race with the ring on.  I know that it will help get me to the finish line stronger.

Things have been really slow recently with everything.  It’s kind of that time where its after the off-season, but not quite at the start of training season.  I’ve been working out really hard though.  I’m obsessed with my new Wahoo Kickr and Garmin Vector power meter pedals and finding out how much power I can product, so I have been pushing myself really hard over the past few weeks. 

What I don’t understand is why people ask me what am I training for or why do I do this if there is no race on the schedule.  I got that question a bunch of times over the past few weeks and it really bothers me.  It’s like they think we all of a sudden stop training and turn into a 450 pound person who sits on the couch and watches TV and does whatever we want.  Then once “race season” comes around, we have the ability to turn it back on and pick up where we left off.
It doesn’t work like that people.  We cant just turn it off and on when we want.  I cant go from running 100 miles a week to 0 miles a week then back to 100 without anything in between.  I know people don’t understand that but if I want to train, let me train.  There is no harm in that.

As for some other things, Riley turned 1 this year, and we had a huge birthday party for him.  Of course, I complained about all the birthday parties that I went to over the past few months, so I guess this was payback.  Riley had over 70 people for his first birthday party.  Yes, let me repeat over 70 people to a 1 year olds party.  That’s just nuts.  But it was a great time and Riley had a blast. 

He’s really becoming such a little person now.  He’s walking around, babbling, communicating and growing up.  He even plays on our bed while I’m on the trainer and thinks his daddy working out is the funniest thing in the world.  At certain times when I’m pushing myself on a specific interval, all I hear is him cracking up. 

Anyway, it’s been really slow so nothing huge to update on, but I have a few things brewing so stay tuned.

Riley right before digging into his birthday cake