Summer Vaca 2023

We really wern't sure if we would get in a summer vaca this year becuase kids were so busy. Even when we did plan one around moving Lance back to school, Mik didn't want to go becuase it cut into her time with AJ before she goes back to school. I missed the first part oo. But in the end, we all enjoyed it and we had a blast! I met up with everyone in Buffalo, NY after thay moved Lance in and were on their way to Toronto. We stopped at Niagra Falls, then on to the National Bank Tennis Tournament where we got to see Carlos and many of the top 10 men in tennis. So exciting to see tennis at thie level up close! Some of the funniest things revolved around silly stuff like our "Canadians is players too" version of the goofy song "Girls is players too". I laughed so hard I cried!

Last Tri of 2023

This season was a blast! Really enjoyed giving nationals a try and felt very satisfied that I gave it my best. Way back in February I started training with Liz Waterstratt and was able to make some progress in my swimming. To be honest, it didn't make much of an impact on my swim time (maybe 30-60 seconds?), but it did make an impact on how I felt about the swim! In the earlier races (Steelhead inparticular), I was very psyched out about the swim, but then by the time Nationals rolled around, I felt more confident. I barely broke 30 minutes for the 1.5K swim in Miluwalkee and, while that's not very competivive, that's actually a little better than my 1.5 K swim times at other races in the last 5 years. Importantly, I was able to get out of the water at Nationals without feeling breathless and tired. Liz did an amazing job keeping me focused on what was important and pushed just enough that I never crossed over that line into over-training. I felt we had a good coach-athlete realtionship and got the most out the season becuase of it! Another fun thing this season was winning "Grand Master Duathlete of the Year". I got to go to the USA Tri awards ceremony two days before Nationals to receive the award! It was a Whos-Who of tri celebs! I was able to get a photo with Michellie Jones and she recalled me asking her to hold Mikaely Evans (see bottomm photo, named after Jones, but we spelled it phonetically). That was 20 years ago! So cool!

Steelhead Ironman 70.3 Triathlon

This past Sunday (6/25/23) was the Steelhead 70.3 race.  Very disappointed with my time, given it was more than 15 minutes slower than last year. And it wasn't just a bad performance in once area: each leg of the race and the transitions were all slower. 

What was so disappointing was that I trained much harder this year than last year, especially on the swim.  Nevertheless, I swam a minute slower, I biked 5 minutes slower and I ran 8 minutes slower. I can't attribute that to equipment or weather, neither was a  factor.  I'm left wondering what went so wrong.

One nice thing was that I bumped into an old friend, Glenn Rolbiecki. really nice guy and great triathlete who has been competing as long as I have.  He took this photo at the finish line. I love the photo because I have no other picture at a race where I'm smiling.  In all the race photos I'm grimacing! 

 

CA Spring Break 2023

 Some great memories of Spring Break in CA with Lance. Playing pool in the dingy honky tonk in Death Valley was the best!  Then waking up after sleeping in the car and eating bean burritos for breakfast. Death Valley was spectacular!  Monterey, CA was also pretty cool! Great trip! 

Summer 2023 Triathlons

 Really training hard so far this spring and early summer! Check out this graph from TrainingPeaks showing total calories burned per month! That's almost a 5% greater effort that any previous month!  Damn, no wonder I'm tired!  

May 25th, 2023- MWU Graduation

Today was our MWU DPT Graduation for the class that started June of 2020.  They called themselves the "COVID class" and it was tough getting to know them that first 6 months because we were online for much of the curriculum.  But in the end, this turned out to be one of the most fun and likeable classes. Students like O'Dell, Deena, Leo, Jason, Kat, and Courtney were fun and super nice. Then there were also students who overcame some personal struggles like Samir, Tyler and Ashley, but who did amazing in the end. Lots of other fun students like Rachel who invited me as a guest for their class' HIIT workout and Victor who unassumingly cruised through the curriculum at a high level, impressing everyone with his maturity and professionalism and never let on that he was an army vet paratrooper. These people all moved seamlessly from being students, to just being amazing people who I will miss.

Every year when Dave Johnson, the Bagpiper, begins to play on that crazy instrument, leading the graduates, a strange feeling comes over me. Its like I'm suddenly aware of time passing and that I'm taking too much for granted. My kids are getting older..., this will be the last time I'll likely see most of this PT class..., I'm getting older, and the world is changing. Graduations always have a slight bitter-sweet element, but every year it gets more bitter than sweet. I will miss this class. I will miss people who retire and people who pass away. I will miss Stuart's personality as he slips further and further away from us.  I fear for friends like Daryl and I worry that I have fewer and fewer people that I can call friends.          

 Almost my B-day, just 3 more days.  Hoping that this will be a break-through season and I can be really competitive in triathlons, for a change!  Here are my races so far:

1) Duathlon Nationals, April 20th

2) Steelhead 70.3 June 25th

3) Triathlon Nationals, August 6th.  

That last one is my A-race!  Fingers crossed.  Mad

Chicago Marathon 2022

 Still trying to figure out how I feel about this race. My time was fine, 3:06:... but I never felt really good during the race.  Given the great conditions this year, 50s most the way and then maybe just 60 degrees in the last few miles, I was hoping to go faster. Definitely should have stuck with the 3:05 pace group because I past them at about mile 8 or 9 and then died toward the end.  It was fun showing Carlos Andres around and meeting up with him, Paul and Ozzi race morning! Met an interesting guy completing his 42nd Chicago Marathon.  

Still, glad to be able to be part of this event and finish and race!

 

North Ave Beach Swim 9-1-22

Good way to welcome in metrological fall: really fun swim with Rich in Lake Michigan this AM and got to see the sun rise over the lake!  A chilly 68 degrees and no wet suit so I was FREEZING. But survived.  

Mid-season Burnout

Well, its August 4th today and I'm feeling a bit burned out. I have one more multisport event, the Naperville Duathlon, on Sunday 8/7 and then just the marathon in October. I've had an up and down season so far. Du Nationals was great, then I struggled at the St. Joe's Steelhead 70.3 and went off course at the Wauconda Olympic distance tri. I don't have much else to show for this season. I'm hoping I can find some additional motivation and energy before Sunday's duathlon. One thing that was fun was our vacation in ME. Lots of great hiking around Acadia National Park and amazing views of the ocean. I got in some good runs as well and we had a fun family bike ride at the Schoodic Peninsula. Finished off with a great tour of Boston.