Over training?

Hmmm... I think I might be over training.... dang! I have been so tired, exhausted really. I guess I got too excited about training and waiting racing season too impatiently with out paying attention to the 'too much'. Even though I have been taking a day off, and sometimes 2, on the other hand there were days I was doing 2 or even 3 work outs... I know.... probably a bit too much. Worse part is I should know better, like all the books, videos, forums, etc say: 'you body will let you know'.... and it did. At least I am not injured... simply feel done! So today and tomorrow will be rest days. Gonna try to run 12 - 13 miles on Sat and hopefully I'll be able to ride on Sun.

Speaking of riding... I still haven't gotten the super tri bike... Bought it at a local bike/tri store called Big Shark, they told me it'll be a couple of weeks until they order it and put it together. If I don't hear from them by next week I'll call.

In the meantime I went ahead and bought some pedals. The Shimano PD-5610:

Pretty cool eh? :)

I also bought a wetsuit, the Quintana Roo Ultrafull Wetsuit - 2008, got the 'Special Deal: Wetsuit Maintenance Kit'. Only thing is the day after I placed the order I got an email from them saying it's back ordered and it'll be 7 - 10 business days. I really hope it fits fine, so I can take it to the pool and try it out... even though I wonder if taking it to the pool the chlorine (and other chemicals) will hurt the material... hmmm.. I'll post that question in the Runnersworld.com tri forum. If you know, please let me know.

Weather.... (course have to talk a bit about it) It's been raining a whole lot, actually it's been pretty bad especially in the south of Missouri. President Bush declared a major disaster in the State, seventy counties including the city of St. Louis are affected by floods... scary stuff! (http://topics.cnn.com/topics/missouri) We have "Flood Warning" which is in effect until tomorrow I believe.

Hope you all are doing good and training and life is good... or better yet: great! :)

And have a wonderful Spring Season!

Cheers,

PC

It's Spring time!

Yup... it's finally here (not officially but, pretty much).... the pool at the gym and spinning classes are getting more crowded. I see more people running and riding outside. The athletes are back in business.... it's racing time!!!

Can't wait to get my new bike and take it out... but I haven't heard from the store. They are putting it together and will let me know when it's ready. So what kind of bike is it? Do I have a name for her? (it's a her, yes)... soon my friends... soon!!!

So finally we have great running weather (50s - 60s)... but of course, tomorrow when I have a race (St. Pat's 5 mile race) the weather is going to be pretty bad. Between 35 - 40 and rain... oh well... it could be worse.

Sunday a friend and I are planning on doing a 40ish mile ride, no rain is expected. Looking forward to it.

Last but not least, there is a tiny chance we (the familia) might go to Cancun in Sept. and yes Dave, if I do I will definitely do the Half Ironman, I know you are training for it. Hope it happens, we'll see.

Ok amigos..... El Fin :)

P

Brick

So yesterday I did weight training (triceps and chest) during my lunch hour and at night I ran 6.2 on the treadmill at the gym, not too bad. The compression sleeves have helped a ton with the shin-splints, thank God!

Today I did 1 hour spinning class and right after that I got on the treadmill and ran 3 miles. Initially I was going to either swim or do weight training (shoulders and back) but at the last minute I changed my mind. I'm glad I did, it felt like a really good work out. I am going to incorporate a brick work out every other week and see how that goes.

So...... I am getting a tri bike after all. Let me tell ya, I have the best wife everrrr! :) I'll give more details on the bike soon.... stay tuned!

Can't believe tomorrow is Friday already, sweet! The weekend should be an easy one. Sunday is my wife's birthday; I think we're going somewhere for lunch. She'll decide where, it's her day.

OMG get this, today I went to register my 5 yr old in Kindergarten!! My baby.... wow... can't believe it. I'm excited for her though, she's looking forward to it. It'll be good for her. It's just kind of weird... in a good way weird.

Later!

PC

Weather...

Yup, I know... haven't been written.... I've been a bit lazy and busy... busy actually! :)

So last week I ran Thursday, Friday and on Saturday I did my long run (14 miles) on a great sunny in the 60s day - for a change. In the afternoon my wife and I went for a 3.1 run in preparation for her 5K race on 03/30, she did great!
Sunday I took my bike out for the first time this year. Did a 17 miler around the area and man, it was WIN-DY! Still felt great to be out there; even though it was really windy the temperature was in the mid 70s.... you can't beat that. You should have seen all the people out: walkers, runners, bikers... everybody enjoying the nice weather.... but not for long...

Here comes the 'funny' thing. After a great mid 70s day yesterday, today the temperature drops down about 40 degrees! I mean, in a matter of hours... and now we have a winter storm warning. We're getting snow over night and we might have up to 10 inches of snow! Crap!!!

So back to indoor working out (at least for me) Today it was 1 hour spinning class... why would the weather be such a teaser??
I am fed up with this.... so, so ready for warm, or at least less cold weather.
I know I talk a lot about the weather but with all this drastic changes and all, wouldn't you too? oh well... enough of that.

I had a good time reading other bloggers’ 7 random/weird facts. I thought it was a cool way to find out more about them... thank you guys for playing!

Have a great week!

PC

Training

Two more days and adios February.... wow, time is sure flying. Spring is just around the corner...finally! that means time to run and ride and do any outdoor activity (at least with out freezing your butt off)

Training has been going pretty good. Last weekend I ran 11.20 miles on Sunday on a not very nice and/or even terrain. There was snow and it was melting, so it was splashy, wet and cold. I went out shooting for a 15 miler but I just couldn't take it anymore and went back home. Still 11 was good.

Monday had spinning at night and then swam 2,100 meters... nice work out. Yesterday I did weight training: triceps and chest. It's interesting how your body works. Before I used to lift 4 - 5 times a week, now I am down to 1 - 2 times every other week! Definitely had to go down on weight.. which is fine, because at this point I'm not really focusing on building muscle but endurance.

Today I took off. I just got back from our St. Louis Triathlon Club monthly meeting. This is my first year as a member. The meetings are pretty cool.... you meet a lot of other triathletes, from beginner to elite guys. The Club people bring water, food and snacks and we talk about up coming races, training sessions and they usually have a guest speaker. Today, there was a coach from Training Bible (which is one of the Club's sponsors) who gave information about their services and up coming events and clinics. Interesting stuff.

Tomorrow I'm planning to do a 5 miler run at lunch and spinning class at night. Friday a 6.2 run again at lunch and probably a 2,000 meter swim at night. The plan for the weekend is Sat 15 mile run and Sun bike ride!! If weather.com is right (crossing fingers) this weekend is going to be nice, Sat high of 50 and Sun high of 59! So, time to get the bike and go out. Can't wait!

Cheers,

PC

The Tagging Game...

I got tagged by 2 of the bloggers I enjoy:
Tracie http://traciestriadventures.blogspot.com/
And, Monica http://trainingtotri.blogspot.com/
Thanks? :Þ

So for the ones who don't know when you get tagged you are suppose to write 7 weird/random things about you and share with other bloggers. Let's see...

1.- A lot of times people spell my name PatrciA or even worse, on the phone and after they hear my voice they go: hello PatriciA.... I swear I have a masculine voice! (by the way it's pronounced like: pah-tree-syo

2.- Speaking of my name... Patrick in English. Patricio is a Roman (Patricius) name and it means "nobleman" in Latin.

3.- In 1993 I met Brazilian: Pelé (Edson Arantes Do Nascimento), the greatest soccer in the history of history.

4.- I have obvserved an autopsy.

5.- In 91 I was in a bad car accident and broke two lower back/lumbar vertebrae (the wings of them aka: transverse process)

6.- My grandfather’s grandfather was the president of Ecuador (South America)

7.- You ready for this one?? I have eaten guinea-pig. Yup, you heard it, or read it well.. guinea-pig. In Ecuador they are called 'cuy' and they are certainly not a pet. In fact they are raised in farms just as cows, pigs and chickens. What does cuy taste like? it's very good actually. If you have ever tried rabbit let me tell you guinea-pig is kind of similar but better. You're probably thinking, THAT is a weird fact..... I see it more as a cultural difference, I mean some people here eat squirrels?? hmmm...

The lucky ones I am tagging are:

- Ellie http://runningandserendipity.blogspot.com/
- Runnergirl http://13point1milejourney.blogspot.com/
- Sarah http://pbj.typepad.com/
- Donald: http://www.runningandrambling.com/
- Sara: http://tri-nyc.blogspot.com/
- Dave: http://tri4freedom.blogspot.com/
- Carrie: http://tritobefunny.blogspot.com/

The rules of the game:

# Link to the person who tagged you.
# Post the rules on your blog.
# Share seven random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog.
# Tag seven random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
# Leave a comment on their blogs so that they know they have been tagged.

Thanks and enjoy!!

PC

Better weather this weekend?

The winter storm was pretty bad. A lot of people worked from home (including myself) on Thursday... The roads were bad, I watched on the news and heard on the radio there were a lot of accidents. It's crazy how people go wild with the snow here... I mean, we get snow every year, people should know hot to drive in it... it's not like it only snows once every 2 - 3 years!

Thursday night I was supposed to go see "Spirit of the Marathon" and unfortunately that never happened. I can't believe this was the second time they were showing it and I missed.... bummer! I wish they will show it like any other movie so I could go see it whenever. I wonder when the DVD is coming out. I went to the gym instead and did 1 hour spinning class.

Yesterday it snowed in the morning until almost lunch time. It was also my rest day. After work Rachael (my wife) and I went to Fleet Feet to get her running shoes. The winner: Mizuno Wave Creation 9. They are pretty cool looking and she loved the way they felt. She also tried the Asics Cumulus 9 (which are the ones I wear and love) and the Saucony, I think they were the Trigon 5s... not so sure to be honest.

This morning we went to the gym and she tried them on the treadmill and apparently they worked. Even though she still had some shin-splint pain, it was less. I think the rest and of course the new shoes helped. We'll see how it goes.
I took the 1 hour spinning class. Carrie, the teacher: rocks! I personally think she is the best out of the 4 instructors... or are there 5? either way, love taking Carrie's class.

This afternoon I'm going to a bike store to get cleats for my bike shoes. I bought a pair of tri bike shoes a couple of months ago and haven't wore them yet, needed the cleats. I have another pair so it wasn't that I needed them right away but I do want to try the new shoes. Hopefully I'll have them ready for Monday for the next spinning class.

The weather is getting better this weekend. It's 37 right now and the sun is out, the snow is melting away and I hope most of it is gone by tomorrow morning when I'm suppose to do a 12 - 15 miler.

That's all folks!

P