Decisions, decisions!

Just finished my Endurance Stage week 2 of 4. Here's what I got:

Mon: Day Off
Tue: 1,850 meters swim
Wed: Weight training - Legs and Biceps
Thu: 1 hr spinning class
Fri: 5 mile tempo run
Sat: Was supposed to do a 3,000 swim but did a 5k race instead (details below)
Sun: Was supposed to do a brick work out 1.5-2 hrs ride followed by a 4-5 mile run. I rode my trainer for 1.5 hrs.

Kinda stinks I had to modify it a bit but sometimes we gotta do it, right?

My wife decided she wanted to run her first 5K on Sat, the: March of Dimes 5k run/walk at Forest Park (St. Louis, MO). We went and ran it together. Me and my 2 daughters ran with her, I had them in my double running stroller. It ended up being a perfect day, awesome weather, lots of people, a well organized race and a great cause. My wife did fantastic, she handled the couple of hills the course had really well, never stopped to walk (not that walking is a bad thing) and crossed the finish line at 30min 40secs! We were so happy and proud of her. As you can imagine she's hooked and the first thing she did when we got back home was get online to look for her next race. We're doing the Race for Miracles 5K in 2 more weeks :)

I know I could have gone to the gym after the race but we had a ton of things to do before 5, when we had a gathering to attend to. We were invited over to our friends' house, The Olmedos for some food, drinks and good company. We celebrated Byron's 35th birthday.

And today we had to go to Illinois to visit some of my wife's family. So instead of doing the brick my training plan had, I quickly installed my CycleOps Fluid 2 Trainer and rode it for 1.5 hrs. I had the trainer for about a week and a half all boxed up since I've been able to ride outside. I liked it and it was a really good work out.

We (the familia) will be going to Cancun, Mexico in Sept. There is a big tri there the weekend we arrive, the Ironman Cancun 70.3 and I am pretty sure I'll do it (or at least I want to). Only thing I'm trying to figure out is the whole bike transportation deal. Thing is, we arrive in Cancun on Fri.... so that part is pretty straight forward, I'll rent a box at my local bike shop, pay the fee for the extra big luggage and take it with me. Now here comes the crappy part... after the race we are staying in Cancun until Wed. and then we are flying from Cancun to a city called Puebla; one of my best friends, Mau who is from Puebla, he is meeting us in Cancun to show us around and hang out with him and his girlfriend. We are going to Puebla to visit his familia and to see the city. The following weekend we are driving from Puebla to Mexico City and flying out from Mexico City back to St. Louis.
I was thinking after the HIM I could ship the bike back to St. Louis (to the local bike shop... at the end there is where I bought the bike and rented the box, they could have the bike put together when I return), so I emailed the Ironman Cancun 70.3 organizers to ask what they suggest I should do, and this guy replied saying that unfortunately they don't have any type of bike shipping companies in Mexico and suggested I should use either DHL, UPS or Fedex.... but man, I think that will cost me mucho dinero... So... should I carry the bike with me the whole trip? how much would that be? decisions, decisions!! I checked a couple of bike shipping websites but none work with Mexico.... I'll see what I can do.

Next weekend I have my first tri of the season.. YES!! and in less than 2 months I have the Kansas HIM... it's approaching fast.

Keep up the hard training everyone, it's finally time to be outside!
Be safe out in the roads.
Later,

PC

Endurance Stage

This past Monday I started my endurance stage training. Here's what I have done so far:

Mon: weight training (shoulders and back)
Tue: 2,000 meter swim
Wed: Rode 32 miles... ON THE NEW BIKE!*
Thu: Ran 5 miles

And for the weekend:

Fri: Day Off
Sat: Swim 2,100 meters and Bike 35 - 40 miles
Sun: Brick 15 mile bike ride immediately followed by a 2 mile run - repeat 3 x

So it's definitely increasing time, longer rides, harder work outs, but it feels good! (so far) The Kansas 70.3 Ironman is in only 58 days!

*So I was finally able to get the new bike out for a ride.... Bought it last Thu and was planning on riding during the weekend but guess what? we had snow this past weekend! -no comment-
But yesterday I went out with a friend from work and we got 32 miles in. It was windy but that was the last thing I was thinking about... I absolute love the bike... it feels just right, it's comfortable.... smooth... fast.... great stuff!

I have my first tri of the year in about 2 weeks, May 4th. It's the Merrill Lynch Race For Sight Triathlon in Columbia, MO. 440 yard swim – 14 mile bike – 3 mile run
Can't wait!

Cheers,
P

Finally!!!

It's been a while but I finally got my new tri bike. Say hello to Patricio's Quintana Roo Seduza:




I still don't have a name for 'her' :) I do have a couple we (the familia) have talked about: Seduza Meduza, Marge, Ruby Red Royal Rider II.... but can't decide yet, so please help. Also, if you have any suggestions, go right ahead!

See, the thing is initially I was going to buy the Cervelo P2C. Over a month ago (03/04) I went to one of the local bike shops in St Louis and left paying half of the full price for the Cervelo. They told me they will need to order it and that it'll take 1 - 2 weeks. Didn't hear from them after 2 weeks so I called.... they said, Cervelo hasn't shipped it but it'll be 1 - 2 weeks. Nobody called me after 2 weeks. Called again and they said Cervelo is taking forever.. that hopefully it will be 1 - 2 weeks. 2 weeks later the St. Louis Tri Club had its meeting at this bike shop. Talked to the guys there and guess what they said? yup, you guessed it.... 1 - 2 more weeks and the bike should be there. O M G ! ! !

Last weekend after I went to the expo for the GO! STL race, I decided to stop at a different local bike shop. Went in and told them the whole story. They said Cervelo is really bad with this type of problems and that is why they dropped them and don't carry Cervelo anymore. They have some QRs, Treks, Litespeeds among others. I saw the QR Seduza.... she looked at me back and it was....love at first sight?? lol hmmm.. well, not sure what it was but I sure liked it.

Anyway, so I told them I'll call the other shop to cancel my order. When I called they told me the bike's been shipped on Monday (this past Mon), I asked how long is it going to take.... they said, the guy who gets the emails with the tracking numbers wasn't there at that moment. I was supposed to get a call from that guy so I can get the tracking number.... never got the freaking call!
I understand Cervelo is bad with shipping bikes... but the bike shop NEVER called me.... if I wouldn't have called, I bet you anything they wouldn't have called me. They never tried to work with me suggesting a different bike (they carry other brands too, i.e. Felt)... nothing, I got nothing. So as a customer I feel like they didn't give a sh*t! Simply as that. And I mean, it's not like I was buying a pair of socks...I mean c'mon, I'm spending a lot money here. That's why I cancelled... don't wanna do business with them.. don't wanna give them my business... and today, this afternoon I bought the QR from my good friends at the other shop: Maplewood Bicycle. Went, got fitted and another happy customer!

I can't wait to get on the QR and ride it.... my first tri (sprint) is in less than a month and the HIM is in about 2 months!!! Can't believe how close it is.

Ok, you must be tired reading all this crap... but it was crap man..... Well, I won't bore you any more, I just needed to vent.

Pace out,

PC

13.1 Race Report

Sun 04/06.- Woke up at 5am, got ready, my friend Elliot picked me up at 5:40am and off we went to downtown St. Louis for the GO! St. Louis race. Got there at around 6:40am, parked at the Union Station parking lot, stopped at the bathroom and literally ran towards the starting line.

I was supposed to meet another friend, Steve, since we had planned to run it under 1 hour 40 minutes. We agreed to meet where the 3:20 pacer will be... I made it there and the race started so I couldn't look for him. Elliot stayed in the back.

The race started right at 7am. Felt absolutely amazing... the weather couldn't be better (upper 40s and sunny) and everything seem to be just right.

Here's my split times (mile/pace)

Mile Pace
1 7:36
2 7:29
3 7:28
4 7:12
5 7:31
6 7:40
7 7:33
8 7:43
9 7:34
10 7:53
11 7:46
12 8:26 -WTF!
13 8:40
14 1:49

Ok... so you're probably thinking: 'nice sprint at the end!'.... I was so mad!!!
As you can see I was doing pretty good towards my under 1:40 goal, I remember checking my Garmin at mile 9 and my avg. pace was 7:34... I though: Great, if I pick up at 11.5ish I'll do awesome.
But right after that, the side of my right knee started to hurt and a few minutes later so did the left one - this is an old injury I developed a little over a year ago. They said I have lateral hamstring tendonitis. Did PT and all, a bunch of hamstring stretching. Stretched religious everyday for a while and then less and less. The freaking thing came back last December while I was running my first marathon in Memphis, TN.... and... it came back again today. So at mile 12 I slowed down and at mile 13 I was even slower... I was pretty disappointed because I was so close but my legs wouldn't go fast no matter how hard I tried. I was running/limping, probably looking like an 88 year old person... I guess the way I ran plus my face could tell it all.... the spectators will go: 'C'mon man, you can finish, it's just a cramp' - 'You're almost there, shake it off!' and I even heard: 'that guy's in serious pain'... and I was!

Crossed the finish line, got my medal, a space blanket, some agua and walked towards the volunteers who were getting the chip of the shoes. Official chip time: 1:42:20.
Stretched a little bit while I waited for my friend and later we came back home.
A recovery drink/smoothie, a couple of fish oil pills, 2 ibuprofens and a nap later I went for a walk with the familia. Then ate and now here I am writing this.

Gonna try to get a 30 min massage tomorrow. It's my rest day too. Plus my training plan has me on an active rest week, perfect timing!

That's all folks!

PC

Almost a year ago...

After last weekend's nasty weather I got pretty sick... stomach bug... yuck! Was out of commission for a couple of days.

Tue I ran 5 miles; Wed was weight training: legs and biceps; yesterday I did the 1 hour spinning class at the gym, then stayed spinning for an extra 25 minutes. Today I swam at the gym (1,500 meters).
Tomorrow I am hoping I'll be able to ride but I don't know if the weather will allow. According to weather.com we'll have temperatures in the low 30s and maybe some rain.
Sunday I have a local 5K race... it'll be cold... great!

My bike.... can't believe I still don't have it! I bought it on March 2!! They told me they need to order it and that it usually takes 1 - 2 weeks. It's been almost a month. Was at the shop on Wed night and they said it's going to be shipped it from Canada in 1 or 2 weeks... hmmm... I've heard that before... we'll see. Hopefully it'll be here soon, can't wait!!

I did get my wetsuit... LOVE IT! It feels just right....perfect! Now I need to find a lake where I can do a few swim practices. I also need to practice taking it off; it'll be interesting doing that during T1.

Next weekend it's my GO! St. Louis Half Marathon... I can't believe it's already here. Last year this was my very first half marathon and big race. It was called Spirit of St. Louis; they changed the name this year. I can remember the whole preparation for it. I did it with Team in Training. Trained and ran it in memory of my mother-in-law Lloyd. I also remember my goal was to run it under 2 hours and I crossed the finish line at 1 hour and 57 minutes. It was such an amazing feeling finishing it, very emotional. I wore a pin with Lloyd’s picture on it; she was with me the whole time. Seeing my wife, my two beautiful girls and my father-in-law at the end cheering for me was just incredible... wow....

I will never forget that first race. Here’s a pic of that day:


This year my goal is to beat my last time (1:41 on Jan 26), so I'm hoping to finish it under 1:40. It'll be hard but I'll do my best. At this point this race is not my A race anyway.... The race I'm focused on and the one I'm training for is in 78 days. It's my first Half Ironman (IRONMAN 70.3 Kansas)... Can't believe I'm doing a half Ironman.... who would have thought?! Would I dare to say maybe I'll try a full Ironman in 2009???? Wait a minute! See? That’s my problem.. I get all excited and start thinking way ahead. Let's go through this race in Kansas first and go from there.

Hope everybody's training hard and smart.
Later,

PC

Where did this come from?!?!

Is that crazy or what? I just took these pictures like 5 min ago.

It snowed in the morning too but after an hour or so it stopped. I had planned on going for a ride with my fiend Shawn. Woke up, walked towards our deck to let my dog Inti out and I was like.. "what the!"

It wasn't expected at all!

Needless to say there was no riding... I was going to hit the gym but I haven't been feeling that great today so I am taking ANOTHER day off. Oh well.. it'll be good for my body to recover and start again.

Tomorrow we are having high of mid 50s.... we'll see.

Anyway, just wanted to share this crazy snowy day...

P

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