The next easy thing was to set up a training plan. After looking around I settled on signing up for Beginner Triathlete to plan and track my progress toward my goal of finishing the Iron distance event.

Now that I’ve done the easy stuff, signing up and planning my training the real challenge begins!

Training began today with an hour spin session.

• WU: 15′
• MS: Then 10×2′ up a hill at 65-70 RPMS.
  Recover on the downhills. HR on the uphills can hit low Z4.
  Keep HR in Zone 1-2 otherwise.
• CD: 15′

I was almost all the way through my spin when I was doing my last 2′ uphill effort when I shifted into the big ring. As soon as I pushed the lever to get up into the ring the shifter sheared off and flew across the room! Luckily I had already been toying with the idea of swapping the Klien off the trainer and spending more time on the Slice for training.

My events this year are going to be:

• Hampton Half Marathon
• Hyannis Half Marathon
• Cox Half Marathon
• Harpoon b2b
• TransNH MDA
• Quassy 1/2 Iron Distance
• Beach 2 Battleship

This isn’t the final list of my events, just the ‘a’ list events that I’m planning on completing.

The first mile seemed longer then I remembered, but that could have something to do with the amount of weaving in and out of slow people that had seeded themselves in front of me. Dutch caught up with me around mile 2 and I hung with him for a short bit, but he put on the juice and dropped me. The final 4 miles were pretty uneventful, held a comfortable pace and enjoyed the morning.

I had picked up a new set of Brook Revenna’s from Runners Alley the day before and wanted to give them a nice easy break in. I was a little worried about them at first since they seemed slightly more narrow then the ASICS Gel-D’s that I’ve been running in for the past 3 months. The toe on the Brooks is flared more then the ASICS, so it gave my stride a little more kick. I’ll do a full review of the shoes in another post, after I’ve run in them a little more then 6.2 miles.

Both Katie and Dave ended up with PR’s for 5ks!! I haven’t been able to find any shots of them running, but here’s the results for them:

This is a great way to start of the new year! I’m looking forward to the rest of the year!

I signed up for the 10k Lowell 1st run along with a few friends. I ended up having a decent run, came in 52 out of 529 that ran the 10k and 19th in my age group. My overall time ended up being 45:17:43, I’m pretty happy with the pace since I was goofing around a little bit. I set out to just have a good solid run without pushing too hard.

Post race pic of Dutch, Julia, Matt, Lauren and Katie. Bella was also there, just didn’t get her in the pic!

After a weekend of being stuck on the trainer hamster wheel, I took Das Klein out for a 35 mile jaunt down into Billerica and back up through westford. It was a gorgeous day!

I’m in need of a new helmet and a shave.

I rode part of the Harpoon B2B route in Carlisle and came across this sign. I don’t know if it’s specifically for the B2B, but it’s nice to know the police are going to be enforcing the bike laws.

Instead of taking the route with a bridge over the tracks I took one that was level with the tracks, and there was a train. I chose poorly.

It was a great day for a ride! I ended up with 35 miles in just over 2 hours. Not a hard ride, but perfect after a weekend plagued by thunderstorms.

I signed up for the HMEA 5k at the suggestion of a friend. Katie also signed up for the 5k, so we headed down on Sunday for the race. We packed a change of clothes for the post race BBQ, and headed down to meet up with Dutch for the run. The trusty GPS got us to the race site with no issues, easy trip down the highway

We went and picked up our race packets that included T-shirts, Uncle Ben’s Instant Brown rice and our race numbers. I grabbed my bag of running stuff that I keep my race belts in, and went to switch out of my Birks and into my Mizunos. Just to find that I had left my shoes at home!

Okay, I didn’t have time to go home and get my shoes… so I had two options. First option was to not run… I could walk the course in my sandals or just hang out at the finish. My second option was a little more brazen… I could run barefoot.

Truth be told I run once a week in my Vibrams, but never push the pace. I know I can do 4 miles in them, so 3.2 barefoot shouldn’t be an issue. Sure my feet have no calluses but it shouldn’t be THAT BAD?.

I decided to HTFU and just run barefoot. I knew my legs could take it, just wasn’t sure how my feet would react. We lined up at the start, and a couple people noticed my naked feet. I played it cool and said that I was used to running in Vibrams, so barefoot shouldn’t be a big deal. I hadn’t seen anyone wearing Vibrams Five Fingers at the race or any other Barefoot runners . I indulged in a little jumping around and running in place before the gun (musket) went off to keep my heart rate up over 100 bmp. The gun went off and I started running… I had to weave through a few people at the start, I have to admit that as I passed some people running I wondered what they were thinking being passed by an unshod runner. As we made the first sweeping turn out of the office park and onto the road I jumped onto the grass to get off the asphalt for a couple minutes. I kept the lead pack in view for the first mile, but after that they were just to fast. The route had a turn around on it, so I could see those in front of me (and those behind) during the run. At about mile 2 I got passed by a man pushing a stroller and within 1/2 a mile I was passed by the lead woman.

My feet didn’t bother me at all during the race. I feel like I actually ran pretty hard considering the circumstances. I ended up with blisters on a few of my toes and the balls of my feet. Luckily they didn’t rupture during the race and didn’t impeded me from running. I avoided all the glass on route and finished strong. At the finish I had a few people come up and ask about running barefoot. I simply said that I’d forgotten my shoes, but I don’t think they believed me.

I ended up with a pretty decent time, 21 minutes flat, which averages to a 6:45/minute per mile pace over the 3.2 miles. I was 13th out of 30 for my age group (Dutch was 9th in our age group) and 24th overall for the event. Awards were only given to top 3 per age group, so I was out of the running for more bling. But considering that it was my first run barefoot, I can’t complain at all.

Katie did an AWESOME job for her 5k. She set a personal record of 35:58 minutes! She finished strong, despite a killer side stitch.

The sun is starting to be out pseudo regularly, the temperature is fluctuating between 45º and 80º depending on the day, and the waters from the early season floods are starting to recede. All that can only mean one thing, it’s spring time! This also means that I’m in the process of training for a couple charity rides.

This year I’m participating in the MDA Trans NH Bike ride. This 250 mile ride has become a large part of my life, and a weekend I look forward to every year. This year I’m going to add in a personal challenge. For every $100 I raise over $800 I will run a mile after the ride on friday.

This year the ride is dedicated to Marion Stearns. She was diagnosed with Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease in 1990. CMT is a disease of the peripheral nerves which causes weakness and atrophy of the hands, lower legs and feet. This has not stopped her from being the number 1 volunteer for MDA of New Hampshire. Marion started volunteering for MDA in 1997 and has also been a Red Cross volunteer for more than 17 years. She has 4 children, 8 grandchildren and one great grandchild.

Donations to the MDA go towards

• Clinics – expert specialized medical care
• Research – cutting-edge investigation into treatments and cures
• Support – help obtaining equipment and coping with challenges
• Camp – a barrier-free week of fun, friendship and laughter for kid

All you have to do is click here to make a secure, online donation before 06/27/10. Your donation will help families in our community who live with neuromuscular disease. I can’t wait to add you to my list of contributors.

I’ve just signed up for the Groton 10k with a little over 2 weeks to train for it. I’ve been getting some decent maintenance runs in, so I’m not to concerned with it. I’m going to try and run bandit with Katie during the 5k to warm up with her, since it’s well before the 10k run.

I’ve also been recruited by Matt to run 3 legs of the Cape Cod Relay. While at dinner it came out that they also needed an extra driver for a van, so I asked Katie if she wanted to drive a van, and she said “sure”. so May 1 + 2 Katie and I will be slowly making our way from Quincy to Provincetown.

As usual I will be doing the Harpoon B2B followed by the TransNH. I’ve also signed up to run in the Applefest Half Marathon with a bunch of friends.

I haven’t decided which Tri’s I will be peppering into the mix yet. I don’t think I’ll be doing anything over an olympic this season, since I’m putting such a focus on running this year. Also with my unemployment I’ve suspended my gym membership (so no access to a pool). Rest assured that as soon as the waters close to warm enough I’ll be making numerous appearances in my wetsuit!

I got up at 4:40, ate some quick breakfast and drove off to the pool warmed up a little and then was taped swimming. These are the resulting videos of what I call swimming.

I could hide behind the fact that I hadn’t been swimming in a few months, and I only have had a couple hours of actual swim training. The truth is that my body position isn’t that bad, I’m not an uphill swimmer. I have some work to do on my rotation, or more accurately I have to work to get my hips and shoulders to rotate together instead of separately. The first set of workouts I have are focusing on trying to get my rotation sorted out. So far it’s involved a lot of Catch-up Drills and One Arm Drills.

I’ll try to get filmed during the next 12 weeks to show improvement.

I think my training was average for a 1/2 iron and Katie put up with it. She was okay with me getting up at 4am to go swim, and not being home till late due to runs and rides. It took some getting used to, but the new schedule mostly worked. We both made consentions on what we wanted to do. I’m so thankful Katie supported me during all those long days.

My first tri is probably the pinnacle of my wife’s understanding and support. The night before my first tri she had tickets to see Brad Paisley with her aunt in concert in Connecticut  I got up in the morning and drove down the hour to the olympic race. Katie, who’d been out WAY past her bed time and slept over in CT started the hour and a half trek (on less then 3 hours sleep) to Ashland to meet up and cheer me on. At this point I have to point out that it had been raining for about 24 hours and some people had started building arks. As I pulled on my wetsuit at the car to head down to the swim start, Katie showed up with her Aunt and Uncle to cheer me on. They sloshed through the mud (losing shoes) and down to the swim start to cheer me on(and laugh at me when I slipped on the mud). After a horrendous 45 minute swim, I was dead tired. But Katie was there yelling at me to hurry up from under her umbrella. I made it through T1 and on to my bike. The course was a 2 loop course so I would end up seeing Katie again and she was right on the road yelling at me to speed up!! I got back from the bike and switching into my running shoes. I ran out for my 10k to Katie cheering me on with her Aunt and Uncle. As I came into the finish Katie had remembered that she had poster board and markers in her trunk from work. So I came into the finish of my first Tri to a sign saying " Go Joe!!"

So that alone should cinch the 2009 Tri Widow title for my wife, every tri widow puts up with the hours of training, the cranky tapers, and the families ‘where’s your spouse’? inquiries. But the first time Katie went to cheer me on for a Tri was on three hours sleep after a concert, during monsoon season here in New England!

That’s not enough? okay, then… How about the fact that I’m a card carrying member of the "just one more" club? When Katie and I first discussed my decision to Tri, it was a manageable schedule:

• Groton 10k
• Olympic Tri
• Harpoon B2B
• Trans NH Bike Ride
• Half Iron Tri

The schedule quickly grew:

• Groton 10k
• MS 100k Ride
• Olympic Tri
• Olympic Tri
• Harpoon B2B
• Trans NH Bike Ride
• Half Iron Tri
• Cigna 5k
• Mud Sweat N Gears Duathlon
• Manchester 1/2 Marathon
• 10k Turkey Trot

All through this Katie remained supportive, even if she was completely annoyed that I doubled the events we’d planned on.

After all the shirts I’ve earned this year, I think that Katie is a shoe in to win the TriWidow shirt for putting up with a husband who’s not quite right in his head!

Katie and I got up to Manchester about an hour before the race started. The biggest question was what to wear. There were people in ever conceivable clothing combination. I initially showed up in shorts, sweatshirt, and a wool hat. After walking around for a bit, I put on a warm running jacket since it was cold and damp from the mornings rain.

A quick loop around the block to warm up quickly revealed to me that running in anything other then a T shirt would have a negative effect on my run. So I found Katie and ditched my running jacket with her, but kept the light gloves with me to keep my hands toasty.

I knew most of the course from living in Manchester and I was looking forward to running around the old haunts.

I lined up about a quarter of the way back in the pack, and anxiously waited for the gun to go off. The gun went off, and I had to jog until the crowd thinned out. It thinned out pretty quickly, and I was able to get into my rhythm. For the first 4 miles I was suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder, checking my Garmin every 2 minutes to ensure that I wasn’t over pacing and going to blow up later on in the race. Once I passed the 4 mile mark I started to relax into the comfortable speed. There was a band right around the 3 or 5 mile mark that really picked up my spirits, I wish I could have stayed and just hung out with everyone partying on the sidewalk, but I had a couple more miles to run. The course weaved in and out of some residential neighbor hoods, and we got to see people raking, and cheering. Around mile 5 we ducked into Livingston Park for a short trail run. It was really nice to be on soft ground in the trees for a few minutes before bursting out to the crowd that had gathered at the first relay switch point. It was at this point I realized that I’d inadvertently paused my Garmin while pulling my gloves off. No big deal, Just meant my time/distance wouldn’t be accurate while running. As long as I maintained a 8 minute pace I’d be where I wanted to be.

Coming out of Livingston park we crossed the street, ran up and headed left up a slight hill. I ran with a guy doing the full for a couple miles, He was trying to qualify for Boston. Given his pace/age he was well on his way. We trudged up the steepest hill together, and then lost track of each other at the water station.

The last two mile were definitely the hardest. Climbing up Hanover St was grueling for me. As I crested the hill I could see downtown, and mentally I needed that. It was all downhill from here, just a short mile to the finish line! I wish I’d snapped a picture because it was a great sight. I maintained my pace to the last turn, and as soon as I got into the finishers chute I jet it all go, I could see the clock ahead of me and it said  1:44:50, my personal goal was to finish in 1:45:00. No way was I going to let 500 yards and 10 seconds be my downfall! I kicked hard, and only remember two things from finishing. First is my Garmin beeping at me to slow down! I have it set to beep if I break a 5 minute mile. The only other thing I remember is crossing the mats and getting a thermal blanket thrown around me as I was handed a medal.

I’m very pleased with my performance, I was exactly on pace, my final official time was 1:44:50. The real highlight of the day was Sushi after the race with Katie, Tasha, Aaron and Abby!