OT Training 5.30.14

Today is probably the most intense day of the week for me in terms of training. It is my long swimming and bike day and I stepped it up pretty significantly on the bike and added a little more in the pool.

I started again with my swim and got in 1,000 yards which was 100 more than I did on Wednesday. I pretty much did the same workout as Wednesday except that I added a little more on to the end. I started with an easy 100 freestyle followed by 4 x 3 sets of 50's that went swimming, kicking, pulling, and swimming. After that I went with two 50's of each the kick, pull, and freestyle.

On Wednesday I basically go this workout done in 32 minutes but today I was able to get things done in 26 minutes. I was able to cut some time as I didn't take as long of rests between my 50's. I was taking about 20 seconds between each and that is a good bit less than I usually do. It was good that I did that to bump up the intensity of my workout and left me feeling pretty good about how I am progressing in my swimming. I am still not really able to go in really long distances but I think I am starting to get there and my breathing is getting better and so is my technique. That is important stuff.

The bike ride was a long one. I went on the trail and was ticketed for about 107 minutes of riding. All told I did damn near that long as I rode for 1:48:11 and went for 25.56 miles. That is just a bit over what my race distances is going to be so it was good to see that I was able to get that far.

Since I went a good bit farther it gave me a better look at the elevation. I start my ride in Freeport at the beginning of the trail and go towards Butler. As I have said before the ride to Butler is much more uphill on the way back and all told I climbed about 560 feet before the halfway point and then I started to work my way back.

While I am able to complete the full bike ride after my swimming I still have a ways to go. I would like to cut about 20-30 minutes off my time and get my bike ride portion done in 1:30 or under. That is ideally where I want to be and right now I am not there.

Day off tomorrow then back at it on Sunday.

OT Training 5.29.14

Today was a weight train and run day. The goal for my run was to go between 40-45 minutes. The training plan had me going 42 minutes but as we all know when you go out running you sometimes can't control when you stop, especially when you run out and back.

The run went pretty well. I went on the trail again and even though there was some leftover rain falling I was able to stay dry (from the rain) and made the run in 45:43 and covered 5.68 miles. This was a little bit slower of a run as I completed it with a 8:03 pace but overall I felt pretty good on the run.

I was able to keep a pretty solid pace between 7:50 and 8:05. I was a little better with my pace today and wasn't really going too fast or slow from mile to mile and in the end it made for a pretty good run.

The lift was pretty good. Went with a back and bicep workout and mixed in some different lifts. I can tell it is working because I am pretty tired and sore already. I usually don't get sore until the the next day and the day after that but if things are working then it's cool.

I was pretty wiped out after the workouts though. I took a nap when I got back and then went to run some errands and came back and took another quick nap. Something about me today is off as I am extremely tired. Hopefully that wears off tomorrow as I have a long swim and long bike ride.

OT Training 5.28.14

Today was my medium workout day for both swimming and biking. Since I missed my short day I really tried to push it a little bit and after realizing that I have one less month to train I ramped things up pretty significantly, especially on the bike.

I started off with the swim and did 900 yards today and did the exact same workout as I did for my long day on Friday last week. If you don't remember back a few days I started off with a 100 freestyle for a warmup then did four sets of workouts. I did three 50's of freestyle followed by kicks, pulls, and then finished with another freestyle set. I did each of those three times with two "sprints" and one "easy". I followed that up with a 50 kick, 50 pull, then a pair of 50 freestyle.

Overall it was 900 yards and I felt pretty good. I am still not strong enough to start doing 100 freestyle more than one or two times but my breathing is getting better and I was swallowing less water today. I think for my long day on Friday I am going to do 1100 yards but at minimum I will do 1,000. Increasing by 100 each time in the pool is somewhat of an unofficial goal for me and so far I have been able to do that pretty well. Of course I didn't increase by 100 today but I still got a lot of good swimming in.

After that I transitioned into the bike. My goal today was to go for about 85 minutes which was actually five minutes farther than my long bike was on Friday. Instead of just going on the trail I decided to get some hill work in today and it kicked my ass. My first couple of miles were strictly uphill and while I finished my bike with an average speed of 13 mph the first couple of miles were right around eight or nine which kind of tells you that I was working hills. I thought I was going to have to stop and turn around before I finished a couple of the hills but I was able to push through and get them done which was a nice mental workout for me.

Overall I went 19.68 miles in 1:31:03. I did finish up on the tail after I worked the hills so it was the typical finish that I went about 12-13 mph while I was going towards Butler and on the way back that bumped up to closer to 15-16 mph.

My legs are shot. The Pirates are on. Couch time baby!

OT Training 5.27.14

Today was my first day back to train after three days off. Typically I like to stick to my schedule but I was out of town all weekend watching Seton Hill play in the Division II World Series down in North Carolina. I left on Saturday which is my normal off day and I planned on doing my long run day on Sunday with about a 40 minute run but it was a long Saturday night and SHU played at 1 p.m. on Sunday so there was little chance the run was happening.

Anyways, I didn't get back until 6 p.m. on Monday and after a nine hour car trip there was no way I was going to swim or ride bike. I actually went to bed at 9 p.m. because I was so exhausted.

So, today was my first workout since Friday. It went pretty well considering I had three days off but I kind of had to change my schedule up. I found out that the race I wanted to do in late September wasn't going to work since I had a prior commitment for that weekend so I think I am probably going to have to do something in August. Looking around it seems like my best bet is somewhere in mid-August so that means I will have a month less of training to do.

With that said I just skipped ahead on my four month plan a little bit. Today was my weight train and short run day. I decided to go for a 35 minute run before my weight training. I actually ran pretty well and kept a pretty consistent pace through my run which built off a pretty good week last week.

Overall I went 4.56 miles in 35:02 which comes out to be about a 7:40 pace which was better than last week on my medium day which was about the same as today with a few less minutes of the run. My pace worked pretty well. I started a little slower but after my first mile I really leveled out around 7:35 per mile which is ideally where I would like to be on a day like today.

Then here is my pace/elevation log which is pretty good for my consistency:

My weight training was good, not great. My run had me pretty tired and it was pretty humid so I was tired. I got through a good chest/tri workout but by the end it was time to lay on the couch. That and take a nap. Good day Cory.

OT Training 5.23.14

Today was another swimming/biking day and it was my long day. It took a lot of time to get things done but I think that was in part because I talk to too many people when I am done with my workout and the fact that I lost my car keys after my bike ride. It was an...interesting day.

I started off swimming today. Last week I went with the bike ride first but I wanted to switch it up this week since in the race I will be going from swimming to biking. On Wednesday I got in 800 yards in the pool so today I wanted to get in 900 yards. I am still a ways away from the race so I didn't think I needed to get in 1,000 yet and even thought was my "long" day I think going up 100 yards over the last time was a pretty good advance.

I went with more of a training approach today. Typically I have been just getting in a pool and doing a bunch of 50's and then mixing in some pulls and kicks but today I went with more of a program approach. I started off with a 100 yard warmup and then did three reps of 50's for four different sets. So on the first turn I did 50 freestyles and I sprinted the first two of them and then did an easy swim for the third rep. For the next set I did that with the kicks (so two sprints and an easy) followed by the same with pulls, and finished up with another 50 freestyle reps.

Those were pretty difficult. The swimming freestyle weren't very tough and since I have a pretty strong upper body the pulls weren't bad but the kicks were really tough. My legs still aren't overly strong and when I am doing the leg kicks it feels like I am going an inch every 30 seconds. Finally finishing the kicks was a great feeling.

After I did that I went ahead and did one more 50 of each kicks and pulls and then finished with a pair of 50 freestyle at a somewhat easy pace.

It is really tough for me to know what a sprint and what an easy is. I feel like I am pretty much going the same speed each time. I am sure this will be easier once I get more comfortable in the water but especially on the kicks and pulls it was difficult to differentiate.

Breathing was much easier today. I still had a little trouble staying on my stroke pace where I breathe every three strokes but it was much better than I was on Wednesday in terms of remembering to breathe out when my head is under water. I do need to get better and not swallowing a gallon of pull water through my swims but I think that will come.

Next was my bike ride. I was tasked with going 1:20 and ended up finishing in 1:21:43 and finishing 19.5 miles. I once again did the trail and it went pretty well. I went a lot slower in the beginning but that was because the trail takes a gradual uphill climb when you go towards Butler from Freeport. I finished the first 40 minutes in 8.50 miles but in the last 40 minutes when it was a little further downhill I got it done 11 miles. So I went an extra 2.5 miles on the way back so I had to do a little turning around at the end to make sure I got my time in. This is a little learning experience for my next time out.

The bad part about the bike ride was that I lost my keys. When I go out for a ride I always lock my car and put my keys in a pouch on the bike. I always zip it up because there are a few bridges that I go over and then have some drop offs. Well I thought I had zipped it up and I didn't. Not only did my phone die as soon as I finished my bike ride but I found that my keys had fallen out.

Luckily enough about five minutes later a couple of really nice guys rode by and said they found keys by the one bridge and they put them there in case the person looking for them went back through the course. They were able to tell me the bridge so when my dad come and picked me up he drove me closer to the bridge and I picked up my keys so I didn't have to bike another 10 miles round trip to get them. Small miracles, I guess.

OT Training 5.22.14

Today was a bit of an odd day. Usually I wake up and check some e-mail and eat a little bit of breakfast before I get going (thanks to the fact that I work from home for the time being). In that time I plan out my training and get a timeline of what I am going to do. Today I didn't do that.

I woke up and turned on the TV just to lay in bed for a few minutes and the cable wasn't working right. So I came over to the couch and piddled around a little bit. Today was supposed to be my weight train and medium run day but for some reason I totally blanked on having to weight train.

So I got prepared for my run and went down to the trail to do it. Typically I do my weight train before my run but overall I don't think it is a big deal. It wasn't until five minutes into my run that I realized that I had to weight train. Way to plan your training Cory!

Anyways, the run went really well. It wasn't overly long (32 minutes) but one of the things I have been preaching here the last two weeks was how I wasn't able to keep a consistent pace. Today I was able to do that. It shouldn't be something that I am overly proud of but after the run when I looked at my milage splits I was really happy. It took a real effort during the run to keep myself around the same pace. There were times that I found myself going way too fast and had to slow down but it was probably one of my best runs in some time in terms of consistency.

Here is the pace chart from my run:

Hopefully I can take this and continue it but it is going to be hard to do. I guess we will find out on Sunday for my long run if it comes true. I was able to keep going the entire time and not blow through all my energy at the beginning and then try to catch up the second half and forcing myself to stop. It's a small step but a step nonetheless.

It was a little warm for the run, but it wasn't bad. I started the run around 8:30 or 8:45 a.m. so it was about 60 degree out. As the run went on it got pretty humid and it was noticeable by the end of the run.

Weight training was pretty good. I did back and bi today and the only real snag was that my shirt was pretty soaked from my run so I had to use the oversized long sleeve shirt in the back of my car to workout in. It wasn't overly bad but I wish I would have prepared better with an extra shirt to lift in after the run.

I was able to get some gains on my lifting and if I didn't I stayed around the same. Next week I am changing my workout around since I do that every three weeks.

OT Training 5.21.14

Today was my medium day for my bike and swim workouts and while I have done there a little staggered through the day I went back-to-back from bike to swimming today. It worked out pretty well as my bike was a lot better than I thought it was going to be and my swim was pretty good. I was able to push through some tiredness and increase my swimming over 150 yards from Monday which is about what I expected to do.

I was tapped for a 64 minute bike ride today and I wanted to get a little hill work in today to see how my legs responded and it was better than expected. I took nearly the same route as I did to start my ride on Monday and instead of heading back to my starting point I headed into town (Freeport) and down to the trail to finish my ride. This was a little more downhill of a ride than I was anticipated but I finished 16.19 miles in 1:05:26 which was around the same milage I had for my long day last week only I finished it in about 10 less minutes.

I think some of that had to do with how downhill it was, but I was really strong on the hills that I did do and I was able to hold in some of my higher gears for much of my ride. Here is my speed/elevation map:

As you can see it was mostly downhill with some hills in there. It seems like I did more uphill work at the beginning but even though the graph doesn't show it I think I had some good work. I think this will push me more next week to try and get some tougher hill work in and see where I really am on my short and medium days.

My swimming workout came right up next. Took me about 15 minutes to get from the end of my bike ride to the pool so it gave my legs a little bit of a rest. I have only swam three times so far in the workout plan and things have been going pretty slow. I was pretty happy with my pool workout on Monday so I wanted to push it a little more today.

I have mostly been working 50 freestyles in my workouts but today I wanted to try and get some 100's in. I was able to start my workouts with two 100's. It was pretty difficult. I am still trying to get into a groove with my breathing and if I slip up a little on one of the legs of the work it can leave me catching up to try and get my breathing right.

Anyways, I wanted to try and get one more 100 in but I just didn't have it in my. I finish up my freestyle workouts with six more 50's. In between I would walk halfway down the pool and back as some recovery and then go right away. I was pretty spent after this but it gave me a really good base workout.

I think went with some kick board and pull work for my legs and arms. I alternated between doing kick board and doing pulls for two times each and finished out with one more pull (so I did two kick boards and three pulls) since I wanted to get a little bit more work with my arms. I finished the workout with another 50. I wanted to finish with two 50's but I was spent.

Overall that gave me 800 yards today after doing 650 on Monday I got all of this done in 25 minutes which was a little short of what I was supposed to do but I think in the pool it is more important to focus on distances than it is on time. This 800 included a couple of 100's so I think that is a pretty good step for me. Hopefully going to get in 1,000 on Friday for my long session.

OT Training 5.20.14

Today was a weight workout day followed by my short run day. All-in-all it was pretty boring and not much to say.

I went with chest and triceps today and it went about as well as it could. I actually went a little heavier with the weights today. I think next week I might go heavier weight since I haven't done that in a while.

I took a short run today. I was pegged to go for 24 minutes and when it was all said and done I ran 3.08 miles in 23:57. This was a good run since I kept a pretty good pace. As you know I have a horrible habit of coming out of the gate too fast but today I really tried to not do that.

It was a little weird as I started off with a 7:36 pace in the first mile, followed that with a 7:57 pace in the second mile, and finished the final 1.08 miles with a 7:42 pace. I was a little surprised that my second mile was that slow but I was really glad I was able to get back into a good pace for the final mile. That is really my goal is to be able to be more consistent and finish strong and I did that today. I didn't go all out at the end since it was my easy day so I think things went well.

What It Means To Feel Proud

You see it talked about a lot and sometimes I don't know what it means. When people say they are proud for things. It could be an accomplishment that they achieved or something a family member or friend did but I think maybe the meaning is a little different for everyone. I think people kind of brush off people being proud until something happens that makes them proud. That was me this past weekend.

As you know I was a baseball player for Seton Hill University. Going to SHU was somewhat of a big deal, not that I was there but that males were there. I was a part of the second ever male class at SHU and in my first year in the fall of 2003 I was a part of the first ever baseball team on campus. Our first year it was just a bunch of freshmen and a couple transfers and despite thinking we were really good, we really sucked. We had liked 17 wins all season and blew. The next year we got better and won 27 games and made our conference tournament. We got swept in the first round, but it was a building block.

Fast forward to my junior year. Things clicked. We won 45 games and hosted our regional. We swept the regional, won the super regional and were one of 10 teams to play in the NAIA World Series in Idaho. It was really a surreal feeling and something that I never forget. That was probably the proudest moment of my life and here eight years later I don't think I have accomplished anything that makes me as proud as that moment.

After my junior year when we went to the Series the athletic department at SHU made the decision that they were going to move to NCAA Division II. It was the right move to make but on a team that was all juniors and that just came off a season where we won 45 games we would not be able to do it again. My senior season meant nothing in a sense. We were not eligible to make any postseason and were not eligible to play for a World Series berth in the NAIA or NCAA. It was somewhat of a guy punch, but it is what it is.

Since the move to Division II Seton Hill has been an outstanding program. This year marked the fifth straight season that SHU has made the NCAA Regional Tournament and after losing out in the regional championship last season they came back and swept through the regional this season.

The championship game was this past Sunday and while I couldn't watch it anywhere I was able to listen to it on the radio. I don't know many players on this team but I do know some of the coaching staff and as an alumni it is still really important to me to follow what I had a part in starting. Seton Hill won the regional championship game 3-0 and as the bottom of the ninth came (SHU was the away team) I just couldn't help but get chills. I remember exactly what that feeling is like. The dog pile after winning and the surreal feeling knowing that you are one of a handful of teams still playing baseball.

This is where the pride comes in. This is much more than a baseball team I played for. This is a family to me. I might not know a lot of the players or parents now but I gave everything I had to that program and to see them carry on the legacy that we started in 2003 means a lot to me. To be able to say that I am a Griffin Baseball alumni is something that I am incredibly proud of and something that nobody can take away from me.

I have no idea what the World Series will hold for SHU. Back in 2006 were lost both of our games and even though they turned out to be close it hurt not to win at least one. But here is the thing, you get there and you have a chance. Seton Hill has a chance to win a National Championship and only seven other teams have the same opportunity. It doesn't get better than that.

I couldn't be more proud of that team than I was on Saturday and that I am right now. I am not sure people will even understand this but at some point everyone has something they are proud of. This is one of the things that is at the top of the list for me.

OT Training 5.19.14

As I talked about yesterday, today is my first day of the four month training cycle I am doing to complete my Olympic Triathlon at the end of September. Today I went back to the original plan which put my easy bike/swim day today.

The bike portion went better than I thought I was going to. This had me going for 48 minutes and I ended up finishing 11.55 miles in 49:40. I cut back on the hills a little bit but still biked at some elevation and it went much better than last time. Last Monday I rode nearly the identical route I did today and it was much easier this time around. I don't know if it was the fact that I got used to biking or that I figured out what my pace or figured out my gear shifting but it was good.

I knew it was an easy bike day and after going pretty hard for my long bike day on Friday and going pretty hard on my long run yesterday I needed to keep it light so I finished out on some more flat surfaces. I started with some decent hills and finished with two smaller ones so I think it was a nice mix of keeping things easy while still getting in a little bit of a hill workout.

Overall I was really please with the bike workout. The problem I have a little bit is setting up my routes. Around where I live now I have a lot of hills and while I think that is good I need to find some more flat surfaces that I can ride on and not have to put my bike in a car and take it somewhere. I think I can still explore a little bit but that is something I have found on my biking routes as well as my running routes.

My swim today was slated for about 25 minutes and I think I got around that mark. The thing about me is that when I go somewhere to workout I like to pretty much keep to myself. When I am in the gym or running I have music in and I like to get into the zone. It's not that I don't like to talk to people, because I do, but when I want to workout I want to get in and get done.

The pool is a little harder to do that since I don't swim with music and since I go in the middle of the day there typically aren't too many people there so if there is someone there we usually strike up conversation. I wanted to try and keep on a schedule of how much rest I gave myself between my 50's and that worked for a little while but then I struck up a conversation with a guy that was in the pool. Not a big deal, he was a great guy and talked to me a little about my technique so it was good. That being said I have no idea how long I swam for.

I think it was probably close to 20 minutes which is decent, but with swimming I go on more the distance than the time. I started off with eight 50-free's then did two 50's of pulls and then two 50's of leg kicks. To finish up I did another 50-free to finish off. This was my swimming easy day so I think 650 yards was pretty good for the day. The kicks were hard. Real hard. The first 25 is alright but on the way back my legs are on fire and it feels like I am not going anywhere.

Just like the bike I felt a lot better in the pool this week than I did last week so that is progress. Easy 25 minute run tomorrow.

OT Training 5.18.14

Today was my first day back on the training after an off day. The way my schedule worked out Saturday was my complete off day and I spend that time seeing some friends and drinking some beers.

I was back at it today and since I wasn't really home much at all today I didn't get to do my run until 6:00 p.m. I actually had a pretty rough weekend so I wasn't overly focused on the run but I knew I had to do it since it was my long run day. I was tasked with going 40 minutes. Typically my long run days are between 60-75 minutes but with as much biking and swimming I am doing I am using a lot of my legs so I have to try and stick with this plan.

To be perfectly honest the run today was shitty. I got in 41:56 and went 5.09 miles. It was a little short of what I wanted to do but like I said I wasn't really in the right mindset for it. Once again I started out the run way too fast and by the three mile mark I was pretty spent. I spent the rest of my run trying to pace myself but I was already way out of it.

I think what I am planning on doing is repeating this past week's workout. The race I plan on doing is exactly four months away and I am working off a four month program so I am going to use this week to get into the groove and see where I am at and I think I have a better gauge. I think starting this week I am going to stick closer to my program in terms of how much time I train on a per day basis so this is a good start.

Back at it tomorrow.

OT Training 5.16.14

This was my first day of the long training in my program and since I switched things around it was only going to be a bike day. In my previous two bike workouts I focused on getting some hills. My legs were not appreciative of that. Today I wanted to bike from 70-90 minutes depending on how I felt and I figured to do that I wanted to get some level ground to cycle on so I went down to the Freeport/Butler trail to get some riding in. Really level ride that would let me stretch it out.

Overall I got in 16.26 miles in 1:14:30 and it was pretty good. It wasn't overly flat but there weren't necessarily hills. I went anywhere from an elevation of 871 feet to a height of 1299 feet but it wasn't all that bad. My legs were really tight and sore at the beginning of the bike. One thing I absolutely have to do is to start to stretch before I ride. I never stretch before anything but with as much as I did this week I think it would probably be in my best interest to do so. I probably still won't, but I should still try.

At the beginning of the ride I was really weak. My legs were tired and I wasn't all that into it but I know I needed it to get it done. One of the things that really helped my on my ride was gearing up on my bike. Having my legs not feel as well I started pretty low on my gears but I realized I needed a little more. I geared up one or two and I was able to really push myself for a more effective ride. I know that seems like a "no duh" thing to do but I didn't do it.

For my first six miles I was riding between 11-12 mph but after I started to gear up I held it around 15 mph for the next seven miles. That got me to 12 miles and I still had a little more time to ride but I really hit the wall. I think the 70 minute mark was it for me and the final two miles on my ride were really tough. I knew I had to push through it and I did which was what I wanted.

A lot of this working out is mental. I know it is physical too because I physically have to do it but being able to push myself through the tough times is really important. When I finally get to the race I want to be able to push through that tough portion in the middle and get over the hill and pushing myself past the point I think I can go during the training will get me on the path to that mental toughness.

Pretty happy with the workout today and this will lead into a great off day tomorrow.

OT Training 5.15.14

Today was a weight train day and a swim day. Went into the gym and got a pretty good back and bi workout. I try to change my workout every three weeks because I found that the fourth week I start to decline so I try to keep things fresh so I am always improving. It works for me and it is something I have gotten used to.

Anyways, some good gains today since this is the second week of my current workout. I don't do a ton on my lifting days, but I want to make sure to work the muscle groups. I typically go two exercise for each body ground (so today it was two exercises for the back and two for the biceps) and do three sets between 10-15 reps each. I do not want to get big, I want to stay a little more lean and not get big where I can't do some things.

I then went to the pool to get my swim in. With this 3x balanced schedule that I am doing it gets a lot of stuff in during the week. I am not overly sure if I am going to be able to get three days each of the swimming and biking in so some weeks I might only get two workouts in. I think this is going to be a week I get only two days in the pool since I am going to get my long bike day in tomorrow and then have Saturday off before my long run on Sunday.

With that said I wanted to get a little more done in the pool today. On Tuesday I got a total of 400 yards done and today I was able to get 650 yards so I think that was pretty good. Overall it took up 27 minutes and I did 10 50-yard freestyle followed by two 25-yard kick boards and finished with two 50 yard pulls. The pulls are where I only use my arms and do not kick. I think I might try to do this a little more during my workouts to save my legs. I will be doing a good bit of running and biking and will all the hills I am trying to do early I think saving my legs a little bit in the pool might be a good bet.

Overall the swim wasn't too bad. I still had some trouble with my breathing but I was able to focus a little more on that after my first couple 50's. I also tried to slow my pace a little to focus a little more on form and using my legs. I noticed on Tuesday that I wasn't using my legs as much on my 50's and if I want to be successful I have to start doing that. So I slowed down a little bit to work on that and in the end I think it was pretty beneficial for me.

I came home and I took a shower and I still smell like the pool. That sucks. Stupid pool.

OT Training 5.14.14

Today was my medium run day. My schedule said that it should be about 32 minutes (the schedule I train off of in in minutes, not mileage. It is probably better that way but still not something I am used to) and I finished right around that time. My easy run day on Monday went 21 minutes so this was a good spot to be in for my middle day of the week running.

I ran by my parent’s house, where I usually run, and I went 4.28 miles in 32:18 for a 7:33 pace. Overall I think that is a pretty good pace and run for me but I still think it leaves a lot to be desired. I talked earlier in the week about how I am pretty bad with my pacing and today I really wanted to try to focus on that. I thought I had done a pretty good job but, I didn’t:

What this has me doing work working way too hard early and then fading late. Here is my elevation/pace map from my run:

Right around the 19 minute mark (2.6 miles) I slowed way down to a walking pace before I finished up. I did that one or two more times towards the end of the run. It’s wildly frustrating. It doesn’t look bad in the overall view because my fast start covers up my points where I need to slow way down, but it isn’t really the way I want to run.

Overall it was a pretty good run for me. Still not where I wanted to be considering how much I have run but I am still trying to get used to incorporating swimming and biking into my workout week while cutting back some of my running so I think it will take a little time to get acclimated.

Later in the day I realized that I kind of messed up. Typically with the 3x balanced workout I have one day totally off and then I work everything around it. The tough part was the way I wanted to do that workout. It has me doing bike/swim on Monday/Wednesday/Friday and then running Tuesday/Thursday/Sunday with Saturday being my day off. This didn’t include the weight workouts I wanted to do which is twice a week so that is another little rub that I have to account for.

This is obviously moveable and I planned on doing that. I went bike/run on Monday since I wanted to brick that to get the feeling of the transition. I then wanted to swim on my weight train days which was Tuesday/Thursday. The problem is I really didn’t know where I was going to put my middle bike workout.

Today I could have either went back-to-back with my weight workouts since I was going to do back and bi but I opted to go for my bike ride. I think this was somewhat of a mistake.

My legs were still pretty tired from my run and this was slated to be around a 55-60 minute bike ride. I wanted to do some more hills again so I went on a route that I haven’t been on since I played little league baseball. I know that because it goes past the field that I played little league baseball on.

Anyways, there were a lot more hills that I thought there were going to be and with the run I did earlier it did not make the bike easier. I was hoping to get 10 miles today and around 50 minutes but I ended up getting 8.53 miles in 43:30. This was a struggle of a bike and I think next week I am going to have to rearrange how I do things until I get into better biking shape. This sucked.

OT Training 5.13.14

Today was a weight train day and I coupled that with a pool workout. I have been weight training for some time so this was nothing different. Worked chest and triceps today and it was a pretty good workout. I also did some core work at the end but again, that is normal.

I am used to doing about 20 minutes on the elliptical, 15 minutes spinning, and then 3-4 miles running after my weight training days but with my workout plan I scrapped all of that for the sake of not burning myself out. It was weird because I am used to being at the gym and doing cardio for 90 minutes or more but I was able to get in and out in less than half the time.

After the gym I went to the pool. It has been a really, really long time since I have done that. I am a fairly good swimmer but I think I underestimated how out of shape I was swimming wise. Being my easy swim day I wanted to just get used to things. I did six sets of 50-yard freestyle swims and then followed that with four sets of 25-yard kick boarding. I call it kick boarding but basically it is my holding a floatation board and just using my legs to get down the pool.

The swimming was hard, I am not going to lie. I really have to get used to breathing in the pool and keeping it constant. I felt myself trying to hold my breath too long and that just made things a lot worse. I guess this is a live and learn experience.

OT Training 5.12.14

Monday was my first workout day for my triathlon training. I talked with a buddy of mine who is training for an Ironman in August and he gave me some good tips so I was ready to go. Typically Monday’s are my weight training days but I mixed this up a little bit. I went with a bike/run combo today.

As I said before I have not biked in some time. My goal on my short days is to work a good bit of hills to start to get my legs strong. I am not overly sure what race I am going to do but I have to prepare for the possibility of that race having hills. This is my short day so my bike ride covered 8.89 miles in 40:57.

The bike course was pretty hilly at the start but leveled off at the end.

I figured since this was my first time on the bike I should make it difficult but make sure I could finish. I was pretty happy with my results.

Once I finished the bike ride I went straight into the run. My buddy was telling me that I should try to work on the transitions when I can (swim to bike or bike to run) since those are things that you need to get a feel for. He said that the bike to run was a pretty tough transition to get used to so I think I am going to stick to doing that pairing on my easy days.

The transition was tough. I had a pretty good bike run and went I went to run my leg felt pretty rubbery and weak. It only lasted about 100 yards or so before I could settle in but I was glad I did that so I could get the feel for what it would be like.

This was my easy run day so I wanted to keep it under three miles and around 20 minutes. I ended up going 2.81 miles in 21:42 which checks in at a 7:43 pace.

I struggle a good bit with pace. I always start out too fast and I did it again this time. My first mile was at a 6:55 pace which is way too fast for my easy day. I would like to keep it around 7:30 – 7:45 but I have to really work on starting slower so I can finish strong. My last 1.8 miles were pretty good as I was a steady eight minute mile so next week I am going to have to focus on slowing down at the beginning.

All in all it was a good workout. I have to make sure to take my easy days easier. That is partly a recovery day because my long workouts come at the end of the week so I will have to keep my mind open to that since I don’t want to burn out.

My Workout Goals

If you follow me on Twitter you know I work out a good bit. Not because I like it, but because it is a stress reliever and it is something to do. When I played sports growing up I never really got into that much and now that I am not longer playing I am more into it. Somewhat ironic in my eyes, but it is what it is.

While working out has got me into pretty good shape (lost 40-50 pounds over the last few years) there was still no end game. I wasn’t training for anything and while I run enough to be able to compete in some 10k’s or half marathons I have always had a hard time committing to a race. Once I got back to Pittsburgh I was able to really focus in on something since I know I am going to be around (which I didn’t know while I was in Wisconsin since I was applying for jobs while I was there) so I can finally get my teeth into something.

Last year I wanted to do a half triathlon. It is very challenging and it would focus me in on training and getting ready for something. Well, I knew I was going to be moving back to Pittsburgh and with the winter bringing weather in the -30’s (that is negative thirties) most days that was just impossible. Late start to training means that I have to scale back what my expectations are.

I wanted to start doing a half triathlon but Olympic is going to be plenty challenging for me. The difference is that a half triathlon is a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride and 13.1 mile run. The Olympic is less than that with a 0.93 mile swim, 24.8 mile bike and 6.2 mile run.

I am already able to do the run portion as my long run days (either Friday or Saturday) I am able to get 8-10 miles in at a pace around 8:15/mile. I have not rode a bike or swam maybe since high school so this is going to be a pretty big challenge for me. That is what I want though. I want something that is going to push me and I think this is going to be it.

A majority of the writing here are going to be daily updates on my workouts and where I think I am. At the start I am going to be doing a 3x balanced workout. That means I will run three times a week, swim three times a week, and bike three times a week. I will also throw in two days of weight training.

That seems like a lot of working out but before I start this I am running five days a week, weight training two days a week and mixing in other cardio after my weight training so this shouldn’t be too much different for me.

The way my workouts are set up this month I am doing my easy days for all three areas on Monday/Tuesday then my moderate days on Wednesday/Thursday then my long days on Firday/Saturday/Sunday with one of those days on Friday/Saturday/Sunday being a day off.

Any suggestions any of you have that might have done something like this before or suggestions on workout tips please let me know. I am open to anything. This is an adventure I am taking for the first time and hopefully it is a successful journey.

Welcome To My Blog. The Introduction.

Hello everyone. For those of you who know me my name is Cory. For those of you who don’t know me I am the hack that runs a Pittsburgh sports blog over at Three Rivers Burgh Blog. This is not a sports blog. If you want to read my thoughts on any number of sports topics you might want to pop over there and check it out but this is not going to be that space. This is more a personal space for myself to talk about random stuff I have going on. I have never been overly open about my personal life over at TRBB because that really isn’t the place for that. I have met a good number of people that have followed me through the years and it is a pretty rewarding experience. I guess this is just a way to let people know a little more about me away from that medium.

Turns out that my life is more than sports. Sure, a big chunk of my life is sports but that shouldn’t make me who I am. It did mold who I am, however. From a young age I was always into sports. You name it and I probably played it. I was fortunate enough to get a scholarship to play college baseball on a wildly successful team and that opened the door for me to graduate from college and continue my education at graduate school.

Since college I have done some pretty cool things. I was able to get my MBA paid for by working as a graduate assistant and after graduate school I landed a job in Alaska working for the University in Fairbanks before moving to Wisconsin to continue my professional life. Those are some experiences that I never thought I would get to do and while they took me away from my family and friends they were rewarding experiences.

Now here we are. After almost six years way from away from home, where the only person I knew was six hours away. This didn’t mean that I couldn’t have friends, because I did, but sometimes you just need to be around people that you can bullshit about that time you were at a party and did something dumb. You need the people around you that you can reminisce with. I knew I wasn’t going to be in Wisconsin for the rest of my life so it made things that much harder.

Now I am back in Pennsylvania. I am almost without a job and while I am interviewing it is wildly scary at the thought I might not have a job. I knew that was a possibility when I left my last job but as the time is getting closer to needing a job it is becoming more and more stressful. The job market isn’t the easiest but that was a chance I took. Things can still play out the way I want but the waiting it tough.

Since I have been home I have been working remotely until they hire my replacement and have him in place. That has been nice to still have a job and give me some more time, otherwise I would be a lot more stressed out.

That is where I came from and this is where I am at now. In some sense I have no idea what I am going to do with the rest of my life. At 28 (almost 29) I feel like I should have an idea, but I don’t.

Anyways, that is kinda the overview of me. I have no idea how much I am going to write on this or what is going into it. I am starting to train right now for an Olympic Triathlon (or half triathlon, not sure which) so this will probably be an area I can come to with workouts and use this as a medium to keep me motivated and accountable to someone since I train alone. As things come up I might be back.