PhillyTRIguys

Welcome Home Nate.

6-27

40 minute run following yesterday's 20 minutes on the bike and 20 minutes running. The knee felt better today and here's to hoping it stays that way. Last doc appt. ended with: "It won't get worse than this, it'll feel like it does now or it'll just sorta snap." Poetic.

Working on breathing rhythm. Trying to create a constant rhythm for both the bike and the run.

I didn't get to see Spain trounce Russia yesterday, but I'm still flabbergasted by Germany's ability to always look like the worst team on the field while being continually successful.

Combo

I love my bike

Last night was a wonderful bike right along Kelly Drive. There is something about being in a really busy city and just being able to escape a little bit and enter a great park. It is a little slice of heaven.














Along the Skuykill river, there are two roads on each bank, that run parallel, Martin Luther King Drive on the West Bank and Kelly Drive on the East. Very nice wide sidewalk perfect for running and biking. It is like an urban oasis that many city dwellers propagate in the mornings and evenings to get their daily work out in. Needless to say, it gets pretty crowded.

Above is a picture so you can see the little map. It's not really great but you get the idea. Come sometime and I will show you around.

Biking felt really great. I am really learning to get a good control of this weightless machine below me and have even figured out how to shift gears without killing myself....almost...

16 miles and I felt like I could go forever. It was really great and feeling the wind rush by was a perfect end to the evening.

I was going so fast that this was all that could be captured of me.... wooosh.



















Cheers,
e

NATE...

... has not been running for over a week due to the crazy heat and lack of proper training facilities and whatnot here in Florence.  

there.  i came clean.  

good talk.

7 things

In no particular order...

Hate:

1. The sound of my feet as they hit the treadmill. Seriously, I sound like I weight a metric ton. (I am not really sure how much that weighs...could be true)
   
   
2. If I run with my iPod, the headphone cord always flops around and hits me in the face. Attempts to put behind my neck or keep it secured have been futile.
   
   
3. Sweat. In....my...eyes
   
   
4. Twig girls that look like they haven't eaten in 3 weeks running by me. You look like death. Nobody likes you.
   
   
5. Cars. Ok... I see you. I'm not going to run into traffic in front of you. I don't need you to honk or like swerve off the road. We will all be okay.
   
   
6. Blisters. Enough said.
   
   
7. People trying to talk to me while I run. I can barely breathe. I don't need to talk to you right now. See ya in a couple of minutes.
   
   

Love:

1. When I have a great song on and I instinctively run faster and smoother. Now if I can just those in my head because no iPod for the race.
   
   
2. When all the noise fades away and I can hear nothing but my breathing. At that point, I could run forever.
   
   
3. The momentum when I stop running that seems to continue to push me forward. It is like the rest of the world catching up with me. Not that I'm fast... at all.
   
   
4. Feeling accomplished at the end. No better feeling.
   
   
5. Every time I am running, I picture the end of the race. And you are there. And you. And you. And finally you.
   
   
6. Running by the river is so beautiful and makes me feel like I am home, even though I am in a big city 3 hours away.
   
   
7. Hanging up my shoes and getting ready for the next run. Going over the run in the shower and planning for next time.

Progress!

Ah... what a difference a little rest, running shoes and an ipod makes!

Ran yesterday in actual running shoes, with an ipod, and not knackered after soccer training.  The difference was unreal!

Planned on doing 4 miles easy but that quickly changed as i took off like a bat out of hell and decided to do 2 miles fast.  Came through the first mile at 5:20, my fastest time in years, and finished the 2 miles in 11:17.  I've been able to run the mile itself in under 6 minutes since my early high school years, but i've always struggled to get my 2 mile time under 12.  Breakthrough!  Its nice to know that my 5k time is definitely under 20 minutes now!

The song "Someday" by Flipsyde provided the PERFECT cadence... give it a whirl. 

My goal for the Finger Lakes Triathlon is to do better than i did two years ago.  That being said... if i don't come in top 5 this year, i'll be disappointed. :)

This Experience...

Trust me, it's paradise. 

This is where the hungry come to feed.  For mine is a generation that circles the globe in search of something we haven't tried before. 

So never refuse an invitation. 

Never resist the unfamiliar. 

Just keep your mind open and suck in the experience... and if it hurts, ya know what?  It's probably worth it.   You hope and you dream, but you never believe that something's gonna happen to you.  Not like it does in the movies. 

But when it actually does... it lasts forever.

This....is...sweet...

Breathing

So I have been sitting here for about 20 minutes trying to think of what to write.

I ran tonight for 3.5 miles straight. No stopping. No walking and at a fast pace. It burned like hell and my knees felt like they were going to explode, but I did not stop.

Now I am sore and I feel GREAT.

There will soon be a PhillyTriGuys logo. I am in the midst of designing it. Look for apparel soon. Haha

Nate comes back to the country at the end of the month and then it all becomes real. 3 guys in the same country working towards this great goal. We might all be at different levels of training and fitness, but we are united in our support for each other.

We are doing this together and it will be glorious.

September 21 can't come soon enough.

“Samurai cannot fight without their swords,” Mimura said. “It is the same for runners and their shoes.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/11/sports/olympics/11shoes.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Hopefully, these will shave about 2 hours off of my time...


Just watched the NBA Finals... and I thought Italian soccer was rigged!

Euro 2008 Begins

Sorry for the lengthy absence, but I'm back now.

20 minute run in 100 degree heat yesterday felt great. Soccer on Sunday in 98 degree heat took a lot out of me but the run was doable. Quads currently tight. Biking indoors today.

Spain just beat Russia 4-1 behind a David Villa hat trick. This brings up the question I've been asking for a few years now: Why don't Liverpool make a run at Villa? He has been consistently healthy and he has 58 goals in 101 games for Valencia. Last summer, the $100 million price tag on Villa was off-putting. Now, Valencia are trying to offload players and reduce payroll. Villa can be had for between $17-20 million. And this dude loves Fernando Torres. And Fernando Torres is Beardless Jesus as far as Reds fans are concerned. Why not partner the two up top?

I am serious when I say that Liverpool really is two or three big signings away from competing with Manchester United and Chelsea. We think we're close, but we're not. Even if Ronaldo leaves for Madrid and Drogba leaves for Milan, Liverpool needs to make some huge leaps forward to challenge for the league title. For a midfielder, there are few things more frustrating than playing with strikers who don't like each other. They don't make runs off each other, they don't thrive off each other's energy, and they don't trust each other's abilities. For as good as Torres was last year, he was playing alone up top because the Reds had no strikers that he trusted. Torres and Crouch looked confused, Kuyt was in the way, and Voronin... yeah. (Side note: I am also advocating Ryan Babel as a striker. This kid needs to play up top. Now.)
(Sidesidenote: I also said we should buy Sneijder last summer before he went to Madrid. He played sorta OK yesterday. Half-volley goal included.)

Nate, sorry for the injury. Hopefully you're spirits are higher than the rest of the people in Italy who are probably shellshocked after that spanking by Holland.

Combo

Running on hold.

Due to a series of unfortunate events that ultimately led to me pulling my left hamstring in a soccer match, any running that I previously planned on doing prior to my return stateside will have to be postponed.

Awesome.

Nate makes it official as well.

Despite the bleak status of my bank account, yesterday I finally registered for two of the final three races I intend to compete in this season.  So officially, the line up is this:

Aug 24: Livestrong 5k - Philadelphia, PA

Sept 21: Finger Lakes Triathlon - Canandaigua, New York

Oct 11: Under Armour Marathon - Baltimore, MD

I still have to register for the Reeds Lake Triathlon in Michigan on Sept 6, and somehow scramble for $500 to pay the registration for next years Lake Placid Ironman... but at least I have three events officially on the books.

Registered.

It is official. No turning back now.


See you September 21, 2008.

Ripple Effect

I apologize for the lack of posting but I was out of town this past weekend. That does not mean however that my training took a back seat.

Out of pure responsibility, I pulled myself out of bed on Friday for a 6am run. My cousin Brandi and I ran a good 3 miles by my parents house before getting in a car for a 4 hour trip to Connecticut for my Aunts wedding.

It is so different running on the road and running at home. It is a strange feeling because as I run on the roads and in the "courses" that I would run training for soccer growing up, I can remember the runs and how I felt during them. I can remember training in the hot sun of August and running until my legs felt like they were going to fall off. But it is beautiful at home and it is my favorite place to run, hands down. The runner might have changed but the feeling is still the same.

As a gift for being in the wedding, I got an iPod shuffle!!! I was so excited because now I have something small and light to run with. I just got to work on the perfect playlist... Nate... I will post that soon. I am sure it will be very different than yours.

When Nate and I always take about the triathlon, it is not so much about how the race will feel, the pain, the training, etc, it is about how we will feel afterwards. That we took control of what our minds and bodies said we could not do, and pushed through. This is very inspiring and it seems has inspired others to get on board.

While at the wedding this weekend, I was talking to my brother about the triathlon and he was joking with me that he could beat me in it. I didn't really think anything of it until he called me yesterday afternoon and told me that he was going to run the race. That I had inspired him to do it. And in turn, the fact that my brother was going to do it, inspired one of his coworkers to quit smoking and start training for the race as well.

The power of inspiration keeps rippling out....

Cheers,

e