Happy Easter!

Hope everyone had a great Easter...I had the chance to head home and visit with family and friends for the weekend and workout a little bit too.

Thursday: tempo run - 2 miles at 12:11, 166 bpm avg HR (maxing at 196 at the end of the run).  N8 reading of 5:57 min/mile.  Felt great and glad I got it in before dinner and evening showers.

Friday: light ride with Craig from the apartment. 9.5 miles in the freezing wind at 16 mph avg.  Just enough to keep the legs loose heading into the weekend.

Saturday morning:
Brick with Dad from Brian's house - 23 miles at 17.7 mph avg followed by 3 mile run at 8:45 pace.  Had a great time riding and running with Dad - especially since I haven't been able to do it with him in a long time.  My new ride handled even better than anticipated - many many thanks to Brian for finding it for me...already looking forward to racing and training on it a lot this summer.

Sunday we had lots of company over and I had the chance to visit with Grandma and Nana and Pops...always great to come back home for a few days of celebration.  Now back on campus and back to the grind for the final push to the end of the semester.

Ringing in the New Year

This past week I spent time in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, PA to visit with Grandma, my godmother, and my cousins.  Before leaving on Tuesday I managed to get in a 10 minute incline treadmill workout and a quick upper body lift...nothing major.

On Tuesday, Mom, Nelson, and I spent the day on the road heading up to PA...it rained the whole way which stunk.  On Wednesday and Thursday I did a 2.85 mile loop from Grandma's house.  Time of 20:45 the first day and 19:50 the second.  It was miserably cold but glad I got the cardio in...it worked out to be just under 7 minute pace for the second day.  Map with elevation can be found here.

Friday we traveled home while Brian did a tough bike hill repeat workout from the estate.  I woke up today and did the same route...very tough indeed.  Three Cat 5 climbs up Pleasant Green Road...20 miles total at a 17.8 average.  Had a lot of fun out there in the great weather rocking some of the new gear I got for Christmas. Ride details here.  Came inside and managed to get a full upper body lift done with Tyler: 4 sets of bench, 3 sets of DB row, 3 sets of SA DB shoulder press, 3 sets of 10x10 second planks, 2 sets of chinups and dips.

Thankful for all the blessings this year...lots of ups and downs and excited for the possibilities 2012 has to offer...happy new year!

Back at It

Back from vacation and back on the grind today. We had a family week at the beach and then a good trip up to PA for the weekend to celebrate Grandma's 75th birthday.

Jogged a mile and did some strides on the track this morning with the team to loosen my leg back up so I can be good to go at it later in the week. It's sad that this is my last week of work and the last week at home for many of our college athletes...but a new season brings us changes and new challenges to conquer.

After work I had a good full body lift with Tyler combined with rehab/strengthening exercises on the leg. Continued thanks to Brian and Mer for their unending support...back at it tomorrow.

Distance Work Beginning

Woke up this morning and headed into Activedge.

Did a quick lift:

4 sets of bench press: 6x 135 lbs, 5x 145 lbs, 4x 145 lbs, and 5x 135 lbs

Combined with twisting ab slamballs w/ 16 lbs Dynamax- 3 sets of 10

DB tricep pushers combined with BB curls

Then hit the road for a 3 mile loop around the gym with Brian and Morven:

1st 2 miles at 8:30 and 3rd at 7:00, 24 min. total.

Had a nice chance to skype with Kalee this evening and enjoyed a great pasta dinner that Grandma made as well. Summer rolling.

Back in the Saddle

Started the day by going to mass with Mom, Grandma, and Nelson. It was nice to see Nelson accepted into his school's national honors society as well.

Then hit the road with the Jedi and Morven for a solid interval ride:

A roughly 3 mile warm up, followed by 2 hard 10 minute intervals at just under 20 mph. Then rode back to the starting point. In all a total of just over 15 miles in the saddle. Brian and Morven are in great shape and I was happy to just keep up...I can't wait to see their greatness in action at the big race this weekend.

The Summer Tour Begins

Yesterday was a great day- After church Nana and Pops came over and Grandma was here so we all celebrated my birthday with a cookout and mom's famous banana cake. It was the perfect way to kick off the summer.

It was great to head back into the gym and visit Meredith, Morven, and Brian this morning.

This afternoon I also began my summer training with the BD. This is his taper week heading into the White Lake triathalon so I was glad to join for a good workout.

In gym body weight exercises:

Angled push ups- 4 sets of 15

3 sets of 10 NG chinups

3 sets of 10 hanging leg raises

3 sets of 8 SL squats each leg

Then hit the track for 400M intervals:

half mile warm up

1st and 2nd 400 at 1:40

3rd and 4th at 1:35

5th at 1:28 and 6th at 1:24. Each interval had a 400M jog recovery in between and the whole workout ended with a half mile cool down. It was very hot out and I was glad to keep up.

Then BD was kind enough to treat me out to lunch for my birthday. Came home, did some work, and cut the yard with dad. In all, a good day of activity.