November 2017 – Month in review

December 29, 2017ianesenior Leave a comment

November 2017 – Garmin Connect

This month the focus for me was preparing for the Philadelphia Marathon on November 19. I had just come off one of my biggest months of training in October. With the way the calendar fell I had three 50 mile weeks. The taper was most welcome. Together with the post marathon recovery which took longer than usual this was one of the smaller mileage months for me.

I still managed to churn out 127 miles (26.2 of which was the Philadelphia Marathon).

The weekend after the Philadelphia Marathon was Thanksgiving so I had a little extra time in the mornings to work out. It’s nice to be running in daylight at this time of year. It doesn’t happen much.

My wife and I had a good showing at the annual Bucks County Road Runners Thanksgiving 5 miler. This was our second fastest time for this event which we have run dating back to 2010. It was a cold morning but the sun was out and we made the most of the fine conditions to put the pedal down. I was more than pleased that I was feeling normal the morning of the race as I was feeling sore longer than normal after the marathon. Also…this race had pie!!!

Nice sunny day for our run around the park

Some solid splits for this run

They had pie

With that being done it was back to training for the upcoming Walt Disney World Goofy Challenge. This would be my first ‘Philly to Goofy’ (*) training cycle since 2014. I started doing the weekend back to back runs with doubling the distance of the Saturday runs on the Sunday. Only 7 weeks between Philly and Disney this time around.

My big ‘Black Friday’ purchase this year was to register both my wife and myself for the 2018 Philadelphia Marathon. That sets up quite a busy year for me in 2018 if you add to that the Delaware Marathon that I signed up for at the expo a week earlier.

2018 is looking like this for me now:

January – Walt Disney World Goofy Challenge

April – Delaware Marathon

July – New Jersey State Triathlon – Olympic Distance

November – New York City Marathon

November – Philadelphia Marathon

Thank you for reading.

(*) This is where the blog’s name comes from. Running the Philadelphia Marathon and then running the Goofy Challenge a few weeks later – Philly to Goofy – Philly2Goofy 🙂

Catching up…at 88 miles per hour!!!

November 10, 2017ianesenior 3 Comments

This is going to be a quick and rapid catch up as I can only use the ‘Wayback Machine’ for a short time.

With all the training that I was doing for my July half iron distance triathlon I let the blog updates sit on the back burner for a while. Something about the 3am wake ups and two a day work outs that finished around 9pm made me avoid logging on late at night. Strap in tight…this is going to be a very quick update.

June

Garmin Connect – June 2017

This was by far the biggest month of training for my half iron distance triathlon. I logged 398 miles (107 running/279 cycling/12 swimming).

Back in early June I ran in the Freedom Mortgage 5K. I was right in the middle of my triathlon training so I was feeling fit. Given that I had run this event well last year I was looking forward to returning. Also, this is the event that my wife was the race director for. As was the case last year I came down with the boys and my father in law. The race course was certified this year (it was long last year). I ran hard and ended up running the exact time as my previous 5K PR (from back in 2012). I was really pleased. I placed 1st in my age group and 15th overall. I earned my donuts that day.

My finish time for the 5K

We made it a family affair again this year.

At the end of the month my wife finally convinced me to participate in The Color Run. I have been hesitant to participate in these races although my wife has run the past few years. I only agreed to do this as we were going to run as a family. At the end of the day it was a fun time and my kids had a blast…until we got home and we had to scrub them clean in the shower.

Running through the Phillies stadium during The Color Run

In the midst of it all…

I guess this says it all

June was a really intense training month for the triathlon and I was more than happy to start my taper at the end of the month.

July

Garmin Connect – July 2017

The above calendar tells quite a story. In the end I logged 157 miles for the month (32 running/121 cycling/4 swimming).

July was my big event month. I had been training hard for the Rev3 Williamsburg triathlon and was looking forward to having the whole family down with me in Williamsburg for the weekend. As you can read here, the race didn’t really turn out as planned but it definitely was a memorable experience.

The rest of the month was pretty much me being sidelined. I ended up having to cancel my race entry to this year’s New Jersey State Triathlon. I had to rest my body as best I could. I tried running late in the month but I was a little too ambitious. I had to dial it back. However, I found a good compromise by using a sling and slowing my pace down…. a lot!!!

How I felt getting started again

End of July sling running

August

Garmin Connect – August 2017

Albeit very slowly, I logged 143 miles this month. Running only. It will be a while before I’m back in the pool and I’m staying away from the bike for now.

My actual training plan for this year’s Philadelphia Marathon began in the last week of July. By August I was just getting into the early stages of the plan and struggling a bit with pace. I would still be wearing my sling and by the end of each run I would be hot and tired due to the heat and humidity. I still gutted it out though. We had our family vacation in Myrtle Beach, SC during the third week of August. I was up early to beat the heat every day (not that you could really escape it) and despite my lack of pace I was able to pretty much stay on my training plan. By the end of the month I was running without the sling. Taking it easy still but getting back to form.

Free winging it

September

Garmin Connect – September 2017

This month I logged 182 miles of running.

September primarily consisted of buckling down to marathon training. I had chosen Hal Higdon’s Intermediate II training plan which is slightly higher mileage than the Intermediate I which I have mostly used. I thought following all the triathlon training I would be in a better position to do the higher intensity training. I hadn’t planned on my accident back in July and so hadn’t gone back to update my annual training plan. I figured I could do a couple of extra miles here or there. My mid-week runs are higher than on the Intermediate I plan and coming up in October I will be doing three 20 mile runs vs two which would be my usual training for a marathon. September therefore had pretty high mileage.

It was a very warm month with no break in the weather that one would expect for early fall so my pace was slower than would normally be.

During the month my wife and I participated in the Philadelphia Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon. This year however we didn’t immediately sign up for the 2018 race so we shall see if this will be on our plan for next year.

October

Garmin Connect – October 2017

This was the big month of training as I get ready for the 2017 Philadelphia Marathon. I logged 203 miles of running.

I spent a lot of time on my feet running around. This month included the three 20 mile runs I mentioned earlier with three 50 mile weeks out of the month. I didn’t have much time to sit back and relax but all in all I was glad to get through the month uninjured and ready for the taper.

One change that occurred this month was that I finally changed out of my regular shoe after 6 years in the same type (Brooks Adrenalines – I’d worn models GTS 11 through GTS 17). I had been struggling a while in this shoe and the last two iterations (the GTS 16 and 17) just didn’t have the same fit and feel. However it takes a leap of faith sometimes to try something new.

I read a review about the updated Saucony Omni 16 and decided to give it a go. I took them out on a 5 mile run and they felt fine. I was already experiencing difficulty in the Brooks shoe and to some extent my feet were feeling some pain points at the end of runs. On the day of my second 20 miler of the month I had run about a half mile before I had to turn around and go home. There was pain on the top of my foot from the Brooks overlays. I took a risk and ran in the Saucony’s after only wearing them for 5 miles the day before. They came through the challenge as did I. The shoe profile is slightly different (there is a lower drop in the Saucony vs the Brooks) but the stability was there when I needed it. Needless to say I return the two unopened boxes of Brooks and replaced them with the Saucony’s. Fingers crossed this is the right move for me. So far so good. I ran the rest of the month in them including the third and final 20 miler.

Thanks for sticking with me on this. Time to hand the Wayback Machine to its real owners and get…

May 2017 – Month in review

June 30, 2017ianesenior 1 Comment

The theme for this month is ‘I’m tired!’. I started the triathlon training for my upcoming half ironman event on May 1st. It is a 10 week training plan to get me ready for the Rev3 Williamsburg race in July. I’m actually doing both the Sprint triathlon on the Saturday and the Half Iron distance on the Sunday. Sleep is something I’ll catch up on after the New Jersey State Triathlon at the end of July. ‘Tri Season’!!!

My total mileage for the month was 438 miles which was comprised of 16 miles swimming (all in the pool), 337 miles on the bike (unfortunately 293 were indoors on the bike trainer) and 85 miles running (51 on the treadmill). I have no idea how people train for a Full Ironman. They must never sleep. Or perhaps they drink a lot of energy drinks?

Garmin Connect – May 2017

So most of the month was taken up with training. Up early to get a workout in before work and then up late to get a workout in when the boys were in bed. Towards the end of the month I just got up extra early to get both workouts in before work. It gets harder as the week goes on for sure. You cannot fake training for this distance. You cannot wing a 1.2 mile swim. I’m pleased that I’m sticking with the plan and I’m sure that finishing the race will feel like an amazing reward after all of this.

I took part in a new race for me this month. The Bucks County 10 Miler. This was my first 10 mile race for a long time. I’ve not been able to run the Broad Street Run for a few years as I’ve either run the New Jersey Marathon or the Pittsburgh Marathon on that date or the week prior. This year my wife ran Broad Street so I got my turn a couple of weeks later in New Hope, PA.

This race was so up my alley

The race was started and finished in New Hope, PA so a Star Wars theme was part of the event. Great. I’m a big fan. It was run mostly along the Delaware Canal and the conditions on the day were perfect. Not too hot and sunny. I myself wore a Star Wars themed shirt but I saw commitment from people running in full costume. Kudos to those runners. As much fun as the them was, I was still there to race. My official time was 1:22:25, which is a full 3 minutes faster than my last 10 mile race a few years ago. It’s not a distance I regularly race.

Finisher certificate

Don’t run Solo…Take a Wookie

The race left me confident that I’m able to push when I need to, which is great. The rest of the month was then back and focused on my triathlon training as the countdown to race weekend begins. Next month I will be ramping up the time/distances on the plan before tapering during the last week of the month. I’ve got to get there first…

Thank you for reading. See you next month.

March and April 2017 – Two months in review

May 29, 2017ianesenior Leave a comment

With the Memorial Weekend upon us I am finally catching up on my blog. Between my new job and training for my half ironman in July I haven’t had too much time to sit down and recap so here goes. March and April 2017. Better late than never.

Rather than use my Nike+ Summary to recap I’ll be sticking to my Garmin Connect data as it catches more of the workouts than just running. I still use Nike to track my workouts but my Garmin device syncs the data to the Nike site so it is the same.

March 2017

March 2017 – Garmin Connect data

March was marathon month. My total mileage for the month was 143 miles which was made up of 128 miles of running and 15 miles on my bike. You will see that there was another day of snow shoveling but thankfully that was the last of the winter snow.

The month started with me actually gaining acceptance to the New York City Marathon on my third attempt at going into the lottery. As you will know, I didn’t make it in previous years but my wife was accepted in 2016. I ‘race chased’ her during the event and this made me more motivated than ever to get into the event. The good news is that I got accepted. The bad news…I have a family engagement in Virginia and I cannot do the race this year. I have deferred to 2018 so while I don’t have to enter the lottery next year, I have to wait almost 22 months to run the race. Fingers crossed that all is well and I can fulfill my goal next year.

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Good news….just a very long wait until November 2018.

My wife and I ran the Rock ‘n’ Roll DC Marathon on March 11. My recap is here. It was a great but very cold weekend. That was marathon number 9 for my wife and number 18 for me. Fun times together.

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2017 Rock ‘n’ Roll DC Marathon

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Taking advantage of a weekend away and doing some sightseeing.

Once I got back from DC I was away on a training course for my new job for the next four days. I had planned on resting but the food was both good and plentiful. I spent every morning getting up at 4:30am and hitting the hotel gym for a good number of miles in what should have been my recovery week. Oh well. On the plus side I was in the hotel when the last major storm of the winter hit. My family was not so lucky. Hence the snow shoveling on my return home.

April 2017

April 2017 – Garmin Connect data

My total mileage for April was 160 miles made up of 147 miles of running and 13 miles on the bike. A big milestone for me this month was reaching 10,000 miles of running since I started logging my workouts in September 2011 (just over a month since I began my couch to 5K program). This happened on April 2nd.

At the start of the month, my wife and I took part in the Phillies Charities 5K down at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Home of the Philadelphia Phillies. It was a great spring morning and the weather was perfect for running. We did a pretty good time together and we earned ourselves another medal, tickets to an upcoming game and some time on the field for photos.

We took our boys to their first game of this season on April 8th and we saw a history making win over the Washington Nationals. They scored 12 runs in the first inning to win the game 17-3. It was a great night for baseball and we all had a fun time.

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Waiting for the game to start.

On April 9th I took part in the Bookin’ For Lookin’ 8 miler in Newtown, PA. Over the last few years I have not been able to run this event and only participated by making a charitable donation. This year, without any races on the calendar (the last two years have been the Rutgers UNITE Half Marathon) I took part in this event. It started out at Council Rock High School and was an 8 mile out and back loop into Tyler State Park and back. It’s a hilly course but I hit my stride early on and was very pleased with my time. It was a glorious sunny day and the event was well managed. I’d recommend it if you live near and have the opportunity. It is a fund raiser for two local charities, Foundation Fighting Blindness and Bucks County Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

Here is the elevation chart. I’m not exaggerating about the hills.

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Pleased with my time, especially on those hills.

May starts the beginning of my half ironman training. I hope that I will not be waiting too long to post my recap but please bear with me in the meantime. I should have lots to report over the next few months.

Thank you for reading.

January and February 2017 – Two months in review

March 14, 2017ianesenior Leave a comment

Life has been a little busy, all good though. I’m only just getting around to catching up so this will be a quick recap of both January and February together.

Here is my Garmin and Nike data for January.

Garmin Connect – January 2017

Over 201 miles this month – 178 miles running with a couple of days cross training (Swimming – 1.66 miles and Biking – 21.85 miles). Notice January 7th with the snow shoveling activity that got added!!!!

Nike just records my running total. This is the result of training for a marathon during the winter.

Nike + Summary – January 2017

I was happy to wake up early on January 1st and knock out a 15 mile run while the streets were quiet. Best running day of the year (provided you are dressed for the weather). We have had a fairly warm winter although I did have to take a few long runs on the treadmill due to juggling some parent handling duties and extra early morning runs. Still, I was able to keep myself occupied with numerous episodes of Star Trek – The Next Generation.

My wife and I were still able to get outdoors together thanks to the mild weather. This made winter marathon training much more fun – especially when we were able to get our long runs in together while the boys were in school on Sunday mornings.

Here we are running along the Delaware Canal Towpath

Crossing the Delaware River at Washington Crossing. A little colder but still a great morning.

Here are my Garmin stats for February.

Garmin Connect – February 2017

You will notice another day of snow shoveling on February 9th. To have only 2 days of major shoveling in two months is great and welcome relief for my lower back! No swimming this month but total miles of 166 miles for the month made up of almost 141 miles of running and 25.5 miles of riding (indoors). As you can see we knocked out the last of our long runs mid month and very happily enjoyed the start to our taper.

Nike + Summary – February 2017

February weather was incredible. I got to run my last 20 mile run outdoors in t-shirt and shorts….in February!!!!!!

Incredible weather for mid-February. So lucky.

For Valentine’s Day this year my wife decided to sign me up for a couple’s class at the Orange Theory Fitness gym she attends regularly. Boy, was I not prepared for that. I did hold my own but I’m not used to doing squats holding medicine balls or doing multiple rounds of burpees (they are not a nice thing!). I was very happy to have survived and enjoyed our sushi dinner at the restaurant next door post workout. With an extra helping of green tea ice cream.

My one, and to date only, Orange Theory Fitness class report

I had to skip my running for a couple of days after this as my quads were beaten up from the squats and burpees but I guess it was good for me.

February also brought about registration for the 2018 Walt Disney World Marathon weekend. Usually registration opens up in April but it seems to be getting earlier and earlier. My wife and I haven’t done a runDisney race since we did the Goofy Challenge back in 2015. This was the 25th Anniversary Walt Disney World Marathon and that it would be a special race (we had run the 20th Anniversary race back in 2013, my wife’s first marathon). We would also be timing this to be my wife’s ’10th’ marathon and my ’20th’ marathon. Big goals. To add into the mix we decided to register for the Goofy Challenge again. This is really such a fun race and this will be her 2nd Goofy and my 4th (if you include the Goofy distance that I ran as part of the 2014 Dopey Challenge). Our boys are signed up for the ‘Mickey Mile’ too that weekend. Lots to look forward to in 2018.

It should be a very special race again

Ready for a redo of our Goofy fun. Costume ideas are being planned.

Looking forward to another Goofy Challenge together

But firstly in March we have the upcoming Rock ‘n’ Roll D.C. Marathon and then I will be back in triathlon training mode. It will be a busy year.

December 2016 – Month and Year in review

January 5, 2017ianesenior Leave a comment

December is over and another year has been completed. 2016 was a year of accomplishments that I never thought possible and was very rewarding.

Looking briefly at my December stats I completed 143 miles. I also managed to finally get back on the bike (albeit indoors on the trainer) and managed to make it into the pool a couple of times. It’s back to work over the winter. Hopefully this will pay off in the summer, however there is still the March marathon that my wife and I are training for. It’s going to be a long winter of training but all for a good reason.

Nike+ Summary – December

You will notice from the Garmin data below that I have the ‘scale’ symbol from December 1st. I bought the Garmin Index Smart Scale on Black Friday…I’m already regretting that one!!! I’m hoping that this winter training pays off before I have to squeeze into that triathlon spandex in the springtime.

Garmin Connect – December 2016

So, my total mileage for the year ended up as 2,388 miles made up of:

1,597 miles – Running

753 miles – Cycling

38 miles – Swimming

Overall it was a lot of fun. Lots of good work with some good results, so lets recap 2016.

January – March

With no runDisney races for the first time in recent years the winter months were spent training for the spring marathon and avoiding the cold and the snow. With the treadmill we bought at the end of 2015 I was lucky not to miss too many days of training. I even became a regular at the pool towards the end of February. My wife and I did run the Eanie-Meanie-Minie-Moe Half Marathon with our local running club (Bucks County Road Runners) as part of their Winter Series. Lots of fun…lots of hills…but on the plus side, lots of food at the finish.

Running the ‘Eenie-Meanie-Minie-Moe’ Half Marathon

My wife and I also took part in the Philadelphia Phillies Charities 5K. This was my first time running this event although my wife has run it every year. It was a lot of fun. I don’t run too many 5Ks and this was over too quick. Still we had a fun time down at the stadium.

And finished with a fun photo opp.

At the end of March I was invited onto the Let’s Run Disney podcast to talk about my ‘Goofy In A Day‘ experience back in 2015 where I ran 39.3 miles in one day to raise money for ‘Give Kids The World Village’.

April

At the last-minute I decided to register for and run in the Rutgers Half Marathon in New Brunswick, NJ. I had run this race in 2015 and enjoyed it. It was a good warm up to race season. I wasn’t expecting too much and managed to end up running a new half marathon PR. A good days work and definitely a confidence builder going into the season. I was invited after this race to join my friend John on his ‘Runner of a Certain Age’ podcast for a race recap.

On my way to a new Half Marathon PR at the Rutgers UNITE Half Marathon.

May

At the beginning of May was the New Jersey Marathon. I had run this back in 2013 and 2014 and this is still my current marathon PR. This time I was running with my wife and we met up with my friend Elvin who ran with us for the first 19 miles. It rained from the minute we started the race until the end. It was a truly soaking run but we had fun and we made the best of it.

Outside the ‘Stone Pony’ in Asbury Park, NJ (Springsteen Country)

A few days after the marathon, I got up early one morning and while getting my biking cleats on I managed to strain my sacroiliac joint. Ouch. Big ouch. I was laid out flat for two days unable to sit up. After three trips to the chiropractor in two days and lots of time laying on a heat pad I was finally up and moving again. After 9 days off (yeah…I know not a lot) I was running again. My wife was the race director for her company’s 5K (which was more like a 5.5K) and we all (me, both boys and my father in law) were taking part. I didn’t want to show myself up so I put the hammer down and ended up 3rd in my age group and 10th overall.

Good enough for 3rd place in my age group.

The boys had a great time running the 1 mile fun run. My wife (and her company) did an awesome job.

Proud parent moment. The Heir and the Spare running the 1 Mile Fun Run

Priceless. Crossing the finish line

Following the New Jersey Marathon I was in full triathlon training mode. I was training for my first Half Iron distance in July. My training went from a max of 7 hours a week (when training for a marathon) to between 12-16 hours a week at the peak of triathlon training.

June

During the peak of my triathlon training I had to take a business trip to London. I was unable to bike and swim during the 10 days overseas but I did get the opportunity to enjoy the great English summer and I got a lot of running time (and sightseeing through London) in the early hours of each day. My hotel was in Central London and I was able to cover lots of ground on foot. It was great. I was also fortunate to spend time with my Sister and her family and with my Parents. It was a great trip and a productive work trip.

Finishing my time in London with a final run over Tower Bridge. Maybe one day I will be able to get back for the London Marathon.

July

This was the big month. This was what I had been training for all winter long. My first Half Iron distance triathlon. I participated in the HITS Hudson Valley Triathlon up in Kingston, NY. It was my first attempt at a 70.3 mile swim, bike, run event. I had a great experience made all the better with meeting up with my friend Bob (also doing the Half Iron distance) and having my wife’s Aunt and her family meet me at the finish line. I was on a high for days after the event despite my exhaustion. It was great.

I did it!!! My first 70.3 (Half Iron Distance) traithlon

With my friend Bob at the finish line

Later in the month and with temperatures in the 90’s I took part in the New Jersey State Traithlon at the Olympic distance. This was the site of my first triathlon attempt which was washed out by a lightning storm in 2015 with only the swim and bike legs completed. This year I was able to complete the race despite the intense heat and had a lot of fun. I’m already signed up for this event again in 2017.

2016 New Jersey State Triathlon

At the end of July I was invited onto the Team Shenanigans podcast to talk about transitioning from marathon running to triathlon training and racing. That was a lot of fun (and thankfully heavily edited).

August

With my focus back on marathon training I set about the summer months getting my long runs in for my October marathon. While I may have sounded like winter training is hard (it is) the summer training for a marathon really beats you up. It is the heat and the humidity that really stresses the body. It is easier to run in the cold with layers to keep you warm but its hard to run in the heat as you are already minimally dressed and it is hard to cool down. We took our vacation with the boys this year in Myrtle Beach, SC and the heat and humidity were intense. I stopped on my long runs to refill my water pack which is something I never need to do at home.

Family vacation time

While on vacation both boys ran a 5K with us to earn their own virtual runDisney medals. We were very proud of them and they want to do this again in 2017.

With their Mickey Shorts medals

September

At the start of the month I was invited back (as a last minute stand in) to my friend John’s ‘Runner of a Certain Age’ podcast to talk about the Rock ‘n’ Roll Race Series.

This was the peak of marathon training for me with the upcoming marathon at the beginning of October. Thankfully the weather was still great for most of the month. Cooler but not too cool. I had two races this month, the Hightstown Triathlon (my last triathlon of the season) and the Rock ‘n’ Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon (my 6th consecutive time running this race).

The triathlon was lots of fun. I was confident going into this as this was the shortest of my races this year and it was great to be joined by a couple of my work colleagues. I ran the Half Marathon with my wife. It was a tough race as it was only 48 hours after my last 20 mile training run but we powered through and made a respectable time.

2016 Hightstown Triathlon

2016 Rock ‘n’ Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon

October

The first week of October was the Mohawk Hudson River Marathon. This was to be my goal PR race that I had trained for. Despite the scenery (the Adirondacks in the fall is breathtakingly beautiful) my time goal was not meant to be. I faded during the last 7 miles of the race and ended up running just over 4 hours. Not what I had planned but still respectable. I wasn’t disappointed. I did the best I could on the day but it just wasn’t my day. Still, we had a great weekend meeting up with family in Albany and my wife ran a great half marathon.

Although I missed my goal time I always celebrate a marathon finish

November

This was a busy but fun month. It started out with me ‘race chasing’ my wife as she ran (and earned a new PR) in the TCS New York City Marathon. She had won her place in the lottery and I did all I could to support her over the weekend. It was a great time and I was so proud of her. I had a lot of fun running and taking the subway all across the city. I managed to see my wife four times during the race and the weather was perfect.

The Great Race Chase

My wife and her NYC Marathon finisher medal

The week before Thanksgiving is the time for the Philadelphia Marathon. This year I was running in the inaugural ‘Rocky Challenge’ which involved me running the Philadelphia Half Marathon on the Saturday and the Philadelphia Marathon on the Sunday for a total of 39.3 miles. It was lots of fun. I wasn’t putting too much pressure on myself other than to just finish each race. I was totally thrilled to run each race under my target times and for the weekend I ran a sub 2 hour half marathon and a sub 4 hour full marathon. This was despite a significant change in the weather between the two days. I was really pleased with my performance and this capped off my racing year on a high.

A good weekends work. A sub 2 hour Half Marathon and a sub 4 hour Full Marathon

We finished the year with our usual Thanksgiving Day 5 mile Turkey Trot which our local running club puts on. My wife and I ran together with a fairly decent time (I think near one of our fastest times).

Always great to cross a finish line together

In Summary

2016 was a fun and rewarding year. I completed 3 marathons and 4 half marathons. I completed 3 triathlons, a Half Iron distance, Olympic distance and Sprint distance. I earned a new half marathon PR. I ran in London (and Atlanta and Arizona) and also participated in 4 podcasts. What fun!!!

I cannot wait to see what 2017 brings.

On my calendar (so far):

March – Rock ‘n’ Roll DC Marathon (with my wife)

July – Rev3 Williamsburg Sprint and 70.3 Triathlons (another two-day challenge)

July – New Jersey State Triathlon (Olympic Distance)

September – Rock ‘n’ Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon (with my wife)

I’m hoping to get through the New York City Marathon lottery this year (my 3rd attempt) and I’ll probably run the Philadelphia Full Marathon again in November.

Thank you for reading.

November 2016 – Month in review

December 30, 2016ianesenior Leave a comment

Another late ‘Month in review’ post but technically getting in under the wire.

November was a busy month with 150 miles in training and racing. Not my biggest month for distance but one of the busiest for activities. With all the running, I did still return to the pool for the first time at the end of the month for my first swim since September. I’ve been focusing on my marathon training since my last triathlon so it felt good to finally get back in the water.

November 2016 – Nike+ Summary

The month started off with the New York City Marathon. While I was not running myself (hoping to eventually make that lottery) I was there to cheer on my wife as she ran earning a new PR that day. It was my first time ‘race chasing’ and spectating a marathon and it was truly a thrill. The excitement for waiting for and watching my wife run her race and to cheer on friends and complete strangers was such a great experience. I cannot wait to experience this race for myself one day.

My wife and her NYC Marathon finisher medal

The weekend before Thanksgiving is the Philadelphia Marathon. This year was the inaugural ‘Rocky Challenge’. While I have mixed feelings about how the weekend was organized I was proud of my performance in running both races, the Half Marathon and the Full Marathon back to back, in under 2 hours and 4 hours respectively. They were two of my best performances at those distances this year.

A good weekends work. A sub 2 hour Half Marathon and a sub 4 hour Full Marathon

On Thanksgiving Day itself is the annual Bucks County Road Runners Thanksgiving 5 Miler. This was my first race way back in 2010 when I started running. My wife and I ran together the whole race and this was our second fastest time we have run the race. It was a nice start to a long weekend of family time and was a great way to finish the month.

Pre-race at the Thanksgiving Day run

Always great to cross a finish line together

A nice way to earn our Thanksgiving dinner treats

November marked the end of my race season but after a week of recovery I jumped straight into week 4 of my marathon training plan for the 2017 Rock ‘n’ Roll DC Marathon next March. Oh well, at least I finished the race season upright and healthy so that is something that I really want to give thanks for.

Thank you for reading.

October 2016 – Month in review

November 17, 2016ianesenior Leave a comment

October was a fun but busy month. It involved a number of days of business travel for both my wife and myself but also a marathon and continued training.

October 2016 – Nike+ Summary

My total mileage for the month was 132 miles. All running, as you can also see from the Garmin summary below, there was no swimming or biking this month. There were a number of rest days this month as I tapered towards and rested after the Mohawk Hudson River Marathon that I ran in the early part of the month.

October 2016 – Garmin Connect Summary

After the marathon I was into my back to back plan. There are six weeks between running the Mohawk Hudson race and the running the Rocky Challenge at this years Philadelphia Marathon weekend. The challenge is to run the half marathon on the Saturday and the full marathon on the Sunday. Although I have done this three times already at Disney (Goofy Challenge 2013, Dopey Challenge 2014 and Goofy Challenge 2015) this still takes a lot of effort and is not to be taken lightly.

I am using Hal Higdon’s multiple marathon plan which I have used successfully in the past. It is a 6 week program divided into 2 weeks of recovery, 2 weeks of training and 2 weeks of taper. I have been making sure that the days before the long run are at least half the miles I will be running for my long run in order to simulate race weekend fatigue on my body.

With all that mileage I am lucky that I have something to absorb the calories from another Halloween. I enjoy this holiday as I get to dress up with my kids and go trick or treating. I never had this growing up in the UK so I really go all in here in the US, decorating the house and for the last few years coordinating costumes with the boys. This year however, my eldest decided he wanted a scary costume and I was not allowed to coordinate with him. I was free to choose what I wanted.

I chose to be Captain Kirk as it was just after the 50th anniversary of Star Trek. I revealed my costume the week before Halloween to my kids, only for my wife to tell my youngest that Daddy was a ‘Wiggle’! What???? Thanks Honey 😦

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Ready to Boldly Go

This was not the look I was going for

Either way, I had the last laugh when it came to Halloween. I dressed up and went out with the boys. I wasn’t collecting candy (although I did hold the bag for my youngest…and saw to it that he wasn’t overstocked with Kit Kat’s) but I reached house who insisted I look at their license plate on their car and then gave me my own candy. Score!!!

Ready to beam up

Appropriately, I got candy from this house

I hope you had a good October. It was fun for me. I’m looking forward to November and returning to my local race, the Philadelphia Marathon and to cheering on my wife in the 2016 TCS New York City Marathon at the beginning of the month.

Thank you for reading.

September 2016 – Month in review

October 31, 2016ianesenior Leave a comment

The boys went back to school which means it is Fall race season. This month was mostly about tapering for my early October marathon (Mohawk Hudson River Marathon) so there was lots of long runs planned but that didn’t mean I couldn’t have some fun along the way.

September 2016 – Nike+ Summary

My Nike+ summary shows almost 147 miles for the month. Although my 6th year running anniversary was in August, September 2010 was when I started to record my mileage. This month I hit a new milestone in my running career. 9,000 miles.

I ran my 9,000th mile in early September.

My total mileage in the month was 182 miles which included some swimming and biking as I had my final triathlon race for the year mid month, the Hightstown Triathlon on September 11th.

September 2016 – Garmin Connect Summary

The first September in the month is always Labor Day here in the US. With an additional day home I decided to take advantage of the time and get an extra long swim session in. I arrived early at the gym on Sunday morning (they usually open at 7am on weekends instead of 5am during the week) only to find that they had holiday hours which pushed the opening back an extra hour 😦

Yup, only one here.

So after heading home for about an hour I made it back and started my lap swim session. As it was a later start to the day and a holiday there were many more people in the pool. I ended up sharing a lane with another swimmer. I have never had to share a lane before and unfortunately I inadvertently punched my opposing lap lane swimmer during my freestyle stroke. He seemed shaken…but not stirred. I figure as long as he wasn’t floating face down I’d be okay. Hey, I was there first.

September 8th also happened to be the 50th anniversary of the very first episode of Star Trek. I made sure to get my run in on the day and celebrate accordingly.

Run long and prosper.

Early in September I was invited back as a guest on another edition of the Runner of a Certain Age Podcast hosted by my friend John. We spoke about my recent triathlon experience and about the upcoming Rock ‘n’ Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon later in the month. You can listen to the episode here.

The Runner of a Certain Age Podcast

On September 11th I participated for the second time in the Hightstown Triathlon. It is a sprint triathlon up near my office in Hightstown New Jersey. I had a few equipment issues during the race but had a great time. You can read about that here.

2016 Hightstown Triathlon

This was followed the week later by running the Rock ‘n’ Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon with my wife. We always have fun doing this race and it was to say the least a very busy weekend. You can read about that here.

Receiving another Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon medal

By the end of September I was finally able to settle into my taper for the upcoming marathon. Looking forward to what October will bring.

Thank you for reading.

August 2016 – Month in review

September 21, 2016ianesenior Leave a comment

A fun month with lots of running, relaxation and family time. No races this month but lots of other activies.

August 2016 – Nike+ Summary

This month was the most running I had done in a long time as I am ramping up the training for the upcoming Mohawk-Hudson River Marathon in early October. We also had a family vacation so I used this extra time to get a few extra miles in (I ate a lot of ice cream that week).

I didn’t do too much cross training this month. The majority of my miles were from running although I did do a couple of swim sessions totaling just over 3 miles. No bike riding this month though.

Garmin Connect – August 2016

The month started off with a quick work trip to Atlanta. Atlanta in August is hot hot hot. I had a couple of hot runs out there but I was fortunate that the hotel where I stayed provided cold towels in their gym so as soon as I returned from my run I went up to the gym and grabbed a couple of cold towels to cool down. BEST THING EVER.

Cold towels provided to hotel guests. So welcome.

I got back from Atlanta and we took a quick family trip to Washington DC to see some of the sites and explore the museums. It was a really hot and humid weekend but the boys were troopers and the museums were nicely air conditioned so that helped.

A great family weekend in the Nation’s capital.

Another week at work followed but I took the Friday afternoon off to see my boys to finish their summer day camp. I was happy that my son came home with the following award from his bunk at day camp. I can only hope he enjoys running as much as I have over the last few years.

My future pro?

Packing with a 6 year old is always a challenge/fun. Here I am trying to pack my bag…he was lucky I didn’t put him on the roof with the rest of the luggage!!

My 6 year old’s attempt at packing a suitcase. Not what we had in mind.

Finally we were all packed and headed out on the road to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Looking forward to a week of family fun together.

On the road

So, Myrtle Beach in August is hot and humid. Very. I haven’t really done marathon training in the Southern States during the summer and it was quite a shock to the system. I had on my plan a 17 mile run at the beginning of my vacation and an 18 mile run before heading home. I had plenty of time to relax during the week so I didn’t mind getting up early to beat the heat. There were, however, a couple of times when the heat nearly beat me. Thankfully I run with a debit card and a $5 bill in my running belt when I travel away from home. This was the first time that I had to stop midway during a run to refill my 50oz Camelbak water pack.

I had to stop around mile 9 of my 17 mile run to replenish all my fluids.

I’m not exaggerating (well maybe a little) but I swear I saw this on my run:

Anyway, hot or not, there was ice cream to be had this holiday in addition to daily rounds of mini golf for the boys so there were daily runs by everyone in the family. We had been working with the boys to run a 5K this summer and I had signed them both up for the runDisney ‘Virtual Running Shorts‘ series so by the time we reached the end of summer they could run a 5K and earn the ‘Red Pants’ medal.

Despite the heat and humidity (they would be running later in the morning than I would) they both managed to run and finish their 5Ks. Luckily we planned the route so everyone finished at Dunkin’ Donuts everyday for a treat and some chocolate milk (and coffee for the parents). Both boys seemed to really enjoy the experience (one more than the other) and they were both totally thrilled when I produced the medals for them to wear.

Asher completed his run first.

Micah completed his run the next day.

Both boys were really happy with their new medals. The medal was quite impressive.

It was a great vacation (the boys said it was the best ever) but ultimately it had to come to an end and we had to get back home and get ready for the start of the new school year.

A fun family vacation.

Back home and shopping for school supplies.

August was a fun month and as we wound down our vacation ready for the new school year we look forward to what September will bring.

Thank you for reading.

philly2goofy

…and all the miles in between

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Month in review

November 2017 – Month in review

Catching up…at 88 miles per hour!!!

May 2017 – Month in review

March and April 2017 – Two months in review

January and February 2017 – Two months in review

December 2016 – Month and Year in review

November 2016 – Month in review

October 2016 – Month in review

September 2016 – Month in review

August 2016 – Month in review

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