Mountaineer Race Report - Race Morning and Swim

The alarm was set for 4:30AM. Coach told me to eat 3 hours before the start of the race. Mini bagel with peanut butter and 2 Protein Boost would give me around 600 calories. The extra time also allowed me to take a quick jog outside to transition and back. I walked outside with my sweatshirt on but quickly realized that I didn’t need it since the temp was 65 degrees and the humidity was very high, so it actually felt warmer. I started jogging towards transition and along the way saw a group of people sitting on their front porch still partying. I think they had gone all night long, I wasn’t sure if they would still be there during the race. At transition I spoke with two girls that were manning the area with the timing chips. I think I was the first athlete they saw for the day. When I returned to the hotel I finished eating and started making trips to the bathroom getting ready for the race. Aimee stayed in bed while I rummaged around the room getting my racing kit on and making sure I had everything in my transition bag.

Around 5:45 we finally left for transition. We made quick stop by the car to get the Cleveland Tri Club banner and my tire pump. In transition I pulled out all of my gear, put the bottles on the bike, laid out a towel for my shoes, hooked my bag to the chain link fence, etc. One last stop at the port-o-pottie near transition allowed me to talk with some other racers and see Snakebite teammate Mel Bolgrin. Mel was down for the International Distance Tri. She is in good form right now training for her first Half Iron-Distance race in August. I also chatted with several of the tri-club members who were getting their own areas set-up. One last check of my transition area and I grabbed my swim gear and headed towards the swim start.

At the finish area there were more bathrooms so I made one last pit-stop, you can never clean yourself out completely, especially when the nerves start kicking in. As Aimee and I walked down to the swim start Chris Legh, the guy from the Gatorade commercials, was stretching and I wished him good luck, he responded likewise. At the swim start no one had gone into the water yet. Chris Legh came down to the start area and I chatted with him some more, such a nice guy. Someone had to “break the ice” so I slapped on my goggles and swim cap and walked into the comfortable waters of the Mon River. I had a good warm-up of about ten minutes before getting back out and standing with Aimee. The RD gave some last minute swim directions before the pro’s started getting into the water.

minutes after the pro men, 35-39 age group. My wife said we were the only age group to have our own start. All of the other groups were lumped together for the start. Tri club friend Matt joined my age group this year. We made our way out to the starting buoy. This was my first time with an open water swim start. I liked it. We were spread out and the contact was either minimal or non-existent, as in my case. I was able to get into my pace immediately. I was watching where people were at around me to avoid contact but no one was even close. Even at the turns traffic was light. The long straight for the swim was upstream and I could feel a little bit of a wave action from the wind. The Army Corp of Engineers had shut the dam upstream soAt 7:30 the pro men were off, all four of them. Next to start were the two pro women. My wave didn’t start until 12 there was no current. About half way up the long straight I tried to look around at who was near me. I saw one red cap, my wave’s color, to my right about ten yards away. He looked to be going the same pace as I and I almost went over to draft behind him, but he was not really that close and the pace was the same so I didn’t see the benefit. I also started seeing the blue caps of the group that started 2 minutes before us. I was starting to catch and pass some of these guys. I felt great during the swim. This was one of my best swims ever. At the end of the swim we had to hoist ourselves onto a dock. No beach to run up or anything. I wasn’t sure how the arms would get me out of the water after the 1.2 mile swim. I was surprised that it was not a problem. The only thing now was a quick jog up the bank and into T1. The carpet laid down on the uphill was old Mountaineer astro-turf. It made for a nice surface to run up. Aimee was waiting for me at the top of the climb taking pictures and cheering me on.

Swim time: 35:02
4/33 in age group
32/209 overall

T1 is usually pretty fast for me. Off with the wet-suit, pull on some socks, helmet, glasses, shoes, a couple of items in my back pockets and I’m off. Running out of T1 and onto the road I ran past two others and did my flying mount onto the bike. I was outta there.

T1 time: 1:33
5th fastest time in age group

Blogger is having problems with photos so I will get these up soon.

Secret Identity Revealed

Several bloggers have talked about their secret alter ego as they train for Ironman races, or just train for triathlon period. I agree sometimes with the notion that beneath the calm exterior of the mild mannered: university professor, lawyer, teacher, mother, father, accountant, banker or business owner, there lies a triathlete waiting for the next early morning workout to begin under the cover of darkness. A person dedicated to the triathlon lifestyle. "Little do my neighbors know that I just rode 60 miles on my bike", says the resting triathlete with a smirk on his face.

But why do we keep it under wraps until race day, when we put on our lycra racing gear and swim/bike/run with 50-2000 of our closest friends for the day? Why not expose ourselves, not just our feet, to those we know and see on a daily basis and say, "Hey, I'm a triathlete and I Swim, Bike and Run because I think it's fun." I know, I have neighbors that don't get it either. They would rather drink beer, play poker, refurbish a car, tend the garden, watch NASCAR; and I have no problem with that. Different strokes for different folks, we just happen to love triathlon.

Okay, back to the secret identity. I admit that I am modest when talking about triathlon. Get me started and I can go for quite some time. But I don't go around tauting I'm a triathlete. If someone asks I will tell them. I also gauge the persons true interest. I have had several ask and then the eyes gloss over after I mention the three sports. And other times people have questions that I love to answer. So my secret identity is slowly revealed. And I use my secret identity to hopefully inspire someone to start walking, join the Y, quit smoking, dust off that old bike in the garage. Maybe they will say, "If he can do it, so can I." I have a dream. Not as eloquent as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's dream, but a healthy one for those around me.

Well, today the outer covering of my secret identity was torn off. My fund raising for the Komen Foundation is moving forward and has gained momentum. More people are asking about my training and fund raising. I joined the Janus Charity Challenge because of the added challenge and the benefit I felt that I could bring to triathlon and the battle against breast cancer. I was working today at a customer that I enjoy going to. The people there are genuinely nice and good people to work with. Kelly provided me with one of my first donations. Mary Ann called me and wanted to give me a check for my fund raising. This was the first personal check handed to me. All of the other donations have been through the web site. That check in my hand made this fund raising thing even more real. Then Ron started asking questions about the fundraising and my training. A feeling of great personal satisfaction hit me today. I guess we all need that in our lives every now and then. But, I'm just a normal guy doing my best to help those around me. I'm no superman. I don't hide my identity, I'm a triathlete who has to work to support my love of the sport. Some people may never get "it", but even if just one person starts their day differently by deciding to do something to improve their health, maybe I was superman for a day (even though I may not know it).

Game On.

Mountaineer Race Report - Pre-Race

While writing my race report I have found that I get quite verbose. Of course this is my personal journal of the race and I like to get the details down for when I read them later.

Yet, I don't really like long blog posts. Write something of interest and move on. I feel this helps people do some reading and move on to another blog or surfing for bike porn. So I begin with my first installment for the Mountaineer Half Iron Distance Tri. I hope you enjoy it.

Let's get this party started.......

Aimee and I headed down to Morgantown, WV on Saturday the 24th. We left home around 11:30AM and had a nice drive down to Morgantown. We took turns driving so the other could nap. We had an active morning with Aimee running 10 miles in the early morning and a quick trip to the Brecksville Homedays Dog Jog. This was my “easy” morning run to turn the legs over. Snickers and I won the event last year and were there to see if we could defend our title without wasting too much energy. It’s interesting how I felt during the jog. Two guys were in front of me and I knew I wouldn’t be able to catch them because I’m not training for speed this year, it’s all about the Ironman. So this year Snickers pulled me through the two loop, one mile run. We had fun then had to get home and finally leave for Morgantown.

After we checked into our hotel room we hit the expo to get my race packet. We had to check in my bike Saturday night and I found a good spot on a rack. The transition area was on the first level of a parking garage which would provide cover from the elements on race day. I grabbed the end of a rack next to the garage wall. The chain link fence provided me with a spot to hang my transition bag from so that it was out of the way yet easily accessible if I needed anything.

We walked the transition and finish area to make sure I knew the flow for the race. Once I was happy with how things were going to work we made our way back to the hotel for some dinner. The hotel restaurant was not very busy. The weather outside was nice enough to eat on the patio overlooking the river. We picked a table between the common area where some wedding guests were sitting and the serving area. For the majority of our dinner we were alone enjoying each others company, watching some people swimming, running on the course and heading to transition. The menu for the restaurant looked great. Aimee had some mushroom stuffed ravioli in a seafood cream sauce. New to the menu was a create your own pasta meal. Pick your pasta, pick your sauce, pick some protein and also some sides. I went with penne pasta, marinara sauce, meatballs, salad and a glass of pinot noir. We finished out meal before the 6:30PM cutoff time coach had in the race plan.

After dinner we hopped in the car for a drive on the bike and run course. Scott Erdman who is the voice of HFP Racing and a CTC member had posted a bike course recap on the club message board. With that in hand we drove the course and were able to relate his version of the course to where we were on the course. The hills were nothing extreme and resembled some of the stuff I had been training on. We saw where the rough spots were and one nasty dip that I had trouble handling during the race, but more on that later.

The beginning of the run course is flat on a path the runs along the river so we focused on the second half of the two loop half marathon run, especially Devil’s Hill. Turning off the paved bike path and heading into town the run immediately starts to go up. The hill goes up to an intersecting street, is flat for 20 feet then climbs again. At the top of this second climb is a right turn and a gradual climb toward the campus of WVU. From here on in to the finish area the roads roll up and down, some rather sharply, with the final mile going all downhill.

We made our way back to the hotel to call it a night. I got the rest of my gear ready for morning, chatted with a couple of CTC members and finally turned off the TV. It was around 10:30PM when I finally settled down enough to fall asleep.

I'll try to post every day so you don't have to wait until August for my race report to end.

Truer words were never spoken...

....and I rely upon the writing talent of TriSaraTops to verbalize what we all feel. I usually can't get close to the prose she puts out so I have to direct you to her site to read about one of our friends who attempted IM CdA this past weekend.

http://trisaratopsimadventure.blogspot.com/2006/06/i-have-friend-who-is-ironman_27.html

She tells it like I feel it.

Thanks girl.....she's got game.

Two for Tuesday - Keeping Things Dry

Yes, TfT has returned because I actually thought of something helpful to post. Hang on, because things may get slippery when wet.

I raced the Mountaineer Half Iron Triathlon this past weekend and we got rained on. Starting with the second loop of the bike course we had a steady but never heavy rain. Everything was wet when I finished, except my bike. The transition area was under cover. More on the race when I complete the report. So I share these tips to keep things dry or help dry things out.

Newspaper
I had learned a ways back to stuff newspaper in my running shoes to help dry them out. I don't know what absorbing properties newspaper has but it works extremely well. Usually two "stuffings" of the shoes does the trick. I use this for both my running and bike shoes.

Swim Caps
When we arrived at Morgantown the truck in front of us had three bike in the bed with some colorful covers for the seats. I took a closer look to find out where this person got such cool seat covers.......old swim caps. Now why didn't I think of that. I have a whole bunch of swim caps from races that I never use otherwise. Yet I am taking it one step further.....cover the arm rests on the aero bars. Check out these pictures to see what I mean. Ignore the messy garage, my race number from Morgantown (116), you see part of my road and mountain bikes, but ignore the rest of the messy garage.
















Game on....check out my countdown timer----------->

Eve of Mountaineer Half Distance Tri

Aimee and I drove down to Morgantown today. It was a very nice day, great weather and all.

Our hotel room overlooks the Mon River and I can see the swim markers in the water. Drove the bike course and it shouldn't be a problem. The run course has one brutal uphill that I will try to get a picture of, they have called it Devil's Hill, think San Francisco.

Looking forward to a good day of racing. Hope to have a picture of the club members that have travelled from Cleveland for this race.

Picture Day

I found these pictures on the website of Eric Hodska. Eric was the coach who led us through our tri-camp weekend. Such a great guy to work with and alot of fun as you can tell from the pictures. I was on my fourth hill repeat to test for max run HR. I was the last to do the hill and he followed me up.....bastard. Also a good picture of me on the bike.

Half IM Taper

I"m kind of in taper for the MedExpress Mountaineer Half Iron Distance Tri at Morgantown, WV on Sunday. So today was a an easy Zone 1 ride on the bike. It was a nice day despite the winds from the south. So today I say, thank you Master Placid for providing the steady winds in my face and on my back to help me stay easy on my bike ride. I'm looking forward to meeting you in person on July 23rd.

Weekend Update - Sunday Long Run

Crap.....I had this in draft and forgot to post it. Another update from the weekend. Another huge deposit for Lake Placid.


So Sunday was Father's Day. What better way to enjoy the day than to go on a 2.5 hour run. Amanda had to be at work at 10:30AM so I kind of slept in and got ready to run. I dropped off Amanda at work then drove to Hinckley Reservation to run the bridal trails, Buckeye Trail and some hills. I took four Fuel Belt bottles and a flask of Hammer Gel for the run. I was anticipating stopping by the car once to refuel.

I was pleasantly surprised with how my legs were responding after a long day on Saturday. The bridal trails I was on were awesome. Not too hard and forgiving on my legs. I even took some walking trails that I had no clue where they went but that added to the adventure.

A majority of the trails seemed like they were heading uphill, so for quite a way. I was sipping on water every ten minutes when my countdown timer went off. At the 40 minute mark I started taking gel every 30 minutes. I operate best with water and gel on the run. The gas on the run has pretty much disappeared since dropping the gatorade from the run, again too many carbs.

I was going through a bottle per 40 minutes so I didn't need to worry about stopping back at the car. I ran on some of the best trails in the park. Very little traffic and wonderful surface. I was on actual road for maybe 2-3 miles tops.

I finished 30 seconds shy of 2.5 hours. This was a great confidence boost considering the trials and tribulations of the brick on Saturday.

So the entire weekend was great and I learned alot about my nutrition capabilities/needs. Of course this is exactly how it should be, learn during training so you don't make the mistake during a race.

Mountaineer and Ironman, look out.

Weekend update - Saturday Brick

Below is the e-mail I sent my coach about my training day on Saturday. All I can say is that my IM bank account is getting huge.

I started preparing for a 7 hour training day Friday night by putting together my nutritional needs since I would be supporting myself. I knew it was going to be hot and humid. I might need some extra energy. In each bottle of Endurance Gatorade I loaded three (3) scoops of Carbo-Pro. I had 6 bottles ready to go. I also pulled out several Clif bars. For the run I had a flask with Hammer Gel and two water bottles.

I started Sat. morning around 7:00AM. I started at Station Road and followed the parkway out to Bonnie Park, this was the end of the first hour. Just as I planned I headed back to the parking lot to refuel for the remaining four hours. I had completed two bottles of fluid and one Clif bar, took one pee from the bike.

I started the remainder of the ride on the Death Ride route. I continued to eat and drink at 10 minute intervals. At about 3.5 hours my insides started to rebel. Actually they started to get clogged. Fortunately I was able to recognize the warning signs due to the camp talk by Jennifer. I was over loaded with carbs. Things were sitting in my stomach and couldn't get processed. I immediately started changing my nutrition. I stopped eating and filled one of my water bottles with water. I did this at the bottom of Rt 303 at the Peninsula Trailhead. I continued on the ride with a heavy stomach trying to drink water to help digest the contents of my stomach.

When I hit the bottom of Steeles Corners I took the Bath Road connector to Riverview Road and continued the Death Ride skipping the entire southern portion of the route. I was at 4 hours to this point, maybe a little bit over.

I rejoined the route at Martin Road. Still my stomach was heavy with food and backed up. Loading the bottles with 3 scoops of Carbo-Pro was the killer for me. If I hadn't done that I would have been fine. At hour 5 I hit Oak Hill, which is always fun during a long ride. After I made it to the flats I had to force myself to pee again. I wasn't worried about not peeing because I knew I had fluid in my stomach. I wasn't sweating profusely but that was another release of fluids from the body. I hadn't peed since the 1.5 mark of the ride. So I went about 3.5 hours without peeing.

After coming back down Stine Road to Riverview I stopped that Boston Store to load up with more water as I had completely given up on the Gatorade. I skipped Boston Mills Road going west and went up Snowville instead. I made my way down and around Brecksville Reservation, however I skipped Meadow Dr. and I made it back to the parking lot right at 6 hours.

I transitioned to my running shoes, grabbed my Fuel Belt and headed out for the 45 minute run. I ran down to Old Carriage Trail where I practiced my hill walking to try and keep my HR lower than Zone 4. I was still feeling heavy in the stomach but was able to start burping to release the pressure. I couple of times I had to walk as a burp was building up. On my return trip to the parking lot I started to feel better. My HR wasn't quite Zone 3 but I was moving at a good pace.

Back at the car I was able to start cooling off the body with the ice water from my cooler. I poured the water on me in an attempt to cool and clean myself. I finally looked at my bike computer. For my 6 hour ride I had accumulated just over 102 miles. I finally broke the 3 digit barrier during a single day of training. The run was around 5.5 miles with the time between 45-50 minutes.

After dinner my daughter and I saw the movie Cars. This is another good animated movie. We both liked it alot. Even if you don't have kids, treat yourself to some fun.

Family & Friends Friday - Susan G Komen

In case you haven't paid close attention to my blog, and I mean reading my header or checking out my links, I am doing something special with my Ironman Training.

I have accepted the Janus Charity Challenge on behalf of the Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. I have chosen this charity because of the impact cancer has had on two people I know; Tina Hoban (fellow triathlete) and Chris Armstrong (co-worker of my wife, Aimee). Each has battled bravely through their cancer. Tina in fact is doing very well and is currently in training for Ironman Florida.

I hesitate making the request for donations but I have realized that this fund raising is bigger than I expected. I am simply relying upon the word getting out through my family and friends to visit my donation web site and help out.

Between my trilogy of family, work and training I don't have the time to do fund raising events and such. However, I am glad to report that so far I have donations o $2,115. My goal is $5,000.
I'm still working on getting more donations and this is the meaning of this post. If you feel inclined to donate to my charity please visit the Janus Charity website. Also, please forward this information to those you think may be interested in my charity.

http://www.januscharitychallenge.com/LP06/ericgibb

If you make a donation in honor or support of a person please let me know something about that person. I am collecting names to carry with me on July 23rd. Either post a message on my blog or e-mail me at eric_gibb@yahoo.com.

I'm pleased to announce my first Blogland donation. Flatman had sent out a request for a bike part and I so happened to have that part. I "sold" him that part for a fair price since it was just sitting around in a box anyways. But then I started to think about it. I would have given it to him. I wasn't doing anything with it. I don't sell things on E-Bay or anything like that.

So unbeknownst to Flatman, I have taken his check for the bike part and made a donation on his behalf to the Susan G Komen foundation. I hope you don't mind Flatman.

I know there are many of us raising funds for different charities. CurlySu was/is a part of Team In Training. So I understand if you have already made donations to other charities.

Regardless, thanks for reading and considering my charity.

Stop reading and start posting

I somehow find it easier to read 10 blogs each day than post something on my own blog. But there are so many good blogs out there to read and you want to keep up with what so-and-so is doing and how training is going for this dudette and blah blah blah.

So what have I done lately.

Monday was a 4200 yard swim that felt great considering it had been just over a week since my last swim. I did the workout in 1:20:00. I was encouraged by that since I was only 24 yards shy of 2.4 miles, some intervals were above race pace and there were the 30-60 second rest periods between intervals/sets.

Tuesday I did some bike intervals early in the morning. It was 45 degrees out when I started so I put on tights, toe booties, long sleeved jersey and had a great ride. I share the workout with you because my coach says it is supposed to help build the lactate threshold. There is some lactate build-up with a period of flushing.

These are 2 mile intervals broken up as follows:
1/2 mile big chain ring and whatever cog you need for a 55-65 RPM spin, aero position.
1/2 mile big chain ring and whatever cog you need for a 55-65 RPM spin, standing...think hill climbing.
1/2 mile small chain ring, spinning high RPM 90+, I was hitting 105PM
1/2 mile easy to recover for next 2 mile interval.

I repeated this 6 times. I know I'm getting stronger because I maxed out my cassette and was pushing 70-75 RPM in the big gears.

Wednesday night I did hill repeats....8x90 second. I need the hills due to the course at Lake Placid. Again I felt great and had a total run on 1 hour.

Tonight I meet up with some club members for an open water swim in Lake Erie.

Tomorrow will be a special Family and Friends Friday, please don't miss it.

Go get your game on.

Two for Tuesday - Training Food

TfT is back today because I actually have something to report/provide to everyone.

Gatorade Endurance
Yes that orange and yellow gold of endurance athletes. That drink of preference at triathlons, running and cycling events. Amazing how much advertising Gatorade is putting forth for a specialized sports drink. Yet as we all know we need to train for what is on course. But can it be more difficult to find it? I found a reliable source at our grocery retailer and they haven't let me down. But for the masses I share this little tidbit. A reliable source, Race promoter and director of the Greater Cleveland Triathlon (Mickey Ryzmik) says that Target is under "contract" to stock Endurance. I was successful at finding plenty of bottles on the shelves and the Target in North Olmsted. Do you hear me TriSaraTops and TriAl, TARGET in North Olmsted. So check out the shelves at your local store. Go to the link above for coupons and such from the website.

Go-Tarts!
New to the Pop-tarts line of products I find these little packages of goodness perfect for stashing in your jersey pocket for bike fuel. My only complaint is there seems to be extra "crust" around the filling which tends to be dry, so you need extra Gatorade Endurance to wash it down.....wait is this some ploy between the two products? Makes you wonder. Anyways I will have a couple of these Go-Tarts in my special needs bag during my IM bike.

Now go out and shop. Have a great day.

Special Two for Tuesday....on Friday

I can't believe I am posting again this morning but I have to get this one out. So this is my two a day for the week.

We received a new issue of Runner's World in the mail this week and I finally looked at the cover and index.

Cover: Lokelani McMichael, Bolder's personal hawt friend
Index: Get in Great Shape.....with triathlon

Well it's about time. I hope alot of my friends read this and realize the benefits of cross training and our beloved three sport discipline. You can't argue with an article that starts with...TRIATHLON IS HOT. Maybe not Hawt, but still hot.

One of my favorite t-shirts I've seen says....So you are a runner, is that all you do?

Now I'm not dissing my running friends. I love them all. I would just like to see them on the bike or swimming a little bit more, especially for recovery.

Oh....and the pictures of Loke are HAWT.

Yes, I'm still around......

....but just haven't had time to post like I want. My three regular posts have fallen by the wayside, Two for Tuesday, What's Cookin' Wednesday and Family and Friends Friday. I'll managed to get back on track someday. Let's see if I can review the past week now that the hardware problems at blogger seem to have been corrected.

Friday 6/2: First day of Tri Camp with Eric Hodska. Swam 4000 yards, rode 2 hours, trail ran and did hill repeat HR test, lunch, trail run, bike time trial HR test.

Saturday 6/3: Second day of Tri Camp. Ride 80 miles with 1 hour run afterwards. No lake swim because of choppiness of the lake.

Sunday 6/4: Last day of tri camp, 2 hour trail run on the Buckeye Trail. Swim 2000 yards of drills and underwater video-taping

Monday 6/5: Sicker than a dog day. Caught a stomach virus from my coaches little boy and it..laid..me..out. Diahrea and puking. Stiff muscles. Listless. All I could do was lay around the house and rest. So my rest day from the big weekend turned into a sick day.

Tuesday 6/6: Virus broke before midnight Monday so Tuesday I was able to catch-up on work and start to slowly eat again. No workout today as the stomach was still a little quezy.

Wednesday 6/7: Finally made it out of the house and to visit a customer. Good to get outside. My coach said to ride easy for 90 minutes. I didn't want to run to avoid jostling the stomach so ride was a great alternative. My fitness is starting to really show now. I got on my road bike and started to go. Once the legs got warmed up I took a nice ride out to Lorain and back. Tested out the newly paved road along the lake and I felt much better. I was holding 19-20 MPH using a 90-100RPM cadance and my HR barely made it to my zone 2. I was around 120 BPM....and this was after a two day rest from camp with a virus thrown in. Look out IM.

Thursday 6/8: Stomach still a little quezy at times but I'm out and about at customer sites and getting stuff done around the house. Got an e-mail from my coach telling me to slow down. This is a recovery week and she wants me to be totally rested and ready for the MedExpress Mountaineer Half IM Tri on June 25th. If I'm not feeling right I don't hesitate taking an extra day off. So today I skipped any workouts and cut the grass which is a nice 1 hour walk.

Friday 6/9: Family and Friends Friday has me going down to OU to pick up my son from school and bring him home for the summer. No workout today.

So much to talk about and never enough time. I hate to post after the fact but I'm sure some will come out, too good to not post.

Get some satisfaction from your weekend.

Weekend by the numbers....non-training edition

I started thinking about my Memorial day weekend and realized I did do more than just train. Actually Aimee did alot while I was training. So here are the non-training numbers......

Friday
2 - hours chatting with our neighbor, Kim
1 - boxes of Mac 'n Cheese for a quick dinner
8 - hours of sleep that night

Saturday
3 - miles Aimee ran before cheering her friends at a local running race
1 - garden completely prepared and planted by Aimee while I was riding my bike
2 - lobster tails cooked for dinner
1 - bottle of champagne used in preparing dinner and drinking during dinner
5 - tiki torches bought at Home Depot
8 - tiki torches planted in the ground and lit for a quiet evening on the back porch

Sunday
6 - miles Aimee ran with friends in Bay Village, I joined by riding my bike easy
45 - minutes I was able to lay down while......
60 - minutes it took my awesome wife to cut the grass, what a saint

Monday
3 - hours Aimee did gardening at her dad's
3 - number of burgers cooked for lunch
2 - number of bratwurst cooked for lunch

Wow.... it really shows how busy the weekend can get when training is mixed with life.

I'm fortunate to have a great IronMate that helps me during this monster training.