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So, sitting in the hotel room the night before the 2009 Marine Corps Marathon, I’ve been looking up my past marathon times. Wow, I suck at running. Well, okay, maybe not suck-suck, but I am not fast. Not nearly as fast I think I’m capable of. Let’s review my marathons:

2005: NJ marathon. First one for me. Didn’t know what to expect. Finished in 4:53. Not too bad for the first attempt.

2005: IM-Florida. First IM, was feeling pretty good. Put the marathon down in 5:35. Still not shameful considering my stand alone time. Was very happy to just finish.

Then, it went bad.

2006: IM-CDA. Ick. 6:28. Awful. It was soooo hot (over 100) and my nutrition suffered, but it was a good walk… but geezzz 6:28?

2007: Goofy Challenge: 5:18. Pfft. Unable to get under 5… let alone 4. Maybe the 13 miles the day before slowed me down a little, but c’mon!

2007: MCM. Yes, the same race I’m doing tomorrow. Great run until the back knotted up. Finished in 4:43. Personal nest by 10 mins. Better, but took 2 years to get here..

2008: IM-Swiss. 6:21 after an awful bike in the cold and hills.. /bah

So, here we are in 2009. I have hopes and dreams of sub-4:00. In reality, anything between 4:00 and 4:15 will be great, but sometimes great isn’t good enough. We need more. I want more.

My 10K and half mary times seem to indicate a sub-4 should be a very do-able.

So, rather than disappoint myself and others, the game plan is to find the 4:00 pacers and see what we can do. Here’s hoping!!

So, Day 3 of the Out Season is upon us, and so far so good. The bike test was a bit of a downer, but for not riding in the past 3 months probably wasn’t that bad. I’m sure the wattage will creep up now that I’m working it. Still, it would be nice to see my old numbers in there instead of that weak-ass 220W.

The pool has been a pleasant surprise. Nailed my guessed at interval time and hopefully that means the rest of my plan to get that sub-hour swim in St George will pan out.

As the book said, “A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care”, but whoa, I want to rush this. Seriously though, how much of life is like that? Most. So hard to wait. Just need to remember to go slow, don’t overcook myself, and take the improvements as they come.

Time.
Oh yes, it is time.

Ironman St George is only a few days away. 208 day, actually. But today, the Out Season prep gets underway. Ooh-Rah!

The last month has been one of slack, missing goals, ignoring goals and generally having fun. Back to the grind. I’ve been both pleased and disappointed with my on-going weight. This morning it was 203.8 lbs. That puts me about 19 lbs away from my 185 goal. I’m pretty sure that is not a realistic goal, and I’m going to be pleased with 190 on race day, but that is why they call’em goals.

Tonight we’ll find out how my 3+ months of not putting my butt in the saddle will impact my FTP. I’m hopeful for around 240W. Long time to hold that power when you’re fat and out of shape.

Starting to worry just a little about the Marine Corps Marathon. Don’t feel as if I’ve put in enough miles, but we’ll know more in just a few weekends. What is the worse that could happen?

Outside of training, spent last month drinking with new friends. Saw a certain Mr. Quinn get re-married… and that is what really killed any semblance of coherent training. That day was a kick-ass party and as soon as find a place where the pics are online (beyond FaceBook), I’ll post a link.

For now, it is back to work, back to training.
Word.

Hi!

As you may or may not know, this Saturday I’ll be taking part in the Brooklyn Bridge Swim. This 1K swim cuts across the East River in NYC and I think it will be just awesome to make the swim under the bridge. I’m also using the swim to help raise donations for the Greater NJ Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association and the Manhattan Island Foundation.

The Alzheimer’s Association uses the donations to raise awareness and help fund for Alzheimer care, support and research. One of my aunts was recently diagnosed with this disease and this seemed like a great opportunity to help out in a small away. The Manhattan Island Foundation promotes swimming and clean water ways in the Greater New York Area as well as teaching inner city kids how to swim. Donations will be split 50/50 between the Alzheimer’s Association and the Manhattan Island Foundation.

If you could help out, that would be cool.
The donation process is a bit awkward, but it works.

1) Point your browser at http://www.nycswim.org/PreRegister.aspx?from=Donate

UPDATE: If you go to https://www.nycswim.org/About/DonateForm.aspx?from=UserBio&Swimmer_ID=104610&Event_ID=1909 , you can skip the directions below.

In the simple form there, enter your email address and hit the “submit” button. If you’ve donated through the MIF before, all of your information will be pre-populated. If you’re new to the MIF site, hitting the submit button will tell you the MIF site couldn’t find your info and provide a link to the donation page.

2) From the donation info page, click “Make a Donation” at the bottom of the page.

3) On the donation form page:

Select “Brooklyn Bridge Swim 2009″ from “Events”

Select “Support a swimmer” from “Donation is for”

Select my name from the list of swimmers under “In support of ” (pro tip: I’m ‘Jacquemin, Daniel’)

Then complete the rest of the form with you name, address, etc.
The Manhattan Island Foundation is a 501c3 organization, so the donation is tax deductible.

Thanks in advance for the donation and if you have any questions, let me know.

- dhj

This was not a good week.

Work was crazy busy. The weather was good, but I had conflicts with my running. Didn’t loose any weight (that may be a plus because of the lack of running). And, to top it off, I tweaked something in my neck and missed my long run on Sunday.

Fail.

Still, I suppose it could be worse. Some good things did happen.

Found our 5th running for the upcoming Mud Run. Now, as soon as Christina signs up Team Not Laughing with You will be complete.

We started painting the dinning room. After 6 years, the windows will have framing, the wall have been patched and we’re on on way. Although I have to admit, it feels weird not doing this the day before Thanksgiving–the traditional home repair day.

Hope to get my neck better by Tuesday so I can get my run on… get back to the slow starvation for weight loss… get Christina registered… finish up GTA4 so I can start on the new GTA expansion pack… get started on the Shameless Plug ban module…

Full week. Catch you on the flip-side.

Another week down the tubes. This week wasn’t so good exercise-wise.

I was still feeling crappy after the race last week. Little sore and very, very tired. Monday was a rest day, so no problems. Tuesday was supposed to be a run, but I was simply exhausted, so no run. Wednesday rained, but I got my 4 miles in. Thursday I was still tired and it was raining buckets and I skipped the run.

Hummf.

Saturday was the Brigantine Triathlon. Still the first tri we ever did and still my most favorite race to do. The number of people lining up to do the race has expanded greatly–make the transition area a bit longer. They are going to need another block for transition in year or two.

The swim was nice this year. Current wasn’t too strong and the water was warm without a wet suit. Started on the outside bouy near the front and quickly pulled to near the front of the group. Was going very well until I ran into the ass-end of the wave that started before us. Took a bit to get around/though everyone and then, bam, the swim was over. It felt pretty zippy and by the clock it was the 3rd fastest I’ve ever gone there. Some of those swim times may be bogus as the current can play hell with time.

T1 took a little longer than I would have liked, but was still relatively quick. Long run from the bike rack to the mount line.

The bike rocked. Fastest I’ve ever gone there. Just over 30 minutes for the 11 miles with an average speed of 21.4 mph. Not too shabby for no bike training in the last 3 months. Best part was that no body passed me on the bike. Zooom.

T2 was also slow. Don’t know what happened, and it felt fairly quick. The clock, however, doesn’t lie.

Run was hot and humid. Not a lot of breeze but I came out with some speed and held it the whole 4 miles. Not great speed–only 8:50’s–but it did lead to my fastest run split to date. Zoooom ^2.

Overall a great race, then home for a nap.

Sunday was wicked rain all day. I trudged out between lightening cells and got in a 14 mile run. It sucked pretty hard. Running the wet, uphill, brought up a wee blister I picked up on Sunday and transformed it into something evil. But, I slogged through the miles and made it home just before the skies opened up again. At least it was over and I got it in.

Had a small set back on the weight front. Instead of going down, I packed on a pound. Could be just water, but still. Very disappointing. Need to regroup and try harder this week to get back on track. Hoping for 200-201 but next Monday. I promise, you’ll be in line to find out what happens.

Also started thinking about which half-Iron I want to aim for next year. Eagleman is already off the list as it is too close to Ironman. Ditto with Black Bear, but I may do the sprint. I’m thinking maybe Mooseman or Timberman (again), but would like to try somewhere new. Have to spend some time looking around–next year’s registration is quickly approaching.

This week zipped by! The Best July (Evar)™ rolled towards completion. Started to see some slightly more normal weather—hotter, and the humidity is creeping up, both other wise okay.

Had a bad week to training combined with the NJ Triathlon on Sunday, it put a hurting on my hoped for mileage. The “tempo” run on Tuesday got pushed to the tri on Sunday. The recovery run on Wednesday, as nice. The long-ish run on Thursday got pushed into the memory hole and replaced with a 5-mile stretcher run. The Sunday 4 mile run was okay… and then the tri was on Sunday… notice the lack of a long run? It was supposed to be in there, but it rained. I started out running, but lost momentum after a few miles and came back. Very lame.

The race on Sunday was pretty nice. Bretta and I did some volunteer work on Saturday at the registration tent and helped out with “Uber-man”, a super short sprint tri held for the more elite athletes. Sunday nice, I got struck with a retarded moment or two that kept me awake until 11:00. It was a little humid when we crawled into bed, and Gabby was having problem getting comfortable. Around 12:30, she decided to wander up and start breathing heavily… I kind of snapped… reached up grabbed her ruff and yell “STOP”. She got quiet, but, sadly, poor Bretta was directly between Gabby and me and also got the “stop” at full power. When the alarm went off at 4:45, I only wanted to sleep a few more hours.

Got up, packed the car, and we were off to the race site by 5:30. Parking was slow, but it always is. As I’ve been kind of cutting more calories than I should out of each week, I was kind of hungry in transition and hoped it wouldn’t kill me during the race.

Swim went well, after that guy failed to make it out of the swim last year, Michelle and Larry went insane with the number of boats and life guards on the course, but I supposed the alternative would have been worse.  Water was warm—77.9°—and wet suit legal only by Race Director decree. I went without the wet suit and was glad I did. This was my first swim since the 1-miler at Sea Bright and while I was a little slow at 28-minutes, I wasn’t under any stress.

The bike was fantastic. Settled into a easy rythm at 200-220 watts. Picked that number on a lark as I’ve not been riding with any seriousness and have no idea what my actual FTP could be. That 200-220 got me around course in 1:08 for an average of just over 20 mph. Not shabby at all. No problems sitting aero the whole time and thought my calories in was okay. (That wasn’t the case, but at the time it felt good.)

The run was a tale of two 5Ks. The first 5K was flying. Easy 9:00 miles off the bike. Moving with the crowd as opposed to having everybody on the planet zip past. Sadly, the 2nd 5K was no so good. The heat, humidity, lack of calories, and too much water played havoc with my system. Stomach was getting dicey and I felt just very hot. I walked. I jogged. I made it.

Total time was 2:49:14, which is pretty awesome for an off the couch Olympic.

This weekend also brought the 2009 Tour de France to a close. That punk-as-punk Alberto Contador secured the Yellow, but Lance Romance managed to claim a podium spot with 3rd place. Not bad for a 37 year old cyclist who was away from the sport for 3 years. I think he’ll be way better next year.

On a related note: I hope Team Radio Shack can pull Levi and Horner away from Astana. I also hope Contador fails magnificently without the other Astana work horses around him. Even better would be to have Vinokourov test positive (again) with Contador still on Astana and then he doesn’t get invited to the Tour at all. Ahh, I suppose we can always hope.

Okay, back to work on  a number of different projects

Best July, evar, rolls on. It finally got warm around Thursday, but then everything called down and we were back to low humidity and temps in the low-to-mid 80. Can I get a “hell yea”?

Workout / Goal wise, a fairly solid week. Tuesday’s temp run kicked my ass. Another set of 2mi @ 9:08, 2mi @8:50, 2mi @9:08 but this time I didn’t sissy out. Got that whole 10K done in under 50 minutes with warm-up/warm-down on either side. Very cool. Not so cool was how I felt on Wednesday. Legs really, really hurt and like a moron I decided to skip the 3mi recovery run (or 90-minute bike). Seemed like a good idea at the time, but I completely paid the price when I tried to run again on Thursday. The legs had no gas. I tried to run and it didn’t happen. Tried to jog… not so much. I ended up with a 6mi walk/jog in the hills that took over 1:10. Ick. Lesson learned.

Long run Sunday kicked ass. Started out early on the same route as last weekend’s 8mi, but added in a little loop at Music Mountain. It felt really, really good. Total time for the 10mi was 1:40, which means even at the easy pace I’ve started to pick it up for the hills and flats. Yea, me.

Rest of the weekend was working on a web site built in Drupal and watching the TdF. Contador may be the best cyclist on the Tour, but he’s still a dick. Oh well, maybe he’ll crash out. Like poor Levi. Very lame. I hope he’s back for next year.

Upcoming for this weekend is the NJ State Triathlon. Getting a little stoked for that, just need to decide what to do about the long run this week. When I should be out getting in 12 miles, I have a swim/bike/run. I’m thinking of moving the long run to Thursday and the “70 mins, hill” gets replaced with the tri… going to make for a long, crappy Thursday, but you got to do what you got to do.

This is about the best July. Evar. The weather has been beyond spectacular. Just this morning driving into work, I had to crack the heater on the car–just to take the chill out of the air.

Goal update: Last week was a good start to the marathon training. The tempo/interval run on Tuesday was a little harder than I’d like to admit, but didn’t suck that much either. The workout called for 2mi @ 9:08, 2mi @8:50, 2mi @9:08 with a warm-up/-down of 10 mins on either side. Got the through the first 5 miles with out any problems. With about a mile to go, I kind of lost focus and slowed down. Sucked, but I hope to do better this week. 25 mile, easy bike ride on Wednesday was great. The mother humping DoT has started chip-sealing the roads, but I most of them are okay. I hope they run out of “umph” and stop that shit before they get too far. 60-minute hill run on Thursday was great.

The weekend simply rocked. Up early on Saturday to drive out to Sea Bright for the Manning 1-mile swim. Water was nice, current was a little strong, 2-3 foot seas. 35 minutes out me solidly in the middle. Not bad for no swimming in the last 3 weeks.

After the swim Bretta bullied me into doing my 4-mile run. I really didn’t want to, but I’m glad she did. I doubt I would have done it that afternoon.

After the swim we drove down the coast to Asbury Park, which continues to get less sleazy and grimy every time I visit. Walked along their wee boardwalk for a bit and then enjoyed some lunch near the convention center. Some photos over at Flickr. Also found a nifty little bar that overlooks the ocean that warrants future visits.

Long run Sunday was great. Easy 8 miles in the hills then we headed over to the movies to catch the Transformers. If you’re looking for giant robots fighting other giant robots, you’re stoked. I’d also like to give amazing props to the guys at Industrial Light and Magic for the work they did in removing the dumb-ass tattoos from what is arguably the hottest woman on the planet. +1 guys, +1.

On the TdF, Lance seems to be doing well. Levi continues to not attack. Contador remains a punk-ass-punk. Looks like a sprinters race until Sunday when the hit a brutal stage in the Alps. I have high hope for that one.

Overall, lots of WIN™. Hope that carries over to this week.

First up, look up near the top of the page… see that new “goals” link next to the about. It is new and shinny. Still has that new page smell and everything. It will get updated as we move forward. Putting it out here for the world to see will hopefully make me stick to the numbers in there.

Why put the goals out in the wild? Well, IM-Switerland sucked ass. The race itself was great, but I didn’t do anywhere near as well as I wanted to… or was capable of. We’re going to fix that for Ironman St George.

There are also a bunch of long runs coming up: 2 marathons, 3-4 half marathons.

Time to get serious, yo.