I finally did it. (two things)

Yes I suppose I put it off long enough, probably subconsciously wishing it would be sold out, I officially signed up for the Half Iron that is one month away. I am under trained for this event but I do still have a month to go. I am doing my best with balancing work, family, and training. My only goal still is to finish and I think that will still be the goal up to race day.

And you know what else I finally did? I got my butt out of the house and ran this morning. I ended up talking to a guy in the pool on Monday who was training for Tri's and we exchanged Emails and decided to run together this morning. Went well and we are planning on doing some speed work tomorrow morning. If I didn't have someone waiting on me I would have not made it out the door. I must have told Kim 4 times that I wish I hadn't agreed to run. But when it was done I was glad I did it.

========= ORDER INFORMATION =========

Invoice Number : AU8394

Description : Black Bear Triathlons-2008 Half Iron

Total : 185.31 (USD)

Customer ID : 307245

First Name : Daniel

Last Name : Seifring

Company :Address : 649 Ironwood Dr

City : Williamstown

State/Province : NJ

Zip/Postal Code : 08094

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2008 Week 17

Week 17

04/21/2008 - 04/27/2008

Swim - 4,400 yards - 2 hr 30 min (3 workouts) Had 3rd of 3 Sunday swim clinics.

Bike - 49 miles - 2 hr 51 min (3 workouts) 1 trainer ride, 2 outside rides.

Run - 5.50 miles - 51 min. (2 workouts) Had my first 5K of the year.

Lifting/Core - 0 minutes ( 0 workouts)

Notes - Sunday I took part in another Swim Clinic. As expected workouts were down with Kim's testing this week. That is OK. Will try to get some more done this week. I did end up doing about 4 hours of much needed yard work Saturday.

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Note To Self

Yes I am stealing this title from Colin, and I am sure others. Back to the title, yes I need to give myself a note.

H2O

Kim got finished with her workout and it was time for me to go. It was 6pm and beautiful outside. Didn't know if I wanted to ride or run. I decided on the ride. Plan was to go about 25 miles, a good ride for me. Well off I went and about one mile I realized I had no water with me. So I decided I would do a 13 mile loop come home get some water and do a bike/run brick.

Ride was good, was going back in forth with this one guy (young 20's) I would go ahead and he would catch me and pass me. Then I would speed up and pass him. Made the ride go by. Did I mention he was on a mountain bike? And that he was wearing jean shorts with regular pedals? I didn't think so. I even got the bike up to 24.8 mph (yes that is good for me).The last time I passed him I said I couldn't image how fast you would be on a road bike. He laughed.

Got home jumped off the bike, came inside changed shoes, gave Kim a kiss, and off I went. Transition was about 2 minutes. Didn't take long for me to realize I forgot to get a drink. I am an idiot. To be honest I had a great run. A better run then I had at my 5K last weekend. Really felt good.

Here were my splits (for the run).
8:49
9:36
9:40
8:41 (pace for .25 miles)

Oh the water when I got home was great.

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2008 Week 16

Week 16

04/14/2008 - 04/20/2008

Swim - 4,450 yards - 2 hr 25 min (3 workouts) Had 2nd of 3 Sunday swim clinics.

Bike - 61 miles - 3 hr 45 min (3 workouts) Had the same amount of time and miles on the bike but did it in 3 woukouts instead of 5. I will take that as a positive. I also got one outside ride in.

Run - 13.25 miles - 2 hr 15 min. (3 workouts) Had my first 5K of the year.

Lifting/Core - 0 minutes ( 0 workouts)

Notes - Sunday I took part in another Swim Clinic. I would like to follow up last week with another good week but it may be tough. Kim has a lot of side testing this week so time just might not be there.

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Inaugural Natalee Brooklynn Dunn 5K

Well the first race of 2008 is in the books. It was nice that this race was practically in my backyard. And it was for a great cause as they were raising money for S.I.D.S. Here is a link to the website <Here is the Link>

At the end of 2007 I had a 5K PR of 26:38 in October. I was running a lot in 2007 and not so much in 2008. I think I am in better shape now but really not in great running shape. So going into the race I figured I would be happy around 28:00. And I asked Kim to throw out a time for me and she said 28:04 (thanks for the confidence in SUB 28:00 Honey).

As the title of the post states this was an Inaugural event. So I got to packet pickup race day early thinking they would not have there stuff together and I might be waiting a while. I was wrong they were really on top of things and had a ton of volunteers there early and ready to work. So I picked my stuff up and drove the whole mile back to my house. Had a full hour and a half before race start so drank some water and had a banana (had oatmeal when I woke by the way).

Saw a bunch of people there that I knew from around town, running on the bike path over the last two years. They got us lined up, sang the National Anthem, and we were off. This was a small race the 5K had about 220 runners and it was an easy start. Course was very flat and ran on much of the same path I have been running since I started running two years ago. Not much to say I had a good first mile, followed by a slower (but still OK) 2nd mile. Then I was a little tired as I have been doing all my training at Max HR of about 150. I know I was close to 170 at times during the race. The rest of the race was slower but still came in at 27:58 (Garmin). No chip for the race so Gun had me at 28:07. Not too bad for me for a first race and not too much running. I finished 103 out of 213 (I am sure some were walkers).

Here are the official results.

Last note I hope Jerry is OK (I will find out Monday) He finished 16th in the race with a time of 20:55 not to bad for a 57 year old. He was being tended to by paramedics right after he finished.

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2008 Week 15

Week 15

04/07/2008 - 04/13/2008

Swim - 5,000 yards - 2 hr 20 min (4 workouts) Continuing to improve.

Bike - 60 miles - 3 hr 45 min (5 workout) Trainer bike workout, I have to get outside and ride for a few hours at a time. I took a fix a flat clinic on Saturday at a local shop. Came home and was able to change both my front and rear tires.

Run - 6.2 miles - 1 hr 5 min. (1 workout) Run/Swim brick outside. This is getting real bad my run mileage. I have to start running in the morning before Kim leaves for work. But here it is Tuesday morning and I was not able to get my ass out of bed either of the last two mornings.

Lifting/Core - 0 minutes ( 0 workouts)

Notes - Feel better (was sick late in the week last week). My allergies are starting to kick in but just have to deal with it.

Sunday I took part in a Swim Clinic. Was worried I would not be ready for the clinic but I talked to the coach and we agreed I would give it a try. I am so glad I did, it was a great clinic and I got some great drills to work on. I signed up for all three sessions so I will be back the next two Sunday's. I get to use my new best friend - FINS.

I will run my first official race of 2008 this Saturday. There is a 5K in my town so I have no excuse not to go do it. My PR last year was 26:30(ish). At this point I think I would be happy with sub 28.

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2008 Week 14

Week 14

03/31/2008 - 04/06/2008

Swim - 2,000 yards 1 hr (2 workouts) Tuesday pool was cold and water murky. Thursday back to normal and had a great swim.

Bike - 24 miles 1 hr 30 min (2 workout) Trainer bike workout.

Run - 3 miles 30 min. (1 workout) Swim/Run brick on the treadmill.

Lifting/Core - 0 minutes ( 0 workouts)

Notes - Sick Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Tried to workout Saturday and Sunday but didn't happen. Had a longer post but somehow lost it and do not have the time now to recreate. Your not missing much.

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March 2008 & Mom Update.

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March's totals:

Swim: 7h 26m - 15,000 Yd

Bike: 13h 46m - 221.14 Mi

Run: 8h 28m - 49.66 Mi

The numbers will certainly not bowl you over by no means. Last year in March I (being lazy and not going back to check) probably ran close to if not over 100 miles. But I also did not Swim or Bike last year.

I really need to keep things in perspective here as I know I will never be a great Triathlete or Runner but I hope to be a person that does Triathletes and Running events into the later part of my life. I know I enjoy doing what I am currently doing and I am more healthy today then I have ever been. And the bottom line is that is good enough for me. Don't get me wrong I still have big goals and I know my training will need to pick up majorly to achieve these goals, but I know I can not achieve these goals overnight.

Mom Update -

I kind of been avoiding this but I do owe an update. Thank you for the emails asking how she is doing and the well wishes. I last mentioned that we would be getting some news. Well it turns out my Mom has Small Cell Lung Cancer. Three weeks ago she started Chemo. Her schedule is such.

3 days of Chemo and then off for 3 weeks. (we are in the 3rd week off now). So Monday she starts again. But this time she has Chemo Mon, Tues, and Wed. but also starts Radiation treatment twice a day for 3 weeks. Her hair started coming out on Wed and she is currently sporting a new wig. Her spirits are real good when I speak to her. She did not get sick at all and has not lost her appetite, she even came down to see the kids this past weekend for their birthdays (she even drove an hour in a half each way).

The 5 year survival rate on Small Cell Lung Cancer is not great but they do think they caught it early and hopefully with some luck (depending on your believes you can insert another word) she will be one of the ones on the small percentage side.