Donation Totals

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Marathon Training - Long Run Week 4 - 9 miles

Long run this morning since we will be heading up to Betsy's Mom's this weekend and doing my long run on the hills in Charlottesville didn't sound so appealing. Got out first thing this morning while it was still overcast, about mid 80's I would say and pretty humid. Felt pretty good though, except for a few min around mile 1.5-2.5 where I was getting spots (sun spots maybe?) in my vision. I slowed up and they went away. Finished my miles in 8:16, 8:19, 8:31, 8:30, 8:19, 8:29, 8:16, 8:09 and 7:48. Overall good run and shows I am in good position at this point in my training.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Flat ruins Criterium race...

Greenbelt Criterium Race C. Was in lead group going into 1/2 way pt of lap 3 (30 min race, 1.4 mile lap) when I got a flat in my front tire. I had to pull off from the group and then realized that the race director made me remove my packs, so I had no tools to repair it! There for I walked the 3/4 of a mile back to the start line. Luckily, they gave me a rain check for next week, so I will be able to shoot back and try again!

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Trainer work

decided that I would do a crit tomorrow up in Greenbelt, MD tomorrow. So instead of doing a track workout and really tiring myself before tomorrow, I decided to do a trainer workout. In this case I did the Spinervals Zoot Challenge. Good workout, but felt kind of crappy afterward. Looking forward to my second Criterium race ever tomorrow!

Monday, July 28, 2008

Early morning run

Got out in the nice cool weather this morning (~60-65, modearate humidity) for a quick 4 miler at a nice easy 8 min/mile pace. Wanted to get my heart rate up, but not push too much. Looking forward to hitting track practice for the first time in a while tomorrow. Felt pretty strong during the run, had a bit of chest congestion, but it was SIGNIFICANTLY better than it had been. Maintained that 8 min pace overall with minimal difficulty. Got my long run on Friday (9 miles this week), should be interesting!

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Mountain Biking in Rosaryville with Dana

My friend Dana from UF and I hit the Rosaryville trail for a loop mountain biking. Got through the course despite the high heat and humidity for the 9.5 mile loop. Felt pretty strong and finished in about 58 min. Betsy took Cole for a short walk with Trinity while we were riding. Overall, lots of fun, looking forward to hitting the course again...

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Recovery week long run

Our friends Greg and Heather Dunnigan and their three kids (Abby, Caitlyn and Natalie) came to visit last night. Greg and I are planning on running the OBX Marathon in the outer banks! Greg and I were friends from Virginia Tech, having met on the rugby team and then lived together for the year. I was Greg's best man and he was in my wedding party too, so it will be alot of fun. This week was our 1st recovery week, so our long run was a 5 miler. Got going this morning around 7:30 and did the tour of the neighborhoods. Beautiful morning, a bit humid, but considering the past week's weather, this was great. We both felt pretty good though and overall I think it will be a good marathon partnership!

Friday, July 25, 2008

Morning ride

Went for the Mt. Carmel ride before work this morning. Again, had the same breathing issue this morning, that feeling where you can't seem to pull in a full breath, but aren't exactly short of breath... really wierd. Anway, had a reasonable ride, avg'd around 19mph for the 28 mile loop, but got a flat at the base of the first hill, so that really sucked. Overall, can't complain though, got in a nice ride to get me ready for the work day... Gotta love flex hours

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Shortened run

Going for a morning tempo run that turned into a rough one. Started off trying to do the 4 mile Accokeek Access loop at about 7:30 min/mile pace, but after the second mile started to get light headed and stopped at that point. I then walked to the top of the hill thinking I would split the workout into two 2 mile repeats, but once I started running again I got the feeling like I was going to get sick. Luckily I have tomorrow as an offday, hopefully that will help let me recover whatever it is I lost. Did finish the two miles I ran in 7:42 and 7:13 min/mile though.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Recovery on the trainer

It was another ridiculously hot (>95 degrees) and humid and was rated as another Code Red day, which I have been finding make it very difficult for me to breath, so I decided to do my recovery ride on the trainer in the basement. For the first time, all three Caldwells worked out together! Betsy did a few min on the elliptical machine, I was on the bike trainer and COLE decided to hop on the swing! Ok so it wasn't necessarily a workout for him, but he was right there with us and from the looks he was giving it looked like he was working hard! Anyway, got in the Recharge Spinervals workout and felt pretty good. Got a tempo run in the morning tomorrow!

Long run (week 2 Marathon Training - 7-21-08)

Got in the second long run of the marathon training schedule. This was an 8 miler that I finished before work yesterday. I did the Accokeek Figure '8' (because it is a double loop that physically looks like a number 8 and because it is about 8 miles. This is not to be confused with the 'P' Loop that Betsy and I walk the dogs with Cole on all the time, that loop is called the 'P' loop because it is in the shape of a letter 'P' and because the dogs and Betsy could never make the whole loop without having to go pee!). Anywhoo, maintained a bit over 8 min miles. Felt pretty tight in my chest, but that isn't too surprising since it was another Code Red air quality day with high humidity even at 6:30 am when I started running. Overall it was a decent run though and maintains my strong start on marathon training. My buddies Greg, Molly and Spanky all did their 8 milers as well!

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Rough Riding...

Going for a longer bike ride, my longest since Cole's birth! Started off pretty rough, tough to breath, really sore and tight and almost turned around at about 15 miles in. Loosened up some by mile 20 and continued on to finish the 40 miler. Really hot out, somewhere close to 90, with high humidity and apparently was another 'code red' day in terms of air quality. Had a real tough time catching my breath when I returned and couldn't clear my sinuses. Very strange... Overall, ride was fairly decent and would do it again... issues were dealing with me... Avg Cad 88

Thursday, July 17, 2008

recovery day

It was >95 degrees today and the air quality was really bad, so I did a recovery ride on the trainer. Betsy had her mom's group dinner so Cole sat in his swing watching me and was watching me the whole time! It was a great ride.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Start Marathon Training!

Doing a 10K run as the first 'long' run of my Marathon training! I am starting an 18 week Marathon training course to lead up to the OBX Marathon that I will be running with my rugby buddy and really good friend Greg Dunnigan the first weekend in Nov! The race is down in North Carolina along the shore! Felt great the whole way, started off running with Trinity for the first 2.5 miles. She did really well, I am hoping that I can incorporate her into a couple of my runs if only for a limited amount to keep her in shape! After that initial 2.5 miles with her, I dropped her off inside and started out for the remainder on my own. Maintained about 8:05 min/mile for each mile (miles in 8:09, 8:06, 8:06, 8:03, 8:13, 7:38 then the last 0.1 at a 7:04 min/mile pace) until I could kick it in for the final mile. Great start to training. Have my off day (playing softball) tomorrow.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Recovery Ride

Riding the Indian Head out and back with a bit of additional exploring in some of the local areas. Found a gorgeous plot of land down in Indian Head for sale right on the water, would love to get that! Good ride overall, was just trying to take it easy on my ride to recover from Muddy Buddy yesterday, felt I did ok. Overall enjoyable ride and recovered a bit and still got home in time to mow the lawn and read a couple papers for work before dinner.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

MUDDY BUDDY 2008!!!


Racing with Joe Corson, a really good friend of mine from undergrad (Virginia Tech) that I did my coop with at ITT Night Vision. I felt really good on the runs and pretty decent on the bikes. Overall Joe and I did really well, especially considering it was his first Muddy Buddy! Great fun, great race can't wait to do it again next year! I finished the 2.77 miles in 11:43 and the 3.68 miles of running in 28:33. There was of course the additional time involved with hooking up during the transitions, the time to do each of the obstacles and the time required to climb through the infamous mud pit! Pictures and places updated shortly!



Great Ride (7/10/2008)

NEW PR!!! Beat my previous best time on the Mt Carmel course by over a minute! Avg 19.9 mph over the 27.9 mile course. Felt pretty strong throughout, had some laboring towards the end, but pushed through it once I saw that a PR was within reach. Hopefully I didn't overdo it before Muddy Buddy! Avg Cad 91

Monday, July 7, 2008

Back at it after weekend with the Boy

Indian Head out and back extended. Included the hill on Marshall Hall Rd (~11% grade at max) toward the beginning and then tried to incorporate an offcut on the way out. Think I know how to add in a quick additional loop next time. Overall, felt better than I have recently, mostly because I took a Zyrtec-D instead of just plain Zyrtec this morning. Have been feeling really congested recently due to allergies.

Friday, July 4, 2008

A family affair!

Took my dad out mountain biking at Cedarville State Forest! It was alot of fun! My dad still claims I was trying to kill him, but deep down I know he loved it! Got most of the way through the course and then took a shortcut home. It was really nice going out with Pops and sharing a shared love (he used to bike a great deal too, 42 miles a day before they moved to Georgia).

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Quick Ride

Just doing the Indian Head out and Back again. Still really tight and tough getting going, will be back at it soon enough though! Overall, moderately heavy wind and need to get my cadence back soon! Had progressively faster 5 mile splits through the ride...

2010 Efforts!

This year, like last year, I will be riding for Mary Payton's Miracle - My friend Steve Kogos from Trigators informed me that his friend Joe's daughter, Mary Payton, was diagnosed a number of years back with Late Infantile Batten Disease. This is a disease with no cure, however, there are special experimental (and extremely expensive) treatments which have shown some significant signs of success! In order to assist with the costly treatments and research, Mary Payton's Miracle was created to raise money to find a cure, hopefully in time to save little Mary Payton as well as the many others affected by this terrible disease!

Total Mileage

Current Challenges

Valid 2/1-12/1/2009