Donation Totals

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Early morning run around the University of Florida

Got up early this morning after arriving in Gainesville early Monday afternoon and went out for a quick 5.5 mile run around campus. It was great to see the sites again. Really do miss it down here. Weather was good, overcast and warm, but not hot, although it was pretty humid. Took off from Jenn and Tim's down 34th Street towards campus, running up the hill on University Ave passing by the stadium and then the Chemistry Dept, getting down to 13th Street at the other end of campus before turning around and running through the center of UF by the bell tower and then the Stadium, the O'Connell center, the track and then finally the law school before heading back north on 34th Street to Tim and Jenn's again. I felt pretty good, maintaining about 8 min/mile for the run with only a couple stops for lights.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Recovery run in Georgia...

Betsy and I left Cole with his grandparents this morning and went out for an easy recovery run. After 16 miles on Friday morning and a long 10 hour day on the road Friday, we needed a day off yesterday and then a short run this morning to loosen up badly. My left hip and shoulders were really tight, but overall, we were just maintaining a 9 min/mile pace, so it wasn't too bad.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Long run! 16 miles

Finally, after multiple weeks of other obligations (races, weekend plans and a tropical storm) I got in my long run, in this case a 16 miler around the house. In order to enable multiple water stops on the course without having to drop bottles ahead of time, I did 4 loops around our house to either side, meaning I repeated two different 4 mile loops twice. I started off at 6AM in a light drizzle, but with Betsy, Cole and I leaving to drive to Georgia this afternoon to start our vacation, I had to get the run in or risk missing it all together. I got going, maintaining about 9 min/mile, which was my goal. It really is amazing the amount of wildlife out that early, even in a heavily populated area like where we live! I came across multiple deer, a few rabbits and the wildest were the two miniature dobermans who "chased" after me after loop 3 (causing me to miss 0.4 miles in the course). I finished the first loop with a starting rash, so I ran inside briefly and put on some body glide and had some water before heading out for loop two (I also took a second to give the little Cole-monster a kiss). The second loop saw me getting a bit of tightness and pain again in my right hip this time. Then compensating for that, by loop 3 my left knee started to get sore. But none of it was too terrible, so I kept on going heading into loop 4. Before starting the fourth lap, I ran inside and grabbed Betsy and Cole as they were joining me! We finished the final lap passing the time laughing at Sarah Palin's interview with Katie Couric last night and happily discussing our upcoming vacation! Finished with a total of 16.27 miles, averaging 9:01 min/mile overall. My mile times were 8:50, 9:08, 9:03, 8:54, 8:52, 8:54, 8:53, 9:084, 8:58, 9:16, 9:04, 8:54, 9:08, 9:00, 9:17, 7:46 min/mile.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Hitting the Trails

Mountain biking at Rosaryville State Park. Just taking it nice and easy and adding in the extra technical section. Great ride overall.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Photos from the BRATS race

Waiting in line to start the pool swim. With 15 seconds between each swimmer, I got into a chat with a damn good triathlete Adam (silver cap behind me) who won the 20-29 age group.














In the pool to start the swim. Each of us had to first get down on the ledge, then shift to the center and then hop in and wait to be told to go. Being number 22 I had a bit of time, but at least I wasn't at the end. There were a number of breast strokers, but unlike the CUA tri, there was room to pass...














As I said, the swim went well, but I took forever in transition 1, here is me screwing around and finally getting my bike out of the blocks. The bike portion of the race itself went fairly well, with me spending the majority of the time with the eventual female winner of the race.














Me finishing strong!!! I had my fastest run splits ever in a triathlon during this race. Of course the shorter distance played to this advantage, but 2.05 miles at 6:52 min/mile is nothing to be ashamed of in my book.





























Here I am after accepting my award. But as you see in the next pic, as much as I enjoyed the medal, another little guy enjoyed it a bit more than I did!

The all boy Caldwell run...

Went for all male run! Betsy needed some time to herself, so after working from home today, I went for a short 4 mile run, just me and Cole! Despite pushing the stroller, I still finished at 8 min/mile, so can't complain about that! Plus it was lots of fun to chat back and forth with the little chatter box that is my son! Great time!!! However, the inside of my left hip is still bothering me, don't know what it is. Hopefully some Naproxen will clear it up.

Recovery run - Monday

After the great triathlon yesterday, I needed a nice easy run to loosen up. Felt really tight most of the way and only averaged 8:31 min/mile. I didn't push too hard, so it did the job. Will have to see how I feel tomorrow, but the inside of my left hip is really sore.

The REAL big news!

So my Uncle Steve has been valiantly battling his prostate cancer for a number of years, and as of a year ago, his level of PSA , or the Prostate Specific Antigen, in his blood was very high at 76.7 ng/mL; a level above 20 is considered at high risk of cancer. This is despite having had surgery to remove the cancerous tumor (which should have reduced his PSA level to zero) and many chemotherapy treatments. However, he began Internal Radiation Therapy (intravenous) as part of an experimental effort. AMAZINGLY, his PSA level has since dropped to 7.7 ng/mL!!! This dropping him into the slightly or moderately elevated level! While it is great that we are having such success raising money, this is one of those points where we can see such money actually making a difference! Lance Armstrong has always been a hero of mine for how he fought and overcame his cancer to only come back stronger than before, well I wanted everyone to know of my Uncle Steve for the same reason. He might not win the Tour de France (but if he wanted to train for it I would love to take him for a ride!!!), but he is winning the most incredible battle of all. I would ask you all to just say a quick prayer or think some positive thoughts for him as he continues this difficult battle!

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Bristow Area Brats Sprint Triathlon #3 in Manassas, VA

Betsy and little Cole got up early this morning to drive my sorry butt up to Manassas, VA (about 1 hour away) and stood throughout the race to cheer me on! Similar to the Catholic University Triathlon in DC earlier this year, this started with a pool swim, however this was much better organized with 15 secs separating consecutive swimmers. The swim was a 350 m effort with flip turns made illegal, yet I still managed a 5:35 time (1:28 min/100yards). I got out of the pool and then took off for the transition area. I felt good, but it was pretty cold. My transition was terrible, as I took a wrong turn out of the pool then dilly dallied around getting dressed and putting on bike gloves. Seriously, it was a 10.2 mile bike course and I still thought bike gloves were a necessity... OH well, I got on the bike and put in a pretty strong ride, keeping pace with a woman, Candy, who apparently was the female overall winner. I would pass her, then she would pass me and vice versa, ending up with her heading into the second transition with a slight lead. It was her birthday however so we will say I gave her that as a gift... yeah THATS the ticket YEAH... Overall I avg'd 19.8 mph on a 3 loop flat course, so I can't complain too much. I got into the second transition feeling pretty strong and actually had a pretty speedy switch. I put on my quik laces last night, significantly easing this switch. So I started off for the short (just over 2 miles) run, feeling a bit tight, but pushing hard. For the first time I can remember, I spent the entire run passing OTHER people and not being passed myself! According to the race finals, I actually maintained a 6:54 min/mile pace! Overall I came in 2nd in my age group and 13th overall. It was a great sprint and will definitely do it again next year! Pictures to follow soon!

Saturday, September 20, 2008

28 mile ride

Going for an easy ride around the Mt. Carmel loop. Felt pretty good, with the main goal of the ride being to get comfortable on the bike before the sprint triathlon tomorrow morning. Kept an 18.4 mph, which isn't bad considering I just maintained an nice steady cadence and didn't push at any point. Looking forward to the tri tomorrow, it is my first tri since March!

Recovery Run

Going for an easy run Thursday morning before work. Because of my triathlon on Sunday, wanted to take it easy. Therefore I only did the 2.5 miles with Betsy and Cole.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Recovery Run...

Going for a morning recovery run. Felt pretty tight, but overall did pretty well. Supposed to be doing a long run tomorrow, but have the Materials Research Society's Congressional Visits Day over the next two days, so will be pretty tied up and therefore doubt that I will be up for gettinjg in the whole run.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Recovery ride...

Going for a nice short (20 miler) recovery ride. Tried out a new route, heading out 224 then back on 225 to Indian Head before heading back home. Felt pretty good suprisingly considering how terrible I felt last night after that abomination of a run yesterday. Got nice and loose and maintained about 19 mph, so nothing too terrible.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Long run in DC - 14.5 miles

Going for my long run. The plan was to start at the National Zoo, run along the Rock Creek Trail toward the Lincoln Memorial, then down towards Haine's Point, over to the Jefferson Memorial, on up to the Washington Monument, through the mall up to the Capital and then back by the White House and the Ellipse, then continuing up to the Watergate Hotel and the Kennedy Center and boat house then finally back along the Rock Creek Trail up to the Zoo. The run started off with issues with my GPS not keeping my mile splits, then I started to cramp. I got some water at the boat house and then again at the Jefferson Monument, but forgot to hit start again so I missed a bit of the run, screwing up my splits more. THen at the end of the mall the GPS didn't register me hitting start again so I missed more of the run, all in all missing a total of about a mile and a quarter. Either way, the run up Pennsylvania was frustrating as I had to stop pretty much every block for a light and my legs did NOT like the stop and go. Got up to the Boat House and the start of the Rock Creek trail and got some water, but from then on out had some issues and had to stop a couple times to walk. I did run into my buddy Mike Papantonakis on the run and he ran with me for about a 1/2 mile or so which helped, but in the end it was a really tough run overall.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Four mile tempo run

Went out on the Accokeek 4 mile loop attempting to beat my PR time. Felt pretty good most of the way, but had two mini dauchsaunds chase after me so I had to stop to pet them and let their owner come and get them about 1/2 way through and then I had a bit of a rough time getting back into pace. Overall it was a good run, even if I did miss my PR time by about 20 sec. Have my 15 miler on Saturday morning, so will be taking tomorrow off or really easy to keep the legs fresh for that. Hopefully will be doing that run up in DC around the monuments!

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Fartlick workout.

In an effort to replace the track workout I missed yesterday, I ran a fartlick workout. I started around lunch time from the NRL gym, running into the Oxon Hill Farm park. I got in a 1.1 mile warmup at 8:21 pace, then doing four 1/2 mile intervals hard with a 1/2 mile easy rest between. Got the 1/2 mile intervals in at 3:42, 3:53, 3:35 and 3:31. Followed it up with a easy 0.6 mile cool down at a bit over 9:12 min/mile pace. Overall, felt pretty good, not great, but good. The second interval started up the hill, but didn't go up the entire way. Hoping I am back in good shape for my 15 miler on Saturday!

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Family run!

Went for an early morning family run. Betsy and I got on the road, with me pushing Cole in the Bob Ironman jogging stroller. Unfortunately, Trinity is still recovering and may actually have really hurt herself, so we couldn't take her along. It really kills me to think that her days as my running partner may be at an end. Anyway, Betsy and I got in about 3 miles together to start, pushing out a 9:12, a 9:00 and a 9:05 min miles, before I took off to finish with a 8:27 and an 8:14 min miles. FInally finishing the last 0.24 miles at 8:00 min pace. Felt pretty tired and tight, but that is par for the course these days! Anyway, tomorrow is a track workout I think, we will see, it might just become a run...

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Indian Head Metric Century

Was supposed to meet a couple people first thing in the morning (7am), but nobody showed so did the ride on my own. We couldn't have asked for better weather, nice breeze, probably low 70's and sunny. GORGEOUS ride. They had ham, egg and cheese english muffins at rest stop 1, tomato sandwiches at rest stop 2 and hotdogs at the finish. Finished in 3:26:14 for an avg of 18.3 mph. Fairly hilly for the region, but still a great ride. Felt great until the last 5 miles where my energy started to peeter out. But finished strong nontheless. This is by FAR my favorite organized ride I have ever done... anywhere....

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Another Family Run!

After Hurricane Hannah blew through, the weather cleared up and was absolutely gorgeous, so Betsy, Cole and I grabbed the jogging stroller and hit the pavement for a nice short run. Went 3.2 miles at a nice and easy 8:45 min/mile pace. It is really nice to have my running partner back, even if only for some of the shorter and slower runs, plus now we have a new addition to the team. Our previous partner, Trinity (the Rottweiler) has been coming up lame and we fear is developing some arthritis, so she didn't get to go. Oh how dissappointed she was. Hopefully something can be done, as runs are always way more fun with her! Anyway, have the Indian Head 100 tomorrow, can't wait!

Friday, September 5, 2008

"Long" Run... only 6 miles

SO I was supposed to do a 10 mile long run (recovery week), but with how busy I have been at work and it not getting light until at least 6:30, I had to shorten it to 6 miles. Felt rather eh for most of the run. Still pretty sore, mostly in my hips at the front of my legs. Finished the 6 miles with an additional pinky toe blister to boot! Overall, kept the pace about 8:20/mile, so not terrible. Tomorrow I am supossed to do a 4 mile run, however I am pretty sure that Hurricane Hannah will be putting a damper on those plans. If so, will probably do some bike trainer work. Until tomorrow!

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Trainer work - Recovery

doing a trainer workout with Betsy! Got on and did the Spinervals Recharge workout. Workout is essentially made of three sets, the first is five 3 min efforts at various gearings at a high cadence, then five 1 min efforts at the same gearings then finally three 30 s buildup efforts. Felt good and being able to watch little Cole the whole time makes it really fun!

Monday, September 1, 2008

Abebe Bikila 1/2 Marathon - OUCH!!!

Abebe Bikila 1/2 Marathon on the Mt. Vernon Trail. Started off at a pretty quick pace (7:45 or so) and felt really good to start, but this was stupid as I knew the pace I wanted to maintain was around 8 min/mile and then to try and kick it in for the last couple miles if I had anything left. Unfortunately, intelligence didn't win over my pace, so I ended up dying out over the second half. Overall, it was still a pretty good race, pacing my miles in 7:41, 7:48, 8:04, 7:56, 8:13, 8:03, 8:21, 8:05, 8:20, 8:06, 8:16, 8:17, then a terrible 9:11 before finishing the final 0.18 mile at an 8:48 pace. Finish time was 1:47:58, not my best performance (about 4 min off of personal record pace). Didn't help that they started the race at 9am when it was already too hot... Thank God today wasn't too hot of a day.

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