SalsMiles2

A 4:30am departure from Spencerport for the 7am race in downtown Buffalo didn't seem to faze the gaggle of Sal's members racing the Buffalo half-marathon . A cool morning (49 degrees) greeted us at the start line. Mike W. and Lou finished hand in hand in 1:38:13 (with Lou setting a 10k pr and taking 7-8 minutes off his previous best 21.1k race). Eileen finished in 2:00:35, 13/45 in her age group. I ran a 1:38:40. Jan, after biking 51 miles the day before, ran a 1:49:02, an 8:20/mile pace and was 3/77 in her age group. Patty P. ran a 1:34, won her age group and was first masters female. Jen K. ran her first 21.1k race, finishing in 1:47:54.

Stupid pool closed on Friday night. Damn college kids need an extra day off? For what? To party? Visit relatives, go home? Damn. The original plan was for Jan to swim 1.5 miles Friday, bike 50 or so miles on Saturday and run the Buffalo 13.1 mile race Sunday. She is out completing a solo 50+ mile ride through the countryside of Churchville/Ogden as I write this. At 4:30am tomorrow the Katz van will pick us up as we head off for the race. Six of the Sal's runners will be in the race, one, Mike May, will be running the marathon, but just for "fun". Who runs a marathon for fun? That is just wrong. Well, maybe Disney was kind of fun, except for the physical pain it was neat running through the parks. Anyhow, Jan will at least get, oops, here she comes home, she will get in two-thirds of a half-ironman. The real Ironman training finally begins.

A four day trip to visit relatives in Arkansas didn't allow for much time to train. We ran four miles on the the Marion Arkansas high school track Saturday morning, and that was it. After driving non-stop for 14+ hours we arrived back home at 1am Monday. Fortunately we both had Monday off from work and were able to swim at 12pm at the pool. Jan swam 2000 yards in the same time I swam 1550 (with my pool buoy). Then we ran 6 miles and lifted weights. Tuesday Jan biked at 5:30am with Eileen and Wednesday she ran 7+ miles at 5:30am. Tonight we will be swimming again as the push to working out 2-3x per day continues.

Jan's spring training leading up to the last 15 weeks before IM Louisville seems to be going well. She has improved on the bike during the past year, working on her cadence and holding pace. Her total number of miles biked during the week has also gone up. Right now Jan's training is basically this: Monday - rest Tuesday - 5:30am, 15-20 miles on bike 6:15pm, 2-6x880 run (with 1.5mile warmup and cooldown) Wednesday - 5:30am, 6-8 mile run 7:00pm, swim 2,000-2,500 meters Thursday - 5:30am, weights 6:30pm, 20 mile bike Friday - (if not working) 20-40 mile bike, 5 mile run, 2500meter swim (if working) 12 mile bike, 2500meter swim Saturday - 7:30am, 14-16 mile run 1:00pm, 20+ mile bike Sunday - 40-62 mile bike, 4-5 mile run.

Our daughter Amanda is competing at the Danskin-Walt Disney World Triathlon on Sunday. The race begins at 6am, which seems ridiculously early. Participants take the ferry to the start. The ferry begins at 3:30am! Why bother going to sleep? The all-women race is a 1/4 mile swim, 9 mile bike, 2 mile run all on Disney property. The swim takes place in the Seven Seas Lagoon, near the Contemporary Resort. The bike takes participants out to Animal Kingdom and back and the run goes through Magic Kingdom and includes running through Cinderella's Castle. At least it will be a warm morning, day time highs in Orlando are 90. Good Luck Amanda, and have fun!

Top five reasons MW said I should run at 5:30am this morning: 5. Good Tempo workout, 2x2.5 miles at 15k pace 4. Feel good all day, like you really accomplished something 3. Beautiful sunrise 2. The canal path is calm and peaceful 1. Lou's in NY City, you can be Lou McLite, if he can do it, so can you. The five truths 5. I'm kind of grumpy and whiny during 5:30am runs. 4. I don't sleep much of the night,too worried about missing my alarm. 3. Bathrooms, where are the porta johns for gosh sakes! 2. 15k pace feels like mile pace at 5:30am. 1. Who cares about that damn Lou. No more vacations for him! Oh, and it was cloudy, misty and no freaking sun and windy too!!

The wind was blowing mightily in the Sunday morning hours at Seneca Lake Park. Gale force winds of this ferocity only come along every other day or so between the lakes of Seneca and Cayuga. Regardless of the conditions the four brave bicyclists dared to challenge the weather and the 56 mile Musselman 1/2 Ironman bike course. Lou, Eileen, Jan and I cruised past lakefront cottages while watching the waves crash the shore. The roads were in good shape and lightly traveled. Around 20 miles we finished a series of climbs and had a great view of much of Seneca Lake, while mistakenly thinking most of the hills were behind us. A mile long incline to Lodi, NY taught us not to underestimate the course, but the flats and downs of rt 414 were a nice reprieve. Eventually we rode to rt 89 and Cayuga Lake, passing more great homes and cottages. This lake is definitely less crowded than Seneca, Canandaigua and Conesus. Once we headed west back to Geneva, we knew the last 9 miles into the wind would b...