Blame it on Congress, or Blame It on Evolution, or Blame it on Daylight Savings Time

I'm gonna blame it on stupid-ism:

I present Exhibit A:

(Face Palm!)....even the Article title has a gigantic typo in it....

Let's hope this person has been removed from the gene pool.........Fortunately I believe the article is a hoax (let's hope for humanity's sake!!!).

I'll tell ya one thing I do HATE about Daylight Savings Time in the Spring: There goes the morning light! Getting out to run @ 6:30 or even 6:15 has been great. You can get a long run in before work and still have time for a big breakfast and a long stretch.

Now 6:15 light has turned into 7:15 light.....UHG! Time to rebreakout the head lamp :(

The silver lining though is that TRAINER SEASON IS OVER!!!!! OH HAPPY DANCE!!!! There is now enough light to ride the bike after work. Albeit its gonna be a fast 60 min ride after work, but its no more trainer. Phew!
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Thanks everyone for your input from my HELP WANTED post last week. I now have a list of content and posts that will keep me busy for some time. You guys rock!

In Blah Blah Land in Blog Blog Land: Reader input needed!

I have been blogging for about three and a half years now. This blog first started as merely a daily diary of me quickly writing, "Ran X miles in Y time then hit the pool for Z yards in Q time." Blammo, dunno. NEXT!

Then I discovered the power of commenting and following other people's blogs. Suddenly blogging wasn't just merely writing bland "I did this, then I did that." Blogging suddenly became crack!

Meanwhile, I was slowly upping the distances and different kinds of races as this blog grew. Everything was new and exiting as I tackled my first 10K, my first Half Marathon, my first sprint tri, olympic tri, first Half Ironman, doing 4 Half Ironmans in one season, etc etc etc.......

Then the workout posting kinda died and got bland.

Why?

Cuz I have already been there and done that.

I am training for another Half Ironman in 4 weeks, my 6th, and while my heart is totally into training for it, my heart really hasn't been into blogging about it. Its getting harder and harder to find new and creative ways to describe last weekend's long ride followed by a brick run or another beat down in the pool. Afterall, this is what this blog is all about, right?

I guess I am starting to show signs of severe blogger's block.

Soooooooo, I wanna put it out to you all for idea's on what I can do to switch things up around and get things interesting again.

I am SERIOUSLY open to anything!!!

800's On The Track and The Red Wine Theory

I have really been enjoying the track lately now that the snow is all gone. There is something about the track that you can see defined distances in front of you that you know exactly where your goal is to stop running or stop running hard.

So this morning was a 15 min easy warmup, then 6 x (800 hard, 400 easy) with a 10 min cool down.

My 800's came out as:
Interval 1: 3:26, avg HR 158, max 171
Interval 2: 3:26, avg HR 167, max 173
Interval 3: 3:25, avg HR 169, max 174
Interval 4: 3:20, avg HR 171, max 177
Interval 5: 3:19, avg HR 171, max 178
Interval 6: 3:17, avg HR 172, max 177
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/72098083

So, um, if I did 4 more of those, would that qualify for a Yasso 800 workout? You have to do 10 of them, right? This was a great workout! By the time I got home I knocked off 8 miles. I couldn't believe 8 miles went by so quickly!

So last night I polished off half a bottle of some yummy Cabernet Sauvignon. I was feeling pretty good :) The night before I ran that training half marathon in Central Park I had two awesome glasses of Malbec (my new favorite wine).

What am I getting at?

Seems like getting buzzed off of red wine has a pretty positive effect on a run the following morning. When I rode with Kristin @ The Lazy Marathoner a few times last fall, she told me she had a couple glasses of wine the night before she tackled and PR'ed Lake Placid. She was surely onto something!!!

Now despite our small sample size of red wine = good performance, the bigger issue here is that you CAN embellish in the good things in life and still put up a good performance. Yes, you can have your wine and drink it too! Some amateur age groupers see alcohol as the devil and as a negative performance item, but I say screw it!!! Drink your red wine cuz it tastes soooooooooo good! And hey! It might even give you a few good days!!!

And what is even stranger is that I have this strong craving for drinking some Barolo. I don't think I have EVER drank a glass of Barolo, but after reading up on it and it being called "The King of Wine" from Italy, I think a tasting is in order :)
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Gonna mention my "Unusual but VERY EXCITING giveaway" another time. Do you want to win a signed poster of "Rio"? An animated feature film made by yours truly? CLICK HERE to enter!

What is even cooler is that they made a "Rio" float for Carnival this year down in Rio de Janeiro!!! Here are some cools photos of our director, Carlos Saldanha, riding at the head of the float and other shots! So cool!

He is on the left in front of the flag

Isn't that amazing!

Super cool shot!

Look out for a new Angry Birds flair ;)

A Breakthrough Weekend!

First! If you haven't seen or entered my "Unusual But VERY EXCITING Giveaway" yet, please do so! I am giving away a signed "Rio" poster, signed by the folks who made the movie, aka, ME :) You have 4 chances to win it!

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This past weekend was the weekend I had been waiting for all season: The weekend where every workout is an uber success.

Saturday was another 2.5 hour ride followed by a 4 mile brick run. Sunday was a 1:45:00 min run. Lots of volume. So what are the options? 1) Sandbag the ride and brick run to save the legs for the long run? 2) Kill the legs on the ride and brick run and sandbag the long run? OR! 3) Kill your legs on the ride and brick run then murder your legs on the long run?

I went with option #3 :)

I went farther and faster on a hillier and MUCH windier ride than the previous weekend's long ride, ran faster on the brick run, then almost PR'ed my half marathon run on the long run.

It was a good weekend :)

Saturday's ride came out as 50.67 miles in 2:37:10 for a 19.34 mph avg. The wind on the way back was brutal! I was getting blown all over the road and every time a gust would nail me I would scream as loud as I could. The wind was really killing my speed averages, especially on the flats and even on some downhills. Nothing more frustrating then riding downhill and feeling like you are riding through molasses.

So my power average came out as 185 watts with 199 watts normalized. This was vs the previous weekend's ride of 178 watts @ 18.68 mph, but 3+ miles shorter and on a flatter route. Already within a week my body is responding to the long rides and is improving. Not quite there yet on the bike, but getting closer!

By the time I finished the bike, I thought my legs were just toast and that this brick run was going to suuuuuuuuuuuck. So I just started running, keeping an easy-ish pace. My legs responded well! I finished with 4 miles in 30:45 for a 7:41 pace. Splits came out as:
Mile 1: 7:48
Mile 2: 7:42
Mile 3: 7:38
Mile 4: 7:35

Woke up Sunday morning to some fresh-ish feeling legs and ran around Central Park 2X. After ~2.5 miles that rain storm that socked the Northeast got me and it was rainy-city for the next 10.6 miles. I don't mind running in the rain! Some of my best runs have been in the rain because it keeps your body cooled down. I wound up with 13.1 miles in 1:45:45, so 26 secs slower than my half marathon PR. Coach wanted me to run with a heart rate between 150-160 bpm, and I did it with a 155 average. Good to know what that heart rate zone will yield.

My splits came out as (before my GPS distance crapped out on me):
Mile 1: 8:38
Mile 2: 8:06
Mile 3: 8:23
Mile 4: 8:09
Mile 5: 7:53
Mile 6: 7:50
Mile 7: 7:52
Mile 8: 7:48
Mile 9: 8:03
Mile 10: 7:48

Then mile 11 showed a 6:37 pace and I had slowed down by that point so I knew it wasn't tracking distance correctly anymore. Fortunately I know that each loop around the park is 6.05 miles, so once I hit loop #2 @ 12.1 miles, I estimated a 0.5 mile out and 0.5 mile back, which surprisingly was accurate when I checked it on mapmyride.com! I love running around Central Park :)

Last week was some nice, but faster volume, especially on the run:
Swim: 8300 yards
Bike: 90 miles
Run: 36.46 miles

Hope you had a great weekend!

An Unusual but VERY EXCITING Giveaway!

First, I haven't done a giveaway in a looooong time.

And!

Second, for those of you who don't know what I do for a living to pay for my triathlon drug addiction, I make animated movies. More specifically I put hair, fur, feathers, leaves, and grass onto digital animated characters, trees, and landscapes. Wha? You ask? Yes, I am a professional pet groomer and lawn mower......on the computer.

Well! Our next movie, "Rio" is coming out in less than 6 weeks on April 15th!!!! So exciting!!!

So as part of the gigantic marketing machine to spread the word of this movie to make it sell lots and lots of movie tickets, I am going to do my part on this blog.

For starters, I am going to give away a signed official "Rio" movie poster, signed by the entire Blue Sky Studios Fur Department!

Yep, we are the bestest department in this entire company! Speaking of our company, ever see any of the "Ice Age" movies? That is us as well!

My role on the film was to figure out how to groom all of the birds efficiently AND I got the honor of grooming the feathers and fur onto Blu (voiced by Jesse Eisenberg) and Jewel (voiced by Anne Hathaway), the two main bird characters in the movie. It was an 18 month long project to groom just the two birds! Tedious work you ask? Yeppers! But it was worth it as they came out VERY beautiful in the end.

So you wanna win this awesome signed poster? Its easy! Leave me a comment saying you want it!

Want a better chance of winning it? Head on over to Rio's official Facebook page and "Like" the movie. Lemme know you liked it via a second comment....

Want an even better chance of winning it? Spread the word! Post this on your blog or twitter and lemme know you did via a third comment.

Want an even better better chance of winning it? Become a follower! (look over to the right--------)

So four chances to win this signed official "Rio" poster. How much better can it get?!?! I am leaving the entry open until Friday March 18th.

The movie is spectacular! Hope you go see it on APRIL 15th! Look for my name, Jon Campbell, in the credits under the Fur Department. Thanks!

A Major Raid was Conducted Today.....

From the Associated Press

Authorities in White Plains, NY early this morning conducted a raid on a one bedroom household after an anonymous tip lead Police to believe that triathlon drug trafficking was occurring inside the premises. The anonymous tipster also mentioned that lots of traffic was coming and going very early in the morning. Police hoped to catch the suspect on site.

Police Lieutenant Andy Potts, who lead the raid, told reporters, "We hit a significant gold mine with this raid. We seized 14 kilos, or 7 'bricks' of what are known as the on the street as triathlon burritos. They were some of the largest and most potent 'bricks' we have ever seized. A junkie on one of those could run for miles!" 

But that was not all that was found in this raid, as Lieutenant Potts also reported, "4 packets of 'Gu' were found as well as measuring equipment and a 2 oz sample of triathlon fairy dust, also known as Infinit. With the equipment we found, this guy was surely distributing heavy volumes of material."

In fact this is not the first raid conducted on this premises. Suspect Jon Campbell, who was arrested with possession of a record 196 packets of Gu last December, was later found that morning on Rt 100 going about 23 mph on a Blue Cervelo. His USAT license had lapsed, so an additional charge of riding while unlicensed, a felony, was brought against him. More than likely the felony will be dropped down to a misdemeanor.

Since Mr. Campbell is currently out on Probation and he is a severe flight risk, bail was not granted at his arraignment in Westchester County Court.

Hello March & February in Review

I wasted no time getting March going by hitting the track for the first time this season (the snow finally melted!) for a 30 x (20 sec hard, 40 sec easy) run workout. 20 secs all out over and over and over and over again start to hurt after awhile! I rounded out the morning with 6.78 miles.

So, Hello March! I have a feeling its going to be a good month, that is, it BETTER be a freaking good month! I have 4 weeks to basically annihilate my body to whip my ass into 70.3 shape!

Here are my February #'s:
Swim: 31500 yards; 11.5 hours
Bike: 350.46 miles, 20.5 hours
Run: 129.18 miles, 18.3 hours

I guess I could describe February as a rock solid month of consistent work. I swam 3X's, biked 4X's, and ran 5X's every week. This was a total PR month for run volume. Every week was a 30+ mile run week, with 35 miles as the highest.

So what else went on in February? I guess the stand out things are that I ran a 4 mile race in Central Park at the beginning of the month, and PR-ed the distance. I also got a creepy photo taken of me looking to kill the photographer:

Apparently running pants are not running fashion friendly...

Bacon will NEVER jump the shark. I fried a lot of bacon this month and fried eggs IN the bacon grease:

Breakfast of Champs!

Some A-Hole decided to hit me, then run for it!

And I bought a snorkel, and proceeded to make myself look like a complete dork ;)

Duuuuuuurrrrrrrrrr

How did your February go? Hit any milestones?