Thank you all for a great year!

Thank you friends for voting for Bridget and I as your 2006 Athletes of the year!, in particular my bike/run training partners over the year, Aron, Mark, Ryan, Pete, and my swim lane mates: Wes, Rob, Amanda, Joe, and Karen

Thank you DiNapoli family for your generousity and hospitality in hosting this super party.

Thank you Pete for coaching to get the best out of myself, overcome my fears and achieve new goals, to listen to me and take me along. It was an honor to train with you, beside you.

But most of all thank you Maureen for being there while I left for early mornings swims, to put the kids to bed during my evening brick training, and on the weekends take them to the Kids Museum while I went for long bike-rides. There were many days that you must have felt that you were raising our kids by yourself as I left for another training ride.

Ironman 70.3 World Championship

Man what a day. Last Saturday (11/11) Pete and I raced in the final race of the year. The World Championship in held in Clearwater, Florida. It was quite an experience with 30+ countries representing.

Anyway at 7:15 EST my wave of approximately 600 athletes left on a beach start. Before I knew it I was in the front group leveraging lessons Pete has taught us on 'dolphining' through the shallow water. I struggled to hang and at the end of the swim was caught by Pete (coach) who started 5 mins behind me. As I exited the water I recorded a new sub-30 minute PR for the swim (YIHAAAAA).

The bike was a story by itself, with 2000 racers spread over just 4 waves, seperated by a mere 5 minutes combined with a very flat fast course it was inevitable that drafting (illegal) would take place. And so it did. Fortunately I felt strong and before long was in one of the lead groups, actually pulled that group for quite a while due to the threatening marshalls. This lead to a new PR of 2:11:59 (equates to an average of 25.48mph or 41kmh). Coming out of T2 I was right with Pete who with severe leg cramps still managed to outrun me.

The run was extremely tough as I clearly had blown too much energy on the bike and was 'hanging on'. Although Clearwater is as flat as a pancake they had managed to find a bridge that we had to cross 4 times and made it quite tough. I ran a flat 1:37 (about 5-6 mins slower than usual), and had no issues with my ankle.

Overview result (#349)

Swim 29:58 (PR - 31:08)
Bike 2:11:59 (PR - 2:33:10)
Run 1:37:58
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Total 4:24:37 (PR minus 23 mins)

I came in 52nd in my age group and 205th overall

A lot of thanks to my coach and friend Pete whom had an unbelievable swim (19th overall) and bike (20th overall) but was held back due to injuries on the run, yet still managed to finish ahead of me.

Wushu graduation

Some time ago we concluded that Luke could use some help in funneling his energy. So we put him in Wuschu class (Karate). There is a local school that was highly recommended and so we signed him up. Below are the picture of his graduation.

WUSCHU CLASS OF NOV-2006


He was taught to stretch from early on. A delight to see him do that. We were a little worried in the beginning not knowing if he would be able to maintain his focus. Sometimes he can drive his coaches insane as he bounces of the wall.



The graduation exercise included, blocking hits from the top, doing a snap-kick, punch, maintain quiet for 30-sec to demonstrate his focus, show his ability to understand leadership etc.

Luke graduated as the first in his class received a round of applause from Opa, Oma, Irene, pappa, mamma and Nikki. He was very proud and came over to present his yellow-belt.

The halloween outfits

Nikki and Luke (Dracula). Well Luke originally wanted to be an Astronaut and in the week leading up to Halloween he changed his mind. He wanted to be a 'business man' like pappa. Maureen put him in his "wedding suit" used some paint and made the most supercool outfit. For all male adults to consider. Nikki was just happy with anything in pink, in particular pink socks and shoes. Does it get any better than this?

SWING AWAY!

We are trying to change the hood to a front-yard one together with several of our other neigh-bors. So last week I made a tire-swing, and build a table with benches. The swing was super easy, $20 in fasteners from home-depot, and the local tire shop had Ben pick out a tire of choice (brand new spare tire).

We also celebrated recently the first block party. This was great as we met all the neighbours, several who we had never seen before. Its a mixed group of all age ranges / backgrounds. We had like an international food market going on with dishes from all over the world, Greek salad, American Dessert, Indonesian Sate, Mexican food, everything. A fire truck showed up to let the kids from the neighbourhood play and that made it like a real block party.

Well look at the pictures, I am telling you a tire swing is a lot of fun. Its great to come home and see Maureen and the kids in the front-yard. If any of you need a building description let me know, it is really super easy and most tire companies are happy to give you a tire as it costs them a lot of money to recycle.

Ups and downs ... and making tough decisions

My gosh what a hectic week. Last week I am doing great. I hit PR's on my workouts, have no pains, no issues whatsoever and even my weight was on track. Then on Sunday while I do an easier trail run I sprain my ankle and my whole season looked to end in face of the finish line (race).

Sunday I had a tennis ball size swelling on my ankle that had me depressed. However a new day came and on Monday morning I started my therapy at TeamClinic, a pit-stop where many pro-athletes in the Bay Area get there treatment.

Today I am 3 sessions into the treatment, I can walk, already swam a practice and did a hard bike workout (80%). I got 5 more sessions and the news sofar is that I can make it and will not sustain long term damage as long as I follow the plan.

I am anxious to make it to the race, I have to loose the 2 pounds I gained while being stuck on the bed/couch the past days and I have to do some training to keep all cogs turning.