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Diary of an Unemployed Triathlete

Thursday, January 8th, 2009

.. well, maybe unemployed public relations guy is more accurate, but whatever. That isn’t the point. If you were paying attention to my twitter feed this morning, you probably already know, but shit hit the fan this morning and I got laid off. What sucks most is that it was a job that I was pretty good at and I actually liked. The economy sucks, money just wasn’t coming like it used to and despite my best efforts to be indespensible, I got the axe.

And I now that this is two non-triathlon related blog posts in one week, but too bad!

I decided that I can wallow in self pity, be embarrassed, only tell the people that I can’t hide it from, cross my fingers fingers and hope for the best, or hold my head up high and actually try to get something productive out of all my activity in different networks like this blog, twitter, triscoop, etc. So if you know anyone in the Boston area that is hiring for any marketing/public relations/social media position, send ‘em my way.

I am pretty sick at what I do. And at this point, especially with so many other people fighting for only a few jobs, I’m pretty damn flexible. Maybe I’ll even find something fitness-related to make my personal passions into a career. Who knows?!

So you may be seeing a lot more frequent blog posts from me, and a lot more training. I’ve got some new time on my hands.

Now back to your regularly scheduled triathlon posts…

Tags: boston, laid off, public relations, social media, unemployed | Posted in Triathlon | No Comments »

My Own Bay State Bike Week

Thursday, April 24th, 2008

I just heard that not only is May national bike month, but May 12-18 is the “Bay State Bike Week” in Boston. Normally I’m totally against any of those lame themed months (not the causesnecessarily, just the month theme idea) and would be against it, but I’ll let it slide this time. It is a part of much larger initiative to support cycling in Boston, another part of which is the creation of a “Bike Czar.” I just think the title Bike Czar is hilarious, but still cool.

The idea is to help people realize that commuting to work by bike is a viable alternative. They are doing this with organized group rides heading from various neighborhoods and ending downtown, passing by free coffee stops along the way. Unfortunately, unlike most people, I work about 15 miles north of the city. This makes my commute (both by car and by bike when I do it every so often) pretty quiet and traffic free, but it doesn’t look like much of this Boston bike commuter party will be along my route to work.

Coincidently, I happen to have another rest week that week and it has gotten me thinking. Since I don’t feel as obligated to stick to higher intensity workouts during my rest week, I’ve decided I’m going to commit to commuting to work every day that week, rain or shine, and share my experiences about what it is like to be a bike commuter. My real interest is to see what the difference is between commuting and riding for fitness.

For triathlon training, I ride early, on the weekends, or after rush hour to stay far away from traffic, and ride out in the middle of nowhere where I’m more likely to pass a cow pasture than a traffic jam. I don’t expect to have such luxuries while commuting. There also aren’t any really “bike friendly” routes to work either. I doubt there is a single bike lane between my apartment and my job, and I have to pass over two major highways just to get there. Not necessarily ideal conditions. At least the 10 mile route each way is relatively flat and traffic free, but I’ll have to see if I can discover a more bike-friendly (but likely longer) route.

I’m also fortunate enough to have a shower in my office building. I’ll definitely be taking advantage of that and changing into new clothes packed away in my messenger bag so I don’t get any dirt looks for stining up the office from my coworkers.

So that is it.

5 Days

10 miles Each way

100 total commuting miles.

That doesn’t seem so bad, right? I figure as long as I don’t get run over, still manage to make it to work on time, and am still able to end the week nice and refreshed, I’ll be happy.

Stay tuned.

Tags: bay state bike week, bike commuting, boston | Posted in Cycling, Training Log | No Comments »

Offseason Dreaming – Ironman Boston

Monday, December 17th, 2007

Another Nor’easter hit last night, dumping another 6 inches of wet slushy snow, and canceled my 5k today. Thankfully it was postponed until next weekend so I won’t miss out on it, and I’ll have a chance to shake off some of the soreness from sloshing around in the snow on my run this past Friday.

Being snowed in, with no other responsibilities other than doing some online Christmas shopping and digging my car out of a pile of snow, gave me some time to finish mapping out my ideas for a self-supported ironman at the end of my 2008 season. The idea is slowly and slowly becoming more real and I’m in love with the idea of doing an IM all by myself. Sure, I don’t get the crowds, TV cameras, banners and right to where IM logo gear, but I’ll be able to do the race on my own terms, create my own dream course, and have the extra challenge of doing it without the support of crowds and aid stations. That isn’t even getting into saving the probably +$1,000 of race registration, travel and lodging for me and all of my support crew.

http://www.mapmytri.com/route/united-states/ma/concord/2119270

I finished the long process of mapping out all 140.6 miles on MapMyTri.com today. My plan is to start the race sometime in late august/early september at Walden Pond in Concord, doing two full loops around the perimeter, using the parking lot as my T1 and aid station to pass by on three 30ish mile loops on the bike before heading down to Hopkinton to the start of the Boston Marathon route. I’d then pass off my bike and transition into my running gear (with the support of whoever I can convince to help me out and take care of my gear for the day) before heading east into downtown Boston and crossing that big blue finish line across Boylston Street.

Anyone else interested?!

Tags: 140.6, boston, Ironman, self supported, Triathlon | Posted in Ironman, Triathlon | No Comments »

Gotta love the LSD

Friday, October 26th, 2007

Last weekend I decided that 1) my running sucks and 2) it isn’t going to get any better unless I do something about it. Now that I’m guaranteed to get at least one or two solid cycling workouts a week since I started teaching spinning classes, I really want to keep myself from getting into a slump this winter and loosing whatever endurance I was able to build up over the last season.

I used to be a really strong runner back in high school and college, but those days are long gone. Not only that, but I really miss them too. I figure the only real way to be able to really enjoy running and be able to pull off some respectable (or at least comparable to my biking/swimming) performances in triathlons next year, is to really commit to running again and get my act together.

To keep my lazy butt off of the couch this winter, I’ve decided to do the Hyannis Half Marathon in February and (crossing my fingers) the Boston Marathon in April. (I’m trying to get one of the last spots available on a charity team to get a spot in Boston since I have zero chance of qualifying this decade).

These pics are from my first step (or workout) in that direction. I took a nice long LSD run last weekend down along the charles river and scoped out the annual regatta, The Head of the Charles. I brought my camera with me to grab some pics along the way, and give me an excuse to take some breaks in between (and ultimately stay out running much longer than I would get otherwise and prevent getting bored and turning around).

The run was perfect. About 2 and a half hours, about 13 miles, all below 154 bpm. There were tons of boats on the water from all across the country and plenty of spectators and vendors out enjoying the competition and the gorgeous late October day. It is days like this that really make me appreciate being an endurance athlete and just casually roaming across half of Boston and checking out some pretty cool sights.

Hopefully that feeling doesn’t fade once this nice weather fades…

Tags: boston, charles river, crew, endurance athlete, head of the charles, regatta, Running | Posted in Running, Training Log | 2 Comments »