| History |
| I started running in January of 2004 to get in shape. I had gained too much weight and felt terrible. I was able to run my first 5K 3 months later. 2 years later and 50 lbs lighter, I have continued to push for greater goals and have run 5 marathons and I am training for an Iron distance triathlon now. Everyday I wake up with a positive attitude towards life, training and my future. |
| Marathons Completed |
Arizona RockNRoll 2007
Salt Lake City Marathon 2006
Steamboat Marathon 2005
Boulder Backroads 2005
Las Vegas Marathon 2005 |
| Why do I Tri? |
| Should be why do I want to Tri? I want to see just how far I can push myself. With everyday I am in the best shape of my life. And I'm never going back!!!! |
| Sponsors |
Elite Family Fitness-Canon City
BB's Tanning and Massage
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| Scheduled Races |
Littlefoot Triathlon
Bolder Boulder 10K
Highland Ranch Sprint
Boulder Long Triathlon
Redman Iron Distance
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I Don’t Wanna Stop
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| Meet Maggie |
| March 28, 2007 |
Good Morning!
I hope that the Triathlon World awakened to great weather and better training.
I was in the pool this morning. After my mega swim on Monday I though I would cut back a little today. I mostly worked on doing flip turns. I have been able to do flip turns on my sprints but could never keep them going for an extended period. I always seem to mess up on my breathing rhythm and end up sucking down half the pool. ( management is getting tired of filling the pool after I am done). So today I concentrated on just that. I started with doing 1 fip, then 2 flips, etc until I got 6 in a row without choking. It sure does make a difference when you don't stop at the end of the pool and take a few breaths before heading back. those 100 yard intervals are twice as hard now.
Later today I'll try and get in 3-4 miles of running. the weather has been absolutely awesome. Yesterday, after my 18 mile bike ride I went ahead and did a 10 minute run-off. this was my first one this year - man, did my legs feel like rubber. My feet were numb. Time to start doing that after every ride.
I promised everyone a look at my new puppy Maggie so here she is:
Ain't she a sweety!!!!!!!!! |
posted by Mondo @ 8:39 AM   |
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| Heart for Triathlon |
| March 26, 2007 |
 Heart - Meet the Traithlon World.
Triathlon World meet my Heart!
So I asked my heart this morning, "heart" I said, what would you like to do for a swim?
My heart answered with an evil grin - let's do a mega ladder. Let's finish the day with 4000 yards.
Great - let's get to it. And with that the morning started.
And so we swam - my heathly heart and me. Yes folks, that is a real picture of my CT Scan of my heart done 2 weeks ago. As you can see the detail is amazing. The report of the scan was read by a Cardiologist and everything is A-OK. Good this too. Now I probably should get a picture of my lungs because I swear I sucked in half the pool this morning. I got to 4000 by doing a large -giant ladder intervals. Going 100,200,300,400,500,600 then back down. With the warmup and cooldown I did total 4000. The 600 was pretty rough. I did keep up a good pace though. There were onther swimmers in the lane next to me and I pushed to either keep up or pass them with each lap. Nothing like competition to keep up the pace.
My legs are pretty tired from yesterday's bike. Although not worn out terribly. I think they will be ready for another ride tomorrow. This is the last week of base training. I am looking forward to getting on my new training schedule. The weather is going to be great this week, so I think it is goodbye winter - hello spring. Life is good - keep moving forward! Ciao! |
| posted by Mondo @ 8:18 AM |
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| Against The Wind |
| March 25, 2007 |
Yesterday - it snowed at my house. There was 1 inch of snow on the ground.
This morning - snow was gone, 45 degrees outside and sunny. WOW. Ain't Colorado Great!
I got out on my bike this morning with the club. The weather was great down in the Canon area. Temperature was about 54 degrees when we started and got warmer fast. The ride out on highway 50 was awesome. Our time going out really trucking. Probably around 20-22 mph. We kept up the pace up to the 18 mile mark and stopped for a few minutes to wait for everyone else.
The others in the group had to get back so Laurie and I were going on to the 25 mile mark for turning around. The way out to Pueblo West went quicker than I expected. It was a great ride out. I was feeling real good, but I knew that as soon as we turned the work was going to start. Why? Because of the 10 mph headwind all the way back to town. Now that is a lot of work. It feels like you are going uphill even when you are going downhill. It took us quite a while to get back to town. Laurie flatted out at the 33 mile mark. Luckily she had everything she needed and the tire was fixed quickly.
After the ride the smoothie at the coffee shop tasted real good. Nothing like a 50 mile ride to make everything in life better. This week I will continue my base mileage training. I am taking Saturday and Sunday off. Monday starts my program. I am looking forward to it. My weight is down to 176 pounds and I think I am almost ready for the first race of the season. I bought Mark Verstegen's new Core Performance book. It zeros in on endurance sports more to help with core strengthening and flexibility as well as nutrition. His first book was awesome - I'll let you know about this one.
Tomorrow I'll be back in the pool and going for a run tomorrow night. I think I will try for about 4000 yards in the morning. Probably get in a giant ladder set. Till tomorrow - Ciao!!! |
| posted by Mondo @ 6:06 PM |
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| Climb That Hill |
| March 22, 2007 |
Whoever ignores doing hillwork is missing out on some real excellent training.
Hillwork builds strength, endurance and aerobic capacity better than anything else out there. If there was only a way to do hillwork in swimming we would be all set.
I was on my training bike this morning at the crack of dawn. The weather was cool but not cold. I was able to ride in shorts and jersey with arm warmers. I took to the long 8 mile hill this morning with a vengeance. I wanted to make it to the top without having to get out of my big front chainring. Since starting my training I have never been able to make it to the top, last trip up I had to gear down about 1/2 mile from the top.
There were times where I thought to myself this is the last of my energy - but I would get up in the pedals and push a little harder. I could see the top coming and got real excited. I pushed even further and harder to get to the top quicker.
I made it, what a feeling! My legs were completely dead. Whew!! Now the next challenge is to make it up in a bigger gear on my cassette. Yeah Baby!!!!
I am planning on doing 50 miles on Sunday. This is the last Sunday ride of base training - my actual training schedule starts on April 1st. The focus and determination is returning. I know that I need to give 110% effort with every training session. My nutrition plan has got to be right on. My equipment in great shape. This sport rocks !!!!!!!
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| posted by Mondo @ 11:09 AM |
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| Hump Day |
| March 21, 2007 |
Hey, How are all the triathlon-training-geeked out people of the world doing?
It's another great day in Colorado - life - sustaining sunshine and warmth.
God I love this State!!!!!!!
I was back in the pool this morning. Not a real good night's rest. Feeling a little groggy this morning.
The swim, however, went real good. Not a lot of yardage this morning but definitely quality swimming. I still did my 300 warm up and cool down. I did 300 yards of drills with 100 pull, 100 kick and 100 paddles. I then did 10x40 sprints with flip turns. Then I got in 4x200 I think. I had my mind wandering this morning and lost count. Not real focused for some reason. I have only 1 more week before my training program starts and I think I am starting to get nervous.
I am not nervous about the mileage, or yardage of the program. I am pushing a lot of those numbers now in my base training. I think I am nervous because it means that my half-iron is scheduled at the end of the program - It gives my training some finality. A purpose. That is what makes me nervous. I'm scared, nervous and excited at the same time and that is hard to figure out. I can't imaging what the full iron is going to feel like.
Tomorrow morning if the weather holds, I'll be on my bike doing hillwork. I Love Hill Work. Sounds weird, I know. I really push on hills because I feel that hillwork makes flat running and biking easier. So for now - Ciao! |
| posted by Mondo @ 11:26 AM |
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| Cardiac Clean |
| March 19, 2007 |
Hey, Hello everyone!!!!
Well, I went for my cardiac testing on Friday. Wow!, What a Setup.
I would recommend this test for anyone that needs a screening for heart disease. The amount of detail that they can see on the heart is absolutely awesome. I will be getting pictures on a disk and will post some of them as soon as i receive it.
As far as my cardiac condition - my arteries are completely clean. Fit as a fiddle. Thanks to endurance and triathlon training my heart is very strong. My heart rate during the test was around 54. The tech told me that on an average person - it usually takes the contrast (dye) 20-25 sec to reach the heart from the arm where the IV is. It only took 6 seconds for the dye to reach my heart - pretty awesome. All in all, this test is worth it.
I did no training on Saturday - took a rest day and worked around the house. Saturday night I was awakened with a sudden urge to hurl. Yes, I had some sort of GI bug. At times coming out one end or the other. Sunday morning I felt queasy but a little better and decided not to miss my ride. SO I mounted up and did 25 miles. After all that biking I guess I must have pushed all the nasty stuff down. I slept great last night. Best night's sleep in a while.
This morning I was in the pool early. I did some drills and sprints. I swam several 100's, several 200's and finished with a monster 600 yard interval. Felt good to be back in the water. Tomorrow I will probably not get in a bike workout due to an appointment. But, I may be able to pick up my bike rack that I want. I am definitely a Tri-Geek. Look out world!!!!!! |
| posted by Mondo @ 4:15 PM |
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| Cold Ride |
| March 15, 2007 |
BRRRRRRRRRRR.
It was colder than I expected this morning for the ride. I though I dressed warm enough but I was not prepared. The Boy Scouts would be upset with me.
I did try and ride away with nothing but long cycling pants, arm warmers and 2 shirts but that was not enough. I went back to the car and put on my windbreaker. Now, that was better.
At least for the first 15 minutes. Then I found that I could not feel my fingers. I was still wearing my cycling gloves with no fingers. Duh!!!!! So I pulled into Walmart and bought a cheap set of garden gloves. That made it all better ---- at least for the next 10 miles. Then I could not feel my toes anymore. GEEZ it wasn't that cold out.
Anyway - I made it back - my time was terrible but hey the ice hanging from my feet made it hard to pedal. Yeah Right!!!! Hey it's my excuse not yours !!!!!
Tomorrow I am heading to the pool in the morning and then to Pueblo. I am having a test done on my heart. No nothing is wrong. But with my family history I though getting a CT Cardiac Scan would be a good baseline for me. It will also work into my plans for future VO2 max and Lactate Threshold testing later this year. The test tomorrow is Brand New and generates a 3D view of the heart to look at cardiac function and cardiac vessels. I am pretty stoked about getting this done. I'll post some pictures if possible sometime next week.
Ringraziare il dio per cioccolato!! |
| posted by Mondo @ 12:23 PM |
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| Epic Swim |
| March 14, 2007 |
Yes Ladies and Gentlemen - This morning was a breakthrough swim.
I am sooooo stoked you can't keep my feet on the ground.
Last night I slept great, awakened a little groggy but got going right away. After a cup of coffee I was out the door and headed to the pool. My goal today was to swim some serious mileage. But i did want quality to the swim not just pounding out lap after lap.
I got in my lane right away and started my warm up - 300 yards easy and slow, stretching after every 100. I felt good, no pain in my shoulder. Legs felt fresh. After the warm up I proceeded to do drills - another 200 yards. the drills felt good to do - almost meditative. I was getting in a zone. Somehow I felt different this morning.
I started my lap swimming and planned on doing a ladder this morning. Starting at 100 and going to 500 and back down. I timed my first 100 yards at 1:30 sec. Not bad. Not bad at all. The laps went by faster than I thought they would. The 500 yard ladder was the hardest - but my time was 8:40. Could that be right? Is that possible? Did I forget a lap or two? No I recounted and I did do 500 yards. And best of all I felt great. Back down the ladder and I was happy. I was actually smiling under water.
I finished with 40 yard sprints. 5 of them. I did flip turns each one. The flip turns are getting easier and I am relaxed more during the turn. My time continues to be about 28 sec for 40 yards. I wish I could hold that pace for 1000 yards at a time. maybe someday.
Anyway I have to get in a 3 mile run this afternoon - the weather is suppose to be awesome. Yesterday I took delivery of my Thule rack for my car. This weekend I am going to go find a bike rack for it. I really want to get my bike off the back of my car and on the roof. I just seems to be too vulnerable to damage and road dust,rock, and mud. Plus the roof rack and fairing makes my car look better anyway. Hope everyone is working hard at getting hard - CAIO |
| posted by Mondo @ 8:24 AM |
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| Spring Ride |
| March 13, 2007 |
Sunday was a perfect day for my first of many long rides. The weather was perfect, clear, warm, and a slight breeze. I left Canon City about 12:00 and headed East on Hwy 50 to Pueblo. I love this ride. It is challenging enough with hills but fast enough as well. I felt great all the way out to Pueblo. The occasional car honking and waving was a nice site.
I rode "Apollo", my tri bike on that ride. I felt comfortable in the aero bars for most of the ride out. By the time I got to Pueblo my lower back was started to be sore. Nothing that I couldn't work out with a stretch but annoying. I think I need to stretch more to get into that aggressive position. I made it back to town and felt great afterwards. No residual back pain was felt. And no flats either - whoopee!!!!!!
Monday - I was back in the pool. I used this as a moderate intensity workout. I got in a warm up of 300 then did 200 of mixed drills. Followed by 4-5 x 100 freestyle. I mixed in some 40 yard sprints with flip turns. I am trying to get those down finally so that I can used them for my first pools swim this year. I timed my 40 yard sprints and got 28 sec per 40 yards. Now I have no idea how that compares to anyone else, but I think that is pretty good. Later this week I am going to time a 100 yard swim and see how I do. I did read an article lately that talked about putting in more yards per swim than you think you are capable of. That means swims of 3000 and 4000 yards per session. The concept is that your body adapts better to swimming with repetition. We will see :-p
This morning I did not feel really motivated to train. I have been under a lot of stress the past few days and I did not sleep too well last night. I almost decided to call it a rest day - but I just couldn't give up that easily. I ended up on the trainer for 30 minutes. I pushed pretty hard and got a great sweat up. Afterwards, I did an Abs session. I found a killer DVD for abs - It's called "The Firm - 5 day Abs" by the time my ab workout was done I was in severe pain. It would have hurt less if I would have just gone for a long bike ride. Tonight I plan on getting to bed early and getting to the pool early in the morning. Till tomorrow - CIAO |
| posted by Mondo @ 3:51 PM |
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| Falling Behind |
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Oh - Wow! How time flies! I am behind on my blog writing.
My Bad!
Training for this week:
Sunday - Bike 50 miles
Monday - Swim: 1500-1600 yards mixed, PM - Run 2 miles
Tuesday - Bike 30 minutes
Wednesday - Swim: 2500-2600 yards mixed with a ladder drill, PM Run 3 miles
Thursday - Bike 1 hour 15 minutes
Friday - Swim: Recovery workout with drills - 1800-2000 years
Saturday - Rest
This is a recovery week - next week we build again |
| posted by Mondo @ 3:47 PM |
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| Wanted "Frozen Cyclist" |
| March 08, 2007 |
 Am I rushing the season? Why do I ask? My bike ride outside this morning - was frickin freezing!!!! At first it seemed that I would get away with wearing shorts, a long sleeve jersey and a windbreaker. That though quickly faded. Although it was around 42 degrees at the beginning of the ride the further East I went the colder it got. Not to forget to mention the other key word "wind chill factor". What wind - there was no wind this morning? Duh ! Going 18-20 mph created it's own wind. Wow. What a dork!  The ride itself was great though. All kidding aside I really like being back on the road again. My cycling legs are coming back to full speed again. My gearing is on it's way up already. I was on "Athena" this morning, my training bike. We hit the hills hard and I pushed the speed on the downhills. The route out to Penrose and beyond to Pueblo is a fairly hilly route. Sort of the same terrain I will have at Timberman. It makes it the ideal training route. Getting 60 -70 miles is not hard to do. This week has been a real test to see how I tolerate 3 workouts of each discipline. My legs are pretty fried after today. I am really feeling the burn in the calf and quad area. I stretched good last night and will have to do the same tonight. I still have tomorrow's swim and run left to do this week. My rest day will be Saturday. Sunday I am planning on 50 miles using my Tri bike. Sunday will be a steady cadence ride just to get in the time on the bike. I need to get my legs use to going in circles for 3-4 hours at a time. The weather is awesome again. I hope it holds out now. Not only is it nice to get out on the road and trails. It's nice not having to pay a lot for propane to heat the house. I need to save the bucks for everything that I am doing this year. Hey, got to go back to work. CIAO! |
| posted by Mondo @ 11:31 AM |
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| Up, Up, And Away------ |
| March 06, 2007 |
GOOOOOD Morning World!!!!!!!!
Another great day to train. You know, it's weird to wake up in the morning and immediately start thinking about what kind of training is scheduled for the day. Even before the coffee is done, I'm already dressed in whatever training clothes I will be needing for the morning. Most people are still dreaming, no idea what they will do for the day. Here I am up and about.
So what did I do this morning? Well thanks to the almighty weather gods - this morning was a little colder than I expected, but I did go for a major bike workout. I did pure hillwork - mountain work. The local highway 50 leaves Canon City to the West and goes uphill for 8 miles. the grade is significant for the most part. I was able to keep up a pretty good pace and never had to fall into my 3rd chain-ring. I did have to get out of the saddle more than I liked but hey, I felt strong till the I got over the top. I used my training bike " Athena " for the extra weight. (don't' tell her that--shhhhh). After a half mile recovery on the top I sped down at about 43-44 mph until I got to the turnoff for Skyline Drive. Then I did another 2.5 mile climb up that route and headed back to my car after. All in all a good workout. I hope the weather continues to cooperate - this is a lot better than my trainer. 
Tomorrow I am back in the pool, then a run in the afternoon. I am still working on my nutrition plan and it is coming along pretty good. I'll get that posted as soon as it is finished. Until tomorrow - keep training, keep warm, keep active and stay young!!!!!! |
| posted by Mondo @ 1:28 PM |
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| Awesome Swim |
| March 05, 2007 |
What a glorious day in Colorado!!!!
For those of you suffering in the northeast - I'm sorry. But, that's why I live out here !!!!!
This will be my first week of swimming 3 days. A little daunting if you ask me. I am up for the challenge though. That's what this is all about, right. Taking on a challenge and pushing our bodies in a forward direction even when our bodies are telling us that we can't do anymore. If exercise was that easy, there would be no overweight people in the world. 
As a matter of fact that is what keeps most people from doing it. It's an effort. It's a chore. Sort of like either getting up to change the channel or using the remote. Working as a nurse I see it on a daily basis. I am not exaggerating if I said that 75% of my patients are overweight. They will ask me how to lose weight, or what diet should I use, or what diet pill works? I explain the correct way to lose weight using a calorie in vs calorie out formula with exercise, portion control and restriction of refined sugars. Does that help? NOT. It's not an easy fix so most people reject it in search for the miracle drug or program. No it is not easy. If it was - once again - everybody would be healthier, happier, and thinner.
This mornings swim was complete lunatic. I did a 200 warm up, then proceeded to do a ladder drill. Freestyle stroke for 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 400, 300, 200, 100 with 30 sec rest periods, I followed with a 200 cool down. Is that frickin nuts or what. I am a little tired right now but overall I feel great. I had no shoulder discomfort today. Must of been that yoga session last night at home. 
Tomorrow I also start a new 5 day abdominal program. Can't let the middle section fall behind you know. A thick mid section would not look good in a Speedo you know! 6-packs are a requirement in my view.
I hope everyone has a great day. Keep up the great work. Stay warm if you are in the Northeast -especially near Nashua :-) Arrivederci! |
| posted by Mondo @ 10:46 AM |
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| Training This Week |
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Well here goes another week of training. God, I love this Sport !!!!!!
Sunday: Bike 33 miles, attack hills and recover on flats
Monday: Swim 100-500-100 ladder freestyle drills - 2600 total
Monday PM: 3 mile run
Tuesday: Bike Hillwork again - 16 miles total, uphill 8 miles
Wednesday: Swim 2000 total - lactate threshold intervals
Wednesday PM: 3 miles 6 x 30 sec fartleks
Thursday: Bike 20 mile steady state
Friday: Swim 2500 total, freestyle 100's, 200's, 300's mixed intervals
Friday PM: Run 3-4 miles recovery pace
Saturday: Bike Long Ride - 50 miles
If I don't collapse, I should be in great shape by summer ----- :-)) |
| posted by Mondo @ 10:40 AM |
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| About Me |
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Name: John Maynard
Home: Canon City, Colorado, United States
About Me: In 2008 I completed a full Ironman. Since that time I have continued to keep myself in a decent shape with running and hiking. As the years have rolled on so has my midsection. With my 50th birthday behind me I have embarked on another journey in life. This journey will take me into my next decade in the best shape of my entire life. It's time to kick life into overdrive.
See my complete profile
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