WOW! An Olympic distance triathlon (sort of...) COMPLETE! It has taken me some time to post a recap of St. Anthony's Triathlon but with work, supporting my challenge groups and preparing for Ironman 70.3 Florida I have been BUSY!
On Saturday April 27 it all began.. I headed to Downtown St. Petersburg for athlete check in and the St. Anthony's expo. Triathlon packet pickup is unlike running because at some of the larger events they require you to drop off your bike and transition gear the day before the race during packet pickup. St. Anthony's is one of those events.
Due to recent security concerns stemming from the Boston Marathon bombing incident all of the transition gear needed to be placed in a clear plastic bag that was provided by race organizers. I did not find this to be an issue because I had nothing to compare it to. Some athletes are used to using their own bags and did not like this added precautionary measure. Athletes were allowed to use their own transition bags but were subject to a thorough search.
Once my transition area was set up I headed home and waited until Sunday morning when I would be completing a 5i50 series Olympic distance triathlon for the first time.  My bike in transition on Saturday afternoon.  Running out of the water during the 2013 St. Anthony's Triathlon On Sunday morning they announced that St. Anthony's would be allowing the use of wetsuits. I thought that was great news -- but once I got to the swim start area announcers were talking about how the rough water and that informing spectators that the swim would be VERY difficult, especially for the age group category participants.
I was in the novice male category which placed me in the last wave start. The only good part about starting last is that I was able to watch the professional triathletes swim and the rough water was pulling them way out the the pie preventing them from being tight with the buoys. Since the swim was this difficult for the pro's I knew that I was going to have an interesting time out there.
The officials made a judgement call after the pro swim waves to shorten the swim. They cut the swim from 1500m to 0.5 mile swim and then had a 0.5 mile run to transition. Once I was up and ready to go I started swimming like I wanted. Slowly... but covering the distance.
Out of nowhere my right calf started to cramp BAD. It knotted up and was pulling down in the water. This made swimming incredibly difficult. I knew I had to get out of the water and that there was no option of quitting. For half of the swim distance I pushed through the cramping made it out. I was hoping that the cramp wouldn't stay with me during the bike or run.
The rest of the event went smooth. I covered the distance on the bike and finished the run strong in the 11am Florida heat. My finish time was 2:50:56 and that is right where I wanted to be. For my first Olympic triathlon I am happy. I did something that I never thought I would do.
Because I am INSANE -- I signed up for the Florida Ironman 70.3 May 19 in Haines City, FL.... I have been PUSHING my training hard in preparation. I need to make sure my legs to not cramp. I have been covering 2000-2500m every time I am in the pool. Last weekend I got in a 60 mile ride and this weekend I will be heading to Haines City to do the bike course.
 Are you ready to earn your summer body? As you know I am currently in triathlon training mode. I just completed a round of INSANITY with my challenge group. I am about to start ASYLUM Volume 1 with a new challenge group on April 15. I also plan on throwing in some BODY BEAST workouts to gain some additional muscle mass in the weight room!
If you do not have a game plan, you need to get one NOW. There are two options Insane Marathon is recommending for serious results in time for summer! I will also coach you - for FREE throughout the process.
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It also has features to help beginners i.e. In the Fire Starter Class, Chalene teaches the moves and combinations so newcomers can start off on the right foot and experienced Turbo users can perfect their form. 
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 During the entire month of April you save $90 on an INSANITY challenge pack. This is the best deal they have ever ran for INSANITY. If you are interested in INSANITY marathon training (or half), doing the full 60 day challenge - or just getting that shredded summer body you can order INSANITY here and save $90! You cant pass this promotion up! Let me know if you have any questions!
You can do this!! I am here to help every step of the way!!! You will have no excuses not to succeed!
Do you ever sign up for races on a whim? I seem to do this often - out of nowhere I will be running a marathon, 10k, half marathon, or other distance that I had no idea I would be running only days earlier. Some of my favorite examples of this are the Grand Rapids Marathon in 2009 (which qualified me for Marathon Maniacs!) and the Melbourne Beaches Marathon in 2011.
Well for the past three years I have tossed around the idea of running the LA Marathon but it never worked out with the flight from Florida, hotel, work... This year I brought up running the LA Marathon with my friend Larry who runs LJayHealth.com and he said he would run LA too if I was serious. After some research on flights, hotels, and entry fees I knew this would be the year to run the LA Marathon!
It ended up working out perfectly. Direct flight from Tampa to Los Angeles, my friend Sam, that I ran the Georgia [Atlanta] Marathon with last year, decided to join us. We also ended up finding a great charity to run with "The Peacock Foundation".
 The Peacock Foundation supports the provision of animal-assisted interventions (AAI) and activities (AAA) for at-risk youth by partnering with mental health practitioners, public service agencies, and community organizations.
If you would like to donate to The Peacock Foundation please click here. Any donation would be appreciated. Anyone with a pet understands the feeling of love that you experience. Sadly, for some children the people who should be important in their lives have let them down too often. These animal interventions allow children to experience love and companionship in a way that they otherwise do not experience at home.
If you haven't looked at the course for the LA Marathon take a look at it here. The course starts at Dodger Stadium and runs 26.2 miles through Los Angeles, Hollywood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Century City and finishes though Santa Monica ending at the famous Santa Monica Pier!
Some of the amazing landmarks you pass on the route include Dodger Stadium, Chinatown, Capitol Records, Hollywood & Vine, Hollywood Walk of Fame, Chinese Theater, Rodeo Drive and the Santa Monica Pier! AMAZING!
This will be my first marathon in California, marathon number two for 2013 and the last marathon I will run (that I currently know of..) before Berlin in September.
Have you ran the LA Marathons current "Stadium to the Sea" course before? Are you running the LA Marathon this year?
I will be sharing my LA Marathon training regimen on my next post. Its going to be a little different than anything I have done before! Stay tuned!!
We have been wanting to reach out into the local running community and as of today InsaneMarathon.com is more than just a website - we will be sponsoring a local run club in Tampa, FL every Thursday night at 7:00pm. When I first moved to Tampa from Chicago back in October 2009 I found a running group on meetup.com called "Bayshore Runners" I met a lot of my current running friends from that group. Sadly over the last year or so the group had slowly dissolved and last week I was notified by e-mail the group would be disbanded unless someone stepped up to take it over. I decided that InsaneMarathon.com can give life back into the Bayshore Runners. Too many of the running clubs in Tampa Bay are centered around bars & booze. That is great for socializing, but Bayshore Runners - InsaneMartathon.com Fitness Club is about HEALTH & FITNESS. Our group will be about achieving goals, running, and healthy socializing! If you would like to join us - you can meet the group every Thursday evening at 7:00pm, Hyde Park Village, Tampa 33606. We will be meeting by the water fountain near the Lifestyles / LA Fitness and across from the Lululemon. For more information see our event on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/insanemarathon) or on our meetup page www.meetup.com/insanemarathonI look forward to meeting everyone at the group run!
Another week of training. Another half marathon. More ab / core work. New PR!
That is how my post Space Coast Marathon week went. After running my 16th full marathon I took the day after off from training. I had to travel to Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday and was able to get in some nice recovery running in along the beach and Las Olas Boulevard. Tuesday I ran 3.75 miles along A1A and Wednesday I ran 6 miles down A1A and Las Olas. Thursday and Friday I did RevAbs. Friday I also threw a fast 3 mile run in after My RevAbs core work. I did the first 2 miles at a 7:30 pace and the last mile at a 6:58 pace. I took Saturday off of training to prepare myself for the Brandon 1/2 Marathon on Sunday.
I felt like there was a chance I could PR at the Brandon 1/2 Marathon. My training has been going well. My legs felt very strong after coming off of the Space Coast Marathon. The weather wasn't going to be cold, but it was not going to be scorching hot - which always takes a toll on my racing times. I wanted to run a sub 1:40. I figured I would need to keep around a 7:30 min/mile pace for all 13.1 miles. The Brandon 1/2 marathon isn't scenic, it's not a large race & it doesn't have the bells and whistles most major 1/2 marathons have. It had an accurate course & water stops around every 1.75 miles. That's all I needed. I pushed myself harder than I ever have for a race. I was running around a 7:35 min/mile pace and at mile 10 I was still on track to run under 1:40 if I didn't slow down at all. I finished the race at 1:39:53. It's crazy to think that I was only 7 seconds away from missing my goal. That's one walk break, or just about half a second a mile.
My overall physical fitness has never been better. I know that it is because of INSANITY and RevAbs cross-training that I have been incorporating into my marathon training programs. I also continue to use Results & Recovery to refuel & heal my muscles after intense workouts and Shakeology to improve my overall health & nutrition.
This weekend I am running the St. Petersburg Jingle Bell Run 5k on Friday night and the Florida Holiday Halfathon (1/2 marathon) on Sunday. I will also be participating in the 12-12-12 Half Marathon of Sarasota. The following weekend I have the Color Run 5k in St. Petersburg 12/15 and on Sunday 12/16 my target PR marathon race - Jacksonville Bank Marathon.
If you want to get your training INSANE start using one of our FREE training programs today!
After my New York City non-marathon experience I was really disappointed & changed my training plan from my scheduled INSANITY marathon training to a RevAbs / running hybrid. The first week after the failed NYC marathon I did RevAbs all week and ran 8 miles on the weekend. The next week I did RevAbs 3 days & ran 7 miles two of the days. That weekend I ran the Women's 1/2 Marathon in St. Petersburg, FL.
The Women's 1/2 Marathon was very interesting. Obviously I knew it was a race catered to women. I signed up to run it because of the great feedback my friend Mike had from leading a pace group the prior year. Jackie was running it too & I thought it would be a great race close to home & possibly a new 1/2 marathon PR. Little did I know that they corral the men that register for it in the last corral no matter their expected finish time. Also - it was quite obvious that the race organizers weren't thrilled to have men running their race. If that's the case, they should do what the IronGirl Clearwater race does & not allow men to register.
I lined up in the 1st corral - with the 1:45 pace team & was told by a race official to move to coral 5 & that it didn't matter my goal -- it was a women's race & I needed to start last. So I start walking back, but the corrals were packed and I only was able to walk to corral 2 before the National Anthem was being performed & I stopped to get ready to run. I started off the race strong and ended up catching up to the 1:45 pace team. Ran strong with them until mile 11 and then fell slightly back. The course was beautiful through Downtown St. Petersburg. I especially enjoyed running inside Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays. My finish time was 1:45:44. Not a PR, but I'll take it.
If you are a woman looking for a beautiful course in a great city - I would definitely recommend the Women's Running 1/2 Marathon - St. Petersburg, FL. You can't beat the weather & scenery for late November!
After running the Women's Running 1/2 Marathon I went back to my RevAbs / running schedule although it was pretty much just RevAbs. I ran the Tampa Bay Times Turkey Trot 10k on Thanksgiving. Almost 18,000 people were out there running. Turkey Trot races are great to get the metabolism going before a big Thanksgiving meal. I didn't want to run the race too hard because I had the Space Coast Marathon coming up Sunday. I ran the 10k in 46:30.
The next run after Thanksgiving was the Space Coast Marathon. This would be marathon number 16 for me & I really didn't know what to expect. I had originally planned to run NYC for fun & use Space Coast for a training run / practice for Jacksonville Bank Marathon. My goal all year has been to PR my marathon time at the Jacksonville Bank Marathon. The night before the marathon I had dinner at the Apollo/Saturn V center at the Kennedy Space Center. The keynote speaker was Bart Yasso & if you haven't read his book "My Life on the Run" pick it up. He has many great running stories to tell & it is definitely worth the read. I decided last minute I would run with the 3:45 pace team at Space Coast & see what happens. The weather for the marathon was great. I felt strong starting off the race - however - my stomach had other plans. I ended up making three costly pit stops during the marathon. This caused me to lose the pace team and run my own race. No PR. But I was still able to finish in 3:55. So 3 put stops, mental torture and only a loss of 10 minutes & still sub 4 hours? I'll take it. I'm definitely looking forward to running the Jacksonville Bank Marathon December 16. I hope to run around a 3:40 marathon.
Now I'm back in training mode. It looks like I'll be running 1/2 marathons the next two weekends. Then back to the marathon distance with Jacksonville Bank.
I'll continue to mix INSANITY & RevAbs into my training. Let me know if you would like any of the FREE INSANITY marathon training programs
 Black Friday Beachbody Fitness Deals!  Click the links above or contact me for more information.
My INSANE marathon training for NYC came to an end last week. I was tapering down for the NYC marathon and couldn't have been more excited! The last 4 years I have been dreaming about running the NYC marathon and this was going to be my year. Well, we all know the end result of this story by now. Obviously life had other plans and my dream of the New York City marathon is on hold. Living in Florida I definitly understand the effect a hurricane can have on a community. I live right on Tampa Bay, and if a hurricane hit Tampa I am sure it would be devistating. My only gripe about NYC before I move on is that it should have been canceled before Friday evening. I received notice about the cancelation from friends and family via facebook and text messages as I was leaving the NYC marathon expo with bags and bags of souveniers, my bib, etc. It was very dissapointing to find out as soon as you are walking back to your hotel after being at the expo and getting pumped up for the event. I would have much rather had them cancel the event as soon as the hurricane hit. That way I could have been able to re-arrange my schedule, get refunds on most of the travel arrangements and use that towards running the NYC Marathon in a future year. The New York Road Runners do not have any answers as of now to what will happen next year. Will they open up the race to all 2012 runners? Will there be fees associated? Who knows. All I know is that my next marathon distance race will be the Space Coast Marathon on November 25, 2012 in Cocoa, FL. After that I have Jacksonville Bank Marathon and then Disney Goofy Challenge. I might sign up for the Clearwater Marathon, but I do not know for sure as of today. All that this means is INSANE marathon training has resumed!
One of the reasons I was especially bummed out about the canceleation of the NYC marathon is because I have already committed myself to the Berlin Marathon next year. Another World Marathon Major event held September 29, 2013. If I did NYC 2013 that would be two major races back to back, vacation, travel.... and who knows -- possible cancelations! I am excited to run in Germany. The Berlin marathon sounds like an amazing event and I am looking forward to running the 40th anniversary Berlin Marathon.
I purchaced another workout program recently to mix up my INSANE marathon trianing routine, RevAbs. I just started using it a few days ago and so far I have enjoyed the workouts. Some of the catch phrases in the videos seem a little cheesy but the ab workouts are no joke and I really want to concentrate more on my core area. A strong core creates a strong runner! I am going to incorporate RevAbs into my training from now until Jacksonville and will be updating this website with my review/results!
I wanted to leave this post with some photos of my NYC trip. On "marathon sunday" Jackie and I ran a 1/2 marathon around Central Park with thousands of other displaced runners. Enjoy the photos and if you have any interesting NYC Marathon stories feel free to leave a comment below with them!
-James B.
On Labor Day I ran the Oak Brook 1/2 Marathon as part of my INSANITY marathon training plan. Like most marathon training plans, ours calls for a tune up race halfway though your marathon training. Luckily there was a half marathon available while I was i at my marathon training halfway point! I have raced many races in the Chicagoland area but I had never participated in the Oak Brook 1/2 before. I imagined it as a flat, fast course. I was wrong. When the race started the temperature was hovering around 74 degrees. At the finish it was right around 80. Definitely a warm morning for Labor Day in Chicago. I ran into some Marathon Maniacs at the start of the race (Heather Zeigler and Dave Mari to name a couple). We took a quick group photo (see below) before running the 13.1 miles! The Oak Brook 1/2 started right next to McDonalds corporate headquarters and ran mostly on local bike paths and crushed limestone trails. It was a very hilly and tough course. I felt strong during the race, I did not PR. For the conditions I kept the same time as I did for my last 1/2 marathon, which was on a really flat course at the Rock & Roll Chicago 1/2. INSANITY has really helped me with hill training even though I don't run hills in Florida. I would recommend this race to seasoned runners looking for a challenging 1/2 marathon. Beginners and 1st time 1/2 marathoners should look for a flat, fast, popular race to gain confidence and truly enjoy the 1/2 marathon experience. If you would like some 1/2 marathon recommendations send me an e-mail or comment below!About a month ago the INSANITY: The Asylum Facebook page was running a summer contest for its fans. Every couple of days they would ask people to go out and perform one of the sports performance routines from the program (tennis, swimming, long jump, hurdles, etc). You were to take two photos of yourself doing the activity, the first photo while doing the DVD workout and the second performing the workout in 'real life' on the court, in the pool, etc. I decided to compete in the contest and won the GOLD MEDAL for the tennis portion. If you haven't tried INSANITY: The Asylum it is a great program to attempt after completing INSANITY. It definitely pushes you harder and brings your performance to the next level. Beachbody is going to be releasing Asylum Volume 2 shortly. I can't wait to push myself through the next chapter of the ASYLUM!I This weekend I have a 17 mile run scheduled. The mileage is ramping up and the INSANITY workouts are getting more intense. Welcome to the 2nd half of INSANITY MARATHON TRAINING!-James B.
It's already at the halfway point for my New York City Marathon training program. I am using a version of the InsaneMarathon.com intermediate marathon training program to prepare myself for the 26.2 mile race November 4, 2012. The only modifications I have made to the training have been to accommodate races. This weekend for example I will be running my long run on Labor Day instead of Saturday morning. This is because I will be in Chicago to see my family, including my just born, 1 month old nephew, Camden James (see photo below). I will be racing the Oakbrook 1/2 marathon in the western Chicago suburbs.
With the Florida heat it is hard to get in quality miles. I have been substituting some of my recent runs with the treadmill to get in the speed work needed. I hope that Chicago will provide some cooler weather this weekend - maybe I can finally break a 1:40 half marathon. We will see!
This week in Tampa the Republican National Convention is going on. I don't discuss politics, but I thought it would be interesting to do one of my runs this week Downtown Tampa. With all of the security, fences, police, homeland security, & everything else it made for a very interesting run! On a side note - Paul Ryan, the Republican VP hopeful, was quoted on TMZ saying that his workout routine consists of P90X and INSANITY. I thought that was interesting. Maybe he is a runner too? If so he should be following one of the Insane Marathon training plans! Check out the photos from my Downtown Tampa RNC run below!
There seems to be a lot of runners out there curious about INSANITY as well as INSANITY users that like to run but have no target race. I hope that my social media presence will allow them to find InsaneMarathon.com and get them on a program! If you are currently a runner and you have wanted to get yourself in better shape - please try Insanity - you won't regret it!!
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