Facing the Music... Well not really FACING THE WIND

Well, here I am finally my last long run of the training program, 20 Miles straight up from my work place all the way home.

I have to confess that the weather forecast is really scaring me away tomorrow... check it out below.

I do NOT like seeing that I may be facing 23MPH winds from the WEST... as half of my run is heading West. It is amazing how the wind can break you down. I thought that this only happened on the bike but it happens on the run as well. For some reason I can't focus with the wind blowing straight at me and I begin to find excuses as to why I should stop running. Once I get to that point my mind just comes up with anything that will get me to stop... and unfortunately more often than not I stop...So as part of my training tomorrow I will be working on controlling the head games and just trying to string together a nice run.

I am very much enjoying the fact that this is my last long run ahead of the marathon on March 22nd. By now, I am just hoping to improve on last year's time. The dream to make it to Boston seems to be out of my league at the moment... attempting to keep a 7:15 Mile pace will be a monumental task I am not sure I will be able to tackle. Believe me, I will give it my best shot but I don't think I have what it takes at this point to get it done... I am planning on hurting on the 22nd no question about that. The thing is, will it be enough to make it a qualifying time.

As I taper, starting tomorrow late afternoon, I hope to have enough power built in my legs to get the job done.

Stay tuned to see what happens...

Thanks for reading,

The Clot Buster

You too can have one of this...

If you are like me you probably use Google a great deal when dealing with web seraches, that is really the only way to search... so, if you use Google a lot, do you have an iGoogle account? Did you know that you can personlize the banner on your iGoogle's main portal?


I am asking because for a while I've been playing around with my laptop while on my "smoke breaks" and I was able to come up with a banner for your iGoogle page if you would like to participate and support NATT's quest to STOP THE CLOT. Check it out...

If you want to have this banner on your portal get in touch with me and can pass on the secret... I've tried to have Google add this banner to their list of "banner for causes". I have not checked in a while maybe they already have it up I probably need to check.

In other notes, the marathon training continues to move forward. It is amazing how much of a mental game this running long is. There is no doubt that my body is coming along nicely but mentally I am struggling when I have to run anything over 20Miles. Last weekend I got to about mile 18 and I just shut down. I need to break through and stay on par.

More and more I feel that my dreams to qualify for Boston are slipping away. I have to improve about 19 minutes from my time from last year and that is going to be a monumental task. I am sure that I can do better than the 3:29 but I don't think I will be able to get under 3:10. Stay tuned to see how it turns out. Only about 5 weeks to go and I am already nervous. What can I do? I need a pep-talk...

I hope that I can look better that in the photo above this time around. One thing is for sure, if I ever do another marathon down the road it will have to be a race either in the summer or in the fall. No more spring marathons... it is simply too cold to run effectively.

I am trying to stay focused on the marathon until March 22nd, then it is time to think about triathlon and what races I would liek to do. No question I will have a good base it is just a matter of figuring out how many Olympic distance racces and where I want to do. It is going to be difficult to improve on last year's performance where in three races I placed in the top three in my age group in each one of them.

For now I will keep on running.

Thanks for reading,

The Clot Buster

February Athlete of the Moth

In this case we are talking about a former athlete but nevertheless someone who is very much involved in sports today as he was during his playing days.

For this month I decided to feature someone who is very prominent in the world of baseball and someone I would love to have a pleasure to meet but it is highly unlikely that I will get chance unless I can hit homeruns over the "green monster" at a tune of one per game... can you guess who?

Let me introduce you to Mr. Terry Francona, manager of the Boston Red Sox and survivor of two Pulmonary Emolism (PE) episodes, which you know are a consequence of Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) or as we know it blood clots in the veins. It is amazing to see that blood clots can strike anyone at any given time regardless of your background and curent lifestyle.

In my opinion it is very inspiring to see Mr. Francona overcome the challenges of suffering from two clotting episodes and go on to take on his job and be very successful at it.

If you are interested in learning more about Mr. Francona the following ARTICLE in ESPN THE MAGAZINE was one that I found every intersting. Of course you can also found out more about him HERE as well.

I appreciate this man's history and I take a great deal of pressure to share with you if you did not already know about him. I could not believe it when I first heard about it...

How could it be to see him someday on one of our polka-dot STOP THE CLOT shirts...? Who knows someday our paths may cross again and I can make one available for him along with some wristbands. Can you imagine the STOP THE CLOT colors during the World Series... Dreaming is soo easy...

Thanks for Reading,

The Clot Buster

Truth or Dare Jenga...

During this weekend Mrs. Clot Buster and I engaged in some rounds of Truth or Dare Jenga as we watched recorded episodes of CSI... when you have an 8 month old who is deciding to wake up around 3AM for some "early morning fun" until about 5AM you will understand why on a Saturday evening we have nothing left other than Jenga and DVR'ed shows...

So, we have this older version of Truth or Dare Jenga (the one in which the pieces have a question on them already printed... looks like the newer versions let you write a new question every time...that would be interesting) and I moved a piece that had a question that went something like this... "If you could have anything, what would it be?". Now, the first thing that came to mind was in the context of my family and I thought of good health for everyone of us. I believe that without it the road can be rough so for me good health is paramount.

Now, since I am sleep deprived, it is 8:45PM, I had one cerveza, my mind starts to wonder and I begin to think on the context of my favorite hobby triathlon... I guess that this logical thought process evolved from having the latest INSIDE TRIATHLON Magazine issue sitting on the table where I was schooling Mrs. Clot Buster in Jenga...

Earlier in the day, while Junior was napping I got the chance to take a look and some of the photography on the bikes they are showing is sensational... I believe that I caught myself drooling a time or two... So, if I could have anything, within the context of triathlon, I would definitely would go for a fancy aero machine just to see what it would feel like to ride a frame like that with deep rim racing wheels and the whole works. Additionally, I would love to race IM Championships in Kona, but if I go one step further I would also love to attempt the 24 Hours of Triathlon Race organized by adventure racer great Ian Adamson and see how far can my mind and body go.

Oh! Sounds like Junior just did some business that requires my attention...Thanks for reading,

The Clot Buster

Interesting Phenomenon

This year at the Ironman World Championships in Kona I noticed something very interesting... the increase in the use of Compression Socks. I was blown away by the number I saw during the coverage of the race on NBC.

As I am getting around to read my back log of magazines I just read the Kona coverage edition of Triathlete Magazine and I saw that they counted the number of competitors that used compression socks and the number increased from 82 pairs in 2007 to 416 in 2008. Most notably women's second place finisher Yvonne Van Vierken and third place finisher Sandra Wallenhorst both had the assistance of compressions socks...

This is relevant in the blood clotting world because very often compression socks are recommended to patients as a preventive measure during long flights, after surgery recovery, and other situations that could expose the patient to potential blood clots. The theory behind the compression socks has to do with the increase in blood flow that can help prevent blood clots from forming.

I imagine that the theory behind the use of compression socks for athletes competing in a triathlon has to do with the increase in blood flow but in this case in order to keep feeding the muscles to continue doing the race and avoid or decrease the fatigue. Does this help? I can only hope that it does but I am not sure there is valuable data that can support the claim that these socks really help. I believe that the people using them are doing it because it feels good and they experience less fatigue. Then, the next question is what maker has the best design and are these options all worth your while considering regarding the compression characteristics that make all the difference with these speacial kind of socks.I am not sure if I ever get around to trying them but I am sure that people using them have plenty of good things to say about them. If you are one of those out there I would love to hear about your take on the benefits of the compression socks and if you were to recommend them to us who are still on the fence.

Well, here we are Super Bowl weekend. I don't really care about the game since my Colts are not in contention this year. But because I love an underdog story I will be pulling for the Cardinals to pull off the upset and get their first ring... The Steelers already have 5 there are only 5 fingers in one hand...

Thanks for reading,

The Clot Buster