Doh!

Okay, I really didn't mean to be gone for this long. Honest, I didn't fall off the face of the earth. I've been feeling like crap lately and my heart just hasn't been in it. I am the queen of procrastination when I just can't face doing something. I do this all the time at work especially, I put off doing stuff because I'm stressed out because I haven't done it yet. Make sense? Its like the overdue library books that are downstairs right now. I know they're overdue, and I don't live that far from the library, but I'm so disappointed in myself for having overdue books that I don't return them. Real logical.

Okay, some good news. There's an addition to my family. No, not that kind of addition - I got a puppy! Actually, he's more like a PUPPY. His name is Drew and he's 85 lbs of big Doberman loving. We're working on the manners, but he's SO adorable. He does this thing where he'll come up to you and just flop his head on your lab - like he's lost all control over his neck muscles - and he just wants to be petted until your hand falls off. Ryan said it best when he described Drew as not being able to tell that his back half is connected to his front half. He doesn't do well going down stairs (way too much momentum), or on tile or hardwood . . .

I can't wait to take him back to my parent's for a weekend. I told my mom about him and all she could say was "he sounds . . . big." My 90 lb mother who has never met an animal that she liked. (evil laugh) This is going to be fun.

The whole family is getting in gear for Mark and Kristin's wedding. I'm thrilled for them, I really am, but I hate the big wedding and all that's going along with it. I got an email 2 days ago from Kristin that said "my sister said that the tailor told her that the dresses have a *slight* sweep in the back, so he's tailoring her's *slightly* longer in the back. Consider this when you get your dress hemmed." Uh, yeah, I'm all over that. Are you kidding me? And the registry only at Macy's, Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware? Since when did having a wedding become synonymous with getting married? Okay, rant over, I feel better.

This is supposed to be the second nice weekend of the year for us, so I think this will be my major workout weekend. Long ride on Saturday and long run on Sunday. I'm trying so hard to get back into things, but I feel like my heart just isn't in it.

Ooops!

I didn't mean to stay away for this long. Things have been anything but normal these last few weeks.

Colorado was fun. It seems like so long ago . . . We put in one day of riding at Beaver Creek and two days at Keystone. I got to see a moose, spent a few hours in the hot tub, and spent zero hours thinking about work. How's that for a vacation?? If I can ever get Blogger to post pictures for me again, I'm pretty sure I have a few good ones.

I was away for most of last week to attend a funeral. I spent a great deal of time thinking about how people really only see us from one or two narrow angles. Even the people that we love most and are closest to us only ever know us in one or two different ways. People we work with might remember someone for brown-bagging lunch every day, but people we live with remember cutting the crusts off sandwiches, or their favorite brand of yogurt. At the funeral it was interesting to talk to different people who remember such different things, or have a new perspective.

These last two or three weeks I have had zero inspiration to work out. I think it started when we had the string of bitter cold weather, it just wasn't fun to even think about leaving the house. But, it must be more than that because here it is, 9:30, and I'm procrastinating. I know I should run today because I don't know what my workouts this weekend will be like, but I REALLY don't want to get up and go. I'm going to have to find something to inspire me soon.

I think part of the reason I'm dragging my feet is that I've been having serious food issues in the last month. My "diet" has gone to crap, CRAP I tell you. I don't know why it is, but when I feel like I'm starting to gain weight, I workout less. On my skinny days, I have all the motivation in the world. So, now I just need to figure out how to have skinny days all the time.

Okay, I'm going to go and lace up my shoes now (I hope). I'm just really not fun to be around right about now. Blah.

Indiana Jones, God and Ironman

I can't believe that winter is finally here. Yay for snow! The one drawback to snow is stupid drivers. 4WD does not give you permission to be an idiot on the road - are you listening, driver of the beige Yukon?!?

So, while I was stuck in a big mess on the road I got a chance to listen to the stories on NPR. They were talking about the Lost Ark of the Covenant - and not just the movie. There is a legend in Ethiopia that the Ark of the Covenant was moved there after it was stolen from King Solomon. The Ark is kept under constant watch by a monk (except when he has to go pee when he really does leave his post) because people are not allowed to view the Ark. As I understood the reasoning behind it being kept hidden is that humans are not ready to be that close to god. The other point that was made was that people shouldn't be allowed to view the Ark because it might contain proof that god exists. And IF it could prove that god exists, it might also prove that god doesn't exist. So, in order to prevent proving or disproving the existence of god, the ark is kept hidden away from the public. For the thousands of people that visit each year, there is no doubt to them that they are closer to and artifact of god. For the millions of people that live around there, this means nothing to them or their beliefs. Faith is a very powerful thing - faith alone in the existence or non-existence of something trumps physical proof when it comes to our beliefs. We don't have to know the answer to believe that we are correct.

So, I don't mean to debate the existence of god here, but this got me thinking about the mental aspect of endurance sports. I've read so much about the mental ups and downs of Ironman races and how mental lapses can make or break the race. I've been debating whether or not I'm ready for an Ironman race, and wondering if I have the faith in myself and my abilities to complete the race. I know physically my body can get through the race, but I'm not sure that I can keep my mind in the race long enough to finish the race.

I signed up for two half-ironman races this summer so that I have the first race to prepare for my second, "A" race. It's an issue of faith. I want to do well, but I don't have faith in myself to have to perfect nutrition plan, pacing and endurance to finish. I am not a person with a lot of faith, I need proof before I can accept something, its the scientist/engineer part of me.

But, this plan will not work for an Ironman race. I know that physically I would not be able to do two iron-length races in a season, and that I'd be setting myself up for injury/burnout. But, how do convince myself that I can do this?

That said, I'm about 95% sure that I'm going to (try to) sign up for Ironman Wisconsin in 2008.

Updates

Hmmm . . . I seem to be not-so-much with the regular updating. In the last two weeks lots has been going on in my tri-life. First off, THE BIKE IS HERE! Okay, to be fair, the frame and fork is here. I have so much learning to do about wrenching. The problem is that I don't really know where to start. And, I don't really have the finances to start either.

The calendar is slowly starting to come together. I have my original plan:

March 25, Shamrock Shuffle
June 9, Liberty Half-Ironman
August 4, Steelhead Half-Ironman
August 26, Chicago Olympic Tri

And the potential bike races:

April: Quick Release Spring Training Series (MI), Willow Creek Time Trial
May: Monster's of Midway, Cobb Park, Memorial Weekend Race Series (IA)
June: Proctor Series Races (IL)
July: IL State Championships
October: ABR Fall Fling (IL)

I have to throw in a few extra tri's to actually win this Tri Club Point Series at work.

In non-tri news, Alysfa has been adding (melo)drama to the family. Apparently she got big by a bug-thing in Peru and got a huge rash all over her chest. This required a trip to the hospital and a few night stay. The drama part is that she didn't call to tell Mom and Dad this, her boyfriend had to call and say that she was in the hospital. I can only imagine the drama in the house. She's okay, but we might never stop talking about this.

Beefy got a job, she's going to be in Georgia, somewhere near Athens. She is slowly becoming a southerner. Every big life event just keeps drawing her farther and farther south. Although, I'm not sure there's much farther south for her to go.

I finally infected my dad with the tri-bug. He signed up for his first one this summer and now he's back in the pool again. I know he'll be okay with the swimming and running, but his bike is rusted solid! He's going to be one of "those guys" at the race :)

Okay, I'm tired and off to bed. For the first time, I will have to leave my water running all night just to keep my pipes from freezing. I love the winter :)

Almost There . . .

My "official" training plan starts next week. I've been spending most of January getting back into the mindset of training everyday, not just working out every day. I'm so excited to have an official plan to follow. Most days, if I'm feeling lazy, its just not going to happen.

I did my first swim time trial yesterday. 1000 yards in 14:30, average time: 1:27. Not too shabby, but I was gunning for sub-1:25. I'm a little bummed, but considering I haven't really put in dedicated training time in the pool, not too bad. My current plan has testing scheduled every 3-4 weeks during the prep and build phase.

The tickets have been bought and the condo has been rented! We're going to Colorado! I'm so excited to get some snowboarding in this season. I can't wait to see all the snow in the mountains. Mmmm . . . 4 days in snow-filled bliss with a hot tub!

Playing the Blame Game

I spent a lot of time this week thinking about BLAME and the energy that we spend on blame. Think about all the time you spend blaming traffic, work, weather, god, family, food or anything else that regularly crosses your mind. And the mental drain that all that causes. I can feel myself sometimes just giving up because its easier to just say "I can't do this because of this roadblock."

One of the things that I would like to change about my way of thinking is to stop focusing on blame and spend more time focusing on the solution. This is so much easier when it comes to work. Some of the things that I've come up with so far . . . instead of griping about weak ankles and leg pain, I spent the money to get orthotics. I think $200 is worth it. Instead of bitching about having no energy when I get home, I'm going to try and bring my own lunch and snacks. So, that's the new change in my outlook.

Its a little late to be posting my weekly update from last week, but here it is:

Swim: 2:30, 4.5 miles
Bike: 5:30, 95.8 miles
Run: 2:00, 15 miles
Weights: 1:00
Total Time: 11:00

Not bad for week 2. This week has been a bit of a rest week. I'm trying to finish some things that I promised for other people before "real" training kicks in, then there's the projects around the house. I love completing projects, then taking a step back. I'm still amazed sometimes that I own a house!

Lonely weekend for me - Ryan is back in Ohio. I'm catching up with Mark and Kristin tonight. I'm so happy she's going to be part of the family. I still feel so intimidated by them sometimes. She's one of those people that you want to be - friendly, outgoing, good listener, energetic, and just cool. Two girls from the bike team are going to be in town for a photo shoot and I'll try and meet up with them Saturday for some girl-time.

More On the Trip

Okay, continuing on the earlier thread.

Crazy Transformer sculpture in the middle of Rotterdam:

After Rotterdam, I also got to see The Hague (or, Den Hague as its known in the Netherlands). The best part of The Hague is that it is the seat of the government and a major tourist town. There's this incredible old building where the Dutch congress meets right next a street mall. You can see where the Queen sleeps, then go get Subway, all in a few minutes. Cracks me up to see that sort of thing. Makes me wonder if people could even fathon this 500 years ago when they were building these palaces.

I had all these great pictures from The Hague, and none of them turned out because of the weather (rainy, overcast). For whatever reason all the pictures came out with a blue tint.

Okay, quick trip to Nerefco, then it was off to France. We went to Nancy first for two nights. Nancy is the capital of the Alsace-Lorraine region and very pretty. It strikes me as being very much the heart of wine country, although I'm starting to think that all of France is the "heart of wine county." We traveled to Lucey, Bruley and a few other towns in search of a vineyard. Turns out, we were actually looking for a vineyard, and we should have been looking for a house. We found two different wine-tasting places that were very much held in someone's living room. So random! Good wine though, but we only brought back half a dozen bottles. Better memories of trying to pretend we understood French while these people were babbling to us about how their wine was made - or so we assume. Again, Blogger is doing weird things with my pictures, so I'll post those separately.

From Nancy, we were off to Lyon. I was not such a big fan of Lyon - mostly because we got lost each and everytime we drove in or around the city. But, it was close to the French Alps and since we were there to go hiking, I could forgive a city for being hopelessly confusing. So, every day we were there we drove out to the Alps for hiking. There were some truly incredible sights (and all of them on Ryan's camera), but the French need to learn how to label trails. In addition to being lost while we were driving, we got lost a whole bunch of times on every trail. There were no trail markers! Or, worse, if there were trail markers they would just sort of die out and we'd be lost again.

One really cool thing we got to see was this monastery that was built in 1050 and is still operating. We were hiking past as the bells rang out through the forest, it was eerie. If I think hard enough, I'm sure I'll remember the name of the monastery, but I'm drawing a blank at this point.

It was really good to get away for a while. Only two days at work, then it was vacation time again!

I'm going to skip over most of the Christmas update. It was fun to see the family and really good to get away.

Okay, New Year's. I generally make some sort of "resolution" around New Year's. This year, I had already accomplished the big one in December. I wanted to get rid of my caffeine addiction. This was actually a Diet Coke addiction, but I hate the way that sounds. So, I quit (mostly) cold-turkey. I cut out the Diet Coke cold-turkey, but the caffeine found its way into my diet by way of Chai. I'm slowly getting rid of that, but I figure Chai has to be better for you than pop.

My next big resolution is to learn how to build a bike. I'm working with Paul on that one soon. I have the frame picked out, the saddle is ordered, wheels are on order soon. I'm going to see what I can buy off of Paul before I purchase anything else. Anyone who does that much wrenching has to have pieces that they want to get rid of.

And the last resolution is to do a better job of keeping track of my workouts. Ryan got me a workout diary that has been a big help. I never realized how many daily hours are actually involved in 10+ hours/week in the gym. It also helps to keep me honest. So, for the first week of training I got in 9:10. Not too shabby. The breakdown looks like this . . .

Swim: 1:10/2 miles
Bike: 5:30/105 miles
Run: 1:00/7.25 miles
Strength: 1:00
Other: 0:30

Okay, random thoughts for the night. First off, at the pool there was the dad coaching his two kids and he was riding them like crazy! The kids were maybe 8 and 10 and he was making them do sprints on no rest interval, then yelling when they missed out. The 10 year-old was training with paddles (my pet peeve!), and being made to do excessive amounts of fly. The little girl couldn't get her backstroke technically correct, so dad made her stand on the deck while he yelled at her about the correct form. I wanted to scream! It was like soccer parents, only worse. Athletics are supposed to be fun when you're that young. The dad should have just been happy that his kids were out and moving. They probably aren't going to make the Olympics anyways, so why get them bummed out on the sport?!? Ugh.

I had my Michigan swim suit on in the pool, and this guy came up to me and said "go bucks." I smiled and said something about liking to see the Big 10 do well in post-season play. Then the guy starts making fun of me for going to Michigan. So I asked him where he went, and he said "Ohio." I HATE it when people do this. You can't pretend to have a rivalry with my school when you didn't go the school you're a fan of! Go ahead, be a fan, but shut up about beating Michigan. If you're going to rub it in you better have the degree on your wall! I swear, no fan from Ohio State actually went to the school. Okay, done with that rant.

A Long Overdue Post

I can't believe that it has been over a month since my last post. So, first things first. Our trip to Europe was very cool. We stayed in Amsterdam for two nights and took the train into the city. Amsterdam is an incredible city. We spent most of the time just wandering around, taking in the sights. I love that the city is so quiet and peaceful - and the bikes! I couldn't believe the number of people that biked in and around the city. No cars driving on the street, everyone biking or on the train, this was my kind of town.

The city has the "small-town" Europe feel to it, no buildings were more than three stories, the occasional cobblestone street, open-air markets, and cafes everywhere. The buildings in Amsterdam are too small to bring furniture up and down the stairs, so most of the homes in town have these giant cables and pulleys on the roof to hoist furniture up to the third floor, as show here.

We left Amsterdam to stay in Brille, this cute little city about an hour south of Amsterdam. Brille is a small shopping, touristy town, but very cute. The first day that we were there they had this open-air market that was selling just about everything. I LOVE open-air markets, wish there were more of them, and not just in the summer. It was cool to just wander around and pick up veggies, fruit, fresh bread, cheese, and just about anything else I could have wanted.

Brille is home to this really old church that has been around forever. I think it is also the first place that the Dutch took from the Spanish in their first of many wars. Sort of incredible to walk around and think about the history of a place that has been around long enough to have had multiple wars fought over it. The church made me laugh because it was this OLD ancient building all done in brick, with this goofy red door.

From Brille, I got to keep sightseeing while Ryan was at work. I spent a day in Rotterdam and a day in The Hague. The weather was kind of crummy for the week and the days are only about 6 hours long, so the sight-seeing had to be kept to a minimum, but I did get to see some of the sights. Rotterdam, being totally destroyed during WWII was rebuilt recently and is ugly. They didn't seem to worry too much about city planning, so these really architechturally innovative buildings are tucked in with these ugly 1950's concrete block boring buildings, and some bad attempts at making some 1970's buildings look like 500 year old buildings. UGLY. But, the theme in all of the Netherlands seems to be random artwork everywhere. Hence, the random transformer sculptures.

More pictures and updates later, as soon as I can figure out why blogger only lets me publish two pictures today.

Winter Wonderland

The first big snowstorm of the year was more of a bust than anything, but I love having snow on the ground. Winter is such a great time of the year. Think hot chocolate, wool sweaters, down comforters, fleece, snow boarding . . . This is why I want to live in Alaska :)

Ryan and I headed out to play in the snow, but we only had about 2" on the ground. The snow was good for snowballs, but not for snowmen.

We got pictures of us in our winter gear, and my favorite - the dog still trying to catch the rabbit that lives under the deck (its been weeks and he still hasn't gotten it). Its borderline obsessive to watch him stalk this thing.















Life is good otherwise. Steelhead finally updated their webpage - registration opens up on December 4. I still have sticker-shock over the $200 registration fee. I would love to see a breakdown of the costs of hosting an event. Certainly they have administration fees to cover, plus costs of police, host cities fees, food/drink, etc. But seriously, with all the corporate support (see also: packet pick up "fairs") I can't imagine that the cost of hosting this totals $200/person. Oh well, as much as I complain about it, I'll still pay and attend and (hopefully) love it.

Training is going up and down this week. I'm going to blame it on working nights, but I've also just been lazy. I was supposed to work nights on Friday night, then the boss called it off, so now I'm working nights tonight. I might have to go in tomorrow night as well, then its back to normal living. Until the vacation!

Vacation plans have changed slightly. We were supposed to go to the Alps, but thanks to an unseasonably warm winter, there's no snow. So, we're doing some hiking and staying in some B&Bs in southeastern France. Stay tuned for more updates.

The bikes will be ordered soon. For the HIM, I know I have to upgrade and get off the road bike. So, here she is:



I'm going to learn how to build a bike!

Random Gym Thoughts

I love watching the numbers on the treadmill tick up . . . distance, time, calories, etc. So, I was watching the calories numbers count up this evening and I was thinking about the total number of calories burned over the course of a day in the gym. Here's what I got:

average number of people/hour: 400
average workout length: 1 hour
average caloric rate: 600 cal/hr

So, using those estimates, I get that the total number of calories burned over the course of a day is 5,760,000! Given that there are 3,500 calories/lb, I estimate that 1,645 lbs are lost in one day. That's equivalent to the body weight of 9 people (approx 180 lb) people!!!

So, as I was thinking this through, I was wondering about the total number of calories consumed in one day in the cafe at the gym. Wondering if the net weight of the people at the gym is increasing or decreasing over time. Seriously, this is what I think about while I run.

I'm starting to feel fast again in the pool. Its so frustrating to remember how it used to feel to swim fast and just not feel the same. I used to feel like I had four or five "gears" that I could swim in. Just tell me the pace that I was supposed to be on, and that was it, I could pace it perfectly. Now, I'm struggling to hold sets that used to be SO easy. Frustrating, but the more I work at it, the better I'm feeling. I think that this is my hangup about swimming, why its so hard for me to get in the pool - I remember how it used to feel, compare that to how I feel now and get upset that I'm not as fast as I used to be. But, I'm working on celebrating the little things. The little thing for me today was getting complimented on my flip turns.

I'm back on nights for the weekend, then (hopefully!) done with working crazy hours for the time being. Then, its off to Amsterdam and France for 12 days (doing my happy dance!)! The original plan involved skiing, not so much hope in that now. The Alps have been unseasonably warm this year and there's no snow. Oh well, I'll take my hard-earned time off.

Today's workout:

SWIM
200 warmup
5x100 @ 1:40 (hold 1:25)
50 active rest
5x100 @ 1:30 (hold 1:22)
100 active rest
4x50 @ 1:05 (25 easy, 25 sprint, IM order)
100 cool down

RUN
3.7 miles
30 minutes
alternate 2 min @ 7 mph, 2 min @ 8 mph

Happy Thanksgiving!

Staying in the spirit of the holiday, here's my list of things that I'm thankful for:

-Having enough family to get two invites for Thanksgiving dinner.
-Time off from work to relax and celebrate.
-Getting to cook my first Thanksgiving dinner.

-Ryan - who is incredible and loving and wonderful.

-My health.
-A job that (for the most part) makes me happy.
-My go-fast bike.
-Ginger and garlic.
-Good wine and good friends.
-The Alps.
-Plans for an action-packed summer.
-Lake Michigan.
-John Irving.
-Not being in Peru over the holidays (sorry Alyssa).
-An extended family that's growing.
-The rabbit in my backyard.
-Having a goofy sense of humor.
-Darren Aronofsky.
-Law & Order.
-Clinton & Stacy.
-Michigan football.
-A willing-to-try-anything-once attitude.

I feel bad that this list is all I could come up with, but I have a long list of things to accomplish on my day off and blogging is just one of them.

Tri Clubs

This past running season work had a running club, and at the end of the season the running club had a big get together to celebrate. I didn't run in the club because they required you to run six races. With all of the bike racing I did last season, I didn't have enough weekends to do six races. But, Ryan did do the club and took me with him to the party at the end of the season. I love this group of math nerds. Being one myself, it was really addictive talking to them about how to improve the scoring for next season.

First off, individuals were divided into teams. Each racer ran six races and were scored based on the PLP (performance level percentage). The concept (so cool!) of the PLP is that each racer is competing against the world-record for their age. Your PLP for a race tells you the percentage of the fastest time for your age and distance. OK, science lesson over . . . on to the real point of explaining this.

Hopefully, we're going to start a triathlon club for work! We think that we have about 5-10 people that would be interested in doing a couple of tris. The math geek in me is so excited by trying to figure out how to score the tri club. This is complicated by the fact that most people in the club will do both individual and relay tris.

So, I'm thinking to score by doing a PLP-type number for each leg of the tri. Meaning, take the world-record for a race and break it into each leg so that the swim, bike and run can all be scored separately. Completing it individually should get a finisher some bonus points. We're thinking its bad form to penalize people - more carrot, less stick. Should we add bonus points for some of the longer races?

My other thoughts on this is that we should be rewarding people for podium finishes. I think part of the "healthy living" is encouraging healthy activities in the community. Meaning, buy running shoes from the local store so that they can keep supporting the local races. So, I think it would be cool to reward people for finishing in the top of their age groups at local races.

And, on a training note, I finally have a training log! Thank you Ryan! I have been wanting one for a long time, because I would love to be able to track my weekly mileage and see how well I'm doing relative to my training plan.

2007 Race Calendar

I finally came up with my 2007 goals. The biggest challenge for 2007 will be completing my first half-ironman. I'd also like to go sub-2:30 at the Chicago Triathlon (Olympic). Training objectives include holding a 21 mph average on the bikes at the big races and improving run speed to 7:00 min/mile.

So, onto the races:

March 25 - Shamrock Shuffle 5-mile race (Chicago, IL)
May 27 - Mad City Half-Marathon (Madison, WI)
June 9 - Liberty Half-Ironman (Independence, MN)
August 4 - Steelhead Half-Ironman (St. Joe's, MI)
August 26 - Chicago Olympic Triathlon (Chicago, IL)
mid-September - Fever River Adventure Tri (Galena, IL)

So far I'm only registered for the Chicago Tri. Liberty HIM and Shamrock Shuffle registration opens on January 1. No info yet on Steelhead or Galena.

The training plan is a work in progress. I have the rough outline of what I need to be doing each week, now I just need to translate that into daily workouts. I have never really done much running speedwork, so that's proving to be a challenge. I have enough biking and swimming workouts, but I can't figure out how to make the treadmill work with speed/hill workouts. I'm trying to get that ironed out this weekend.

Exactly Like Colorado, Only Different

<-- Insert Alps here


Okay, my reward for working all these insane hours of OT . . . a trip to Europe! In December Ryan is going to Amsterdam for work, so I think I'm going to tag along. After a week in the Netherlands, we're planning on going to the French Alps for a four(ish) day ski vacation. Or, more accurately, a snowboarding vacation! I'm so excited!

Ummm . . . not much else by way of training news. I signed up for the Race Athlete forum. It helps to keep me thinking about training and racing to read what other people have and are planning on doing. Plus the ideas about other races to try are keeping me intrigued. Still looking for that May/June 1/2 Iron Man.

Decisions, decisions

I still haven't quite figured out how to fit everything in to my days. Some days I'm really on top of things and manage to fit in all that I want to (workout, errands, downtime, etc.). Other days, I crawl into bed and can't think of anything that I actually accomplished. This week has been pretty good for me. The end is in sight to transition back to days (six night left, maybe seven) for a few weeks, so that helps improve my mood. I took the car in to get fixed, which was way overdue, so that left me feeling good about getting stuff accomplished.

All in all, a much better mood this week than last.

I am so pumped up to get some races in soon after watching the Chicago Marathon last week. It was COLD but most of the participants had big smiles on their faces. Considering we were watching at mile 21, not too bad! I had brought my camera and was all set to take pictures, but the batteries died, sorry.

We got there in time to see Dean Karnazes go by, I think, at the 3:30 pace. Kelli and Nick ran by around the 4:10 pace, and Monica (?) went by around 4:15. Don't ask me who Monica is, I don't know, but Ryan's friend was cheering her on so we were too. Since we were watching people towards the end we did see some people in real pain. I felt bad for some people who really looked like they weren't in shape to be running 26.2 miles. And I felt really bad for people who looked like they were in shape to run a marathon but for some reason or another were hurting pretty bad.

I couldn't believe the crowds despite the weather (I think the phrase "ass-cold" accurately describes it). We were standing about 5-deep on the sidewalk (more crowded on our side) and people kept rotating in to watch friends go by then hopping on the El to meet up with them at another point.

So, my marathon-watching experience inspired me to do two things. First, join the Chicago Tri Club and get some real Tri friends who have experience at this stuff. I kept hoping that the Tri store out by my house would have some real triathlon things going on, like clinics, bike rides, etc., but they're really just a running store pretending to be a tri store. Second, figure out another half-ironman distance race early in the season. I think Steelhead is going to be my "AA" race, but I am thinking of adding another "A" race in May/June in order to figure out how to do my best at the 1/2 Ironman distance. So, just have to decide which one to do now.

I Love Fall

Halloween is my favorite holiday. If I had the vacation time saved up, I probably would take off the 31st and use it to decorate my house. And none of this corny fake spiderweb crap or inflatable Disney character junk, I would do Halloween right - like these guys. Last Halloween was fun, I had a bunch of pumpkins, but was rushed to do all the carving after work and before anyone showed up. Turns out, I shouldn't have worried, I think I had maybe 10 kids. I'm hoping that was a fluke due to the rain. Here are some of the pumpkins I had last year:

The rain cleared today so I got a short run in before my hot lunch date. On my run I decided that I really don't like golf. It seems utterly pointless. I suppose that the purpose of any sport is pretty pointless, but golf really does seem to top the list, IF you consider golf a sport. Why am I ranting on golf? Let me tell you about my psycho golf neighbor (PGN).

I saw PGN in his front yard with a club from a couple of houses away, he was on the opposite side of the road from me, facing away from his house. He was facing me, just standing around lining up a shot. It is worth noting at this point that I live in suburbia, and not the suburbs where there is a lot of room between the houses. All of a sudden, he does his backswing and fires a shot in my direction! PGN is practicing his golf game by shooting from his yard up the street! I yelled something like "hey, watch what you're doing!" His reply was "stay out of the road!" I shouldn't be amazed at the stupidity of people any more but this was pretty shocking. Thankfully he's a bad shot and missed me by a mile, but c'mon, aren't there better places to practice your golf game?!?

Another busy day today, so not much in way of a workout. I got an hour in on the rollers, about 15 minutes of it was endurance work. I think I need to get a fan for the "basement."

On a less disgusting note, I have decided to get the Tri bike from Blue this season. If they offer the pro discount on the T14, I'm going for it. Its too bad they don't sell complete bikes, and I'm not a good mechanic. Paul offered to help me put it together if I was willing to learn some of the basics of bike maintenance. I'm no pro mechanic but I'm willing to learn, especially if it means saving some big bucks on putting together a bike.

Aerus has some nice handlebars and HED makes some wheels I've been drooling over, but I still have to decide some of the basics. I've been tempted by the SRAM gruppo, but don't know if I want to try out something so new, especially if local bike mechanics don't know how to work on it. I'm also debating the whole tubular/clincher wheels. I'm not real keen on patching flats on the road, so it would be nice to just replace the tube/tire and be done with it. Since I'd be doing tris and carrying extra equipment anyways, this might be the way to go. But I'll probably go with tubulars anyways just to simplify things.

Back In The Saddle

After a few days off, I'm back on with the training plan. Monday's weather was perfect for a run (65 degrees and sunshine-y!), so I got about 5 miles in, then hopped up on the bike to spin for a while.

Unlike most people, I actually enjoy riding on my trainer. I find that it actually keeps me focused on cadence, heart rate, form, etc. When I ride outside, I tend to be more focused on people around me, seeing the sights, road conditions, mechanical problems and the like. I sometimes forget to work out when I'm road riding. Maybe the difference is my trainer - I have rollers, not the floor trainer, so I have to concentrate on staying upright as well as my workout.

I got another hour of riding in today with some interval work - 1 minute sprints every 5 minutes for the duration of the ride. I think I'm going to try and make it to the gym tomorrow to give my legs some time off before the end of the week. I really wish I didn't have such a hang-up about lifting.

Maybe I'm strange, but I find that I eat better when I work out. For some strange reason I can ignore the candy dish or the junk food because I know that they'll make me feel like crap during my workout. When I take a break from exercising I find it really hard to eat right. I would have thought it would be the other way around . . .

I spent a good part of the evening drooling over the Blue bikes, trying to decide how to build one for next season. I'm not a mechanic, nor do I know enough about tri bike components to purchase the parts to put one together. If only I knew a good mechanic . . .

Grrr and Argh

I had all these good intentions about starting my half-ironman training, and then work got in the way. And not the "big-project-long-hours" sort of problem, but the "oh-shit-things-are-going-south-quick" sort of problem. Its been a long week already and its only Monday, I'll be on night shift working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week from now until Thanksgiving.

So, some training updates:

I got back in the pool on Tuesday of last week and came to a realization about swimming . . . I need to make peace with the pool. Maybe I did too much in college, but ending my swimming career on such a sour note has really turned me off from swimming. It might be the strongest of my three legs, but I have the hardest time getting up any sort of enthusiasm for getting in the pool. I managed to put in around 2400 yards in the 45 minutes I was there. Speed work isn't an issue, but I have a hard time grinding out yardage for the sake of hitting a distance goal. This mental hangup will probably be the thing that holds me back the most.

I also got some time in the weight room. I love the results of lifting, but I don't like the time that it takes. I always feel like I should be doing cardio if I'm working out, I don't give lifting the same amount of value I do to cardio.

Kenda announced the sponsorship for next season - Blue is back! I think I'll be getting at least one new bike (TT/Tri). Don't know if I'll be able to afford a new road bike - we'll have to wait and see. There's so much else that I want to do (Colorado trip, Amsterdam trip, pay off some loans . . .) the fundage might be tight.

I think I'm going to have to spend some time sitting down and reviewing my training plan to fit into my new work schedule. 24 hours in a day - 12.5 hours of work - 7 hours of sleep - 1.5 hours commuting = 3 hours for everything else. Figure in time to drive to the gym, shower, etc., and there's not much time left in the day.

But, to keep me inspired, I signed up for the Chicago Tri next year. These are pics from this year's race.

The Start of Something New

Well, here we go! After being inspired by reading the tri blogs of others, I've decided to create my own ramblings on training, racing, and just getting by.