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.