Destination Training?

It's inevitable. It has to happen. Late February/early March a trek to Mississippi or Alabama.

I figure I'll take a long weekend, 3-4 days, drive down there and pound out some good training miles that I wouldn't be able to get in this horrible winter climate. If that goes well, doing that every month until I can get outside full time to train.

I don't know about you, but I think it's a fantastic idea. Where exactly will I be riding? Not sure right now, but I figure I'll start planning that in mid-January. It's gonna have to involve beach. It has to.

Nothing but truth

Strong language, not intended for younger viewers.

I'd say this is pretty accurate

Thanksgiving week

Just had kind of a lazy weekend as far as training goes. Got a lot accomplished work-wise and person-wise... if that's what you call it.

This is going to be a busy, cold week. Sorry Shoe, I'm not going to get one of those handlebar mits. I thought that's what they make gloves for.

Gotta finish strong this week in the pool and on the pavement. Will be spending some time on the trainer... not much, though. Slowly easing into it.

Mid November open water swim?

Why not? The water temp is ~39 degrees when I checked it this morning. I'll probably jump in tomorrow after work. Get some!

JShoe/Decisions, decisions

JShoe had a good blog post recently. Jesse and I have known each other for 4 years now. Wow... 4 years. We chased each other back and forth during the citizen year of WORS. He approached me at the Franklin race (mind you, it was 100+ degrees that day) and said "hey, you're the guy in 1st place" to which I replied "Yeah." Since then it really wasn't about competition to us. I mean, I can only speak for myself but I liked seeing him race well and place high. That season he finished 2nd overall and I was 3rd. He continued to race WORS and I transitioned more into triathlon. He's one of the best people I have met while being back in Wisconsin. Whether he knows it or not, I am constantly inspired by his endeavors and I always wish him well. I love you, my friend.

Having said that, I am considering something I never thought I would do or even attempt. Shoe's last post of failing to prepare is preparing to fail kind of pushes me toward the decision I was thinking of making. Until I make that decision I will say no more, but I will let you all know soon. But when that time comes, please know that I will be preparing in the meantime.

Interesting and Informative

I found this to be very informative and helpful:

http://www.trifitmultisport.com/pdf/time_trial_racing_equipment-best_bang.pdf

Here are some specific time savings over a 40 kilometer time trial course based on measured data:
1· 6 seconds saved for optimized aero position on the bike
2· 5 seconds saved for racing with a water bottle as opposed to not taking it along
3· 4 seconds saved for an aero helmet over a standard cycling helmet
4· 3 seconds saved for an aero bicycle frame
5· 2 seconds saved for using aero wheels
6· 1 second saved for cleanup details (cabling, brakes, etc)

There's a lot more in the article. Check it out.

So long, Facebook. It's been real.

My era with Facebook ended today. Too much drama. Too many people getting upset by what was or was not there. You know what? It's Facebook, people. Relax. Will it ever come back? Meh, perhaps. But if so, not for a loooong time. It's amazing that people are citing Facebook as the reason for divorce in 1 in 4 marriages. I can only imagine what it does to relationships. Either way, you can find me here. Email, call, or text. That's where I'll be.

2 posts in 2 days?!?! Inconceivable!

I forgot to mention, I got my new scale last week for my clinic. It reads weight, bone mass, muscle mass, body fat, metabolic age, and a few other things. My body fat percentage needs a little work at 11.3%. My metabolic age, however, is the lowest I've witnessed yet at 12. Yes, I have the metabolism of a 12 year old. I suppose I can be proud when my metabolic age is less than half of my real age.

Time for cake. Mmmm.

I will rise again in 2011

That headline would have sounded better if it were 2010.

As you all know, I took this year (2010) off from racing. I did need a break. 4 straight years of mountain bike racing transitioning to triathlons and more endurance type of stuff just got to be too much. I missed having my summers... days to just enjoy the sun and not have to worry about catching up on saddle time because of rain. Or turning every bike ride into a training session. Even though I still did a fair amount of biking, it was "leisurely biking" for the most part. I did do a local sprint triathlon with little to no training, and I did okay.

Now looking to now and beyond, I'm ready to race again. I'm gaining new focus and perspective. I know what works and what doesn't. Most importantly I know what it takes. I'm registered for IM Wisconsin in September. There's no doubt in my mind that I'll finish, it's just a matter of how much time. I'm aiming for sometime in the 12th hour. My goal, as of now, is finishing the bike course in less than 6 hours. I think my IM Canada time was 6:32, so I think it's very possible.

Will there be any other races on the horizon? Oh I'm sure. But relax. That's for me to worry about.

Dream

Last night I had a dream. It was visualization during my REM cycle, if you will.

JVog and I were doing a road race. We were in mid-peleton on the left side and probably put in 15-20 miles at a boring pace. JVog looked at me like "this is ours". He took off and I followed suit. At this point in the dream it became an action movie. My dream had an overhead camera angle to show us pulling out and pulling ahead. We broke away swapping leads and drafts. We kept pulling farther and farther ahead before I gave JVog one last push to win the race. He was giving the crowd fist pumps and confetti rained down.

The soundtrack to the breakaway was "Indestructible" by Disturbed. Effing loved it.

Nice finish, JVog.

Week 3 of the month

I keep having odd little happenings during the week that I should blog about, but I've been neglecting it. Since I got rid of my facebook account I haven't been doing much computer work at all.

So far this month I've put on almost 4 lbs which I can only assume to be muscle. Not much cake or sweets. I put up 280 lbs on the bench press. Realistically bench pressing means jack smack, but it's a mark I've never hit before. I honestly don't plan to go higher than that because once the warmer weather hits I'll be on my bike more and I'll lose weight again like always.

Not much more to update on. Just keep on keepin' on.

One week down

Distractions have been kept to a minimum... ones that are under my control anyway. Said goodbye to Facebook for a while. Don't miss it one bit.

I'm getting stronger as the months progress. I was doing reps of 270 lbs on the bench press tonight. Not bad for a little guy like me weighing only 170. Once the snow starts to recede and the temps get above 30 I'll be outside hitting the pavement. But for now I'm enjoying the "rest" period.

Diet is near perfect. Sleeping patterns are good. Mental health is improving.

Rest week-ish

Just laying around, getting fat this week. February 1 starts a whole new life. Stay tuned.

Hellooooo 2010

Good morning to all 2 of my readers. I figured since it was a solid 6 months since my last post I would write a little something.

Today I went to my first spinning class (or cycling, whatever you want to call it). I was the only male, the only first-timer, and was the youngest by at least 15 years. I guess that's what I get for going at 9:00AM on a Monday. I've used those stationary bikes before when warming up for my lifting workouts many many times so I knew the setup and all that. Going into it I figured you get out of it what you want-- so I went hard. Since there are mirrors all over the place you can kinda see how you compare to everyone else. People were getting up and getting water, turning the fan on, or just slacking. The instructor lady was very nice and energetic. She had us go up "hills" which made me chuckle to myself. The last long ride I did was 112 in Canada, so I thought "lady you don't know what hills are." All in all it was fun. You get out of it what you want.

Other than that things are okay. As all 2 of you probably already know, I'm not doing an Ironman this calendar year. Long story short: it takes a lot of physical and mental preparation and I don't think I can invest all that this year. I have a lot of other things I need to accomplish... things I can't have as a secondary priority. I'll still train a lot because that's just a part of my normal routine, and I'll do a few sprint tris or something here and there, but I just don't want the deadline of a race looming in the back of my mind.

I weigh 170.8 lbs today. I like this weight.