A new direction...,

Merry Christmas! Okay, I haven't blogged in damn near a hot minute so I thought it being Christmas and all, I'd give it a shot.

Strange to be doing this again.

So, my tri days are over. Well, maybe over is the wrong term but certainly curtailed. Just lost the interest in a major way. I did Ironman Augusta and thought I was going to DNF the whole day. That's the only race I have ever be in where I wanted to quit from the start. And it nuked my desire to race that distance again or longer. But the desire to keep after that outer edge is still burning strong. What's next?

Ultramarathoning. This is where my wife chimes in "of course[expletive,expletive]"

2010 will be the year I start to pursue this new goal. I have some races in the slot and others I'm thinking about in a majorly sick way.

Stay tuned and we'll see what 2010 brings my way. I'm going to try to post some video and pics on the blog so I can have a history of the races.

10 Miles

One foot in front of the other.

Boring.

Getting it together

Okay, I haven't posted in forever. That's okay because nobody reads the damn thing anyway.

Whatever.

Rode 65 and felt really strong. HR was low and average speed was decent.

Swimming has started again and yeah-it still sucks.

Running has gotten much better mostly due to agressive stretching. If you have read the blog before, then you know I have had knee problems which are now mostly GONE due to stretching.

Hmmmmmn-who knew?

20 weeks to the big dance. 20 weeks.

60 Minute Trainer ride

Boring. Sometimes riding the trainer reminds me of a rat on a wheel...,

3 miles the other night. I'm too embarassed to tell you how slow I ran.

So, I'm done with grad school and looking forward to a summer off.

Started building a deck. Two levels-1500 square feet.

Gutting master bath down to studs and updating it.

Getting gifted/AP certified.

Oh yeah-and occassionally training for an Ironman and Half-Ironman.

Good times...,

50 Mile Bike, 7 Mile Run

Got it done. Legs are trashed. I have a LONG way to go until I'm race ready.

Last night of doctoral school. Wa-hoo!!!

Rode my trainer 30 minutes last night and did upper body work.

Not impressive.

Getting it together

Okay, I'm a lousy blogger. Sporadic at best-I don't think about keeping up with it. Life just seems to get in the way.

Maybe I'll get better.

Ran 2.5 miles last night. Wow. In no particular hurry to ramp up the miles.

I'm bailing out of the doctoral program. More on that later.

Got a big bike this weekend-60 miles. Gonna try a new strategy this year.

Thinking about swimming.

35 mile bike

35 miles on SCT. Frozen toes, junk destroyed, totally alone.

Great stuff...,

Damn rain

Yes-I know we need the rain but just DAMN.

Enough already.

I want to get on my bike and ride outside, in the sunshine and wind. Not staring at Coach Troy with his peppy ass telling me to stand up and get in the drops.

I think today will bring a litmus test of my baseline fitness. I'll head over to KSU's gym and run on the treadmill for 60 minutes and see how far I go.

That should be interesting. What should be even more fun is getting in the pool.

Did I mention I hate to swim?

Good times. I'm glad to be healthy enough to do these things.

Beach2battleship Journey

I did IMFL in 2006. I too suffered from depression after such a huge event. And I always thought that I would someday do another iron-distance race.



The time commitment is huge. The price tag is outrageous. My body is a little worse for the wear.



But the siren song continued. So, I'm going long again.



I'm racing Beach2battleship this year. I say racing because IMFL was about survival. I guess they all are on any given day. But, I've learned a lot since then and think this year will go better.

I've let myself get unfit and now it's a long road back. But, I need to get on that road. If you follow this blog (all two of you), you know my knees are in peril. That hasn't changed. They're still sore and tender but nothing structually wrong.

I haven't swam in 6 months. Good times.

I haven't rode my bike outside in 7 months. Good times.

I have ridden my trainer throughout the winter and I'm hopeful my bike is still there.

Let's not talk about running.

I feel like I'm in the last Rocky movie where his trainer tells him everything is gone and they have to work with what's left.

That's me.

In the end, I'll have it together and be ready to rock a good race. So, I need a good plan:

Brasstown Baldbuster (May)
Chatt Waterfront Tri (July)

That's it so far.

Michael

Humbled

Wow.

Life can really let you know who is in freaking charge. I started the doctoral program and it's hard.

Really hard.

So, the prof says read this article and write an analysis. No big deal except the article is 250 pages long, complete with statistics and other nonsense. That article is in addition to the other 300 pages from the overpriced, dull as dishwater textbooks that I have to absorb. That's one class. The other class has a prof who believes that I have NOTHING else to do but sit around and think about possible dissertation topics.

Yeah.

The truly crappy thing about all of it is that I can't mail it in. In two years, I sit for the qualifying exams-a total review of the program. So, to not do the work 110% is simply not an option.

The great thing? My ray of hope? It will be over in FOUR short years.

Training? Are you kidding? My tri bike has a new wheelset and dust on the frame. It hangs in the man-cave that I built using entry fee money earmarked for Gulf Coast. Why build a man-cave? I have so many materials, they require their own room. Running and swimming are a dream.

I suppose I'll get things under control but I'm not sure my liver can take the assault. So, all of you that are about to get started for the new season-be thankful.

I'll get out there soon. Maybe I can mount a bookstand on my aerobars and read while riding the SCT? I bet Reger can design one...,

I gotta go read.