The Mental Physical Haiku?

So, I have to say that yesterday's post in haiku about my Wednesday run was fun. The idea came to me randomly and I went with it. I'm intrigued by using the haiku format more. Maybe not permanently because I think I'd run out of interesting haikus, but maybe I'll try for a week or March to explore the concept.

P.S.  I also like to home brew (yum, yum). The haiku would go best in a blog title as:

Home Brew Haiku

Don't steal that one!  It rhymes.  I may use it later. 

Dos Millas Mas

Two more miles! It's such a short distance, but it's been over a month since I ran that far. It's an important physical milestone, but an even bigger mental one. My body felt a bit sluggish compared to where I left off, which is expected.

I've been reading alot online and talking to other runners about coming back from injuries. From all the information I've gathered, coming back from a month off is a big deal. Especially with regards to overdoing it. Supposedly, even a week or two off and one loses significant speed and/or endurance ability. You have to cut your weekly miles down a bunch when coming back. It seems that running is a sport where you need to maintain your abilities consistently...a couple runs per week.

This is an aspect of running that I don't like. It's frustrating that I went skiing, got hip bursitis, took a month to recover, and now I have to essentially start over. The body is a fickle bitch I suppose.

I contrast this to cycling where I basically didn't ride for four months (ok, I rode my MTB twice). My last couple rides in October were 16.5 miles to/from work each way (33 total). Then in February after four months off, I rode 10+ and 15+ miles on consecutive days. And I didn't get exhausted at all. I like that I was able to ride about half my maximum distance from four months ago with only 2 MTB rides in between. It seems that my cycling base stayed with me much longer than my running base, and that's something I can get into!

The good news is that I'm back on track to run the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler five weeks from tomorrow.

Wednesday Training Haiku

one point five miles on
treadmill, no burning hip pain
a baby step YES!

My Apologies To Rosy

Dear Rosaryville, 

I left work at 1:00 pm on Tuesday on a quest to go riding (hey, what is comp time for anyway). I intended to try the Hoyle Mills Connector again, but thought it wouldn't be ridable just like Sunday. Then, I considered a road ride, but balked because I really wanted a dirt ride. Alas, a post on MORE indicated that your singletrack was in great shape as of 11:30 am and the night ride was on. Victory! A MTB opportunity.

The first few miles, your trail was solid. But then, the mud was upon me. Only a bit. Not too bad. Later on, many more mud sections arrived. Unfortunately, too late to turn around. In the end, it turns out that I shoudn't have ridden at all. My apologies. I've learned an important lesson...not to listen to my heart when my mind tells me trail conditions aren't ridable. Trail work is coming up April 4th and 5th. I'll try to make up for it then.

Sincerely,
Brian

How Many Road Miles Will You Give Me For This Shiny MTB Mile?

It's official, I have settled on a conversion from MTB miles to road miles.  Everytime I go mountain biking, I am way more worn out than if I had ridden the same number of road miles.  So, my personal official conversion is:

1 MTB mile = 2 road miles

Feel free to use it or suggest a better one.  Maybe I'll refine the conversion in the future, but for right now, it works.  I took the afternoon off today, on a whim, and figured this thing out.  No time now, but I'll explain how I came to this conclusion later in the week. 

Crossing My Fingers

Today is the day that I set as the deadline to start training again if I'm going to take part in the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler. I went to the gym at lunch. Stretched a little. Did some core strengthening exercises. Jogged a mile. Stretched some more. So far, no pain (6 hours later). Also, I didn't take any ibuprofen at lunch, which means I would feel any pain. I'm crossing my fingers hoping that this will hold out.

P.S. A great outer hip (abductor) exercise: tie a stretchy band in a loop, put it around your ankles, and shuffle one direction for 10 ft. Rinse and repeat in the other direction.

A Mudder

I convinced Kevin to go trail riding today and we headed up to the Hoyles Mill Connector in an attempt to get some riding in.  After riding Fairland a couple times recently, I'm tired of it and wanted to try something new.  

It started snowing heavily this morning and unfortunately, it wasn't cold enough to stick.  It was warm enough to melt (just above freezing).  I expected the trail to be a bit damp, but it turns out the trail's father was a mudder and his mother was a mudder.

No traction in this stuff

We drove by the trail head, wandering about the backroads of Germantown for a short while.  Eventually we backtracked and found it.  We rode no more than a quarter mile on the trail before deciding to call it a day because the trail was alot worse than expected.  Neither of our tires were made for shedding the mud out there today.  Even if they were, we would have torn the trail to shreds, which is NOT a good thing.  

Three postives though:

1)  I got out of the house and rode (even if it wasn't for long)

2)  We discovered that Hoyles Mill Connector is a promising trail

3)  We figured out how to find the trail head. 

I couldn't turn, I floated

I couldn't see the tread in the woods

Once the ground dries out, or freezes, I definitely want to get back up to the Hoyles Mill Connector. It offered some light rock garden riding. I'm not at all familiar with riding rock gardens, so I look forward to learning some more.

Stretch, Stretch, Ibuprofen...Stretch, Stretch, Ibuprofen

If I had a cheerleading squad following me around, that would be the cheer [Update: they are all Kelly Kapowski by the way].  Stretch, Stretch, Ibuprofen! Stretch, Stretch, Ibuprofen! Ahhhhhhh, I can hear it now. Time for some iburofen.

I had a little bit of pain yesterday, but only mild. I'm trying to stay positive even though I'm going crazy on the inside because all I want to do is get back to race training. My consolation prize is that biking is easy on the hips. And biking (road and MTB) is SWEET!

It's just that my favorite phase for a race is the training. I really enjoy the daily challenge of taking my ability one step farther. To have that taken away by hip pain or a broken collar bone the week before the race SUCKS!

There's the call again: Stretch, Stretch, Ibuprofen! Stretch, Stretch, Ibuprofen!

Hopefully, I'm Really Back This Time

I went to my doc today about the hip pain.  After I made the appointment on Friday, I started doing some IT band stretches, which helped alot.  By Monday, I wasn't experiencing any pain at all.  I almost cancelled my appointment this morning, but I kinda forgot to do so within 24 hours.  

I'm glad I went.  My diagnosis (woe...that makes it sound serious) is an infected inflammed bursa sac.  The outside of the hip has a fluid filled sac (a bursa) that is supposed lubricate between the Iliotibial (IT) band, a tendon, and the hip.  The bursa becomes inflammed when the ITB tightens.  According to WebMD, it is more common in middle-aged to elderly women rather than ounger men...yeay me.  It can also be called Iliotibial Band Syndrome. 

Rx:  ice, ibuprofen, stretching

My doc poked, prodded, and told me that I was good to go for running again as long as I take it slow. 

I was planning to go to the gym at lunch...stretch, bike or row for 15 minutes, and stretch some more.  But I decided to walk/run/walk for 15 minutes instead.  I did feel something this afternoon in the hip area, but I did some ITB stretches a couple times at work.  Then, I stretched my legs completely when I got home.  

Feeling good...great knowing that I can sort-of run again.  

Bathroom Break

Luckily I planned ahead.  I worked about five hours yesterday working on the bathroom fan and five hours this morning.  After all that, I got to the point where I only had to put the finishing touches on and clean up...time for a break.  

Kevin and I planned to go for a ride.  Fortunately for Kevin, he got to go hiking while I mucked around in my attic.  Unfortunately, he also lost his truck keys while hiking, so he couldn't meet to go riding :(

I headed over to Fairland late afternoon and took a ride.  The trails had firmed up a bit from the bread-dough-like conditions on Friday.  I pushed myself hard today and by the last mile or so, I was exhausted.  That could have had something to do with me only eating Cinnamon Toast Crunch, some yogurt, and a little bit of hummus all day.  

The ride was good, although I didn't feel as comfortable with my lines as I did Friday.  The highlight of the day was a total wipeout going over a tree trunk.  I got a decent start going in, but I pulled up (and to the left) too hard and I bit it.  FUN!  

Sport Of The Day...Bathroom Fan Replacement

Replacing a bathroom exhaust fan. Sounds easy. Tsk, tsk, not so fast. Whoever built our house pulled a fast one on me.

Both upstairs bathroom fans are getting noisy (i.e., the motors/bearings are going bad). Time to replace them. Only problem is that the current fans are installed directly below the main heating/cooling duct for the top floor. Can't remove the old fans unless I cut out sections of the duct. The fast one.

Plan B: cut new access holes for the new fans...learn how to drywall over old fans. After three trips to Home Depot, here's the finished product.

The old fan (left) looks out of place because it's off center from the room.  It'll stay until I take up drywall. 

Turns out I only replaced the fan in the master bath because I was already hitting myself in the face due to one fan...really...with needle nose plyers.

Heroes...And I'm Not Talking About Sandwiches

My last post got me thinking about real heroes...my heroes.  Do I have any?  Have I had any?  Who are they?  I don't have an immediate answer for any of these questions.  

It seems like common heroes are a parent, teacher, sports start, or famous person.  

I'm not sure I ever really had a hero, but a person I can remember admiring is Hank Aaron.  I used to love baseball as a kid (By the way, I'm a Cincinnati Reds fan through and through).  I had all the baseball cards ( I was a Topps guy then I switched to Upper Deck) a kid could want...supposedly they were going to pay for my college education someday.  HA!   

During my fanaticism with baseball, I read Hank Aaron's autobiography, I Had A Hammer.  What a story!  

Recommended Read...Hank Aaron Is Incredible

I'm not going to try to give a synopsis of the story because I read the book so long ago.  A quick perspective is that Hank Aaron was a superbly talented African-American baseball player who played in the major leagues shortly after they were integrated.  Toward the end of his career, he challenged, then broke, the most hallowed sports record of all time (Babe Ruth's home run record), which many baseball fans did not like too much.  

I don't admire Hank Aaron because he held the all-time home run record...or the all-time total bases record...or the all-time RBI record...or...  

I admire him because of his courage and grace in the face of adversity.  All he wanted to do was play baseball, but he carried the weight of so much more.  Still today, I admire the way he carries himself regarding his one time hallowed record.  He knows there are a lot better things to worry about.  

An interesting question I sometimes hear or read goes something like this:  If you could have dinner with three people (or one person depending on the questioner), dead or alive, who would they (it) be?  I know one of mine would definitely be Hank Aaron. 

Who's your hero?  

Stretch Armstrong Is My Hero

Stretch Armstrong is my current hero.  Suspecting an ITB cause to my pains, I've been Stretchy McStretcherson the last couple days.  And it seems to be paying off.  Every couple hours, I do all the leg stretches including the ITB one with a stretchy band wrapped around my foot.  Some hope.

That's five "stretches" within a 50 word post (6 in 64 counting this sentence)!

MTB Therapy

In an effort to stop feeling sorry for myself, I met up with Kevin for a trail ride at Fairland Park.  We probably would have gone for a road ride instead, but the wind is atrocious around here today...bodacious according to Bodhi (en espanol no doubt).  I hadn't been on my MTB in a couple weeks anyway, so I'm happy I got to use my new bike again.  

We started out with the small loop like usual, trading the lead a couple times.  Kevin took the whole shot, but luckily for me he doesn't know his way aroud Fairland yet.  So, I took the lead back when he went the wrong way.  Before the end of the small loop we both realized that we forgot our cameras (for blogging purposes of course).  We went back to the cars to get the cameras.  Between us, we ended up taking one picture...DOH.  Sorry for the lack of photography...still working on that. 

I felt alot of confidence with cornering ("my lines" as those in the know would say) today.  I was able to corner while looking to pedal instead of braking like usual.  There's a pretty sweet section at Fairland with several 2-6 ft rolling bumps.  Normally I'm a bit off balance a couple times throughout this section, but today I was feeling it...anticipating the next move beautifully and steamrolling through.  

About halfway through the ride, I stopped to take the sleeves off my jersey for some added air conditioning.  I also took the opportunity to streatch my legs thoroughly, which left Kevin bored.  I could tell he was getting ancy to continue the ride, but I needed the stretches...be supportive bro!

The trail wasn't muddy, but it certainly wasn't dry either.  Many sections were like riding on bread dough...or possibly the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. 

Thank you Ghost Busters

It was a solid ride.  I still love my new bike.  I feel better. 

Painful Avoidance

I've been avoiding TMPC the past couple days because I hate whining.  This painful hip of mine is extremely frustrating.  I ran Monday and it felt good.  Tuesday...no physical activity...felt good.  Then Wednesday, I had significant pain again.  Thursday, same thing.  IT'S PISSING ME OFF!

The pain comes after sitting in a chair for a while.  Stretching (quads, hamstrings, calfs, inner thigh, hip flexor, ITB) and some light leg exercises help alot in the near term.  Then an hour later, WHAM.  The hip flexor and ITB stretches seem to do the best, expecially the ITB. When I do that one, I feel the stretch in the exact place in my hip that burns. Maybe it's an ITB issue, or maybe it's time to see a doctor.   I'm going to see my doctor on Wednesday. 

If I'm going to finish the Cherry Blossom race, I need to start training again a week from Monday. After that, I won't have enough time to build up miles. Hopefully, I can get this thing resolved by then.

(Future) Dr. J...Answer The Call!

I only have 4 minutes to finish this post because (future) Dr. J wants to watch a movie on the computer at 7:00. I just used a minute of my time conveying that...not smart.

This is an official invitation to my wife, (future) Dr. J, to join me in my now year long biking phase. I think we would really enjoy having a physical activity to do together. We'd get to see alot scenery and it would serve as a great bonding experience. Best part of all, we could stare at each other's butts for hours at a time!

Time is up. I should have been able to make a more compelling case in 4 minutes. Maybe I'll try again later.

I love you,
Brian

P.S. That actually took me 9 minutes...WEAK!

Back In The Saddle...Well Maybe

So I finally ran again today. Whew! It was really nice. Toward the end of last week, my burning hips had mostly been extinguished and it was onto my knee pain. Luckily, the weather was on my side and I got to ride my road bike both weekend days.

Knee (to Road Bike): You are my friend. Whenever I'm in pain, you help comfort me.

Road Bike (to knee): You used to hate me! You complained about me all the time.

Knee (to Road Bike): Yes, but that was before Hands moved the seat post to the correct height. Now I love you!

(Knee and Road Bike hug and the curtains close)

Now that the play has finished derailing this post, back to the subject.

I had a dream last night that I ran and my knee hurt alot afterwards. So, what happens next? Of course, I woke up and my knee hurt. I had planned on running in the morning while (future) Dr. J was showering, but my knee hurt. DAMN! It went back and forth my head...it's been a week and a half, I should be able to run...but my knee hurts I don't want to get more injured...yes, but there's only 8 weeks left until the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, I have to run sometime or another and it'll be most convenient right now instead of at lunch...but my knee hurts, etc, etc, etc.

I let the decision come down to temperature. If it was warm...then I would run. If not, I knew it was going to be fairly nice again today...low 50's...so I could go at lunch. Or I could just wait until Wednesday or Saturday because my knee hurts!

Turns out it was 37 degrees, which sounded too close to 32 degrees, which is freezing, and I didn't want to run enough to run when it's freezing outside. See how my mind plays games?

I took my running clothes to work, half expecting to bail. Lunch time came around and I made the decision to test the legs. It was about 50...chilly in just a t-shirt and shorts...but it turned out to be perfect once I got warmed up. I ran 2 miles at 10:24 pace. Just enough to call it a workout, yet slow enough go easy on my knee-sy. Bad joke...I'm aware.

After the run, I stretched for about ten minutes. Stretching is supposed to be good for sore joints, so I'm trying to branch out from my usual quad-hamstring-calf routine. I didn't feel much discomfort in my knee or hips afterwards...just a small something in my hip. 7 hours later, my legs feel about the same as before I ran. I'll take a couple ibuprofen today and tomorrow with dinner just in case.

Feels great to be back at it!

Professional Blog Today...What Tomorrow?

I made Dirt Rag Magazine's blog entry about the Snotcycle MTB race from last weekend!  Take a look at the last picture.  No, I'm not the guy in the lead...I'm standing on the rock.  Maybe next year I'll get mentioned for totally rocking this race.  It looked like a really good venue.

I Am A Road Warrior

I HAD to get back out on the road again today. 60 degree weather in February is difficult to pass up. Two days in a row on my bike was a rarity in 2008. In 2009, I'm a road warrior. I exerted a little more effort today (over yesterday), but it was still on the leisurely end as far as workouts go. At the 9.5 mile mark, I took an hour break to visit Jamy. Jamy got out on the tennis court today...girls over guys in a doubles thriller. I couldn't stay long because I needed to get home before sundown. My legs were a bit tired when I left Jamy's. Some lactic acid must have set in while we were re-watching the end of the Superbowl...Santonio, you broke my heart. 15.2 miles round trip and I still didn't get dead leg syndrome, which means the cycling base I built last fall hung with me through 3 months off.

I hope you're all enjoying the weather!
Brian

What's Coffee Got To Do With It?

Kevin gave me a Christmas gift...with conditions.  Who does that (other than said Kevin)?   The gift was a bag of 53x11 Coffee's The Early Break. The condition was that I had to write a review of the product. How does this relate to TMPC you ask? Loosely, I'll admit. Rather than give Kevin the glory of posting my review, I'll keep the number-of-blog-posts point for myself. Catch Kevin's review here.

53x11 Coffee sells fair trade organic coffee, the best they claim (Fair Trade sounds nice though I'm skeptical of the certification process...not that I have insider information or know anything about it...I'm just skeptical). Interestingly, the company started as a way to get unaffiliated coffee drinking cyclists (without a team) together. There's the Physical tie-in...cycling. On the Mental side, coffee is sweet (if one puts enough sweetener into it, which I'm trying to ween myself off of)! It relaxes my mind and brings a smile to my face. Yes loose, but somewhat related to TMPC.

I even included the logo...where's my sponsorship money?

To put my review in perspective, a bit about my coffee drinking habits. My go to brand is Eight O'Clock because it's got the best quality-to-price ratio I've found.  It's a slight step down from Peete's in quality (at half the price) and far superior to the what Folgers claims is coffee (at not much more in price). To back me up, Consumer Reports just named Eight O'Clock's Columbian Roast as the #1 best buy. That's my framework...I've tried quite a few brews over the years, but I'm not a coffee connoisseur. On to the review!

The Early Break is a high quality brew, rich in aroma and taste. The increase in quality over Eight O'Clock was noticable from the first sip. I would compare The Early Break's quality to Peete's...TEB might be a bit better. It's been my experience that organically grown beans are richer than non-organic ones and that experience held true with The Early Break. I could taste the animal dung (I mean ORGANIC) influence in the final product...yum yum! A 12 oz. bag of The Early Break can be yours for only $11.49 plus $4.95 S&H ($4.95 S&H covers up to 3 bags). For that price, 53x11's The Early Break won't take over my go to status, but I'd definitely choose it again for an intermitten coffee treat.

On The Road (Bike) Again

I highly recommend setting Willie up in the background before reading this post.

The weather is quite nice today, so I had to get out on the road. It felt a bit weird clipping into my road bike because I haven't been on it in about 3 months. Going down the first hill, the bike felt a little shaky. Could have just been me, but I think it's time for that free tune up I haven't used yet.

There were alot of people out biking and running including these guys. I'm trying to include pictures with most of my posts. I didn't feel comfortable holding my camera while riding, so I only had time to take one picture.

Thanks for the free draft guys

Suprisingly, the ride was high quality considering how long it has been since my last one. I felt just as strong at the end of the 10.9 miles as I did at the beginning. I averaged 15.7 mph which, for the first ride of the year, is really good with the stop signs and traffic lights included.

Another benefit is that my right knee feels better after the ride than before. If it's not my hip, it's my knee. Ugh. Anyone know a good orthopaedist?

Race Recap Blast From The Past

With not running in the last week, I'm running out of material. So, it's time to reach into the vault for a race recap of the 2008 JerseyMan Sprint Triathlon.

The 2008 JMST was run September 28th at the Spruce Run Recreation Area in Clinton, NJ. Race stats: 0.6 mi swim, 19.5 mi bike, and 3.1 mi (5k) run. Why they had a 0.6 mi swim when the standard sprint distance is 0.45 mi (750m), I don't know, but I wish it would have been the standard distance. This was my first triathlon...my first race of any kind since middle school track. They also had a Half IronMan race going on too, which Kevin did. You can read his race recap here.

Greasing my chain the night before

The race was scheduled to start at 7:30 am. We wanted to get there at least an hour before the start and eat breakfast, meaning we got up really early. I don't remember how early exactly, but 5:30 am sounds about right. We got to the race venue right at 6:30 am and made our way to the transition area. The sky was covered solid with clouds and it was still foggy...a little bit eery. I watched a video online about transition area setup the week before, so I knew to bring a towel. Being in the 25-29 age group, which is supposed to be fast, my transistion rack was the first one inside the entrance.

Kevin and I went to the registration area to get marked with race numbers then made our way back to transition for final checks. Everything looked good to me.  What didn't sound good was that the DJ (on hand throughout race day) kept anouncing that they were still looking for volunteers for the bike course.  The family showed up shortly thereafter to begin the long day of cheering. Thanks to Jenny, Mom, Aimee, Dad, and the dogs for coming out to show some support! I donned my rented wetsuit and headed toward the beach.

Trying to figure out why I didn't study the bike course

The start area

The course was open for warm up swimming, so I jumped in to get a feel for the water. IT WAS COLD! Even with a wetsuit (no sleeves) on it was freezing. I set up all the way on the right where I knew not too many other people would be. I'd never swam in a pack like this and I didn't know how I would react to other swimmers running over me. The whislte blew and off I went. Everything was fine, except I couldn't breathe very well. The wetsuit was just a tad tighter than comfortable, which constricted my chest, the water was cold, and I think I was freaking out a bit. While training, I settled in on a breath every four strokes, but I had to breath every 2 during the race. The lake was like swimming in Yoohoo, brown and no visibility. Aside from breathing, my biggest issue was swimming straight. Pools have lines on the bottom...easy to follow. In Yoohoo, there are no lines. The only landmarks are the buoys, of which there were only 3. Needless to say, I learned how to spot (pull myself out of the water every couple strokes to look at the buoy and adjust) on the job.

Swim - 24:02 (89th of 187)

Coming out of the water, I felt light headed and couldn't run. I meekly jogged between the cones back to transition to get ready for the bike. Sometime during the swim, it started raining, which got all my stuff soaked. The wetsuit came off fairly easily considering how difficult other racers made it sound beforehand. While bending over to put on my socks, I still felt light headed. To avoid passing out, I sat on the ground to put my socks and cycling shoes on.

T1 - 4:54

My jersey is sticking...yuck!

Sitting down = SLOW transition

To the road and beyond!

My light headedness went away and I actually felt good on the bike.  I hit 33.5 mph going down a hill about a mile from the start...SWEET!  Not too long into the ride, my number fell off my bike because soaking wet paper doesn't hold up well at my light speeds.  I started checking my distance on the odometer a couple miles in...and my legs began to feel it.  I asked myself...WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING OUT HERE?!?  The exhaustion combined with knowing I wasn't halfway through the race yet made me question the point of continuing.  What did I really have to prove anyway?  

About ten miles in, the biggest climb of the day awaited.  I popped into 2nd gear or something an started cranking away.  Finally, at the top of the hill I was somewhat amongst a pack...now we're cruising.  Then, I heard someone in a van yelling at one of the pack leaders.  JERK.  Well, not exactly because the leader turned around (with about 15 others) and informed me that we were going the wrong way.  See, at the top of the big climb there was a left hand turn.  Unfortunately, there wasn't a volunteer at the intersection and the STUPID LITTLE SIGN THEY PUT UP WAS BARELY VISIBLE!  Yes, I went about a mile off the course and a mile back. After the race, I heard alot of people say they missed a turn too, so at least it wasn't just my pack.  The rest of the bike ride went smoothly.   

Bike - 1:16:21 (114th, not bad for going 2 extra miles)

The second transition was much easier because all I had to do was change shoes.  Easy really. 

T2 - 1:21

T2 - The Terminator...Where's Arnold?

As I started the run, it felt like my legs were made of lead...very heavy. I passed two people on the run. One was a woman who completely stopped while drinking at an aid station. She immediately passed me back. And the other was a 70 yeard old dude...who started 15 minutes after me by the way. I only felt like I was going to puke three times during the run...not too bad.

Hanging in there

Coming down the home stretch was wonderful. The feeling I had as I crossed the finish line is hard to describe...a great feeling of accomplishment, especially while overcoming all the mental doubts and tough training days.

Run - 25:33 (116th)

Almost there

Feeling strong!

Looking great!

Overall - 2:12:11 (110th; 7th of 12 age group; 78th of 122 male)

Just after Kevin finished the Half...I got to shower and change...he stunk

Crappy weather and complete exhaustion...what a great day.  I can't wait to do it again. 

Tri Season Is Coming

So, I just realized today that tri (athlon) season is quickly approaching.  It's February already!  I'm thinking about signing up for the Kinetic Sprint, which is in early May this year.  That means I have t-minus 3 months to get back into tri shape.  I already entered the Nation's Tri, an international distance race, which is in September.   More time to train, but longer distances to go. 

 

Last time I swam was in October, and I only swam once that whole month.  Coming back from a long swimming layoff SUCKS because I'll have zero endurance.  At least I will have knowledge from last season about stroke technique and how to train.  Last year I didn't even know to breathe out under water.  I was trying to breathe out and in with my mouth above water...DUH...that doesn't work.  

Also, I haven't been on my road bike since October or November...so long that I can't remember exactly when.  The last ride was to work with Kevin...33 miles round trip.  Even though those rides to work shredded me, I increased my endurance alot.  Of course, I've been mountain biking several times, but it's not the same as time on the road.  

I'm looking forward to getting back into the pool and on the road bike.  One of the reasons I like triathlon is the variety amongst the sports invovled.  When I'm burnt out with one sport, like I will be with running after the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, I get to focus on the others.  

Yes, I'm Tired Because I've Been Running Through My Dreams

Last night I had a dream where I was running.  It wasn't a training run, but a swift jog to catch up to a friend.  Maybe this is a sign that I'll be back on roads this week!