Year in review...

Last night I had a really hard time falling asleep. As I laid there I started thinking about the past year and ALL of the things that made it such a great year. Everything from fun road trips to experiences that I'll never forget. Here is a list of 10 things that came to mind in no particular order (except #1 is #1):
1. Jen finishing IMCDA - I have never felt so much pride and relief as I did when she emerged from the darkness that night with a smile on her face. In Feb this year the farthest she had ever ridden on her bike was 25 miles, 4 months later she's an Ironman...

2. Winning my first race - Scoggins Valley sprint tri: Had a good ride and came into T2 first. Took a second to look around and see what an empty T2 looked like. I hope to have that experience again some day.

3.My second group ride with the Ironheads- Garren got 45 flats that day, ok maybe not that many, but it felt like it. I ended up riding home with the Ironhead ladies. This was a little shocking. I remember being out on some road, not sure where. I was 2nd in the line behind Kaytee struggling to stay on her wheel at 24 mph. I was SO relieved when someone in the back yelled up to slow down. This was when I realized how strong the folks on this team really are. Since then I have learned so much from so many people. I have also made some amazing friends in the process. I always look forward to the group workouts now on the weekends. I'm not sure that I would keep doing tri's if I had to do all of training alone.

4. My Mom's new ride - I arrived at my Mom's house this past Monday after Vegas to pick up Murphy. When we pulled into the drive I was floored! A brand new Lexus SUV. If anyone deserves a new luxury car it's my Mom. Her first real new car ever I think. I credit my love for cars to her, she's just conceals her affection for them much better then I do.

5. Niece and Nephews - I talked to my 2 year old niece on the phone recently. This was the first time we exchanged words back on forth. It's amazing how she has gone from a baby to a little kid in a few months. My nephews experienced their first triathlon this year when they came to the Soma Half. It was very cool to see them on the course during the race cheering for me and ringing their cow bells.

6. Ride up Mt. Lemon with GW: Talk about an Epic ride. Mt Lemon in Tucson. 26 miles of climbing from desert to ski slopes with snow. Garren and I stopped for the best and biggest cookies I have ever had at the Cookie Cabin. This was an awesome day.

7.Trip to Victoria: A great trip! Even though I felt like crap Chris V. managed to make the half marathon fun. Stood in the rain and watched Rob & Erin finish the marathon strong.

8. Road trip to Canada Ironman w/ Garren: 3 bikes, 3 people, and a whole lot of crap. Who would have thought living out of Jetta for 4 days could be so fun. Same time next year, except I'll have a hotel room and a race number.

9. Mt. Biking @ Brown's Camp - Sure I sucked and I fell a lot. But it reminded me how much I love it! My new bike should arrive next week. Xterra next year?

10. Sleeping on the couch last week next to Murphy after he had tooth surgery - This was a long and stressful night. He had an infected tooth pulled last Monday and was still out of it from being under. Since he couldn't make it upstairs to sleep on his pillow in our room I decided to sleep on the couch next to him. He was so out of it, I couldn't help but think that this is what it could be like when he gets old someday. It really scared me, but also made me realize that I need to appreciate my time with him more. He is such an amazing dog, it's crazy how attached I am to him.

So that's the list. That's what kept me up late last night. Not bad, I'd rather be sleepless thinking of all the good things then stressing about the bad. Looking forward 2008!

What the hell was I thinking?

This was the thought that kept going through my head yesterday as I rode along Skyline in the snow/rain mix for 2 hrs. The harsh reality of IM AZ training hit me hard and all of a sudden I remembered why I swore to never do this race again as long as we lived in the NW. Oh well, I'm registered, not much I can do about it now. Expect more complaining in the months to come about the weather. With that being said, I'm anxious to get back to a heavier training load. We are back from Vegas, well rested and well fed. For every pound I gained around the waist I lost from my wallet! The black jack gods were not kind on this trip. The only time I was ever really ahead was when I won on the slot machine at the airport on the way home... Other then that the trip was perfect! We ate at a number of new places and watched a lot of football and basketball at some really cool bars. For workouts we did a swim in the Bellagio pool where we stayed. I used the http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/ website to zoom in on the pool and figure out the length. It is 55 meters long. What a great workout. I need to get in more workouts in a 50 meter pool, it makes a big difference. Here's a pic of the pool.

On Sunday we hit the gym at the hotel and did a treadmill run. 12 miles - 1.5 hrs, painful! I hate treadmills! This was by far the longest I've ever run on one, it went by pretty fast though.

Now the base training begins. Scott posted my schedule for December, he isn't messing around. It starts with 16hrs next week then up to 20 hrs the week after that. Not much intensity, just volume. I'm looking forward to it though. I'm anxious to see how next year pans out. Fitness wise I am so much farther along right now then I was a year ago. AZ IM will be here in no time!

Knee Update

My 40 min run the other night turned into a 20 min walk. Murphy was a little disappointed. I went to the doctor today just make sure there wasn't anything going on that I could potentially make worse by "testing" it every couple days. After an exam and x-rays he confirmed that it is a severe contusion and that I need to hold off on biking/running until next week. I don't think I can wait that long. I'm going crazy!! Sure I can swim and do core work, but it's not the same. I really don't like swimming and my core is weak enough that I can only do it a couple times a week. I've been hitting the ice and Ibu's pretty hard and hope to see some improvement by Saturday. I really want to make the group ride Saturday morning from Athlete's Lounge if I can. I only plan to ride ~ 30 miles, so hopefully my knee cooperates. I was planning to do the Hillsboro cross race on Sunday, but I guess that's out. Hopefully I'll be able to at least run a little by Sunday, we'll see. I'm just relieved it isn't something more serious!!

Old and Fragile

After a rad Mt. Bike ride on Saturday I am still recovering. Rode at Brown's camp with some really talented riders. It was wet and a little muddy, but not too bad. The trails have a lot of roots though. With little practice and too much air in my tires I literally fell victim to the roots. One fall in particular resulted in a pretty good bruised knee. It hurt, but was manageable. I really felt it the next day on my long run. I was supposed to go an hour and a half but cut it about 15 min short because it was so sore. Tried to spin on the trainer last night and no go, still very sore. My swim today went well. I'm hoping for a 40 min jog tonight, we'll see how that goes. No regrets though, the ride was outstanding. I can't wait to do more!! I just need to not try to ride over everything. I learned that toward the end of the ride. Apparently I'm not as agile as I used to be... Which brings me to my birthday...
On my way to work this morning I heard a song I really liked on the radio. I knew the voice sounded familiar, but I couldn't place it. After it ended the DJ came on and said it was Bruce Springsteen. I really like a song from the Boss. No offense to any Bruce fans, but his music is not something I usually associate with. Don't get me wrong, I love music from almost every genre. But there are a few bands that I have always associated with an older audience, and he is one of them. Other bands that fall into that are The Rolling Stones, Billy Joel, Paul McCartney, ect.. All legends, I just never got into them. Anyway, my point is I found myself really enjoying something I have always thought of as something an adult would listen too, not me. I still do not consider myself an adult. I was almost mad that I liked the song. Kind of felt like someone tricked me! I know it's not that big of a deal, just one of those days. On the bright side though, I decided I want a skate board! I used to skate when I was in Jr. High. I was never very good, but I liked it. They make long boards now for cruising on. I don't see myself riding at the local skate park or anything (especially after my Mt. biking experience), but I think it would be cool to cruise up to Starbucks or the store on it. Or use it to get the dog some exercise. Maybe Santa will bring me one...
Other updates:
- I was supposed to provide updates on my weight, but I decided I was spending way to much energy on stressing about that right now. For the most I eat pretty healthy, so I shouldn't do too much damage between now and January. That's when I think I will really focus on it. Seems easier to flip that switch after the new year.
- Guru - Thanks to those who answered the survey. 100% for a new frame... I love it, just can't afford it. So, for now I am going to have it inspected and probably do some touch up on my own. It probably won't look great, but it should get me through a couple more seasons. Besides, I kinda want a new Mt. Bike now, and some body armor!!

Inspired by Murphy

Now that I'm in the dreaded off season I'm finding that I am starting to gain a little weight. It's scary how fast it starts to come back when the workouts lighten up. So I need to take action now before I gain much more. This morning I weighed in at 178. When I race CDA in June I was at 173. Prior to that, during my peak weeks of training in Late March I was at my all time lightest of 168. I'd like to get back down to the 160's if possible prior to starting IM AZ training. Not sure how I am going to do that yet, but there are a few areas of my diet I can improve. Murphy, our yellow lab, inspired me yesterday. We took him to the vet for his yearly vaccines yesterday and he had lost 8 pounds since our last visit back in mid July. This is largely attributed to his new diet and more exercise. Although his new diet is much more time consuming and expensive, it is so rewarding to not only see the long term benefits, but he goes crazy with excitement before every meal. It makes his day. So my goal over the next few weeks is more lean protein, veggies, and fruit. This also means much less sugar, fat, and processed foods in general. Since I am in recovery mode right now I want to try to avoid increasing my workouts. Scott has November laid out for me, so I want to stick to his schedule as much as possible. Right now it's about 8 hrs. of week of low intensity. I guess that means some major calorie counting. As much of a pain in the ass as it is, in the past it has worked the best. My thinking right now is to post updates here every few days. I think this may hold me accountable. Nothing like public humiliation. My goal is 170 by the end of November. This should be challenging with my birthday and 5 days in Las Vegas mixed in. We'll see how it goes.

Also, Here are some race pictures from the Soma Half IM.

The Curse Of The Guru

I'm sure most of you have heard of my trials and tribulations with my TT bike that I bought earlier this year. My struggle to get the fit right, how Gateway Bikes screwed me over on the front fork, yadda, yadda, yadda. Well... the troubles continue. Upon returning home on Monday night from AZ I opened my bike case to find some pretty serious damage to the top tube. I inspected the case and found some deep gauges in the outside of it. I pulled the bike out of the case yesterday and put it back together. I can't find any structural damage to the frame, but the top tube has a very large nick in it that goes into the carbon fiber. I did some research on line and found the process to repair something like this requires many complicated steps and materials that I have no idea how to work with. I called Guru today and they have requested I send the frame back for a thorough inspection just to make sure there is no unseen damage that could cause the frame to fail. I think this is wise since the impact required to create this level of damage had to have been severe. The dilemma I am facing is if it's only cosmetic do I pay the money to have Guru fix it or do I do some half ass repair job myself? To have Guru fix it will cost me at least $1k since the entire frame would need to be repainted based on were the damage is and how deep it is. If the top tube needs to be replaced it would likely be an additional $500. Or do I buy some paint from a hobby shop and doctor it up myself? The other option is I find someone local that can paint it a basic flat black. Something durable and plain so I don't have to worry about it looking like crap. Not sure what to do at this point. I guess I'll wait to hear back from Guru on what they find. One things for sure, I'm getting tired of buying nice things only to have them get damaged because of someone else's carelessness. Whether it's the bike getting damaged, or the door dings and scratches on my car. Makes me want to ride/drive an old piece of crap just so I don't have to stress about this kind of thing happening anymore!