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!