Can you say...

... a bit overwhelmed?

Hi! Remember me? It's Rob... you know... the skinny chicken-shit bastard with the funny face. Yeah! Hi! How are ya?

Ok. Well... its been another week or so since my last post. Are you noticing a general theme? Yeah, I am too. Despite my best efforts... my heart just hasn't been in the writing. In addition to being overwhelmingly busy with coaching and "working", (right PDW?), and training and parenting and husbanding...  things have been, well, they've been... a bit off for our family. We're having some growing pains. Yeah. Everyone, every family, every marriage goes through it... the test is, do you have the balls to stay in, endure the pain, get comfortable with being uncomfortable and experience the entire gamut of human emotion to get to the other side? Look at the statistics. Most don't have the balls. I, however, happen to have HUGE ones.

ONWARD!

Oh. Wait. You know what is a GREAT word? "Dolt".  Look it up... its pretty cool.

Ok. SO! Training has been a bit off. Well, at least my run has been. To make an extremely long and boring story short... I have a stress-fracture in my left foot. Well... at least I think. The problem with stress-fractures is that you really can't confirm one until there are new calcium deposits forming on the fracture to show up on x-ray. These deposits take roughly 4 to 6 weeks to form. SO... I am now relegated to "aqua jogging" for the rest of the year! YAY! Look OUT old ladys! I'm TOTALLY going to dominate you in the pool! Just a quick note... the stress-fracture, if that's what it is, was NOT a result of overtraining! It was a result of my own stupidity... which I'm not going to share. All I'm saying is, if you're going to play paintball with 12 year-olds... wear supportive shoes. Coach Liz has effectively calmed me down and has assured me that if I'm disciplined in the pool... my run will not suffer.  

Other than that... my training has been going really really well.  Clearwater is less than 6 weeks away!  Can you believe it?  I can!  I'm SO ready to go have some FUN at this race!  Anyone out there going to surprise me by showing up at the finish line... with a HUGE smile... arms held wide to catch me?  What a nice surprise that would be!

My swim is... well... its my swim.  I'm not necessarily getting any faster... or maybe I am... I dunno.  What I do know is that my endurance in the pool has improved quite a bit.  My lats actually bulge.  I'm confident that if things go well... I'll put together a 30 min swim and come out of the water ready to fight on the bike. 

I'm REALLY happy with where my bike is right now.  I went out on a ride this last Sunday that was easily on my top 10 list of most fun/satisfying rides of the year.  It was one of those amazingly beautiful Fall afternoons in the Pacific Northwest.  You know the ones... the light... the temp... everything was gorgeous.  In the middle of this ride I had 2 back to back 20 min TT's with a 2 min spin in between.  I decided that I was not going to look at my wattage after the first 5 min.  I had a number that I wanted to hit... and maintain... but I was not going to obsessively check my wattage... I was going to ride... just f'ing go... ya know.  The shortened version is that I was 36 watts above where I wanted to be in the first TT and I was 56 watts above where I wanted to be in the second.  Yeah.  It's ON!

A note on friendship and love:  Those that you hold close to your heart.  Those that you love and cherish and respect and adore and are completely enamored with.  Those are the one's that, while they may be far from you in a physical sense, they are closer to you than you could ever imagine.  Just remember.  Don't forget that.  That kind of love endures... always.  Things may eb and flow... but that is the way life works...

Whew.  Whoosh.  Man.  

Thanks for reading.  I truly hope that you're all happy, healthy, and whole.

Breathe...

THIS....

... was me last Sunday. Can you say SPENT!? DONE!? CRACKED!? Yeah. I certainly could. But can you also say BREAKTHROUGH!? Yeah. I can. I'm tellin ya, that last week on the schedule was absolutely brutal. The odd thing is, as with most of Coach Liz's workouts, is that you look at them on paper and you say, "Eh. That doesn't look too awful.". Then you head out, and everything goes well for the first little bit, like the warm-up, then, the main-set starts... and you end up getting spanked. As a matter of fact... I'll admit it... last Saturday's ride on the 13th actually made me cry! Yes... I'm a chick... and that is NOT meant as an insult. I was just so mentally and physically exhausted! My legs were completely on fire... like painful to the touch and I knew I still had to run off the bike UNDER my half-marathon race pace... AND.... and and and AND... I was so overwhelmingly, intensely, consumingly HAPPY! Yes. Happy. Everyone has their own reasons for getting into this sport. Everyone has different things that drive them and make them swim, bike, and run to the best of their ability. For me, one key reason is that I like to peel my own onion... get down in those layers and see what's around... whatever it is, painful or not... I just LOVE experiencing the intense, full-range of human emotion. If that means crying like a little bitch... so be it. If that means laughing hysterically in the middle of a tempo run... so be it. If it means being so consumed with rage at my coach for prescribing a given workout and having a Tourettes Syndrom moment while dropping F-bombs at the top of my lungs running down the road... so be it! Gimme. Now. 2 years ago. Here in Oregon, SD, or in Phoenix... wherever... I want it.

So that was the week of September 15th. Very challenging. Very good. I would even say delicious. This past week I entered a recovery week... which was equally delicious. More on that later.

In the meantime, please look around. Go outside. Look around. See how the sun is sitting in the sky? That light. That warm, Fall light. See the leaves beginning to turn? Don't you just love this time of year? Yeah. I do too.

Thank you for taking the time to read. Hope you're all happy and healthy.

Breathe...

Here....

is a sunflower field in North Dakota.. in the Fall. Isn't it beautiful??? I'm hoping to drive through one someday. Ever notice how the flowers turn their faces to the sun? Like they're basking in it? Makes ya step back and think doesn't it?

Breathe...

Yes... I'm Alive...

I got lined out by a certain Beth for not posting... so HERE! FINE! Here it IS! Are ya happy now!? Geesh!

LOL... I'm only offended and defensive b/c she's right! I tell ya what tho... having just survived the first week of school for all 3 kids, (yes, my baby Tom started Kindergarten), working, being super duper husband guy, coaching two soccer teams AND training like I mean it... my extra time has been limited! Something's gotta give right?

Ok... so... ONWARD! After my "easy" week of testing in all three sports... training has picked up again. To use Coach Liz's exact words, "Workouts are building strong Rob machine". Seriously... by the time she's done with me... I might actually have something that remotely looks like an ass! Yeah! I know! Cool huh?! Take yesterday's ride for instance... lots of intervals.... over-geared.... up big hills... no whining allowed. Good times! Here's the power data below:

Overgeared/low-cadence intervals on the flats and the low-cadence up what I would call... I big freakin hill. This might not seem terribly burly to someone like James... but I'm tellin ya... my boo-tocks tell ME that it was pretty brutalis! Yes... "brutalis" is a word... look it up! Just because its not in the dictionary doesn't mean that it doesn't make sense! Anywho! My point is... the training has been challenging yet not overly so... I feel exhausted but I'm ready to perform the next day at the level that I should. Couldn't do it without Liz... and that's a fact jack!

This morning was a 1:45 min run with a tempo finish. I covered 14.2 miles which works out to an average pace of 7:23/mile. Not overly fast but I was happy covering that ground the majority of the time in Zone 2. The last mile of the tempo portion of the workout clocked in at a 6:30... that on really tired legs. My fitness is really coming along and I LOVE it! Stronger every week! YAY!

Other... more important events? As mentioned above, all three of the kiddos started school last week! Jack entered the world of pre-teen angst that is middle school, Lila started 3rd grade, and Tom? Well... Mr. Tom started Kindergarten! I'm thrilled and proud and excited and sad all at the same time! They are all entering another stage of their lives where there is SO much potential for FANTASTIC things to happen... and I just can't WAIT!

OH! AND! In addition to THAT!? Tom got to go to his first University of Oregon football game! As you can see... he was completely decked out in his official Duck gear and had a GREAT time! Of course... it was less about the football and more about the snacks that Daddy will let him have at the game... but who CARES right!? Football is for idiots anyway... uh... um... did I just type that? Out loud? Oooops... my bad.

That's about IT in Tri-Rob land!

Before I go... I just wanted to wish someone that I'm extremely close with, a very happy anniversary! You two are very lucky to have one another... here's to, "The rest of my f'ing LIFE!!!" LOL Hm... PDW! YES!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by. Hope you're all happy, healthy, and whole...

Breathe...

Take A Moment...

today... to say "THANK YOU!!!!!"... for completely pointless days off!  YES!  America RULES!

As far as triathlon goes... things are trucking along swimmingly!  No pun intended.  This past week, I retested in every sport to see how things are progressing.  I HATE... I know, strong word... but I really do hate testing.  Why?  I'm completely terrified of failure! LOL... isn't that hilarious?!  I mean really... this is a hobby right? My paycheck doesn't depend on my fitness, nor does the love of my family and friends.  I just want to "do good".  Ya know?  This is all self-imposed pressure... and to an extent... I believe it's necessary.  SO... keep the testing coming. It keeps me engaged.

So here's an outline of the results:

• Swim: About the same as the last test: 1:20/100 yds
• Bike: My anaerobic threshold has come up about 6 beats/min.
• Run: I dropped 21 seconds/mile averaging 6:09/mile while staying within the same HR zone.

Overall... really happy!  I'd like to see the swim come down a bit more and know that that is within my reach.  There's ALWAYS room for improvement on the Bike for me!  So I'll keep plugging away at that.  The run... well... I'm happy with that... but of course... I'd like to get faster (sub 6 min miles would be ideal).

Hope you're all happy, healthy, and whole.

If you happen to be on vacation right now... perhaps at the lake spending time with your family... have a great time... take a couple of minutes every day to look around appreciate all that you have.  You are loved.  Hm.

Breathe...