Ideal Conditions... for a DUCK!

I am a graduate of the University of Oregon... which makes me a Duck... but come ON! It has been raining like CLAZY! Alright, alright... I know I live in the Pacific Northwest but this rain is putting a serious damper (pun intended) on any riding I may want to do... at least outdoor riding... so it's the trainer for me! YAY! JOY! RAPTURE! I'm in the process of building the mac daddy "tri-cave". You know the one, plasma screen, DVD, PS3, kegerator, urinal. Actually its a corner in the garage where I squeeze my bike amongst all the crap I neglected to clean up during the '07 tri-season b/c I was too busy with training and racing.

I'm on total daddy duty this weekend. K has some previously scheduled commitments that last all day BOTH today and tomorrow. Of course I've known this for months... and neglected to assemble the Baby-sitter Army to watch the tres ninos in order to get some training in. Eh... all that means is that I have to do it early in the am or later in the pm... but did I get up this morning? Nooooooo... so tonight it is!

So here's a quandry. I need a road bike. Right now all I've got is my TREK tri-bike and I need something that I can take out on group rides as well as in the sloggy muck of the Eugene winters. Try convincing your spouse that you need ANOTHER bike... it's complicated. I may end up using a friends roadbike. Ebay? Craig's List? I need advice here. I simply don't want to drop a ton of coin on a bike right now.

Could I whine any more? Probably.

Breathe...

Last Sunday was one of those fall days in Eugene that helps you see the potential in light. WHOA! Read that last sentence again! What the HELL man!? It's DEFINITELY the off-season. What I MEANT to say, (in a deep macho voice), is: I went on a run with my buddy Scott... and it was bitchin... ummm... and we checked out some chicks... and uhhhh... scratched ourselves. Bah ha ha! (But it was really purty)

No seriously, Scott and I went on a roughly 5 mile run at about a 7 min/mi pace. That was probably one of the last sunny fall days we'll see here in Eugene. Generally, once the rain starts... it doesn't stop until late spring... seriously.

Like today for instance. It rained like it was going out of style! Of course... it didn't START raining until I was 15 minutes into my run! PERFECT! The drops were the size of DOTS (you know... the candy). THEN it started to hail a little. Then it occurred to me that most of the population of Eugene is inside and MISSING all this! Seriously... most of you that read this blog have experienced being out there somewhere... riding, running, suffering to some degree. You've experienced being frozen, heat exhausted, blistered, strained, cramped, sweaty, dirty, hungry, tired... and HAPPY! I just love being out there. Being fast or slow doesn't matter at that point.... it just matters that you're out there and ALIVE! (Oh no... here I go again). It was fun.

Oh... I also swam 2 miles this morning. The drills that Coach Gina has me doing are beginning to feel more natural. I feel like I'm not fighting the water as much and I also feel more at home. Pretty cool.

You know what's NOT a really good recovery food? Snowballs. You know... the cream-filled chocolate cakes covered in marshmellow and faux coconut? Well guess WHAT? They have a Halloween version! YEAH! They're called "Glowballs"! You know WHY? B/c they're BRIGHT freakin ORANGE! Yeah... orange. So after my run I stopped at the DairyMart and bought a pack... and I freakin LOVED them! But I wouldn't recommend them for recovery.

Breathe...

Kona Inspiration....

Most, if not all of you that read this blog, know what happened yesterday. It was a day that most triathletes wait for... and some dream about throughout the year... the Ironman World Championships in Kona, HI! I'm not much of a sports fanatic. Football? Eh. Baseball. Eh. Basketball. Boooooring. However, when it comes to triathlon... I'm obsessive! Thanks to live audio and video feeds we're all able to tap into and watch as this amazing event unfolds. SO... at 7 am I was logged into the computer. By 7:10 am I had signed up to have text message updates sent to my cell phone throughout the day telling me a particular athlete's progress. I had a soccer game to coach in the morning and then, being season ticket holders, K and I were committed to watching the Oregon Ducks beat the crap out of the WA state Cougars (Duck football is the one exception to following sports outside of the endurance world).

Like I said, I had text messages updating me. I also had Gilad at Life Cycle giving me updates! That was really cool! THANKS Gilad! The BEST updates came from my coach Matt Lieto! Matt had been in HI for the past couple of weeks training with his brother Chris Lieto and helping get ready for the stellar performance he yesterday! He was right there where the action was and was nice enough to give me updates as things happened.

Chris placed 9th in HI last year and he was out to tear it up this year. He came out of the water in the 8th position with a 51:37 split. Pretty freakin fast if you ask me... especially to us normal human types. After that, he took command of the bike in short order and held the lead throughout the entire course! He finished the bike in 4:28:17! Which is a 25 mph average. What was really impressive was how he executed his bike pacing. If you look at his splits there was a definite method to the madness... haul ass and establish a lead... chill out a bit in the middle... then pick it up in the end. In the last segment of the bike he was averaging 26.13 mph. That's a negative split! VERY cool! I was completely freakin out as he came into T2 with a roughly 3 min lead on the likes of Chris McCormack. By the time they were about 18 miles into the run I had gotten back from the game and was able to get online. Almost the exact moment that I clicked on the live video feed was when Macca caught Chris. I watched as Chris held onto Macca for roughly a mile. They looked AMAZING! I couldn't believe how hard Lieto was fighting to hold the lead that he had earned through out the day. In the end Macca's surge was just too much... Chris had pushed himself so hard throughout the day... that he had to let Macca go. He ended up finishing 6th over all with a final time of 8:25 and change! What an AMAZING performance! I really hope that Mr. Lieto is as pleased with himself as his fans and family are!

I'll be carrying the image of Lieto matching Macca stride for stride for quite a while. That was truly inspiring! The take home message for me? Limits are relative. Most people don't know what their's are. Chris pushed his yesterday. He probably learned something about himself that he didn't know before that run. He probably gained some insights into himself that he didn't have before the race. Wouldn't it be a tragedy if we all didn't try to push ourselves in that way... if we didn't create the opportunity to learn who we are when we're rubbed down to a nub? I think so.

I'm off for a run with my buddy Scott D. on a beautiful fall day in the Pacific Northwest! Life is MORE than good....

Breathe....

Swim Drills and Cow Tag!

While K and I were on our romantic coastal weekend get-away... we went to an awesome beach that's on the way to a tiny little town called Petrolia. Basically the place is lost in time... one of those places that you can go and feel completely disconnected from the rest of the world. Anyway, K and I are hangin on this beach and behind us are these huge rolling hills... with cows grazing all over them. The incline up those hills from the beach was at LEAST 12% in some places. Out of the blue... K goes, "I DARE you to run up and tag one of those cows!" OK... if you ever wanna see me make an ass of myself... just dare me to do something! 99.762% of the time I'll do it just on principle! So I took off up the hill... which just about killed me it was so steep! By the time that I had gotten within 25 yds of the cows they were lookin at me like, "What the HELL is THAT guy doin?! I'm outa here! Come on guys!" And they were gone. Pretty anti-climactic but it was really fun trying to get to em... and I can rest easy that K has yet again failed to name a dare that I have not accepted!

In other news. I've been swimming a LOT! Ok... well maybe not a LOT... but a fair amount. At least 3 to 4 times a week I'm in the pool and working on the stuff that Coach Gina gave me to do. I'll post the workout in case you wanna give it a try! Here it is:

• WU: 300 swim, 100 kick, 100 pull
• Drill Set:
• 4X50 wrist drag/ free by 24 @ 10 sec rest
• 4X50 8 count/free @ 10 sec rest
• 4X50 catchup @ 10 sec rest
• Main Set:
• 4X400 free on 1 min rest
• #1 focus on a wide entry
• #2 focus on a wide pull
• #3 focus on a neutral hand position on entry
• #4 focus on powering rotation from hips
• Kick:
• 10X50 odd flutter, even choice @ 10 sec rest
• CD:
• 1X300 pull breathe every 3rd stroke
• Total Yards: 3,500

I feel like the drills are finally starting to pay off. At first they felt incredibly awkward and I thought that I'd NEVER get it right. But now... when I swim in the main set... I'm starting to feel things flow... feel the water move around me more smoothly... feel the rhythm that we've all heard about. It's nice...

Did weights and core work this am... then went on a 30 min aerobic run... the off-season is niiiiiiiiiiice....

Breathe...

Back to Reality...

Geesh... it's been a while... sorry 'bout that!

My wife and I got the chance to take off for a 4 day weekend with each other! For those of you that have a spouse... and have kiddos... you know how rare that is. We took off last Thursday for the N. CA coast. I had seen my physical therapist for my back last Wednesday so the trip was perfect for recovery. Basically after my sessions I'm not "allowed" to do anything for two days anyway. Time to relax! The pic is the view from my Mother and Father-in-law's house in Trinidad. They let us use it for the long weekend and as you can tell... its GORGEOUS! K and I did a lot of talking, reading, sleeping, eating, saw three movies and did those things that couples do... sans kids! It was really bizarre for the first day or so. Both of us had to adjust to the quiet and the sitting still. We adjusted fine and it was REALLY nice to get reaquainted with my wife.

I dunno man... life is just freakin BUSY! Ya know what I mean? Often, by the time we get done working, parenting (homework, practice, playing, talking), maintaining the house, laundry, etc., etc., etc., we're just exhausted! THEN you have to scrub your schedules and make sure that everything is going to flow nicely for the next day. When exactly are you supposed to bond as husband and wife??? Add training for all this triathlon business and you REALLY limit your time together! Not to preach or anything... but for those of you that are married... go out on dates! Get a sitter and GO! Just do it... it pays dividends in the end!

Breathe...

p.s. Don't worry... I haven't forgotten that this is a TRIATHLON blog!

Ramble...

I've been doing more than my fair share of travelling over the last week or so. Combine that with some extra time in the pool doing drills and some more time on the trainer and you've got a LOT of alone time. The end result of all this alone time is that I've gotten to sit still and be in my own head for extended periods of time. My head is one of those places that you might like to go for a weekend. Except that after the weekend is over... you'd be conflicted. "Was this a total waste of time?" Or you might feel a bit dirty, "Did he really just think that?" Or perhaps a bit confused, "What does he MEAN when he says that all humans are idiots?" Then again you might have a really outstanding time and say, "Man! I can't WAIT to go back!". What I'm trying to say here is that its a mixed bag. If I'm completely honest with myself... inside my head is a WIERD freakin place and I like it just fine.

Ummmmm... yeah... that's all I got.

Breathe...