Today's Ride in Pictures

Click on the title to get to the pics.

Cool day, my first time on the Wisconsin hills, and I sucked terribly because my legs were cashed from running like 50 miles in the past week, YA FUCKING THINK??? But it was still good riding, and Patti and I may go up and ride 112 on Saturday (shhhh...don't tell her husband...he doesn't know yet) what the hell. Since I won't be doing my long run the day before (and also not running--WOO HOO!), I should be good to go and able to ride LGL like the little whore she is. Patti asked me if I needed to ride that much 1 week before Triple T, and I should have answered, "Look who the hell you're talking to." I'll still have a good week to taper down, even though I really don't plan on much of a taper, so no worries there.

Like I Need More of This...

Runnin' with the Devil

Listen to this while you read the rest of the post...


I made it. I ran 7 days' straight, starting last Saturday. Kicked it off with 2 brick runs; capped it off with a 14-miler today. 49 miles total. Last night I thought I was going to die, I was so fucking tired. But I stretched and worked on my legs for :35, ate a good dinner, and went to sleep early. Got up at 4AM (still 8 hours of sleep), and felt like total crap. Like I've got a cold coming on or something.

Cleaned the garage for the most part, monkeyed with my training schedule, did some weeding, gassed up my car, picked up the check for the proceeds from the sale of my Dad's house (FUCKING YEAH!!), went to the bank to deposit said check, went to the post office to get some $.01 stamps (first class postage goes up on Monday--this public service announcement brought to you by Beck's beer, which I am drinking right now), came home, railed on the lawyer I started with for the estate process but fired (asshole), spent some time online chatting with a new friend, and had to decide if I was going to give running a go.

I figured I could probably do it, I mean, what's so hard about running for 2 hours? NOTHING. Not compared to what I've been doing the last 9 weeks, not compared to what I saw my Dad go through last fall, not compared to a woman I saw at the Y yesterday who could barely walk. So I proceeded to take in a 12-oz. can of Ultra Violence, and my body told me it needed to do something with it. So I suited up and the brain went into "we are going to work out mode."

I drove to Waterfall Glen on a very pretty day. Cloudy and cool. Perfect for a long run. As I began running, I really didn't feel too bad at all, considering. I even wanted to run up the hills! I was shocked. I guess I am getting stronger. My quads didn't hurt, so I must have worked on them really well last night. I planned on doing 2 out-and-back loops, only I didn't know how long each loop would be. That's always an "in progress" decision. I figured I could do 8 miles with the small bottle of Gatorade that I had, as I had chugged the Ultra Violence not long ago, so I certainly had the calories in me already. But when I got to 4 miles out, then I looked at my watch and had to decide whether to run an even 2 hours or to go for a mileage target. I settled on 14 miles, what the hell. I only slowed down for the last 4 miles, but that was also because the section of the trail I took is hillier than the section I did for the first 9!

I just got a massage, so all is well with the world. I think I can fight off whatever seems to be afflicting me, because I'm going up to Madison tomorrow to ride 80 miles (2 loops of the Ironman course) that are nice and hilly. No running tomorrow, but Sunday I ride again and do a brick run, so this is, indeed, a very good week. I may be fucking tired, but I'm happy! Next week's training will be a piece of cake compared to this week and last week, and oh what the hell, the last 9 weeks altogether! I'm feeling pretty ready for Triple T, and really looking forward to letting loose there. The whole idea is to make the race seem easy, right?

Snippet of lyrics--sound like anybody you know???

I live my life like there's no tomorrow
and all I've got, I had to steal
Least I don't need to beg or borrow
Yes I'm livin' at a pace that kills

Oooh, yeah
(Ahh!) Runnin' with the devil (Ahh-hah! Yeah!)
(Woo-hoo-oo!) Runnin' with the devil
I'm gonna tell ya all about it

I found the simple life ain't so simple
When I jumped out, on that road
I got no love, no love you'd call real
Ain't got nobody, waitin' at home

Guns 'n Booty

Was messin' around after lifting this morning (only 20' no big deal) and before swimming. I don't have much biceps, but man my triceps are comin' up.

I guess all those pushups I've been doing and all that swimming are working.

Oh, and I swam 4,000 yards this morning, and I swam pretty well! Big Mike noticed I've been working on my rotation and gave me some stroke tips. Coke in the swim bottle also helped :)

I'm pretty much running on fumes, but gotta run today, and then tomorrow is a 2-hour run and NO SWIMMING!!! I'm taking the day off from work and after I run I'm getting a 1.5 hour massage, which I really, really need. My arms and upper back were sore this morning (before lifting), but after some lifting and swimming they feel fine.

Another Blog

Started a new blog, Pool Stories, that is intended to be a community blog. I'd love to have lots of contributors (we can have up to 100) to submit posts about interesting or unusual happenings at your local pool. Why? Because as you know, from this post, if you swim, you spend a lot of time NOT SWIMMING. And face it, the time spent not swimming is WAY more interesting than the time spent actually swimming. In fact, for some triathletes, not swimming occupies the largest percentage of their training load!

So jump on over when you get a chance, and contact me if you want to join in on the fun!

Tiki Hut Upgrades

Told ya, peeps!

Try This At Home!

At 5:05AM, I lifted weights for 45 minutes--some abs/core work and upper body stuff. Then I did this swim workout beginning at 6:30:

WU: 200 swim, 200 kick, 200 pull, 200 drill
MS: 2 x [4 x 100 (10"), 1 x 400 (30") at same pace as 100's]
100 easy swim.
15 x 75 (15") as 50 Hard, 25 Easy
25 easy (just to get back to where I started)
CD: 100 easy swim

In case you can't add (I couldn't while swimming which was a good thing), it's 3,750 yards.

I was laughing so hard while swimming because, well, my muscles weren't really able to perform well, but I wasn't sore. Mostly I was just hungry! I swam in the lane with Little Mike, who is the son of Big Mike, his Dad, who coaches him. Little Mike is maybe 14? I chat with them both regularly, since both Mikes (or as I call them, Mike & Ike) are there every day, and they are very nice people. Little Mike swam 7,000 yards today, and he also wrestles, so the three of us engage in many discussions about how much we are training and eating! I could have swam in a lane all by myself, but Little Mike asked why nobody swims with him and I told him it's because he's so stinking fast!

So I finish my 3,750 yards, and Little Mike asks me if I want to kick 400 with him. Yesterday, I finished 3,100 yards, and he wanted me to kick with him so I did 100. Today I said no. Even a Crackhead needs to stop sometimes. But maybe tomorrow when I repeat the same workout without having lifted beforehand, I might just stay for a few hundred yards of kicking..

On Being Executor, or I AM

I know this is a deviation from my normal triathlon content, but I knew at some point I would need to say it here. Some of this might not make sense to you depending on what spiritual texts you have read, but I think you will still see a point to it.

Throughout the past 6 months, I have come to discover many people who have been in this position, and we have shared tips and stories and emotions, you name it. In fact, I just got off the phone with a nice gentleman who works at an insurance company, and he had been Executor for a relative as well. He used to be a boxer.

There is a reason we are chosen to fulfill this role. We are strong, determined and steadfast. We are able to compartmentalize the crap that is thrown in our faces by so many people who have their own issues but no good tools to resolve them other than to become agitated and highly emotional, taking out their ill will on whoever happens to be in their paths--much like a tornado.

I have had the pleasure to speak with and work with so many people who are, I think, angels walking about waiting to be called into service by someone like me who needs the help. Some of them read this blog and some of them don't. Those who do know that who I am on this blog is I AM. It is just my personal expression of I AM that is put on display here, colored with that sometimes troublesome but usually fun and creative ego that I have.

If there is one thing that will show you I AM it is being an Executor, as it requires you to process your own grief as well as the evil spirits that are emanating from those around you who do not yet know that THEY ARE TOO but would rather persist in creating separation instead of oneness and wholeness. And you discover all the angels who know I AM and it's in the finding of these people that you not only know you are doing the right earthly things that are required in the processing of someone's death, but that you have been given the opportunity to perhaps be one small step closer to enlightenment.

Now I know this is going to sound ultra-corny, but the other day I was thinking about the I AM and then the M-dot which is I superimposed on M, and it all made sense to me. I'm not saying that Ironman is the I AM, but for me the IM has helped me to know the I AM. Ironman has simply been my vehicle for developing and nurturing my inner strength, peacefulness, and I hope, the ability to be someone else's angel. And that's why I was put into this role, and that's why I'm extremely proud to say that I AM and I am an Ironman. All this training and racing I do, well, it's easy. Ironman is easy. I AM not so much, but it's getting easier.

As difficult as the past 6 months have been for me, I am grateful for the experience, knowing that it was given to me to move deeper into the I AM. Thank you, universe!

The Hardcore Training Continues

Last night's dinner: Porterhouse steak and pasta (orrechiette) with salmon sauce















3 days' worth of coffee cups and bottles. I'm drowning in them!



Today's hangover...er...workouts were sponsored by this bottle of wine last night.

After last week's festivities, let's just say I was pretty wiped out yesterday afternoon. But I managed to mow my lawn, sweep the driveway afterwards, organize some boxes and water some plants that I will need to plant any day now.

You'd think I'd be really fucked up this morning, right? Sort of...thing is, I slept like a baby, and even missed the coffee pot going off! I was shocked at waking up and it was LIGHT OUTSIDE. So I knew I needed to hustle, as I'm doing some long swim workouts this week.

I woke up at 6AM and was in the water swimming at 6:52AM. Not bad. While swimming, I was very conscious of how fatigued I was, not that I was sort of hungover. Thing is, I can perform whenever whatever. Maybe not fast, but that was OK today. I did my entire swim workout, all 3,150 yards. Tomorrow is only 2,800 yards, but Wednesday and Thursday are each 3,600 yards, so being used to being up early will pay off.

When I got home, I drank my glass of egg protein and finished off the bottle of Gatorade that I had taken to the pool. About 11:15, I chugged about 1/2 can of Coke and then set off to run. I ran for a little over an hour, and didn't set any intensity goals, but damn, I wasn't running too poorly at all. And it was warm and sunny, and my legs ached while I ran. Too bad!

I really should be lifting right now, but I'm going to put it off until tomorrow once that wine has run its course :) My turntable died, and I must go and purchase a new one!

Weekly Workout Totals 04/28/2008-05/04/2008

WARNING!!! Not for the faint of heart. While I have completed training weeks like this in the past, they always seem news to me. I think because I'm able to execute them better and better, and I'm having even more fun doing them than in years past.

Sometimes even I can't believe what I've done, and this week was no exception. There are a bunch of things that stand out, although not all are apparent in the numbers:

1. It doesn't matter whether I sleep or not. I'm not even pounding the caffeine yet. My body is just so used to performing under any conditions that it seems to go on autopilot.
2. Loss of a few pounds has been a godsend in terms of recovering well from intense stuff and getting (at least trying to) adequate nutrition. I can't imagine weighing more and the extra calories that would require, although things balance out--the lighter you get, the harder you're able to work. I like that.
   
3. My swimming is finally starting to come around. For sure I've got endurance; but speed (my version of it, anyway) is also returning.
4. Check out that TSS total! That is WAY FUCKING COOL. It means not just that I biked a lot, but that I BIKED A LOT HARD!
   
5. My regular commitment to stretching must be beneficial, as I'm not getting as much massage as I used to (although I'm starting to want it more now that I'm really hitting it hard), but I'm basically feeling muscularly sound.
6. I have returned to, maybe even surpassed, my "normal" amount of happiness!!!!!!! All is good with the world for me--it's hard to write down how joyful I feel and how full of life. Perhaps my training is the highest expression of that, but I am just loving everything that is good.
7. I like numbered lists.
8. I also like bulleted lists, but sometimes I like the numbers even better.
9. I like to count things.
10. I enjoy being timed.
11. Meters and kilometers are not very funny.
12. My vacuum cleaner really sucks.
    

Please note that I have provided Canadian translations of my workout information, and will continue to do so weekly.

Weekly Workout Totals	04/28/2008-05/04/2008
Swim:	11000 yards (6.24 miles) in 3.78 hours; 18% of weekly workout time; approx. 1325 calories burned Canadian: 10058.4 meters
Bike:	Approx. 191.63 miles in 10.95 hours; 53% of weekly workout time; approx. 5968 calories burned; Total TSS=715 Canadian: 308.4 kilometers
Run:	Approx. 27.56 miles in 4.22 hours; 20% of weekly workout time; approx. 1903 calories burned Canadian: 44.35 kilometers
Strength:	1.65 hours; 8% of weekly workout time; approx. 413 calories burned Canadian: same thing unless time is different?
All Sports:	Approx. 225.43 miles in 20.6 hours; approx. 9609 calories burned Canadian: 362.79 kilometers
Sleep:	6.86 hours avg./night Canadian: I dunno--slept with some bears?
Stretching:	1.97 hours. Massage: 1.5 hours

Today's Ride

Fu-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-UCK!!! Hard fucking week, but I aced the test. Workout totals will be posted tomorrow or maybe later today.

Click on the post title to get to the pics.

Today I rode 78 miles and then ran about 4.5. It was my 4th brick this week (2:00/:20, 1:30/:40, 2:50/:40 and 4:30/:40), my 6th run this week. If I can keep up my momentum, I will run M-F this coming week, which will make for a lot of running.

One thing I didn't say in the photo text--one of the guards, on my 3rd loop of Fermilab, yelled at me nicely was I just riding around and around? I just smiled, but as I rode on by, I thought to myself, "Hmmm...in reality, I am riding around and eating." It made me laugh. I was totally on the Food Channel while riding. This has been one helluva training week. Next week will be more of the same, but run focus instead of bike focus. I can't wait!!!

World's Most Comprehensive Triathlon Packing List and Ironman Race Checklists

Click on the title and it will send you to the link where the Excel file is stored. You will need to LOG IN to trifuel.com in order to access the attachment (sorry).

I am also placing a permanent link to this in my sidebar of Internets Content in case someone goes looking for it.

Enjoy!