Gotta Come Down

Here it is Friday, almost 4 weeks after UMC, and I am still riding a very real high from it and other things happening. UMC photos keep being posted on Facebook that I must look at, my friend Lee is uploading videos to Flickr (more to come so keep an eye out), I'm checking back in with friends who were neglected during my intense training period and they want to know all about it, I'm preparing for my next NothingMan, I'm working on my ATP, my Y is undergoing huge physical plant improvements that will make it a better place to train, I'm in process of buying a new or used treadmill so I can run even more but really just save time in the winter by not having to drive to the Y except to swim, I'm about to close on my first sponsorship, I'm about to transfer to a different position at work that I've thought about for about a year, I'm thoroughly enjoying the end of summer weather, I'm going to train and spectate at IMWI in a few weeks, I'm already planning for my trips to Japan and Hawaii next year (wow writing that down just gave me chills), I've already located a teammate for Furnace Creek 508 2012 and am making a list of additional gear I will need to train and race for that, I got my annual batch of pesto made and frozen, I'm looking forward to post-NothingMan for some real rest and time to engage in one of my other favorite hobbies, cooking and one more thing I can't disclose just yet!

While all this is going on, I am managing to get my household reorganized and cleaned up, and am slowly picking my way through a to do list. Despite all this activity, I feel pretty relaxed and confident that I will get through a bunch of stuff before the weather turns bad, or November, whichever comes first. It seemed like my last training season lasted so long, but this next one will be longer, so it's good that I don't really have to train super hard until January. But you know I will anyway--that's just how I am.

This morning I swam for 2 hours, and I really enjoyed it. So much so that I was thinking I want to try a new training event this winter: 2x2x2. Swim 2 hours, bike 2 hours, run 2 hours. Shouldn't be any harder than a 1/2 IM, right? As much as I like biking, I think it will be fun to just do each sport for fixed amount of time. I actually think this would make for a fair triathlon. Swimmers get their time, but then bikers and also runners. Whoever goes the farthest wins, with no handicaps for any sport. So I mentioned this on Facebook, and a friend there suggests a variation on this called Sinister 7:

• 1 hour swim
• Transition to running and strength clothes.
• 10 min strength core training
• 1 hour Bike
• 10 min strength core training
• 1/2 hour rowing or similar/elliptical
• 10 min strength core
• 1 hour Run
• 10 min strength core
• 1 hour swim
• 10 min strength core
• 1 hour bike
• 10 min strength core
• 1/2 hour run

So all in all, that's 2 hours of swimming, 2 hours of biking, 1.5 hours of running, .5 hours of other cardio (or I could just run again) and 1 hour of core/strength. Looks pretty fun to me! Now, when I did my birthday workout 2 years ago, it ended up being 52' swim, 52' bike, 52' run and 45' strength/core (no rest time was counted), and I suppose because of the strength exercises I chose (lots of leg stuff) and the reps (52!), I was pretty whacked the next day. Plus I did it on a work day, squeezing things in here and there. If I do Sinister 7, I'll do it on a Saturday and then take Sunday off, and I'll skip my weekly strength session. I guess I will call it NothingSinister!

I am finding it interesting that the more energy I put out, the more I have. Life is good!