Don't Call It A Comback...Yet

Well....I have decided to take the entire year off from Ironman racing. I do plan to continue to get fit with the help of Chuckie V. Not on a full-time basis though. He has a great plan that anyone can follow...check it out. It's quite simple, but for the time being it will work for me. This is not to say Chuckie and I are parting ways. It's quite the opposite. When I am ready, I know he is there to make me a monster. I have been going through a lot this year both personally and professionally, and I just know that my plate is full. This is not to say, I won't race at all. I may drop in a few here or there.

I have lost a ton of fitness, I haven't been able to focus on swimming, riding, or running consistently and thus I have to let it go. It is a big relief for me. I have focused over the last couple of years on getting fit and I have made tremendous strides from losing over 100 lbs to winning my age-group, and having the confidence that I can show up at races and compete. I am not hanging up the gloves so to speak, but I am taking a breather. I need it. My kids need it.

So my goals for the year are simple. Exercise at least 6 days/week. Eat well. Work on getting light on my feet. Log at least 20 big hikes, some with my boys, and some without. Spend tons of time with my boys. Work on me.

I do plan to enter 2010 in a big way. I have a desire to go to Kona. I have a desire to do well in Ironman. I feel that in order to reach my goals, I need to have a sharp focus and a plan to execute. I know this year, I don't have what it takes and I need to step back and work on other things in my life...and YES...those things are way more important.

I plan to do my best to keep blogging.

Time to go clean, paint, and feed the kids.

Mass Swim Starts! How Much Fun!

Have you ever ran for 2 days?

Well, I couldn't sleep much last night. I had missed my early morning workout, and kept thinking I needed to head out on a run. I had a busy day at the office and lots of kid duties in the evening. So I found myself laying in bed thinking about all sorts of things. Most of the time, once i hit the pillow, I crash. This night, I felt like I wouldn't fall asleep for days. So instead of laying there with insomnia, I opted for a run.

Since it was only January 7th, I couldn't really skip a workout, so I went out into the wild! During my late night adventure (or 2 day run), I realized that it was going to be epic. Snow, ice, wind, and lots of crazy wild animals make for an epic adventure in my mind. I call it epic so I sound tough! Anyhow, I think this was the first run in which I began on January 7th and it ended on January 8th. It wasn't really 48 hours, in fact it was only 2 hours, but still covered 2 days in my mind!

All in all, it was nice to be the only one on the road, other than the dead possum, deer, and wild dogs. I look forward to my next great adventure, you know the workouts that you will always remember!

Jim, if your reading, kind of like our rain soaked run in Granville!

Patience....Great Quotes I stole from the Web

Life requires patience and focus. Ironman training requires patience and focus. It's early in 2009, but a small goal of mine this year is to find more patience.

“Patience is waiting. Not passively waiting. That is laziness. But to keep going when the going is hard and slow - that is patience.”

“Follow your heart, but be quiet for a while first. Ask questions, then feel the answer. Learn to trust your heart.”

“The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.”

“Patience and fortitude conquer all things”

Treadmills

Well, I am very thankful for having found an awesome steal on a treadmill. I plan to pick it up in the next day or so.

It is a Precor and appears to be used very little. I think this could be the best thing I have purchased in a long time. Most families have probably purchased treadmills and have found out that they become more of a clothes hanger or perhaps the ugliest piece of furniture in their house. For us, I know this baby will be used, used, and used.

I know most folks will say, get out in the crappy weather, run on the road, dirt, etc....Well I will plan on doing that as well. This is just a nice addition for the times when I have to be at home and can't leave the house. For you single folks, pros, or folks without kids, a job, etc just wait. Someday you will understand.

Coming back from an injury (MAF Related)

I have lost a ton of fitness since IMKY. I knew this was going to happen as I was down and out of it quite a bit.

Prior to Ironman Kentucky, I was swimming, biking, and running on average 20 hours/week, with quite a few bigger weeks (big weekend training...fri, sat, sun). Last year, I did have an initial setback prior to Ironman Lake Placid, and had to cancel the race and take 10 days off. This was from my my Med Express incident (heart cath, asthma). During this injury period, I did loose quite a bit of fitness. Once I became healthy and able to train my initial MAF field tests showed a much slower pace/mile than before my injury. Fortunately with only 10 days off, it didn't take me long to get back to where I left off. I credit this to Chuckie and a few weeks of hitting it pretty good.

After Kentucky, I was down and out of it on a lot of levels. I didn't want to see a pool, bike, or even my Newtons. I hated Ironman, I hated working out, I wasn't eating and quickly dropped a bunch of weight. I had a few people tell me I looked like a cancer patient. I wasn't physically injured, just a combination of burn-out and other things. Well it has taken me a long time to get back into it, but I am happy to say, things are going quite well with training. Im doing the bare minumum, but compared to 3 weeks ago, I am at least able to ENJOY it again. This is KEY.

So fast-forward to my latest MAF test I did. WOW. I was running 10.5-11min miles at my MAF HR. This is an eye-opener. I am not concerned too much about it, as I will get back to it, but I was shocked at how quickly your engine can erode. On the flipside, it was a break that was needed for me.

Happy Turkey Day and Happy Training.

CK

Check out this climb!

Stolen from KP. Thanks Dude.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82pktbqNJSg