Galena

So, Drew and I signed up for the Galena triathlon, set to take place on May 21, 2011, in scenic Galena, Illinois. I've actually signed up for this race three times, but have finished only once - my very first triathlon, back in 2003. Since then, the race was cancelled because of thunderstorms, and I DNF'ed in 2009 (Cath had a tire melt-down, and I stopped to try and help, but the damage was too severe and we bailed).

But, despite the fact that I've only crossed the finish line once, it's a beautiful race - the scenery in that part of the state is lovely, and the course is very challenging. Rolling hills everywhere, on both the bike and run. And Galena, itself, is a cute little town, very popular as an antique-lovers destination and summer B&B getaway. Drew and I also like it, because it presents a nice early-season training weekend - the race is on Saturday, so, if you choose to spend an added night, you have half the day on Sunday to ride and run some more. I'm very much looking forward to it, and strongly recommend the race as a great way to kick off the tri season.

Unfortunately, May still seems like a million miles away, especially as Chicago got hammered with an epic blizzard last night, and more snow is falling today. I think they're expecting two feet of snow on the ground by the time it's over, so I guess the bike can keep sleeping in the closet. It'll be awhile before those two tires will be hitting the road. But, snow or no snow, the IM training plan starts on April 11. Can't wait!

Ragnar

So, Cath and I were recently invited to participate in our friends Ross and Diana's Ragnar relay team. Apparently, they think that we will bring a bit of speed to the squad. Little do they know that we've been doing nothing but drink beer and watch football for the past four months. Oh, well, Ragnar is all about fun, right? No podiums, no medals, no Kona slots.

But we're actually very excited - I had my heart set on Hood to Coast a couple years ago, but we didn't survive the lottery, and I frankly forgot to get an application in for 2011. Huge registration fail. But leave it to Ross (//http://road2imoo.blogspot.com/) - who has recently taken the triathlon world by storm - to set up a team that will, no doubt, finish squarely in the top 90 percent of the field. It should be a hoot.

The relay "race" goes from Madison to Chicago, 193 miles, and is broken down into multiple legs. Each of the 12 participants runs three legs, varying in distance from three to eight miles per leg. The only kicker is that the race goes all night, so sleep will be in short supply, and the 11 non-running runners are stuffed into two econo-vans for 30+ hours. Like I said, should be a hoot.

Have a great weekend!

New Years Fail

Can we just all agree to push "re-start" on 2011?

I don't know about you, but this year has gotten off to a ridiculously poor start - the weather blows, work blows, and it seems that - overnight - the number of duchebags in Chicago has more than doubled (from what was already a huge number...).

Anyway, I had silently decided to blog more in 2011, but that hasn't really happened due to a number of pending issues, mostly related to work - personnel issues have dominated my days, leaving less time to ponder training plans, workouts, nutrition and other triathlon silliness. But I'm going to try to be better. You - my three or so loyal followers - deserve better.

Exercise-wise, I've been pretty good - swim, bike, run has taken a backseat to higher heart-rate training, and using a greater variety of gym toys has been a ton of fun. We're still hitting that Boot Camp class once a week, and have been doing a bit of TRX training, as well (that's some random guy using the TRX straps in the figure to the right). The TRX stuff is strength-based, using your body's own weight as resistance. It's great for the core, and gives you a nice cardio burn, to boot. Good stuff. If you have access to a TRX class, I'd definitely check it out - it's much harder than it looks, and the results are awesome.

Other than that, I've been swimming just once per week, and just over a mile at a time (which is about as much swimming as I ever consider "fun"). I run about once a week, as well, for about an hour. Biking is more-or-less my recovery activity, so I'm afraid my first time back on a real bike outside will be beyond painful. But it is what it is. I decided this year to really step away from tri stuff in the off season, and it's been great for me mentally. Physically, I'll probably pay a price, but I'll deal with that later.

Later, taters!

Vacation fail

Well, so much for a winter vacation.

Southwest decided - 11 hours before takeoff - that fog was on the horizon, and cancelled our flight out of Chicago. Which would have been fine - the flight was scheduled for 6:40 a.m., and I wouldn't have minded a later morning or even afternoon flight instead. But that's not what Southwest offered up as an alternative.

Instead, they insisted that they had no other flights out until January 3. Unfortunately, our family gathering was centered around New Year's weekend, and everyone was leaving on the 3rd. So, with no other option available, we bagged the trip. Pfft.

Thanks, Southwest. I hope your 2011 is filled with enormous financial loses and eventual bnakruptcy. You suck, just like the other "big" airlines that you think you're so much better than.

On the bright side, the wife and I were able to spend a relaxing weekend at home with the dogs, watching hour-upon-hour of bad television and rarely venturing out of doors. The weather has been colder than ususal for this early in the winter, but we went on a great group run with friends last Sunday and it felt great - beautiful, blue skies and very little wind. Lovely. I'm hoping that this becomes a weekly event.

Tonight we are taking a class at our gym called "Peak Performance," which should really be called "Death in 60 minutes." It's a bootcamp-style workout, with equal parts cardio and strength exercises designed to break both your mind and spirit. At least, that's what it feels like. As you can imagine, it's very popular - despite starting at 5:30 p.m. on a Friday night - and as much as I dread it, the class is addictive like the ol' crack rock. Or so I've heard. I mean about the crack rock thing. But it's a good class.

Hope your 2011 is off to a crazy good start!

Hitting the slopes, yo

So, Cath and I are heading out to Idaho tomorrow to visit my dad and jump into some winter sports.

I haven't skiied all that regularly since I was a teenager, many moons ago, but we went once last year and it came back pretty easily, so I'm excited to get back out there.

The only problem with skiing as an adult is that you're now wise enough to know that a bad fall could lead to many months of painful rehab, so I'm hoping that the ski gods smile on us, take some pity, and we avoid a hospital stay. Still, I'll be massaging my ligaments and tendons all day, hoping they get all soft and flexy before we get there.

Otherwise, training is going well - I've been trying to really test myself a bit this off-season, doing more intervals and just generally trying to get my heart rate higher than I usually would during a typical IM build up. Basically, just enagaging in two types of workouts - intervals and recovery. I figure I have plenty of time to build up a base, but I'd really like to boost my VO2 max a bit before the IM training really begins in the Spring.

Santa was good to me in the form of a new pair of bike shorts - the DeSoto 400-mile shorts, if you're curious - but it will likely be a good number of months before they get tested. The snow and cold temps arrived early in Chicago this year, and they don't look like they'll be leaving any time soon. But, I'm looking forward to making lemonade out of the lemons, tromp around out in the Sawtooth Mountains, and remember that summer always comes back...eventually.

Happy New Year!

Don't Get Old

I am one out-of-shape mother f'er. Seriously.

The combination of a light racing/training year and, uh-hum, advancing age has killed my fitness, and I feel like crap.

Drew and I have been hitting up a boot camp-style fitness class at our gym recently - basically, just a group class with an emphasis on strength and high-heart rate agony - and the results have been humbling. I guess I'm not a kid anymore, and it's going to take some serious training to get back into the game, triathlon-wise.

But, I'm trying to look at the bright side, and think that it's better to realize this now - before the New Year - rather than be shocked when the training schedule starts in the Spring.

As such, I'm thinking of following some sort of pre-season training plan that will get me to April. Not sure what I'm going to do - I thought about a personal trainer, but I'm not inclined to spend the money. I'll probably keep taking the ass-buster fitness class, and add some other non-triathlon-ey stuff so as to not get burnt out before the real work begins in the Spring. I've been taking a day to row, walk the incline machine, and walk stairs, which I think has been helpful. And I need to run more outside. I've been lazy about braving the winter weather, but that needs to change.

In other news, I think we're close to choosing a couple more races for 2011 - Galena (http://www.facebook.com/galenatriathlon) and Steelhead ( http://www.ironmansteelhead.com/). We've done both of these races before, so I know that they're quality events, and the timing is great as far as IM FL is concerned.

Now, if I can just get down to shaking off the rust....

Oh, boy. Here we go again...

So, my buddy Drew and I pulled the trigger on IM FL, which will take place on Nov. 5 in Panama City Beach, Florida. It wasn't exactly our first choice, as far as ironman distance races go, but we have a couple friends who wanted to do this one, and we figured it would be a fun gathering when the time comes. Cath decided to take a pass, and instead focus more on performance training with a personal trainer, and maybe some shorter distance events. Unlike her husband, she had a pretty active year - a 70.3, two marathons (including a BQ!) and an ultramarathon - so I think she wants to recuperate a bit in 2011, but is supportive of me wanting to get back off the bench and into the ironman game. And I'm super-excited to get going again - it feels like it's been forever since I crossed the line in Wisconsin, and I've felt a bit rudder-less without an IM event on the schedule, so I'm happy.

I'm anticipating using the same Don Fink plan as I did for IM Wisconsin last year, which I found to be extremely reasonable in terms of a time commitment. Lord knows you can give your entire life to IM preparation, and generally improve your ultimate performance as a result, but I'm just not that interested in going to that extreme. I enjoy training as much as the next slightly-unbalanced triathlete, but double workouts every day and dozens of century rides is beyond my level of dedication and interest. The Fink plan (as detailed in his book "Be Iron Fit") is 30 weeks in length, and provides three different training plans depending on how motivated you are to crush the race - "Just Finish," "Intermediate," and "Competitive." I think I started with the Competitive plan last year, but pretty quickly found that it required more than I was interested in giving, so backed off to the Intermediate schedule. Even cheating a bit with the Intermediate plan, I still felt that I was in pretty good form for the race in Wisconsin, and never really felt burnt out with the training.

But the training plan doesn't start until April of next year, so between now and then I'm thinking of trying to build a little strength with the help of a personal trainer. I don't do much strength stuff during IM training, so now I think is a good time to get serious before the swim-bike-run takes over. I do some strength stuff now, but I know I don't go as near as hard on myself as a trainer will, so that's probably the way to go. Otherwise, my exercising is pretty pedestrian - swim, bike, and run once (maybe twice) per week, strength stuff twice per week, and one or two off days. Nothing over an hour per session. Easy stuff.

But the New Year will bring more intensity and volume, and I'm grateful for the opportunity. Should be a fun ride.