A month beyond IM CDA

Well busy isn't the word I'd use to describe the last month since Ironman CDA. Since qualifying for my 13th Hawaii Ironman (*competed in 7 of them--passed the qualifying spot on the others down the ladder)...I've been busy doing things I'd normally save for a rainy day. To keep from going nuts from training very little, I've redirected my energy into painting, yardwork, family time, and projects that just weren't getting done in big training blocks. I hope to add photos by the next blog entry, but downloading the camera seems to even take time I don't have right now. Heading back into training slowly will be painful, but luckily if anything, the healing from last month should be complete. Mentally I'm ready to roll, physically, being a slug with sparse training has caused a bit of a sluggishness in the system as my watts during riding have been very low. There is this residual fatigue I've been sensing on the bike since CDA, but the wattage has been slowly returning this past week to near normal levels. I got in a good interval session with the Cervelo boys who were in Longmont from the Cervelo HQ in Canada. They were all here for a gathering with store owners showing off goods in a pre-Interbike like presentation. I guess the Cervelo P4 will actually come in some pretty cool colors this next year besides plain black & white. Not sure on that yet, but I seem to be sort of over the P4 & looking at a few other models for a new bike. Some companies have caught up & surpassed Cervelo I think in technology as they've incorporated all that Cervelo learned in wind tunnel testing & then have improved on it to create some of the coolest bikes out there. One of which, the new Specialized, Giant, and Trek TT machines. The Speed Concept looks to be far superior in nearly every aspect I've seen. To top it off, none of these bikes have a "dork bottle" that the P4 has. Never did like the bottle to begin with.

On another front, Kudos goes out to Max, an athlete of mine who just won his AG at the Cabbage Head Du, and won the Mile High Duathlon Series in his AG. He race 4 weekends in a row, with IM training during the week, no taper, and is still kicking butt. These are just speed sessions for him, in his quest for IM AZ results. He's been rocking it all summer long as is a hungry pit bull...so hopefully the stars will align for him this time around in AZ. He's doing better than any year previous. It takes some time for a coach/athlete to get wired into each other so that everything is clicking. More than that, it takes a dedicated athlete that does ALL the work put to them by the coach, believes in the program, has un-ending drive, and communicates in detail their training logs so the coach isn't guessing what the heck the athlete is doing or performing like week to week. This cat exemplifies every aspect of a serious triathlete looking to get to Hawaii for Ironman. No excuses from this guy, he will get the plan & JUST DO IT. Like Nike says in their ads.

As for what I've been doing since IM CDA, I went to my parent's for the 4th of July & hopped in a 5km race only 12 days after IM CDA. I was surprised to win the race (over 200 racers), in 16:04 on a GPS'd accurate course--and set the course record. It must have been the sea level altitude or still being on a "peak" from IM CDA because that sure was a pretty good go at it so soon after IM averaging 5:17 per mile. Of course now back home & sitting for a spell, I went on a 8 miler today and about blew a gasket with high HR and slow pace (must be either the sitting around, altitude, or the fact it was about 90 F). Either way, I have to get back in the saddle again. Oh I certainly am looking forward to the many miles of sweating & consuming sugar gels & sugar water and my Salt Stick tabs along the way. I think my reward post-Hawaii will be something like this...two pc. white toast, mayo, 6-8 slices of bacon, cheddar...drop the L & the T. Wash it down with a giant glass of O.J. or milk. Sounds nasty, but hey, you have to reward yourself for all the discipline with a good old fashioned heart-attack-snack right? Then a short rest & get ready for 2010 season a.s.a.p. Happy Training!