Grab Bag

Cough! Cough!! Cough!!! Cough!!!!

(room clears)…………..Sneeze!!!!!!

Snort…..Hack

Blow

Breathe

Repeat

….is how I’ve spent my last few days.

Being sick sucks!

Yeah…I know….cue the violins Maestro!

Moving on….

I’ve started a “side” blog as a place where I can put any non-tri/endurance related stuff that doesn’t quite fit here. Pictures, videos, maybe an original tune every now and then, stuff like that ... or whatever else I come across. It’ll pretty much be a grab bag. I’ve put a link to it in the side bar under my profile. (*note: the side blog is on hold for now*)

Also, for those of you that may not know, Bolder has started an awesome effort to help raise cancer awareness. Write2Fight is the name of the site and it’s all about sharing stories related to how cancer has impacted your life. Head over and visit or contribute. There’s a link to it in the sidebar.

Happy Training…cough….hack

TJ

SST Postponed and Future Plans

No Simply Stu Tri today.
KJ had a last minute invitation come up and asked to postpone the tri until tomorrow.
That and the fact that I woke up at 2:30am with a very sore throat. I probably would have been ok for the tri today, but I'm glad to have the day to take it easy. My energy is running a bit low. Hopefully the sore throat will not develop into a full blown (no pun intended) cold.

Training has been going good lately and I have been soaking up all the Spring sunshine and moderate temperatures I can manage. I know the temps will be close to 100 with high humidity way too soon.

I've also been thinking about my future triathlon goals. A Lot. Specifically Ironman.
Goals are nice safe little aspirations you can pull out and adjust anytime you want....that is...until you share them with someone. When made public, they go from being goals or aspirations to being expectations... and then carry a bit more weight and responsibility. At least that's the way it works with me. If I tell someone I intend to do something, then it's as if I'm locked in to do everything necessary to reach that goal.
So, here it is, out in the open, locked in.

Happy Training,
TJ

Going With The Grain

The weather Saturday was predicted to be perfect for riding. Calm winds, moderate temperatures (45/75) and plenty of sunshine. I decided to ride with the local club. This would be the first club ride, or group ride for that matter, that I'd done in about a year. I did all of my riding solo last year during the build up for Florida. I was a bit nervous, to be honest, before the ride. Not only with riding in a group setting again, but not really knowing where my fitness would be compared to the rest of the group. Would I struggle to hang on with the group I used to ride with? Would I get dropped by the slow group? Would I blow up in the middle of the ride trying to stay with the fast group and have to limp home alone?


There were about 35 riders on hand and we rolled out just after 8am. My only plan was to go with the grain and not get too carried away. It was a bit cold once we got going but warmed up after a few miles. We all stayed together for the first 8 or 10 miles...longer than usual. The fast group started pulling away at about mile 10. I was feeling great and it was VERY tempting to hop on and go, but I stayed with the middle group.

There were a dozen or so riders in our group and we'd formed a good pace line by about mile 12. My turn up front rolled around and I stayed up for about 3 miles and was still feeling great. We continued on keeping a good pace and soon came up on the lead group. They'd stopped at a convenience store and were about to head back out. They were taking a longer route and our group decided to take a shorter route. We jumped on and stayed with them for a few miles until we got to our turn-off. We'd lost about half of our group by the time we got to the turn. I got out front to take the first pull. There were 5 riders behind me at this point. After a couple of miles I glanced back and there was one. He didn't seem to be itching to come up front, so I just kept going. We made it back to the bike shop and ended up with 40 miles. I was very pleased with how the ride went and I'm looking forward to getting out with the group more frequently. I may even jump on with the fast group next time.

The weather looks to be beautiful again today. Perfect for hunting eggs....

I hope everyone has a blessed and happy Easter!

TJ

Thought I'd post up a few pictures for those of you still up to your elbows in snow.
I took these a couple days ago right after a rain storm.

I'm about to head out for a run in 75 degree sunny weather.....

Happy Training,

TJ

One Guess.....

.....where we had dessert tonight.

Tagged and a new Toy

Jade Lady tagged me a while back and I’m just now getting around to posting.
Here goes…. 7 random/weird things about me:

1. As a teenager in the 80s I was a huge rock fan…. still am… (Metallica, Whitesnake, Van Halen, GNR back then. These days it’s Foo Fighters, Velvet Revolver, etc…)
Anyway, the weird thing is I got into acoustic and bluegrass music later in life and oddly enough spent a couple years in a bg band.

2. I raced BMX bikes when I was a teenager. Only a couple dozen races and all local, but man…..THAT was freakin fun.

3. I love Mountain Dew. High fructose corn syrup and all.

4. I taught myself to ride my bike backwards when I was a kid. I haven’t tried it in about 25 years. I’m gonna have to try it now….

5. I grew up in a very small town…..population of about 800.

6. My personal favorite recovery drinks are margaritas (plural for a reason). Fruit, salt, carbs, sugar, water……what else do you need?

7. Despite number 6 and most of number 1, I am a Christian.


We got a new toy/camera tonight. Our old camera took a plunge into a cold glass of Ovaltine a few weeks back and never recovered. The details are a bit sketchy, but according to KJ, it just fell in.....really.
Anyhow, we ended up replacing the old Kodak with a new Cannon. It's a pretty cool little camera. I'm still figuring out the different features. Look forward to lots of Spring pictures coming soon.....

Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese....or not.

This week has been great. The best since Ironman Florida. My desire to train is finally completely back. Training because you know you should versus training because you want/desire to are two very different things. It’s been slowly building and has taken a while to get back, but it's back.
There’s a whole post waiting to be written on that subject, but I’ll save that for another time.

I’ve swam every morning this week. Swimming has never been my favorite of the three. Historically I’ve done the minimum required in the pool, but even my desire to swim has increased and I’m enjoying the extra pool time.
I’ve gotten in three runs and will finish off the week with three rides if I can get out tomorrow afternoon. The weather is supposed to be perfect.

KJ and I have also gotten in a couple of sessions together this week in preparation for the Simply Stu tri. And she's running in a 1 mile fun run this morning with friends. Her training is coming along nicely and she’ll be ready when race day rolls around.

Daylight saving time is only a week away!

Happy Training!
TJ