I'll post something soon to do justice for the amount of time I've gone without posting! I've done a quick little bit of work tonight fixing some code so that the "Training This Year" now accurately reflects the training I've done in 08', not just a sum of all the training I've logged. Going to attempt to do better this year, at least in recording what I do! Really working on my running right now, 45 miles last week and on pace for around 70 miles this week.

I'm sitting here at the Laundromat fighting to stay awake as I wait for my clothes to dry. Not only am I sleepy tired, I'm just plain worn out as well. I started the day out at 8am running for 2 hours at Rockbridge state park. Most of this run was "aerobic paced" which basically means I could comfortably hold a conversation while running at this pace. Since I was running with Andy Pele and Jeff Wells we did just that for most of the run. It was only in the last mile and a half that I intentionally went hard and ran at about 6 minute pace for the last section. At the end of our run we had covered 11 wet and muddy miles. [Read More!]

Finally back to regular training. I didn't go too long following the accident without some form of training, about a week and a half, but when I did start exercising I was always really spotty and a lot of it was walking... Now I'm training just about every day and actually getting in some quality workouts... This week started with a 20 mile ride on Sunday followed by a quick mile run. Another 20 miles on the bike on Monday as well as 1,000 yards of swimming. Of note on the swimming, I started with a 500 yard timed swim, starting out cold, did it in 7:02 or 1:24 pace... Tuesday started out with a 7 mile run with the Tues/Thurs run group, 136 runners this Tuesday at 5:30am! The run was followed up with physical therapy and later in the evening I joined the Tuesday evening bike ride for a brisk 20 mile ride. So far on the week I'm at 60 miles of biking, 9 miles of running, and 1,000 yards of swimming...

Holidays = weight gain!

This is the first time I've had this much of a problem since I started in 02'. I knew I would gain some weight, with the Achilles problems I've been having causing me to cut out most running, it was inevitable. But this morning when I stepped on that scale and it measured over 15 lbs above my season low, I decided enough is enough!

I don't look in the mirror and think "I look fat", quite the opposite, I know I could stand to bulk up a little if I wanted to look better. For me it is strictly a performance issue, less weight = less required watts for me to go fast. So until I'm back to within 5 lbs of my target pre-season weight, no more alcohol or sausage biscuits...

On the postive side, I ran 9 miles off road at Rockbridge on Monday and 6 miles Tuesday with the Tuesday morning group with my Achilles feeling just fine. I should get in around 30 miles runnning this week which will be the most I've done in a real long time...

Five in the morning and the alarm is going off, why I ask? Hit the snooze button and role back over. Then I remember that today I start masters swimming. [Read More!]