Waiting on response

Since I have been sick I requested a deferral from St. Anthonys to 2008. Bottom line is I just dont feel I will be ready to race how I want to. I am not competing for any sort of age group award but at the same time I want to be happy with my performance. I am pretty much recovered from being sick however because I lost so much training time I just thought I would wait to race at a later date this season when I felt ready to go.

If St. Anthonys grants the deferral then no worries, but if they say no or charge me a fee to defer I may just go ahead and race and chalk it up to a casual race outting and just not worry about time issues. St. Anthony's typically will give you a one year deferral but I think my request may have been a day late.

As far as training, I am still "getting back on the horse" with my running and cycling. Swimming I usually always bounce back pretty quick so not too worried about it.

Trying to get back in the saddle

It has been two weeks since I have done any active training because of illness. Seems like things just arent in my favor for training this year. I am trying to get back in the saddle this week with some training. Because of my own lack of judgment I put myself a few more days behind with sickness.

The other night a buddy of mine invited me over to watch some of the NCAA tournament and play Texas Holdem with some other guys. I have never played before so I thought it would be fun. Of 8 guys starting I managed to stay in the game to one of the last 3 guys. I ended up coming in second which I was happy with considering the guy who won the most money once placed 3rd in a Vegas tournament. It was only a $10 buy in, so what that meant to us was we were the only two to win any money. He won the biggest with over a $40 profit. I won $17 but I figured as long as I didnt lose all my money my first time out I was doing pretty good, especially considering I beat guys that had played more than I ever did.

Anyway, bad part is I ended up being there until 3am. That is not good to a body recovering from sickness and I have felt it the last few days. I have vowed to be smarter and take better care of myself. No more late nights like that for a very long time!

Stumbling through training this year

I realize alot of times people go through rough patches with training but I have just about had my fill. I took alot of time off at the beginning of the year because of my plantar faciitis, and it didnt really heal up, so then I started back and was happy to be training again and within a couple weeks I get sick. I know some folks are able to train through sickness, but I am not one of them. My body does not react well,,,I have tried before. It usually just makes me sicker because of the immune system breakdown. So I have been sitting around for a week doing nothing as far as training goes.

I was really hoping to have a strong race this year at St. Anthony's but it is a forgone conclusion that hope is gone. I will still compete but it will be more like a jog at the park type pace rather than any sort of competitiveness. Its is very disappointing to me. Once I get through that race perhaps I will focus on another one later in the season to try to have a better showing. I just really sucks not to be able to get into any kind of training groove especially after coming off a first time Ironman high.

Whats worse is that I enjoy training with Amy (the G-friend) and I havent been able to as much as I have wanted because of all the injury and sickness. Ok, enough bellyaching for this post,,,,,,just had to vent a little frustration.

Been Sick

Sorry no new posts lately. Been sick the last few days. More posts once training starts up again or something actually interesting occurs. But sitting around trying to get over this crap isn't all that interesting.

Fickle Weather

I hate not being able to guess correctly. I was supposed to ride with a friend this morning and I agreed to call her at 5:30am to let her know what the weather looked like since she had to drive further than me to our starting point. It has been forecast to rain her for the last 2 days but has yet to do so. It looks like it will with overcast and some wind but never does. We have these two fronts just lingering around us.

I got up and looked at the weather radar online and saw rain bands heading our way but it was a toss up if they would come across here or miss us. When I told her it was a gamble she bailed on me, so as result I didnt feel like packing up and heading out so my ride was on my trainer,,,at this point hoping it would rain.

Well I guessed wrong. Its now 10:30am and it still hasnt rained although its crappy looking outside. I guess she and I could have done the outside ride and we wouldnt have gotten wet. Oh well, at least I got something in this morning.

The mental game

For years it was hard to convince me its more mental than physical but every since Ironman training and the race I am a believer. Probably because I have never been that fast and always felt like I couldnt push myself over that speed hump to get faster. Perhaps genetics arent in my favor, but regardless that doesnt mean someone cant do it.

Case and point, this morning I got up and the plan was 30min on the bike trainer then hop off and run for 30min. A small brick but at least an hour workout. I got off my bike, put my shoes and shorts on and walked outside to find the wind whipping up and not looking like conditions I wanted to run. My immediate reaction was forget this I will run later on the treadmill, and walked back inside. I was inside about 5min and got frustrated at my attitude. I thought what if this was race day, I couldnt just quit if I didnt like the conditions. At Ironman the currents were hard, the wind was there on the bike, and it was cold but I had to take what I was given. So I got my head back into it and headed out the door. And in true fashion it wasnt as bad as I thought it would be.

Our heads can always play games with us. It told me that it would be hard and not worth it. Its that little demon inside that sometimes keeps us from feeling any success. When I finished the run, I couldnt have been happier that I went ahead and did it. My workout for the day was done and I can focus on other things. So keep your head in the game and try to keep a positive thought. 8 times out of 10 its not as bad as your mind will make it out to be.

Time is flying and I gotta get focused

I cant believe today is March 1st already! I know we are still early in the year but this is the month that Tri season starts up again in full force. At least around here it does. Which tells me I gotta get more focused if I want to enjoy this season. I have been dabbling in training since Ironman because to be honest just got a little burned out during training. But with St. Anthonys only 9 weeks away, time to get on the horse again.

I think this weekend I may head out to the hills of Clermont again because after last weekend my legs felt pretty good and pumped after that ride. Climbing hills is like doing squats in the weight room but more fun and I dont think quite as hard on the knees. Now I am not saying I like climbing hills, just how I feel once I get to the top.

Anyway, happy March 1st and happy beginning of the season to all!