'bout time

"Everything but the blog and its story of my dormant training." This is the story of the last few weeks. having a pretty bad bout of the flu segued into a mid season off season. Interesting enough I have never not thought about training and racing for this long since I picked up the "sport" three years ago. Any attempt to take time off has been a painful process but not this time. I guess it has to do with finding myself neck deep in the nest-guarding (nest building with a decidedly masculine approach) process. With the new man just around the corner i've been clearing the decks making sure that all the short term come long term projects around the house are more or less wrapped up. (one of the pitfalls of being a married homeowner and dad) At least I've been able to stay focused on the reason for my tri-batical (my word) and gain traction in the other aspects of my life to which I am accountable. At first I became anxious about losing fitness and putting a spike in my body compostion, but two weeks of serious manual labor has served as a quasi-surrogate for an off season training schedule. Putting in 12 hour days of digging french drains, installing irrigation, hauling buckets of gravel and welding steel planters takes its toll and on the hands and back. One thing I know is that endurance athletes can run circles around laborers who are having to set stuff down and take a break. come on fellas.


Nutrition has been weak.
Living on power bars and skinny silver and blue cans has compelled me to gorge on salads when the sun goes down. That's balanced right?


I have been reading triathlete mag with a renewed cynicism, which is fun, smiling at photos of fat healstrikers running in wet cycling jerseys. Go get em Ironman. The latest edtion really got me grinning with the over the top representation of ethnicity in the swimsuit issue. Please. Let's keep it about the sport and less about fashion (and political correctness). Until the gals start racing in the g-bang save it. There are maybe a few out there who look good in tri-bike shorts but their ass is way too small to actually kill the bike. I think the problem with the mag is it tries to include all interests in the sport which dilutes the content to that of a strip bar cocktail. Too much handholding and bike photos. I don't need any more equipment, thanks. But you know what they say. Those that cannot do...critique.

Going for a run today. should be interesting. I'm going to take the garmin to do a little aerobic fitness assessment. I think this will change my approach slightly. Previously I had wanted to focus on maintaining speed and intensity. That was 4 weeks ago and when my aerobic fitness was not in question. Today not so much. I think it'll be back at Z1-2 with easy strenght training for at least 4 weeks. So time to get to it.

'bout time.