Prediction: That was it, that is the last time

As a lifelong Packer fan I have witnessed history new years eve. This picture was of Brett Favre coming down the tunnel for the last time as a professional athlete. Nothing has been confirmed but the reaction after the game told it all. Now if I only could accomplish a fraction of what this guy has accomplished in his career....wow! What a legend. The toughness to keep going, working through injuries and pain that would put a normal man down for a few weeks this dude has fought through. Now that is an Ironman! My hat is off to you brother.

Beginnings...

I really hate the beginning of the year for a few reasons. First of all everyone has all these lame-ass new years resolutions that fall apart after three to four weeks. These people crowd the gym, run on the wrong side of the road, do not know how to swim in the lane with other people and they are all so gung ho it makes me want to punch them out knowing 99% of them will give it up in a few weeks. I refuse to make new years resolutions for those reasons. Why do everything under the sun and on Jan. 1 you are going to magicly do the opposite of every bad habit of what you did all year long.

The other reason is my training log. I hate seeing all the zero's in the year to date totals. I realize that it is the beginning of the year but just seeing zero's is depressing. It is great at the end of the year to see big numbers but oh well it sets the bar for the following year.

My totals for this year are as follows:

Swim =114262 yards
Bike =618 miles
Run =259.55 miles

First annual x-mas day ride

what's wrong with this picture? First off I am by myself on this epic ride. It was supposed to be

legen....... (wait for it) .............dary!

It is Wisconsin on Christmas day and there is absolutely NO snow on the ground. So why not go for an xmas day bike ride? I want to start an annual thing on either riding or running on this day. Count it, 2 years now and still nobody has joined me! Last year I ran so this year seeing that is a freak year up here I took a ride. The ride went pretty good having not really done and riding for a few weeks and hating the cold.

As you can see I have all my Craft gear on. I just can't say enough about this stuff. I was wearing the entire system. The S3 Windproof shirt, the L2, red insulation layer and finally the L3 Outer courier Shell. Let me tell you it had to be in the lower 20's and breezy during the ride as my water in the bottle started to freeze but I couldn't have been warmer! I still need to get the facemask and the proper ear protection. That you could probably tell by the picture too, my face and ears were absolutely FREEZING!!

I hope next year I can sneak in a Christmas day swim in the lake? Well maybe if we are celebrating it in Jamaica :) One can only hope.

LSD and swimming

While some might find the combination of LSD and swimming appealing I do not. LSD swimming is short for long slow distance swim. I try and try to do a LSD swim but it never works out. I left for swimming at 10:30 this morning which for me is about 4 and a half hours later than normal. I took 3 Cliff Blocks beforehand to get a few calories in to sustain till I was done with the planned 2000 yard set. I ended up seeing on of the dads my daughter goes to daycare with who is an accomplished master swimmer and former collegiate stand out in swimming. He gave me a few tips on my stroke and I decided to try it out. Where was this help 2 years ago before the first half IM I did? Just a few simple adjustment for efficiency in the water and wow it makes a total difference!

I was not used to swimming that really anything over 2000 yards at a time. Things were going so smoothly I decided to push it a bit and go longer at a steady pace. I ended up going for 4000 yards in 1:14!!! It's gotta be the Blocks ;)

Lesson learned! Being more efficent in the water will save you time later during the race. Going the same distance using less strokes will not only save your energy, you will pop out of the water less exhausted. I am all about hitting it hard on the bike and the quicker I can get out of the water and the more energy I have for the bike the better off I will be in the standings.

Product review

A few weeks ago I was given some Cliff Shots gel Blocks to try out. I decided this morning to try out the Black Cherry Blocks before swimming. The instructions say too take 3-5 per hour during exercise. I popped 3 about 20 minutes before my morning swim. The taste was grrrreat! They tasted like gummy bears. Taste is sweet and easy to chew. I chased them down with 6 ounces of water. I did not notice any GI troubles as I have in the past with other gels. I kept sipping water between sets during the swim and everything went great!
I will be purchasing some of these in the near future to try in the bike and the run. I really want to see if I can get the right amount of calories in on the bike using the blocks. Follow up to come in a few weeks after I hit the bike a bit.

Swim plan ruined

This morning I woke up with this god awful sore throat and stuffed up sinuses. I had planned on doing the 100 laps today in the pool. Well damnit that didn't happen!

A few bloggers talk about getting bit by the sickness bug lately and now I seemed to have joined the group. Damn you sick people for bringing me in!

This mornings swim consisted of a 750 yard set and the time was 17:06. If you only could have seen my disgust coming out of the water (a few did see that which now I am a bit embarrassed). The only excuse I have is poor diet last night and all day yesterday and the day before and the day before and the day before...I think you get the drift....

Time is so short in life

I just got the chills while watching PBS just now. I was watching this totaly kick ass performance of Eric Clapton, Robert Cray, Robert Randolph, Jimmy Vaughn and Buddy Guy perform Swet Home Chicago. This was the last song that was performed at the Alpine Valley show in East Troy Wisconsin many years ago. For those of you that do not remember it was the dreadful night that Stevie Ray Vaughn's helicopter crashed into the side of the ski hill obscured by the thick fog of the valley. I got chills when all took the stage again and referenced this event and played the sweet sounds again. I have a bootleg digital recording of the original concert that Stevie Ray played at for his final performance ever. Heck, I even had tickets to this show but ended up not going because I was going to play responsible and get rest before the test I had to take the next day.
I have since went back to Alpine Valley and walked up the hill with my brother-in-law Joe. We saw the spot that the accident happened and it still gets to me all these years later. How does this relate to anything tri related. Not real sure other thna you have to live your life like there is no tomorrow. Race each race like there is not going to be a next race. Give it your best because you never know when your number is up live Stevie's was. R.I.P brother

Trek bikes is my new sponsor!!!!

After weeks of waiting to announce, I am proud to say that I have signed on with Trek Bicycle Corporation of Waterloo Wisconsin. Starting January first of 2007 they own me ;) I have given notice to my current employer (I was there for a total of almost ten and a half years) that I was leaving. After the initial shock wore off the day went pretty much like normal. If I only find out what next week holds for me (The big boss man come back). I am pretty excited as this has to be too good to be true!

Swim change

SO I decided this morning that I was going to work on my breathing. We all need to breathe while swimming my coach told me and I was not really doing that.My times should improve and I should pop out of the water a bit fresher instead of completely exhausted. Here is how it went....
Lap 1 - 8:46
Lap 2 - 8:49
Lap 3 - 7:58
Lap 4 - 8:28

(Each lap being 20 laps of the pool)

Announcement is now made!

It doesn't mean that much to some of you but to me it is a monumental event in my life. This coming Friday December I will be leaving a ten year relationship. While some might think the worst (the big D) it is so far from that. I am making a switch to a different lifestyle. I am leaving the current industry of Information Technology/Printing and Publishing. I start the first of Jan at a local company that is well established, fitness orientated, and family focused? This is something that my current employment is not a kin to at all. The change will be obvious right away. The current situation for me where I am at is totally stagnant, that is why I had to make this change. If you did not receive a raise for 4 years, get beat down everyday, not allowed to take a lunch, forced to work overtime on Saturdays for straight time, promised profit sharing for years and not get any due to "unexpected expenses like a new BMW or office furniture for the company you might understand. I am going from a 35 million dollar company to a 300-500 million dollar company that is poised to really take off and is in my wheelhouse for product.

Can you guess where I am going? I will post after Friday to disclose the name. I am so excited to start!! It will be like the "Nuclear reactor Utopia" as seen in the Simpsons as my brother Mike let me in on.