Lets try this again!!

So Leslie has put the pressure on me by trying to post every week or so. No guarantees here but I'll try to be at least more regular. I would say that I'm back in full swing trying to get in shape for the season. Leslie decided to do Sebring so of course I can't pass up a chance to get in alot of miles in a short time frame. I think my goal is basically to get a RAAM qualifier out of it (not that I'm planning on doing RAAM) which the website appears to say is 425 miles in 24 hours. Seems pretty doable for me.......I think. I updated the schedule of events for us to include races I've already entered since they seem to be filling up really fast. I'm also planning a few Xterra races and tring to hit as many cyclocross races as I can in the fall with hopes of going to Nationals (don't really have to qualify). So I had heard a few years ago about at-large entries to Xterra World Championships in Maui but had never seen anything about it. Well I was just looking at races and happened on the Xterra site looking for other races and it said at-large was open, so I entered and got in to Maui. Kind of ended up figuring out the second half of my season for me real fast.

So far this year, I jump started the year with a little 5k on the CSU campus New Year's eve. OUCH!! wasn't really ready or in shape for that and ran 19:11 for 9th overall and 3rd in my age group. So if nothing else it was a starting point. We'll see how I measure up with another running race maybe around the end of Feb. Just like leslie I've been trying to be consistent and ramp the miles up in all three disciplines. No 900 miles or whatever like Leslie but I am up 50 miles a week now running which is what I should be around til Boston. I sould hit 600 miles biking depending on how the weather goes the rest of the week and should be over 20,000 m swimming. Pretty good totals when all is said and done for me for the month of January.

So I'll leave you with a couple pictures that were kind of cool. The first is from Hawaii at the beginning of the red road and the second is out the front of our house this past sunday. This past sunday it was clear and maybe 40 at our house and we went down the hill to ride and run. Well it was maybe 18, cloudy and really cold, leslie mtb with me and I ran 13 miles (my best long run this year for sure). We ended up coming home and riding the trainers because we couldn't stay warm and my hands were frozen from the run. The clouds just kept creeping up until it was foggy at the house and maybe -2 degrees or so.

Well I'll try to be semi regular posting from here.
Ciao

I miss the pool...

My coach and I had a discussion that went "you know all those hours you spent swimming and biking and running last year? Well, they'll ALL be biking this year"... It's actually the thing she's most worried about for me this year is how to take someone who is used to 20+ hour training weeks in 3 events and move them to 1 event without total burnout.

So... I find I'm craving the pool.

There is something about the way the pool deadens your external senses, especially during long steady efforts... Smell turns to a whiff of chlorine, taste goes away, hearing is splash silence splash, sight is the bottom of the pool then blue then the deck... Even feel goes away after awhile, your skin sensors deaden so it's just water sliding over you...

Swimming takes all that external noise away and it's just my thoughts, my watch, and the continuity that is not boredom but peace.

I got an hour of pool time this month, and I think I'll be getting 2 or
3 next month during recovery from the 24 hours if Sebring...

I didn;t think I would miss it, but I already do.

Wonder how long it will take before I beg for a run?

Leslie

867 miles of biking so far this year...

Nothing much

Nothing much going on. Working, biking, working, biking. Slowly ramping up mileage and doing alot of drill-work during the week. We've been pretty lucky with the weather so far and have been able to get out and ride quite a bit on the weekends. Building the foundation for a strong season... not exciting, but necessary!

This weekend our ugly purple carpet will be replaced with a more Holton'esque deep green. Not looking forward to moving some of our heavier/bulkier furniture but definitley looking forward to the change!

463 miles in the first 14 days of the year...

Leslie's 2009 Goals

Public stating of goals so you can scoff at me if I slack!

- Be competitive at 24 Hours of Sebring
- Finish Race Across the West
- Be competitive at Hoodoo 500
- 10,000+ bike miles

- Lose 5lbs and experiment with how much of the next 10 I can lose and still maintain endurance

- Figure out my 3 year plan for work. I love my job, and would be happy continuing to do exactly what I am doing but the boss is pushing me to figure out if I want to be more... Do I and if so what?

Leslie

On track with 206 bike miles in the first 4 days of 2009...

House pics

Happy 2009!!!