Happy New (Training) Year!!!

Hello Everyone,

Well, I am back from my lengthy and lazy hiatus from both the blogging and triathlon world. It was spent mostly working, playing Xbox, gaming, watching lots of football, moving, a few parties and mostly general relaxation. My computer is up and running now, so I will be able to quit bumming off of other people's computers for internet, email, and other such things related to tri-blogging.

I started off my 2007 (Triathlon years rather than calendar years :-) ) on Sunday with an hour and twenty minute bike ride on the Silver Comet Trail. Pretty convenient now that I only live two miles away from it. I will have to say it was pretty cold for someone who lives in GA. I feel I was pretty prepared with respect to the cold, except that I need to get some sort of head warmer to put under my helmet (or not wear one at all). Here are the stats for my ride.

BIKE
Total Time: 1 hr 22 min 26 sec
Distance: 23.63 miles
Avg Speed: 17.2 mph
Max Speed: 23.8 mph

In summary, there was definately an issue with conditioning and some lost endurance from a lack of training (and by lack of training I mean I did not touch the pool, bike, or track for just over 4 weeks). But the headwinds DESTROYED me. I know it was probably nothing compared to Kona, but between it being windy and cold, as well as "headwinds" in general, the return portion of my ride pretty much sucked. There are parts of the course now where I know where I can hit 22-24 mph due to a slight downhill, and I know where there are also false flats that slow me down. If you look at my average above, it was probably 2 mph slower than usual, and on top of that there were a couple of specific instances where I normally go 18-20mph and I was going about 13-14 mph due to the head wind.

My legs are a bit sore today, but that was expected. Jackie on the other hand.....

I told her that 40 miles on Saturday would be too much, and she would not listen.

I told her that her backside would smart for a day or two, and she would not listen.

I told her that she would be walking funny for a day or two, and she would not listen.

Yes, Jackie rode 40 miles, and needless to say she is probably reading this right now and saying, "Andy, you were right..."

By the way, I have a new email address (where I moved to does not have comcast anymore). All you have to do is click on the link on the right for the "mailto" feature that will bring up your browser's preferred email. Or, you can just hover your mouse over the link, and go to gmail, hotmail, etc... and put my email in there to send me stuff.

Have a good day!!!