2011 Southeastern Multisport Expo!!! February 26th, 1:30-7:30p

"Two posts in a day???  Don't you have anything better to do?"

I wish!  Things got backed up at work, and I forgot to post this for everyone that is within driving distance of Atlanta.  I am in no way associated with this, I just think it is really cool and I wanted people to know about it.

2011 Southeastern Multisport Expo

I am just gonna copy and paste a few things from their site, that way I am not butchering anything :)

Hold the date for the southeast's largest endurance and multisport event! SEE-ME 2011, presented by Classic Subaru of Atlanta, is unlike any other expo you’ve ever been to – it’s all here to help you learn, explore and discover what you need to compete in endurance and multisport events. The day is designed to help you, no matter if you are a newbie or an experienced athlete, learn, explore and discover what it takes to get to the starting line.


New for 2011 is the SEE-ME Fit Zone, sponsored by All3Sports!  You won't want to miss the separate area just off the main exhibition floor where you can see demonstrations and ask questions from service providers who specialize in getting you "fit" for the season ahead.  No, we're not talking about personal trainers and dietitians...although that's important too.  The SEE-ME Fit Zone will be for all kinds of "fittings" such as:  wetsuits fitting, sports bra fitting, speciality shoe fitting, spin bike fitting, road/tri bike fitting, and much more!  Ask the Fit Zone experts and get fit early before the training season kicks into full swing

Once again, a highlight of SEE-ME is the raffle of gear and services items graciously donated by local and regional multisport organizations. You can purchase raffle tickets during the expo event up until the raffle at 6:00 pm. Raffle winners MUST be present to win!


Another highlight to the annual event is the awarding of the Henry C. Forrest "Person of Courage" recipient. SEE-ME is proud to reward someones efforts that you might not otherwise know about because he/she would rather go un-noticed. What better way to recognize someones notable accomplishments than at the multisport kick-off event for the Southeast? Nominate someone for the 2011 award at this link. The Getting2Tri Foundation is this year's sponsor of the Person of Courage award.


DIRECTIONS/LOCATION: Concourse Athletic Club, 8 Concourse Parkway, Atlanta, GA 30328, (770) 698-2000

The Belated Review...

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Sorry I missed Friday.  My girlfriend was in town for the weekend, and I got distracted, since it was our early Valentine's Day weekend.  I did some scouting for new gear for this season, but I came home empty handed.  No worries though, as I am sure I will probably find some money to spend that I don't have this year (yay capitalism, yay materialism, yay deficit spending!).

Yeah workouts kinda did not happen since it was Valentine's Day weekend.  That does not happen too often nowadays that we are so far apart, and also since it was "spend time with your main squeeze holiday."  But I am ok with that.  As far as training is concerned, I have a 13 week training block leading up to the Peachtree International Triathlon on May 14th, 2011.  Between now and then I have the Publix Half Marathon in Atlanta (March 20th, about 5 weeks away).  After that then I have a 24 week training block till I hit Ironman Florida.  Everything is getting planned out quite nicely.  I am only doing a two week taper in my 13 week plan, so I have two extra build up weeks to help with the transition to the Ironman block of training.  At some point I will be completing either IM Augusta 70.3, Halfmax, or the new Half Rev3 in Anderson SC.  All of them happen the last week of September/First week of October, so that will be perfect to lead into tapering for IMFL. 

I am also working on tweaking with tapering, because I have been doing some new research and studying the training habits of a coach in Australia who has trained up swimmers, triathletes, runners, etc and put a lot of them on Olympic teams and some of them into Ironman World Championships.  Basically he craps all over periodization and tapering (not to get rid of tapering, you just don't need as much as you think you do).  I also got to listen to an hour and a half interview with him, and I totally drank the Kool-aid.  Why???  Because it made total sense.  We have been trained (in the age grouper macro view) to look at swim bike and run separately, and not to train for triathlons.  Sadly enough this guy has not written any books or training manuals, and short of paying money to fly to Australia and train with him in person, I will just have to soak up any articles/training logs/interviews that he has done and try to tailor more of my training towards his style.  Do I think I will become the next best athlete?  Hell no!  But I think he is onto something and anything I try is bound to improve my performance by some standard, so why not employ his methods.

Just some food for thought.  Swam today, total workout 1700M.  I am going to wait another week or two and then complete a swim test.  At that point I will begin timing my workouts.  Tomorrow is bike at 5:45am at LA Fitness, and then I will work, go to class, and about 9:15pm I will get out and then head over to the gym to get in 4-5 miles of running.  Good times :)  Hope all of you had a great weekend, and I hope that all of you were wished a Happy Valentine's Day by someone who thinks you are special (friend, family, significant other, pet, etc).

Listening to the body...

So I have a history of not listening to my body.  This has led to numerous injuries some including ITB Syndrome, Plantar Fasciitis, Osgood's Schlatter, and more. With respect to this year it has been trying to stage a revolt on the scale of Egypt with President Mubarak.  I was sick for the better part of the month with a sinus infection I could not shake, I had food poisoning, and this past week my ITB band and my calves have been kind of messed up from running (precursors to former leg injuries I do not wish to repeat), and the doctor told me I am overweight and need to lose weight.  It I am usually never sick and the only time I have had sustained injuries is when I did something stupid with respect to training.  Weight has been due to my lazy ass ONCE AGAIN this off season combined with my food intake.  Crap, crap and more crap. 

Those of you who are linked to me on facebook saw my post this morning about how Bloomberg News reported McDonald's January same store sales were up 5.3% beating estimates.  I commented on I ate so many times at McDonald's in January (more than I think I ever have in my life), that I probably helped them beat analysts estimates (a funny business joke, but not funny when it comes to nutrition). 

I think I came to this epiphany last night when I was running my Chastain Extended Loop.  as I approached about 1 mile on the run, my calves really started to hurt.  I was running uphill at the time, so I thought nothing of it.  As I crested the hill to go down hill for the next half mile, my calves were locking up.  I had to eventually quit when I hit this particular intersection that would let me cut back to my car.  I walked/jogged back to my car in considerable pain.  I also had problems driving home in my car, because i have a stick shift.  I went home and stretched and put on the compression calf sleeves.  sleeves helped some.  Today I am going to stretch and roll the calves out before I go on the run to see what happens.  I wonder if it was the 2nd day soreness from Saturday's run.  I know that I did not run very long on Saturday, but I am still recovering my mileage from my lost January, where I was pretty much beginning anyways. 

I am behind the 8 ball for the Half Marathon, but I am going to take it in stride.  If I can complete a Half Ironman with virtually no training, then getting the training that I am going to get over the next 6 full weeks will be a huge step up from that.  Also the half mary is not an A race for me, it was just something for me to work up to so I know I would be ahead of the curve when it came to my Ironman training.  If I was putting in good mileage for the half mary towards the end of March, I would be in good shape coming up to the summer and for Ironman.

I've got a training plan for February.  I have been sticking to it, even if the workouts were not on the exact days that I am used to.  I am working on a nutrition plan, and hope to have that finalized in the next couple of weeks.  In the next two weeks or so I will decide how I want to tackle the main part of my season, and how to break it down with regards to building up my base, tackling a few races I have put in my season, AND Ironman specific training.  I have also been toying with the idea of joining a group or getting "informal" coaching.  I say informal coaching because I cannot afford to have the coaching I want to have (i.e. $100+ a month for personalized service). 

On that note I have been bike shopping again... More like bike Internet shopping.  Things I cannot afford :(  But I am going to try really hard to upgrade parts to my bike this year.  Main items on the list include (and will finish off this bike permanently), new wheel set, new group set, and new handlebars/aero clip-ons.  I would also like to get a bike fit for all of this.  I have a coupon for all3sports to get fit on the bike, but I want to wait until I get all the parts (except maybe the wheels) so that when I get fitted, everything will be ready to go.  I am going to go ahead and take measurements this weekend so I have something to take into the bike shop, even though they are going to measure me again and tool around with the bike.  I did get my ISM saddle, and I have not yet put it on the bike, but I am excited that I got it. 

I kinda feel like the purchase list is going to get longer this year.  Most everything I own that is triathlon related was purchased (with the exception of clothing) in 2005.  Helmet, Bike Shoes, Bike and 90% of components, etc.  Why did I have to choose such an expensive sport??? I mean a drug habit would be cheaper than all of this ;)  That is a running joke (no pun intended) I use quite frequently, some people laugh, some don't.  I guess if I joined a club of some sort I could get some discounts, but it is going to take more than that to help me out :)  I am not asking for a full ride sponsorship or a brand new bike to be purchased for me (although that would be nice), but somethings gotta give.  If I convert this to a real world experience (because triathlon is a hobby, not the real world,  unless you are a pro, hope I don't offend) it would be like having to repair your transmission, your car insurance is due and you found out that you owe taxes to the state AND federal government. 

The other issue is getting hassled by bike shops.  They never want to install parts that you purchased yourself, they only want to install parts that you purchased through them.  Something about liability or some crap.  Hey, if I buy some parts of the Net or through another 3rd party and I give them to you, and one or all of the parts are actual crap, then that is my damn fault for buying them.  I am PAYING for you to install the parts I purchased.  You are still making money by charging me labor for the install, why are you trying to screw me for not wanting to pay double for parts at your shop when I can get them for 50% off somewhere else???  Sorry I will get off of my bike box.

Speaking of which, if you live in the Atlanta area and need a full size hard case bike box with wheels and a handle for pulling while you are traveling, I will rent you mine for $25.00.  I paid $450 for mine plus shipping to my house and I have only used it once, and I have rented it to a friend one time.  Otherwise it just sits around collecting dust until my next traveling event or I have to move a body :)

This week I am getting the swim and bike back into my workouts, but still mostly run focused.  So that this point for the next few weeks (and because school is still crazy) I will have a couple swims and a couple of bike rides/spin classes a week to get back into the swing of things.  By the end of February I will have gotten my feet week and some miles under my bike and I will kick it up a notch in March.  April will be a great month because I have three weeks off from school, and then I will be MIA socially May-2nd week of August because of Grad school + training.  Then I will be done with school and can peak in August and September with my training, taper October, and BAM!  Race day will be upon me!

So I have gotten way off track on this post.... where was I?  Oh yes listening to my body!  Well I just need to spend more time listening to it and less time in my head ignoring it and telling my body what I think it should do regardless of its state. 

Have any of you forgotten to listen to your body?  What happened?

Have a great week!

The Friday Review...

Hi Everyone,

    Hope all of your training and everything else going on in your life is great.  I have decided that I am going to make my Fridays the end of my blogging and training weeks.  I thought this a good idea for two reasons.  One, my day off usually is Friday for many reasons, and two, I treat my Saturday's and Sunday's like the beginning of my work week, so I figured having Friday as a review/last day of the week would work out well.

     I ran Sun/Mon/Tue and it was friggin cold every night, and it rained on Tuesday night, so that is another one in the IM bank for me.  IM Florida was damn cold this past year, and while things may change for this coming year's event, I want to have every miserable training experience imaginable so that when race day comes, I am either prepared or pleasently suprised.  Wedesday night I opted not to workout in favor of cramming for my exam on Thu night.  I got a bit of food poisoning from Willy's Wed night so I stayed at home pretty much all day Thursday except to take my exam, and then went straight home.  I talked to one of my classmates this morning, and she told me that class was really hard after the exam.  I don't know if that is a product of having your brain fried with an exam and then more class or just the material was hard, however, not something to look forward to. 

     I plan on running after work today to try and make up for wed/thu.  I know you cannot make up days, however, I can work out on my day off to make up for a missed workout during my training week.  About 8 weeks and change till the Publix Georgia Half Marthon, and Wes is already talking smack about whipping my butt on the course.  He actually may very well do so, but I will accept his challenge nonetheless.  It's on like Donkey Kong!!!

     I will be up in Raleigh this weekend and I am taking the running shoes with me.  The weather is supposed to be great, and I don't wanna miss out on that.  Weather has been too crappy lately, although I have been a good sport and participated in it anyways.  I need to break in my new pair of shoes I got for Christmas, ASICS GT-2150.  I will have some sort of shoe review after I use them for a week or two.

Get out there and have a good time this weekend, whatever you do!

Murtha...

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Hi Everyone!  Happy Monday.

I hope that everyone is enjoying their new year.  I know I have, for the most part.  The holidays were great and I got to see all of my family at the same time for the first time in 3 and a half years.  Gets a bit harder when you are spread out all over the US.  Just after New Year's I came down with a really bad case of sinusitis, and it is still holding on just a bit, even after taking Levaquin for a week straight.  Ever since I had my acute episode in college, it seems it hits me once a year, and it is getting harder and harder to shake each time.  That coupled with the Snowpocalypse in Atlanta two weeks ago, and my training took a serious punch to the gut.

Fortunately my "A" race is in November so I am not too worried about that, however, I am participating in the Publix Georiga Half Marathon at the end of March, so I need to get up to speed with that.  Otherwise besides getting back into training, I have just been working and schooling.  I graduate in August, and then I have to take the CPA exam.  Woohoo!  More money to shell out and testing!

Doctor also said I have gained quite a bit of weight. Great, so now I am a fat ass.  Hopefully my training will help me to alleviate that.  Most of my training before the holidays and this past week has been run focused due to the immediate half marathon coming up.

Family definitely came through for the holidays though.  Patsy got me a new Xterra Wetsuit, parents got me the new Asics GT-2150's, and the family got me about $150 in All3Sports gift certificates that are burning a hole in my pocket.  Need to do some upgrades to my bike.....

Lots of running coming up this week, need to get my 2011 schedule on the site and do some other various upgrades to the site.  Technology changes so fast and if you don't keep up then your blog ends up without all the cool new blog gadgets that one NEEDS ;)  However, posting does take precedence. 

Hope all of you have a great week in general and with your training.  Keep it up!

Murtha...

What's your Opinion? The meaning of Ironman vs. the Ironman brand

Good Morning!

So I have missed some workouts this week, and I am sure I will miss a few more between now and next Thursday.  Reason?  I have two finals next week, Tuesday and Thursday, and I had some quizzes and a paper due last night as well.  Starting next Friday (for me) is winter break, and that lasts until January 4th.  I should be able to really ramp it up during those three and a half weeks.  Always trying to be the glass is half full type of guy :)  Not much else to talk about in my life (tri life as well), so let's move onto the topic I really wanted to talk about!

On Wednesday this week, Bloomberg's "Taking Stock" show hosted the CEO of the World Triathlon Corporation, Ben Fertic.  Ben was on to not only talk about the sport of triathlon and its strong long term growth, but the World Triathlon Corporation's brands.  These include Ironman, Ironman 70.3, and the 5150 triathlon series.  In short summary, this interview was really great and informative, and Ben was also to give us a backdrop about how triathlon formed (for those of us who don't know) and also how the Ironman really got ramped up from 15 crazy guys racing to the hallowed world championship event that it is today.

The part of the interview that really hit me was the branding of these events.  We all talk about Ironman, whether you have done one, you are going to do one, or just throw it around in casual conversation with your tri (or non tri) buddies.  I guess what is really obvious, Ironman as a brand, is also really elusive.  Although Ironman is not technically a monopoly in the Ironman market (Beach 2 Battleship, Rev3 Long Course, Silverman, etc), the long (or ultra long) triathlon distance is akin to monopolistic competition.  I guess the best analogy is Microsoft.  Sure there are other OS software systems (Apple's Mac OS, Unix, Linux, etc), but Microsoft dominates the market by a very large margin, hence monopolistic competition. 

Another way to look at this issue.  What do you call a short sleeved 2 or 3 button cotton shirt with a collar? (No I am not gonna hit enter 500 times and make you forward this to 10 friends to find out the answer).  Polo shirt.  While everyone makes this type of shirt, the phrase "Polo Shirt" has successfully been in our vernacular for years.  Another one.... Tissue that you blow your nose with?  Kleenex!  You don't ask for a tissue, OK I guess a few people do, but most people I know ask for a Kleenex.

So bringing this back to triathlon.  I have been thinking of getting a new tattoo.  My first tattoo is my fraternity letters and my badge number from the chapter I was initiated at.    This is located on my right shoulder blade, and was crudely done on purpose because I wanted to make it look natural and like it was hand done, not with some fancy font template.  My fraternity is really important to me, and I am still really involved over ten and a half years after I was initiated. 

On a side note, for those of you who say you "were" in a Greek organization, you signed up and took an oath to be a member for like, so quit saying when you "were" in a fraternity/sorority.  And go back and say hey to the new guys/girls that are there now, or whichever university is closest to you, they will appreciate it.

Back on Track.... Triathlon has been really important in my life as well.  I have finished my 6th full season (since 2005) and I don't plan on stopping.  I also completed my first Ironman in 2009.  At that point I felt that was important point in my life (re: triathlon) and wanted to mark it with something memorable.  I thought I would get a "m-dot" tattoo on my left shoulder blade to mark the completion with my Ironman.  Just like my first tattoo, I have sat on the issue for a really long time to make sure it was I really wanted.  Yes I know there is technology to remove tattoos now, but for all intensive purposes it is permanent. 

After listening to this interview, I now don't think I want to get one.  It would be similar to getting a Delta tattoo because I love to fly delta, or a Zaxby's tattoo because I really love their chicken finger plate.  Instead I think I would get a tattoo similar to one of those car stickers that just says "140.6" or 70.3" (half iron distance).  I want to mark and commemorate the event that was completing a triathlon of that distance, however I don't want that necessarily to be related to a brand.

The problem is that Ironman has become synonymous with long distance triathlon.  If one is trying to describe a ultra long or long distance course to a newbie triathlete or someone who does not know what triathlon is then you will almost always reference "iron distance" or "half iron distance" race.  Or if you are having trouble explaining the race, you might throw up your hands and say it is an "Ironman" or "Half Ironman."

On the other hand, the Ironman brand is a great brand.  Expensive as it may be, I have never had a complaint regarding a race when I have completed an Ironman or Ironman 70.3 3event.  Ok I did just think of one... And WTC I hope you are taking notes :)  There was nowhere in the race info packet about having reflective material on your running gear, and then on Friday evening (race was on Sunday) they say this in the meeting.  Thank goodness there was a Sports Authority nearby.  I grabbed the next to the last pack of reflective stickers and the cashier made a point of saying that happened to be a popular item that day. I cannot say the same thing for other races that I have completed.  The Peachtree City Tri Club puts on a world class show just south of Atlanta, but MANY of the other race companies leave MUCH to be desired. 

That being said, I think that the WTC needs to be careful.  Like Microsoft, straying away from what the public really wants, at the price they want it at, can create great unrest and fierce competition.  Hence events such as Beach2Battleship, Rev3 Long Course, Silverman, Great Floridian, etc...  I think though there is going to have to be someone with a vision like the WTC to create a competitive brand that can compete with the WTC.  Also I think this will drive better quality races out of the WTC and the competing firms, as well as keep the prices down. 

Other than inflation increases, I don't think that WTC can raise its prices too much higher or it will have a great amount of falloff from the general age group athletes.  Many of these Iron-Distance events can be at least $100-200 cheaper than the Ironman Branded races.  I have heard that Silverman is a top notch event, it is close to my parents in Nevada, and it is $200 cheaper if I pay early.  With my service fee through Active.com, I paid $603.75 for Ironman Florida 2011, $575 of which was the actual entry fee.  When I think about what I receive over the 4 day weekend when I am there, I can directly attribute about $200 of that to what I can see and experience, and the other $375 I don't really see or I am not aware of (obviously some of this portion is for staff salaries, website maintenance, building rent for HQ, renting police for the bike course, etc...). 

However, with all of the volunteers that participate, I wonder how much they could drive their costs down if they better managed the volunteer process.  I volunteered at Ironman Florida '10, and while I had a great time and WILL volunteer again, I was less than impressed with the management of the Volunteer process.  Volunteers not knowing what to do, where to go, too many volunteers in some areas and not enough in other areas.  I think if they spent a small amount of human investment in better training and organization of the volunteers, then they would yield much better results on pre race/race/post race events.  That and they could afford to allocate resources to more important areas thus saving both human and investment capital.  They could then pass this as savings back to the age groupers that sign up in long lines to compete in their events.  If you look at the competitors to Ironman, there is a $200 or more price discrepancy.  Maybe then again, Ironman is the Louis Vuitton of ultra long triathlons, and events such as Silverman are the Target of ultra long triathlons (not a knock on Silverman, I love Target and I love Silverman).

This is also not a knock on the WTC or the Ironman brand, just my thoughts on the topic.  I will say though, as a free market economist, if someone comes up with as good as or better brand than the WTC for cheaper, then I will be the first in line.  However, I am still waiting... and so is the tattoo.


Have a great weekend!  Train hard, train smart,


Murtha...

Taking the Thanksgiving holiday in stride

First off, I hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving holiday.

I see Thanksgiving (from a triathlon perspective) as the beginning of a season where there is lots of partying, eating, staying up late night, couch surfing, tons of football (for you football fanatics), traveling, family/friend/significant other obligations... In short, lots of stuff to distract you from your off season training.  As for my training, I definitely missed some workouts over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, but I don't really mind.  I know that this is going to happen throughout this holiday season, so I am just going to do my best to stay the course and if I miss or need to move a workout here and there due to some sort of holiday season shenanigans, then so be it.  No need to stress out about missing a work out here or there for an event that is almost a year away.   :)

I feel that taking this attitude takes away most of the stress of training during this time of year, and lets you focus on the more important things in life.

Back to a normal week this week.  Tonight I have my short run of the week, and then tomorrow it is a 2x day of swimming and cycling.  I am trying to get back into the spin class gig, but since I don't have a LAFitness right next to me anymore, I have lost the motivation to go.  Same goes for swimming as well, since that is also the place where I do my laps at.

I also want to get some strength training in this winter.  This will help with my weight management, as well as overall interval training.  That's pretty much it for today, short and sweet.  Will have more for all of you later this week!


Murtha...

Hump Day has come and gone... and power in numbers

Too busy to actually get this post out on Wednesday, so what's another day?

I have gotten in the workouts I have needed this week, just fewer than normal (my idea of a taper for a "B" race).  Runs have been ok, Tuesday's swim was hella good for me, and last night's bike ride was a beast.  I have been pretty dedicated to the Wed Night Atlanta Cycling ride since I began group rides this year.  Last night there were three really nasty accidents within the first 9 miles of the ride.  The first two crashes there were multiple riders that went down, but everyone was able to get up and keep going.  This slowed down the pace a bit.  After we got near the Brookhaven area near the golf course, there was a third wreck where a single rider caught a rut and went down.  broke his handle bars, right arm was all messed up, and he thinks he bruised a few ribs.  I was in the back of the group (as usual :) and I had to slide to a stop.  I have not slid to a stop since I was a teenager with a mountain bike.  Almost hit the guy as well.  It took him a good 4-5 minutes to get up, and then we got out our tools to fix what we could of his remaining handle bars so he could at least ride back home. 

By that time we were so far behind we cut out this three mile loop and rejoined the "B" group (there is not really an official B group, just the large group that falls off from the front about halfway through the ride).  Last week my average speed for the 25 mile ride was 17.1.  This week doing the 22 mile ride and rejoining with the "B" group I finished averaging 18.3!!!!  Please note that although the beginning of the ride was slower than normal, and I probably got a bit of rest in that 5-6 I stayed behind in the wreck, that is a huge improvement.  And one reason why.... the group.

There is something about riding in a group that keeps you going, and going faster.  I usually always get dropped before the golf course, so I never have a chance to hold on, but cutting off those three miles and staying with the group for the remainder of the ride had my average go up more than an mile per hour.  I was in the back of the group the entire time I was with one, but i hung with them nonetheless.  One of the "A" group guys saw me after the ride, and said that he had seen that face before, the one that says "I don't know if I wanna throw up, pass out, pitch a fit, have a heart attack, etc."  I told him, yup that is what I was feeling and he laughed.  If I would have stayed "dropped" and did that three mile loop, I would have been solo and and no incentive other than my own determination to keep going.  I would have finished, however, I can guarantee you that I would have not come close to 18.3 mph.  It is so much easier to back off when you are by yourself.

It got me thinking last night.  While triathlon is such an individual sport, there are so many benefits to training in groups it is ridiculous.  There will always be some training items in your week where you will be solo, but you NEED to incorporate some group training as well.  Masters swim, group rides, group track workouts or group runs.  And get a good mix of people in there with you!  Don't just beg your boy/girlfriend to go out to appease you (unless they are faster than you!)  Get people of all abilities, and you will all push each other.  Definitely make sure that there are people better than you in your group that you can push yourself towards and learn from. 

Whether that is joining a team, or the more economical method I employ (hitting up group rides and runs for free), just do it!  The gains and benefits are just to great to ignore.  Improving your performance while gaining new friends and experiences is wonderful.  Hell just go out with you and a buddy and challenge each other when you are out swimming, biking, or running.  When my friend James lived in Atlanta we would do that to each other on the bike, please realize when I was pulling he was probably coasting behind me, but nevertheless I was doing the work!  And when he pulled, well lets just say I was hanging on to his slipstream for dear life!!! Thanks coach Blaylock!

I have a few more small runs lined up and one more swim tomorrow morning, along with the group swim on Saturday morning in Knoxville.  When I got home last night, I got the tri clothes cleaned, made sure that the speed laces on my shoes were to my liking by running up and down the hallway of my bldg a few times.  I cleaned my bike (ie wiping excess grease off and cleaning the wheels, taking off a profile design sticker that is fraying and falling off).  If nothing else my '05 Specialized Allez will look good this weekend even if I don't ;)

Tonight after I get back from swing dance class, I need to get in a run, and then clean my wetsuit and wipe down my bike rack that has been sitting on the back porch collecting pollen.  Put that on top of the car before I got to bed... I am going to get one of those $4 car wash and hand dry deals up the street from me, so it is clean before I put the rack on. 

Finally,  I was thinking of waiting for this before the team actually announced it, but I wanted to get a head start just in case I needed to make my friends and blogger buddies aware.....

EvoTri 2010:  Making the Team!

I entered into the mix again!  I have been following these wonderful, great, energetic people since the team's inception, and even before that (when the original group was known as team raceAthlete).  It has been a wonderful experience to watch these guys grow and perform as a team for this many years, as well as to inspire so many people.  I really want to be part of this team and contribute what I have so that the mission of team EvoTri endures.  A few of you guys had already figured it out from me eluding to my race season later on in the year, since I would be required to attend 2010 WIBA and Rev3 Cedar Point.  Stay tuned!  In previous years they have allowed the blogging population and the entrant's friends vote for who they wanted on the team, we shall see how they pick this year.

Will probably be my last blog post before the race,  unless I have something important or enlightening to say before Sunday.  I am also about a third of the way getting my IronMan race report from 2009 on my blog.  While the post itself is not too important, I just want to get it on the site so I have a record of it.  I am kind of ashamed I did not get it on the site right after the race, since my training levels dropped off and had plenty of free time. 

Have a good rest of your week!  Train hard!

Race Week!

Hooray for race week!

I just re-upped my membership to USAT for 2010.  I guess that means I better be in at least 4 events this year.  Rev3 sent out their race packet info yesterday, and I have already poured through it.  I am planning on getting there early enough to do the group swim at 10am on Saturday morning (hopefully I will see Sarah!), then going to meet up with Mike and his fiance around 12pm.  Do one of the afternoon athlete meetings, pick up my race packet, drive the course, rack my bike, then screw around for the rest of the evening and enjoy being out of Atlanta for a change.  Hopefully I will get to see a bit of Wes as well outside of racing, but if not, I will be at the finish line waiting for him and Sarah!  Wes and Sarah are doing the half, while Mike and I are doing the Olympic distance.

The nerves and excitement of the first race of the year always get to me.  Not that I am nervous, I just have all this energy I need to direct somewhere.  I cannot believe it is already May.  I will sign up for the VA Highlands SummerFest 5K with Patsy next weekend when I get paid, and then it will be crunch time to sign up for some of the rest of my races for the remainder of the year.  Some of them now are selling out due to popularity, and it gets kinda frustrating for people trying to make ends meet, and pay for race fees without putting them on credit cards and the like.  Ironman was an exception, and I will never regret that, but some of these local races..... :)  Maybe I just need to find some new ones that are under the radar! 

As for the 5K  I am happy that I get to coach Patsy through her first 5K that she is going to run in.  She has done some before, but they were more just for participaing in, and she walked the entire course.  I told her that I would be running her pace throughout the entire event.  This is her race, not mine :)

Weekend workouts went great!  My favorite was the OWS at Lake Allatoona on Saturday morning.  Wes turned me onto it (it is orgainzed by the Concourse Tri Club in Atlanta).  I think there were around 20+ people that showed up and there was support (people in kayaks) and they were very focused on the buddy system, which I thought was pretty cool.  I did just under a mile (probably around 1500M) in just under 29 minutes... I am sure my wetsuit had something to do with that... now if I can just get it off in less than 7 minutes I will beat my only other olympic tri swim time when I did not wear a wetsuit.  Oh and did I mention that 3/4 of the swim in Knoxville is downstream?  Sweet.

I think I have may put down West Pointe on the schedule, but I might X that and then juggle my schedule around for the rest of the season.  I just have a lot of stuff going on right now outside of triathlon, and it is making things diffucult (don't people realize that triathlon is a priority, jusk kidding :).  Either that or I will just scale back and find a sprint that weekend rather than doing another olympic before Chattanooga Waterfront Triathlon.

Got the speed laces on my Asics GT-2140's and I have run in my shoes barefoot, a little bit... I am going to get a few more barefoot runs in my shoes before the weekend so my feet are ready for the no socks on bike+no socks on run = janked up feet!!!!!  Probably practice taking off my wetsuit a few times, or make sure there is some COPIOUS amounts of lube on my ankles before the race.

Have any of you guys suffered from pre-race jitters on  your first race of the season?  Let me know!

F#@&ing Bike Gremlins :)

You didn't know about bike gremlins???

Are you serious???

And you always wondered why in the hell things with your bike all seem to happen around the same time.  The bike gremlin, as shown below, is a small creature that roams our lands in search of dedicated cyclists and triathletes who are serious about their cycling.  Once they find one, they blend into our natural surroudings and wait for an opportune moment to strike.  This usually results in flat tires, improperly functioning shifting, wheel spokes snapping, front and or rear derialleurs not working properly, bottom bracket creaking, etc...

There you go!  Damned Gremlins!  If you see one of these buggers, make sure you take it out! 

So this week's workout schedule is getting filled out fairly well.  I have hit all but one workout this week.  As for the gremlins I posted about, It all started last week with a flat, and then another flat on Wed night before the Atlanta Cycling ride.  It was the front wheel, and as I took it off, I saw that the puncture/rip on the tube was at the stem again.  I looked at the rim, and I realized that the rim tape around the valve stem hole had worn down so much there was metal visible.  I took the wheel into the shop and they put on new rim tape, and also showed me a neat trick.  You take an old tube, cut a small square piece, and then poke a hole big enough for the valve stem.  put the piece of tube around the valve stem, and BAM! you have extra protection for you tube around the base of the valve stem.  You learn something new every day.  Second, I have had problems with shifting and the rear derailleur for the past two weeks.  Shifting has been horrible.  I know it has something to do with adjusting those screws in the back, but I still have not tinkered with the gearing enough (yet) to be comfortable with it. 

And then there was the Buckhead Bellyache last night.  Oh yes I was going to go back to back 20+ mile nights during my training (for some of you laughing right now, that is a lot for me based on my training volume at this time).  I was going up a hill about 3 miles and change into the ride and... SNAP!  Spoke on the front wheel broke off the hub.  Damned bike gremlins!  I got about 6.5 miles out of the whole deal after I slowly rode back to the Cathedral.  I then decided I might as well do a brick workout and go over to Atlanta Memorial Park.  I did one lap.  I completely forgot to bring my watch and/or Garmin for the ride, so I just looked at my cellphone when I left my car and when I got back.  About 14 min for the 1.8mi loop.  Did not pay attention to how long the short ride took, considering that I had to go slow on the way back.

Going to take the bike today during lunch and get it fixed.  Got a run tonight, and then an open water swim tomorrow morning before I head up to Athens for the Twilight Crit.  One of my fraternity brothers, Mark Babcock, is racing in the pro event tomorrow evening, so if you are going to be there, please cheer him on!  Sunday I will get in a run (and a ride if I can get my bike back before then, my shop is closed on Sundays).

Just under 16 days until race day!  I don't expect to have a good finishing time.  I don't even think I am going to sub-3 hour the event.  But you know what?  I am damn excited for this season to be here, and I am damn excited for my first race of the year!  You guys work hard, party harder, and train like crazy!  Be safe, and have a good weekend! 

"What's that coming down the track...?"

No,

I am not going to finish this with the rest of a UGA fight song.  I was more referring to the fact that I was going to my blog today to click on all my friends links to read thier blogs.  I then saw my countdown clocks (one that needs to be updated - the running one) and the other is telling me that I have 4 weeks and two days left until Rev3 Knoxville. 

This will be my first tri event of the year, and I am very excitied about it!  I am not expecting too much from this race, since my training this year has been at best, erratic.  I just want to get out there again and race!  The best part is that I am going to have some of my friends there with me racing!  Mike is doing the Olympic Distance with me, and then Wes and Sarah are doing the Half-Iron distance even the same day.  Furthermore, Patsy and Melissa are coming along as the cheering section for Mike and I, and then I think that we will stay for Wes and Sarah to finish (no I have not told the rest of our group that, but I would hate for their not to be a cheering section for them as well!!!)

I have been getting more consistent about working out, but I have gotten sick 3 times in the last two months, all of them sinus issues.  They really set me back.  I can technically work out with them, but my swimming suffers because of the pressure, and some nights when I get home from work I feel like absolute crap.  Two nights ago I got home and felt like I could barely make dinner, much less go for a run, and last night I came home with the worst headache, as if I was developing a case of sinusitus again.  I need to get over this ASAP!!!!   (Is there a doctor in the house???)

My birthday is this weekend.  I am officially in the Men's 30-34 AG now.  Technically by way of USAT that was January first, however, my first race of the year is not until after my birthday.  I think I am going from the 4th or 5th hardest AG up to the 3rd hardest AG.  So much for my long term plan of being awsome before I got into a harder AG ;)  My girlfriend planned an entire evening for me on Sat night, and then I will spend Sunday hungover on  my birthday watching the Masters on my couch :)  But not before I get some workouts in prior to the debauched evening that will occur on Satuday night.  Do I feel older?  Hell no!  But I am beginning to notice that I don't bounce back as quick as I used to when I get injured or sick.  Oh well, I will keep enjoying life and forget about the age factor.  It does not affect my outlook on life :) 

The following weekend is the Sweetwater420 Fest 5K.  The awsome thing about that is it starts around 11am, rather than 7:30-8:00a like most races.  While it will be hotter than normal due to the time of day, there will be beer at the finish line, and that makes me happy.  I have done a few interval runs around Atlanta Memorial Park (1.8mi loop) and I have been running those in the 13:30 range, which is about 7:30/mi pace.  I think I am going to head over to Chastain Park in the next few days (2.56 mi loop) and see if I can hold that pace over that distance.  Methinks no (unless I want to throw up afterwards, which is an option).

I successfully signed up for the Peachtree Road Race (World Largest 10K and host to this years US Men's 10K national championships) after the ING Georgia Marathon & Half Marathon.  I may have already told you guys that.  The ING is dropping Atlanta as one of the many marathons it sponsors.  Word on the street is that the new executive that they hired in charge of these events is not an avid runner like his predecessor.  Anyways, after Peachtree I don't have another road race until August which is a 5K and then September (US 10K Classic). 

Need to renew my USAT membership, it expires in May of this year.  Not that they need any more of my money :)  Just kidding, they are a great organization, I just wish that I could have a couple year's worth of entry fees back since I did fewer than 4 races in those years.  I do like how they show you your overall ranking once you have completed enough races for the year.  Not that I am going to come out on top, but I love stats and I like to see how I stand up to the field at the end of the year.

I hope everyone else's training is going well, and I will be trying to catch up with all of you guys and gals, as well as trying to update some more of my blog.

Lovely weekend, wasn't it?

Well,

      I was so glad I was able to get out and get some workouts completed outside!  The weather was great this weekend.  Saturday I got a 70 min run in (~7.1 miles).  I left around 10:30am.  I really need to go walk outside of my building before I go bike or run, because by mile 2 I had already taken my jacket off and ran with it the other 5 miles.  It got really warm (there was little wind).  Sunday I got out in Roswell on the river and rode for almost an hour.  I still have a bit of saddle sore.  And just like after running on a treadmill most of the winter, riding outside was definately an eye opener.  What???  That incline seems really hard.  Did I really just have to downshift for that? 

On a related note, I will need to take my bike in this week to get the rear derailleur repaired, as the shifting on the rear cassette is kind of messed up.  I missed my swim workout this weekend and paid for it this morning when I had my swim workout.  I thought it to be a good idea after warming up to begin my swim workout with nothing but swimming with the pull bouy for a bit.  While it is great to build upper body strength, my arms were fried by the time I stopped to continue regular freestyle intervals.  Fried.  As in, thank god my arms are resting on the desk while I type this. 

My favorite running shoe store is sponsoring a 10K on March 6th and one of my blogger peeps is nagging me about doing it (succombing to the peer pressure!).  I now agree that it would be a good idea just to test myself and see where I am at (10K distance), before my half marathon on March 21st.  I also need to get some new running shoes.  I saw the price for the Asics GT 2150 (2010 model) and I about yelled in the store (City Sports).  I think I might go online to see how much the GT 2140's are, or call Genie and find out if she has any left in stock from 2009.  I think I am to the point now in my run workouts to actually begin putting intervals back in.  Once the weather gets nicer, I will be able to focus on doing track workouts at the gym (or at a local high school), and then the rest of my workouts outside.

I see I am going to have to devote more time to cycling after my humbling ride on Saturday.  I need to map out a strategy for that.  I think I will need to find some time on Saturday or Sunday to put in a hill workout until it stays light enough outside in the evenings to complete during the week.  Thankfully now that I work near the Sandy Springs ride, Roswell Ride, and not too far away from the Vinings ride, I will have lots of optionss in the afternoon (as long as I bring my bike along). 

On the weight loss front, I am down almost 7 pounds (on average) from when I started mid January.  I will say though, now that I am burning on average over 1000 calories a day, I am hungry ALL THE TIME!  I am eating pretty well, but I am having to eat smaller meals more often to stave off the hunger.  I have a stash of food in one of my drawers at work just in case.  Big improvements back into my diet are dairy and fruits (veggies have always kinda been there), and I am doing physillum husk fiber daily as well as some antioxidant pills (acai).

Begun updating the site (other than the makeover in January), I updated my blogging buddies, and I have added two countdown timers for tris and road races.  Got some more to update.  Hopefully will post tomorrow with some mid week stuff as well as some news and SE events/ongoings! 

Train hard! Work hard! Party Harder!

Catching up!

Wow!

     You being to get motivated and things happen and then next thing you know is that almost two weeks have gone by and you have not posted a dang thing!  Oh well.  Here is my attempt at catching up.

I was not able to make it to the Friday evening event and mixer because I got off of work late and there was not way I was making it from the North side of Atlanta to Peachtree City by 7pm (and stopping @ my house).  I can barely make it there from my house in Atlanta on a weekend.  So I got up Saturday morning and got my swim gear ready and made it down to the 1pm swim clinic.  There were about 30+ people there, most of which were from the south side of Atlanta and/or on the Peachtree City Tri Club.  I met Anne, one of the members/officers of the Peachtree City Tri Club, and she got me set up, and it was into the pool for an 800M warmup.  Wait an 800M warmup???  Please remember that swimming is not my strong point in triathlons and I was never on a swim team, and I have never been formally coached.  My idea of a warmup is a couple laps down and back in the pool.  "Enough with the bitching already Andy!!!"  About that time Desiree Ficker and April Gellatly showed up (just coming from the previous bike clinic they were also hosting).  They ran the rest of the swim clinic.  There were so many of us there, while we were doing drills they would assist and give people tips on ways to improve their swim stroke.  I was able to speak with Desiree for a few minutes, and she helpee me with a big problem I was having with my swim stroke... It is still going to take some more practice to get rid of that bad habit completely, but I am working at it every swim workout.  After the practice was over, I went and spoke with both girls for a few minutes, thanked them both for coming out to help us, and then thanked Anne for hosting the event.  Next year I will make sure I get into work early/leave early so I have time for the event.  They had a pro male athlete last year (Chris Leito maybe???)  and I completely missed that event.  Kudos to whoever in the organization is able to get these big names out here.

In the training department, I am really ramping up my workouts/week, as well as getting all three disciplines involved again.  I am still shorting myself on the bike, but I am going to sit down and fix my flat rear tire that has been like that for a week now, and get that sucker hooked up to the trainer for some workouts this week.  Running is getting better.  My best workout for the week was a 50 min tempo run (on the dreadmill) where I began @ 5.5mph and negative split every quarter mile up to 1.25 miles, and then kept going every half mile after that till I was done (increase was .1mph, maxed out @ 6.7mph by the time 50 min was up)... by the time I was done, I was doing close to a 9:00/mi pace at the end of my run.  I decided against doing track workouts and instead focusing on negative split tempo workouts until the ING half has come and gone.  While track workouts also help in making you a faster runner, I am still logging early season base mileage (I know I am behind).

I need to decide in the next couple of weeks if I am going to do The Chattahooche Waterfront Tri or not, because it is going to determine whether or not one of my "A" races will be Rev3 Knoxville or the Chattahooche Waterfront Tri.  For those of you who live in the SE USAT District, the Chattahooche Waterfront Tri is the Regional Championship for qualifiying towards the AG Nationals in Tuscaloosa this year.  This means unlike some other regular qualifiers where only the top 10% get into AG Nationals, the top 33% in each AG qualify at the Regional Championship.  This would be a huge PR for me if I could qualify in my AG especially since I have moved up to the 30-34M group (I think I went from the 5th hardest AG to the 3rd hardest AG).  This would also be a huge PR for me at the olympic distance as well.  The last Oly I did was in 2008 (West Pointe Tri - Hosted by GA Multisport Productions), and I did not train properly for the event and finished just under three hours.  I looked at the times, and I think realistically I can come close, so why not at least try and see what happens.

Tomorrow I am going to try and get my weekly stats up on the site.  Wed I will post more and try to have a bit of news up on the site as well.  Have fun, be safe, and train hard!

Cross Training Injury!!!

Good Afternoon!

    So only 7 days into my 2010 training and s#!^ happens!  I was out on Saturday with a whole bunch of friends playing flag football.  Well I don't like to do anything half-assed, so I decide that I am going to try and play like Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson and be some awsome wide receiver.  Well that resulted in a bruised tailbone (which is almost healed as of today), sore neck, huge knot on the back of my head (resulting from a 35-40yd pass I caught in the air and then landed on my back, and my head smacking against the ground so hard other players heard it), and last but certainly not least, a bruised/fractured rib on my right side.  That occured on a play where I dove out for a ball, did not get it and then landed with my right arm under my right side.

     Have any of you ever had a bruised/fractured rib before???  This is my first time and I am not happy about it.  I did some research last night on WebMD and found that it generally takes 6-8 weeks to heal and all you can really do is take pain meds and don't try to be too active............... wait what?!?!!?!  I was going to get on the trainer Sat after the game, but as I was inflating my tires.... hiiisssssssss.... I forgot about the physics of rubber when exposed to freezing temperatures for long durations.  As I removed the pump valve from the tires, it separated the stem from the tube and all the air decided to come out.  At that point I was done for Saturday.  Sunday did not do much because of the pain, yesterday either.  This morning I ran 3 miles on the dreadmill and I basically tolerated the pain.  I have not tried to ride a bike since this happened, and my range of motion is limited with my right arm so no swimming for now (Not to mention more resistance in the water).

     I did not get around to editing the site this weekend, so it will have to wait until next weekend.  I am kinda pissed I already missed a few days, but I am dealing with it.  Take this thing one day at a time (for 6-8 weeks :)

     I am thinking of changing my schedule just a bit.  It turns out quite a few of my friends might do the My First Tri/My Next Tri at Lake Lanier in June.  I don't want to complete that event because I want to compete with them, I just think it would be fun to do an event with lots of people I know.  I think the race with the most people I knew had to only be 3-4 people and a race in the Atlanta area.  This could potentially push 10 people, and not to mention everyone else that is going to come if we have that many people show up.

     As for everything else, i am just working and studying for the GMAT.  I am going to try and get my graduate school application finished by this weekend.  Talk to you soon!

You know you are out of shape when...

Good Afternoon!

     I was very suprised at my ability to get up early most days this week and workout.  There have been a few days where I slept in that extra hour and change and went to the gym in the evening.  Man was that a mistake.  I put in two small pool workouts, however, with running, I did not even try to get on a treadmill on Wed (there were 12 people waiting in line and there must be about 25 treadmills at our gym) and Thu I just happened to get out of the pool and dried off at the right time to catch the one sole treadmill available.  Of course we are in the full swing of "New Year's Resolution" members, and it makes for a horrible experience for the rest of us.  Please do not get me wrong, I would love for everyone to have some sort of fitness goal AND see it through.  HOWEVER, year after year I watch as the first 6-8 weeks of the year show me nothing but horribly crowded gyms.  And then between mid-February and March, it just clears up, and you can finally again have little to no wait for a cardio or weight machine Mon-Wed.

     If you are going to do it, see it through!!!  I want you to meet all of your goals, but if you are not going to even going to make it through eight weeks, then don't waste the money or time.  Sorry, for some of you may feel that is a polarized view on this, but I feel strongly about it and find it to be one of my pet peeves. (Off the soapbox)

     So for some of you, there is a running backgroud that exists.  Others have a cycling background, and for ther rest of you, swimming.  I think the true test of fitness for people that are of the first two discliplines, jump in the pool!  My fitness background stems from running.  I could not run for months and get out there and complete a 5K or 10K.  I would not be breaking any world records, but I could do it.  On the flipside, I do know how to swim, but put me in a pool when I have not been in one in almost 7 months... I am outta shape!!!  Maybe this is something we can have a debate on, but I think out of the three sports, swimming is by far the hardest sport to master and one that you have to be in top shape to do reasonably well in.  I thought I was gonna die in the pool on Wednesday!!!  Kinda comical actually.

    This weekend is going to be busy.  Patsy and I are meeting some friends tonight at a new trendy pizza place that opened in Midtown (Atlanta) tonight.  The guy (Mike) is doing Rev3 in Knoxville with my friend James and myself this May.  Sat is early bike ride (if the weather holds up) and then flag football @ 12:30p.  Afternoon run afterwards, and then early run Sunday because I am in a poker tournament that begins @ 1:45p.  My plan is to add swimming and cycling back in a little each week while also adding to the distance in each workout!  Sounds like a good plan to me. 

     Just over two months until ING Georgia (half) Marathon.  I think I should be ready for it.  I am a bit behind in my training, but I would rather train up a mile or two short on mileage for the event rather than go all out and risk an injury.  I am confident I will be ready to go.  I am officially signed up for Rev3 now.  So that is good, and I am looking at the next 3-4 tris and road races to see when I need to sign up for them.  You guys all have a good weekend!  I will be catching up on blog reading and trying to finish up my blog editing.

The "Week - end" Report

Good Afternoon All!

I hope everyone had a great week this week!  My "year" started on Saturday by going to the gym in the evening and running for 30 minutes.  I wanted this to be base training, and although I am not strictly focusing on heart rate, I am paying close attention and allowing it to govern how fast/far I go.  As for anyone who has been off training for any discipline (for any reason), it is hard to get back into the "groove."  But when you do, it feels great! My mental attitude the past two days has been amazing, regardless of what has been going on.  Even looking at personal issues such as my weight, etc, is not a big deal anymore, because I know there is a process that is going to lead me to something better (great things, hopefully).  I will go so far as to borrow a word from Joseph's Blog, resolve.  I think by having some sort of resolve in one's life creates the opportunity to bring everything else into balance.  In just a few short days, I am seeing things in a new, refreshed manner, and a clarity that has not been there for quite some time.

I spent some time getting my training notes and my training log back in order this weekend.  I am using a Microsoft Excel worbook I created for my Ironman in 2009.  It got abandoned after a month or so, but I kept it nonetheless.  I dusted the cobwebs off of the workbook this weekend, added some more information, formulas, and a few tables for end of week/end of month results.  While I am sure it is not as complete as some of the training websites and other, more advanced logs, It works for me now :)  I can always borrow new material to add to my log as I go along.

Well, my totals for the end of the week are not that great, but at least there is something to report! 

Swim:     0 meters
Bike:      0 miles
Run:       5.5 miles

I will get something up on the sidebar of my blog here pretty quick with weekly/monthly/annual totals.  That way you all can hold me accountable ;)  This week I am attempting to get at least a couple of swim and bike workouts in with my runs.  I am also focusing on stretching more (I am usually pretty lax in that department) because I feel I am way too inflexible.  I have some yoga class passes from my birthday last year I need to cash in, I think I am going to schedule those in the next 30 days or so.  I know Yoga is actually an art and a discipline in its own right, but for my purposes, I am going to log it under stretching, since that it what I am going for, to improve my overall flexibility.  Another area that has seriously fallen by the wayside is strength training.  I can contribute one of the most fit times in my life to strength training (the other is to my 2007 triathlon season).

For now though, I have signed up for the ING Georgia Half Marathon and the Rev 3 Triathlon in Knoxville, TN.  I am also going to be signing up for the Atlanta Track Club, as they have some pretty sweet member benefits and they sponsor some of the road races that I would like to participate in this year.

I hope that everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend!  I'll be on blogging sometime this week!

Man Blogging can be a pain in the ass sometimes ;)

Hello Everyone and Happy New Year!

I decided today after playing some Wii Golf (I would play actual golf but it is 34 degrees outside!), I would get on the computer and take a look at my blog, and see about giving it a new look, looking at links that need to be updated/removed/added, etc.

I was very sad to see that I am going to have to get rid of about 14 links of people who no longer have active blogs or they have gone private! A few of the people that have gone private I still speak with and we are now facebook friends, so it won't be hard to get put back on those lists. For the rest of them, ttyl! I hope to hear from you again! It's kinda sad, really, that there are some people that I read their life stories and share mine with them. It is like a friend you kept in touch with for years, and then one day you quit talking to them. After awhile you try to contact them, but their phone number does not work, email address has been canceled and they are just gone.

Thankfully there are just as many people who are still around and kicking in the tri-blogging world! A few people even have their race schedules up and I am doing some of the same races as them! Exciting!

I think I am going to spend another half-hour or so today working on planning out my site redesign (listen to me like I am actually going to do web design) and what is/isn't going to be on there. I feel like this is going to be a Blog 2.0 revolution for myself! Happy New Year to all of you!!! Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Back to the grind officially next week.

The end of one chapter, the beginning of another (ringing in a new year, new decade, and most importantly new age group!).

Happy New Year's Eve!


I hope that everyone's 2009 was everything they hoped and more. Mine was and was not, for a variety of reasons. Thankfully there was much more good than bad, and that always leads to good things! I have been sitting here all day cleaning, watching football, playing the girlfriend's Wii, and thinking about 2009, and what 2010 might bring.

It's funny, I still get my weekly Site Meter updates, and I see that people do come by and visit, yet I have had nothing new to offer all of you. There was soo much that went on this year, that blogging (and at the end of the year triathlons) simply fell off the map. I put so much time, effort, money, etc, from June 22nd, 2008 - June 21st, 2009, that I got burned out. I did complete the Peachtree City Triathlon again... Kudos to Josh Nickell, he did great! I finished, which is all that really mattered. I planned to do one more race in Gainesville in September, but I injured my ankle about two days before the race. (Kudos to James!! Finished 2nd overall in Masters and 1st in his AG.)

I also miss all of you! Blogging, texting, chatting, participating in races with you, reading your blogs! There was a reason I got all of this started, and I hate to see all of it go to waste.

After that, I pretty much sat on my ass and gained weight (184lbs, about 20 above where I want my race weight to be and 14 from where I usually want to be), let the air slowly seep out of my bike tires, and I just checked the brake lines as of this post to make sure that they weren't rusted (my bike sits outside). Running shoes have been used a handful of times, thankfully all of those were runs. I did buy new speedos finally since my old ones were falling apart, however, the new ones have been used maybe three times. Not to mention that I just went from the 4th or 5th hardest age group to the 3rd, and it only gets worse until I am 50 yrs old!

So as I end this year and this decade, here are a few things that I would like to see (from a triathlon perspective) from 2010!

General Goals
1) Minimum of 5 Triathlons this year (1 half, 2 Olys, 2 Sprints)
2) Minimum of 1 Bike Race/Tour this year (at least a 50 miler)
3) Minimum of 6 Road Races this year (1 marathon, 1 half -mary, 2 10K's, and 2 5k's)
4) Get a team together formally in the Atlanta area, or bring everyone onto an existing team! (I have been talking about this for about 6 months now, and I know enough people to add a big chunk to an existing team, or completely start a new one with about 12 ppl minimum)
5)Blogging - More of it! I might even test some of these products that people are emailing me about, since they are going to send it to me for free, and I can test it for you guys! I will also figure out a way to UPGRADE my blog... I have fallen off the tech bandwagon in the past few years, but i think I can pick it back up!
6)Sign up for IMFL.... How will I do this??? You basically have to take vacation and volunteer! That and I don't want to have to go through the whole flying mess again.
7)Shoot for about 700 hours of actual training this year (does not include stretching/weights/cross training/yoga/etc) in primary activities.


More Specific Goals
1) Finish Marathon in sub 4 hrs (last marathon time was 4:20:18)
2) Finish Half Mary in sub 1 hrs 50 min (last half mary time was 1:53:18)
3) Finish Sprint Tri in sub 1 hr 15 min (PR: 1:16:49)
4) Finish Oly Tri in sub sub 2 hr 45 min (PR 2:56:05)
5) Finish Half Iron in sub 6 hrs (PR 7:25:55, did not train properly for race)
6) Finish 10K in sub 48 min (PR was around 48:46)
7) Finish 5K in sub 21 min (Dont remember what my best time ever was)

Races that I want to participate in/complete this year
Triathlons
1) Rev 3 Triathlon - Knoxville, TN (May 9, 2010) Oly
2) West Point Lake Triathlon - LaGrange, GA (June 13, 2010) Oly
3) Tri the Parks - Mistletoe State Park, Appling, GA (July 24th, 2010) Sprint
4) Peachtree City Sprint Triathlon (August 21st, 2010) Sprint
5) IM August 70.3 - Augusta, GA (September 26, 2010) Half - IM

Road Races
1) ING Georgia Half Marathon - Atlanta, GA (March 21, 2010) Half Mary
2) Sweetwater 420 Fest 5K - Atlanta, GA (April 17th, 2010) 5K
3) Peachtree Road Race - Atlanta, GA (July 4, 2010)
4) Atlanta's Finest 5K - Atlanta, GA (August 8, 2010) 5K
5) US 10K Classic - Smyrna, GA (September 6th, 2010) 10K
6) Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon - Chickamauga, GA (November 13, 2010) Marathon

Cycling Races/Tours
1) Jittery Joe's Fall Century Classic - Athens, GA (October, 2009) - Century Ride

I may have a few others that I slide in there (Christmas 5K race, a sprint tri in April, you know.... some extras), but I will let those be a suprise.

Well now I am off. Dinner calls, and then it is a party to ring in the New Year! I hope all of your are safe this evening! Happy New Year!

~Murtha...

Tying it all together

Well, there are 70 some days and change left before the "big dance" (as I like to call it). Up to this point I have a couple things left to do on my checklist as far as logistics go (and a few are big ticket items).

Bike Box/Travel Case, basically money issue
Money for shipping the bike on the flight
Last night's hotel room in Spokane before I leave back to Atlanta
Rental car for last day in Spokane
(And then the miscellaneous items... food, lots of IM memoribilia and clothing, etc)

I have enough money to knock out items 2, 3, and 4. I am very happy that at this point the only thing I originally charged in this endavour (which I have since paid off) was my Ironman Entry fee.

BTW I did complete the ING Georgia Marathon on March 29th, 2009 (My father's birthday and my training partner James as well). I will probably post some kind of race report in the next few days, but it won't be too serious, as I will probably have to go back to the race map to evoke a few memories of the actual race. I have put every other race report on here, so why stop now???

A new blogger emailed me the other night and asked me to check out her site, and I was sooo excited! We all need to welcome her to the community!

Valerie Triathlon

Her first triathlon is in May. I love it when people find their way to the triathlon life. I almost kind of feel like a missionary sometimes. I have gotten a few friends into it, and even more just interested in the sport, if not to compete.

I am way behind on my bike miles, but James and I are focusing on the bike for the next month (beginning last week) culminating in what might end up being my first century ride the beginning of May. Here is the link for the Century ride, so if any of you in the southeast need to get one of these under your belt early in the season, and you have enough miles in, this might be a good choice for you. I need it, even if I am a bit behind on my mileage. I have now swam 2.4 miles multiple times (albeit in a pool), and I have officially run a marathon in with my long runs. Why not cap off training with a century ride?

Cheaha Challenge Century Ride

Next few weeks are going to be challenging at work (while affecting my training schedule), this week being the worst. Scott, one of my employees is going back to school, as he never finished his undergraduate degree. His last day was today. One of my other employees, is on vacation. Because of the position they are both in, it has and will put an enormous amount of stress on my training and work this week, and after next week, tail off just a bit until I can find someone to replace Scott. But we endure, which is what makes us great!

I hope all of your training efforts are going great... I need to catch up on your blogs as well. Keep it up!

Murtha...

Trying something new...

How about bringing life back to your favorite sport?
How about reinvigorating your senses to what you enjoy?
How about just trying something different (and new)?

Wednesday was that day for me. Just as I tried sushi for the first time last year and LOVED it, this was to be the same experience, yet not so much food related (and sodium infused)!

Tuesday I worked both jobs, so I took the day off as my one day off for the week. Yesterday I had to help Patsy with car stuff right after work when I remembered that she had scheduled us to go to YOGA. So yes, I have been kind of apprehensive about going, and I have found some excuses for not going. But I also know that it is good for you. This particular firm, which I will post their link at the bottom and give them a shout out, Atlanta Hot Yoga, is awsome! It was bikram yoga I believe, and the session was 1.5 hours.

We got there and I got in the newbie line (which was only me) to get registered and get my name in the computer in case I sign up for any additional classes. After which I then went with Patsy into the Yoga room, which was 105 degrees with humidity. Kind of like Atlanta in August for those of you who get to visit us down there in the South.

Without delving into the details, THIS IS AWSOME!!! I had been walking like an old decrepit man for two days after my weekend workouts and Mon/Tuesday's workouts were suffering because of it. I felt like a new man afterwards. Went through about 40 oz of water as well during the class. I felt so good I went and did 7.5 miles right after work on the treadmill at the gym and kept the pace above 7.0 mph for most of the time.

Working both jobs tonight, but got the swim in. Starting tomorrow is double duty for the next three days, with respect to training, regardless of the weather. It is supposed to rain this weekend. But I can not stop training. If it rains at CDA I will have no choice. But then again, if I go out training in the "elements" it would not be the first time. : )

Flight is booked. Hotel from Jun 17th-20th in spokane is booked, and then Hotel on Sat and Sunday is booked (James booked it, I just have to pay him for his half). Just need hotel for one more day, a rental car for a day or two, and bike case. I am not sweating the small stuff, as my b day is coming up soon and I am asking for gift cards/certificates from

All 3 Sports (my favorite place!)

Unfortunately, I also have my tax bill to mail out by April 15th, and I have to pay for my car tags! Only in Georgia does it seem we pay this stupid ad valorem tax, and the $25 emission testing fee to boot! I mean my car just turned 4 (and under 70K miles) and I seriously doubt that it will fail the emissions test. Especially considering I had a 1988 buick skylark limited with 125K plus miles on it that passed emissions every year until it died.

The money thing will come. It better, or Uncle Visa will be helping me out!

That's all for now folks, I will keep you posted with more details later.