Meaningless Milestone #1

With last nights run, I've surpassed my total run mileage from last year.  In 2008, I ran a total of 309.2 miles in 55 hours, 37 minutes, and 4 seconds, for an average pace of 10:47.  So far this year I've run a total of 310.35 miles in 51 hours, 34 minutes, and 39 seconds, for an average pace of 9:58.  I'm guessing that by the time 2009 is through I'll have run close to 900 miles.  Ouch.

I suspect that I'll eclipse my 2008 swim and bike totals in either late May or early June if all goes well.

Have Fun

My wife tells me this every time I leave for the pool. I scoff, the pool is not fun. At least not this pool, under these circumstances.

But this training regiment, this journey towards Ironman. It should be fun, it should be enjoyable. With workout durations and intensities increasing, it's easy to forget this.

Yesterday on my ride home I encountered another rider on a side street in Madison. Nothing overly remarkable about him, middle aged man riding a 30 year old bike. But he had a huge grin on his face as he was doing big sweeping turns. Think of a skier coming down a groomed ski run, like that.

That should be me. Enjoying the moment. Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely enjoying it big picture. I'm in better shape than I've ever been, doing things I never thought I'd do, I sleep better, and in general, I just feel better. But in the moment, while actually swimming, biking, or running, I definitely have difficulty remembering that this should be fun. That I should be enjoying this.

A couple of months ago I bought a little brass bell for my bike. I bought it just for this purpose. To remind myself to have fun and try not to take everything so seriously. I think it's time to install the bell.

Have fun out there. Smile. Laugh. If not at others, than at yourself. Life is to short.

Bear Trax Photos

Couple of pictures from the Bear Trax 20k last week.

I beleive this is coming into the finish line. I look (and felt) like crap, but check out the muscle definition in those legs.

If I remember correctly this is right at the end of mile 7, near the top of a really long hill. I remember wanting to roll the photographer down the hill for picking this particular location to take pictures.

It's a Love Hate Thing

As much as I like having a good tailwind. I absolutely hate riding into it. Saturday's ride was a prime example. Plan was to ride out to Verona and back. There was a pretty stiff head wind pretty much all the way out.

To illustrate, coming up on twenty minutes into the ride I was already calculating how much I had left. "Almost 1/9th of the way done" was what went through my head. For you math whizzes out there, I was planning on riding three hours.

I hate it, hate it, hate it. It saps the energy out of me like nothing else. And I don't buy any of that bullshit about the wind being your friend either, so don't even try.

Regardless, I made it out to my turn around point in Verona at the 1:32 mark. Made it back along the exact same route in 1:11. Almost exact same average heart rate both ways. Stupid wind.

From my driveway it is 13.6 hilly miles to the IM bike course at the corner of Syene and Irish on the stick. I'd prefer to drive out to Verona and just ride the loop every week, but when time is short, like it was on Saturday, this route will have to suffice. Either way it will be nice to have the "home field advantage" come race day.

If anyone cares to come out and ride the course with me I'd welcome the company. Drop me a line and I'm sure we can work something out, as long as your willing to slow down to my paltry 15-16mph average pace.