Your not getting rid of me that easily

Written on Sunday morning of this past weekend but delayed finishing it until Wednesday morning....my bad

It's been a while since I wrote down something on here. But here I am, eating fig newtons, drinking coffee and getting ready to go on a nice run. All the while I am looking out from my parents porch at the beautiful lake that is Keuka.


Things have been going reasonable well lately, which is nice. Work is busy but not overwhelming. I usually have a full days worth of projects or tasks so that keeps the day moving along. I have also began to get back to the heavier training hours. Nothing quite over 12 hours per week yet but they are slowly creeping back up again. Yesterday brought the first 3 hour ride I have seen since IMLP. I headed out with Don, Chris, and K as we circled Honeoye Lake. A couple tempo intervals of 20 minutes were thrown in their as well. It ended up being a beautiful morning ride. The only kind of bad news on the biking forefront is that my nice Aeolus wheels are in the shop because they need some new spokes. This is a bummer because my powermeter is installed in that wheelset, which means that I am unable to train with power for a while. This is not a big deal at all but its just something that bugs me. For now I will just go by feel during my tempo intervals and such....and hopefully in a few days I will have a power meter solution. I am most likely going to sell my powertap unit, have the aeolus's built back to their original state, and aquire a Quarq power meter that will reside in the crank of my bike. Their is also news on the sale of my previous Trek TTX tri bike as someone is looking at it and may be interested in being its new owner. I am not trying to make a huge sum of money off this I am just trying to find it a nice home in the area. I really don't want to have to deal with shipping it to all ends of the states. With that said if anyone reading this is interested in the bike or know someone that is interested please let me know. Turbo could use some cash flow to allow for these power meter transactions that are amiss.

Well those were a few scattered thoughts that crossed my mind as I began the post. Now lets try to get some form of semblance with this entry. I will start out by making a list of the key things that are up in the life of Turbo Curbeau:
1. Training volume is increasing, things are starting to feel good
2. I have begun to add a weekly trail run into my plan. This is good, I will talk more about this over the next few weeks. I really get a kick out of trail running. It kicks my butt and I get to run with faster people which is exactly what I need!
3. A new eating plan has been established for Turbo and he's doing a pretty good job sticking to the plan.
4. Chasing Legends, the movie about team HTC and the 2009 Tour de France played in Pittsford this past week and Turbo along with some TT peeps and other various endurance athletes from Rochester go out to see it.
5. My family from Japan arrived in the states and are spending the weekend in Penn Yan.

In more detail:
1. Like I said in the first part of the post. The training volume is increasing and I am liking this. However, I am being more conscious of my energy levels and resting when I need to instead od pushing through it and ending up injured or something. When you think about it a workout is as good as you make it. If you slack off and have a poor workout that will reflect in the next workout and the next race. Subsequently by training when you are unable to give it your best effort becomes detrimental to your overall plan. When tiredness strikes maybe the best training plan is to have no traning planned..think about that one. To get faster maybe one needs to slow down, instead of increasing maybe decreasing the hours is what is required, the old one step forward two steps back saying. So with that said I am really trying to make every workout count at this point. I still have plenty of time to buld my endurance base back up to LP level so I am not worried about packing on tremendous hours, If I train less but with more intensity..all the better. I am young and have a lot in front of me and the only thing that can stop my progression is injury...Mary and I have a big day planned for November 6th! ...and I just found out that IMFL is on a Saturday and I am staying until Thursday which means I am going to have Sunday and Monday to relax on the beach and chill before I have to fly home!!! SWWEEET!

2. Trail running is my new little secret. Travis has led me to the trails of Mendon Ponds and I must say that they sure kick my butt. I really do enjoy the trails, they provide such a different workout than running on roads yields. The legs are usually shelled about 10 minutes into the run but I think I am going to be 100 times better for it come the next two races which end with very flat run courses. and...I can't not say how awesome it is to run with people who are MUCH better runners than you. You only get better by training up! EASY DAYS EASY...but the HARD DAYS ARE HARD...(Today, which is Wednesday is a hard day. I have a big pool workout that I will be heading to shortly along with trail running tonight. It's my mid week build day. Then its a slow taper to Saturday. :)

3. Turbo is eating better...weigh's more...but is eating better, now all thats left is to see what kind of performance follows.

4. Chasing Legends is a great documentary about the 2009 Tour with team HTC. The only bad news on this front is that Towpath already sold out of DVD's so I have been forced to wait until they restock, hopefully soon!

5. The family from Japan is in with their 3 kids. On Sunday afternoon just about my whole family was at my parents new cottage. 23 people were there! Including a TON of little kids under the age of 9. Chaos!! haha, but very fun to see everyone. My super sister-in-law Sakiko (former World Class Biathlete from Japan) even gave me a massage and acupuncture session after my long run. Boy if I could get that after every big workout, that'd be soooo cool! I have some pictures of when the needles were in my legs so when I get them back I will post them up here.

Hittin' the Trails

Yesterday was my biggest training day yet since Placid. I hit the pool at Midtown around 6am and got about 3000 yards in. Ultra Adam and Coach Mary showed up about a 1/4 of the way through my workout. Having them in the next lane made the swim go by nice and quickly. I think of all the sports that swimming is the one where I really really like having people around. Their doesn't have to be any conversation at all over an hours time but its just the fact that they keep going and that keeps you going which makes it so much better than swimming repetative laps alone. Idk if that came out real confusing or not but the point is...that it was nice to have some company. The rest of the day went pretty much as usual. Headed back to the apartment and put on my Work "Kit" (Shirt, Tie, Slacks, Shoes..etc..), went to Wegmans, spent to much on food for the day their (I ended up going back at night for a salad...I hate my myself for living so close to so many Wegmans), did work all day, and then at 5:30 I raced to Mendon Ponds to meet Wonderboy Travis Earley for a little 10k through the Mendon Pond trails. This was really my first time every truly trail running. I have done the Mendon Duathlon Loop a few times but that crosses some roads and its not all that trail running'ish. So it was nice of Travis and his running buddies to let me tag along. I had a blast running up and down the hills. The pace was more or less conversational but towards the end the combination of my legs being drilled from the hills and the pace picking up a tad..I was getting pretty winded. I really hadn't felt that "worked" in a while during a training run. I have to say that trail running is quite literally a breath of fresh air. Getting out into the woods truly has a calming affect over me.

I also would like to add that the swimming and running yesterday definitely took a bit out of me as my 1hr bike ride today had my legs feeling shelled. Looks like things are beginning to get serious again.

How to Sabotage your Race Day

This just popped into my head and I wanted to put it in my blog for all of you to digest. The following things are overrated in my opinion:
-Working in an Office that is not in your living room
-Shaving
-Putting on dress clothes with a tie
Why? Because I am lazy and I would much rather mosy on over to my desk next to my lazy boy recliner, with a three day beard and in my nice sweat pants and t-shirt. It would just take all the hassle out of the getting dressed and driving through commuter traffic thing. Plus I wouldn't have to mess with tying a tie..that literally takes me 10 minutes and I have to put it on my training peaks schedule because it is so time consuming...Good grief! hahahaha




This weekend I had the opportunity to race in beautiful Cazenovia, NY. I had not planned to do this race, nor race this soon after IMLP. (Mistake #1). The race was on a Sunday so I took the chance to make a weekend out of the deal and headed to Syracuse really really early to ride the 70.3 course with Don, Chris, and Ken. (Mistake #2) Not a mistake to ride with these dudes but a mistake to go out and ride my longest ride post IMLP (53 miles) with a lot of hills, the day before a race (even if it was just a sprint) but the race was a training race and I am getting back into training mode so I knew what I was getting into..I just didn't really expect my legs to feel that sore. After the ride I had a few hours to kill as I was going to be heading to Mr. Cusetri himself's house for the night, but I wasn't heading there until around 5PM and our ride ended at like 11AM...you do the math. And mistake #3 was that during all of Saturday I didn't really get any rest. I am not capable of taking naps. I just can't do them. I try and try and try but I simply cannot take a nap during the middle of the day. Even if I was up the entire 2 days previous if it is 2pm on a Saturday and I have nothing to do but sit and rest..I still can't nap. It's werid. But anyways, what this means is that I was up all day until like 10:30 or something after getting up at 4am in the morning and going to bed at 11pm the night before. Thus I had a lack of sleep. And finally mistake #4 was that as I sat waiting for the swim start I just had a bad feeling in my body. I was just not with it. Usually I am Mr Energy but I simply was flat. Usually all these indicators would have told me that maybe this wasn't going to be my day and I should resort to my original plan which was to watch the race. But no I was there to get some work in and get some work in I did! After my worst swim ever which had me hyperventalating, throwing my arms around like they were rocks (yes, literally my arms wouldn't move), and had episodes of stopping and bobbing in the water wondering what the heck was going on...I finally made it back to the beach after what seemed to be a few hours. I was exhausted, something was off, I didn't even high five my dad when I ran to transition, he was like 5 feet to my right at one point but that was just to far to move in the state I was in. I tried to get going on the bike right out of transition but it was uphill and not conducive to a good bike start when your all messed up after a swim. So after a really nice volunteer offered to push me I gave her a mumble and was like i'll take care of it..stupid move, I spent the next 20 seconds going back and forth on the dang hill trying hopelessly to clip my right cleat into the pedal. Normally this is the sort of thing I do without looking at my feet but on Sunday I had no coorindation going. None the less I continued on my adventure. The bike was nasty. Very hilly and very very windy with a couple decents that ended with turns which I heard caused many a triathlete to almost lose it into the field that was beyond the curve. I limped in off the bike and did what I could on the run. It was officially the weirdest day of triathlon I have ever had. I do not write this for sympathy, I simply write this because I want to acknowledge the fact that yes the Ironman does take a lot out of you whether you know it. Did I shock my body when I sprinted at the start of the swim. Sure...that'd be my guess. Did my body do the smart thing and shut down? Yes, I believe I did. Did my head agree with the bodies decision? Absolutely not. So sure Ironman you put a scare into me and taught me a lesson but I gained a mental edge on you today! I will adhere to your recovery protocol and respect your challenges...but be warned. I am coming for round 2 as a stronger triathlete...mentally and physically!


But their is a silver lining in this all. Even on the rough days when you set your PW's (Personal Worst's) you can still really learn something about yourself and really get some great mental training out of the situation. Yes, I had a terrible swim. I had to stop and collect myself and then make the choice to keep going. Sure it wasn't going to be at my normal pace but I made the choice to get back to the beach and take it from there. After slogging through a very short swim I was able to take my time in T1 and get on the bike. Once on the bike with high gusty winds I faced more challenges. Like what the heck am I doing out here. None the less the day went on, I got off my bike, was able to run a few people down, and ended up 10th overall. So ya cry me a river right? I am whining and complaining about finishing 10th, but that's just how it is now. At a smaller local race like this I as well as my teammates have certain expectations. We train our butts of for a reason and on race day we like to execute. Unfortunately you can execute everything perfect all the time.

Here I am on my way to beat down Corona with my STICK. This is my way of thanking him for getting me to come to this race :)


Yey, a downhill finally!


Come on Turbo you can do it...it took me about 5 tries to clip in.



ouch, that hurt!

The first real weekend back at it....All3Sports and Kswiss chatter PLUS White Hot! & an elephant???

Here I am once again in Syracuse, beginning the first build stage as I gear up for Ironman Florida in November. But not to get to ahead of myself I have come to Syracuse to do some recon on the Cuse 70.3 bike course. But first I have a couple things I need to get down and put in the blog because they are at the forefront of my brain at the moment.

1. All3Sports - You guys are awesome! I recently purchased a pair of the Bont Sub 9 triathlon cycling shoes. I was beyond excited to receive these this week. I had been kind of reluctant to purchase more bike shoes because over the past few months I purchased not 1 new pair but 3. 1 pair was a Shimano set that just didn't work for triathlon. At about hour 3 my feet would begin to absolutely scream with pain. There was something that really put pressure on the top of my foot. I thought it might just be a break in period thing but I wore them for three 6+ hour rides and they just weren't cutting it. Thus I have been left with semi-worn shoes I won't use. They are for sale if you would like them. They are the 2009 Boa style cycling shoes in size 44 (us10). Anyways, after I used those I realized that I should just stick with what I had been using, which were DMT Radials. (Just like the one's Lieto rocks) All I needed was to just get a different size since it seems my foot has begun to flatten out or something over the past year. Also my feet have been constantly a little swollen these past few months just due to the injury I suffered..so anyways I just needed a different size to make myself feel better. I ended up getting another pair of white DMT radials, and at this point I should have been good to go but leave it to the internet to show me a pair of GREEN DMT radials (the exact pair I wear) that could only be purchased in Europe of GB. Soooo me being me I just had to have these to match my Train This gear and my bike..it took me literally 5 minutes via a google search to find a bike store in Virginia that had received a shipment of these green DMT's back in May. I took a shot and called them to see if they had any in the size I was looking for. It turns out they did and next thing I know I am throwing down my card to order them. They arrived and I quickly put them to use. I even wore them at IMLP. I love these guys. So now I have a pair of white DMT's that are basically on ice. I wore them once but other than that they have just been sitting comfortably. This brings me to buying the Bont's. Being a tri-aholic, I love everything triathlon and a good marketing campaign will have me buying a product in no time. Just look at what Trek did to me! So anyway I ordered these guys up and went to my new friend Jim Cornell's house. This guys is a serious engineer and former world class speed skater. He has been using Bont equipment for a long time and he even has his own homemade compression machine that helps you fit your shoes to an unprecedented level. So we began the heating and molding process but to our disappointment when we went to screw in the cleats the screws just wouldn't thread. It appears that the piece that anchors the screw on the bottom of the cleat was spinning along with the screw (it should not). We tried a couple things to fix them but nothing seemed to work. I ended up going on my way, a little disappointed by not overly. I knew I still had my DMT's. Finally, I called All3Sports today and talked to a wonderful woman who was really nice about the whole thing. I told her I am not usually a fussy customer who returns everything but she said that it was no problem and that I should be concerned about this because I paid over $300 for a pair of shoes...so in short she was completely understanding. She even said that she would send me a return label on Monday when their UPS system is up and running. So now I don't have to pay for return shipping. The end game is that I am going to get store credit because for now I am just going to stick with my DMT's. They are nice and I like them and I have other things I "need" for my triathlon lifestyle. I guess this was a good reminder that I didn't really need new shoes. Someday I might give the Bont's another chance but for now I am holding true to my DMT Radials...that is until Lieto goes with someone else, then i might consider a change :) haha. So in summary THANK YOU ALL3SPORTS you guys are awesome and you will continue to have my business! I hope that others that read my blog will also give them a shot. :)

2. I must say that WHITE HOT as they call him has been chosen by KWSISS to be a sponsored athlete. All I can say is that he deserve's it. The man works his butt off! He has gone from a crazy first IM in Florida a couple years ago where his run took longer than his bike to a 2x Kona qualifer who is this year looking to stand atop his AG podium. My bet is that he fullfills his goal. The guy is the real deal. He is a 6'5'' 200 something pound monster who crushes the bike, has a very solid run, and who is now getting serious about the swim. Professional athlete's WATCH OUT. WHITE HOT is coming and he is going to be ready to to rock! SOOOOOO i say this because I am very very jealous of him now. Jealous of his triathlon accomplishments but also jealous because he has a KSWISS sponsorship now! KSWISS and Trek are pretty much my idols in the triathlon world in terms of retailers right now. In fact I have sent my resume to both of them just to see if I'd get any responses to work in their Finance department, or even their on the road marketing team. Yes to very different fields but If I must tell the truth, my love is in advertising, marketing, and selling. I love to create and interact with people. And more importantly I love to talk about the things that are near and dear to me. The things that I have a passion for...like triathlon. Thus, I love Kswiss. I run in their K-Ruuz for OLY and sprint distances and I just purchased their blade light run's (which came yesterday). The blade lights really look promising as they are light, sturdy, and have excellent drainage (something that comes in handy when you are dumping waters all over yourself and peeing in your pants as well...ewww gross! But if you are fast enough you can earn the right to pee yourself...or if your just that tough! Haha)
Well then, congrats White Hot! If you someday feel the need to be nice to a fellow triathlete named Turbo and hook him up with some gear, well I would be forever grateful :)

Now that I have updated you on the two things that were on my mind when I began this post (Subsequent things have filled my small brain), lets get to the details of the day that has been. Even though it is 12:30 I have been up since 4:15 so I have had a full day already and will be in search of a nap shortly.

To start off I must say that the Cuse 70.3 course is quite interesting. You end up spinning for a good hour at the beginning since their are just so many hills. Kinda cool really, it should really make for a fun race next month. The hills should really have a Darwinistic effect of "natural selection" during this race since even though the hills may not effect the hammerhead because its only 56 miles, it will certainly come back to bite them on the run. I truly feel that this is the case even though its only 13.1 miles compared too 26.2. Even with the run being a 1/2 marathon that is essentially a net downhill I have to imagine that hitting the hills on the bike course early will end up using a lot more energy than many will think. It's just that they are so darn consistent. I honestly think that the first hour of this course is like ascending to the top of the LP keene decent about twice over with no downhills. With that said I look forward to the challenge. I look forward to figuring out a good plan that will allow me to be as fast as possible on the bike and also allow me to rip off a good run showing. I hope to be able to ride this course again before the race in November. I'm going to get surgical with this! BUT more important the Cuse 70.3 bike course has quite the scenery. With rolling hills, corn that is 8 foot tall, roadkill, run-down houses, lakes....and ELEPHANTS! Yes, you read that last line correctly, I said that I saw an elephant on my bike ride today in Central New York. This was no ordinary elephant either. It was a great Syracusian humpback white tusk'd Elephant. I have never seen one of these in the wild, in fact I thought that they had been extinct since the ice age. However, to my great surprise Chris, Don, Ken and I happened upon one of these magnificent creatures today. As soon as I saw the beast I knew I had to get a closer look. This was just one opportunity that doesn't come along to much. So here is how I approached the big guy...
I made my way across the great plains (a 3 mile run in bike shoes) remembering to adhere to proper elephant approaching protocol in order to ensure that my safety would not be compromised.


And here I am speaking with Jennifer. Yes, the great beast was but a 20 something year old girl. She was as nice as could be, even offering me some of her drinking water that she was slurping up in the field. I declined as I had just drank from my waterbottle but none the less it was a kind gesture from Jenny.


Jennifer explained to me that she was a great supporter of athletics even though she was not able to participate. You see Jenny was raised by humans. Jenny had come to America by boat when she was only but a young girl. When she arrived she was shocked to learn that the whole Dumbo story was made up. This was a huge let down for Jenny as she had really been hoping to meet up with Dumbo find the eternal happiness that she had heard America would bring. After a few years of wondering the Western states of Washington, Montana, and Utah (Utah didn't go to well for Jenny, the whole Mormon this was just to weird for her)...anyways she ended up taking up residence at the age of 12 in Boulder, Colorado. It was here that Jennifer first witnessed humans doing something so extraordinary that even she, a great big elephant, was truly impressed. What she had seen was tiny humans doing extraordinary feats in pools, on bikes, and on the snowy trails. Yes, you guessed it, Jennifer had encountered her first triathletes. With great wonder and awe Jennifer began to research the sport at the local Boulder library. Since she was so large the nice librarian made extra large copies of the books that she wanted to read. It was quite nice. Jennifer and the librarian ended up spending a lot of time together as Jennifer read every piece of literature ever published about Triathlon. So as the years went by Jennifer began attending many M DOT sponsored events, becoming somewhat of an icon. You haven't heard of her? It's probably because Jennifer likes to keep a low profile. That is why she has rarely ever been seen in person, and this is why Don, Chris, Ken and I were so lucky to see her. And I was even luckier to be able to have a chat with her. Anyways, Jennifer went on to explain that she had been in Lake Placid watching the IM last month and she had heard about another race in September that was in the nearby city of Syracuse. Thus, she made her way down to the area which explains why were had the chance to meet her. We chatted some more about the latest tri gear, and the upcoming world championships in Kona. After about 15 minutes we said goodbye and went out separate ways. She promised that she would be watching the race in September but one truly knows if she will or not. She is a deceptive creature who really has never settled down for long. Either way I will be thinking about her when I ride that course on Sept 19th, and it is my hope that I also see her down in Florida this November. Rumor has it she likes the beaches! I did get her email address so I will be able to try and see if she will write me back. If I hear from her again I will be sure to let you all know.




Welp that was the highlight of the bike ride today. I am now at Wegmans eating a nice 6 dollar meal consisting of 1 chicken breast with 2 sides of broccoli..what a steal. I will now continue to roam the internet and read my triathlon literature.

Here's your sign...How you know that Triathlon is your life.

1. You wake up earlier than farmers.
2. You've exercised more from 4am-6am on Monday than most people will the during the entire week.
3. You don't have cable but you can quote any line from any television show that has ever aired thanks to box set dvd collections.
4. During the winter months a bike hooked up to a trainer is considered part of your living room furniture collection.
5. You color coordination of cycling kits has spilled over into your everyday work apparel. Co-workers are starting to talk based on your lime green and livestrong yellow dress pants you keep wearing on casual friday.
6. You no longer own any designer sunglasses. When the sun is out you are rocking Oakley M Frames, Radar's, or Jawbones regardless of the occasion.
7. Your diet is well for the lack of better words...weird. You basically consider gel's as their own food group.
8. Your the exception if at least 3 bikes are not currently residing in your house/garage.
9. You've read more blogs in the past week than you have books in your entire life.
10. You can include the words "butt cream" in a sentence at any time in any situation without snickering.
11. You have a better relationship with your online friends than any real ones that you may still have.
12. Peeing yourself?...not an issue.
13. You've conversed more with ST'ers today than you have your wife/children/parents...like 10x more.
14. You've sold all your furniture, tv's, and gaming systems in your apartment to pay for more bikes.
15. Your garage has never housed your car.
16. Next year's family vacation always depends on whether your qualified for Kona or not.
17. You worry more about your bike fit more than your retirement plan.
18. You have at least 10 pairs of running shoes at various levels of wear strewn across your house at all times.
19. Your have more bikes than you do pieces of furniture in your living room.
20. You pack the same amount of stuff for a two day weekend trips as you do for a 2 week vacation.
21. Some weekends you will eat more Powerbar supplements than you will actual real food.
22. You compulsively buy Triathlete magazine when in Barnes and Noble regardless of if any of the articles interest you.
23. Your car is most likely a full of empty water bottles, random wrappers, and an immense load of bicycle junk at all times.
24. You have either slept or napped in your car for more than 1 hour on numerous occasions.
25. You attend more summer "camps" now than you did when you were a teenager.
26. Shaving your legs is fun...for both men and women.
27. Men shave their legs predominately because they look so awesome, and make their finely sculpted calves really POP. Although the will tell you it is to protect from road rash and that it feels so darn cool in the water (which are all reasonable answers)
28. You frequently drive 45 minutes to the lake to get in a 30 minute swim.
29. If a dunkin donuts is not open at 5am you will burst into a fit of rage.
30. You've had more meaningful conversations with your internet tri friends about bowl movements and urination than you have had meaningful conversations about your children with your spouse in the past month.
31. Work is purely a means to pay for new running shoes, tires, wheels, and bikes.


Please do feel free to contribute to the list as this will continue on and on.

Ironman Lifestyle and the Eternal Flame

THE ETERNAL FLAME



Corona, Me, Mary & Ken

So, you've signed up to do an Ironman. Do you think you are Iron enough? 140.6 miles is not that bad, you are an athelete...right? Wrong! God given natural ability to excel at certain things are given to the lucky few. Look at Tiger in his prime (just don't look at him in his current state) and Michael Jordan. Both ended up being great at their respective sports of choice. One was a natural born athlete who was gifted the ability to hit a golfball with the accuracy and strength reminiscent of Robin of Locksley. The other became arguably the greatest basketball player to ever step on the court, but you could say that this players talent did not come so easy at the beginning. My point that is in both cases Tiger and Michael became the predominant athletes in their chosen sport. Tiger started with some gifts and natural abilities that were unlike those before him. Tiger was taking down skilled professionals at a ridiculous age. Just look at those videos of him playing golf with his father when he was about 4 years old. He hits the ball, and scores better than I ever will. Michael started basketball by being immediately cut from his high school basketball team. Mind you his team might have been pretty talented but still, he was CUT. He was not good enough to play high school basketball. Well this lit a fire in Michael and the rest is as they say "History". In both cases each athlete achieved other worldly success and this success was achieved because they wanted it! Both athletes were willing to work harder than the rest. But why were they able to put in the training hours, swing the clubs 1000 more times, shoot the ball 1000 more times? I have to believe it is because they had a fire in their belly that could not be extinguished. It was more than a spark that just lights up real bright and burns out, it was an everlasting flame like the one that burns at President Kennedy's grave. It will always be with them, just look at Jordan. He can't put together a good basketball team to save his life, why? I think because he believes he can still hand them all an ass whooping and that is a bit of an ego trip when your scouting for talent...but that's just me. Anyways, each of these athletes had and have the personality traits that allowed them to become great at their chosen profession. One had natural talent, one did not. Both ended up on the Mt. Rushmore of their respective sports.


Corona - AKA Cusetri

Why do I make this comparison? I make it because when you think about this, it relates really well to the triathlon lifestyle, and in particular the Ironman events (70.3 and 140.6). In each events naturally gifted athletes and "grinders" for the lack of a better word participate together, virtually at the same level. Endurance becomes the great divider. Endurance? Yes, Endurance! Endurance because it not only comes into play during the race but it comes into play each and every day the athlete wakes up. In the sense that a half or full ironman takes endurance is easy to see. An athlete can be awesome at an individual event (ie swimming, biking, or running) but the winner is the one that can be the most consistent. The athlete that can not slow down the most is the one that will come in first. Thus, the great equalizer to pure-bred talent becomes who can go the longest without breaking down, who can take on the most pain and flush it away, who can keep one foot in front of the other, who's using their head? Endurance also comes into play EVERY SINGLE DAY, not just race day. I would wager to bet that an elite cross country champ in College who only trains when he feels like it, or rely's solely on his past abilities would get dusted by the AG'er who dropped 80 lbs in his mid-thirties and has been bitten by the triathlon bug that all he does is eat, sleep, and drink triathlon. I'd take the AG'er anyday! Why? Because he has that eternal flame now. It may have taken him a while to figure out "what the heartburn was" (silly analogy I know, but I thought it was good) but now he realizes that all along he was made for this sport. That's the beauty of triathlon. It's not about how good you were, how tall you are, how small you are, how much you weigh (just look at White Hot), or what you have done in the past (again look at White Hot, he got chicked by my Coach and everyone else in the known world at his first IM...and umm yeah he has gone on to qualify twice in the 2 subsequent years and throw down bike splits that would make Craig Alexander and most of the other pro's drool). ENDURANCE is sooo freaking key. Endurance is about waking up before work to get your training in. It's about being internally motivated to WANT TO get up at 4:30 AM on a cold wintery day in January while living in upstate NY. You know that you won't be riding outside, and you know that its going to be a long 3 hour ride on the trainer...along...with no music or tv...BUT YOU DO IT BECAUSE you are driven by yourself. For whatever reason it is what makes you happy. Many a 12-15 hour Ironman will be happy going through the motions during these days. They will fool themselves by slogging through a crappy workout, or even just skipping a few. But the one's that go into the 11'2, the 10's, the 8's...they are the one's that wake up with a gosh darn smile on their face chomping at the bit to get started. Without a thought to the insanity, they will get up at 3:30AM to go on a 6 hour ride just to make it home so that they can be with their family. And they do it because they need to suppress that eternal flame that is burning so steadily within them. Triathletes are like crack addict's...they are always finding ways to get their fix.

So...I ask again, Are you Iron enough? Are you willing to wake up to early to do a workout that seems to be to much? Are you willing to suck it up and change how you eat? Are you willing to go to bed early instead of watching tv? Are you willing to give up some nightlife for extra sleep? Will your social circle clash with your triathlon circle? Do you have to many external factors in your life? I say this because getting into the Ironman lifestyle is not a decision that can be taken lightly. I did...however, I am 24 yrs old with no responsibilities. And even so I have faced many a challenge this past year. Many times I thought "how the hell can I get everything in"..."am I really going to be ready"..."damn I hate being injured"...being injured was the WORST...definitely the worst! Luckily for me (as with some other good people I have come across this past year) I/We have this eternal flame. I enjoy early mornings and getting the work in. I don't do it because I have to...I do it because if I didn't do it I would lose my freaking mind. Jordan Rapp, and my friend Kim Ammon said it best to succeed in longevity and basically to succeed in general in the sport of triathlon a really good mindset is; "I Race to Train". Just think about that one. Think about all the friendships that you have developed through triathlon, even through online forums (ie slowtwitch). Its incredible when I think about how my life has changed over the past year. ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE. I have gone from nagging my current coach via email to take me on to one of her clients who she will be racing with at IMFL. It will be my 2nd and her 6th (I believe). And just think..last year I had only done the Musselman and Keuka triathlons at this point. What a difference a year can make! But I say that with a word of caution. Be careful what you wish for! If your not dead set on triathlon I highly advise you to take stock in what you are willing to sacrifice. Are you shooting for a sub 12 hour time? Are you being realistic with your expectations? I have read a lot about being realistic with your expectations in magazines/books and the general consensus, which I agree with , is that you need to be realistic. If you are realistic than you will never suffer the extreme lows of missing your goal by a mile, or exceeding your goal by 50%. Instead you will steadily improve and soon enough you'll be on the podium..ITS ENDURANCE PEOPLE! Never get to high, never get to low...the energy spent at each is to great and could be better used in your middle ground.

Did I scare you? I know I scared myself. I realize that I am still a fresh triathlete with big eyes towards the sport. I get giddy when pro athletes are around me. I get giddy when I go to a race..I get giddy when I go to train, I can't sleep the night before a long workout because I am so excited, I get giddy when writing blogs like this at 4:30am because its like adding kerosene to my eternal flame...I've found something that I love so darn much that its just incredible. My mom and dad of course understood this the second I started but where you can really start to see my dedication and love take hold is when I talk to my cousins, and aunts, and uncles, and brothers and sisters..and they are all starting to talk tri with me. They who have never been interested in the sport are starting to follow me and that I take as an extreme compliment because it shows that I have stuck with something long enough to gain their respect. I think that they have begun to respect my determination and my drive...and most importantly my love for the sport(s). Now all I have to do is keep this up for another 50-60 years and I might have a a Kona shot :)

So please don't hate on my if i have angered you with this post. I only want to advise the people that "want in" that the Ironman is a big big challenge. Sure it can look easy on race day..or it may not (haha) but the fact is..the people that succeed are the ones that bust it every day. They bust it by taking the EASY DAYS EASY and the hard days hard. They bust it by keeping their endurance up..sure they might have to miss a workout because of family, sickness, pool's closed, work..but their consistency is paramount. No matter what they will keep coming back undeterred.


Jim Cornell and Mary Eggers (Jim is scoping LP out for next year!)

Thus, I challenge you all to make me believe your an Ironman. Shove it in my face that you have the guts to do it! To train, to sacrifice, to have an immense amount of fun along the way. 8 months ago Mike, Don, Chris, Ken, Mary, Kim, Travis, Jochen, Matt K (I've actually got a special blog about you in the near future, you've got a special place in my career), and sooo many more...you all probably thought I was a complete idiot (you probably still do) but I hope that over the past 8-10 months you've seen that regardless of my newbie-ness that I am here to stay. I love this stuff and I want to keep doing it over and over again. I'm the real deal in the sense that triathlon isn't just something I am willy nilly doing. Even if I came into it willy nilly. I have completed an Ironman so I can say that I have seen the outer lining of what the sport demands. I say the outer lining because I believe I am only touching the surface of what is to come. Just like the rest of you I want more and I believe that I have the determination and willpower to keep going. The best part of this is that you all (those I listed and the many more like Joe, Josh, Mike N., Scott L., Jay, etc...) are now on my side. You guys provide me with so much damn motivation its crazy. I look forward to training and talking with you all so much. I'm invested in this sport and with no regrets. I can't wait to train more, race more, and meet new people like Jim Cornell who is going to help me mold my new bike shoes with his high tech shoe molding air sucking machine made for speed skates..don't ask...its legit....and he's legit too! A professional level speed skater who does triathlon. He is fast! Unfortunately I have yet to see his blaze in a race because he had an unfortunate training accident this spring. However, I have fortunately come into his acquaintance and will not hopefully have the chance to train with him. Only way to get better is to train with the BETTER! :) So its stuff like that which keep me rolling along. It's the fact that I got up at 4:15 today to drink coffee and think about if I had anything good to write about. I have missed writing a good long blog post because to me it is a detox. It's a cleansing..it gets things off my mind and lets me relax..it also helps me get ready to train, which by the way I need to do RIGHT NOW. I have a big 30 min core and 30 min swim this morning..haha...BIG! I'm def itching to get back to the longer stuff but I know that all in good time. I've come to a point where I know rest and recovery is paramount. That's why I am going to bed at about 7 every night I can, that's why I am fighting extremely hard to get my eating under control. I have miles to put on these legs, pounds to drop, endurance to gain, friendships to gain/strengthen, blogs to post, learning to be achieved and work, time to shed off my race times.....I've got all of these things....I've got a couple months to put them together for a great end of the season....THEN I have a lifetime to keep at them. I am not just in it for the short term. Whether you like me or not, whether you think I am obnoxious, boring, someone who talks to much without backing it up...I am here to prove you wrong. But if your on my side...WELL JUST CONSIDER ME YOUR NEW (or old) BEST FRIEND!

OFF TO THE GYM AND POOL! It's looking like a great day is in store.

It's 4:30 AM again...

Hello old friend. I haven't seen you in a while. I've been sleeping in until 5am lately as my schedule has allowed for this lapse of early rising. Way back when last fall 4:30 AM became my sweet spot. It was the time when I would wake up ready to conquer the world. That pretty much held true all the way through until the busy season ended this past April 15th. Well since then things have changed, thats the nature of the accounting field. Luckily I have found a place now that allows for even more normality during the off season. A standard work week that allows me to be able to dictate my life is an extremely welcome addition to my life. The busy season is well busy and the long hours and lessened sleep will come, but for now I am enjoying knowing ill be out of work by 4:30 or 5:30, and sleeping by 6:30, haha, but seriously I do go to bed that early :)

So, what is it that I do at 4:30? Really getting up at 4:30 just allows me time to just think. I am able to get my coffee, have a bit of breakfast, and just think about the day ahead and what I've got to accomplish. My mind tends to be much much clearer at this earlier hour. Plus no one else in their right mind is up so NO ONE can bug you about anything. A lot of times work and family and friends can all pose situations during the day that just arise out of nowhere and change your plans completely. Now don't get me wrong that is now a bad thing, especially if it is something family or friend related, but for someone like me who likes to stick to a plan when things don't go as scheduled it can throw me into a tizzy. The beauty about early rising is that its free time. Between 4:30 and 8:30 in the morning no one from work is going to call me and ask about a project, my parents are most likely still sleeping or just waking up, and my friends are most definitely sleeping...so basically I am off duty and responsibility free, JUST THE WAY I LIKE IT. So that's kind of why I like this early morning time. I can just be..If I owned my own business I truly believe this is when I would do the majority of my work, I just really work better at this time. It's to bad I can't swing my hours so that I work from 4:30-8:30, then train until noon, then go back and work until 4:30...now that would be sweet! Maybe someday, I just have to work on coming up with the invention of idea of a life. If you have any tips or suggestions on that let me know!

Well because I can't stay on topic to save my life, here is a fun triathlon fact to make your Tuesday go a little better:
(I found this out while reading a new book that I picked up at Barnes and Noble called "17 Hours to Glory - Extraordinary Stories from the Heart of Triathlon" this book details 17 athletes and their journies within the sport of triathlon. It includes the like of Julie Moss to the present day unbeatable Chrissie Wellington.)

Fun fact #1 - In 1900, thanks to the British we all have to run 1.2 more miles during the marathon because they wanted the Olympic marathon that year to start at Buckingham Palace in order for the Queen to be the official race started. Since then the established marathon distance has been 26.2 miles instead of the original 25 miles that Pheideppides ran in 490 B.C. to announce the Greek Army's victory over the Persians. (As a side note Pheideppides died shortly after he finished the 25 miles, like literally, he hit mile 25, announced the Greeks kicked the Persians butt's and then proceeded to go off to the heavens). Thus, all you triathletes who are at mile 25 - 26.2 you can attribute your suffering, your tired legs, your pee stained shorts, your whatever to Queen Victoria -->
She really looks like she was interested in a bunch of men running a long race...geez...

What a bizzare Sunday

When I was writing my blog yesterday I didn't really expect to have as weird of a Sunday as I did. Right from the start the day just felt a bit different. I was kind of sluggish getting on my bike to start my 45/45 brick but not sluggish because I was tired (I wasn't, I had plenty of rest) but sluggish because I had the intentions of cleaning up my apartment and things like that. Things that I have neglected to do even though I have had ample time to do them lately. I did manage to get some dishes clean, and clear the kitchen counter up...however the dirty dishes have magically appeared again this morning. I think some little dirty dish fairy comes into my apartment and puts them their, along with stealing all my forks (I only have 1 fork left..i used to have like 6 ...at least!) Well I cleaned the kitchen and began to sort through the living room (aka the dirty clothing hamper on the floor and basic storage for all my stuff from my June-July travels, including Lake Placid). Little by little I have been picking the floor up and sorting through the clothing, bike stuff, run stuff, smelly/moldy clothing..and its looking better but I didn't finish the job. I ended up doing something else, and I can't really remember what it was. I think I just decided that it was time to go ride my bike and off I went. So I headed out for my nice 45/45 brick workout, which I was very excited for as it afforded me the first time to get a workout over an hour in. Something that regardless of the effort/intensity of the workout that I had really been looking forward to. I just wanted to get some time in...time to clear my mind and provide some therapy. If nothing else riding my bike or running for a decent amount of time lets me relax...something I have been having a hard time doing lately. Like always it was relaxing, I even had the chance to chat with another cyclist who was heading from downtown Rochester out to Bristol to meet some of his buddies and ride...I was secretly jealous of his cycling plans for the day as well as the quark power meter he was rocking. We ended up conversing for a little while as we headed out of Pittsford. He eventually went his way (aka took off like a bolt of lightning up a hill) and I continued on my solo journey back to my apartment where I would head to my garage (aka T2) and throw my running shoes on.

I'm not to sure where I left off but last time I was writing was at about 5;30am this morning before I headed to the pool...and boy am I glad I got my swim in this morning because it has been a wet and stormy afternoon for sure. It's now about 7pm and I am in a very good place. After work I headed to Towpath to see some friends and drop off a book for Mike who works at Towpath and is currently residing in the hospital after a very bad bike crash. I wish him the best and hope that he has a very speedy recovery! Because I mean I am bound to break something on my bike and he will have to fix it!

I think I was talking earlier about what happened on Sunday and I'll pick up once I returned home from my bike ride. After I got back on threw on the trusty newtwons (actually they are a new pair and look really nice and white..and pee free...won't be that way for to much longer) but the none the less my shoes and I took off on a data free endurance effort run. I didn't go slow and I didn't go fast. I went about medium and that was just fine with me. I had a nice stroll around Cobbs Hill and even had all of Park Ave to myself since it was the weekend of the Park Ave fest and all the streets were blocked off so no cars could go up or down. It was really nice to be able to run down the middle of the road all the way to alexander and say hi to all the people who were setting up their stands for the final day of the fest. I saw my barber and various other people I knew..its was pleasant.

Well after my workouts and everything I got cleaned up and had the intention of cleaning my apartment. However, that intention soon departed and was replaced by me just reading slowtwitch.com posts or something, i don't really know but the next thing I knew it was time to get going to the IRONMAN party at the Kellman's (which by the way was great). So on the way to my car I hear this woman screaming and yelling, and what seems to be like almost crying. I was completely caught off guard to see that a older handicapped woman had fallen on the ground a couple apartment complex's down. She was lying on her back kind of rolling around with her walker about 10 feet in front of her below the curbing. ..it was bizarre! So anyways, as soon as this scene registered in my brain I ran over to her and got to the bottom of the situation. It so happens that she had lost her balance trying to get to her car when she was trying to navigate the curbing. So she basically fell backwards, onto her back..and couldn't get up! She had fallen and couldn't get up. I felt soooo bad for this woman, I really didn't know what to do in terms of making sure she was alright. I mean I got her back up on her feet and helped her put everything in her car and all that. I made sure she was alright, asked her if she hit her head or anything. She seemed to be alright and I swear she even said that "whenever I fall I can't get up on my own"...like it had happened before! oooo i felt bad, but I did all I could for the time being and her car is back at the apartment complex tonight so I've got to believe she's alright. But ive definitely got my eye out for her now.

So that was really why my Sunday was so bizzare. I mean it was kind of like a laddie daddie type day where I was just floating along not really adding much to society. I mean I wasn't being productive with my blogging, or my apartment cleaning, and my training was basically to just get the blood flowing, and then all the sudden I helped a woman who had fallen and couldn't get up. Maybe this if anything will get me rocking and rolling again, shake the cob webs out of my brain if you know what I mean.

I've got more on my mind but its getting late and I have a huge salad in front of me that would make any healthy rabbit froth at the mouth. I promise to get a nice little post off tomorrow morning before I meander over towards Mendon Ponds to spend the early morning hours with my good buddy Donald.

B-rick

Bike

Run
It's Sunday morning at 5:54AM and I am up at my desk having my cup of coffee from my rocking cool keurig single cup coffee maker and pondering life's un-answerable questions. Where else would you expect me at this hour? I mean I am probably the only 20 something year old person in Rochester who has been in bed at 6pm the last two nights (FYI: It's the Park Ave fest which is basically a weekend long party in the Park Ave district of Rochester where beer pong and open containers are the norm). Anyway, I seemed to have some sort of cold coming on last Thursday and the best way to combat a cold/sickness is to drink drink drink (water that is) and sleep sleep sleep. I have done both and I feel pretty good right now. It's not like I would have been out partying anyways. So the past two nights have left me with a lot of time to sleep which is good, I will happily put those hours in my sleep bank as come winter time I will be begging for them back.

Well I guess since its about 6AM on a Sunday when I don't really have to be up at 6am..and the fact that I am...this means that I am back to my usual schedule. Back to where the work gets done. It's so much easier to think and accomplish things (for me) in the morning hours when the sun is still working its way into the sky. It's funny that only about 1 month ago I would be meeting friends down at Kershaw Park for morning swims during the week and we would be jumping in the water at 5:30am and the sun would already be rising and it would be light enough to safely start swimming. Now as I look out from my desk chair into the great outdoors it is only just beginning to get light outside. Funny how things change so quickly. My knee jerk emotional reaction to this is sadness. I love the late spring and summer time. It's a time when work isn't bananas, people are usually in great moods, people are OUTDOORS, the lake is in full use, you can walk outside in a t-shirt and shorts at 5am and not be frigid...idk its just pleasant. But I really can't complain to much as I still have a very very substantial triathlon season ahead of me over the next few months. The next few races will quickly get me to Thanksgiving time and from then on the holidays are in full effect which makes time fly. Then all the sudden the first of the year will be here and it will be time once again to hit training hard! As the busy season of the tax professional will take up most of my time during mid January through April 15th I will once again embark on the dark period of my year where I eat, train, work, sleep and repeat...and thats pretty much all I do. The weekends will bring Saturday work hours which mean 4am wake up calls for indoor training rides. I just hope that I have some comrades that want to join me so we can set up shop together and make 5am indoor rides less awful. But enough of this dreary talk about the winter. The fact of the matter is that right now I have the Syracuse 70.3 IM as well as Ironman Florida in sight. Even though these races seemed so far off when I signed up for them, they have certainly crept up on me quickly. The fact that I signed up for two 1/2's and two full's in 1 year was once an obstacle that I thought might be to much in my first year. I won't lie that their was a period where I was like WTF have I got myself into. I am by no means out of the woods yet, my primary goal of every race is to come out of it happy, healthy, and stronger. So far things have gone pretty well. Even though I had some set backs in May-June I think that I am in a good place now. I truly believe that my initial injuries and setbacks this year were due to my "new-ness" to this sport. Without a cycling or running background I essentially went from 0-60 (if I can use an automobile analogy) in less than 8 months. I wouldn't have it any other way..that's just how I work. But it did bring some issues up, hopefully one's that are now behind me. So with a decent effort at IMLP I am very excited to have a second shot at both the 70.3 and 140.6 distance this year. I am extremely hopeful that with a solid mindset and a good plan from my coach that I will meet my expectations at these races. I guess personally I would have to say that the 70.3 is not the highest on my list and I will use it for more of a training race to see where I am at in a month from now. But I would be lying if I said that I wasn't going to be fully motivated for it. I mean I know a TON of people that are going to be there and it's just going to be a really fun event. So with that said I won't be super caught up with what times I throw down...i am just going to be there to have fun...well I guess that's how I approach every race but it just feels better to spell it out, haha! I guess the same goes for IMFL but honestly deep down I wanna have a good race down their. I have to imagine that I am going to have a blast down their with Mary as we both are out to conquer Panama City...regardless of what happens I will cross the line with a smile. But I am sure I will talk more about IMFL in the coming months as it will be on my mind quite frequently.

Well for the rest of the day the plan is to Bike and Run as pictured above. 45 minutes of each..back to back..also known as a "B-Rick" workout, some breakfast, maybe cleaning my apartment but most likely taking a nap or watching a movie, then going over to Kamp Kellman's for a little post Ironman party with the team....and that will be that...catch you later.

Trying to find my mojo again...

Well its good to to see that some people are still checking in on me, even though they are all my tri friends. Where are you my other followers?

Oh well, its their loss and to you my loyal blog checkers...its most certainly your gain.

I must say that I can't really blame the other people, I mean I haven't really been writing anything noteworthy lately. For some reasons things have been going really really fast. All May was trying to bike as many miles as possible...with an achilles injury. I literally lived out of my car going back and forth between Syracuse, Penn Yan, and Rochester. Then came June, the achilles thing was still an issue, I switched jobs, took a couple weeks vacation (to fit more training in) during this vacation period I went to Lake Placid for two weekend camps and also went to Vermont for another weekend camp. That pretty much took care of June. At the beginning of July I was able to resume a bit of short running in prep for IMLP which seemed like it was very far away as it was the end of July. However, all of July seemed like to be a HUGE taper down to the race so I was constantly trying to fit in some other things non-training related with a bit more free time. That coupled with the Musselman weekend in Geneva made Race week in Placid come QUICK! Then all of the sudden the race is over and I am back to work...I am now two weeks back to work and starting to really take on some real tax returns and real tax projects. Training is slowly beginning to resume and I am slowly beginning to regain some normality that I had back from Oct-April. (If you can call my life normal) I guess the only hiccup is that I got some kind of virus or something on Thursday which led to the onset of a sore throat. I can usually tell when I just have a cold or whether I am getting something more. This felt like it was going to be a full blown sore throat thing, so I grabbed my emergency antibiotics and began the routine of taking them for 5 days (I usually do this between 1-2x per year as I tend to get sick in the summer/fall change period as well as in the spring or summer...) and these med's always clear stuff up before they become to big of a problem. The antibiotics coupled with a low key day on Friday which included a bed time of...get this, 5:30PM has me feeling a bit better. It's now almost 5:30am (so i ended up getting about 11 hours of sleep if you figure the amount of time I was up at night peeing because of the enormous amounts of water I have been flushing through my system. I'm drinking my coffee and even eating a nice bowl of grape nuts and banana mixed with protein powder.

Moving on..I must say that I am pretty excited for today. Today is what I consider my first day in the IMFL build. I will also be racing the Syracuse 70.3 in September (and I am super excited about this race don't get me wrong) but that race will be more of a fitness indicator than anything else.....i think? I'll be racing hard that day but the main thing is that I come out of the race strong and healthy and focused on heading to Florida in November. And as today is the reintroduction of some solid training what better way to kick it off than heading out to Don Ehinger's place in Mendon Ponds to meet up with Don and Chris for a nice bike ride! I'll be on my road bike, the bike of choice for the time being. It's a nice change to hop off the tri bike and enjoy some of the splendor's that my madone has to offer. You know, one of the best things about these easier types of rides is that it really gives you a chance to just sit back and enjoy riding bikes. Chit chatting with your buddies and rolling over the beautiful land that is around Rochester is really a special thing. So there you have it, I am beginning my next block of 2010. I am fat and happy. Which means I am not race ready...but that will come, like they say you can't be at Race Weight all the time.

hello?

anyone still reading this?

Goodbyes and New Beginnings

Goodbye full blown recovery, snickers bars, excessive greek yogurt, to much granola, ice cream and even that piece of carrot cake I snuck in last night, goodbye excess....

HELLO NEW IRONMAN TRAINING BLOCK...FALL 2010 IS GOING TO GET SERIOUS! No amount of oil is going to stop me from swimming in the gulf come this November. IMFL, Hurricane Turbo is coming....watch out!

The Day Before IMLP 2010, Baldy and Clumsy, and Graduation!

Warning: This blog has not been reviewed for gramarical errors or mental lapses, or scattered brain syndrom, read it and take from it what you can...I'm going to watch some tv now.

As I was lying in my bed at the Golden Arrow Hotel in Lake Placid on the day before the race I had written down some thoughts that I had intended on putting up on my blog. Unfortunately my iPad along with my iPhone both lost their charge very early on last week and I therefore did not have any access to the internet and could not put up and blog posts, or answer any phone calls, or respond to texts, or talk to people who were in Lake Placid. Leave it to me to completely forget my chargers when going on vacation. It wasn't to much of a big deal since I needed to get as much rest as possible but I would have liked to get some good posts up along with some other things that required the use of a computer (iPad) or phone.

With that said I am going to post what I wrote in my journal (word-for-word). I will say that I wrote down these thoughts on the Saturday before the race and have not changed them since. They especially go out to Don and Chris, two great guys who have shown me a lot of kindness, and in the spirit of the smurfing that I attempted to do but was sidetracked due to technological lapses, I will officially name Don Ehinger "Baldy Smurf" and Chris Leonardi "Clumsy Smurf". Don is admittedly the baldest member of Team Train This and frequently perpetuates the situation by spending countless hours shaving or "bic'ing" his head until is has a shine that would rival that of my 7th grade science teachers...and for those of you who knew Mr. Larock you know what I am talking about! As for Mr. Leonardi, Clumsy Smurf just really seems to suit him well based on the mental lapses that have seemed to pop up during his Ironman stretch run. Chris will admittedly say that "Ironman ate his brain" and one only has to look at a few prime examples of his recent on-goings to see this. Take for example the day he went into work carrying his transition bag instead of his briefcase..(I don't think your body glide and powergels are going to solve any insurance claims), or the time when he forgot to put his van in park and witnessed a "ghost-driven" van rolling down the driveway. Needless to say his wife was on the floor rolling...I can only imagine what was going through Chris's head, then again it was probably nothing seeing how Ironman had eaten it all away, Well, I can only hope that now that the race is over that your brain will be able to re-grow.

And so onto what I had written down last Saturday...

7/24/10
Well today is the "mandatory get off your feet and rest day". I have heard that their was one such triathlete who spent a whopping 28 whole minutes on his feet before an Ironman race. Now I am not sure I will even come close to this number seeing how I have already been on my feet for at least 20 minutes to go the bathroom, and get coffee at Starbucks, but I just thought I would throuw that little tidbit of knowledge out their because its simply amazing. And even if you do not come close to this number the mere fact that you (in my case me) are thinking about it, you are bound to think about how much time your actually on your feet and will hopefully take the necessary precautions to get off them and rest up for your challenge on the following day.

Moving along, I must say that usually on vacations and training weekends where I am sort of off the grid I find it really easy to relax and focus on writing down my thoughts and writing about the world and whats going on around me. However, I have not been able to catch the writing bug yet. I think it all correlates with the amount of free time I have or the amount of free time I make for myself and thus far I have had lots to occupy myself. Each day I have had some sort of task to accomplish and I guess this has not enabled me to truly "un-plug" (even though I have been electronically unplugged since Wednesday as I forgot to bring my iPad and iPhone charger). With that said I've got to believe that today will be a good day for relaxing and for writing some thoughts down. My parents will soon be arriving and even though some stress will be brought with them (anyone who knows my dad a.k.a. Dicky C knows that he is a walking talking ball of stress) but I usually egg him on so I probably perpetuate the situation more than I should, but what can I say. I grew up predominently as an only-child (my siblings were many years older than me) so it was my dad who I joked with, played with, fought with, made fun of...he takes it well (sort of, haha...but in his old age he gets funnier by the moment with his "tendencies" so he really makes for an easy target to crack jokes about). I love you dad, even if I do poke fun..its because I love you :) and since my dad will be arriving shortly he will make a welcome addition to the "hole up in your hotel room with the shades drawn and the tv on crew" since that is what I am doing today and that is what he does on every family vacation. My mom will take care of walking around LP and seeing the sights, you can count on that.

Well just because I am sitting in my hotel bed and looking at random things I might as well give you a little caption of what it looks like without the visual aid of photography...(as I wrote this I was beginning to grab my iPhone which had about 1/2 a % charge to take a picture of the room, and guess what..as soon as I snapped the picture the phone went dark again...fiugures!)So as I sit here I am now completely and utterly unplugged from the world around me, as I should be the day before my first Ironman. So as I was beginning to explain....my current room situation is me sitting on my bed, a dead iPhone to my left and a garmin 310xt to my right, which will soon be adjusted so that the data fields read what I want them to on race day, then it will go back to being plugged into the charge so it will rest up and be fully charged and ready to go tomorrow morning, just like me ehh? wow..that's a great thought..how about a slogan for all triathlete's..when in doubt just ask yourself "what would your Garmin do?" (WWYGD) I know what mine would do! The day before a big event it would shut down and charge up. It would never leave the table that its resting on and it would be ready to go in the morning. Or just think WWYGD if it was tired or overworked (i.e. overtrained, battery dead)..it would just shut down, in fact Garmins have such great will power that they ALWAYS stick to their plan and adhere to protocol. Even if your 5.5 hrs into a 6 hr bike ride if it feels tired (battery low..nearing dead) it will just calmly call it a day and shut down. Maybe these Garmin things know something we triathletes don't!

Changing gears..something just popped into my head. It's probably the most noteworthy thing that has popped into my head in a long time and I guess because I really haven't had the time to stop and think about my thoughts that this is the reason why I have not taken the time to write them down. I mean ever since May 2nd I've admittedly been frazzeled. Back then I was fresh off my first IM 70.3 where I was able to hit all my goals within a few minutes. The 70.3 down in Texas was amazing not only because I was able to race down their but it was also just a sweet vacation. I was able to experience everything with my coach Mary who went down to race as well. She stayed at the same hotel I was at so it was super nice to have someone so close to keep tabs on me and make sure I was doing the right things before the race...like registering...and resting...and eating...etc..(FLORIDA WILL BE EVEN BETTER!) But I also met some new people like Don Ehinger and his family as well as Kim Hase and her boyfriend Jake. These people are teammates of mine who Mary coach's. Before the trip to Galveston I really didn't know who they were. But we ended up becoming fast friends...I kind of new Don and I would get along when at 4:30am on race morning he was outside his hotel lifting up his tri shorts with his hitchhikers thumb out as Mary and I pulled up to get him. Needless to say if he had on a speedo he would have been able to take shotgun from me...he'll learn next time (supposedly he has a BORAT type speedo/thong thingy..I don't even know what to call that thing but its nuts and if he ever shows up to some place I am at wearing that and only that..I might just not stop laughing for a good hour)..Well needless to say since the 70.3 my legs gave me huge issues and I ended up not being able to run for all of May and mostly all of June..it sucked but I got through it. But enough of that, the point that popped into my head when I was thinking about what has gone on since the 70.3 in Texas is that Don and I have become really good friends, and through Don I really got to know his partner in crime and fellow Train This teammate Chris Leonardi. All three of us even ended up going on a 6 hour bike ride together in late May. I just can't say how cool the sport of triathlon is in regards to these types of things. I probably would have never met theses guys had I not started doing what I am doing. They are older than me and have families so they respectfully have different lifestyles...well sorta different..after training and working they still have family type obligations and such...so really they have it a lot tougher than I do in respect to finding time for rest and recovery. I don't know how they do it because being a single dude with no real responsibilities I find it ridiculously hard to fit everything in. So kudos to them..i don't know how they do it. ...moving along, I must say that I really get a kick out of Don and Chris (Baldy and Clumsy Smurf). I guess we as humans just get along with different people for different reasons, its built into our DNA or something, but for whatever reason i really enjoy these guys and we seem to always have a good time when were together training, eating, shooting the obligatory "sh*&". So I just wanted to take the time and tell everyone how awesome these two guys are. I really can't thank them enough for all the generosity that they have shown me over the past few months and during our Training Camp and IMLP weekends. In specific I will list just a few things:
Don,
Thanks for riding with me in the early am before the sun has risen and chatting with me on google when we both weren't able to focus on anything work-related.
Don & Chris,
Thank you both for letting me crash in your extravagant honeymoon suite at the Alpine Aire during training camp.

Thank you both for having me over to your Lake Placid villa in the woods as well as dealing with my pre-race lunacy. Those dinners were really amazing and I had a blast hanging out with you guys, Corona, and Ken before the weekend really got rolling.

And lastly thanks for being great friends and treating me like one of your family members. You've both let me dine with your family on multiple occasions with your wives and your children and I cannot say how nice it is to be included. (Even though they might look at me strangely and think I am a bit "out there"..rightfully so) But really, you guys have a great support team and regardless of what they say or how they act you know that they were just as nervous and you were (maybe more) while you were out their racing on Sunday. When I had initially jotted down these notes I wrote that the family members probably have it more rough than we as athletes do. As athletes our minds pretty much go into survival mode as soon as then cannon goes off. ...back to the present time...I would have to say that as soon as the cannon goes off and you start swinging your arms to move yourself in the water you check into survival mode and start reacting and racing, gone are the butterflies, gone are the pre-race jitters..its time to crank out a good swim and get moving on the bike, I mean once your out their on the bike for 4+ hours a 1hr swim kind of becomes an after thought. I mean does a 1:05 or 1:10 really matter? So when we are out their just having a blast racing around to crowds numbering in the thousands are family and loved ones are sitting their wondering how we are doing, wondering if we crashed?..if we bonked?...if were just not doing well period...they are the ones that have to wait 3+hours just to see us for 10 seconds on the bike. They are close enough to touch us but can only shout at us while we give them a nod or a raised arm. Anyway, I know that they were out their cheering for you guys and everyone as I can distinctly remember them cheering for me on multiple occasions.

In summary, this post was direct towards you boys..Baldy and Clumsy...THANK YOU!

and since this post is coming about a week after the race I will add a short note. Congratulations to you two dudes, and the rest of the Train-This IMLP crew..and to the numerous other people I knew racing in IMLP from QT2 and elsewhere. It was an absolute blast racing in LP and seeing everyone on course. No matter where it was on course it was always special to be able to see someone you knew getting after it...no caffeine boost in the world can get your legs moving faster than seeing a familiar face. I will add that we are all FINISHER's now. We've got 1 or in some peoples' case many in the books. For I think all of the TT'ers we now have a marathon in our legs, for some its an IM marathon now..and for other its plain and simple a marathon. Either way you look at it last Sunday was like a graduation day for us TT'ers. I think we have pretty much all been on-board and prepping for this race in particular since about last October. In reality the only thing that matters is that we all finished this race happy and healthy. Just like the CPA or the bar exam, it really doesn't matter what grade (time) you got, its just the fact that you can say you passed (you finished). Now that we all have the experience its time to get down to business and GET SMARTER, GET HEALTHIER...AND GET FASTER!

And as my final "point" I personally feel that I can now call myself a triathlete. I can now make statements like "We triathletes are...blah blah"..you know things like that. Why? I think because I've now done this sport for about a year and I've completed an IM so I feel I am now justified in calling myself a triathlete. I'm not just a dude that jumps into a few races every summer without really dedicating themselves..but I'm a triathlete to the core. I can make broad ranging statements about the triathlon community because I am one of them. But maybe that's just me. I am not saying that you have to do an IM to be a triathlete but for me personally I know feel like I've crossed a little milestone. ONTO THE NEXT CHALLENGE!