Training day.....

Well ok this post is not about a movie with a courrpt Cop stelaing most of the drug money, but rather what the main extent of the last 12+ hours were like for me.
6:00am Alarm goes off...hit snooze...
6:30am Alarm goes off get up and throw work clothes in the dryer to "de wrinkle" them...hit snooze
6:45am get up pick up work clothes drive to the Dirty Water Y
7:00am-7:20am swim 1000 yds...cussing silently to myself that I should have bit the bullet and left a 6 like I had planned.
7:25-7:40 Shower, lavatory, dress and take off for work
8:10 Dunkin Donuts run Yay!
8:20 get to work.
11:30 Power outage cause 10 minutes of havoc
11:41 start taking care of customers when power is restored...
11:42 power goes back out for a minute
11:45 Power comes back on
11:48 finally resign onto computer
12:15PM take care of my last customer of the day after stating open 15 min. late to comphensate for power failures.
12:30Pm Blow the pop stand that is Webster.
12:35 Get Angry's voice mail that he will be unable to run this afternoon go home and work on plan B rails to trails ride. Take the siblings ( Chrissy and Michael)
12:45-1:45 do bicycle surgery on Chrissy's bike, fit mike's ride in the back of the car, set up bike rack drive out to Cheshire.
2:00Pm arrive at Cheshire rails to trails inflat everyone's tires and ride.
Now since it's fall and last night there was a torrential rain storm the path was lined with soaked leaves making the entire path a skating rink. To make matters worse as I repassed Chrissy and mike Chrissy's bike had gotten a flat and I didn't have a spare tube. I went and finshed my 20 miler as Chrissy walked and mike sort of rode at a slow pace. Meanwhile I tore up as much of the trail I could. Everything was fine until about 5 miles from the end. As I was riding down one of the more slick sections I approached a kid who was weaving back and forht on his mountain bike I shouted " Heads Up" and the kid turned left directly into my path. I turn to the left as he was trying to also go left for the grass, needless to say front wheels touched and we went sliding off road. I managed to unclip and stay up right as the poor kid fell over. After checking to make sure we were both alright I took off again and sped through the last 5 miles of the ride ( Viva Enrico!) . average speed was about 14 mph a little slow but considering the slick conditions and the NDE ( near death expereince) it wasn't bad.
4:30PM Went to dinner with the sibblings, then drove home.
5:30 unloaded bikes, went to room and changed into the most reflective run gear I own.
6:00-7:05 I ran a new route through Wolcott, I tried to stick to Route 69 and the newer developments on the side roads, you know the kinds that have street lamps. Well needless to say theses new developments are also some of the hilliest neighborhoods in town, so needless to say I got a nice 7-8 mile hill workout. I know it's usually a dangerous and possibly deadly propostion to run in Wolcott after dark ( not because of gangs of Ghetto Wantabes but the fact there are not many street lights and everyone ( myself included) seems to think 40 is the minimum speed in town.) but i want the experience of running in full gear ( ie fuel belt, hat, long sleeves) in the dark just in case something goes horribly wrong in IM NZ ( I bonk, crash on the bike and have a slower than expected ride, blow up on the run, take crap out to fast, do an extra loop of the run...etc) and I end up coming in inthe 14, 15, 16 hours or racing to just beat the 17 hour deadline mode. Also as winter approaches I am coming to the realization that 95% of my run training is going to happen either before 7am or after 5pm which means I'm going to be running in the dark, so I had better get used to it. Afterall if I'm going to be one of the top age groupers out of the water I would like to have a run split to match...

Ok enough of my training tales and not-so-secret ambitions to do well I am wondering if it would be too presumptious of me to write to my local paper and tell them I doing this thing. Now Normally I'd like to be quiet and low key, but another part of me is screaming, Human interest story! $ponsor$hip! Benifit$! so I am taking a poll should I write to the Dirty Water's rag of a newspaper and tell them of my New Zealand Plans or leave it all to the inner circle who knows I psycho enough to do this thing, my fellow athletes and bloggers, Please post a reply.

R.D.

My Classes are inteferring with my IM NZ training schedule.

Yes that's right my glorious week off from the rat-race that is Webster will instead be ruled by the rat race that is Central Connecticut State University. My History Professor revealed that he wants us to write an 8 page take home mid-term on the current Israeli- Palestinian situation ( I can wrap that up in one sentence...Mr. Ouimet tear down this wall...) and the Situation in Iraq ( again another one liner..." Poorly planned Money pit/Vendetta gone wrong.") Also in that same week I have an 8 page Anthropology paper due on the effects of cholera on society as viewed by the Victorians ( up tight as all hell but drinking from the polluted, shit filled, and bacteria ridden Thames...Man I love the 19th Century Brits. ) So my time will be split between the library, pool, bike paths/back roads of CT and late nights on my laptop.

Training Plan Far.
Mon. swam 2000 yards straight in under 30 min. ( 28:30 to be exact..go my auqa stud self.)
Tue. Swam 3000 yards
Today Ran 4.5 miles this morning my usual hill climb and fly by of the high school. Tonight I'll lift and maybe some trainner time as I crank up the i-pod and look through books explaining how a bug one millionth our size can cause us to ..ummm..err... well..dehydrate us from both ends , or how the Paelstinans were booted from their land and the "tricky" political situation it has caused in either case my reading material is sort of a downer.

Tomorrow: try to wake up early and get 3000 glorious yards in at the Dirty Water Y. Maybe another 4-6 miler in.

Fri: Run 6-10 miles in the morning Work then get in 3000 yards at masters.

Sat. Long Ride ( hopefully other wise I'll be loafing a brick on the Cheshire trail...Angry you down...)
Sun: Again another ride possible swim but definately getting the bike out for at least 2 hours.

so that's my training for this week next week I have to play by ear. Workouts are always subject to Work Schedule, classes, classwork and fatigue. I will be Ironman ready some day.
Well like I said Lifting to do....gotta get jack so I can intimidate guys as I squeeze my bulging biceps into my wetsuit.
R.D.

All Hail the King of Kona!!!

Yes I know this post is 3 days late, ( just wanted to make sure Macca cleared doping, that and I have two 8 page papers due about bacteria and political leaders with names that are both hard to spell and pronounce.) But yes, the man I most fashion my racing style after has finally come through and become Lord of the Lava Fields, Empitome of Endurance, The Arrogant Chap with the world's best aerobic threshold...Chris Mc Cormack You are the Ironman World Champion and you'd had a hell of a race to do it. On the Women's side Chrissie Wellington Won in a blow out. Her nearest competition was Sam Mc Glone and she was six minutes back getting off the bike and that's where she stayed, Kate Major had been second but faded to third nine minutes behind the unstoppable Wellington. The sad thing is Ironman .com stayed gluded to the Women's race or lack thereof...as Macca, Crowie ( Craig Alexander) Trbjorn Sinbale, Chris Lieto and Tim De Boom waged a 5 man Ironwar. Granted when I saw Sinbale only had a 7 min. lead off the bike I knew it was all over for him....let's face Macca proved he could chase down Normann Stadler ( who dropped out via stomach virus...somewhere in the backround I can hear Peter Reid shouting "suck it up, I puked all over myself in 03 and still won." Or De Boom shouting " Whimp!" * Tim DeBoom dropped out of the 2003 Ironman due to passing a kidney Stone at mile 14 on the marathon. Granted I can't Blame Normann for dropping out this year..after all there is a difference between puking like a cholera patient and having a temper tantrum over a "Flat f&*king tire!") The guy that impressed me was the USA's Chris Lieto
For the second year in a row he was the 2nd guy off the bike. Then he took it out hard on the run. He passed then Leader Sinbale and led until about the half marathon point, when Macca and Crowie sort of said "thanks for the lift mate we'll take it from here." Lieto was repassed by Sinbale, Tim De Boom and some other dude. I will say this 6th in Hawaii is damn good! Now if the guy just puts more into his run focus we might just have another American capable of winning in Kona.
So in a quick Kona Recap:

Lava= Hot

Queen K = Hot and Windy

Macca = The MAN!

Wellington= The Woman ( or possible EPO we'll see when the doping report comes out. sorry I'm a little untrusting of big breakthrough wins after the Nina Kraft, Floyd Landis, Vinokorov scandals)

Tim De Boom = still has it.

Stomach Viruses Suck! ( especially for Brown, Stadler, Jones, Al-Sultan)

Normann Stadler= Win or DNF

Bike Crash = No win and No smile for Natascha

Chris Lieto= Next American Champion?

and Max from HEAT finished in 9:55 no age group bling but still a kick ass time. Way to go Max!

So any Kona perdictions for Next Year?

R.D.