The endorphins will bring me out of it: or 5000 + yards

When I got home from work today I was drained, emotionally, mentally and physically. I came in not speaking more than yes, no, IDK, and some sort of Neanderthal grunt. I went napped, got up for practice still felt like crap, but decided to man up and swim off the catered lunch we had at work today....thank you boss lady :) Anyway went to practice and point blankly stated I didn't care if I talked to another homo sapien from now until the world came back to its post holiday senses ( Dec. 26...everyone is way too hung over from egg nog, beer, punch, uncle tim's mystery beverage...) Karas gave this grumpy amphibian the workout 5200 yards of bliss.
Warm up
500 swim
500 pull
500 kick
Easy enough took off so pre holiday rage
200 drill
focused on some technique started to calm down
3x100 on 1:25 build
didn't shatter any records but got it done.
Main set The pyramid
100 free easy on 1:30
200 free build to strong on 2:50
300 free build to fast on 4:15
400 Free build to max on 5:30
300 Free Easy on 4:30
200 Free Build to hard on 2:45
100 Free max effort on 1:25
I got the set done and let my mind wonder. What was really stressing me out? Should I give up this sport and focus on more important things? Doubts, fears, and what I was going to do about them. I have decided on one thing I am going to write a lists of doubts and tuck it into my back pocket as I do my Ironman I have decided as soon as I cross the finish line I'm tearing that paper into smitherines and tossing it into the nearest tiki torch.
any way the next sets
4x100 pull on 1:25
3x150 on 2:15
2x200 on 2:45
150 cool down.
I got it done and felt pretty good after the fact. I have come to the conclusion that if I don't top 50 the swim somebody's on some serious roids, either that or the kiwis are bred for this.

I have decided that I'm going to invest in an old colonial/New England cliche to use for the finish of my large tier races a vintage DON'T TREAD ON ME flag. Seriously Macca has his Aussie flag, Faris Al Sutan has whatever part of Germany he's from flag, the Basque riders in le tour have their flag, so I will Have Don't tread on me, a piece of New England nastoliga plus the attitude of an Ironman. Like I said early I apologize for being out of it in my last couple of posts the holidays just always seem to get me down. Well anyway those are my ramblings tomorrow I have a brick/Christmas shopping to get done. Leave some love or hate or psychatric advice.

Ye Rebel Triathlete
R.D.

4 Days until X-Mas.....the animal instinct kicks in.

That's right there are only 4 days left until my (least) favorite day of the year. Seriously I approach Christmas like most people approach Tax Day, with loathing , cyncism, fear, anger, ..man this sounds like a speech from Yoda....frustration of what to get people...frustration that people want to get me stuff.... I told my parents to get me a kingsford charchol briquette and come up with some story like I took a shot at Santa's reindeer or something and spend what they would spend on me on my siblings..figure I'm 22 and working so anything I want I buy , the rest are either in grade school, high school or living the life of a broke college student...i was immediately hit with We'd never traumatize you like that...and I'm like but I'm requesting it...hell it'd give everyone a laugh... then get do you really think that little of yourself.....now I don't think I'm god's gift to humanity, but I don't feel I'm utter crap either, I just don't like bothering people and having them spend their hard earned cash I'm something I'm too lazy to pick up myself. ..but that like too many things is a rant for another day.

No today is the day animal instinct kicks in I have decided wisely to avoid anything that can be concidered a place of commerce on this the last payday before Christmas. Tonight this cynical Catholic Boy will not be among the throngs clammoring for the last vistages of consumeristic crap. Instead I will take out my cynicism in the pool and weight room. I will avoid the herd that are merely cogs and pawns of the captialist machine. I will avoid becoming a statistic, granted I do have to pick up a gift card an a couple of coffee mugs......d'oh.

Well like I said some quality time at the Y is in order tonight, an ride and run at Waramaug are on tap for tomorrow, then a nice pre church morning run on Sunday and a trip to the Casino, hopefully, I have to holla at Angry, ron for prez., and Nashville, to make final arrangements.

Sorry for all the Holiday Rants, but the blog is cheaper than therapy, and a lot less embarassing than Happy Hour, so for putting up with my stress relief, I heartily thank you.

The testy Teller
R.D.

Freedom!!!!!!!

That's right one of the three major factors of stress in my life College Exams are over. For the next month I am free of professors, lectures, homework assignments, papers, tests. quizzes and driving the half hour to New Britain. As I write this I am suffering the after effects of 3 glasses of Merlot so my mood is a little giddy I will probably have no recaletion of this post and a hang over tomorrow. I've had my pissed off stress had me down kind of post earlier. I went home had a good meal found out my little sis got a standing ovation because the jazz band/ band kick serious ass. Got pissed off at the computer Czar because I had to miss it...but it's all good. Sadly right now I think the booze/antioxodants are talking for me. I'll have a better post when I'm cognisant of my actions and am sober enough to operate a vehicle.

The tippsy triathlete
R.D.

I think I need to lock myself away......

I'm one of those people that either gets too close and too personally involved..or avoids people like the plauge. It just seems like I take everything way too personally. Also my major problem...especially with women is I come on too strong. Sometimes I wish I were gay because I can communicate better with men than I can with the opposite sex. Another fact is I take other people's issues upon myself. I let their problems wreck my day. Seriously I'm one step away from becoming a hermit...complete with cave, shaggy hair, and beard. I wonder if I'm bipolar. Because lately I go from being happy to depressed to eh in a matter of minutes..then again those drug company commercials make anyone seem crazy... example...."do you have trouble concentrating especially when the professor is extremely boring and the subject makes a root canal seem painless? Then you have HAADD Hyper Adult Attention Defcit Disorder and the only cure is this little green pill!" I think for me the best advice I can give myself is this:
ROB YOU MORON YOU ARE NOT MEANT TO DATE OR GET MARRIED OR HAVE KIDS. YOU ARE MEANT TO DIE ALONE ON A BEACH PREFERABLY WITH AN IM FINISHER MEDAL ON YOUR NECK, A BOTTLE OF CAPTAIN MORGAN AT YOUR SIDE AN A LARGE CHECK CLENCHED IN YOUR COLD DEAD HANDS AND A SMILE ACCROSS YOUR FACE BECAUSE UNLIKE EVERYONE ELSE THERE WAS NO ONE TO SPEND YOUR LARGE CHECK! Sorry for the caps I had to hit that one home to myself. The problem is I have no problems being alone its when I get into the company of people I have issues...I think I discovered the solution...I need to isolate my self from people. I need to become that guy who doesn't look up form his computer monitor or say shit if I have a mouthful of it. Maybe then most of my issues will go away...I don't know...don't take this post seriously I'm just overly stressed from a lot of shit on my plate..and a final coming up in about an hour. The fact that I get way to personal..in fact this post is way too personal....I just need to learn to HTFU and not let anything bother me....I just have to learn to lock what bothers me away.

If you're not Hallucinating the workout wasn't hard enough...

Last nigh Stef Karas kicked my butt into shape with a 4600 yard workout from Hell as follows:

200 swim on 3:00
200 Pull on 3:00
200Kick on 4:30

4x100 Drill on 1:40

6X50Free on :45 Build 1-3 4-6
that was the easy part

Interlude

200Free on 3:00 focusing on strong kick
300 Free DPS pn 4:30
2X200 build to sprint every 4th lap on 2:45
Easy
Main set
3x 500 build 1-3 on 7:30
I held 6:55 for #1 then held 6:58 for the second 2 also pondered the meaning of life as I entered an Oxygen deprived state....debate solution to the Arab- Israeli conflict...thought of possible treatment options for ALS, MS, Alzhiemer's ,Tay-Sachs....debated the futileness of religious warfare...man I think of weird crap when I swim.

300 Pull on 4:30 My lungs rejoiced oxygen...

1 100 Free I was trying to make a crack at the set she had written down needed a little more rest.
5X100 Free on 1:25 Whatever you got left in the tank! I held 1:19's on them the latic acid was built up in my arms, and it was not pretty.
nice 50 cool down

Well today I have an exam on tap..the last one! Sell my books back..looking at about $70-$100
enough to keep my creditors at bay..and give me some cash for my pre-holiday casino trip, with Ron 4Pres., Angry Runner, and Nashville Ryan. Think of us as the Connecticut Version of the RAT PACK w/ Angry as Sinatra, Myself as Dean Matin, NR as Jerry Lewis, and R4P as Sammy Davis Jr. If I win big I might be flying first class afterall.....otherwise it will be a good stress blower with the guys. Sat and Sun morning/afternoon I have rides and runs on tap. Sat is supposed to be high 30's low 40's and no chance of the white stuff...Enrico will most likely ride again at Waramaug as I try to cram in 70-100 miles...I want the confidence of having the distance base for the ride. That's it for now.

The High Roller
R.D.

To Kona Lotto or not to Kona Lotto?

This is my next in a series of polls, should I enter the Ironman Hawaii lottery for 2008 or not. Here are the choices:

Yes enter the general Lotto ($35 USD) and the Passport Club for an Extra Shot ($50) Live the dream!

Yes but just do the genral lotto, save those green backs, plus you might get a slot via qualification

No, there is only one way to make Kona to qualify, to earn your way in, only then will you be worthy of the punishment Madam Pele is going to dish out on your unsuspecting body.

No, are you kidding? The Hawaii Ironman? You're 22 use that cash to enter Liftime Fitness or the NYC tri. Focus on the short easy stuff. Hawaii can wait until your 35.

Rhode Island bound?

Well from the results of my little poll 50% of voters said I should go off and persue 70.3 glory and a World's slot in Providence, 1 voter said f that and just do the Patriot and 2 voters said I should perform the 3 tris in 3 states in 2 weeks tour of New England. Thankfully no voted that I should forget long distance and persue a sprint/international career. Seriously I've had 2 or 3 people saying I should hit the weight room and do explosive power sets, trade my long runs for track repeats, get diesel and focus on qualifying for London in 2012 and forget about anything over Olympic distance until I'm well into my 30's...ah but that is a rant for another day. As it looks I just need to wait until I have the $200 to sign up and I will have my slot secure to RI 70.3....The Patriot Half...I don't discourage anyone to do it...it's a great race and had they picked another weekend I'd sign up in a heart beat....as it is I might talk to some guys and try to get a relay for it but I think it's going to be a race I push off until 09...mainly because I don't want to get a severe case of road rage driving to the Cape. So in the end democracy works...and the people have spoken Bob-o's going to RI

What is this "Salt" of which you speak?

Ok from the title of the post alot of people are probably thinking I'm on a low sodium diet....not the case ( please pass me another hunk of bacon , and a side of home fries) What I'm talking about is Rocksalt, that stuff they throw on the roads to melt ice...well apparently Waterbury has never heard of the stuff. Yesterday Temps hit the balmy high of 35 degrees (break out the shorts!) so most of the ice/snow banks expereinced a little meltage unfortunately as the sun set and temps dipped below freezing.....the melted ice/snow refroze to form....BLACK ICE.....the scourge of all New England Winter Driving. As I left my house for Newington I decided to take the "less hilly" route and get on I-84 in Waterbury....as I drove down East Main street and saw cars crawling and struggling for traction, I decided to scrap the spin class in Newington , there'll be other nights..so instead I finished some Christmas Shopping and went to the Waterbury YMCA....I will tell you this...even the main roads were still slick....as I BSed with one of the lifeguards she told me how she passed at least 2 accidents on the same strech of road. Now if I were a public works official wouldn't ice related spinouts and wrecks wouldn't that set off bells and whistles of gee maybe we should throw down a little sand and rock salt just to give a tiny bit of traction....of course not ....the body shop's need business besides those little teeney boppers with the low rider civics need to HTFU...at least that seemed to be the Mentality of DOT. Anyhoo after an equally semi-slick ride home I sat down and crashed for the night. Here are the Workout stats

Ran 52 min. on the treadmill for a distance of about 6.25 miles
Swam 3000 yards...main set 5x 100 on 1:25 held about 1:19-1:20

so my workout wasn't exactly the greatest but I can only do so much on the treadmill. This weekend temps will go above freezing so I should be able to crank out a good 15 mile run and possible (gasp) an outdoor ride.....we'll see how the weather plays out.

The sliding Subaru Driver
R.D.

I'm hardcore but not that hardcore...and spooty finals week!

This morning I set my alarm to wake up at 6am to try to get in a nice pre car pool run. The little "weather bug" weather alerts i have on my laptop showed the current temperature was 5 degrees...my eyes bugged out....I rubbed them refreshed the screen the temperature had been wrong it was warmer than 5 degrees...it was 6 degrees. I decided that that was a "tad bit too cold for me"....like ten degrees too cold for me.......and rolled back into bed. I will preform penance tonight with a two hour trainer session at Newington Bicycle followed by 3000 yards of swimming goodness. I live by two temperature cut offs, I will not bike in weather under 30 degrees, and I will not run if the temp dips below 15 degrees...it used to be 20 but I've manned up a little. my experience in bike in temps that dipped below 30 with wind chill was not good....ain't nothing to scare you like descending an 8% grade at 35 mph and the whole bike is shaking because you are shivering uncontrollably. And running...well despite a high tolerance to cold I don't want to have any hypothermia stories....so in essence I am waiting for the the afternoon and weekeds to run...this Saturday temps are supposed to be near 40 and it's going to be mostly clear...I might even break out Enrico up at Waramaug....but we'll see...I'm sure somewhere in the mid-west a storm system is brewing that will make Scott Haney screech with glee. also I have just foundout I will have to miss my sister's Christmas Concert because the Russian Computer Czar (aka my Professor) has scheduled my computer science final for December 20 @ 8:30 PM.....my sister's concert begins at 7:00 PM in Waterbury about a half hour away from Central.......curses! I'm really upset because this year they're playing at a real theatre.....not the school auditorium....and the jazz band Chrissy is a part of is the main act.....curse you Russian Computer Czar curse you!!!!( enter Rasputin ( from the movie with Alan Rickman not the animated crap.) style scream here.)

the Tormented Desk Serf
R.D.

( also to all my international readers...these temperatures are farenheight just so no one gets the impression I'm some snood from the tropics.)

What ever happened to all those global warming psychos....

This morning when I checked the weather on CBS Wfsb 3 I was greeted by Scott Haney's lovely voice saying it was a balmy 18 degrees out....I rolled over and went back to sleep upon seeing my sister's school was delayed 90 min. ...meaning I didn't have to drive the car pool in. As I left my house at 8:40 to begin deciding my car for the trip into work...once again I heard the flamboyant weather man shriek with glee saying the that the temperature hadn't risen since 5am......I seriously hate winter lovers. I spent close to twenty minutes scraping ice off the car as the heater did the rest. Rolled into the office about 5 min. late. Seriously I think a warmer climate is in order for this aspiring triathlete....my sister an I have already started talking Arizona, maybe Cali...San Diego looks really nice. My pop in order to help me avoid winter depression, and perchance to keep my butt frozen solid in the north east...suggest a rather appealin business op...a triathlon gym. You know a place with an indoor track, spin machines or velodrome, indoor pool, pro shop, weight and massage center. I actually like the idea and think it would probably be a money maker especially here in the great white north...eh...but the sad thing is for most New England/Mid Atlantic/Great Plains athletes Winter is the off season..a time to cram in long swims in the pool, spin a little, run a little, get in tune with the weight room, build up a gut, sample beer for next year's HEAT tents, train for a marathon,...etc.
Well that was my morning rant.

The tyrannt of the trainer
R.D.

Merry Brickmas....

Well Today's brick was cut short from my ambitious 4 hour trainer 2 hour tread mill affair to a modest 3 hour trainer 1 hour treadmill affair.

The trainer ride: I started off clad in my HEAT gear....(figure hey, might get used to the stuff I'll be wearing on race day. ) I only stopped twice, once to change movies the other to relieve myself. I'll tell you this the Star Wars trilogy is not the best thing to watch while trying to do this kind of thing...the whistling of the gears blocks out some of the best lines....The 2006 Ironman Highlight show however....muy bien....next time I'll try it with Schindler's List and see how it goes....knowing I have my inspirational movies on the back burner...if it gets too depressing. I killed the ride after obi-wan got his ass kicked by Vader in episode 4 because it was at the roughly 3 hour mark (seeing that I added time for the stops.)....all in all here are the stats

trainer time: 3 hours

movies watched: IM Hawaii 2006 dvd (90mins.) Star Wars ( roughly 90mins. of 123 min. movie)

Waterbottles killed:4

Scenes I can quote word for word in the movie: 45 out of 50.....that's no moon it's a space station....

Surprising new energy food: Saltine crackers....carbs, salt, no sweetingly sick after taste...keep em coming.

The Run: After a quick change of shoes and setting up the treadmill I cranked out 60min at 7 mph..( started at 6 cranked it to 8 for the last minute to get 7 miles in then warmed down) So I got in slightly over 7 miles...I'm not sure if like .008 counts as over but I'll take it. I came up with the strategy break the long boring tedious time into five minute intervals. The first five minutes good...the second 5 ok....third five....maybe I should cut down to 30min.....fourth five tell sister sitting on couch not to let me quit......fifth five 25 min. already....sixith five Somebody play me some bon jovi.....seventh five, please don't let me quit....eighth five, 20 min ain't nothing......ninth five...15 min and man why does these guys on Suburban Crimes keep mentioning the local diner..stupid hicks......tenth five 10 more minutes. why are you taunting me with that bowl of stew...... eleventh five....five minutes to go......pick it up.....sixty minutes grab dinner, a water and a Sam Adams Winter Lager....then realize holy shit I've got a 10 page paper on Arab Israeli crap due tomorrow.....shit shit shit.....

Well that's where I stand right now...my legs feel pretty good... I just need to start my paper so at about 8:30 I will sit down and let the bullshit hit the page. Tomorrow I start selling books back..have my bio exam and that take home final to hand in....Tues. or Thurs. I have my infamous computer science final....may God have mercy on my pathetic soul. ..then I'm free to become Rocky Balboa.....devoting all my free time to training like a beast.

So Merry Brickmas to all and to all a good night.

R.D.