Paper writing weekend.....Planning for 09 already.

Well this is it game time,D-Day, Armageddon, the end of my junior year of college...hopefully only 2 more semester away from that piece of valuable paper. I was intially planning to swim or run, but have decided that I would devote my time to blogging before lifeguarding for an hour, then cranking out some Latin American Cultures goodness... ( the interesting paper also because we have to peer review it...so one of my classmates and I will be throughly researching each other's works. ..pretty much this looks good, this sounds awkward, what's the point, so that's why they call it the necktie...the BS do you think this paper will impress the good doctor. ) The Victorian England paper...well I'll be doing that tomorrow night, Saturday night and a good chunk of Sunday. I know what I want to say, I've got most of my sources, I just have to get it done Write first footnote later....If it sucks it sucks if it's good it's good, that's been my mantra all along and I'm not going to let..the pressure of this paper defines your academic career wreck my groove.

Saturday: I think Speedy Claire wanted to ride, I'm down for anything in the afternoon as my coporate masters have impressed my for another Saturday of servitude.

Sunday: It's Mothers day, and I haven't gotten anything ....shit.... well I find something nice somewhere.

Next week my Economic Stimulus check should be arriving in the mail...which means a couple of credit card payments go out and an entry fee to one race in the Southern Pacific will be going out.

I've already started the number crunching:
Race Entry: $500
Airfare on American Airlines/Quantas $2050.00 ( United/Air New Zealand is $200 more.)
Same Hotel as Last Year for two weeks $2100.00

I'm looking at about $5k..less if I rack up some more frequent flier miles (although I might just use those to up grade to business) if I do the two week thing, maybe I'll just stay for 10 days and save a little on the hotel, but I would like to actually be able to see a little bit more of New Zealand, Post Ironman this time around...also going home actually being able to move my legs without pain. and packing without a hangover from the awards party...always a plus. Also anyone interested in coming down with me we get a discounted rate if it's a double...did I mention cute Kiwi and Aussie chicks with well defined posterior chain..... Ladies ,Guys with ripped chests and cute accents.....and it's about 60 -70 degrees in early March......
Yes sadly this is the kind of thing that helps me get through those long hours at the office, realizing what I'm working for.....One day I will be in a profession where I earn more than $2ok a year and it will be glorious.... and I will be able to do this kind of thing with out having to crunch numbers and strategically plan and it will be glorious.

So that's all that's going on in the dangerous mind of Bob-o also be sure to read my last post. My speed session has my legs feeling tight but the times were worth it.

Well that's all for me.....now it's time to write about the Political interference of Liberation theologians with the Juntas in Guatemala and El Salvador....I mean Communists posing as Priests trying to destroy democracy.

R.D.

Mad Fast Son.......

Last night, when I should have been diligently stressing out and writing my papers, pulling my hair out and smashing my head against the desk, for misplacing commas in Chicago citing, trying to find one more primary source, etc..etc...I took my burned out ass to the track and got in 5 miles 4 of them speed work/ aerobic threshold work. Seriously, sometimes it's peaceful just heading out to the track at a god forsaken hour (9PM...). The first mile was a warmup a surprisingly quick 8:16. Followed by streching. Then the repeats 4x1600m :60R between each descending. The first one wasn't too bad an 8:08.21...coach always said use the first one as a burn one..I learned that the hard way in High school...too many times I would attack the first repeat and would be shot by the end of the work out....especially with thresholds in which you are trying to gradually build up to race pace. The game plan was to try to descend 5-10 sec. off of each one So the second was a little harder. 7:36.75 what the Hell? Did I go too hard again. I push a little harder to hopefully make it a 7:30 on the third repeat...7:20.34.The Fourth I was going to Sprint Full bore I should break 7 if I'm lucky..... 6:47.03. It was a good night, note to self do squats at least once a week.

Speed Racer's site is back up...apparently someone reported it as Spam....but it's back up and going now....

Sorry for the lack of pictures, I've been blogging from work and occasionally at school to procrastinate.... I mean clear my head....so I will have some more colorful posts in a week or so.

Well that's all at this early hour....back to the grind.
RD

Ironman New Zealand 09

That's right today entries open for the 25th running of Ironman, hopefully there will still be openings when my pay and stimulus checks hit the bank other wise I'll be looking to Lake Placid or Louisville...either that or I'm going to Brussleton for Western OZ, (as a graduation gift to myself) to be my possible Spring Boards to Kona. There are several reasons I'd really like to go back to New Zealand here are the following:

1. It is an escape from the dreary icebox that is New England in Feb.-March

2. The course is challenging but not too difficult. No Murder Hills, the road's a little rough but if you've done some of the races in the Northeast the bike course is cake...except for the wind. Granted.." it ain't windy until there are surfers on the lake" -Blair.

3. Lake Taupo is Cyrstal Clear. Also they start age groupers and pros together...good news for guys like me because we get a mental boost beating some of the favorites out of the water....bad news for pros whose strength lies in the bike and run.

4. The entire town gets into it. You don't run into those guys who are like " So why are you walking around in running gear and wrapped in a foil blanket?"

5. Some of the nicest and..well most interesting people you'll ever meet live down there.

6. It's one of those races that now that I've done an Ironman for the sake of doing one now I've got to go back and do one with the intent to qualify for Kona...and why not do one on a course I already know.

7. I like traveling through time and space, any one who has visited the Asian Pacific...understands this one.

8. I have to know if the water really flows in a different when I flush the toliet.

9. The Kiwis and Aussies seemed to be a little more laid back and down to earth than us over here in the States...just don't steal any glasses off of tables at the Pub or World War III will breakout.....also if you are a fan of the French National Rugby team...you might want to stay at home, or at least keep the jersey home.

10. It's the 25th Anniversary....think of the media hype and the swag that's going to be flying around at this gig.

All right now that I've tried to sell myself and some others in on the race, I've got to check on the entry satus and see if I should start counting my pennies, or buy books on how to become a faster climber or a year's worth of Salt tablets...It gets hily in Lake Placid and it is just a tad bit warm in Louisville in August.

Taps for " Who in their right mind?"

Sadly our favorite female sans wetsuit/ Distance Glutton for suffering's blog has bit the dust....(tear...sniff...) I haven't been this low since Sunoco Ditched their masters swimming program last summer...now I will have to network with Speedy the old fashioned way, either via email or her AIDS lifecycle page...sadly now this means we can't go back and visit old stories...like how Grandpa became TOAST! or her epic Bandited Boston Marathon, or the Lake Placid getaway...So passes a noble blog site.....( a trumpet slowly plays TAPS in the distance.) Speedy Claire...thanks for the memories.

All that aside Catherine in NZ has a boyfriend...no it's not me! ( Which probably works out for the best...I mean seriously my phone bill was sky high when I was dating a girl in Woodbrigde like 20 miles away.... I hate to see the bill after one call to NZ...) But I still have a friend out of the deal so it's all good ( wipes brow relieved he didn't send anything yet....or maybe I should have sent flowers that bloke would have made out big time....) In either case that's been life. This weekend is the last weekend I can crank my papers out. I'm so done with my Victorian England paper 12 weeks of torment leading up to this moment...may God have mercy on my soul...and GPA.

So in a recap...
SPEED RACER's Blog is no more ( starts to rend garments, pull out hair and sob uncontrolably.)
my silly crush......crushed
and my papers still need to get done.

Somehow with all this crap I managed to keep a friend and get in a 3300 yard pool workout...It hasn't been a total loss.

Come Back Speed Racer!
R.D.

Weekly long ride.

Well I'm still kicking myself from my long ride...for some odd reason I still have this primal fear of taking sharp curves on descents and it's pissing me off. Today I did the opening of the Griskus Olympic Route including that "drop off the face of the Earth" Right hander...again I slowed way up for it, and again I kicked myself as I descended down the rest of the hill at mach 1. The same thing happended at my "favorite" curve on Route 109 in Washington. I don't know why but I always feel like I'm going to overshoot the curve and end up on some guy's front lawn of in the path of a mack truck or something. I think I'm going to have to go to Spain and ride with either John and Mandy or Claire's "Soggy Homos" in order to learn how to descend like Lance. Anyway all my yellow bellying it on sharp curves aside, I know I need to invest in a 12-27 cassette for the Griskus Olympic, that and I need to start doing some shorter weekday rides..preferably on steep inclines....oh I can't wait until classes end. The first half of today's ride went well and except for some miscues at dangerous intersections ( ie me unclipping and struggling to clip back in.) and my pedal cleat popping out at one inopertune moment it was a good day. On the back half of my route I think I soft pedaled a little too much but after 48 miles in the saddle I think I can cut myself some lee way. I rode up to the lake which had been taken over by the prep school crew teams. I was also wiser on hydration bringing my aero drink and a third waterbottle with me. No dehydrating headaches this time..but that pit stop at the lake definiately added to my ride time. The second half was all down hill until Route 6. I now know why most cyclists refer to it as " Suicide 6" Varying inclines, nearly immpossible to pick the right gear, cars speeding by at 70mph ( 110km I think?) in essence a death wish. Then the climb back to the Griskus course in which I think I really soft pedaled it. Then the back 4 miles of the Griskus course including that damn smiley faced hill. I didn't attack it today, my legs were spent from out of the saddle work in Washington. I heard Eagleman is flat as a pancake with severe winds well I did about 55 miles ( roughly 90k) in 3:27 @ an average speed of 15.7 mph ( I'm thinking a little over 20km) with a headwind on my opening climbs. So I'm not sure if I'll be a dominant force on the bike but I think I'll be able to break 3 hrs. ...I want to add some more cycling just to improve a little more.

Well I've got some more of a paper to crankout....but before I go Bree Wee finshed 3rd for the pro chicks at St. Croix, Mandy's going to Kona and John was 13th for the pro men. Ken well, lets just say John's got a picture of him doing what most of us would do in St. Croix.

Well like I said back to the books....uses for leeches...yummy!

The pyschopath in a pink bike jersey that keeps swerving all over CT 47.
R.D.