A lot's happended since I've been away..

Well first off I'd like to say that my Kona Predictions were shot. Macca proved that he's not dead yet..and can still throw down a lava burning marathon. So to him congrats. He made it interesting with his big move on the bike to get just enough distance on Crowie to win the thing. The big battle will be next year to see if Ralert will break through to win or If Macca or Crowie will join Peter the great, The Grip and The Man as the only men with 3 or more titles. The men's race proved to be amazingly competitive, and the run splits seemed a lot faster than last year as Chris Lieto was only 4 minutes off his 2009 marathon time that got him a Gutsy second place, but this year couldn't keep him in the top-10. Likewise Andy Potts looked strong in the early going but faded as well as another prerace favorite Rasmus Henning.

Likewise an unfortunate case of food poisoning made the women's race a little more interesting as Chrissie Wellington sat out and Mirinda Cafrae was able to run herself to her first world championship. Dibens scraped a podium, but other favorites simmed to fizzle on the lava. Essential Kona proved that given the right circumstances everything you thought you knew and could predict can go right out the window.

But enough of my pro- punditing. On the personal front I sent in an application to the Timex Triathlon Team. I'm still waiting to hear back from the Navy but if I can't serve my country I might as well try my luck at getting on the most recognized tri team on the planet.
I've been increasing my running and swimming and will be starting spin classes to try to get myself ready for next season in what can best be described as an all out war on myself.

Indeed two nights ago while out on a routine 4 miler my body gave out about 2 miles in. I was going at a fairly good clip but all of a sudden got a light headed feeling, then a cold sweat, I managed to walk for a mile to get myself settled and managed to run the last mile or so home but it was frightening. It was if my body just said no mas. The next day I managed to run the same route with no issue, so it put me at ease. It's just scarry anytime your body just gives out on you for no apparent reason, granted I had been fighting off a little head cold.
The swimming is gradually getting longer this week I've gotten in a 3500 and a 3700yard workout in and I'll try for 4000 tomorrow as I'm trying to get and keep my weekly yardage at over 10k yards.

I could go more into depth on the home and personal life front, but right now things are really complex...also add in some unpopular policy changes at work and the stress factor goes up about 20 notches so for the time being I'll just keep quiet on them. Although having training as an outlet has helped me to keep what's left of my sanity.

Tonight was pretty productive in the weight room, I was able to increase both my squat and bench weights. My squat is still a measly 8 reps at 135lbs. but I've been trying to focus on form, before I build on weight. Likewise my bench is at 125lbs, for 6 reps. I've been working on my breathing and am now able to do more than 20 push ups at a time, and my sit ups are averaging about 3 sets of 30-50. So the strength is coming back I just need to keep working on it.

All in all there's a lot in the works and it's just taking one day at a time.
R.D.