2 For 1 :Go Speed Racer Go! and Trying to Race a Blizzard.

Well Claire Bad Ass MoFo just man handled the Walt Disney World Half Marathon pulling a time that would be good for me a 1:46.13 ( this actually beat my run split from Eagleman and RI 70.3) so her Goofy Race and a Half is off to a good start. I'm looking forward to seeing the results of the Marathon Battle Royale between her Runner Gal and the Crankmiester Also it's a frigid for Florida 55F down in the land of the Gators and Citrus fruits which is stark and bitter contrast to Connecticut.

This morning as I went out to warm up my car it was a tropical 15F and there is the "mother of all snowstorms" on the way. That's right more snow and there is talk of bitter cold and yet another storm next weekend which makes me think I'm going to be pulling a Ken Glah by doing all my bike training indoors. Tonight they are predicting between 5 inches to a foot and a half of the white crap..at this point it's more annoying than anything...I'm starting to get sick of life in the tundra especially WHEN IT SNOWS OR ICES EVERY FREAKING WEEKEND AND THOSE ARE THE ONLY DAYS I CAN RIDE/ RUN OUTDOORS! ok I'm better now.

So today despite the high is going to be a "break out the shorts" 28F I'm going to look at the weather forecasts and see if I can get in 50-60 miles on the bike before this place turns into a skier's paradise...which the weather forecasters can't agree on when it's supposed to start..some are saying 5PM which would allow me to get my frozen ride in, others are saying 3PM which would allow me to get 20-30 miles, others are saying dead at noon...I figure I'll just shoot out to the lake ( since the roads still have a little frozen residue from our last ice storm and I don't feel like descending a steep hill at a high rate of speed only to see an icy patch waiting for me at a sharp turn.) and do loops until it gets dark, I get too cold, or starts snowing and follow it from there, not the most organized training program on earth but in my climate it works.

Last night I managed to do my annual hour swim as my Ironman Test 4650 yds. (2.64 miles) in 60 min. That's holding roughly 1:25/ 100 meters so my estimated Ironman Swim split if it were to happen last night is a 54:42..granted add in the adrenaline factor, the wetsuit, drafting, the current at Lake Taupo and I stand to do about a 52 min swim..granted I still have 2 months of training ahead.

My Achilles I've decided I'll start running again Tuesday to set up my in school running schedule ( Tuesday Afternoon, Thursday morning or night, Saturday long brick.) and also to give it a little more recoup time I don't want to be remembered as the guy who's tendon exploded at mile 5 of the marathon, or pull a Sam McGlone and sit out with injury. I still have good base and I figure I'll only taper two weeks going into the Ironman, it seems logical since I only give myself a week taper for my halves.

Well that's all for me I have to go gather supplies, and try to get somesort of training in today and hopefully it won't be 4-6 hours on the trainer again....I've already watched almost every dvd in my collection and seriously it gets annoying riding to no where.

Edit: It started snowing at a good clip when I arrived home to get my bike, looks like it's a date with the trainer and DVD player...you win again old man winter!

Looking into job opportunities and Condos in New Zealand, Australia, San Diego, Miami, Orlando,Barbados.....

R.D.

Ironman New Zealand Update:When you can't run :swim.and Scouting Report.

Well yesterday the achilles flared up after 4 miles on the treadmill. so I took the advice of the Angry Runner and decided to try to do the trigger point thing. after getting some very hi-tech apparatus (ie a giant foam cylinder) and hi tech instructions ( you roll it slowly until you feel the knot and put pressure on it until it releases.) I was off to the mat after finding some interesting looking yet effective rolling motions I was unable to unlock part of my left gastroc, hip and hamstring...my right leg surprisingly fine but my left leg had at least 3 knots built up in it..no wonder my tendon was screaming. After rolling my legs I did some core work 6 pull ups followed by 75crunches, 15 push ups 75 crunches and then made my way to the pool. Stef had a power set awaiting me.
Main set was basic endurance building followed by a 6X 100 build set here's the LD
Main
1x300 build
1x200 kick
1x400 build to strong
1x200 kick
1x500 build to fast
1x200 kick
1x600 build to mommy stop the pain!
6x100 build to sprint 1-3, 4-6.
It was a good ass whooping. 4700 yards total after warm up and warm down
Today I took advantage of the Y's winter hours and managed to add another swim session to the mix. I figure since the achilles is still a little inflamed it was best to not do any leg work so I did 4100 yards in the pool. Main set 8x 200 on 2:50 I was making them roughly 2:45 not blazing fast but with all the crap going on in the last few months I had been in maintain fitness instead of stomp bitches mode. That will change as next semester my German training partner, Bjoern will return and once again I will have someone to pace me in our night runs through the hood and on whatever rides we can arrange. Hopefully be Taupo will be scene of mass carnage and for the right reasons ( me winning my age group not puking my guts out at km 2 on the run.) This week I begin scouting the competition so far some of the main contenders in my AG haven't sprung up but I've just tossed in a few names so over the next week I'll sit down with pen and paper and see just how realistic my odds of a Kona slot are.Also I shouldn't count out any of the guys that finished behind me either, some better equipment, better training plans,coaching, 2009 is a whole new year. Hopefully my leg and the weather will get themseleves in gear and I'll be able to start it off right.

Lord of the lane lines
R.D.

Holy Shit it's Christmas or Anyone got a tow truck.....

Well, my training this weekend was totally shot. ( stupid winter storm and 12 in. of snow.) My car is stuck in my neighbor's backyard (another thank you to that wonderful winter storm.) our annual run to the casino, cost me $20, I still have to finish my Christmas shopping, yep things are in full holiday swing in my neck of the woods.



Saturday I tried to muscle my little Outback over the plow bank at the front of my driveway ( our plow driver hadn't come by yet and I needed to get to work.)..when I found it wasn't going to go straight through I back up to get a running start...well it got stuck again...and well repeat that scenario until my back bumper is against a pine tree at the end of my neighbor's property. after his and my futile attempts to get it out I walked to my parents place about a mile up the road, they drove me into work and took a shot and getting my baby free, right now it is a mere 500 feet from my nice plowed driveway.





Today my dad and I will work at digging my car out of it's icy prison, using the towing power of his Explorer if necessary so I can hopefully get to masters, if not the trainer is looking mighty inviting right now.



The Casino trip turned out to be less profitable than anticipated... another reason not to drink: Alcohol Makes you do stupid shit like going back to the craps table when you've tripled your money and then you lose it all..... all said and done I lost $24 of the $25 I went with but it would have been sweet to leave with the $80 I had before the bar..oh well lesson learned for my March run with my sister. Also Angry was in constant contact with Pants..So I can only imagine the conversations...Especially after our ill fated third trip to the craps table, I seem to hazily remember Angry going on a litany of I hate you guys...and some threat of war with the Mohegans... I can assume there were many deadlifts done this morning.



Training wise my outdoor activities are on read and react mode: I read the weather forecast and react accordingly...this week looks like it will warm up just a tad so I'll get some running and riding in. I was going to run yesterday but a little "wintry" mix but the kibosh on that, instead I shoveled the 4 additional inches of fresh powder that accumulated on my driveway and tried to triangulate the angles on getting my car out. It looks like our best is to clear a path up to my drive way and with a little traction and a little brute force I should be able to have baby back on road again...just in time to go out and do my absolute last minute Christmas shopping tomorrow night.



Well that's all from here...hopefully I'll get my training and my car back on track.



The weary walker

R.D.

Winter training ...or the I need to move to Florida post.

"What's the worst they could do to us send us to Siberia? We're already here."
-some movie.

Well upon looking at the weather forecast for the next couple of days maybe I should have signed up for the world biathlon ( you know XC sking and shooting) championships instead of an Ironman.For some God forsaken reason we are going to get a foot of snow dumped on us or at least that's what the doom and gloom weathermen are saying..then again these guys change their story every 10 minutes...10 inches no 20inches..no 12 inches...no 5 no 10 again...seriously these guys snowfall tabulations flux more than my 401k....

anyhoo it's safe to assume that unless these guys prove to be completely full of crap that my masters workout is going to be canceled. Already did my backup this evening.I managed to get a 4000 yard swim in my main set was 20x100 on 1:25...
I was barely making them so my butt is definitely more out of shape, than I was last year granted my courses were more demanding than last year. I plan on a beat the blizzard run tomorrow morning and then nothing but sweet sweet love for the trainer tomorrow night. figure a 3 hour session to the tone of Rocky, Rocky IV, and Miracle are in order, If I can stomach 4 hours I might go for it, but spinning in place gets so boring.
Saturday, depending on how long the white stuff delays my buddy from Nashville, the boys are making are the annual let's celebrate X-mas/ Angry's birthday trip to the casino...I'm hoping for mad winnings...a frist class ticket to Taupo would be nice...my car paid off even better...There will be much sin and debauchery as always. Hopefully the weather will clear up and I'll be able to get a quick pre work run in. Next week Christmas looks like the only good day for a run granted if it's decent Tuesday I might try for one. Next weekend hopefully this weather pattern will clear up and I'll have some cold yet dry road conditions to try to get 60-80 miles ( figure if I can get back up to that by mid Jan.and a frigid century I'll be in business.) in...but a guy can dream can't he....

Claire when are you moving to San Diego I'll be your box...I mean van....I mean roomate.

Not a fan of Artic weather....
R.D.

Around the World in 24 Hours or Bob-o Made it to Taupo.

Man that sounds like a crappy title for a blog post, but what the Hell it’s the truth.

Phase 1 The Angry Express:
The Angry Runner showed up at my door step at 6:15AM, a little later than he wanted too but alas that is the curse of the snooze button. We hit the “road” after I crammed my shit load of gear into the sexy Mazda 4x4 (technically a Ford Ranger but hey, this was before the whole “zoom-zoom” phase so they could get away with it.) I use quotes on ‘road” because for the most part the side streets were snow covered trails but once on the main roads and the highways there was nothing but clear black top. We took 84 to 684 to the Hutch, driving the route my dad and grandpa used to storm troop when they would haul my ass back and forth to Fordham University, ahh those lost college days. Any way we kept ourselves entertained discussing markets, Angry’s Ambition to become a State of Connecticut DOT plow driver, making fun of the “colorful lyrics of method man and the WU Tang Klan…man these kids today don’t know the shit they missed out on. Apparently NY & NJ don’t have the clear car law ( Thanks Gov. Rell.), we noted this as we passed several vans, and little rice burners covered in snow except of course for a tiny eye slit on the windshield . Regardless we got to JFK @ 8:30AM not bad for a gas stop and piss break. As well pulled into the American Terminal, Angry had to “find the bathroom” tossing me the keys to the truck as I struggled to cram my overcoat into my suit case.( The coldest it’s going to get in Taupo is 50 degrees so my bringing it is useless until I fly back to “The great White North.”) Anyway the traffic control officer (over glorified meter maid.) Came over and asked it the truck was mine….oh how badly I wanted to quote the dopey Air traffic control guy from Outbreak ( My pilot’s takin’ a leak.)Anyway, Angry soon returned wished me luck and told me to kick some major ass and I entered the terminal.

Phase 2: JFK
I got into the terminal and after some initial confusion managed to check my bags ( and the didn’t get hit with the $80 bike fee! I am the Ben Gordon of Baggage Check! Boo Yah!) then it was off to security, some Hatian couple didn’t want to check their luggage and they were giving a load of Shit to the poor TSA guy and French Translator. Anyway I went threw and then had to strip off all my metal shit and unpack half my carry on. Seriously one day I’m tempted to wear a speedo under all my crap and strip down to it when I go through security, ludicrous but if I had a harder body it might give the TSA chicks a good laugh.
Any way I got through security and then began the 10 min. task of repacking, after all that was said and done I got a extremely overpriced water at Hudson News and went to my gate. Because my laptop doesn’t have wi-fi I started typing this post on my laptop via Word and decided I will save it to disk and upload it to my blog when I arrive at the internet café. Also my flight as of 10:09AM as I wrote this was on time. Boo-Yah old man winter Boo-Yah!

Phase 3 American Airlines Flight 3:
I got on board and started talking to this “Hot Young thing.” Otherwise known as Ruth sitting next to me. She was cute, friendly, and taken…..dude whoever you are you are a lucky man. Anyway we got to talking, she was flying back to San Diego from a med-school interview in NYC, I told her about my plans of Ironman Glory. She revealed that her mom was from NZ and had family in Wellington and Taupo, told me Air New Zealand was well known for its service, even in coach they treat you like a god. Anyhoo, the flight was delayed about 15 min. for de-icing. I tried to sleep best I could on the plane…I got about two hours, before breaking out the lap top and the i-pod. The i-pod shit the bed and is stuck on this peculiar screen, I figure it should die before I reach Auckland and I can recharge it later. The flight suffered a little turbulence and a “scenic route” approach into LAX . We landed at about 3:30PM PST 6:30PM for my homies on the East Coast.

Phase 4. LAX:
After bidding adieu to the Ruth she was off to her connection and I was off to baggage claim. Now I maybe a hater on New England Weather, but I will say our airports are nicer ( and Yes that includes Bradley for my Connecticut readers.). LAX compared to JFK, is like stepping back into 1970’s flick. Only thing the I was surprised didn’t happen was a dude with a fro and chest hair…oh shit that did happen never mind. The staff was friendly in directing my jet-lagged self to the terminal shuttle bus, a couple of shuttle passengers helped me finagle the Bitch Stomper’s Sarcophagus on to the over glorified city bus. A couple of passengers asked about the massive load of luggage I was carrying. When I told them I was doing Ironman New Zealand. One person commented, “My trainer did that one once.” Which lead to another conversation and round of well wishes. I got to terminal two and entered the ground level, then came to the realization that it was arrivals and ticketed passengers only. I searched for an elevator ( no way I was going to be able to manage stairs with all my crap.) I got up to the Air New Zealand ticket counter. Now the Kiwis do shit right, my ass is jet lagged and functioning on 4 hours sleep, I can barely walk straight ( as evidenced by the fact I nearly did that whole zig-zag maze but there was only one dude in front of me. After a quick redirection from the staff, and explanation that I was just coming off a six hour flight and a “No worries mate.” My bags were checked in. The chick at the ticketing counter asked if I wanted a window of middle seat….
“Well I’d prefer an aisle.” I said sheepishly.
“ I’ll try to find one for you.” She said with that polite tone of holy shit they’re all taken what is this crazy jet lagged bastard trying to do to me, but I’m going to try to be friendly to him .
upon hearing this in her voice/
“ I can take a window if it’s easier.” I said trying to be apologetic, afterall I was probably going to be looking at the back of my eyelids for most of it.
“ No Mr. Duguay, it’s a long flight and I want you to be as comfortable as possible.”
She directed me to drop my crap with TSA, which I nearly botched up yet again….(note to self if I’m doing this race next year I’m flying with United so Ken can just have my crap auto transferred, instead of all this shit.) After having TSA explain they needed to open the bike case, I tossed them the keys and waited for them to open the case see it was a weapon but not of mass destruction, and got my keys handed to me. About the same time, Check out counter lady came back with my boarding pass, She managed to find me an Aisle seat. I went to TSA feeling triumphant.
For the second time in 24 hours I had to be pseudo Strip searched once again. This time as I was doing so I was shooting the shit with this German dude and his French Girl Friend ( seriously I don’t know what is with me a German dudes getting along, I mean I’m shooting the shit with this guy and his girl, I shot the shit with one dude a JFK, seriously I’m thinking that maybe I should learn the language and sign up for Quelle Challenge Roth or Ironman Germany, it might be an omen. Well anyway I got through security, grabbed dinner, a rather overpriced Hamburger, but it was good nonetheless. I with drew $20 from the ATM figuring I would exchange some currency before I left. But upon hearing they were charging $5 and giving me a crappy rate compared to the current exchange rate. (they were paying $1 NZD = $0.93 USD when the rate at the sites I saw on the Ironman NZ website had the exchange @ $1NZD= $0.76 USD like I said the Kiwis do shit right!). All that said and done I went to a socket to charge up my laptop. As this segment is being written I am waiting at the gate for my Flight to the land of the Kiwi Bird and the Long White Cloud.

Phase 5: Air New Zealand Flight 5.
After much ado and hoopla, We finally boarded at about 9:15PM, apparently some Air France Jet docked at our gate and well there was a whole shit show. It was about this time I ran into Justin (American 2 of 3 in the 18-24 age bracket.) Dave, the Iron Vet. ( Veteran not Veterinarian, please refrain from talking to Dave about your sick little puppy.) I bumped into Paddy, Britain crankiest traveler, granted I would be a little cantankerous after paying 1500 quid, for a 12 hour flight and having half my luggage lost. But irregardless, I boarded the plane and made myself ready to enjoy my aisle seat. It was about that time the LOL and LOM (little old lady and little old man.) Little old Lady made the comment that she might be getting up often so I voluntarily moved to the window seat. Now I’ll tell you once again that the Kiwis do shit right…plenty of leg room, a personal entertainment screen, the food was somewhat descent…seriously I regret they don’t fly out of Bradley because the service was terrific. Little Old man apparently suffers fainting spells, hence why LOL want the Aisle seat, sure enough he suffered one mid flight give the stewards “dreadful fright.” I slept through the whole thing, LOM recovered from the incident that might have been enough for LOL to have an MI and be RIP.anyway the flight was good, 5 to 6 hours of sleep and two meals later we touched down in Auckland and the next phase began.

Phase 6: The Bus Ride
After leaving the Airport and meeting a couple of otther triatletes, most Notably Jonathan from USC ( He's alsoa blogger so I should have hhis link posted shortly.) Itt was time ffor thhe 2-3 hour busride from Auckland to Taupo, Now I will tell you tthis, the countryside even on the North Island is beautiful. Our "guide and driver were hysterical. After about 3 hours wwe arrivved in Taupo, annd tthe next part of my ironman journey was ready to begin.

The Jet Lagged Triathlete
R.D.

Ionman Update: As the snow blows......

Old Man Winter is in his death throws and has decided to puke the White stuff on Southern New England once again. Once again I could go on a massive tie raid, complete with "Al Gore is full of crap.!" Howard Dean Yells ( ARRRAGGG!), and just plain anger frustration and a pure waste of emotion...besides I already did that clearing my car this morning.



In 24 hours I board the big sliver bird and get my butt to Los Angeles, then from there a nice little terminal change and I board Air New Zealand's giant winged beast and 12 hours later arrive in "sunny" Auckland.....it might be raining but at least its warm...(insert Angry New Englanders tossing rocks and snowballs at me.) Sir Angry and I are keeping an eye on the weather and road conditions, right now it looks like a sled and a team of dogs might be a safe bet. Either that or cross country skis and a shotgun, biathlon training and protection in Queens.....man that could be a post in itself....

Most of my stuff is ready to go, I've just got to pack my carry on, grab a calling card, and pray my flight is not delayed too late. As of right now arriving flights are delayed 4 and a half hours. I've emailed my travel angent what kind of contengency is in place in case my JFK/LAX flight is running a wee bit late.

So I'm praying for a clearing, and hopefully my next post will be from Taupo.
P.S. Thanks for the encouragement along the way..also Pants thanks for the grocery list, and 'm sure Vegemaite isn't as bad as everyone says...is it?

de-angry de icer
R.D.