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.

12 mile training run down 12 page paper to go....

This morning I followed my plan of skipping church to out race an impending ice storm. As I darted out the door in my wind breaker and running shorts at a slower than normal pace ( It was 35 out but i was still worried about black ice.), with the chariots of fire theme blaring in my head, the usual litnany of Ironman images that make my long runs fly by filtered through my head....the Blazeman and the log roll, Macca finally winning, Willie Nelson's manager and the annoying owner of the Florida Marlins from the 2006 Hawaii higlight show ( I also have two Ironman Movies, Rocky and Rudy, I'm like Rocky because " I want to go the distance" and I'm like Rudy because I too am "risking everything for a dream."), Marc Hermans, Badmann getting back on a bike after crashing to get in some more miles before finally having to be talked out of finishing due to a broken collarbone, Images in my head of Tom Warren the winner of the second Ironman who limped his way to a win on a stormy day on Oahu ( Check out www.trizilla.com under inspirations for the complete story.) With all the inspiring images and words I grinded my way through the hills of Wolcott, braved cold, traffic, and five miles of having to use the bathroom to finish my run. It was 12.54 miles in 2 hours, 9:38 mile pace a slow day but not falling on my ass, pissing my pants, or getting arrested for indescent exposure for pissing my pants on the side of the road it was worth it.

Info on where the money goes:
As noted earlier and in several posts I am rasing money for Team Blazeman. I have recieved news the the Blazeman Foundation does donate to several ALS research funds the most substantial gift of $10,000 was given to the Neuroscience department at Emroy University and that the society is linked to ALSTDI, and several other charities ( check out www.alswarriorpoet.com for more details it is on about the 4th page in after all the introductions and stuff on Jon, and his obituaries...not to sound insensitive to the Blazeman, although I thought his "up shit creek without a paddle" comment he gave at his speech to the MDA hit the nail on the head with this disease, as well as hinted at the urgency that needs to happen in research.)
Well that was my ant for the evening I've got to throw together a power point for Tuesday as well as crank out some pages for the paper.

RD

Rocky IV Trainner workout.

Okay I have fallen into the cliche of Cold Weather Training Montages inspired by the classic movie Rocky IV, In the last two weeks I have been forced to run in sub-freezing temperatures, cycle in the same conditions ( and have finally resigned myself to the fact 2 to 3 hour trainner sessions will be the norm.) Luckily my local pools are indoor and heated, other wise I would be pulling the Parka to Jammer to Parka deck change, which is never fun. Well anyway, the "seasonable" weather has shown up Snow flurries and light sleet yesterday, more sleet, rain, freezing rain, this morning so the roads are dangerous enough in my ironclad subaru let alone on a tri bike with slick tires. Yesterday I cranked out a 90 min. trainner session on TBS to the movie Rocky 4 ironically enough. I really pushed in the trainning montage in which Apollo's Creed's trainer starts shouting, "There is no pain" and Rocky claws his way up an ice covered mountain after ditching his KGB escort, now seriously what does clawing up an ice covered peak have to do with boxing?( about as much as a boxing moive has to do with the Ironman. could be a witty retort.) Needless to say this session with a ready to go out and kick the world's ass kind of feeling. Went and grabbed dinner than decided hell, I'll try to put in another 2 hours, well I got 30 min. into the Motorcycle Diaries before my legs screamed "No mas." so in total I managed about 2 hours on the trainer, which according to Triathlete Magazine's all knowing gurus Paul and Roch equates to a 4 hour ride.( due to constant spinning and no coasting on down hills or flats.) As mentioned before the falling ice made geting a run in impossible, I might squeeze in some running time this afternoon before Class but we'll see ( it all depends on how good the walk ways are.) otherwise some pool time on a dead night seems a better alternative. The forecast for the rest of the week shows mostly cold and clear, with a chance of snow on Wed. and possibly Sunday into Monday. So I might not be a slave to the treadmill and trainer after all. We'll see.

The Count of Monte Fisto, the Master of Disaster, the terror of the tundra....
R.D.