Getting back

Well the last few days have been spent trying to get my body back into racing shape. I had some vacation time left from last year so I took an hour and a half from the office and went for a 7-8 mile jaunt through Wolcott and the West end of Waterbury. It wasn't my normal old 8 mile town loop but it was still pretty decent. Last night I did a 30 minute session in the weight room before hitting the pool. Now given that I'm recovering from a head cold and my last swim was over a week, my form and fitness were pretty ugly. I mean snot rockets and gimped elbows ugly. My arms were already tight from 3 set of TRX Press ups with Kettlebell deadlifts in betwwen. Followed by squats, with push ups between sets with inclined dumbell fly presses, with triceps presses between. Round that off with 100 crunches/ situps and ball work and I had already put in a stellar workout. I managed to warm up with 600 swim 600 pull and 10x 50's drill swim with a 200 kick. My main set was a brutal 3x500's on 7:00 which was quickly bumped up to a 7:15 interval as I was coming in just over the 7 minute mark. Afterward I felt just utterly annihilated.
So today when my alarm rang at 5:30am I promptly countered with the snooze button. I decided to request some of my left over vacation time to try to get a run in while there was still day light. Since my parent's car is in the shop they borrowed mine to try to take care of some of their running around, hence I started my run from my parent's place. I managed to come up with a solid loop granted it was a little traffic heavy. I don't know what it is with running in Wolcott but it just seems different than running in Waterbury. It's not as congested, there's a little more space on some shoulders, not enough on others. While the city has some pros (sidewalks, streetlights.) there was something that made running in Wolcott just seem a little nicer ( granted nearly half my run was through the East End of Waterbury.) maybe it was that I was familiar with that side of town or the fact that the only people really out were other crazies like myself trying to get their runs or walks in before sunset. Regardless I managed to get it done in 1:12 which is making me think my route was closer to 8miles than 7.

Tonight I coached my swimmers at the Waterbury Y. Only Lori showed and I ran her through technique.She's bit the bullet and decided to do Timberman, so my goal is to fix her stroke and get her pool workouts to average between 2000-2500 yard. One of my swimmers from last year and her husband came down. She's currently going into her 5th month of pregnancy so killer workouts have been replaced with "however many laps I can get in." Since the rest of my crew wasn't there and Lori was done by 8:15PM, I decided to do a beat the clock 3000 yard workout. It wasn't too bad but it did make me realize how far I have to comeback. My main set of 10X100 yards on 1:25 was brutal in that from 100 #4-10 I was just coming in under the interval. I was pretty proud that I was able to finish the whole 3k in just over 45 minutes, as the pool was closing.

So fitness is starting to comeback and I'm trying to harness that "a day without a workout is a wasted day philosophy" that I had in 2008-09. Things are starting to comeback into place and hopefully after few weeks of steady solid training I'll start seeing some results.

Happy Training
R.D.

On the lighter side of the news...Bob-o gets Spanked by an Old Guy.

Ok with the life changing earth shattering decision I announced in the last post I almost forgot to mention how the Time Trial went on Sunday. I showed up at the Plainville and tossed down my $4 coaching fee and made my way to the pool deck. Some of the HEAT regulars like Erica, Doug and Ray and Ray were there so were a few new faces and one who would become my "nemesis" for this TT. Coach Rich ( probably the most hysterical yet evil Portuguese Swim Coach on the Planet.)showed up with his freshly out of Grad school son and we jumped in for Warm up. After 300 yards it was out of the pool and we picked heats for the swim. I went in heat one. there were no counters but Ray assured me that he'd let me know when I had 50 to go. The other swimmers in my Heat were Doug and I believe Erica. Rich sent us off and away we went. Now the week prioor to this I had been running myself through torturous sets my most infamous 4x500 on 7:00. So I was pretty prepared for this. I didn't know if I'd be pulling 12:30 or lower like I did in my college days but if I could bust the 13:05 I pulled at East Lyme a couple years back I would be happy. The swim went well I was even amazed that my counting was on the money. I just missed breaking 13:00 but I was pretty impressed.I beat my closest competition by a minute. I managed to hold 1:19 100's on most of them so I was pretty stoked. Then the next heat came up Coach's son and Karl and Ray...reasons we'll remember Karl 1. Rebecca arrived late so she was warming up in the lane he was doing his time trial. 2. He told Ray his goal was to beat 12:00. Well as I started timing for him it became apparent this guy was a former collegiate stud. His opener was a 1:06 100. As he cruised along I had to recheck the watch at his 500 split a 5:55 "surely this guy's gonna blow up." I thought /hoped too myself. He didn't his splits stayed perfectly even 1:13's he just barely missed the 11:59 mark going a 12:00:50. Coach's son pulled a 12:45 ( granted I didn't feel as bad being upstarted by a 27 year old ex-college guy as I did by a 40 somethng year old ex-college guy....although it does make me hopeful that I can be pulling 11:00 Ironmans into my 60's.) Anyhoo I got taken to school. Well Played sir.
I could go into details of the set after the TT 10x100 on 1:45 thee fiirst 5 we cruised and apparently the second 5 we were supposed to sprint. Coach looked at us afterward and was like " the set was too easy." I was like "how can you tell?" to which he replied " You're smiling you're not supposed to be smiling you're supposed to be suffering." On that note I don't know if I'll be going to many more workouts...afterall I'm already pulling ridiculous yards during the week....but part of me wants to bust that 12:15 I did back at good ol' Fordham University ( pre-drinking and smoking. Seriously I was so dumb my first two years of school.) In either case I don't think my check book can handle it and my shoulders are rejoicing at that.

Today well I could go into the long brutal story seriously found out some stressful details hat might torpeedo my plans at a commission and any advancement in the civillian sector as well as some bad news for my brother.... the workout was the best part of the day. 8 miles on the dreadmill, a little lifting and core work, and 4200 in the pool after an unintentional 2 day rest.
So right now I'm just hoping and praying that I can get some stuff in order and move forward because quite frankly I'm getting tired of being stuck in this dive.

R.D.

Swim Focus: If I can't go to New Zealand this is the next best thing.

Well everyone's seen the ridiculous yardage I've been cranking out in the last few weeks. There's good reason , the HEAT tri club is doing a virtual swim around New Zealand's North Island. Well I figured this competition was right up my alley because it involves my two favorite things, swimming and New Zealand. And since the Ironman was not in the cards this is the next best thing.
Needless to say the total distance around the North Island is 1200 miles and the guys have decided to break the race into 12x100 mile sections. Everyone records their swim yards for the week until the leaders finish 100 miles then the scale gets reset. Not sure if they're running any prizes per section or for the total shabang, but just being able to toss up some numbers and get some braging rights has been good motivation to get out the door and pound out the yards. Currently I'm in 3rd place ( about 30 miles back as I started in December and the rest of the crew began in November. Also one guy is at a swim camp so he's tearing out yards I've haven't put up since 2005 when I was trying to do the whole college swimmer thing.) Needless to say Segment 2 is coming up and I'm already considered a favorite so I better not disappoint.

On the running I'm starting to work my way back into it I'm not in my usual high mileage mode but I am starting to get back into my consistent 3 runs a week. The New shoes have definitely helped with that. As now I can push myself and not have to worry about equipment failure. Cycling I left the bike in storage as I'm in a "complicated living situation" at the moment, which is sort of fueling me to get my act together quickly, and make decisions on what I should do with the rest of my life, although I'm hoping to get out and do a "Freeze you beans" ride in February.

Well all that said and done I'm off to the pool to take advantage of a work free afternoon.

Lord of the Lane lines.
R.D.

Swimming like a mofo... mofo

Well in the last 3 days I've logged over 16,000 yards including 8300 today. Last night was an easy night my workout was only 3800 yards the main set consisting of 3x( 5x100) 1st set smooth Freestyle on 1:25 2nd set Pull on 1:25 and the 3rd set Swim on 1:20. I had a group of guys from the Plainville Y tri team looking at me and saying comments like "are you a pro?" I wish if only my bike split could get with the program and it will eventually.

Today I did double swim sessions a 3700 yard work out this morning main set 3x (500 on 7:00 100 Easy on 2:00) I did pretty well on the 500's and without even trying to I managed to descend the set. Doing a 6:40, 6:35, 6:30 respectively. Tonghts work out was 4600 but it wasn't as impressive as it sounds my main set was unoriginal 5x200 on 2:45 followed by 5x200 pull on the same interval. I felt kinda bad for the other guys in my lane because I felt like I was charging through as I was sprinting these things. So today's total was 8300 yards, giving me more Street cred in the HEAT virtual New Zealand swim competition.

I had wanted to run this afternoon but the cold and my sinuses sort of told me to think better of it. I'm out of work early tomorrow so hopefully I'll be able to put some more miles on those new running shoes. Likewise since I don't have a crazy early season Ironman to worry about, I can hit the weight room and I need to badly.

So that was today, also worked up the courage to talk to swim coach, it went pretty well except for the fact that I'm not really her type but she is always looking for friends outside of work so that works out well.

Happy Training
R.D.

I'm Freezing / Working my butt off...

Well this december as I sat there looking down at the scale I got a major dose of what reality has been dishing out at me. On top of all the bills, drama and what the hell am I going to do with my life crisis, I noticed that my pants were starting to get a little tight around the middle. When I looked down at the scale one random morning and saw I had ballooned from my normal 165-170 to over 180 I decided to wage war on this battle of the bulge. I've gotten back into training for what I don't know but I want to keep the body that I fought so hard to get. So the last 2 weeks have seen me getting back into my normal mojo. The running has suffered due to this rather long New England cold snap but I'm stocking up on my "suck it up pills." I actually took one this afternoon and went for a bone chilling 7.5 miles.



Likewise I entered a swim yardage contest with in my tri club ( who membership was renewed by one of my training partners serioulsy if it weren't for these guys I'd be stuck to a chair is some dingy cubicle choking down Ben and Jerrys.) Last week my mileage was hovering at just above 7 this week I want to get it up to at least 10 miles , as it stands I'm heading to the pool for my 3rd consecutive workout and will meet my swim mileage for last week tonight if all goes well.

Last night's main set was pretty brutal:

3x [12x75] Set 1 Drill 50/swim 25 on 1:10 Set 2: Pull with paddles on 1:05 Set3: Swim on 1:00
I actually had to stop after 6 on the last set but knicled down to finish off strong.

Tonight wasn't as intense I only scrapped 3400 out but I only had an hour to get it done. Main set was 5x100 on 1:20 followed by 5x100 pull w/paddles on 1:25. Also I think the coach from the all Girls's School swim team is secretly crushing on me....I'm not vain...and she is my age... alright enough of hitting on the swim coach. Happy training everybody.

R.D.

Swimming laps with Pros.

Ok so it was only one pro. I was doing a 3500yard swim workout at the Waterbury Y when I noticed some Chick with a Team Powerbar Cap stretching out by the bleachers. Since the Age group team was taking up 4 lanes and lane 6 had been conquered by the Aquarobics crew I figured I'd split a lane. Nothing sucks worse than having a great workout planned and not having a lane. So as I began my kick set I'll called over that I was willing to split. Now I figured maybe she was some elite Age Grouper, maybe She hoped in an did the introduction thing " I'm Bob Almighty*" I stated " Belinda Granger"..she said back. Belinda Granger...The Belinda Granger...The winner of Hawaii 70.3 last weekend....I was a little star struck for the rest of my sets. I'm sharing a lane with Belinda Granger...it took awhile for the shock to subside even after the practice...it's just something I'm not used to. I did want to pick her brain a little thankfully I'm a notoriosly slow changer so she was able to slip out rather quickly, and unaccosted.

If Cam Brown or Bree Wee show up to the HEAT swim tonight...someone may just have to use that defibulator on me.

Almost Kinda Sorta a bigshot
R.D.

* ok I used my real name.

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.

2 for 1 Ride for your life & I hate Mondays

Yesterday, my plans for a 60-80 mile ride got well..rained on quite literally. After watching the tour ( Damn you Carlos Sastre and Team CSC damn you! now everyone will be rushing out to buy Cervelo road bikes claiming they are the "world's best.") and making a quick run to stop and shop, for "nutrition" ( was going to try a candy bar regiment, just to break up the montony of gu, unfotunately my milky way melted.) it was off Middlebury to begin my ride. The begining was a little interesting as some gu2o must have spilled on my brakes and a wonderful squealing sound could be heard at the slightest tap thankfully that sharp down hill with a lovely stop at the bottom helpped burn it off and I was in business. I got out to Lake Waramaug and it was pretty uneventful except for a dead deer on someguy's lawn, attacking a crow buffet. After one loop of the lake I looked at the increasingly darkening sky and decided to high tail it back to Middlebury before I got caught in the approaching storm. As I rode back it began to sprinkle alright I can deal with a little rain, the wind kicked up ok I can deal with wind and rain, thunder rolled, shit, lightning struck Holy shit, I got into my biggest gears and rode a time trial Lance would be proud of. I aero stretched on the descents, as I out raced the increasingly violent storm back to Route 47. In my mind I was picturing my obituary, and being nominated for a darwin award, Cycle in a cyclone, man that would be the article title, and forever more I would be remebered for chlorinating my self out of the gene pool. I got to Woodbury and tree limbs and shit were falling around me, winds were blowing my accross the road and debris was hitting me square in the face, the rain began to belt down and finally I took shelter in some hole in the wall Biker bar on route 47. After a half hour I got back on my bike because the storm had let up and began riding up into Middlebury, I wasn't even half way up White deer rocks when the rain began puring down in buckets, I managed to make it back to my car in one piece but it was ugly. Total Distance 50 miles or 80k at an average of 17.4 miles per hour, not bad considering the hills and the weather.

Monday: Today after doing futher research on "the chain" I decided to add weights to my planned swim run double. Needless to say it did not go as well as I hoped, for starters I have forgotten how to do a Turkish get up, I did get some kettle bell snatch and cleans (or was it clean and jerks all I know is clean is some how involved in it) and I managed to screw that up I couldn't get my explosive little hop at the end, that and I don't think I kept neutral spine. I tried getting some pull-ups in a pathetic 7. 3 in the first go 4 in the second, my squats were equally disappointing but I managed to make up for lack of weight in reps and avoid injury. 3x8 reps at 95lbs. It was after this I said F**k this S**t! and went to the pool for 3000 yards. Main set 3x500 on 7:00. after all this I grabbed a gatorade and got a run in. Hauled out to Middlebury and ran the first 3 miles of the griskus bike loop, then back to my car so it was a little more than a 10k. Time was 55.26 slow barely cracking 9 min/miles but it is Monday and I did a lot previous. Irregardless, I need to work the weight room harder, I need to bring diagrams of the workouts I need to do and do them, I need power, I need speed, I need to break 5 hours in 2 months time.

I need more power!
R.D.

Water, water everywhere.....

Apparently I've done something to tick God off, ( damn it I knew it was because I really have no pro- choice or pro-life stance, and I support civil unions and Civil marriages for homosexual couples ( separation of church and state!), stem cell research ) but in any case I went to the Y last night and got a 3000 yard workout in. Now this was the first time in almost a week I got in the water. I wasn't too rusty, and I managed to hold 5X200 on 2:50 holding between 2:40 and 2:45 on all 5. I went over my Pepere's ( Quebecois for grandfather) homestead played a few hands of cribbage, grabbed some dinner and then went home to get some sleep. I descended in to my basement which suddenly had turned into an indoor swimming pool from yesterday's deluge...this included my room...nothing better than walking in expecting to crash at 12:30AM and finding your room looking like it could have been on the sound stage for the movie Titanic. Well I had 3 options, "sleep" on the couch ...in which sleep is in quotes, my dogs would be whining for the door every 5 minutes, the second was suck it up and sleep in the puddle, that was once my domicile, the third sleep at Pepere's. Well the choice was obvious, I packed what I needed for the morning and drove the 2 miles to my grandfather's house. I slept like a rock. On tap for Today, Bailing..bailing and more bailing, maybe an evening run.

The Water Logged Warrior
R.D.

Edit #1: Upon checking my email and the registration list at the Patriot, I have decided to take the leap and enter as an open category athlete. I figure the potential of a $1000.00 payday, is worth the embarassment of blowing up. The course is flat and fast, and I've definitely have gotten more miles on the bike this year. My running is steadily improving and If I could pull a 1:37 half marathon on minimal training after a long and hilly 56 mile ride...then I feel I could definitely go 1:37 on that course...perhaps even faster. With a little more than a month to train for it, I've already started increasing volume, in hopes I'll have a descent Eagleman. The Griskus, well at least for the Olympic race I'll be doing it in Jan Ulrich Mode with my 12-23. Hopefully by the end of the summer I'll have a 12-25 or 12-27 for my hiller courses. My training runs have felt like crap the last couple of times out, but with all the stress I've been under I'll chalk it up to that. Granted they have still been pretty quick. So all in all that's all that's going on as of 11:00AM

Upon reading my homie Bjoern's Blog he's a little psyched and a little nerveous as he prepares for Switzerland 70.3. Anyone wishing to leave him advice or encouragement click here

The Eagleman hotel swap... ( with music cues)

( Cue Benny Hill Music Here)

Well upon checking mapquest, I found that my Hotel reservaton in Prince Frederick, MD was actually 90 miles away from the race site ( apparently Marriott measures areial view instead of road routes. ) Irregardless, I went to Marriott.com, and after some quick distance comparisons found a hotel in Salisbury, about 35 miles away as the crow ...or I guess in this case the raven flies.

( switch music to Nirvana's " Rape Me" )

Sadly the hotel reservation was $169.00 for Saturday night but dropped to $84 for Sunday Night, can you say they saw this race coming and were like "Cash Cow!" anyhoo it turns out to be $30 more for the course of the trip but I figure the shorter commute is worth that alone in gas money and aggrevation, also it will not require me to get out of bed at 3AM and race fatigued.

(switch music to "Mony Mony")

Today I sell back my books hand in my papers and officially end this infernal semester. I don't know what the books are worth but if I can walk away with $30 to $50 it will be a welcome aid to the Escape from Debtopia/ Fuel Bob-o's ridiculous obesession fund. In any case things should be looking better after this trip is done and over with. All the rest of my races are somewhat local, 2 within cycling distance if I wanted to. The only two that worry me are Patriot and RI 70.3, my sisters might stay home for Patriot which means I might take up the homestay option extended to me earlier, and Melissa and Chrissie are staying with one of Melissa's friends in Providence, and I might have someone to split hotel with in Naragansett ( I plan on staying close to the Start, unless they are running shuttles to the State Beach from Providence, man that has to be a logistical nightmare.)

(switch music to " Eye of the Tiger")

The last 2 days I have started to get myself into post-exam training mode. While I did waste some gas money driving to the Lake on Saturday for my Brick, I have kept it close to home the last couple of days. Also on Monday night my sinuses thought this lovely little cold snap would be the perfect time to render my voice box useless. So on Monday I went for a 7.5 mile run ( 12k) and left most of the town of Wolcott covered in my snot....still I manged to get it done in 1hr. even...who's bad ass...I'm bad ass!

( switch music to Disturbed's "Down with the Sickness")

Monday night and last night I managed to crank out about 3100 yards in the pool each time. Monday was spent on getting my fast twitch muscles back in gear, and last night I attempted a set of 4x400 on 5:30, I made the first one the second one lost time because I miscounted so I waited a minute and did the last two barely making them on 5:25. My stamia is down, my stress level was high, and the little sinus infection was making my life hell, so as soon as I hit 3100 yards it was into the hot tub, to loosen up.

(Music off, unless you want to head bang.)

Well that's it. Someday I'll learn how to imbed from itunes, and I'll actually get that feature to work.

R.D.

Finally back in the weight room.

Well after reading Angry spout on his weights, kettlebell, and slosh pipe, and noticing my bicepts and tricepts were looking a little saggy I made my way to the Waterbury YMCA for a session of lifting and some sweet sweet pool time. When I entered I was reminded that my memebership dues are coming well due.....it might be my last visit to the Y for a while, unless of course I sneak to other area Y's until next payday, but in any case I went to the last bastion of non-gangland testoterone in the dirtywater. My session began with some core work, 150 assorted crunches. Then 3x 16 DB arm curls @ 25llbs. 3x 10 DB Tricept press same dumbell. The next set on the tour of pain was some squats, 3x 8 reps at 95 lbs. I felt incredibly weak, and odd as a group of teenage gawkers looked on. The squats were followed by 3 sets of 8 reps same weight bench press. I tried to do lunges with a 25 plate in each hand. My knees felt it and as I attempted todo leg extensions I was forced to abort to same myself from injury. I ended my night in the land of Iron with 3x8 pec flys with free weights. at 25 and 30 lbs. respectively. Weak yes, but I'm an endurance guy.

I hit the pool and caught up with Cervelo Chick, who except for learning how to draft is tearing it up on the ITU U23 scene...by 2012 she should be a front runner for the London games, and hopefully I'll be spewing some shit of I knew her when on some Pod cast from Lake Placid after I desimate the field on the run overcoming a 10 min. gap Macca style. ( I can dream can't I). Anyway tonight was a distance night. 1000 warm up followed by 500 pull, followed by the main set 4x500 on 7:00 3500 yards it was a good night except I lost count on all but the last 500, so I think I might have tacked some Extra yards on. ( I was coming in on the 30 and I know I wasn't going 6:30...so 7:30 for 550....) Regardless I feel that I am regaining some much needed strength and that if I can get in the weight room at least 1-2 times a week than all will be good in the land of Bob-o.

This weekend not much is on tap. A ride/run tomorrow, followed by school work, followed by a Serbian double bluff to the Crew at the Southington Y, and ride followed by mas paper writing on Sunday. I am beginning to get the sense that my weekends and afternoons will soon be mine and I can hardly contain myself.

Getting Stronger as we speak.
R.D.

Bjoern Boyer = Lance Armstrong?

Yesterday, I decided on a whim to do a circut of the Pat Griskus Sprint Triathlon loop. I called up Bjoern and he was down for it so we drove out to Middlebury and let the fun begin. Now for anyone who's done this loop with me (Cough Angry Runner! Cough) they know the first 2 to 4 miles are mostly flat to down hill, with a lovely little "S" curve at the 3 mile mark. At the 4 mile mark things start to go up hill, at the 5 mile mark it goes up hill in a hurry, at the 6 mile mark your quads and calves are burning almost saying no mas...the 7 mile mark things start to flatten out. 8 miles, and wonderful little down hill section with a couple of small climbs thrown in for fun. At the nine mile mark you hit the infamous last hill with the smiley face, by this point you want to shoot the race director, especially during the Olympic race, which I once called " CT's Alpe Du Huez", because it is a long gradual climb followed up by a nice 35 mph ( 50k +) descent, followed a sharp right hander and a little bump on route 64 then a nice down hill back toward Quassy Amusement Park ( which on Race day is the Transition area.) Now that I have established the setting for this epic, I will now do a brief profile on Bjoern. Bjoern is the founder of CCSU's tri club, a former soccer player, and Germany's greatest export...next to the Porsche 911...also I don't know if it's in the water in Germany or something but it seems like the country produces great cyclists, Normann Stadler, Faris Al Sultan, Jan Ulrich, Andreas Kloden...Bjoern is no exception the guy man handled me on our 3 looper.

On the first loop things started out pretty well I lead through the first downhill section, he would hammer past when the road flattened out a little bit, We rode together until the "S" Curve he took it at full speed, I slowed a little bit and did the whole " Apex the corner", thing similar to him but a tad bit slower ( and no I was not at my usual Granny-esque pace on this ride...well ok I was on the 3rd loop because some Bimbo in a Mercedes was driving through and had right of way, stupid yield sign...) Anyway when we got to the climbs something that never happens to me happended, I got smoked...I don't mean like he was a few bike lengths ahead... I mean like he did the Lance Armstrong look kicked it into overdrive and surged pulling a good 200-300 meters ahead. When I finally caught up to him, we were going up another series of hills, again he surged and again I got dropped... I caught back up to him on the flat section and we tackled the "last hill" toghether when we got to the top he looked over to me " You're climbing into big a gear." He said as he looked at me rear cog. Now I agree with him on that , there are 3 other reasons I think he beat me on most of the climbs, the first I think his chain ring is a 12-25 rear cog, because we both went up one of the tougher climbs in the biggest cog on the back and he acclerated away, and I know for a fact that I have a 12-23 on the stomper, the second he rides a road bike, shallow seat angle = better climbing, the third and I'm not gong to lie, he's better conditioned, he rides at least 5 days a week, and has been doing long rides for the last 2 months, so for me picking up after a 3 week hiatus I shouldn't really be surprised that he can ride circles around me, granted even when we're both at our peaks he's better on the bike. The sceond loop was a little more painful than the first... I lead on the descents and for the second or third time in my life I was really loving the descents, not having to pedal hard and going 30-40 mph I was loving it. the climbs was more of Bjoern pulling ahead...at the top of the last climb he shouted " Where's my polka dot jersey and 300 Euro bonus!" I quickly chipped in "I want my 40k individual time trial, and my flat sprinting stages." Complete role reversal of last year's mother of all bricks, where I was the climbing god. As we approached the the parking lot I wanted nothing more than to collaspe, my lower back was spasming, my calves were burning, my hams and quads felt cooked...." One more loop he asked?" "damn." I muttered to myself I went along with it telling him I'd probably be falling back. Once again I lead on the descent, when we got to the S curve he took it at full speed and manged to beat the afformentioned bimbo powered Mercedes. The climbs wnet as they did before although I held closer to Bjoern on the big one. On the last hill he said to me " let's hold 20 on this one" "20?" I said my eyes opening wide..." 20k" (13 mph) oh ok I could try for 20k I held on to his back wheel until a few feet from the summit, then I cracked and slowed to about 10mph he got back to the car about a minute ahead. All in all it was a good weekend, I got some desperately needed saddle time as well as a gauge on how much I need to improve. We hit the pool afterward, I got in about 3100 yards he did about 2700, he'll be set for Switzerland in June, I'm just hoping to get my butt ready to haul at Eagleman...granted there is no climbing at Eagleman...although if Bjoern shows up for the griskus sprint, my chances of a podium might once again be in doubt.

Saying I'm going to stop training means what exactly....

Well 48 Hours after stressing out, flipping out and vowing I was going to become a fat, researching, library troll, not letting the words swim, bike, or run permeate my vocabulary. Not let any thoughts other than what was currently being discussed in class or what I will be throwing on the printed page. I had the fat pants ready, my nook picked out, and was stressing out over all the research and papers that need to be done. I was going to cut myself off from the world and become a hermit with books under my arm and a long scraggily white beard. So last night after my last class what did I do? Although knowing I should be devoting my whole being to academics, I jumped in the pool and cranked out 3100 yds, and shot the shit with Bjoern and company, and proceeded to get home and collapse. I just can't seem to help myself, My name is Bob and I addcited to exercise. Try as I might I just cannot rid myself of the fact that I am an athlete. That training and racing for me are part of my being, alright maybe not that far, but then again if I were paralyzed or lost a leg I could see myself racing as a PC guy ( hopefully (knock on wood) that won't happen.) It just seems for me that I stress out about everything, except when I train. At work: I stress. At School: I stress, mainly because I committed the 12th deadly sin of academa I didn't do work when I had a break from classes ( both NZ and Spring Break), and the sort of old school guilty Catholic guy in me constantly plays the record of " you have to suffer and pay 10 fold for every mistake you make." or " not do work, you had a golden opportunity to get ahead and what did you do, you de-stressed, slept, and trained, how dare you." Maybe it comes from growng up believing "life is not supposed to be enjoyable", and then over the past 5 years trying to purge that idea from my system, that it's ok to accel at something other than school work, that I'm a descent athlete, not everything wrong with the world is my fault, a lousy grade does not mean you are a lousy student, and above all it's alright to be stress free and happy....it's still a work in progress and occasionally I sprial into the old attitude, that my job, my salary, my GPA, my major, my splits, my income to debt ratio, my credit score, my professors' lesson plans, my customer's opinons define me, that everyone's else's goal for me should be my goal for myself, that I should be hard on myself and forget about what makes me happy and devote myself solely to what needs to be done. I realized that to live like that quite frakly makes life tedious, robs the individual of passion, and quite frankly is not how I want to live.

All right, that was way too deep, but I needed to say it.
R.D.

Cornerstone Swim Session or I haven't been this tired since Fordham.

Today I decided to take advantage of HEAT's Cornerstone Swim sessions at the "urging" of Ken. I will have to say it was $10 well spent. During my Ironman training phase I couldn't really take advantage of this program, as my Sundays were spent trying to out ride snow storms, darkness, insane motorists, in my desperate attempts to build bike base. So Today I went for what became my longest workout since I graced Taupo, New Zealand with my bitch stomping (for an age grouper) swim speed. The workout today was simple, straight forward and ass kicking. The warm up was a nice steady 800, simple, I led it. Set 2 was 12x50's backstroke kick, anyone who knows me knows my back stroke sucks So Ken and Paul led this set. Set 3 8X200 on 3:00 odds build to max effort. For the first 2x200's I sat in third I finalyy decided to pass Paul and hung on to Ken's feet for the remainder of the set. Set 4 Ken's revenge. 4x (3x75 Sprint on :05 Rest 1:00Rest between sets.) Ken led the first one then put me out front for the rest of the set. I don't know what I was holding and I was too hypoxic to care. As commented I hadn't been that deprived of Oxygen since I was swimming for the mighty Fordham Rams back in the winter of 04. The next set was an easy 4X50's with a 100 cool down all in all about 4100 yards. I left the pool starving, intially I was going to grab a bite to eat but as I rolled down queen street in Southington it hit me. Corned Beef and Cabbage Sunday dinner....I sped home only to find out that the St. Paddy's day feast was pushed back to tomorrow, the day I'm going to be the DD for a couple of my pub hopping friends. A guiness might make its way into the system, but only really early in the night. ( because like all good aspiring bourgoisie gurus I have work the rest of the week and papers and research and all other sorts of Spring break killing intellectual crap to get out of the way. That and I want to make sure these guys get around and home safely.)
So right now as I type this I am looking at the clock, I am exhausted I have research to get done and a quarterly sales meeting bright and early tomorrow morning.

The Lord of the Fast Lane.
R.D.

This Week's Poll:
Last week's results showed most of my readers have very little faith in my ability to control my spending on bike componets...oh ye of little faith......any way I haven't thrown down on an Ultegra crank yet but my birthday is coming so Mom, Dad...if you want to really make me happy......

Any way this week's survey
Should I hire a Tri Coach?
Yes a coach or at least a coaching plan might be a wise investment, help your uber competitive nature and scourge your copetition.

No Why spend dinero on some guy telling you what to do? Save your money and keep coaching yourself , it's worked so far.

No Wait for 2009 then you can start fresh for a new season, also you might have more dinero in your pockets and more time to devote to training after you finish College.

Back in the fast lane......

Well last night was the first day back to training since , well one small race in the Southern Hemisphere. I got in a nice 3000 yard workout from Stef "dominmatrix of the lane lines" Karas Splitting the lane with Cervelo chick (seriously this girl is going to be ITU champion in 2012, she's heading off to college in Cali to train. Plus when you're 17 and beating some of the regional elites in the sprints its a good sign.) It wasn't too hard of a night, granted doing it on only 3 hours sleep took its toll. the main set
3x100 on 1:30
200 kick
3x100 on 1:25
200 pull
3x100 on 1:25
200 kick
3x100 on 1:20

I managed to hold between 1:15 and 1:20 on all of them.
Last night I passed out at 11:00 woke up and went to bed at 11:30 woke up at 3:00 then was back to bed at 4:00 then up for the day at 7:00 altogether it it was the most normal my sleep pattern has been since I got back. I sent a couple of my New Zealand contacts emails, I thinked I talked poor Simon's ear off whan I was down there ( Sadly I tend to talk too much when I'm nervous. Normally I'm usually pretty quiet and try to keep to myself, because I know if I start talking I won't shut up. So Simon I apologize.)
Well not much is new here, classwork is piled up and now I have to get it done. I've got a book review and outline due on the 24th, a midterm due on the 25th, another book review on the 26th and a 12 page research paper to start from said outline. So in essence, my spring break won't really be much of a break, it'll be more of a ok I'm going to spend the time I normally spend in class doing work. I just got back from vacation and already I'm burned out with school work. So all in all I am truly back to the grind.

Would you like your burned out academic in orginal recipe or extra crispy.
R.D.

Term papers drive me crazy.

Well next week is spring break and I will be spending it putting in long hours at the office and long hours in the library, that's right I've got term paper research on Victorian Medicine and outline to do, as well as a 10-12 page mid-term on the Arab- Israeli conflict, hence this is helped exacerbate the sleeplessness, feeling stressed out, wanting to crawl into a dark corner alone surrounded by books or a lightning fast Internet connection. The joys of college life, as mentioned earlier I should have most of the crap for my major done with by December, leaving me on course to graduate in May 09, and finally leave with that piece of sheepskin that says I am qualified to make more than $20k a year. Ok college stress rant over. Tonight I got a nice hour long swim planned, followed by long hours looking up the big names of 1840's-1890's British Medicine, Chadwick, Snow, Lister, etc..and how medicine evolved from "Throw two leeches on your arm and call me in the morning." To "take a hit of opium and call me in the morning." Somebody get the Maxwell House and keep it coming. My eariler post was a irrational rambling on mainly being stressed out by all this crap ontop of kind of crushing on someone, that has worked itself out in a rather conservative fashion: keep the status quo, and the fact I probably had only 3 hours sleep last night...I think that covers my ass for any crazy things I might post or mention. Well that's all I have time for right now...I've got to go fight traffic back into the dirty water.

The Java Junkie
R.D.

It's like Connecticut only Warmer...

That's the impression I got from my first taste of the bike course. Chip seal, down hill, windy, driver's not giving you any room but the shoulder, It felt like I was doing the Pat Griskus Olympic Route *tear* *sniff* The ride through Taupo during training was trecherous, especially at one point were they were doing road work. I had gotten dropped off the back by our riding group and suddenly found myself on the run course, after meeting up with 2 guys from our group doing their pre race inspection of the run course, I tacked on an extra 10k of riding and got on to the bike Course. It was about this time Blair, our Kiwi cycling God, caught up with me. He started pointing out turn spots and trouble areas, including on lovely 25mph well I took it at 25 he was going about 35 descent that drops to a nice little left hand turn. When we started hitting the back half I panicked braked on a couple of hills that looked like they were going to be steep edge of the world looking Down descents, but once I started going down it I wanted to kick myself for being a coward. Anyway the ride out to the turnaround is a hammer fest! One small little hill that I took easily in the saddle, but other than that it was kick it in the big ring and pray nothing gets in your way. ( Angry good first Iron for you....well at least the first half of the bike...we have to go all the way back up into town.) I have decided that the aero drink will be getting used due to the fact I was nearly dehydrated yesterday because I couldn't fight winds, traffic, and grab water bottles at the same time. I have been adopted by the local Paper, The Taupo Times as their Ironman, so on Thursday they're running a full spread on me, so that's pretty cool, ( Simon, Marian, Catherine) You guys rock! ( Also Jude and the girls in the office you also rock!) ok covered my bases.
Lake Taupo is beautiful, crystal clear blue water, and 67 degrees making it optimal for wetsuits.
So All in all it looks like it's going to be a good day in Taupo on Saturday, as long as traffic's controlled and it doesn't rain until after I get off the bike, the weather's been warm and dry so far so I'm hoping it stays dry for a couple more days.

The Sun Soaking Triathlete
R.D.

Ps. Pictures will be posted but I need to up load them to my lap top and then my usb disk so I can put them on the net.

Ironman New Zealand Update / Desperate Appeal !!

Part I. Ironman update

Last night the Guys at Ironman New Zealand posted the age groups and bib numbers here's mine:


Rob DUGUAY
114
United States
M0124



Yes, I know putting my real name puts me at risk that some Hannibal Lector wantabe, will nibble on my well developed achilles with Fava beans and a nice chanti....but anyone who looks up my bib number is going to see it anyway. So yes I am now offcially a number. Speaking of numbers I am one of 44 competitors in my age group and only 1 of 3 Americans competing in the "little tykes" (18-24 age group...I know I'm a youngin'.) age group. So I might have a shot at highest placing American. One kid from the Czech Republic is showing up for this so I'm assuming he is hot fire ( bib # 121) Surprisingly there are only 4 Aussies, 1 Canadian, and a boatload of Japanese in my age group along with an army of Kiwis ( which I would expect this being their home Ironman.) For the most part barring the Country Music Marathon this is the most internationally diverse race I've ever done.

I've got that nerveous /excited/ scared shitless feeling going on. I haven't done a ride over 75 miles so I really don't want to bonk because I might have a good shot at Kona. So at this moment the bike is my only source of apprehension. I've pretty much been on run taper for the last 2 weeks so this week I plan on another long ride run brick if the weather is good this weekend.

Last night sporadic burst of sleet made me op out of going to Masters so tonight I've got my own 4000 yard workout of bliss planned. tomorrow I've got an early morning pool session and a night run with Germany's greatest export ( besides beer, chocolate, cars.....) Bjoern... I figure a nice 7-8 miler tomorrow, an 8-10 miler Thursday. And then one last 15-20 miler on Sunday after at least 4 hours on the bike....mileage be damned! Then I begin Taper and how to eat an energy bar with out being disloyal to GU...guys please make an energy bar....I beg you!



II. Desperate Appeal



Since I'm talking about the Ironman I will make another desperate appeal for donations to the War on ALS ( Lou Gehrig's disease.) Anyone who knows about Lou Gehrig's disease knows that it is a cruel quick killer. Over the course of two to five years a person can go from being perfectly healthy and active to being confined to a wheel chair and requiring a ventilator to breathe. We know the symptoms and progession of ALS but we have yet to fully understand the disease, and therfore treat it. ALS Warrior Poet ( Jon Blais's site) and some of the research have the most current developments posted.Groups such as the Blazeman Foundation, Auggies Quest, and Kurt's Pitch help to raise funds for research groups such as the MDA, ALSTDI, and ALSA, and neurological departments across the country. Through your generosity I currently have raised $503.. I would like to reach a goal of $525 ...$25 over the minium requirement for the Ironman fundraising level. Anyone who donates /has donated $25 or more can expect a momento from New Zealand. ( Warrior Woman I think I have your address via the donation confirmation e-mail. Cranky, Claire I'll see you at the Patriot, Angry my brother, I'll definately see you before then.) Anyone who donates as little as $1 will have their name decaled on my bike, as well as written on my arm during the race March 1. you can make donations here. Like I said it can be as little as $1 and your donation is always appreciated.





So in a quick recap:



Bob-o's bib number # 114

3 Americans and a lot of Kiwi's in the 18-24 division

Please donate to the War on ALS.



Athlete # 114

R.D.

I miss running......

This morning I had the great idea of going for a 5AM run and I would have done one too..except for my good friend the snooze button. 5 turned to 5:30 to 6 to 6:30 to 6:45 and by that time it was just crawl out of bed and drive my sister to school before going to the office. So sadly my New Balance 720's are collecting a fine layer of dust. Last night my crappy mood/ trying to rebuild my immune system resulted in me by- passing my trainer work out. So tonight I have class and a Cen-Tri meeting ( in which I will get Bjorn's bike case and a lovely $250 from the school for food and travel expenses for New Zealand. So I won't be living off ramen pre- Ironman. ) after that masters and a nice 5 mile jog in the well lit parts of my sub-urban hood. ( man that little headlamp is paying off, thank you for the gift card Simona.) Tomorrow I'm not due into the office until 11:00AM so a morning run, in daylight by god, is an actual possibility. Friday the apocolyptic weather mongers are predicting the mother of all snow storms as they always do and like always we will most likely end up with a flurry. So I might be reduced to just a trainer/ treadmill session other wise ...no wait they just changed it to Monday....gotta love that kind of accuracy. Saturday I will hopefully have decent road conditions to get in a nice 50-100 miles on the bike...or I will have gas cash for a trip up to the lake. Sunday I figure a nice town ride and a run brick is in order. So that's the game plan as of now, as always its a "read and react" winter training plan . so yes my mood is starting to improve a little bit. My loan gets disburst tomorrow so I can pay down one of my annoying credit cards so I can buy gas, books, and oh yeah a nice plane ticket to New Zealand. My lifeguarding W-2 should be in any day now which means I can fire up ye old turbo tax or call up my brother's godfather, file for 2 to the 007 and get a hefty refund direct deposit, which will then pay down a credit card and Bob-o's magical mystery tour. (That $600 "economy booster" is going directly into a high yield savings if there still such a thing as a high yield savings in mid-May.) so things are coming together.....I just wish they'd move a little faster.

Trying to rebound Ray Allen Style
R.D.

Ok I know I'm going to get shit about that ending

I feel fat.....or some speed work.

That seemed to be the sentiment at the Waterbury YMCA yesterday. As I got ready for swim practice I looked in the mirror at my "just ate a large meal" bloated gut overhanging the front of my jammer ( long legged swim suit Goes to the knee instead of cutting off a the thigh like the traditional "speedo".) Well any way with the images of a bloated gut,weakened arm,muscles, ( from not enough lifting..come March 6 I'm hitting the weights with a vengeance.) yet diesel legs. I drove from my home to the Y. Once again Stef was on deck with the workouts. " I feel fat." I exclaimed as I took a look at the 4600 yard set of mixed speed work. "join the club" she said patting her semi firm abs. I tried to retort back with the that ain't fat remark but it wasn't worth it. Anyway a majority of our group was doing Stef's 3000 yard I.M of Doom set While I was doing a set that brought back memories of Fordham and the mid-distance lane. Stef and I split a lane for warm ups but its kind of hard to circle swim when 1 guy's doing a full bore 400 free and the other is in the midst of a 100 breast stroke. Anyway here's the workout broken down.

6x200 2 swim 2 pull 2 kick Swim& pull on 3:00 kick on 4:00
5x 100 50 drill/ 50 swim on 1:35
1x 300 choice.

2000 yards to warm up. Not bad and tonight there wasn't as much kicking for which my legs were grateful.

3 x 400 on 5:30 build
This set wasn't too bad. It helped to get the heart rate up and I managed to average 5:15's on all three.

4x50 build to all out sprint on :50
I still feel pathetically slow on my sprints. The fastest one I was able to crank out was at about 32 seconds...granted that's what I can usually sprint in practice and I'm training for distance at the moment so I'll take it.

1x 400 moderate on 6:00
Did it on 5:30 so I had plenty of rest.

8x50 build to sprint 1-4, 5-8 on :45
Did these pretty well. Once again my fastest times being just a hair under 35 seconds.

3x 100's on 1:25
I did these averaging between 1:15 and 1:20.
I did bother doing the 100 cool down because it was three minutes to closing when I finished and decided to loosen up in the hot tub. So 4500 yards is a good night's work.

Today I don't know what's on tap. I'm trying to conserve gas but I have to run to New Britain to buy a book for my anthropolgy class. Sell some books I've had lying around the homestead to buy a book I need for European history as I wait for my loan check to come in. ( the loan gets disburst on Jan. 31 then the state cuts me a check and that takes about a week to get to me. ) So it doesn't look like there'll be any lake bricks this weekend. From What i see the weather's supposed to be ok and the roads arond Wolcott aren't too bad so I might do some short hill work or town loops, otherwise I've got the trainer and a movie collection and I also need to get a couple more long runs in. so my "read and react" training plan might not be the most effective but it has been working, granted I haven't gotten my century in but I've come pretty damn close so I'm confident that'll I'll be bike leg ready with 1-2 more 5 hour rides/ trainer sessions. I need to do one more 20+ mile run..so that my be my weekend right there.
Well I've got a go the rush is coming. More to be said on Monday.

The Barbarian Banker
R.D.