RIP: The Big Red Caboose: Cardinal Avery Dulles S.J.

Ok so the title seems a little disrespectful but let me explain Cardinal Avery Dulles S.J. was the chair of the religion department at Fordham University. Many moons ago when I was young reckless and attending Fordham, say 2004, I was a member of campus ministry I was helping out at Holy Thursday Mass. Now Fordham is run by the Jesuits a bunch of priests who live in community and take vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, so at this shindig there were about 20 members of the Roman collar club present, and all of them were going to be processing in. Father McShane the president of the university was lining the group up and made a remark to the cardinal, " and you, sir will be our big red caboose." Now if the cardinal was the uptight pompous sort he would have taken great offense to such a comment but the fact he chuckled a little at the remark spoke of his character. He was smart he was pious and he had a sense of humor. I only had the pleasure of hearing him say mass twice in my turmoil filled years at Fordham, his wisdom was profound and if you saw him walking around campus with his cane and Irish touring cap you would have thought he was just another one of the Jesuits on staff. He is what the Catholic Church would have type cast for a priest, smart, full of wisdom and faithful, yet at the same time easily approachable and in good humor. He will be sorely missed.

Rest in Pieces sir.
R.D.

It was above 30F on Sunday with no snow Could you guess what I was doing...

That's right the training rides have begun again...granted this year I'm going to maintain my bike a little better so I'm not forking over $40 for a new chain ( granted Pro Bike Kit has them for $25 ..dang this site and Nashbar are more deadly than an ice cream truck dealing crack in a school zone.).

Yesterday I got in fewer miles than I hoped for a whopping 37 miles in 2:20 at 16mph pace, but for my first day back in the saddle I'll take it. I drove up to Waramaug because I wanted to survey the road up, just to see what there were like...I could have kicked myself for driving all the way out there as they were mostly clear with the exception of one or two icy spots...well next time I know. I started by doing loops of the lake but after one loop, decided to mix in some hills, so I climbed Hopkins Rd. and went up this steep ass grade by the Hopkins Inn and Vineyard. The restaurant was working full tilt as the smell of fried food filled the air around the place. After the ascent I had to take it easy on part of the descent as there was one large ice pack on one of the side roads. As I shot down the main road back by the lake I decided to ride part of the Nutmeg Half Marathon Route. I figured riding in a flat circle wasn't going to help me prep for the hills of Taupo so I had better kick my ass back into climbing shape in a hurry.
After riding up Flirtation Rd. ( Claire and I had fun with this name on her Easter Half Iron bike.) and darting across US 202 I made my way to the center of Washington. Not knowing how bad the roads were heading toward New Milford, I decided to tackle the last "clover" of the Half Iron course, it was nothing but clear yet pitted asphalt. Also this was a gradual up hill, so my climbing legs were getting a decent workout. I got back to the lake and I was at 29.10 miles I decided I was going to ride until I hit 30 becasue the sun was setting...but opted to tack on the extra loop. I managed to get to my car feeling like I was going to "let it fly" at any second. I didn't have my head lamp with me so my plans for a run were nixed, so I decided to drive to Marty's cafe in Washington to relieve myself and get some coffee to warm my dead but up.

It was a good ride but I need to improve. I hope to ride Next Saturday morning if the weather co-operates although the apocolyptic weathermen can't seem to agree on whether it's going to ice/ snow/ or rain on Friday and if it will carry over into Saturday. If all goes well and the plans for wintry mix are foiled I'll get a 62 miler in, if not then it might be 3 hours on the trainer...ugg...I can only do so much work on the trainer...and then maybe a trip up to the casino with the homies, granted I'm thinking it might be wiser to stay home.

The Warrior of the Wasteland.
R.D.

This weekend: The training for NZ begins in earnest

On tap for Today:

Work till 12:30PM

10 mile run...if the roads co-operate, we had a massive rain storm 2 days ago and last night everything froze over, today is not supposed to get above 30F (-1C) so the roads are going to be icy and treacherous, but hopefully not.

Hawaii Ironman Highlight show.

Finish Papers.

2 hours on the trainer.

Sunday:
In the words of the Commodores: "A brickhouse."

Hopefully a 50-60 mile ride and a 7 mile run. Maybe some pre-church deadlifts.

This is all what I hope to do but we all know life throws curve balls. I look to take full advantage of my trainer over break, maybe some pre and post work spin sessions and hardcore focus on the bike. It's been my weakness for several years hopefully if I work hard enough I can make it a strength...because I really want a sub-6 Ironman bike split this year. the running I'm not worried except for last week 've been averaging 20-30 miles per week, and about 9000 yards in the pool per week. The swim is the least of my worries, although I'd like to be in the top 25 out of the water. To have a remote shot at Kona I need a faster bike split so that's what I'm going to drill this year. Hard Swim, Balls to the Wall bike ,and run until my legs fall off. While not as far as long as I was last year I did manage to build a lot of base over the summer. So winter break will be spent trying to get myself as fast as humanly possible, and this year I will be taking a tip from the Angry Runner and work the chain, with deadlifts, the arms with push ups and pullups and essentially get my scrawny ass it to bitch stomping shape...I guess the easy days are over because as of 8PM last night I'm officially in training.

Getting intouch with his inner Balboa.
R.D.

Help a sister out.

Well upon looking at Speedy Claire's blog as she preps for the Boston Santa Speedo Run. Well the thing is the race is a charity run which has left her scrambling for funds at the last second. She only needs to raise $250 USD and right now she is at $184 USD. $5 bucks from 15 people gets her there, alright I know $5 bucks is a lot in today's economy, especially this close to Christmas but think of it this way it's two cups of coffee from the office coffee pot instead of Dunkin Donuts ( or other national or international coffee chain.), it's taking a sandwhich or cup of instant ramen in Monday instead of buying a pizza slice, to help needy kids out.

Edit: Claire made her goal!

For more info check out her blog and to donate click here

RD.

The zone...

It seems that in the last few days I have entered the zone. Whether it was the fact that 90% of my stuff was running late, the semester's drawing to a close, or I just want to get shit done so I can start training again...everything has come together. Papers that it took me eons to start and research were completed in what seemed like effortless hours...whether the grades reflect this or not remains to be seen,but shit is getting done, hopefully I'll be able to exorcise the dust off my chain ring this weekend.

R.D.

I' m Entered!

Well I'm entered in to my 2009 Ironman, I'll give you 3 guesses but you only need one to figure out where I'm going.

* Blocks Ears waits for all the collective ARE YOU INSANE! shout to subside.

Alright I'll agree it's a nuts proposition, but then again isn't the ironman a nuts proposition. Afterall who in their right mind would pay money to swim, bike, run and suffer?

My justification is I can do it for the same price if not cheaper than an American Ironman ( exchange rate baby!). Ok yes Airfare is a bitch ( $1200 via Air New Zealand .com), but hotel for the week was only $400, ( Louisville was going to cost me at least that, granted airfare was non existent , my sisters wanted to road trip to it.) I decided not to book with Ken Glah this year, ( his service is good but I'm on a budget, if I make Kona ( he might be getting a call, although I'm going to see his price on air fare, you know just to see if it's lower and it might be wise to lock in.) So the hotel taken care of, the race taken care of, and the airfare soon to be resolved, that just leaves one thing: training.

Now I'm not as weak as I was on the bike last year, granted I still need to learn how to "let it fly" so I can save precious minutes on the longest leg of the race. Also with my paper writing palooza, I've lost some valuable road time. Winter break is around the corner so I'll have a month of hard core yardage and mileage ahead of me. My trainer is set up, I know the cheapest place in town for toe warmers, my running shoes should survive until spring, otherwise I'll be doing some shopping in NZ ( seriously my flats would have been $119 in the US I got them for $89 in Taupo.) Alright all that shit aside I've got papers to finish and a training plan to contemplate.

Off his rocker.

R.D.

I'm not dead...

I'm just in the midst of finals. Seriously I never want to type another paper again after I finish this semester...oh wait I have a thesis due before I graduate...damn it all to Hell.

To paraphrase Ben Franklin, "Coffee is proof God loves us and wants us to be happy."

The suspense of which Ironman to pick will also come to it's conclusion this Thursday when I fork over my entry fee lets just say I'm fully braced for the Litany of "You're Nuts" ( I guess I am what I eat.), "You're Crazy", "You're Muy Loco", " Bobby I'm getting you a straight jacket for Christmas this year." Sadly this rules out a blogger reunion beating up Mickey... so to those of you rocking Disney I salute you.

Mother Nature is not helping my training plan at the moment but at least I have the trainer and a massive dvd collection. Anyone with any Tour de France tapes, or dvd's that's not using them feel free to send them my way,I will also take spinervals dvds. I have 6 months of base work going for me..well at least on the run and the swim...so I will devote more time on the stomper, with the Jeff Goldblum mantra of "Must go faster, must go faster..." playing in my head...hmmm spinning to Jurassic Park...might be motivating. Also I'll be riding up at Quassy and Waramaug when ever the weather/ road conditions permit...ahh I can feel my toes going numb already...anyone else want in?

Running in the cold, already know how to do that thank you very much, along as it isn't icy it's all good. Also my tolerance for Cold has built up on the running side it used to be if it was below 20F (-6C)I'd call it a day, now if it's in single digits 9F(-12C) I might debate the treadmill. Cycling I'm still gonna stay at the 30F mark, figure riding in anything colder than that is begging for trouble.

Well that's it for me I still have to crank out some goodness and insert some notes.

Java Jiving

R.D.