Half Marathon Sunday.

Well last week I started my gig at the company call center ( more hours and a raise, hey a guy's got to eat before he goes to OCS.) and unfortuately I caught the head cold that was going around so I spent most of the week laid up after my commute home. Today since the weather was in the mid to upper 50's I went for a run. Normally I do my little rink a dink 7 miler but today since I hadn't accomplished much and I've got a half marathon that I have to haul major ass at in two weeks, I decided to push the pain envelope a little. I cranked out a 13 miler in 1:38 on my route of death.
Why is it called the route of death you might ask? Let's just say this there is a 3 mile section on a winding narrow and BUSY road with no shoulder. I managed to survive pretty well even though I was sort of spaced out for most of it. I've had a lot on my mind. First the New job, then the Navy, my family's moving at the end of the month, one of my training partners is done for the season and it's not for anything bad, and I'm still thinking about some girl half a world away like every other thought.
Also this weekend was Ironman New Zealand so I was following Bonzzone's attempt to foil Cam Brown at my work station before relying on texts from friends to keep me in the loop. Likewise the women's race this year was a wire to wire battle as Jo Lawn reclaimed her title from Gina Crawford. (oh yeah and for the first time in 3 years it was sunny with no rain. I guess I really am the rain man.)
Alright so back to this 13 miler it didn't really hurt so I'm pretty confident that I might be able to crack 1:30 in 2 weeks, now it's just getting the mileage back up and blowing the dust off the stomper and starting to ride once again.

With the Navy thing my recruiter wanted to have me ready for March 15 so I could get into an earlier review board, but I'm shooting for April 15 so I can get a May review board which means I would be shipping out at the end of July beginning of August. Which means I get to race a little this season as well as graduate before Christmas. But the main reason is so I can study for my ASTB ( Aviation Selection Test Battery). Essentially this is the GRE for flight school. It has math, navigation and basic knowledge and mechanical physics in 5 neat little packages. I need to score at least 4 out of 10 on each section to become a pilot so let the studying like I'm in college again begin.

So that's all that's going on here.
R.D.

My internet is down again and other tales....

well to explain my lack of postage my home internet has been down for the last 3 weeks, so i'm sorry for the shortage of blogging. In the short version here's what's happended in the last month

1. I joined the Navy
2. I started lifiting
3. I started running again.
4. I almost told one special lady what I really feel about here. Granted I think she knows.
5. I started writing a pretty awful murder mystery to take up the time I'm not working or training.
6. I got myself a promotion at my current gig.

Well the Navy thing everyone sort of knew was coming I'm in the process of filling out my application for officer canidate school (OCS) and getting myself in shape. I should be shipping out for officer canidate school in July ( allowing me to keep my perfect streak alive at Patriot.) Hopefully I'll be as good at shoe polishing and bed making as I am at running and I'll be commissioned in October and off to flight school. I'll be taking my ASTB (Armed Services Test Battery) and my physical exams in the next couple of weeks so hopefully I'll score high enough for pilot. Also on a side bar my recruiter was sort of shocked when she heard about the amount of yards I was cranking out in the pool. In her words, "are you sure you don't want to be a SEAL?"

On the lifting , in order to get my self back in shape I've been hitting the gym. I will say this I am weak. For my physical I have to be able to crank out at least 40 push ups and 100 situps in 2 minutes. Well my core needs some definite strengthing. I manged to crank out 68 sit ups in my last 2 minute test so I've started a warm up circut of 2x 30 push ups and 100 sit ups to start my lifing session. This is then followed by lat pull, bench press, pec flys, over head press, GTU's sad attempts at pulls ups, squats and more pushups. I'm happy that my bench is getting better but I still have a long way to go.

Running well the running part of my physical is a joke (1.5 miles in 12 minutes) but I do have a half marathon coming up in March so the last week I've cranked out 21+ miles on the roads I'm hoping to bring that number up as the weather improves and you know we get humane hours of daylight.

Swimming status quo...

On work I got a promotion to my company's call center which means more hours and a pay raise which will allow to catch up on bills and get my self back into a manageable position. I know the Navy's not going to happen until July so that gives me some time to put in some hours to my employer and get some much needed green into my budget.

So that's all that's going on in the world of Bob-o

A gentleman hopefully an officer
R.D.

It wasn't supposed to be a rest week....

Well this week wasn't really banner on thhe training front. I got to the pool 3 times and managed to eek out 10k I was going to try this afternoon but I just took the day off. Running only 8 miles for the week but I've really wanted to get out. I could use the excuse of the frigid...ok to my Canadian readers...slightly less than tropical weather of 15-20F with a 10F windchill have kept me indoors. So essentially I'm calling this a rest week and will get back to cranking out ridiculous miles and yards next week. Starting tomorrow. On the plus side I did hit the weight room and cranked out sets of Push ups, pull ups and over head presses to try to get my flappy forearms back in shape, with some TGUs added in for good measure.

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.

Bob-o Steps out of his comfort zone....

Well for those of you that have been reading for a while a few months back I said I was debating about entering the Armed Services. Well over the past few months I've done a lot of searching and reflecting and made a decision:

I'm applying for my Commission in the U.S. Navy.

There are a lot of reasons I'm doing it. Some are not necessarily right: (ie I need more money than being a bank teller.) Some that are right: (ie I want to help people and this will put in a better position to do so.) And some that are sort of in between: (ie I want to be the first commissioned officer in my family, this path will allow me to challenge myself and give me better opportunities for growth.)

Ideally I want to go for aviation which is a little longer commitment than most other duties, but if I'm going to put myself through the wringer I want to do something extra ordinary. The process is going to be long, parts will be difficult ( I'm pretty sure there are going to be days down the road where a Gunnery Sergeant will be calling me a worthless pile of amphiban shit that I'll want to quit.) but then again isn't anything that's worth it in life usually is. Whether or not it's the right call I'll won't know until I do it, but I can't sit here and dally on it forever, the die has been cast, it's time to move forward take a deep breath and stop talking and start walking. It's a challenge just like the Ironman, you set a plan and despite the pain and the anguish you focus on the goal, the finish line, the light at the end of the tunnel and you see it through. So I have begun the process, and hopefully in the journey I will find what I'm looking for.

R.D.

Welcome to Hell...

That could best describe my swim workout. Last night I flaked to get some quality time in with my sis, so tonight I was determined to make myself suffer. I slept through my alarm so no doubles. I drove out to the Plainville Y after dinner and just made myself determined to throw down big yards at a ludicrous speed...yes that's right Mel Brooks Fans Ludicrous Speed! Plainville has a smaller pool than Waterbury (4 lanes instead of 6) and I ended up having to split mine most of the night. For the last half of my warm up I was splitting with a 10 year old who was cranking out laps at a surprisingly good clip seriously the girl had talent. And at the end of the night I was in with a newbie tri guy. A few of the Plainville tri club who had seen me before knew who I was ( one of my first nights there I got asked if I was a pro. Seriously I maybe fast in the water but once I transition to that bike ....it also led to me being that M-dot guy....seriously I must be having self esteem issues because I normally never mention my Ironmans unless someone happens to notice my inside out finisher's towel. And this year I've probably spouted off about it 20 times. seriously I've just got to hide it.) Alright but enough of all that my grand total for the night was 5400 yards. Except for a little tightness in the shoulder I felt pretty good. My main set was 4x500 on 7:00 I was finishing most of them on 6:35. I seriously felt smooth and invincible in the water for the first time in a while. HEAT is having a 1000 yard time trial and I might seriously do it. I need some competition.

Likewise one of the local tri clubs is running a free half marathon for members of HEAT, Shoreline Sharks and Team Mossman, and local invited runners. Last year HEAT swept the top three and the winner threw down a 1:22. It's at the end of March so I'm hoping with a little more training that I can throw down a sub 1:30 split because I mean if I'm cranking out 1:34 as a split in a full marathon 1:29's gotta be cake. So I have some competition to drive me. The swim challenge, the 1000 TT, and the half mary and all are the grand total of free....and I thought I wasn't going to race this year.

Getting pumped.
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.