Paper writing weekend.....Planning for 09 already.

Well this is it game time,D-Day, Armageddon, the end of my junior year of college...hopefully only 2 more semester away from that piece of valuable paper. I was intially planning to swim or run, but have decided that I would devote my time to blogging before lifeguarding for an hour, then cranking out some Latin American Cultures goodness... ( the interesting paper also because we have to peer review it...so one of my classmates and I will be throughly researching each other's works. ..pretty much this looks good, this sounds awkward, what's the point, so that's why they call it the necktie...the BS do you think this paper will impress the good doctor. ) The Victorian England paper...well I'll be doing that tomorrow night, Saturday night and a good chunk of Sunday. I know what I want to say, I've got most of my sources, I just have to get it done Write first footnote later....If it sucks it sucks if it's good it's good, that's been my mantra all along and I'm not going to let..the pressure of this paper defines your academic career wreck my groove.

Saturday: I think Speedy Claire wanted to ride, I'm down for anything in the afternoon as my coporate masters have impressed my for another Saturday of servitude.

Sunday: It's Mothers day, and I haven't gotten anything ....shit.... well I find something nice somewhere.

Next week my Economic Stimulus check should be arriving in the mail...which means a couple of credit card payments go out and an entry fee to one race in the Southern Pacific will be going out.

I've already started the number crunching:
Race Entry: $500
Airfare on American Airlines/Quantas $2050.00 ( United/Air New Zealand is $200 more.)
Same Hotel as Last Year for two weeks $2100.00

I'm looking at about $5k..less if I rack up some more frequent flier miles (although I might just use those to up grade to business) if I do the two week thing, maybe I'll just stay for 10 days and save a little on the hotel, but I would like to actually be able to see a little bit more of New Zealand, Post Ironman this time around...also going home actually being able to move my legs without pain. and packing without a hangover from the awards party...always a plus. Also anyone interested in coming down with me we get a discounted rate if it's a double...did I mention cute Kiwi and Aussie chicks with well defined posterior chain..... Ladies ,Guys with ripped chests and cute accents.....and it's about 60 -70 degrees in early March......
Yes sadly this is the kind of thing that helps me get through those long hours at the office, realizing what I'm working for.....One day I will be in a profession where I earn more than $2ok a year and it will be glorious.... and I will be able to do this kind of thing with out having to crunch numbers and strategically plan and it will be glorious.

So that's all that's going on in the dangerous mind of Bob-o also be sure to read my last post. My speed session has my legs feeling tight but the times were worth it.

Well that's all for me.....now it's time to write about the Political interference of Liberation theologians with the Juntas in Guatemala and El Salvador....I mean Communists posing as Priests trying to destroy democracy.

R.D.

Mad Fast Son.......

Last night, when I should have been diligently stressing out and writing my papers, pulling my hair out and smashing my head against the desk, for misplacing commas in Chicago citing, trying to find one more primary source, etc..etc...I took my burned out ass to the track and got in 5 miles 4 of them speed work/ aerobic threshold work. Seriously, sometimes it's peaceful just heading out to the track at a god forsaken hour (9PM...). The first mile was a warmup a surprisingly quick 8:16. Followed by streching. Then the repeats 4x1600m :60R between each descending. The first one wasn't too bad an 8:08.21...coach always said use the first one as a burn one..I learned that the hard way in High school...too many times I would attack the first repeat and would be shot by the end of the work out....especially with thresholds in which you are trying to gradually build up to race pace. The game plan was to try to descend 5-10 sec. off of each one So the second was a little harder. 7:36.75 what the Hell? Did I go too hard again. I push a little harder to hopefully make it a 7:30 on the third repeat...7:20.34.The Fourth I was going to Sprint Full bore I should break 7 if I'm lucky..... 6:47.03. It was a good night, note to self do squats at least once a week.

Speed Racer's site is back up...apparently someone reported it as Spam....but it's back up and going now....

Sorry for the lack of pictures, I've been blogging from work and occasionally at school to procrastinate.... I mean clear my head....so I will have some more colorful posts in a week or so.

Well that's all at this early hour....back to the grind.
RD

Ironman New Zealand 09

That's right today entries open for the 25th running of Ironman, hopefully there will still be openings when my pay and stimulus checks hit the bank other wise I'll be looking to Lake Placid or Louisville...either that or I'm going to Brussleton for Western OZ, (as a graduation gift to myself) to be my possible Spring Boards to Kona. There are several reasons I'd really like to go back to New Zealand here are the following:

1. It is an escape from the dreary icebox that is New England in Feb.-March

2. The course is challenging but not too difficult. No Murder Hills, the road's a little rough but if you've done some of the races in the Northeast the bike course is cake...except for the wind. Granted.." it ain't windy until there are surfers on the lake" -Blair.

3. Lake Taupo is Cyrstal Clear. Also they start age groupers and pros together...good news for guys like me because we get a mental boost beating some of the favorites out of the water....bad news for pros whose strength lies in the bike and run.

4. The entire town gets into it. You don't run into those guys who are like " So why are you walking around in running gear and wrapped in a foil blanket?"

5. Some of the nicest and..well most interesting people you'll ever meet live down there.

6. It's one of those races that now that I've done an Ironman for the sake of doing one now I've got to go back and do one with the intent to qualify for Kona...and why not do one on a course I already know.

7. I like traveling through time and space, any one who has visited the Asian Pacific...understands this one.

8. I have to know if the water really flows in a different when I flush the toliet.

9. The Kiwis and Aussies seemed to be a little more laid back and down to earth than us over here in the States...just don't steal any glasses off of tables at the Pub or World War III will breakout.....also if you are a fan of the French National Rugby team...you might want to stay at home, or at least keep the jersey home.

10. It's the 25th Anniversary....think of the media hype and the swag that's going to be flying around at this gig.

All right now that I've tried to sell myself and some others in on the race, I've got to check on the entry satus and see if I should start counting my pennies, or buy books on how to become a faster climber or a year's worth of Salt tablets...It gets hily in Lake Placid and it is just a tad bit warm in Louisville in August.

Taps for " Who in their right mind?"

Sadly our favorite female sans wetsuit/ Distance Glutton for suffering's blog has bit the dust....(tear...sniff...) I haven't been this low since Sunoco Ditched their masters swimming program last summer...now I will have to network with Speedy the old fashioned way, either via email or her AIDS lifecycle page...sadly now this means we can't go back and visit old stories...like how Grandpa became TOAST! or her epic Bandited Boston Marathon, or the Lake Placid getaway...So passes a noble blog site.....( a trumpet slowly plays TAPS in the distance.) Speedy Claire...thanks for the memories.

All that aside Catherine in NZ has a boyfriend...no it's not me! ( Which probably works out for the best...I mean seriously my phone bill was sky high when I was dating a girl in Woodbrigde like 20 miles away.... I hate to see the bill after one call to NZ...) But I still have a friend out of the deal so it's all good ( wipes brow relieved he didn't send anything yet....or maybe I should have sent flowers that bloke would have made out big time....) In either case that's been life. This weekend is the last weekend I can crank my papers out. I'm so done with my Victorian England paper 12 weeks of torment leading up to this moment...may God have mercy on my soul...and GPA.

So in a recap...
SPEED RACER's Blog is no more ( starts to rend garments, pull out hair and sob uncontrolably.)
my silly crush......crushed
and my papers still need to get done.

Somehow with all this crap I managed to keep a friend and get in a 3300 yard pool workout...It hasn't been a total loss.

Come Back Speed Racer!
R.D.

Weekly long ride.

Well I'm still kicking myself from my long ride...for some odd reason I still have this primal fear of taking sharp curves on descents and it's pissing me off. Today I did the opening of the Griskus Olympic Route including that "drop off the face of the Earth" Right hander...again I slowed way up for it, and again I kicked myself as I descended down the rest of the hill at mach 1. The same thing happended at my "favorite" curve on Route 109 in Washington. I don't know why but I always feel like I'm going to overshoot the curve and end up on some guy's front lawn of in the path of a mack truck or something. I think I'm going to have to go to Spain and ride with either John and Mandy or Claire's "Soggy Homos" in order to learn how to descend like Lance. Anyway all my yellow bellying it on sharp curves aside, I know I need to invest in a 12-27 cassette for the Griskus Olympic, that and I need to start doing some shorter weekday rides..preferably on steep inclines....oh I can't wait until classes end. The first half of today's ride went well and except for some miscues at dangerous intersections ( ie me unclipping and struggling to clip back in.) and my pedal cleat popping out at one inopertune moment it was a good day. On the back half of my route I think I soft pedaled a little too much but after 48 miles in the saddle I think I can cut myself some lee way. I rode up to the lake which had been taken over by the prep school crew teams. I was also wiser on hydration bringing my aero drink and a third waterbottle with me. No dehydrating headaches this time..but that pit stop at the lake definiately added to my ride time. The second half was all down hill until Route 6. I now know why most cyclists refer to it as " Suicide 6" Varying inclines, nearly immpossible to pick the right gear, cars speeding by at 70mph ( 110km I think?) in essence a death wish. Then the climb back to the Griskus course in which I think I really soft pedaled it. Then the back 4 miles of the Griskus course including that damn smiley faced hill. I didn't attack it today, my legs were spent from out of the saddle work in Washington. I heard Eagleman is flat as a pancake with severe winds well I did about 55 miles ( roughly 90k) in 3:27 @ an average speed of 15.7 mph ( I'm thinking a little over 20km) with a headwind on my opening climbs. So I'm not sure if I'll be a dominant force on the bike but I think I'll be able to break 3 hrs. ...I want to add some more cycling just to improve a little more.

Well I've got some more of a paper to crankout....but before I go Bree Wee finshed 3rd for the pro chicks at St. Croix, Mandy's going to Kona and John was 13th for the pro men. Ken well, lets just say John's got a picture of him doing what most of us would do in St. Croix.

Well like I said back to the books....uses for leeches...yummy!

The pyschopath in a pink bike jersey that keeps swerving all over CT 47.
R.D.

12 miles......

Today the weather regally sucked. I was going to get my Lance Armstrong on and tackle the Hills of Wolcott, Terryville, Thomaston and Litchfield, but opted instead for a long run, so as to save the Bitch Stomper potential road damage.
As I ran my usual cross town loop, I decided to experiment with orange GU2O. It surprisingly wasn't bad although my mom commented that it looked like "rusty well water." My run was 12 miles of basically hill work. Claire once asked me on a training ride how I did it on the run. How can a guy whom my track coach stated " had no natural ability" ( let's face it my parents were 2 pack a day smokers before I was a twinkle in my father's eye. So yes I would huff and puff even on my training runs desperately trying to keep pace.)crank out sub 2 hour half marathons and a sub 4 hour marathon in the Ironman. We talked about hill repeats and no lie when I started I used to run up and down the steepest hill in my general area 10 times frightening the Hell out of my neighbors. As I became a distance whore I had to find a way to combine hills along with high volume training...I discovered one of the only good things about living in the rough rocky area that is New England, there are no shortages of hills. So my long runs have also become my hill work...and are actually, at least for me, a better simulation of climbing than hill repeats. Afterall anyone can tackle hills knowing they've got their car parked next to the track/ball field but to run 20 miles and know you've got a mountain between you and home and it makes the experience of knowing you've got a hill at mile 25 of the marathon more realistic...I could go on about this for eons but I'll save it for another post.

On my 12 miler today, thoughts of Ken Glah and his epic Ironman Marathons of the early 90's popped into my head. Now some crazy shit started going through my head as I was racing, at just how remarkable some of those races were. I mean guys like Glah, Scott Tinley, Paul Kiru, Scott Molina....these guys were running on coca-cola, gatorade and half a banana, also their sun glasses could serve as a wind shield for a compact car. The other thing that popped into my head was his nickname.." The Beast From the East" sadly in this sport not too many of us from the East Coast really go far..Glah, Karen Smyers, maybe a few others Jordan Rapp, Some of us defect to the better weather and training culture of the West Coast...but again back to Glah, when he started in the 80's he would do IM New Zealand and he would train for it in PA, which meant he was training in a New England/ Mid-Atlantic Winter, before fancy things such as computrainers and spintervals ( granted life got easier when he married an Aussie and his in-laws moved to NZ and he could spend two months on the island preparing.) But anyway, I started thinking, if he started similar to me, just a guy going out there and cranking this shit out, could I be following in famous footsteps? Alright maybe that's dellusional grandeur, I haven't run anything near a 2:40 marathon, my cycling.....well...it's improving...and my swim forget it, I've left half the field in the last zip code...and I'm usually in no man's land waiting to get caught by the faster cyclists, who should just be tearing out of T-1 as I approach the 2 mile mark.....hubris aside...that was what was running through my head as I set down the miles. Does a stressed out , heavily indebted, no talent bum like me stand a shot of going pro? I have often been told I'm a better triathlete than I was a one sport athlete...I was an ok swimmer, an ok runner, and competent cyclist. The thing was I had a knack at being consistent ( granted my bike really needs improvement). I guess at the end of the day...it doesn't matter...the sport for me holds sort of a freedom, that for a few hours I can escape the office, the classes, the being a good wage slave/ son/ studying machine. That for at least a few miles, the man I am and the man I want to be meet up. Alright this is getting way to stream of conciousness on me.

I got the run in 1:50 not too bad, granted I want to get my mileage back up...I want to have Ironman style base and speed for my "Hell Week" in the beginning of July...because if I'm not going to Kona, I want a slot at Clearwater and damn it if I am going to either I would really like some of the prize money from the Patriot, to offset my travel, or a nice set of areo wheels.

The next " Beast From the East" ?
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.