Take that mapquest! Eagleman Status update.

Well in my efforts to avoid a route that would put me on the West Side of Manhattan and cause me to sell my first born for toll money. I have finally mapped out a route that will get me around NYC and probably still cost me an arm and a leg in tolls but at least I won't have to worry about mid-morning traffic on the West Side. To answer Angry " why not just reverse your route?" I did and that 's how I ended up on the West Side Highway on a completely different route from the one I had taken down there. So I decided to let the wheels turn a little bit and mapped my way to Tarrytown, NY and the Tappan Zee and then the Tappan Zee to CT. ( Sadly Fordham closed the All Girls' University Marymount @ Tarrytown Last year...darn...no desperate college girls for Bob-O.) there are still Tolls involved but I'm assuming the NY State Thruway is a little more reasonable than the Holland Tunnel. So that's that.



Upon looking at the stack of emails I recieved last night one of them was from xterra Wetsuits and the race organizers stating they are paying Swim Primes to the best Male and Female pros and Male and Female age groupers, and also doing a contest if you can guess the swim split. Now $250 ain't much but I'll take it. I now know what I must gun for, First wave pros prepare to meet the wrath of Bob-O. Let's see I did the Ironman swim in 55 so that's roughly 22:30 for a half split so subtract the fatigue factor a 21:45 -22:15 looks possible. If I break the 22 barrier I think I might be able to get that prime . Worst case I'm entering the free raffle: Brain Rhodes with a swim time of 21:05.

My parents said they'll toss me some cash. Granted I hate having to borrow money, when that stimulus check comes in it is definitely going to be a big help. Having to borrow from friends and relatives always makes me feel terrible, selfish, "un-manly". I'm 23 I'm still in college but still it's the principle I feel like bum. I should be able to take care of myself, granted I have helpped out at the homestead in the past month. In either case I should have enough to get my butt down there and back. If I qualify for Kona, there might be some desperate phone calls being made, various non-essential organs will be dealt over the black market, first born children will be sold off...in essence I'll do what ever it takes to get there. I might be making some calls to one of my friends going to the U of Hawaii at Hilo asking for a place to Crash, and a ride to Kona...but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Right now it's all about getting to Maryland and back and hauling major ass in 90 degree weather. Rold Gold Pretzels and GU2O are good sources of salt, other wise I will be raiding Wendy's for Salt packets. Low tech...yes but it's cheap and it works. I have gotten surprisingly good at racing in adverse weather, granted Hot and Humid sucks. I'll never forget my first marathon and the horror show that ensued the last 13 miles when the sun broke, hopefully I'll be able to take what I learned from that experience and put it to good use.

Last night I managed to get in a 3300 yard pool fest. I'm averaging about 1:18 per 100 yds. which isn't bad considering my last two weeks of training have kind of sucked due to my home situation. I'm still staying at Grandpa's until the basement fully dries out which could take a while then there is the clean up and de- molding and de-mildewing my room and furniture. He likes the company and I like being able to wake up in a dry enviroment so it washes out...no pun intended. I'm really think of holding a garage sale because I've got a lot of stuff I don't really use or need. Some of it is novelty items like mugs, prom favors, matchbox cars I have sitting in some bin in a remote corner of the basement that I haven't touched since 8th grade. I might take some of my baseball cards in but I doubt most of them are worth anything. ( Although I do have Ken Griffey Jr's Rookie Card.) Regardless if this whole month from Hell has taught me anything it is I need to reduce the clutter in my life, physical as well as emotional.
R.D.

I just felt like run-ning...

Alright for the last two weeks everyone has heard me bitch and moan about my freaking History paper....(boo-hoo boo de f**kin hoo- I have to spend all Saturday in the libray....) well this week since I've handed in a sheet of about 90 percent of my sources and will be starting my first draft, I decided to award myself and get my self out of my fat and lazy funk I started doubles again and today did my first double since I graced the streets of Taupo. First on tap for tonight was a 7-8 mile run ( I going to guess 7.75 miles, aprox. 12.4 k). Well let's just say I left work in a callous " I don't give a flying f**k. I'm running." attitude. I came home threw on my running crap , said I'll be back to my sister who was just walking in the door from RI expecting a hug or something. I just sort of blew by her leaving her with this dazed look on her face...as I began my usual hell-ish circut of Wolcott. Everything went well for the first mile, until I had to cross Wolcott Rd. Then this teenage dousche bag shouted out the window " F**k you moron!" after I had crossed in front of him. Now if I had darted and he only was say 10 feet away, fine, that's justifiable, but moron in his mama's PT crusier was half way up the road...this was not helping my already pleasant disposition. I so wanted to flip him off....but sadly I think blunt skull had the weight advantage over me. Any way after I got off the main road and out of the way of any drag racing teen scum, things kind of calmed down. I went through my usual flat section, grinded out the up hills, let my mind wander a bit, first was to the fact that I might need new trainers, to my whole relationship or lack thereof situation, to my past failures and how immature high school girls really could be, to man I never really respected my track coach in high school, but he sure makes alot of sense now, to the fact of damn it I just want to do well at eagleman. I didn't pay attention to my watch, just the road. I ground up Beach Road, some teenie bopper, then some soccer mom honked because apparently half way into some one's lawn just isn't far enough to the shoulder...damn I hate New England drivers....I eventually got back home total time 1:06:08.

I went down to my room swapped a load of laundry, switched my away message, and grabbed my swim crap. Went to the Waterbury Y and got in about 3500 yards, a little shorter than I wanted but my shins were feeling the pressure from the run plus the flip turns. the main set was one from the only HEAT swim I made this season 10x200 on 3:00 work the odds to max speed, evens steady pace. My fastest was on 2:30 but I haven't been in the water since Monday, also my high carb/low exercise life style was taking its toll. I could barely see my ribs when I took my shirt off....it's definitely time to get back into shape....next week Chrissy's off so I have workout time open in the AM before work. whether I'll utilize it remains to be seen. I also need to start lifting and doing more core..I keep saying it but I just don't follow through, but I think it will help, if nothing else maybe I'll actually get cut an not be afraid to take my shirt off when I mow my lawn, or am walking around post race this summer.
So that was today...also check out Speed Racer's page as she christened her new Specialized piece of speedass the link to the bike pjorn is here. I am so proud..tear..sniff..Claire you picked a winner! Now you just need to write Team Quick Step and/ or Lotto and you might have a tour slot....

Well that was today....
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.