The week so far......

That's right it's been my vacation week /was supposed to be a hard core training week/paper-writng palooza. Mon. I handed in my 12 pages of "grade A American Bullshit" for my Modern mid-East course ( Saddam was almost as fucked up as the current government.) My cholera paper will ne the focus of my life this Friday, Saturday and sunday with ample training time being factored in around it. Tuesday I managed get in a 7-8 mile run in an hour and a lesisurely 2000 yard swim. Yesterday I spent most of the day working the CCSU tri club's bake sale and tracking down advisors. I managed to get in a noon time swim of about 3,000 hard fought yards, got my advising pin and raised $105 in cookie cash ( just enough to pay for some of the club's new equipment.) Today so far I have been a lazy bum. i took my sister to school at 7 and then retired to the confines of my nice warm bed until noon...( hey I was up until 3am on Mon. night making cookies give me a break.) Today marks my next to last day of vacation before I make my triumphant return to the rat race on Monday and continue the difficult balance of Work, training, school, and sleep until Winter break at the end of December. On the plus side this week has yielded a couple of good things. 1) I managed to get myself a box of gu and a nice fleece long sleeve jersey so I can actually ride out doors ...and not have to rely solely on the trainner for simulations. 2)My Antropology professor is not as demanding as my History prof. and our class meeting at Tony's pizza resturant stimulated both mind and gut.
3) My history professor is a fassinating character who lived the life of a semi-secret agent in the 80's conducting correspondence between the State department and the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) but the amount of work he assigns still sucks! So all in all it's been a good week not as productive as I would like but hey time to crash is equally important. Today hold for me another run/ maybe a ride or trainer session. push ups, situps and crunches, checking how much pay I have left before bills completely devour it, and oh yes class and flirting with my co -worker....I mean lifeguarding. So today may not be extremely fruitfull but it will be productive enough. Friday I'll run or ride with Masters and paper writng taking care of the evening. Saturday I'm hoping to get a long ride in maybe some pool time, we'll see. and sunday depends on the weather on whether or not I will do a ride run brick/ or a pool long run combo and as always working will be done on the paper.

My Red Sox fan family members ( cue dad and grandpa chiming in so how about dem Yankees)/friends/co-workers have been un-merciful to me this week ( I think I really need to go out and buy a Boston still sucks shirt.) but that's ok the Sox won a lot at the begining of last century too....I 'm just waiting until the next up coming Yankee dynasties of the 2020's afterall history has a habit of repeating itself...and also if all the fair weather fans defect to fenway, that means more leg room at the stadium for me. ...which hey, I'm not complaining..

R.D.

It's atumn in New England......which means I need to throw down for cold weather gear...

Yes that's right the cold weather along with soaking wet leaves and 8 pages of depressing Arab-Israeli and Iraqi Ntion building gone wrong nonsense has cut my plans of getting a long ride/run brick in. Yesterday I managed to eek out a 12 mile run in the pouring rain as Angry, and No wet suit girl engaged in epic battle in dresses. Also today Claire tackled the Marathon and it will be interesting to see her post tomorrow morning. Mr. Mortgage broker is supposedly coming up with the figures tomorrow and we should close on Tuesday...if not He's got a Louisville slugger with his kneecap's name on it becuase I'm broke as a joke and lending out the little I have to try to support the fam. So yesterday was me stress release zen run. tomorrow I'll finsh up my paper and lifeguard and start on my other downer paper, on Cholera and the social stigma this one little wait loss plan gone wrong creates. Now all my ranting aside I seriously need cold weather cycling gear. I went to get milk and eggs this morning and was shivering looking at my car's thermometer...it was 47 degrees at noon! So yes I need to get me a long sleeve quick Step Jersey and some Louis Garneau tights so I can ride when my papers aren't shackling me to my desk and the roads are not covered with rain slickened foilage. My Ironman traing and funding plans are not going according to plan at the moment but I am confident that my swim will be stellar as always and my run will bitch smack my time from the Country Music Marathon..It's just that damn bike that is the perverbal question mark. I've been tallying stats and and looking at run splits and bike splits and have determined that if I want to make Kona I NEED TO FLY! 10:39 was the slowest guy to make it from my age group last year...that means I need to at least top 5 to have a shot. Now I know I have a pure fire swim split and I should probably beat the elites out of the water...( Take that Cameron Brown) after that it's just survive the bike and run like Hell until I blow up and have to crawl or cross that finish line with my ticket to the big island punched. Maybe I'm just a little obsessed with this whole tri thing but seriously if I win this sucker outright I might just consider going pro. Now I doubt that I might be able to out ride or Run Cameron Brown, Luke Bell, or Macca if he shows up for an Early Season bitch stomping session, but beating the IM world champion out of the water would definately be an ego boost...and hey who knows weird shit happens when you least expect it.
R.D.

Also if you haven't do so or considered doing so please donate to the War on ALS, like I said even a dollar helps, and this disease is cruel.
DO IT FOR BLAZEMAN! DO IT FOR GEHRIG! DO IT FOR ALL THOSE SUFFERING NOW! and for anyone suffering from ALS or those that know someone suffering from ALS do not give up hope, because one day we will find a cure, and we will make this disease a thing of the past.
May God bless!
RD.

Rest Day Rants!

Yep that's right after 3 straight days of getting up at 6AM to workout I'm taking a rest day...kinda...sortof.... (stupid part time job.) Yesterday I managed to get in a 3000 yard swim and a glorious 8 mile run. ( an no Satan i was not attacked by any mummies, zombies or giant inscects despite the fact I ran past two cemeteries from the colonial era.) today I lazily slept in and showed up at work looking like i got hit by a ten ton truck. ( my co-workers kept gwaking "you look exhausted Rob.") Some of my Customers treat me like I'm a breathing ATM machine..giving me simple one word commands..." slip" "cash" "Change" "Large" "Balance" Grunt. Man, there ain't nothing like being ordered around like a dog to make you feel sub human....seriously It Sucks! I try to treat people with some dignity even the poor guy behind the counter at the convience store...because I've been there done that it just ticks me off how rude people can be. Alright that was my rant on on that. Next rant is on how Bush has it out for all Yonug men between 18 and 25 who don't have the cash for an ivy leauge school. Iraq is falling apart, Afghanistan is well....Afgahnistan....and now Bush is itching to attack Iran...seriously with our "volunteer Armies" bogged down in a Mess-o-potamia ( yes I stole from the Daily show... i love you steve Colbert) , and Bin Ladin hunting in Afgahnistan that means there is only one way to get a large enough army to take on the Irainians......that's right the DRAFT and no it's not the good kind of draft...it's not like the NFL Draft....or the fantasy leauge drafts...no It's the kind of draft where the Secertary of defense pulls a little clear pill with your birthday printed on it and if your number comes up you can kiss that scholarship to Yale good bye because you're going to terhan university ...the school of hard knocks. Unless of course Daddy or mommy is a senator,or CEO of major GOP fundraiser then you serve drinks in the greenzone or the Pentagon..well to cut myself short...our current situation is FUBAR and War with Iran would be the makings of Coup D' Etat...also to all our troops in Iraq and Afgahnistan..thank you for going over despite the fact our commander in chief is an idiot. (Enter Shameless plug for Ron Paul now. vote for common sense in 08 vote for Ron Paul!)
so Recap:
War on terror : Still a mess.
War on iran: Bad Idea
Draft: Very Bad Idea!
Bush= Moron!!!
Rude People Suck!
Finally Getting LD training in: Good.
Well that's my Rant...back to work.
R.D.

Finally getting back into shape.

Yeah that's right I'm starting to make dents in my IM NZ training plan. I went for a 45 mile ride on Sunday in a section of the State where the cars are worth more than my life...and I'm not lying on that. ex. Mercedes E class cost $51,000 USD Bob-o's life insurance policy $22,000 USD. Seriously if I get taken out by a Porsche my insurance will barley cover removing the dent made from the impact that sent me on my "final flight". But aside from having to dodge the odd sports car and speeding gas guzzler. The ride from Woodbury to Lake Waramaug was pretty scenic and enjoyable. Surprisingly though it consisted of up hills both ways....next time I should just bite the bullet and ride back the way I came....I had to dismount for one descent ( due to a sharp ass left hand turn onto CT 199 and the fact that like in Wolcott the fine people of Washington Depot...(not Washington CT you guys rock!)..like to drive like Andretti and take that sharp little left hander without signaling) so in order to avoid and untimley death and my surviors being sued by some big shot attorney for damages done to an E-class I decided to coward out and walk doen the remaining portion of the hill....this would turn into a two mile oddesey of me clip-clopping in bike shoes due to the fact that at the bottom of said hill is the begining of a two mile assent and if I tried to re-mount I would most likely fall side ways into the path of an oncoming E-class. After that it was pretty smooth sailing.. alot of climbs and a semi frightening descent back into Woodbury ( being as I am still getting used to the Bitch Stomper I was unclipped and occassionally stuck my leg out to strech and give my self added stability).
Now on Sunday we ran out of diesel and since Mr. Mortgage Broker still hasn't come through and I am paying down the balance on my card for helpping with Melissa's tutition..I can not afford to get fuel oil so I now have pressure to get up early and hit the Y..If I don't I will smell like ass and in business that's not good....so Yesterday I got in a 2000 yard swim, this morning I decided to run through the west side after dropping my sister off, I parked at Holy Cross and went on one of my old high school training routes. I have to tell you when I was running for the track team our Highland ave. loop seemed like the closing miles of the Kona Marathon...one last uphill after an eternity of work and I was lucky to finish it in 40 min. Today I did it in 30 min. not bad for almost 4 miles. Now I don't know why but whenever I run lately I have Ludacris's " Move Bitch" stuck in my head..lucklily I don't sing out loud especially when I'm running in the Dirty Water other wise I'd be making the 5 o'clock news for a different reason than I like... So after my run through da" West Side!" it was to the Y to shower and I managed to get out with enough time to spare to actually get coffee and breakfast...que Dunkin Donuts commercial ..now... well I've got to get back to work... the IT department is watching...
R.D.

Training day.....

Well ok this post is not about a movie with a courrpt Cop stelaing most of the drug money, but rather what the main extent of the last 12+ hours were like for me.
6:00am Alarm goes off...hit snooze...
6:30am Alarm goes off get up and throw work clothes in the dryer to "de wrinkle" them...hit snooze
6:45am get up pick up work clothes drive to the Dirty Water Y
7:00am-7:20am swim 1000 yds...cussing silently to myself that I should have bit the bullet and left a 6 like I had planned.
7:25-7:40 Shower, lavatory, dress and take off for work
8:10 Dunkin Donuts run Yay!
8:20 get to work.
11:30 Power outage cause 10 minutes of havoc
11:41 start taking care of customers when power is restored...
11:42 power goes back out for a minute
11:45 Power comes back on
11:48 finally resign onto computer
12:15PM take care of my last customer of the day after stating open 15 min. late to comphensate for power failures.
12:30Pm Blow the pop stand that is Webster.
12:35 Get Angry's voice mail that he will be unable to run this afternoon go home and work on plan B rails to trails ride. Take the siblings ( Chrissy and Michael)
12:45-1:45 do bicycle surgery on Chrissy's bike, fit mike's ride in the back of the car, set up bike rack drive out to Cheshire.
2:00Pm arrive at Cheshire rails to trails inflat everyone's tires and ride.
Now since it's fall and last night there was a torrential rain storm the path was lined with soaked leaves making the entire path a skating rink. To make matters worse as I repassed Chrissy and mike Chrissy's bike had gotten a flat and I didn't have a spare tube. I went and finshed my 20 miler as Chrissy walked and mike sort of rode at a slow pace. Meanwhile I tore up as much of the trail I could. Everything was fine until about 5 miles from the end. As I was riding down one of the more slick sections I approached a kid who was weaving back and forht on his mountain bike I shouted " Heads Up" and the kid turned left directly into my path. I turn to the left as he was trying to also go left for the grass, needless to say front wheels touched and we went sliding off road. I managed to unclip and stay up right as the poor kid fell over. After checking to make sure we were both alright I took off again and sped through the last 5 miles of the ride ( Viva Enrico!) . average speed was about 14 mph a little slow but considering the slick conditions and the NDE ( near death expereince) it wasn't bad.
4:30PM Went to dinner with the sibblings, then drove home.
5:30 unloaded bikes, went to room and changed into the most reflective run gear I own.
6:00-7:05 I ran a new route through Wolcott, I tried to stick to Route 69 and the newer developments on the side roads, you know the kinds that have street lamps. Well needless to say theses new developments are also some of the hilliest neighborhoods in town, so needless to say I got a nice 7-8 mile hill workout. I know it's usually a dangerous and possibly deadly propostion to run in Wolcott after dark ( not because of gangs of Ghetto Wantabes but the fact there are not many street lights and everyone ( myself included) seems to think 40 is the minimum speed in town.) but i want the experience of running in full gear ( ie fuel belt, hat, long sleeves) in the dark just in case something goes horribly wrong in IM NZ ( I bonk, crash on the bike and have a slower than expected ride, blow up on the run, take crap out to fast, do an extra loop of the run...etc) and I end up coming in inthe 14, 15, 16 hours or racing to just beat the 17 hour deadline mode. Also as winter approaches I am coming to the realization that 95% of my run training is going to happen either before 7am or after 5pm which means I'm going to be running in the dark, so I had better get used to it. Afterall if I'm going to be one of the top age groupers out of the water I would like to have a run split to match...

Ok enough of my training tales and not-so-secret ambitions to do well I am wondering if it would be too presumptious of me to write to my local paper and tell them I doing this thing. Now Normally I'd like to be quiet and low key, but another part of me is screaming, Human interest story! $ponsor$hip! Benifit$! so I am taking a poll should I write to the Dirty Water's rag of a newspaper and tell them of my New Zealand Plans or leave it all to the inner circle who knows I psycho enough to do this thing, my fellow athletes and bloggers, Please post a reply.

R.D.

My Classes are inteferring with my IM NZ training schedule.

Yes that's right my glorious week off from the rat-race that is Webster will instead be ruled by the rat race that is Central Connecticut State University. My History Professor revealed that he wants us to write an 8 page take home mid-term on the current Israeli- Palestinian situation ( I can wrap that up in one sentence...Mr. Ouimet tear down this wall...) and the Situation in Iraq ( again another one liner..." Poorly planned Money pit/Vendetta gone wrong.") Also in that same week I have an 8 page Anthropology paper due on the effects of cholera on society as viewed by the Victorians ( up tight as all hell but drinking from the polluted, shit filled, and bacteria ridden Thames...Man I love the 19th Century Brits. ) So my time will be split between the library, pool, bike paths/back roads of CT and late nights on my laptop.

Training Plan Far.
Mon. swam 2000 yards straight in under 30 min. ( 28:30 to be exact..go my auqa stud self.)
Tue. Swam 3000 yards
Today Ran 4.5 miles this morning my usual hill climb and fly by of the high school. Tonight I'll lift and maybe some trainner time as I crank up the i-pod and look through books explaining how a bug one millionth our size can cause us to ..ummm..err... well..dehydrate us from both ends , or how the Paelstinans were booted from their land and the "tricky" political situation it has caused in either case my reading material is sort of a downer.

Tomorrow: try to wake up early and get 3000 glorious yards in at the Dirty Water Y. Maybe another 4-6 miler in.

Fri: Run 6-10 miles in the morning Work then get in 3000 yards at masters.

Sat. Long Ride ( hopefully other wise I'll be loafing a brick on the Cheshire trail...Angry you down...)
Sun: Again another ride possible swim but definately getting the bike out for at least 2 hours.

so that's my training for this week next week I have to play by ear. Workouts are always subject to Work Schedule, classes, classwork and fatigue. I will be Ironman ready some day.
Well like I said Lifting to do....gotta get jack so I can intimidate guys as I squeeze my bulging biceps into my wetsuit.
R.D.

All Hail the King of Kona!!!

Yes I know this post is 3 days late, ( just wanted to make sure Macca cleared doping, that and I have two 8 page papers due about bacteria and political leaders with names that are both hard to spell and pronounce.) But yes, the man I most fashion my racing style after has finally come through and become Lord of the Lava Fields, Empitome of Endurance, The Arrogant Chap with the world's best aerobic threshold...Chris Mc Cormack You are the Ironman World Champion and you'd had a hell of a race to do it. On the Women's side Chrissie Wellington Won in a blow out. Her nearest competition was Sam Mc Glone and she was six minutes back getting off the bike and that's where she stayed, Kate Major had been second but faded to third nine minutes behind the unstoppable Wellington. The sad thing is Ironman .com stayed gluded to the Women's race or lack thereof...as Macca, Crowie ( Craig Alexander) Trbjorn Sinbale, Chris Lieto and Tim De Boom waged a 5 man Ironwar. Granted when I saw Sinbale only had a 7 min. lead off the bike I knew it was all over for him....let's face Macca proved he could chase down Normann Stadler ( who dropped out via stomach virus...somewhere in the backround I can hear Peter Reid shouting "suck it up, I puked all over myself in 03 and still won." Or De Boom shouting " Whimp!" * Tim DeBoom dropped out of the 2003 Ironman due to passing a kidney Stone at mile 14 on the marathon. Granted I can't Blame Normann for dropping out this year..after all there is a difference between puking like a cholera patient and having a temper tantrum over a "Flat f&*king tire!") The guy that impressed me was the USA's Chris Lieto
For the second year in a row he was the 2nd guy off the bike. Then he took it out hard on the run. He passed then Leader Sinbale and led until about the half marathon point, when Macca and Crowie sort of said "thanks for the lift mate we'll take it from here." Lieto was repassed by Sinbale, Tim De Boom and some other dude. I will say this 6th in Hawaii is damn good! Now if the guy just puts more into his run focus we might just have another American capable of winning in Kona.
So in a quick Kona Recap:

Lava= Hot

Queen K = Hot and Windy

Macca = The MAN!

Wellington= The Woman ( or possible EPO we'll see when the doping report comes out. sorry I'm a little untrusting of big breakthrough wins after the Nina Kraft, Floyd Landis, Vinokorov scandals)

Tim De Boom = still has it.

Stomach Viruses Suck! ( especially for Brown, Stadler, Jones, Al-Sultan)

Normann Stadler= Win or DNF

Bike Crash = No win and No smile for Natascha

Chris Lieto= Next American Champion?

and Max from HEAT finished in 9:55 no age group bling but still a kick ass time. Way to go Max!

So any Kona perdictions for Next Year?

R.D.