Happy Halloween!

Well, another workout missed due to a late Friday night, this time it was a Halloween party that caused the late night (yes, that's me as a beer can and Katie as Daisy Duke). I was in no shape to make it to the spinnerval and run workout on Saturday morning, so instead I layed on the couch most of the day and watched college football... although looking back I would rather have gone and suffered through the workout than sit and suffer through watching the Aggies get killed by Iowa State. I did make it to the park with some friends to throw around the football, so that counts for something, right? On Sunday Katie, Leslie, and I went for a ride around Paradise Loop.... a beautiful ride that takes you across the Golden Gate Bridge, down through Sausalito and Mill Valley, through Tiburon and back. It's only about a 40 mile ride from my house, but my legs were definitely feeling it coming back up the hills through Sausalito, a sure sign that I need to hit the gym a little harder to get my leg endurance back.

Training All Over the Bay Area!

This past weekend was a good example of how our trainings will be all over the Bay Area. On Saturday we had "spinnerval training" and a small ride through the Presidio to practice climbing.... this was in the parking lot of the Sports Basement in the Presidio, about 5 minutes from my house. We were also supposed to get in a 20 minute run at the end of the workout, but Katie and I ended up skipping that due to the after effects of a few spontaneous beers at the Bus Stop on Friday night. On Sunday our workout was at a high school out in Moraga, a small East Bay town about 45 minutes from my house. There we did some core training and a pool workout consisting of water running and drills. We also were individually filmed swimming by Coach Wayne's wife and Coach Wayne then reviewed the tape with us to give us tips on what drills we needed to work on in order to improve our strokes. You can see my video here. I was told my body and head position were good, while my kick was a little wide, my body roll a little flat (basically I am only rolling my upper body, not my lower body), and there is some slight cross over in my hand entry, so I need to make my entry a little wider... in other words, I have plenty to work on over the next 9 months!

Note: For those of you who don't know what spinnerval training is, just think of a spin class, except that you are spinning on your bike placed on a trainer instead of a stationary bike. As for "water running", this consists of simulated running in the deep end of a pool aided by a floatation device (we use a water running belt) that maintains the head above water. It is basically a low impact form of cross training.

Back to the Motherland

I missed this past weekend's team workouts because I was back in Texas to surprise my mom for her birthday. It was great to spend the short weekend with my mom, dad, and brother, and there wasn't even a thought of working out while I was there. Usually I lie to myself and think that I will try and workout anytime I go back to Texas, but this time I didn't even bother packing any excercise clothes because I knew I wouldn't have much time, as I wasn't even in town for 48 hours. During the week I was just as undisciplined, not training at all, but I did make it to the gym twice that week, which is a step in the right direction. The goal is to make it to the gym 4 times a week in addition to the rest of the training, so that will probably mean early morning workouts at the gym and evening workouts running, biking or swimming. I absolutly am not a morning person, but as long as I get in a routine, I should be alright... at least I hope.

The Dreaded Track

Monday was my favorite day of the week, the "rest day", and Tuesday was an "on your own" swim workout, although it became another "rest day" for me as I never made it to the pool. So tonight's workout was not only the first Team workout of the season, it was also my first workout of the season (I figure I will ease into the "6 days-a-week training" regiment as opposed to jumping right in). It was at Kezar stadium, which was home to the 49ers for about 25 years before they moved to Candlestick... well, at least the original pre-1989 earthquake stadium was, as it has since been rebuilt. Anyways, a workout at Kezar can mean only one thing, a track workout. Now, some people love track workouts, but for me, there aren't many things more boring than running around a track. I hate running in the first place (I think it might have something to do with the fact that I'm not that fast, some people would even say slow), but running around a quarter mile oval over and over just makes it even worse. In the coming months I will hopefully learn to like it because we will have most of our Wednesday workouts at Kezar. The good thing about Kezar workouts is that the night usually ends up at Kezar Pub, an Irish bar across the street, for some post workout rehydration, typically in the form of a Guiness. Tonight was one of those nights and it was nice to wind down and catch up with a few people on the team I already knew but haven't seen in a while.

Oh yeah, the workout.... we had to do a 15 minute warm up followed by what's called a "30 minute marker set"- a timed effort used to record our progress later in the season as well as to determine which group we will train with. Now, the workout schedule says runners running less than 13 laps will be in group one, running 14-18 laps will be in group 2, and running more than 18 will be in group 3. Of course I run 13 laps, right on the border of groups 1 and 2; so now I have a dilemma, do I go with group 1 and be the fastest of the slowest, or do I go with group 2 and be the slowest of the intermediate group? Of course I know what I want to do, but since running is the sport where I need to improve the most, I decide to put myself in with group 2 and will be the slowest of the intermediate group. I look forward to doing this again in a few months to see what kind of progress I am making.

Kick Off - The Journey Begins

Well, it's finally here... we started our IronTeam 2006 season today out at Clif Bar's headquarters in Berkeley with our Kick Off meeting. I met a lot of the people (there are about 80 of us on the Team) I will be training with and it looks like a very fun group.... very important since I will be spending a lot of time with them over the next 10 months. At the end of the meeting they showed the video from last year's Team... it was very cool to see the happiness in everyone's face crossing the finish line. To think that could be me in 287 days made me a little nervous, but mostly excited.

Pre-Kick Off Thoughts - What Am I Doing and Why?

I just wanted to share what I hope to be writing in this blog.... For those of you who don't know, I have signed up for IronMan USA in Lake Placid on July 23, 2006. During the next 10 months, I will be training with a group called Team In Training, or TNT, an organization that helps people prepare for endurance events (they have other teams like running, cycling, etc) in return for fundraising for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I have been a part of 4 different TNT teams over the past two years and it has always been a great experience for me. I have met a lot of great people and raised several thousand dollars along the way. I finally decided to take both the training and the fundraising to the next level, and thus signed up for IronTeam 2006. I will be training 5-6 days a week for the next 10 months as well as fundraising $9000 to help the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society achieve its mission: to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families.

Well, that's what I'm doing. After explaining this to people, the first question is typically, "Why? Why would you want to do an IronMan? Why would you want to raise $9000?" I wish I had some great philosophical answer, but the answer is really simple, "Because I can." During my first TNT experience, I started out with zero connections to the Cause; in other words, I personally didn't know anybody who had a blood related cancer nor did I know anyone who had a friend or family member with this type of cancer. The closest connection I had was after reading Lance Armstrong's book. The motivation for me to join TNT that first season two years ago was actually pretty selfish: to get myself in shape and meet new people. Since then, I have met many great people through TNT who have been affected by these blood related cancers; from friends and family members of people who have lost their lives to cancers, to survivors, to those who are still in the painful process of fighting the disease, each of their stories have motivated me to take on this next challenge.

So, during the next few months I hope to record my thoughts about training, fundraising, and anything else that I think might be interesting to go back and reflect on once this is all over.