Team Rogue

  It's official. I start training with Team Rogue in the morning. 7 a.m. will be arriving a little too quickly though. I will be with them for the next 6 months until my Ironman. It is all coming together now and it is just a matter of rattling the cage to wake up the sleeping potential inside.

Excuses, Excuses

  Between cedar fever, birthday weekend and really cold weather I have managed to talk myself out of a few workouts already. I am getting all of my excuses out of the way in the first week. Yesterday I managed to do some yoga and today I will get on the trainer for as long as I can.
  I just registered for a couple of classes at UT for the spring semester. Although I will be busier because of it I will now have access to the wonderful workout facilities that the University of Texas has to offer. Included in this list of fun workouts that UT will help facilitate are, but not limited to, an awesome swim center, weight room, spin classes and yoga classes. If I plan my weekly schedule correctly I bet I can squeeze in workouts around my philosophy and rhetoric classes. We will see.
  Ironman UK is still looking good for my race and I should hopefully be registering for it at the end of this week or the next.

Oskar here is still getting in a lot of playtime in this cold weather. See here he is all tuckered out.

Keeps going and going

  Today was supposed to be a long run day but I have decided to move it to tomorrow for my birthday. I figured it will be a great way to welcome in another year on this planet. So today somehow ended up being a do nothing day. Hmmm this is not what I had planned at all.
  Speaking of my birthday I got a new pair of running shoes sent to me in the mail yesterday. I cannot wait to break them in. They are the Nike Free 7.0. I really enjoyed them last year so I have high expectations for them this year. My parents don't know this yet but they are buying me my first month of Team Rogue training starting next week. I can finally be with a running group again. It has been way too long. Yesterday's workout was a chest and back strength training workout that involved way to many pull ups, push ups and chin ups. I followed that up with an hour on the trainer watching the last of my James Bond movies.
 Off to work now and then a nice easy long run (7-10 miles) in the morning.

-R and R day

Sore Sore Sore. Three days in a row has caught up to me and everything is hurting, especially the hip flexors. Luckily for me today is a rest day. The timing couldn't have been better so this hangover I am experiencing  won't interfere with my training at all. 
  Yesterday was Day 3 and it was a highly productive swim day. I got in a little more than a mile in the water mixing it up with the pull buoy, zoomer fins and a kick board. I was tired from finger tips down to my toes. I got home from the pool and did the ab ripper video from P90X. It was a very difficult 16 minutes of abdominal torture. By the end of it I had a complete core muscle shut down. I couldn't even get up off the garage floor without some help.
  Yes today is a glorious rest day. Ironman UK is looking more and more like a reality every day, Cross your fingers.

Day 2

  Winter triathlon training for me involves a lot of time in the garage. Luckily for me I have a gargantuan television set up in there and some of that interlocking gym flooring to make my workout area a little more comfortable. The TV is great for doing the P90X videos and for watching a movie while on my trainer. Yesterday I did the shoulders and arms workout video followed by about 45 minutes on my trainer watching a James Bond movie. Action movies are great for working out to because you can just ratchet up the volume to overpower the sound the bicycle trainer makes.
  So I may still be doing the Vineman but like I wrote earlier there might be a change in plans. Ironman UK is also in July and I think an international destination Triathlon could be exactly what I need right about now. We will see if I can come up with the funds to cover the entry fee, plane ride and lodging. I think it would totally be worth it. Also I have a few friends racing the Eugene marathon in May that I might join. I really would like to race Big Sur on the same date but that thing is totally sold out. Details to come as soon as I can scrape together some money for all of this.
  Oh an Oskar is doing just fine these days. He makes it to my runs with me and all I need is one of those bike trailers to pull him along on some of my tougher bike rides. Can you imagine?

Day 1

  I am starting this thing off slow and smooth. I have the P90X videos that I am using for yoga/core/strength and I just recently cleaned up the garage to accommodate the home workouts and for when I get on the trainer. It is a little chilly in there but it should work out just fine. Today's workout was yoga for an hour and a half and a quick 4 mile run with good ole Oskar. Yoga is teaching me how inflexible I really am, I am constantly amazed at how limber the human body is capable of being.My body isn't so limber but it will be soon.  My run was very nice and Oskar and I pushed the pace slightly to make it feel like a workout. If all goes according to plan I will start with Team Rogue next week.
   I know I just made a big announcement about doing the Vineman in late July but that might change. Life has decided to throw me a curve ball so I am not beholden to a race in California at this point. I still like the idea of the Vineman so there is a good chance I will still do that but if I find a better race within that same time frame I might go for that one.
  Tomorrow is a bike and strength day. Woohoo!!!! 

It's all starting again!

  Okay new season with new goals is rapidly approaching. I am looking forward to the new challenge I have set for myself. Last year's goal was to compete in the Texas Tri Series 2010 which finished with a Half-Ironman race. That was last year. This year the plan is a FULL Ironman Distance Event! As of now the goal is The Vineman on July 31st in Sonoma, Ca. It is a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride with just a quick 26.2 mile jaunt to finish. I am ready to join the Ironman club this year. My friends Chris G. and Craig C. joined it last year with races in Phoenix and Cozumel respectively and now it is my turn.
  The plan is to train with Team Rogue all Spring for running, swim at UT and Barton Springs and ride with friends or solo until race day. My A Race and main goal is to compete in and finish the Vineman, as of now I have no specific time goals all I need to do is finish. I plan on racing some of the same races as I did last year including The Rookie and Couples Tri.
  My last race was a little over 2 months ago and I have done the absolute minimum amount of exercising since then. I still run at least 2-3 times a week, but I have only swam just once and I have logged only a few hours on the trainer watching James Bond movies. My official training season begins with the New Year but I am currently in pre-season getting my body and more importantly my mind ready for the ordeal ahead of me. I am looking forward to the rigidness that training for something like this will put on my life. I find it easy to slide down the slippery slope of booze, cookies and general sloth like behavior when not training.

And don't worry, Oskar is here and will be with me all throughout the season.