84 Days Out

Well, what more needs to be said at 84 days out from Ironman Texas when you have a shoe mound like this?  Here are a few things:

The Seattle Weather has officially started to bother me.  In the past, this time of year never got to me because the rain meant lots of snow in the mountains.  Now that I'm trying to get out on my bike, rain and cold cloudy skies is the last thing I want.  Most of my bike rides lately have been 75-90 min stationary rides on my trainer in my living room.  This is about all I can stand before my shoes are just over flowing with sweat.  Yes, gross indeed. 

I know that I need to just suck it up and get out there on the road but I've yet to be able to do it.  Now that I'm less than 3 months out, mentally I think I'm closer than ever to actually doing it :-)  Luckily the weather yesterday was pretty nice so I took the opportunity to change this pay periods off day to Thursday.  I went and rode the furthest I've ever gone to date (70 miles) and then followed it up with a 3.3 mile brick run down the Burke Gilman Trail.  I was pretty pleased with my bike ride.  I focused on keeping my avg cadence around 90.  I still need to work on this.  My hill climbing also still needs work.  Hopefully over the next 60 days I can get my bike dialed in more.  My current plans are to head to Eastern WA for some long Brick Rides the 1st & 4th weekends of March.  Not only will I be able to find dryer weather but there are roads with longer stretches w/out traffic lights and other things that slow you down.  Stay Tuned.

Besides the biking, I think that my running and swimming are coming along pretty well.  Here are a few pics from a recent Masters Swim Meet I swam in.






















I've also been volunteering and competing in the TriFreak Rainman Indoor Triathlon Series.  This weekend in Tacoma is the 3rd of the 4 indoor triathlons.  So far my times have improved but not so sure about this weekends race.  The run will be a hilly 1.1 mile loop in downtown Tacoma.  I guess I should just embrace my inner hill and go for it.








Finally, a few weeks back I was notified by the people at the Ragnar Relay Series that I was selected to be a Ragnar Ambassador.  Basically this means that I get to spread the good word about participating in this great running event.  I am very excited about this.  If you want to know more about it feel free to ask me about it.  If you don't like to run but want too,.....do this race.  I guarantee you'll find a way to love running after a relay race.

This last picture is of me in a T-shirt that I designed at Zazzle.com for my TEAM IRONJOE supporters.  I figured that no one else would take the initiative so I'd do it.  Well every one's a critic!!!!  I've gotten some feedback that people hate it.  All I can say to that is....make your own then.  I think it's funny and I like it.  If you don't like it that's cool you don't have to wear or buy it.  I would still appreciate you cheering me on though :-)

With that said, I must go do some training.  Either that or I'm just going to go to Yogurtland and call it a night.  We'll see.

Seattle 12 Miler

Great 12 mile run this morning around Seattle.  I changed my Lake Union Loop Run up a lot to add not only miles but big hills as well.  Ran up around Capital Hill via Interlaken.  That hill is way larger going East than West.  From Interlaken I headed South along some street....(see link in the 1st sentence above) towards Cherry.  At Cherry I went West up yet another hill before topping out right above I-5.  The road down past I-5 into Downtown is basically a cliff....well ok it's not a cliff but pretty darn close.  If my knees had a fist they would have punched me in my face.  Once downtown I headed back North of 1st, but quickly turning onto Post Alley to run up into Pike Place Market.  After Pike Place Market I ran through the edge of Belltown towards the Space Needle then turning on Denny and the Westlake to bring me back to the Lake Union Loop to take me my final 3.5 miles back to my apartment. 

It was a nice change and I got to see parts of the city that I have not seen before.  The downtown portions of the run were really slow due to traffic lights...plus I stopped to take a few pics of the downtown scenery along the way for this post.  Enjoy and by the way....HAPPY NEW YEAR!



Look who's still camping out...oops I mean "Occupying Seattle" near city hall. 

Ran up through Post Alley to Pike Place Market past the infamous Seattle Gum Wall.

Pike Place Market.



Original Starbucks in Pike Place Market

View of Downtown from the edge of Pike Place Market.

View of the Puget Sound from Pike Place Market

Looking down towards the stadiums from Pike Place Market

SPACE NEEDLE!....oh and that's also the "Gray's Anatomy" hospital as well.

Space Needle close up

Visions of Ironman Finishes in my Head!



2010 12K's of Christmas Run



2011 Ironman 70.3 Austin (Half-Ironman)

With just 146 more training days left before my Ironman, I find myself looking at the picture to the right (or below if viewing from your phone) dreaming what it will be like to cross that finish line in The Woodlands, TX .....  I gives me goose bumps and I'm finding that thought enough motivation at the moment to keep me working out.  As I head into this holiday weekend I am hoping I can keep it up and not go to overboard on all the food and the other 'what have you's'! 

I think I have a nice little weekend planned too.  On Christmas Eve, tomorrow...my current plans are to head over to one of my favorite tri-shops in the area to do a 2 hour bike ride on one of their indoor trainers followed up with a run of some distance(?).  I'm hoping that being out and not in my living room that it will make it more enjoyable.
On Sunday, Christmas Day, my plan is to first wake up at the butt-crack of dawn and facetime parents & my Brother's to watch the Nieces & Nephews open up their gifts.  This worked great last year but that was when I was calling my parents phone.....THEY PICK UP WHEN I CALL!!!!!!!  Ok so that was a huge hint to my brothers.  Post APPLE-Christmas, the plan is to head on up the volcano to do a little snowboarding with a few friends before heading to dinner with them.  Should be a nice cozy weekend with lots and lots of exercise :-) 
Monday I have off work so I'll probably try and do another long workout as well.  If the weather is nice perhaps I'll take my bike off the trainer and ride it on the road.  Here's to hoping.
Merry Christmas Everyone !

Tonight's Workout - 12 Days of Christmas Swim

Tonight's workout was the Competitor.com swim called 12 Days Of Christmas. It's basically a ladder workout like the song 12 Days of Christmas and each day is 3 lengths of the pool (75 yards in my case). This was a fantastic swim for me. I focused on my body position and general swim technique and the hypoxic sets are really great for me as well. I'm probably going to try and do this workout often. Tonight I just did Days 1-9 as the ladder and I also did just the 75 yards for Day 10. If I have more time next week I will do all 12 days. The workout can be found at the following link:

http://triathlon.competitor.com/2011/12/training/12-days-of-christmas-swim-workout_44831

Tomorrow's my day off so my workout (assuming I don't wuss out) will be 2 hours on my bike trainer in my living room, followed by hydration and then hopefully my first hot yoga session. Post-workout should be great too. I'm supposed to meet up with my friend Jason to go watch him get his Right of Passage Ironman Tattoo.

In case you did not know, part of the Ironman tradition for a lot of people is to get a tattoo celebrating their accomplishment. I will likely not be participating in this tradition....all though if I did, I've already got a design in mind :-)

HOWDY! 161 & Not Counting!

HOWDY Y'all!
Just trying to get back my Texas Drawl now that I'm down to 161 days until my first Ironman attempt in Houston Texas on May 19th. That does not seem like very much time right now. Why am I writing this? I should be off training. I'll update this new page from time to time so keep checking back on my progress and the general what's happening in my life posts.

FYI, if you would like to come down to Houston and cheer me on in May, come on Down. All the more the better. I would love a huge cheering section. I'm gonna need it come miles 1-26.2 on the Marathon I'm sure.