Time for a change

I'm going to do a half Iron Man.

New Orleans. April 5, 2009. Heads up big easy. A bow legged, pale, slow, short guy who loves Abita is headed your way. Yeah, like that'll shock you. Look for near the back, ok.

To recap. Half marathons in December, January, and February. Did a 10k in there as well. In February of 2007 I plodded through New Olreans and finished a marathon. I've got two 62 mile (metric centuries) rides under my spandex, and I did three tris last year. One mini sprint, a .5/24.5/6.2, and a .5/20/4. I've already done the distances for each discipline in the half Iron Man. Now it's all about getting this tri thing down and putting them together effeciently. Oh, and I'm going to have fun doing it. I'll even enjoy the really shitty days when I feel like I want to break down and go eat half of the local Taco Bell inventory. The good days are only made sweeter by going through bad ones. So I'm going to grin and grind it out.

Let's see, though. Vital and not so vital info to begin this little quest:

1. Getting married on November 15th. (pssst... that's vital, really impotant, and I can't wait)
2. Weight is 163. Down from a 175 "racing" weight last year.
3. I still hate running. I just don't really, really, really hate it anymore.
4. My knee has healed perfectly. It's all in my head, It's all in my head, It's all in my head. (Run faster you jackass!)
5. I'm just posting some stuff to announce to all my readers (pretty much just myself) that I'm changing directions with this blog. Afterall, I'm the one that needs convincing that I can do this.
6. This is really just my personal journal of stuff I'll be going through. I keep a log at beginnertriathlete.com (thank you, thank you, thank you for that site), but this site here is strictly for me to bitch, moan, feel elated, have good days, have bad days, and share with anyone who isn't a member of BT. You probably won't get my daily training logs, but you can keep up with my sanity.

Dear self,

It's not like this is a full Iron Man. Lighten up.



Reply to self,

It feels like it to me, and who knows, maybe one day.

Running season coming to an end!

I have one last half marathon down in Pensacola this weekend, and then it's time to prep for the tri season. Actually, I've been doing that for a month and a half. After the MS Blues Half Marathon, the farthest I've run continuously has been a 10k. While I did set a PR, I don't think only doing a 10k is quality half mary training. Oh, well. The course is flat and I just want to get it over with. So, I biked almost 500 miles on my trainer in Janurary, and I'm already over seven miles in the pool for February. It's not like I won't have the endurance for a half mary, I just wont have the legs. Well, maybe the rest will have revitalized the legs and I'll burn it up.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight

It should be fun either way. At least it's a trip to the beach.

In cycling news, the Amgen Tour of Claifornia is getting started this weekend, too. It'll be nice to have some road racing back on the tube, especially since football seaon is now a thing of the past.

Been too long since the last post, and I can't blame it on anything other than laziness. Mid-March marks the beginning of my training plan for the Heatwave triathlon in Ridgeland, MS. I may use this blog as an update on how it's going. Who knows.

And in beer news. Terrapin has opened up it's new brewery and it is tourable. Gotta get there sometime and check it out. If not for the Rye Pale alone.

The finish line in Memphis

Perfect day for running, and I somehow found a way to finish with a pack of ladies (always do).

St. Jude Half-Marathon

Race report link: http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=97660

Comments on the run:

A bit hillier than I remember Memphis being. Any steep hills were really
just some short risers, so they didn't last that long. The entire course was
rolling, for the most part. Long steady inclines followed by a long steady
decline. I had trained in my neighborhood, which may be the flattest place
on earth, so it was a challenging for me, but not unbearable by any means.
The route was great. The weather was perfect so running down Riverside
Drive, you had a great view of the Mississippi River and the I-40 bridge.

There were people everywhere downtown cheering for you, bands and
other performers were all over the place (big thanks to the belly dancers at
mile 11). We ran through some neighborhoods and it looked like some of the
people had decided to set up their own entertainment for you in their front
yards. It was pretty cool to run down Poplar, which is a very busy main road
heading east out of downtown. We had two lanes to run in, so traffice was
pretty much at a stand still, but most of the motorist were hanging out of
their cars cheering you on. The only spot were there were really no
spectators was a cut through road in Overton Park, and it was kind of nice
having about a mile of quiet, tree lined path to sort of gather your thoughts for the final push.

A very enjoyable but challenging run for me.

I've got some pics of the finish at Autozone park that I'll put up when I remember to.

More from San Destin

I finally ordered some of those pics that the photogs take at the events. So now I got some action photos. This is me on the bike, having a good day. My split was a PR this day. The run? Not so much, but I did finish.

I just finished the St. Jude half marathon in Memphis this past weekend, too. No pics of the course, which was awesome, but I'll have some of the finish area in Autozone Park and a race report up soon.