I got sick last week and still shaking off some of the garbage. You know, that nice hacking congestion and clogged shnoz. With all the travel over the holidays it's no surprise one of us would catch something. Just glad it was me and not Kate since she starts her schooling back up. It's been awhile since I've gotten sick, but such as life. It's January, so I'm not whining too much about it. Below is the weekly log which is basically nothing, but with today's first visit to our local ski mountain I have a little reflecting to do.
Ok, lets get the log out of the way:
- 2000yds straight in the pool,
- 6-mile run through the snow along the Boise river.
- Two 45-min rides on the trainer. Heart through roof at half power. Cut it short.
- Full day of Skiing today.
Yeah, Kate and I hit the slopes today. We were planning to head up the mountain on Saturday, but I still wasn't quite up for it because of the cold. We got there today to find some perfect weather and some beautiful slopes. Head out to Kate's blog for some kick-ace pictures and such.
Skiing was my passion as a kid, yet growing up in Northern Wisconsin you had such "iffy" snow conditions that if you got 2-months of skiing it was good. As a kid I was on the local ski team and did pretty well at slalom, giant slalom, and jumping; however, my true love in skiing was downhill. Fast fast fast. Once again, living in Wisc you have some limitations to downhill courses, but you make due. I'm sure I have the unofficial record for the most runs at our local ski hill in one day. The second I was at the top I would rip into a full tuck to get down then head right back up. Franz Klamer was my skiing idol (also checkout his 1976 gold medal run at YouTube) so I would mimic him the best I could. Franz was a downhill god back in the 70s and 80s. If my tuck-run took 30-seconds it was probably too long. Up down up down...all day. Pretty friggin sweet.
To make and save money, my Mom was the head kitchen cook at the ski hill so her boys could ski free. Then she was off to some other job (e.g., waitressing, cleaning, etc.) just so her boys could have some of the same things the other local boys could have. I look back and it's pretty amazing how my parents made the hardships so transparent. As an adult now I can only admire and hope I can do the same for my rug-rats some day (scary thought).
It had been since 1995 since I last skied and that was a quick trip to Cascade in southern Wisconsin. Don't ask me why it's taken so long to get back into the sport. I suppose it's easy to phase out when you don't live anywhere near a ski hill in Illinois. When I lived in Wisconsin you could drive 2hrs north to some of the best skiing in the midwest. From Bloomington it was just too hard to plan a trip and I never hooked up with people that showed much interest. Over time I guess I just phased it out and replaced it with running and eventually triathlon.
Oh yeah, so you ask, how'd I do after coming out of retirement? I was a freakin rockstar homies!!!! :) Actually, I'm not ashamed to admit that I did pretty well considering the time away and on new equipment. I seemed to fall right back into things though I did crash and burn on one of the double-diamonds. That was humbling to say the least, but a ton of fun. I'm ready to head back!
Peath out-th,
Drew.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Ready for the 2008 Tri-Season
This begins my 2008 year of blogging. Look for training updates, equipment updates, training hints and tips, and possible my training log. I haven't decided if I want to share all my secrets, but of course there's really nothing to hide. Just shut up and ride, right? Ha!
I'm really digging my new surroundings here in Boise. My running options are pretty much endless and if I suck at running hills by September then it's my own damn fault. The hill running around here is amazing. It's taken a little adjustment driving to these locations since I'm used to stepping out the door and running on the Bloomington constitution trail and such. The 10-25min drive is worth it though and I usually come back pretty whooped. I've also become quite the trail runner, running in pretty much any type of weather. Back in Bloomington I would usually hop on the treadmill when weather got bad/cold/snowy/raining/whatever, but I've really learned to embrace the harder days. "Harden the f@*k up, Drew" is basically my mantra for 2008.
I'm still with the Tri-Shark Club, being their webmaster and such, but I'm pretty much detached otherwise. It's been a rather hard adjustment for me to be away from all the gang. A couple buddies qualified for Kona this year and I'm bummed I can't be there to get involved with the camps and such they have planned to help them get ready. Leaving friends has been by far the hardest adjustment for me, but it is what it is and I'll just make more friends in time. The other club I'm with now is the Boise Aeros Club. There's a good group of athletes here and they take triathlon very seriously. Though I wasn't the biggest fish with the Tri-Shark Club I was still one of the bigger fish. Not so much the case with the Aeros club. At best I'd say I'm average, which is motivating since I absolutely can't stand being average at anything!!! My involvement with them has been limited at this point due to the time of year, but it'll increase each month starting now. I'm looking forward to that.
OK, enough for now. Stay tuned for more.
Train smart,
Drew.
Well I have to say that I'm excited for the 2008 triathlon season and all the challenges that will get thrown my way. Kate and I are getting settled into our new surroundings here in Boise and she's hard at it with school and doing exceptionally well. She had eight classes this semester and I think she got more A's than I got during my entire college stint. Everyone has their special mental wiring and I'm just happy she chose a profession to save lives rather than me. The world is a safer place because of it! I just help doctors find detached fingers at triathlons from time to time (another story) and whatever else I can assist with. So anyways...
My 2008 race schedule is about 75% complete at this point, but everything revolves around Ironman Wisconsin, which has some hefty goals wrapped around it. My biggest goal is just having a perfect race, that's it. All of the other jive like qualifying for Kona, doing this, doing that is fine, but those things I cannot control so having a perfect race goal I can achieve by being as prepared as possible on race day. That's what it's all about and as long as I'm satisfied with my training then everything else is gravy. You can find my current schedule at my website.
For 2008, I have a new TT bike so its bye-bye to my Van Dessel, which has been so good to me since the 2004 season. The VD is actually my road bike now so it's still within the family and will get plenty of miles in and outside. My niece, Andrea, scored me a great deal with the bike shop "In Competition" out of Green Bay, WI. The new ride is a Giant Trinity C0. In all reality, I had my heart set on a new Felt, but it was hard to pass up this ride for the price and with all my customized equipment from my VD it's quite nice. What's funny is it's also the same new bike my brother got last summer so we'll be a pair of Twinkies for IM Moo.
My 2008 race schedule is about 75% complete at this point, but everything revolves around Ironman Wisconsin, which has some hefty goals wrapped around it. My biggest goal is just having a perfect race, that's it. All of the other jive like qualifying for Kona, doing this, doing that is fine, but those things I cannot control so having a perfect race goal I can achieve by being as prepared as possible on race day. That's what it's all about and as long as I'm satisfied with my training then everything else is gravy. You can find my current schedule at my website.
For 2008, I have a new TT bike so its bye-bye to my Van Dessel, which has been so good to me since the 2004 season. The VD is actually my road bike now so it's still within the family and will get plenty of miles in and outside. My niece, Andrea, scored me a great deal with the bike shop "In Competition" out of Green Bay, WI. The new ride is a Giant Trinity C0. In all reality, I had my heart set on a new Felt, but it was hard to pass up this ride for the price and with all my customized equipment from my VD it's quite nice. What's funny is it's also the same new bike my brother got last summer so we'll be a pair of Twinkies for IM Moo.
I'm really digging my new surroundings here in Boise. My running options are pretty much endless and if I suck at running hills by September then it's my own damn fault. The hill running around here is amazing. It's taken a little adjustment driving to these locations since I'm used to stepping out the door and running on the Bloomington constitution trail and such. The 10-25min drive is worth it though and I usually come back pretty whooped. I've also become quite the trail runner, running in pretty much any type of weather. Back in Bloomington I would usually hop on the treadmill when weather got bad/cold/snowy/raining/whatever, but I've really learned to embrace the harder days. "Harden the f@*k up, Drew" is basically my mantra for 2008.
Biking in the area is interesting and for the most part requires some driving to get to the start location, especially when riding with groups. If I decide to tackle traffic from my house there's a pretty good 100 mile ride that has a couple 4-6 mile climbs. Yes, I said miles. Not jamming on Illinois too much, but it's pretty hard to find a 4-minute climb. Anything north of Boise has roads that tend to point UP. Go South and it's flatter than Illinois by a long shot, consisting of Sage brush (tumbleweed) and rattlesnakes. There's also Bogus Basin where Kate and I will get some good skiing in this winter. If I leave from my house it's about a 25-mile ride to the base, which consists of around 4000-feet of climbing before you get there. Then it's a 16-mile climb to the top with a couple small flat and down sections on the way there. Those will be my epic century rides to get ready for Moo. I'm pretty pumped to take it on. I've climbed both sections of this ride individually, but haven't thrown it all together yet. It'll hurt like a mutha, but should get the system prepared.
Kate and I joined the local YMCA, which gets us into six different gyms here. Our closest "Y" has a very nice pool and is by far the biggest pool I've been too. There's 16 swim lanes then other lanes/areas for aqua aerobics and such. I'm yet to wait or share a lane. It's pretty incredible. The Downtown YMCA has most of the triathletes and masters swimmer programs so I'll try to hit that from time to time. I'm also told this pool doesn't have any chlorine and is a salt pool. I've heard of these types of pools, but yet to swim in one. I'll try to hit it soon and let you know how it goes. Swimming for me since I've been to Boise has been great. I haven't been this consistent with swimming in years and really taking a liking to a lot of drills drills drills. I then do a lot of straight distance swimming and try to apply those drills. It's been working and my times are currently faster than any previous times I've had, even the shorter efforts like the 50 and 100. We'll see if I can apply it to the races, which is a whole other animal as most of you tri-geeks know.
Kate and I joined the local YMCA, which gets us into six different gyms here. Our closest "Y" has a very nice pool and is by far the biggest pool I've been too. There's 16 swim lanes then other lanes/areas for aqua aerobics and such. I'm yet to wait or share a lane. It's pretty incredible. The Downtown YMCA has most of the triathletes and masters swimmer programs so I'll try to hit that from time to time. I'm also told this pool doesn't have any chlorine and is a salt pool. I've heard of these types of pools, but yet to swim in one. I'll try to hit it soon and let you know how it goes. Swimming for me since I've been to Boise has been great. I haven't been this consistent with swimming in years and really taking a liking to a lot of drills drills drills. I then do a lot of straight distance swimming and try to apply those drills. It's been working and my times are currently faster than any previous times I've had, even the shorter efforts like the 50 and 100. We'll see if I can apply it to the races, which is a whole other animal as most of you tri-geeks know.
Sponsors
I was able to keep my sponsorship with Crank Sports for another year. This is my fifth season with them and I'm still adding blood to my Gel system. The stuff works and I'm still happy with it so I'll keep at it. I do have one new sponsor this year, Bike Sherpa. These guys allow you to drop your bike off at participating bike shops and they'll ship it out to various big races like IM Wisc. If all goes well my bike travel expenses are covered and they are providing some real nice De Soto race gear. I'm stoked to be racing on a team again. Should be fun.
Clubs
I'm still with the Tri-Shark Club, being their webmaster and such, but I'm pretty much detached otherwise. It's been a rather hard adjustment for me to be away from all the gang. A couple buddies qualified for Kona this year and I'm bummed I can't be there to get involved with the camps and such they have planned to help them get ready. Leaving friends has been by far the hardest adjustment for me, but it is what it is and I'll just make more friends in time. The other club I'm with now is the Boise Aeros Club. There's a good group of athletes here and they take triathlon very seriously. Though I wasn't the biggest fish with the Tri-Shark Club I was still one of the bigger fish. Not so much the case with the Aeros club. At best I'd say I'm average, which is motivating since I absolutely can't stand being average at anything!!! My involvement with them has been limited at this point due to the time of year, but it'll increase each month starting now. I'm looking forward to that.
OK, enough for now. Stay tuned for more.
Train smart,
Drew.
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