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.
1 comment:
Cool bike! Getting new decals? (maybe some white ones?) Sounds like you're on your way to a great season in some incredible surroundings. I'm bummed not to be a part of your return to glory as you prepare to tear up IM Moo. You will do fantastic. Hope to make my way out there for some kona training. Peace out!
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