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Tuesday, December 30, 2008

I need to post ...

Struggling a bit with what to write.

I had an article written that described my thoughts on optimistic vs. pessimistic outlooks based on our current political and economic situation. I couldn't pull the trigger on it because I was basically just validating my optimistic perception and my focus on rather trivial things while telling others who seem to be licking their wounds from 2008 how to put on a smile and march ahead. I don’t want to minimize what some people are going through. I’m thankful that my situation is great, partially because I don’t put a large emphasis on monetary and material possessions, and partially because my family and I are in good health. I’m optimistically looking forward to many things on the horizon.

So what’s the latest?

Christmas was fun and not at all stressful. We kept it fairly modest (as always) and managed to stay home for the entire holiday. That’s the great thing about having kids … you can use them as bait to draw the grandparents to you instead of having to travel. Sometimes you have to play hardball, but in the end they will cave!! Santa brought me a used treadmill that was purchased from a friend of mine for $75 dollars because the digital display doesn’t work. My workouts come as RPE so actual numbers aren’t important … only feel + time. If it bothers me too much to not know my pace, I will get a foot-pod for my Forerunner 305, but so far I’m good with it as is.

Training is going well. I haven’t taken a day off since the 26th of November yet I feel very fresh. The last two weeks have had over 17 hours of training and my lightest week this month had 14.5 hours. My running health continues to restore. I actually have a 1 hour run this week! Swimming is going great. I’m looking forward to a substantial improvement over last season. We’ll see what the bike fitness looks like if I can find a way to get out and ride with JB and crew. Looks like those boys go pretty hard!

My body has been responding well to the training load this month and I’m starting to look lean and mean again. It’s funny that I actually gained weight in the buildup for the ironman. I think I was eating for the Ultraman! I’ll do a body comp soon to tell for sure but I would guess that I’m around 8% body fat now which is how I raced for most of last year. This is still a bit heavy for my liking. If I can exercise a little will power in my choice of foods I think I can get to around 6% without too much trouble. This is where I would like to be for the upcoming race season.

Work is work. I hope when the kids get in school my wife can pickup a few more group fitness classes or personal training clients which would allow me to work part time instead of full time. Colonial is supportive of this in the IT department and it would fit my lifestyle much better. Wouldn’t that be nice?

5 comments:

Carolina John said...

sounds good, man. looks like you're getting a lot of training in for the off-season. I'm sooooo ready for 2009. half marathon on saturday near furman and the wife broke a toe yesterday. doesn't bode well for her. I'm looking forward to it though.

Tonya said...

Awesome...sounds like training is going well :) Glad to hear.

I just accepted a new position starting Monday, where my hours are less than what I have been used to for the last, oh 11 years. Part of the reason for the change :) Same pay + less hours = grrreat! More time for my Caleb and training. Good luck, hope that works out for you too!

Unknown said...

Part time? What??? You're fast enough already. I don't need any more competition. I'll have to talk to the IT dept. about this!
PS: Come over and join us for some fun in the NE. We only averaged 21 today but everyone took it easy on Kempy.

Mendy said...

Sounds like you got a good plan for the year. Glad you all had a great Christmas! Good luck on training, and btw, your body fat % makes me feel like a sumo wrestler. Happy New Year!

Unknown said...

Fun ride in the wind today but still wearing shorts and short sleeves. Missed you out there. Play hooky and come out next time.