ITPRDYL?

Sitting here in the Shawnee Peak base lodge while Nick and friends ski all day. It would be incredibly boring without my laptop, projects to work on and my iPod. [Phil Collins playing] I’m actually making all sorts of progress on multiple fronts. It’s rare that I get free time like this. This coming week I get even more time as I fly to San Francisco for work. While there, I hope to swim in one of their three 50m outdoor pools with temps in the high 60s! I’ll also get in a bunch of running.

One of my projects is figuring out my training schedule in much greater detail for the rest of the season. When you figure in all of the progression and periodization, 22 weeks to my target race really isn’t that much. That’s especially true when you figure adaptations take several weeks [The Fray] at a time. For those of you aiming for IM LP, in training terms, it’s right around the corner!

Two thirds of my training was great this week. Biking was strong and included a good ride OUTSIDE yesterday. On the run, I’ve just started to add some quicker paces which feel great. It’s amazing how much faster the easy running gets after a few quicker strides. My latest tool/toy is the Garmin Forerunner 305. Even though I have more to learn (S.F. trip), it’s already met my expectations. On Tuesday I ran 10 in Hartford on streets I had never been on. Eventually I found a good out-and-back, making the turn when the watch read 5 mi. [Elton John] It’s amazing how a Garmin or Powertap on the bike can keep you honest or make you more competitive. The numbers don’t lie. The downloads don’t lie. And the analysis is what it is. If you want good and improving numbers, you have to put in the work.

The one third that wasn’t so good was my swimming. My injured ribs caused a good deal of pain on every left arm pull and flip turn. I got in 4 days, SUPER SLOW, for a total of about 6k. Yesterday, after running 6, swimming 500, and kicking 500, I had to get out due to the pain. Damn.

The whole situation with B2B filling up is ridiculous. I read countless stories about those who were on the computer at the designated hour and the connection wouldn’t work. I feel the worst for those who use B2B as their target race and have done it every year since its inception. It seems like the organizers have plenty of ‘splainin to do. [Def Leopard] I understand why organizers have registration limits, but it’s a shame they can’t figure out a way to get more people in. Let’s take Polarbear as an example. That race is limited due to the pool swim and the fact that they have to wait for all of the slow swimmers to finish before starting the next heat. They should organize it so half of the pool is for slow swimmers, half for fast. The fast ones could [U2] run two heats for every one of the slow ones. I bet you could increase the field by 30-40%. The idea here is to get more people racing, whatever the sport. [Axel F]

I get a kick out of the texting language Nick and other kids his age do. You’ve probably seen the “BFF” commercial, so you know that one. How about a few other basics- BRB [Bill Conti (Rocky)], IDK, JK, or JJ? We should develop verbal texting for races. Air is at a premium, so we should economize. [REM- OK, I know I’m slow- I’m distracted] Let’s try:
YLG- You look good.
TFTP- Thanks for the pull (running only).
QDYA- Quit drafting, you asshole.
IGKYA- I’m gonna kick your ass.
YS- You suck.
IH- I hurt.
IFLS- I feel like shit.
TWS- This weather sucks.
[Doobie Brothers]
OYL- On your left (my favorite!)
G- Gatorade
ITPRDYL?- Is that pee running down your leg?
[John Melloncamp]
[Jim Noir]
YBCYS- Yeah, but can you swim?
ITTTS- I’m training through this race.

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