Happy and Wholesome

First matter of business, In case you would like to see some cool pictures from the race last weekend, here are a couple links to some good ones.  Please feel free to purchase for me 🙂

http://piccillophoto.smugmug.com/Sports/A-Tri-in-the-Buff-2011/Awards/17857683_jqFFMB#1365823348_66xJrKm (Funny Awards Photo, can you guess the ages of the two other guys?)

http://piccillophoto.smugmug.com/Sports/A-Tri-in-the-Buff-2011/Run-Bib-s-251/17865529_vQsxHb#1366439907_Dgj9Stq (I think I was the only person to see the photographer and give them a big ole’ smile)

Hope you enjoyed those pictures.  On to the good stuff.  What’s been going on this week?  Well so far a lot!  I had a relatively low key Monday (The 4th) with just a 1:30 bike ride around Keuka Lake.  It was a good thing since I was laid up in bed until about noon that day from well being out a little “too” late (or early if you want to look at it that way) the night before.  Lots of fireworks, good food, dancing, running around, couple full speed barrel rolls…and it was on right on the lake, doesn’t get much better.  So basically it was good thing Monday was a light training day.  Tuesday and Wednesday (so far) certainley have been a bit “heavier”.  Since I was still pretty tired from the weekend yesterday I ended up sleeping in until about 7:45 and then heading into work.  With over 3 hours of training to get done on Tuesday I was a little nervous as to whether I would get it all done.

I got out of work around 5 last night and got my bike set up on the trainer, in the garage as quickly as possible.  Yes, the trainer folks.  Even though it was in the 80’s and sunny I still sweated it out on the trainer so I could get those focused intervals in.  Something I would actually reccomend to those who are serious about advancing their cycling.  However, if you are in this big ole game of fun for the pure enjoyment then I would advise you to get outdoors in the great wide open whenever you can.  I simply am a different animal right now who is trying to focus on some things to improve.  Sure it does suck a little to be sitting on a trainer when I could be getting a cyclists tan if I were riding outside, however the benefits that I can get from focused intervals outweight that at the moment for me.  Well, the ride actually went quite well.  After I got that finished off I literally jumped off the bike and headed directly to the Naz pool to get going on what would be my longest pool workout ever.  5500 yards…however the NAZ pool is in meters and so I ended up really doing like 6k of yardage.  A whole bunch of 300’s were in the main set and I gotta say they were a little tough, but I kept chipping away at them and before I knew it the work was done.  I headed home, first stopping at Wegmans to get some fuel.  After I got back I ate a ton and then finally passed out around 11PM.

Well 4:30 AM came quickly.  For some reason when I am really focused and have things I really want to get done I can really work well on not a lot of sleep.  Now I can’t do this for days on end but for 2-4 days I can keep things rolling along.  So this morning I jumped out for run #1 of the day which was a nice little 30 min run.  I transitioned in my apartment and quickly headed to the pool at Midtown for another decent size swim set of about 4k.  A little over an hour later I had knocked it out.  I must say that I am pleased with myself for starting the week off with some consistency.  My downfall typcically is that I start the week off slow and then end it on a high note once I get things rolling.  However, the Double Mussel is in just over a week so everything needs to be on lock right now.  This is the last big week before the race so I want to ensure everything gets dialed in.  Next week I will tackle getting all my equipment staightened out.  That will be a chore!

I also just put in for a half day next Friday before the Mussel weekend.  So if you are racing down their this year and are planning on registering Friday night, or will just be in town on Friday night let me know and maybe we can get some grub together.  I will be setting up shop back home on Keuka Lake (a 15 minute drive) so if anyone needs anything just say the word.

Gotta go be productive right now now, so check ya’ll later.

-mjc