July 4th

I am actually at work right now and decided to make some good use of the "sit" time in between my flights today.

I hope everyone had a great holiday this past week. From my perspective, the last few days have been pretty non-stop. From the triathlon training front, it seems the theme for the week has been "get as much done as possible." The whole week, I wanted to complete my workouts, and for the most part had the energy to do so, but from a time availability perspective, it was "do what I can outside my other obligations." Such is life. Here again, that is why this is such a difficult endeavor.
I am fortunate enough to be able to consider another long course triathlon event - 1 hour of swimming, 5 - 5.5 hours of cyling, and 3- 3.5 hours of running. You don't just show up for a one of these races. Theoretically you could, but I am not sure it would be "fun" spending 17 hours out there trying to finish knowing if you had trained right you'd be enjoying the hot pizza, not just the cold leftover pineapple ham slices.
I have failed to mention previously, that while running during Ironman Arizona (around the 16 mile point) , I had suffered enough to accept whatever results came my way - Kona qualification or not (Kona was the goal), I had seen what this sport had to offer, and it was enough to quench my thirst. Even after learning I had earned a slot, I was apathetic - the hard part was earning the slot (the training itself was difficult), and I did it, so initially, there was no need to go to Hawaii. Fortunately, I was quickly persuaded, so here we are.
While training for Arizona, Andrea gave me free reign to train. Not only the time to train, but also a fair amount of financial freedom to train. I spent quite a bit of money on a disc wheel, racing tires, two Apple IPod shuffles, numerous pairs of running shoes, endless energy supplements (gels & gatorade), registration fees, hotel fees, and rental car fees. I even entered 3 marathons to force myself to do the long runs essential to marathoning after a LOOONNGG bike ride. I used two vacation periods to prepare and race for Arizona. Add all of that on top of the piles of laundry I created, and the household chores I skimped on, you can see it was a focused effort, a selfish endeavor, and I was tired of it!!!!
With Andrea 8 months pregnant now, I want to be more sensitive her needs and the needs our son will have. Even still, I will manage to get the training done so I don't "just show up" October 13th. I have a deep desire to race for something good, and KonaSpeed "wishes" shares the experience with others.

This weeks training went something like this:
Tuesday, I had an 8.3 mile run, nothing special, but it was a comfortable effort (156 bpm) at about 66 minutes. The temperature was 86, heat index was 91. I followed it up with a GREAT long swim set and lifted weights - with focus on my legs. Swimming is a topic in itself, but it has been lots of drills, bilateral breathing and long steady efforts.

Wednesday was July 4th and we had company in the afternoon. We had a great visit with some of Andreas co-workers from Small Steps Nurturing Center. I was on grill duty, but managed to squeeze a 1.5 hour ride on the bike trainer. I focused on strength (Slow pedaling in a Hard Gear, Rest, Repeat).

Thursday was a Zilch/Nada/Lazyman training day. BUT, I had the pleasant opportunity to meet my Sister-in-Law's fiance. Congratulations to Amanda and Johnnie! We had a nice breakfast together, and I can't wait for the wedding! Immediately after breakfast, I started the work day. It ended at around 10 pm, so there wasn't any time to train.
Friday morning, I woke up in Lafayette, LA and started the day with a run. It started being dreadful: running on the sidewalk near traffic, running out of sidewalk then running on the wet grass to dodge the traffic. Finally, I decided to smarten-up and run down another street. Would you know it, I found a nice park near the Lafayette General Hospital with a 1.25 mile running trail. I only had a chance to go around once, but added all together, I ran about 38 minutes. We had a 9 am van to the airport to fly back to Houston, so I couldn't run too long. It's definitely not good to be late or sweaty at show time! We had a challenging day flying around Houston with all the tremendous rain and thunderstorms, but we somehow managed to finish around 5 pm, ONLY 2 hours late. I am grateful for the "ONLY" because it could have been a lot worse. When I arrived home, Andrea gave me permission to swim; I didn't want to push my luck, so I only swam 35 minutes. It was pretty much straight through swimming, very minimal rest - I felt good, swimming is coming along fine. I didn't lift weights like I had "ideally" planned to. I also wanted to spend time with Andrea and the dogs, so after I cleaned up, we all watched "Deja Vu" starring Denzel Washington - Good Flick.

Then it was Lights out! Standby for the KONASPEED Tour De France!!!