AND SO IT BEGINS

25 weeks from 3/18/07 will be 9/9/07....Ironman Wisconsin. "And so it begins" means training begins in earnest today. Don't get me wrong, training started a long time ago. The line of when it actually started is a little arbitrary. I've been swimming, biking and running all winter. In everything I've ever read about competing in an Ironman distance race is that you have to train before you can train. So, up until now I've been training to be able to train. Most of my efforts thus far have been base training. I've been building a bigger engine....not necessarily creating more power in that engine yet, but creating more capacity.

What starts today, as opposed to last week, is my 24-week Ironman distance training plan. I know I said there's 25 weeks until the big day. I'm building in some space in case I get sick or need a day or two here or there when I won't be able to train. More than likely I didn't build in enough days.

Am I ready? For the race? Heck no! Am I ready to starting training for the race? I am. I've been planning for this and thinking about and preparing for it for quite some time. I have a dedicated training plan, a log, a new bike (still need a few minor bells and whistles for the bike), I feel very healthy and I'm eager. As Irony would have it, with all this eagerness my training plan has Monday as a rest day.

My first week of training includes 5750 meters in the pool, 4:35 on the bike and 2:35 pounding the pavement......I'll do more than that in one day on 9/9/07!

HELLO WORLD

There are many things I love about this time of year. I've found that as I get older I do love the change of seasons. Yes, I even like the end of Daylight Savings Time. It took a long time for that one to take effect though. Springtime is my favorite which leads into summer. Among the things I love about this time of year are: Daylight Savings time, warmer temperatures, baseball, golf, green grass, wearing shorts, cooking food on the grill, colors everywhere. The world wakes up in the spring. Unlike humans, when the world wakes up it looks beautiful. It doesn't worry about bad hair or breath or crust in the corner of the eyes.

One of my very favorite things is the bloom of the Bradford Pear as seen in the picture above. I think the white blooms are just beautiful. You do have to enjoy them in a hurry though because the blooms don't hang around long. In about a week the white is gone replaced with the leaves of green. Hello world.

NEW RIDE

Christmas comes again this Tuesday! Well, OK, truthfully, Christmas doesn't come again this Tuesday but the next best thing does....the FedEx man. He'll bring with him my new Roo. I've upgraded to a dedicated Tri bike, the Quintana Roo Tequilo. I'm certain this is going to make me Normann Stadler-fast. Stadler won the 2006 Ironman world championships with a record setting bike split of 4:18:something. He rode 112-miles in 4-hours 18-minutes and change! Ridiculous! You've probably been stuck behind someone in their car driving in the fast lane who's head you couldn't see over the back of the seat driving at a pace slower than 4:18:something for 112-miles. Drives you crazy doesn't it? Why don't they just get over? I'm sure Normann Stadler wondered the same thing during his Sunday ride in Kona. Now I'm sure I'll be thinking the same thing on my new QR! Seriously, I'm kidding...........seriously!

I do wonder about all this equipment stuff, though. Does an upgrade really make you faster, better, more efficient? I used to be an avid golfer. I played with blades my entire life. Still do when I get a chance to play. There's nothing like the feeling of a well hit shot struck with a blade. You know instantly that it's going to be good. My question is was it the club or the swing? You know that comment "it's not rocket science"? That can be thrown out with yesterday's coffee grinds because when it comes to sports and the equipment we use to play them it has become rocket science. Look at the technology used to build the better driver these days. It's truly amazing filled with a lot of rocket-science terminology promising to deliver a driving average of 350 yards (give or take 100 or so....usually take, right?). I've never had the latest, greatest technology on the market when it came to golf clubs. Heck, I was reluctant to give up on the wooden driver and probably wouldn't have except the day I won a long driving contest using my wooden driver and the prize was a Big Bertha. Side note: I've always questioned that. Why would the prize for winning a long driving contest be a new driver....wouldn't they assume you were happy with the driver you had and maybe give you a golf bag, putter, 10 dozen golf balls or something other than a driver? Oh well, I'm kind of glad they did because it was getting embarrassing being the last surviving golfer using a wooden driver. It was akin to being the last known member wearing a "Members Only" jacket! The point is this, you still have to have the swing that will place the club head in just the right spot when it makes contact with the ball that will put the ball on the desired trajectory. All the technology in the world will not move your muscles to make that happen.

Back to the technological, geometrical upgrade with my new bike. Is it going to make me stronger, faster, more efficient? Time will tell. It is a dedicated tri bike rather than my current road bike fixed with aero bars. So there is different geometry at work providing a more aerodynamic position on the bike. It does have the latest, greatest technology........this is beginning to sound familiar. That technology still isn't going to make my muscles move any differently to make me stronger, faster, more efficient. Oh, what do I care, the FedEx man is coming Tuesday!

CLIP TIP

Short and sweet today.

If the person who cuts your hair doesn't charge extra to trim your eyebrows and he asks you if you want yours trimmed, you might want to go ahead and take him up on the offer because he certainly didn't ask you to get more money out of you....wink, wink.