It's Not You, It's me.

Failure is usually a result of your surroundings? Think about those around you for 5 minutes,are they helping your dream or holding u back?

- Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson

Dear Alcohol,
You and I have been together for the better part of the past 15 years. It all really started those first few weeks of college and we've been happy together since. Well, until now. You helped me have fun through college and until now, but I think we need to take some time off. It's not you, its me. I've been accepted to this elite (yes, I know I can handle a large amount of alcohol, but I would not say I'm an elite at that) triathlon team and I need to put up some solid numbers this year. I let the temptation of friends drinking drag me in last year and I couldn't stop myself, but I saw you trying to rear your ugly head over the past few months and there's not really time for you anymore. You're gonna have to find someone else to give that hangover to, cause it's time you and I take some time away from each other. They're some solid people, and I want to be able to reach my goals as a triathlete this year, not blame myself for going out and getting hammered the night before and miss a long ride. See you at some point soon, but not for very long. You're just gonna have to figure out how to move on, but you've been a good companion.
Regards,
Bill

Yeah, last year I let myself get tempted by a large amount of binge drinking, bad eating and other habits in a year where I should have been getting myself ready for Lake Placid. I was able to salvage a decent second half, but As the same issues started rearing its ugly head this season, I tried to cut off the problem, but it definitely reared its ugly head at, let's call it, an inopportune time. I'd like to thank a teammate for making it glaringly obvious soon after it happened, it was the line in the sand with this whole issue. Being on a great team like the Wattie Ink Elite Team, I want to improve far and above the numbers that I put up at Rev3 Cedar Point Half (5:55) last season. I have some of the best teammates who have soem of the biggest hearts and athletic abilities I know. To give anything less than my best would be a full failure, and this is not what will happen. Trying to coordinate a cross-country job search in LA is proving to be hard, and I need all the minutes in the day that I can.

I'm ready for a new chapter in my life to begin once I can find a job and coordinate all that I need to be doing about going out west. My NYC and B-school friends (both my training and social) are people that I will miss, but they all know that they have a couch to crash on where ever I end up!

Most of all, I have surrounded myself with a good group of friends in my life who have been very good to me. Definitely very thankful to one of them especially caught me when I slipped last year, regardless of how far he buries me on the bike. I figure eventually I'll be able to do the same when we're 65 and 64 and racing each other at some 1/2 iron or something.

But first, my first race of the year is 3 weeks away! Can not wait to throw my ERC race wheels on the bike (or maybe my Zipp 900 rear) for the River Challenge Duathlon in 20 days! Hopefully I find my run legs before then!

Oh, and there will be more frequent updates from now on, I promise! And definitely fixing this plain blog up!

Getting back on the Horse - Timberman 2011

"I feel like I got run over by a dumptruck full of awesome"

After finishing the race yesterday, I've thought about all that has transpired over the year. Had big plans that pretty much disappeared after this past winter, probably due to my lack of real planning on how to deal with life in general outside of tri. Definitely learned how to get it all back in order. But philosophical BS aside, here's my race report for Timberman - a great venue and a great course for a 70.3

Pre race: Got to Concord saturday afternoon - got registration and bike checked in. Headed back soon enough to hotel to get bag ready early for sunday and get a real early dinner to head to bed at 9 since waking up at 3:30 (as per dad's recommendation). Threw down large plate of penne and chicken and half a gluten free pizza at Uno (never again) and made sure to hydrate. That word would be the word of the day on sunday.

Race AM - out of bed at 3:45. Walked to Lobby and grabbed coffee. Totally befuddled by options of Low and High caffeine coffee - immediately grabbed high caffeine coffee and threw it down. Felt so good after not having since wednesday. All my stuff was ready and headed out to Gunstock for race. Set up transition and headed out to meet @frayed_laces. Me, my dad, Dr C and her stood around waiting for our respective swim waves to take off (she took off 10 minutes before me).

Swim - not much to say other than my sighting was not nearly as good as I wanted it to be even though it was 12 minutes faster than i had at rev3. I need to look at some new goggles - I'm not getting enough of a viewing area so I'm not locating the pylons very well in the water, resulting in a lot of misdirection. Need to work on a more efficient swim stroke also, but overall very happy with exiting the water in 47:53. Great building block. Definintely will improve this fall with addition of U of R Masters Swim Team.

And to that girl who hit me 5 times on the swim, that was 3 times too many. Just swim around me or pass me your phone number next time if you're gonna get that much of a free feel.

Bike
I exited the water feeling pretty happy and spotted the pops as I came out of the water. Utilized the wetsuit strippers - made life much easier! Grabbed bike, helmet, shoes and was off on bike in no time. Made sure of consistent nutrition on the bike and took Grant's advice of not pushign too hard off the start - but kept a pretty consistent pace throughout the course. Definitely could have been faster, but a good benchmark to start from. After replacing my seat with the Adamo Road from ism Saddles, I had knee pain that had been bothering me after my last death brick. A last minute fit from Juancito on saturday am had me feeling amazing and super-comfortable in the aero position. Engaged core, and no pain in my shoulders AT ALL. That in itself is a success. Looking at the numbers from yesterday, hit a max of 40.3 mph on the bike - for me I was not able to hit that type of speed on that bike - felt way too uncomfortable to go that fast before but I was flying down the hills with ease. Headed into transition on a nice downhill and knew my hardest part of the day was still coming. Got off the bike in 3:14:32 and racked bike and got myself ready for run. May try and take feet out of shoes before dismount area so i don't have to run in those things through transition.

Run: With the lack of good runs (basically destroyed my run base this winter and am searching for it again) I was not expecting much of a run, all that I knew was that any thought of a sub-2 hour half mary would never have happened. I set out with a bottle full of gel and was going to meet the run course. Found a new shoe that worked well in the K-swiss blade light runs. Replaced the laces with Yankz - but not fully sold on them. Will try long run to see how I really feel in them. I just wish my body cooperated more. Felt sluggish the whole way and had no real power in the legs and the times show it - need to get some good quality bricks in there. For me to get to my goal of going sub-6 and lower, I need to get some good runs off the bike. Will def work on my run base after cedar point and through the fall/winter.

Post race - met up with @frayed_laces and her boy after grabbing my stuff out of transition. Severe storm called for area so we all ran to shuttle bus back to gunstock. Proceeded to get pummeled by rain and waited forever for our bikes. But finally got bikes and started the five hour commute home to the parents house in Jerz. Recovering today with no workout and a lot of cleaning. Getting networking emails out and trying to set up appointments with alums so I can sit down with them and discuss what I bring to the table and why they should employ me next june.

Can not wait to get my new wheels in the next few weeks before the race out at Cedar Point. I attack the 70.3 distance yet again and I think I should have some damn good results. During the race, I figured one thing - that I really enjoy the half-iron distance and the iron distance will have to wait a while. While my choice last year to sign up for IMLP in hindsight was a tad bit rash, being in Lake Placid this year stoked the fire that had been missing since last fall after the disastrous finish at the Chicago Marathon. There's nothing better than having a good day at the office, but you can always make it better and definitely have my homework before Cedar Point!

No Regrets

This weekend marked what was supposed to be a big weekend for me. It was supposed to be the weekend that I completed my first Ironman. That was at least in my head when I signed up for it back in last July on the Monday after last year's race. Fast forward a year, I quit my job, get into Business School, and moved almost 400 miles away from my friends and family. January 2011 changed a lot of things in my life. It was the first time in ages that I didn't have a schedule to do anyting other than classes a few days a week. So there were nights out with classmates, and I fell back into my pre-running years bad habits. Before I knew it, I was nearly 20 lbs heavier than I was before I left for Rochester. My training for Ironman had slipped before I moved from Manhattan, but in Rochester, the very cold weather didn't help the issue.

I'd talked with John, my coach and expressed my concern. He expressed concern for what I would be able to do at Lake Placid in July, but we'd play it a little closer and figure where I really stood a few months later. Winter is winter, and things can def change and I have enough base with 2 of the 3 sports, so it was def doable. By the time that spring rolled around, I had lost a lot of that base, but still held the hope out that IMLP would still be in the picture. My training then went to sh*t and I decided to pull the plug. Fast forward to summer and I realize what I've done all winter and spring, and resolve to change everything.

The one good spot is that getting back on the horse made me realize a lot. I loved the feeling when I would have a great training day, and how it would fuel the rest of the week. Totally feeling that again.

This July, and especially the last 6 days in placid with some of my closest friends and training partners really has me motivated for the rest of my race season. But back to Placid. Friday morning I woke up seriously considering entering Ironman. Physically I could have a medal around my neck on sunday, but mentally I couldn't stomach spending that much time out on the course. My friends gave me shit about it, but I know that they understood. DNF is not something I would even think about, and if I was going to do this race, i was coming in as close to prepared as I could become, rather than just jump in for the swim. Yeah, I threw 600 bucks in the trash,

but oh well.

Through all this, it's been good to have a voice of reason (or sometimes the lack thereof) that I get from my close friends who I train with. Grant, Anna, Phil, Bobby, Dave, you guys love giving me shit, and I love it. It's also great to have a good coach and friend in John. Ironman will happen eventually, and I have no need to rush it. I used to live my life thinking I should have done this, or done that. I'll make the right choice when its the right time - it's as simple as that. Timberman is coming up in a little over 3 weeks, and I can not wait for it. It's also gonna be the first time one of my parents have seen me in a tri. Ely (the male human who I was cloned from) will be my sherpa in lovely New Hampshire for the day. It won't be the same not having any CREW there, but I'm sure everyone will be there in spirit. You guys don't know how much you make me work harder to get to that level. I didn't race this weekend, but I couldn't have wished for better people to spend time with (and sorry Guru, I stole this picture - its so good!). Can't wait to spend more time next year with these people up in Lake Placid!