Wow It's Been Awhile!

Hard to believe that my last post was in November of last year....well I guess that kinda makes sense, given that most of us are so busy with the Holidays that we lose touch with many other things :)  Well the only "race" I have competed in since the last blog was the Gaston County Girls on the Run 5k with my daughte in December.  I gotta say this was another amazing experience for me personally.  My daughter really pushed and we finished this 5k almost 10 minutes faster than the previous one we did together in October and there were considerably more hills involved this time.  The Pre-race festivities were great, with live music, the Chik-Fil-A cow posing for photos and being in a really up-and-coming Chic town like Belmont, NC made for a great venue.  At the end of the race, all the girls received a nice medal, which really meant a lot to my daughter.  I can't say it enough how wonderful of a program that this is for young girls.  It totally builds confidence and self-esteem and the coaches discuss some of the common issues that our lil' girls will face heading into Middle School. 

The Holidays were amazing.  I have sooooo much to be thankful for, that its hard to even begin to list everything.  I just thank the universe first and foremost for family, health, a decent job and the opportunity to live in a healthy and beautiful city like Asheville, NC.  It really makes training outside wonderful and motivating!  The fam headed up the Penn. to be with the wifey's family and I was able to really get my running mojo back.  In the 5 days we were there, I logged close to 30 miles!  Not bad for me :)  It's totally rejuvenated my running spirit!

Training has ramped up as I am preparing for a pretty tough Half-Iron Distance Tri in May (The Beast of the East Half Steelman).  I must admit that I broke down and went with a 70.3 training program that seemed to fit my style to prep for this one.  I am in the 5th week of the program currently. I still throw in my "hard headed" style of balls-to-the-wall training, but I certainly see the benefit of progressive increases in both duration and distance in each of the 3 disciplines.  I still hit the weights hard 4-5 times per week and will continue the strength building type workouts until March, at which point I will focus more on muscle endurance (in terms of weight raining that is)= Higher reps, less weight sorta thing......  I am throwing in 3-4 yoga sessions per week and making a real effort to limit the sugars in my diet and making sure to drink a lot of H2O.  I also increased the protein in my diet, via a quality Whey Protein mix and I can tell I have added a nice amount of muscle thus far in the "off season" without adding any noticable fat.  I am trying to do some increased core strengthening stuff, plyometric based workouts from time-to-time, and jumping rope when I am bored, LOL!  Just keeping my body guessing, I suppose is the easiest way to look at it.  I really believe that variety does wonders in terms of keeping us motivated!  I couldn't imagine only doing runs, swims and bike rides.  The cross training, weights, and yoga are as important to me as the Tri-specific stuff.  Maybe I should call myself the Well Rounded Triathlete instead :)

Anyhoo, I am saving my pennies to purchase a wetsuit and found the one I want.  Should be getting that in the next couple of weeks and totally stoked about it!  If you haven't ever checked out the Wetsuit Outlet online, let me be the first to suggest it to you!  They've got Tri-items in addition to an amazing array of wetsuits!  I am also looking at buying some "aero" wheels for my bike.  I use the ""'s because the wheels are still 24 spoke, alloy wheels, but considerably better than what I currently have and I think they're gonna be a decent bang for my buck purchase to help shave a bit of time from my bike splits.

Here's a pic from the Girls on the Run 5k!!!!  Yes I had to carry the daughter's coat the last 2.5 miles of the 3.1 we completed that day!!!!

I reckon that's about it for the moment.  Wishing anyone reading this happy training and if you ain't rocking...you ain't living!!!!!