I've got another physical therapy appointment tomorrow morning.  Stupid me, though, I scheduled it during the Tour de France team time trial.  They didn't even have a TTT last year.  Grrrrrr.  This is an exciting enough of a stage where I might have to go find a sports bar somewhere and commandeer a TV and have them put on the VS network.  But I digress.

I've been doing my core exercises every other day and I think I can tell the difference a little at least.  They're easier now than they were two weeks ago.  I am also working out regularly again.  Though I'm not at the intensity nor duration that I would ideally like to be at, simply training again feels pretty good.  My bike rides are up to 45 minutes now and my ride tonight and a couple days ago were at a higher intensity than they've been in quite a while.  I know I'm not where I was this time last year, though.  During my ride tonight, I climbed a short hill and I definitely don't have the climbing legs I usually have by this time in the summer.  I miss the Gears, Tears, and Fears ride.  Maybe in a few weeks I'll be back to multiple-hour long rides.

While Sarah and I were up north last weekend, I went for a short swim with Lindsey.  I gave her a few pointers on the start of the race and exiting the water.  Then we talked about transition set up as well.  Though I am no expert, by any means, I do enjoy sharing what I do know.  I am really excited to be doing a race with her this weekend.  I will have to share sweaty post-race pictures with the two of us.  I hope she gets hooked like I am.  We talked too, about trying to convince Matt and Molly to do a race with us some time too.  That would be a heckuva lot of fun.  I don't think that would take too much convincing.  If nothing else, maybe Molly would do Burrito Union with Lindsey and I next year.

Ah, that was a good post-ride beer.  Thank you Sierra Nevada.

Simple pleasure - climbing hills
Peace

I went in for physical therapy again this morning.  The guy I saw recommended a couple minor bike fit adjustments.  Aside from core strength (which I will talk about in a moment) one problem he saw with my bike is that one of the shifter/brakes is a little higher on the handlebars than the other causing one shoulder to be higher than the other and twisting my back slightly.  Though that in and of itself may not be enough to account for my back pain, that combined with very little winter riding then suddenly a lot of riding in the spring as well as a relatively weak core together probably did it.

This means there are some solutions.

1.  Adjust the placement of my brakes
2.  Don't neglect riding the trainer this coming winter (assuming I have any energy at all)
3.  Start some core-strengthening exercises.

I know my core isn't very strong.  I've never liked working on strength.  That goes back to high school where the weight room was dominated by football players.  Without rehashing high school politics (and nobody wants to hear that), we'll just say that I just couldn't stand the weight room so I avoided it at all costs.  That distaste for lifting and being in weight room carried over to college and beyond.  Now I know that core fitness is an important part of training for triathlon and that there are plenty of ways to go about taking care of my core fitness... but since I've never really stuck to any designed plan I've pretty much ignored strength exercises.

Now I'm paying for it.  So I've got a slate of exercises I need to do here at home.  If I want to get back out there and pound away on the bike, I need to take care of my core.  The physical therapist said I could start going on short rides (short is better than none, I guess), so that is good, but I need to be good about these exercises.  Hopefully this will get me back on the road to training regularly again.  That would sure be nice.

Simple pleasure - the wonders of air conditioning
Peace

I got home after work today not knowing what to make for dinner.  Tabbouleh was definitely on the menu because we have a bunch of fresh parsley that needed to be used, but I wanted something else as well.  Then I decided to make pico de gallo since we also had some cilantro that needed to be used too.  I went to the Co-op (I love you, Mississippi Market), and spent most of my time in the produce section (I love you produce).  Tomorrow I will make vegetable pasties (I love you food that comes from our mining history), but first things first.

My recipe for pico de gallo
~6 roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
2 halapenos, minced
1/2 can black beans, rinsed
1/2 can corn, rinsed
a whole bunch of finely chopped cilantro
~2  tablespoons of lemon juice
a few teaspoons of salt to taste
~1 teaspoon of Lizano Salsa
~1 tablespoon dry oregano
~1 teaspoon cumin

Mix it all up real good.  Adjust seasoning to taste.  Try not to eat too much all at once.  I'd be willing to bet that this will taste better after a night in the refridgerator.  Yum!

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I made an appointment to see a doctor tomorrow about my continually sore back.  It's a little worse today than it was the last couple days.  It's not as bad as it was a few weeks ago when I was hobbling around and almost forced to lay down, but it is keeping me from bending and moving naturally.  I think I am so tight that my posture is a little funny too.  It's been enough of a bother that I really havn't trained regularly in about a month.  Though my race schedule isn't super demanding this summer, I was intending on seriously competing in my races.  Not training is bad news.  So no, I am not incapacitated by this nagging soreness, but it is enough of a concern that I am ready to see a doctor.

I'm not sure what he'll tell me tomorrow, but I need something.  Maybe all I need is a core-strengthening program to follow.  Maybe there is more to it than that, but I need something.  Not training has really gotten frustrating.  5 days to my first oly of the season and though I know I'll be able to finish, I'm not happy with my overall fitness right now.

Simple pleasure - throwing a dish together without any guidance and having it turn out really well
Peace

I drove up to Buffalo late this morning so I could check out the race course for the Buffalo Triathlon next weekend.  This is my second of five scheduled races this summer, and my first oly.  I've heard from quite a few people that it's a good race and a pretty good sized race too.  On top of that, the race brings in a pro or two each year to compete as well.  This year the 70.3 world champion will be racing.  That's pretty cool.  Maybe I'll be coming on the bike in time to see him finish up his run.

I have to admit that I'm a little nervous about this race.  A sore back has kept me from running and off my bike for about three weeks or so.  I've also done less swimming (almost none, actually) than I really should have too.  Not that I'm concerned about finishing, but this won't be a super fast race for me.  There will be no age group placing for me next week.

The bike course is pretty, but pretty wide open in a number of places which will make the bike leg pretty difficult if it is windy like it was today.  There are also a number of rolling hills to contend with.  They're not big, but big enough to drop you down into your low gears.  A couple concerns I have about the course is the lack of road shoulders in some areas.  I doubt they'll close down the roads completely for us.  I guess I will just hope that there are enough cyclists around me that the cars on the road will have to respect us.  The other thing I am wondering about is that there is one turn that is part of a major downtown intersection in Buffalo.  That means it's sharp, there's little room to swing wide to keep up the speed, and there will probably be cars. 

The run is nice too.  Most noteworthy about it is a pretty long and steady hill about half way through.  It isn't steep, but by that time in the race, any hill is an unfriendly hill.  On the bright side, it is an out and back course, so I'll be coming back down the hill.  It's a little funny, though 'cause the turn around is at the top of the hill... in a cemetery.  I can see it now.  "Oh god!  I can't make it.  Let there be a hole in the ground somewhere where I can just lay myself into right now."

We'll see about the swim.  I just got an email from the RD of the Lake Minnetonka Tri saying that there will be a swim clinic on Thursday.  I may take advantage of that to see if there are any good tips I can pick up before Saturday.  I swim pretty well in general, but swimming in a pack is nothing like a pool lap swim.  I will also have to get to one of the lakes this week (tomorrow maybe) and practice my swim to bike transition with my wetsuit.  That'll be a new thing for me.

For now, though, it is shower time.  I am coated in a layer of salt and have an aroma.  I don't mind the aroma that much, but I will take pity on Sarah and the cat.

Simple pleasure - getting out in the sun
Peace

Though I would gladly fly Turkish Airlines Again, it is going to be quite a while before I am interested in spending anything like 11 hours on a plane again... especially when coming down with a  cold.  I didn't sleep a wink the whole flight.  Maybe by Wednesday or Thursday some pictures.  For now, though, sleep.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

While I haven't been neglecting my swimming, I've not been doing it as much as I really should.  Over at Beginner Triathlete, some of the Minnesota folks are doing a swimming challenge.  For the challenge, we do a 500 yard time trial to set a base time.  Then we'll do the time trial again every two weeks through some time in June to look at progress.  The organizer says that the person who improves the most gets the first burger off the grill after one of the more popular races in the state.  Should be fun.

I did my time trial last night after a 500 yard warm-up.  I was delighted with my time of 6:27, which works out to about 1:18/100.  This is an excellent time for me.  I don't know that I'll be able to significantly lower that time by June, but I'd be happy if I dropped that down to say 6:10 or lower. 

Since last night's swim was pretty short (I finished up with a 500 cool-down), I decided to do a longer swim tonight.  My goal was 3000 yards, but I would have been satisfied with 2500.  I wanted a decent pace that I could keep up the whole time.  The first 500 was done in a little over 8 minutes and it felt great.  My 500 splits went down from there, where the last 500 was under 1:30/100.  Though I was tiring a bit towards the end, I wasn't clamoring for the side and heaving like a fool.  It felt good, and I couldn't be happier with this swim, especially following last night.

So I feel good.  I feel like I've come a long way in the little more than two years I've been swimming.  I'm ready for the triathlon season to start.  To top it off, at 29,000 yards I am less from 300 yards from doing half the distance swimming so far this year as I did all year last year.  Things are going well.

Simple pleasure - roasting potatoes and sweet potatoes.  Yum.
Peace

I meant to do this a little while ago, but better late than never, right?  Here are my training totals from 2008:

Cycling:  1162 miles (that's about 320 more than I did in 2007, but quite a bit less than the 2k I wanted to do)
Running:  219 miles (kinda pathetic.  I wonder why my run is my weakest tri leg...)
Swimming:  64,000 yards (also not where it should be)

Though my training wasn't what it really should have been, I did have a good year winning and placing in my age group a few times.  I just know that if I find and stick to a good training plan, that I can do even better... maybe even contend in some smaller races.

Training Goals for 2009

• 2000 miles or more on the bike
• 600 miles of running
• 150,000 yards of swimming

Cycling-specific Goals for 2009

• Complete two century rides
• 49 mph

Running-specific Goals for 2009

• Complete a half-marathon in under 2 hours
• Get 5k time below 19:45

Triathlon Goals for 2009 (assuming a big trip somewhere or summer school doesn't interfere seriously)

• Chain of Lakes Tri - top ten finish and place in AG
• Buffalo Oly - feel good about finishing time (vague, I know, but it's a new race)
• North Mankato Tri - place in AG
• Graniteman Tri - see Buffalo
• Young Life Tri - See Graniteman
• Be in contention for the Minnesota Triathlon Series AG title

Some of these are a bit ambitious, but I think they're all attainable.  I got started on my base training much earlier this off-season than I have in the past.  I would also say that I am at right now, fitness-wise, where I was at March or April of last year.  This could be a very good year.

Simple pleasure - morning swims
Peace

3 weeks of teaching - done
If I can survive three weeks, I can survive a trimester.  If I can survive the first trimester, things will be just fine.  I have to say, though, it is very nice not having to think about school for a little while.  If I were smart, though, I would spend a bit of time each day getting all of my grading taken care of and having the first few weeks of the term planned.  It's a little hard to excuse myself and spread out the books and papers when there is company, and we're going to either have or be company for the next two weeks.

I finished talking about Afghanistan with my Global Issues students this week, so we'll be moving on to something else.  I have wanted to talk about poverty and homelessness.  But since my students are in many cases the faces of poverty and homelessness, I'm not sure how I would approach that.  They are important issues, but I am going to have to spend some time thinking about it and I may have to focus on those issues abroad.  I don't know.  Perhaps I will talk about food instead, which touches on poverty and resources.  I've got 13 (12... 11... 10... 9...) days to get things figured out.  I'll just have another cup of coffee for now.

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I haven't been running in over a week.  It's been cold and snowy, but that's really no excuse.  I know that I can bundle up enough to stay warm.  At the very least, I should put the bike on the trainer today and get sweaty.  I signed up for the January Challenge in the Minnesota forum of Beginner Triathlete.  The official goal is to get in 45 workouts during the month.  I've got no chance at all of getting that many in, so I am going to shoot for 26.  That is a workout every day with a rest day on the weekend. 

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Gary and Carol have been here since Wednesday, and it's been nice to visit.  Thursday, we went to Orchestra Hall for a "Scandinavian" Christmas concert.  I was hoping for music that is a little more like some of the new Scandinavian folk I like to listen to, but it was really quite good, of course.  We're really here in the Twin Cities to have a world class orchestra.  Sarah and I should really go more often.

We'll be going to the Swedish Institute in the next couple days, go out to eat somewhere, maybe go to the James J. Hill House or the Ramsey House and just try to sit and stay warm.  Right now, it is my job to have my coffee and wake up while they're at church and have pancakes ready shortly after they get home.

Simple pleasure - vacation!
Peace

Yesterday morning, I did my longest run ever!  Since I asked if people were interested in the Minnesota forum of Beginner Triathlete, I couldn't not show up despite the ~18 degree temperature and strong winds.  The south and southwest corners of the lakes we went around were brutal, but I did the whole 10.2 miles, which is about two miles farther than I've ever gone before.  It wasn't a fast run by any means (~9:30 miles), but it proved a couple things to me:

• there's no reason why I couldn't do a half-marathon
• I am capable of being more or less comfortable running outside in cold weather
• a good run relatively early in the morning (followed by coffee and a cinnamon roll from Isle's Bun and Coffee Co.) is a pretty good way to start a Saturday.

It also put me at over 211 miles of running for the year so far.  That's more than I've done since my track and cross country days and I am proud of it, but I know that I can (and should) easily do a few times that next year.  Simply running regularly makes it much less of a chore than the infrequent running I did most of this year and last year.

So I've got some running goals for next year.  One of them is to run a sub 20 minute 5k in a race, and the other is to run a half-mary, hopefully this one. 

Simple pleasure - one foot in front of the other
Peace

I went out for one of my longest runs in quite a while this afternoon - 8 miles, mostly along the river.  It was a great day for a November run being in the mid 30s, with no wind at all.  Very nice indeed.  I learned along the way, though, that the tempo of a number of the songs from The Sound of Music are either right on or very close to the tempo of my running cadence. 

I Have Confidence - check
Doe, A Deer - check
So Long, Farewell - check
Sixteen Going on Seventeen - check

Unfortunately, these songs are pretty repetitive, and since I don't know all of the words to all of the verses...


I have confidence in sunshine
I have confidence in rain
I have confidence that spring will come again
Besides what you see I have confidence in me!

Strength doesn't lie in numbers
Strength doesn't lie in wealth
Strength lies in nights of peaceful slumber
When you wake up
Wake up! It's healthy!

I have confidence in sunshine
I have confidence in rain
I have confidence that spring will come again
Besides what you see I have confidence in me!

Strength doesn't lie in numbers
Strength doesn't lie in wealth
Strength lies in nights of peaceful slumber
When you wake up
Wake up! It's healthy!

I have confidence in sunshine
I have confidence in rain
I have confidence that spring will come again
Besides what you see I have confidence in me!

Strength doesn't lie in numbers
Strength doesn't lie in wealth
Strength lies in nights of peaceful slumber
When you wake up
Wake up! It's healthy!

Yep, that was going on in my head for a few miles.

Simple pleasure - watching the miles pile up in my training log
Peace