No More Excuses

The recent bad weather, i.e. crazy SoCal rain, has given me quite a nice excuse for not training all that much lately. I think about going for a run while I sip my tea in the warmth of my house and then I realize that my shoes are wet b/c I left them outside in the rain. "Oh well, guess I'll go for a run tomorrow", I think to myself.



It has been a few days since our last rain and I am pretty sure that my shoes are dry. I can't seem to come up with any decent excuses so I have decided to get back out there. I am planning on a 10 mile run today...take tomorrow off...then back out there for a 50-mile bike ride on Sunday.

The California 70.3 is looming out there in the distance like a big creeper set wave ready to crash on my dome b/c I was not paying enough attention. No more excuses...time to train.

It's cold out there...

I hate being cold. I'd rather be running through Death Valley in a sweat suit than jump into a pool in freezing weather or run around the bay with a brisk breeze and cold temps. Although, admittedly, when I refer to freezing weather it is about 50 degrees outside. I will be the first to admit that this is not that cold compared to the rest of the world. However, that just goes to show how much of a wuss I am when it comes to being cold.



With all that said I am off for a run. I am shooting for 10 miles but may freeze to death and have to stop for a cup of coffee somewhere along my route.

Nice little run

I went for a 10-mile run this morning around the Bay. Very easy. My legs felt good and I never got tired. I have been listening to Malcolm Gladwell's book, What the Dog Saw, on my ipod. Makes things go by pretty fast. Nothing exciting happened to report about. Kind of a boring run.



Tomorrow I will get on the bike and attempt a 50 miler.

Las Olas Son Muy Grande

The waves have been firing here in San Diego. I took the day off of training and went surfing yesterday afternoon. It was 70 degrees outside and the waves were 6 - 7 feet. It was pretty nice for an early January afternoon.



There are only ten weeks until my next Half Ironman race. I am feeling in shape but really haven't pushed it in a while. I will run this afternoon and go for a long bike ride tomorrow morning (if it doesn't rain). I'll let you know how it goes.

Why I stand instead of squat

I experimented with squatting...it's not what you think.

Ouch...I'm sore. I decided to do some new exercises the other day in the confines of my own home. One such exercise involved me holding a 25 lb. weight while squatting down to the floor and back up again. I did this about 45 times. There's something about squatting down to the ground with a look of agony on your face that just shouldn't be repeated intentionally if you know what I mean.

Another exercise involved simply jumping while scissor kicking in the air. I thought, "this is stupid...what good can jumping possibly do".

Well...the next day when I got out of bed I nearly fell over b/c my legs wouldn't work. Apparently, all the squatting and jumpting actually works some muscle that, up until that day, had never been worked before.

Yesterday I decided I was ready to go for a run...I was wrong...very wrong. As I started limping away from my house I realized that maybe this was a bad idea. I made it eight miles but it felt like fifteen. I still hurt. I'm never squatting again.

Freezing Fresno Run

Went for a 14-mile run in the cold up in Fresno over the break. Glad to live in sunny SoCal.

For the twentieth time I will attempt to update this more regularly. My next Half Ironman is only a few months away!