Well!

Well, folks. I'm back. Yes, a long absence, I know, for which I have no excuse but sheer laziness. Not in my training. Just in the recording of it, which seems more and more absurd. I mean, who really cares if I ran a half mile in 2 minutes, or swam a quarter mile in 15 seconds, or whatever? Well, I've been sufficiently harassed by at least one reader of this blog--perhaps THE one reader--to get back to it, that I've decided to dive back in. Besides, it makes it seem official.

As usual, I haven't registered for any races, though many folks from the TRILAB group have been harassing me to get on the stick. Wildflower is the name that keeps coming up. A friend and I have officially decided to tackle Malibu. What I'd like to do, frankly, is try for a half-Ironman this year. Yes, I know. Didn't I swear--maybe even on this blog--not to do such an absurd thing? But old promises die easily, or some such nonsense. The Ironman looms. And the thing is that if you're training for half-Ironman distances, then Olympic-distance races become WORKOUTS and not peaks. So if I want to try to hit LA again--which I'd still like to do, hopefully getting my time down to below 2:20--I can. I can even do sprints here and there.

I think the whole season should really be peaking for a half-Ironman late in the season, and just throw in some sprint and Olympic distances throughout the season. Noooo problem!

Secretly, I've been back in training, though I haven't really been doing more than one sport/day...today I did 2000 meters in the pool, for instance; last week I did 2 25-mile rides and a couple of runs. One sport a day, focusing on form and endurance, taking it pretty easy for the most part, only pushing now and then when the urge is irresistable.

One troublesome worry: my knees have started hurting! Not severely, just some minor pain that makes me think, hmm, hope that just means time for new shoes! I do hope that's all it is...I was running a really easy 4.5 miles yesterday and the second I picked up the pace AT ALL, bango, the knees started feeling it. I eased off (though I didn't want to, I wanted to keep pushing the speed, of course!), and went in to get some new New Balance 991's, my personal favorite shoe. They were out, but that's okay; I was going to avoid running this week regardless. I'll cycle tomorrow and see how they feel. Hope that riding will be okay for now. Swimming is no problem. In fact, I'm almost ready NOW with my swimming distances for 1/2 Iron distance. I can probably get away with two swims a week once I'm into training hard again. The swim is 1.2 miles, a distance I more than covered in my workout this morning. I've got to just bite the bullet and do long weekend rides of up to 65-70 miles. Maybe more. Plus a long run on the other weekend day. Rest of the week can really be pretty similar to my training last year--some short speed bike and running work, a couple of swims, a couple of middle-distances biking and running. Should work out!

I've been thinking I will need to get together with a group to train. LA Tri Club, maybe? They do long Saturday AM rides that I've been meaning to do. If/when my knees are okay, maybe I should get into a running group, too? I'd like to do track workouts in Santa Monica if possible. And there's always SCAQ for swimming. But cycling has to be my focus for awhile. If I have a weak event, that would be it, just because I don't spend enough time on the bike...yet!!

Anyway, here's hoping again that my knees will be cool with the new shoes after a week of rest from the pounding of running, and that I'll find an event that will accept me...

A