Deferred Projects

I've been thinking a lot about my endurance sports time commitment. What would I do with the 500 hours each year dedicated to exercise if I hated exercise or, worse, found myself unable to exercise? Sleep would occupy a significant amount of that time for sure. But there are a number of things on my bucket list that aren't likely to become reality while I remain addicted to the multi-sport lifestyle. Here's what I've come up with:

1. Take a car apart and put it back together. I'm an engineer that doesn't know nearly enough about cars short of theoretical internal combustion engine problems. I love cars and would surely spend way too much money on them if I didn't already do that with bicycles. My bikes are actually worth more than my cars.

2. Learn Spanish. I find it a little embarrassing to be mono-linguistic (I think that's a word. If not, forgive me. I have an engineer's education. See #1 above). I had 3 years of French in high school. When touring France in 1989 I realized how little those 3 years prepared me for actually interacting with the French. Too much time spent on proper sentence structure and ordering from menus, not enough time spent actually learning how to converse in real time. Anyway, there are obvious reasons to learn Spanish while living in America. I think I'd try Rosetta this time.

3. Get life guard certified. I spend a fair amount of time around the water. Some day something bad's gonna happen and I want to be fully prepared. The number of teenie boppers and old men on the life guard chairs scares me. Despite the cost of entry, I might still make this happen some off season.

4. Become a jazz musician, not just a note player. I'm blessed with some genetic gifts for playing the trumpet. It sounds good, but the reality is I just know how to read notes and make a good sound (I'm just an engineer. See #1 above). Learning to play for real takes serious study and commitment. I would love to become a middle aged understudy of a great jazz musician, but am too addicted to endorphins to ever make it happen.

A couple of my college buddies are full professors at Penn State. One of them's on sabbatical. Geez... I can't even imagine. Think I could negotiate a paid sabbatical in my private industry job? :-)

Positive Feedback

First off, no announcement yet. It's looking like October 6th or so. Stay tuned...

The Lancaster YMCA Speedwell Forge race went really well on Saturday. I raced hard for more than 2 hours without any AFIB and FINALLY broke through for a podium spot by finishing 2nd in my age group and 15th overall. My tri club showed up in force, earning 5 podium positions - and 6 if you count local pro Andrew Yoder as part of the club (a stretch, for sure!).

Of note: I raced without a watch. The gun went off and I just went. My strategy? Get out front and stay there. It worked and was a blast! My fastest swim pace EVER. A solid ride, too, during which I averaged riding at 95% of my guesstimated threshold pace. The run hurt from the first few steps but I kept it going & put together my fastest tri run pace EVER. This no watch thing is the bomb for short course racing... Was totally focused on perceived effort.

I never thought I'd race shorter distances like this again. Soooo thankful and so fun! My '09 summary: 2 podium spots, a half marathon PR, and a solid IM70.3. I'd say the Endurance Nation training & execution philosophy is working out just fine.


A wince as I make my way thru the mud in front of the finish line!


Training buddy Ryan approaching the finish.


Training buddy Shane.


Training buddy Don.

It's Been a While

I'm still here but concentrating my blogging energies in a new & more appropriate direction. Hopefully I'll have an announcement in a little over a week!

Semi-structured training of 9 to 10 hours a week these days (I know what I plan to do but don't write it down). Getting prep'd for the Lancaster YMCA olympic distance triathlon on Sept 12th. I love that race and am excited to do it again in '09!