Planning to plan and plansssssss.....

Planning next year.

I have so many dreams and goals.

Baby steps , sure - but wonderful things for me if I can pull them off.

NO, I still have not determined what tri's I want to do but I am getting there. I will definitely do the Trek again- it was so much fun and close to home. And all chicks. And chicks, as you know, rock. No homo.

I have signed up for the Long Island Half Marathon, however - and I totally think it is doable. Now, I am saying this having cut down drastically on my running these past two months. But I still think I can do it and have fun.

I have been going to swim class but I am as slow as all get out. Not sure what to do about that, but I damn sure better have soe kind of technique by spring the way I have been drilling! I have found a really cool resource - the Coney Island Brighton Beach Open Water Swimmers. I chatted with a chick that swam with them last year - a novice newbie slow one like me (or so she says) and she really recommended them. I think I will give it a try come late April or May (once the water warms a bit). I am hopeful, as I want to enter a race on Staten Island that everyone says is fun and flat. The swim is in the bay. It would make for a good season opener; although I am not for the crazy crowded stuff. I will have to see.

There have been some ....interesting....articles in the New York Times over the past few months about endurance athletes....one about slow people in the marathon, and more recently one about Triathletes with injuries...this one. I am not sure why Triathlon has been singled out - and why they chose a 61 year old athlete to highlight ....

I also got a great book, a real meat and potatoes tri book "The Triathletes Training Bible". There is so much in there I don't understand yet but am starting to grasp the concept of - lactate thresholds and such....but realy I need to find a plan and stick to it!

Send In The Clowns

This congestion is lingering and I don’t like it, no sir, not one bit. I can’t figure out what it is at all, but it’s interfering with my drive to work out. I haven’t been in the pool for about 50 years and it’s depressing me. Running or anything else for that matter is only marginally better, but spin class is downright enjoyable, even when I feel like my legs are LITERALLY going to fall off.

Oh, and its amazing how much liquid my body can sweat off in an hour; so I am already accomplishing amazing physical feats.

I have picked up two very interesting books about training however – Triathlon Training in 4 Hours a Week by Eric Harr and Triathlons for Women by Sally Edwards. There are probably one or two more I want to pick up but really, I just need to get going with logging these daggone workouts.

I signed up for a boot camp which just started- I figured this 4 weeks will help jumpstart me out of these doldrums and maintain fitness. It’s 3 days a week at the ungodly hour of 5:30 AM. I can’t believe I made it through the first class – not that the workout was hard, because it wasn’t. I just couldn’t believe I got out of bed at 4:30 in the morning for anything other than death, violence or fire. I amaze myself. Not so amazing was my evening exhaustion. I went to bed – didn’t fall asleep but WENT TO BED at 10 pm. That is unheard of. I am usually reading or watching Frasier re-runs at 12:30 AM. Now I can’t make it through the disgusting reality shows, I mean I missed Dancing With The Stars and For the Love of Ray J ! Unbelievable. This could actually be a good thing.

On my way to work yesterday, I saw the circus train. For real! Not that I was aware that it existed. A big long train , on each car it said “Ringling Bros and Barnum and Bailey Circus” and a round circle that said “The Greatest Show On Earth”. It was modern and looked to be about 12 cars long. The train I was riding cozied up next to it for a good few minutes, and though all the window shades were pulled I got to wonder alot about the irony of where I was at that moment....

Maybe I was on the wrong train. Maybe the circus train is my train of thought. But that train already left the station. Or maybe this triathlon training is a circus. I tell you what, it will be one of the greatest shows on earth if I don't get my ass in the pool soon!