Quintuple Your Pleasure, Quintuple Your Fun

I realized I haven't updated in a couple weeks.

This is the time of year that weird stuff just materializes.
You think you've got your schedule planned out, and then something new hits you right in the teeth.

My recovery is fine. I'd say I'm 90 percent. I need to get flexible to make it to 100%.
I'm pretty tight still.

You may have read the sidebar, but let me fill you in.
I was content on going back to Virginia for the Triple, but then I get an email from Pete(deca dude, as I have come to call him in the blog):
"Wanna race Monterrey next year?"

Ummm....YES.
So I do some thinking and scheming.
I bounce the idea off Eileen Steil, one of the only American ladies to ever finish the Deca.
We come to the conclusion that I'm too young for the Deca...but not for the Quin.

I'll be 27 next year. Still a solid 10 years off of peak.
There's a chance, if I am smart, that I can really do ok at this Ultra triathlon thing.
Who knows.

Some new developments:
-Sponsors are coming in slowly. Rocky Mountain has given me a great deal and terms on a bike frame, as well as some pretty amazing clothing.
-now going to Northern Physical Therapy 5 days a week to work out and do injury prevention.
-Beginning to work with a nutritionist so that I can get everything I need to out of my diet.

I guess things are coming together pretty early, which is a good sign.
This morning I had a moment of hesitation....is it too early to be "in the zone"?
Then I remembered one of my favorite quotes of all time:
"There is no such thing as burnout...just loss of appetite."
Wish I could remember who said that.

I don't think there's a worry for loss of appetite.
There are a few goals that I won't be posting on here that are keeping me quite hungry.
Big things.

Never in a million years when I started this triathlon thing did think I would be even considering races like these.
I feel very blessed to be supported by so many amazing people.
The caliber of people around me is top notch, and I could never be doing what I am doing now without the circle of friends that I have.
Thank You.

krp

Win Win

Lots of exciting things going on this week.

Got two good runs in this week.
The first 40 minute run was interesting. Felt rusty and lots of weird kinks.
Tonight's 45 minute run was amazing. Effortless.
I need to share this.
The world of pain I went into during the triple has upped the ante. I can't explain it, but I felt so different out there tonight.
A new confidence or something. The pain threshold has been raised. I want to test it so badly, but I know its too early for that.

Bob, the store's Rocky Mountain rep is checking into getting me a new bike frame. Carbon. Sexy. This is long overdue...my bikes pushing 10 years old!

So ready to dive back in.

It feels so good to be back.


kp

Holding Down the Human Torch

I'm going nuts.

There's this void that needs to be filled.
While I have recommitted to training, that training is not even close to fulfilling the needs of my addictive personality.
1 Hour walks just don't cut it.
3x per week at PT for 2 hours doesn't do it for me, either.

Something's gotta tire me out.
Something's gotta get me outside of myself.

I'm turning to the wrong things right now. Gross food. Beer like crazy.
In short, I'm being a slob.
Real, mind-clearing training- the thing that ties my life together- is not there.

I thought I'd be past this mental point..pushing on 3 weeks out from the Triple.
Truth is, my frustration is starting to get worse every day.

I want it so bad and I can't have it.
It's like there's this fire just waiting for the right amount oxygen to turn into a full-blown explosion.

Maybe, this is exactly what I need to take things to the next level.
It's tattooed on my skin.

"Don't waste the fire."

I will not be held down.

Cause and Effect

Took a walk last night. 45 mins.
Kept a cadence of 80-90 on stationary bike for 12 minutes this morning.

I'd say I'm on the comeback trail.
I know that recovery is not linear, so I expect a setback or two over the next few weeks.

Life is good, for the most part.

In setting up my race schedule for the next 2 years, I've come to the realization that I need sponsors, or take the pauper lifestyle to the next level.
I hate asking for money from people. Hate it.
I feel like me asking for money to go race is like someone asking for sponsorship to go to the bar on the weekends. How is it different? Both are recreational activities.

I think I need a cause.

There are times when I think what I do is very selfish. These events are all about me, and I so hate that idea. I've been given the mental and physical ability to do super-distance races.. I should be doing it for good reason.

If I had a cause, I wouldn't feel bad asking for money, and I would be helping a little bit too.

I sure am rambling.

Anyhow, I have the Triple on tap for next year as my "A" Priority race.
However, my grand focus will be the DecaIron in 2011. Only a handful of Americans (under 10) have finished. In case you're wondering, that's 10 Ironmans in 10 days.
Hopefully, I can take what I've learned over the course of this year and apply to injury prevention for the next couple of years and have some good training.

kp

IT LIVES!

"So Kale, what have you been up to since your drop from the VA Triple?"

Umm.
Let's just say my booze tolerance is going up.
Let's just say my social life is through the roof.

I've been really making an effort to keep myself busy.

The first few nights back in Presque Isle, I came home from work and just sat there, thinking.
Thinking is no good. You think yourself into a deep dark hole.

Remember in Talledega Nights when Ricky Bobby quits Nascar, and in the bar his old assistant gives him this pep talk?

"It's because it's what you love, Ricky. It is who you were born to be. And here you sit, thinking. Well, Ricky Bobby is not a thinker. Ricky Bobby is a driver. He is a doer. And that's what you need to do. You don't need to think. You need to drive."

I can draw a parallel to this Ricky Bobby quote.
When I lived in Waynesboro, I got all messed up in the head. Thinking. Alone all the time.
Too much introspection is like holding a mirror in front of a mirror and trying to figure out which reflection is the good one.

My mantra since that time has been..."All I know is Go."
Apply it to life. Apply it to whatever.
Just keep going. Screw everything else. No one can take away your will to keep going.
It's yours.

So I'm starting to Go again.

10 minutes on the bike this morning is a start. Northern Physical Therapy...I cannot say enough for what they've done for me.

I've been given the OK to start swimming a little.

Some who know me are worried as they read this. "It's too soon".
It's not. I'm moving. I'm not going hard. This is the time of year to just chill and have fun.
Nothing serious.

I feel like the Frankenstein that has been put back together. My movement will be slow and ugly at first, but that's cool. Ugly is cool.

I'm alive. And it feels great.

kp

Body Snatchers

Oooh, I forgot about this part.
The taper.

Every twinge creates a panic:
"Is it an injury? Am I going to feel this next week?"

Difference is, I'm mature enough now to think rationally.
I used to stress out big time.
My body feels great overall.
I'm getting more sleep than I have been for the last 6 months.
I just need to stretch. I've been telling myself all along- if I'm going to DNF, it'll be because of a flexibility issue. With that in mind, the next week is going to be crazy full of looong stretch sessions morning, noon, and night.

The other part to this taper thing is the continuation of an addiction.
It's a well-known fact that people who spend a significant amount of time training for a race can fall into a depression after the event.
The way you build your life around it and sacrifice so many things for it...when it's gone, you feel empty.
I've never really felt that before, mostly because I am always looking ahead anyways.
So to talk of continuing the addiction...I'm already looking at next year.

I'm not going to make declarative statements, because whenever I do that, things don't happen.

There are certain events I am eyeing.
I want to go longer. I want to go faster. I want to move without thinking...and my body to repair itself on less sleep than ever before. I want doctors to be baffled and insurance companies to be weary of covering me. I don't want to be human.

Bring it.

14 days. A Brief.

I've been going about the last couple of weeks all wrong.

The thought process has been...."I HAVE TO do this, HAVE to do that."
As a result, training during september has been stressful and unenjoyable.

Somewhere along the line, I forgot to have fun. I was so wrapped up in the consequences of not training that I lost sight of why I do these things.

I'm glad I got my head in the right place in time. If I had carried that attitude into Lake Anna, I would have forgot to have fun during the race, and that would have surely ended in a DNF.

Got to remember that I love the scenery, the relaxed feeling I get after working out, and the time alone to sort out my thoughts.
It'll be here before I know it.

In 14 days to this moment, I will be doing my second Ironman swim.
In 15 days to this moment, I will be glad to see sunlight after riding my bike all night.
In 16 days to this moment, I will hopefully still be upright, plowing through miles of running with only one thing in mind...a finish line.

I think I'm going to play this one song by Nonpoint the entire time in VA...
Still Alive and Kickin'....

kp