First update in a while

So my friends have been running out of things to make fun of me for and have asked that I get back to blogging so they can pick up steam. Anyway, here's a quick update on my training and how things are progressing.

My ITB really killed running for the last 8 weeks. Having said that, with a combination of stretching and homebrewed physio, it's feeling pretty good and I'm starting to build up mileage again. On Monday, I put down my first 7+ miler in 8 weeks and everything felt great. Even better, with all the riding and swimming I've been doing, I didn't notice that much deconditioning. Ran 6:45/mile and that felt fine.

While I've kept the running mileage to a minimum, I've been riding a tonne. I joined a local triathlon team (SBR Multisports) a few months back and have been putting in a lot of time on the bike with those guys. I've adopted their training system that is heavily based on periodization and it has really helped improve my fitness level. I build up mileage and duration over 3 weeks and then take a low-volume rest week. The 4-week process continues up until about 2 months before my Ironman at which point I start to work primarily on intensity.

Training highlights over the past few weeks have been long 5-hour rides in and aroudn Nyack, NY. I've been trying to get these workouts out of the way early on Saturday mornings to reduce the impact on my weekend. That said, it has been draining a lot of my energy and I've needed a lot more sleep -- in the words of one of my friends, "this Ironman shit has to go... it's seriously affecting fun." Oh well.

My race schedule is pretty finalized at this point, with my A race being the Chesapeakeman and my B race being the Lake Placid Marathon and the NJ State Triathlon. C races include the two corporate challenges and a possible sprint in upstate New York.

Not much other news. Getting pumped to pick up my P2C this month and little bit of other gear. Oh, and for anyone who is interested, my buddy's new bamboo bike business is really taking off and is definitely worth checking out.