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Well, I am definitely over the hump. My fears that I was going to become a couch potato, inactive bum and blow back up to over 200+ pounds have finally begun to subside. I am definitely back into my training and eager to do more. I think part of the reason for my pleasure in training has a bit to do with my reading Christopher Bergland’s book “The Athletes Way” He takes a lot about creating a flow that has its origination from the cerebellum part of the brain. I am badly paraphrasing what he discusses, so you will just have to get the book to find out what he is talking about. Let’s just say that I am trying to think with a different part of my mind or at least in a different way when it comes to training.

So far it has been working well. I am viewing each workout as a pleasurable experience and I am leaving myself wanting more. Today I ran a fantastic 7.4 miles in Prospect Park. I was with my friend Larry who wanted to stop after two loops. I wanted to go a third, but I decided that I was going to stop wanting more. This way I remain eager to get out there again. I don’t want to get burned out. I want to keep this feeling of anticipation and wanting more. I like wanting more. I like the feeling of still wanting to go longer, aching to see how far I can take it. I want to work myself back up to the point where I am running for hours and it feels like I’ve only gone for minutes. I want to get back to the point where I come home from a workout, completely spent and satisfied.

I love the distance. I love the pain of it. I am not satisfied when I can’t take it long. I feel like I am not doing my best when I am unable to go long. For me it has always been about the endurance and how extreme the event/workout is.

Speaking of extreme events, I am happy to report that I have once again won a lottery spot into the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon. I didn’t think I would get it and doing so, brings with it a measure of sadness. The event falls on the same day as the Eagleman Half Ironman; another event I was greatly looking forward to doing. I am supposed to go to that event with my friend Todd and I really want to go. However, getting into Alcatraz is so damn hard and it is such a unique and challenging race, that I don’t see how I can turn down the opportunity. I’ll have to reconcile this somehow.

New entry posted on secret location blog. Email me or leave a comment for new address. Those who should not have my new address know who they are.

I’ve been in a pretty good mood lately. Each day I am looking forward to doing my training and breaking a sweat. I am not doing anything too strenuous and perhaps that is good. It is keeping me from burning out and looking forward to more. I’ve been particularly enjoying going to the gym during my lunch hour and doing strength training exercises. I could feel the difference in my strength the other day when I did a swim session. I had worked on my lats the day before and I could feel the muscle fatigue every time I pulled through my stroke. It wasn’t so much a fatigue as it was more of recognition that I had worked the muscles recently. In fact, I felt stronger pulling through the water than I have in a very long time. If felt good. I swam for 3000 yards and wanted to go more. I resisted the urge though and pulled myself out of the water. I want to keep the feeling of wanting to do more.

Besides my training, I’ve also been balancing out my life with a fair amount of partying. I’ve gone out with friends or to parties several times in the past week or so. I am drinking as much as I feel like and enjoying myself. It is a pleasure just to live a relaxed life and not be so disciplined with my training, but not ignoring it either. For now I feel as though I’ve reached a balance between work, training, family and play.

This morning I opened to a page from my training play book that I haven’t looked at in a long time. I was awake by 4am in the morning and after a quick snack, decided to go out for a run instead of back to bed. It was cold and dark and Prospect Park was completely deserted. I made it around the entire loop without seeing another living soul on it. Just the way I like it. I love being in the park at that hour of the day. I love how desolate it feels, how lonely. I feel like I am a Martian walking on an alien planet. The only thing that marred the run for me was the fact that my bowels decided to no longer be constipated when I was the furthest point from home. I spent two miles of my run praying that I could make it back home without shitting myself. I contemplated ringing the bell to the house of a friend that lived nearby, but I didn’t think he would appreciate being woken at 4:30 in the morning because I wanted to take a shit in his bathroom. I made it back home without completely soiling myself.

After doing my business and cleaning up, I went back to bed and woke back up at 8am. I felt completely rested and refreshed and if not for the file stored on my Heart Rate monitor I would have had no proof that I actually went outside at 4am. It was really like the run never happened. I was literally the bear that shat in the woods that no one saw. I was feeling so good today, that I even ducked out of a meeting at work for a while so I could escape to the gym and do a strength training workout. I finally feel like I am getting back in shape.

So I seem to have developed a fairly consistent routine again. I am finding myself able to wake up in the morning and get in a workout. Also, I am getting to the gym at lunch to do some much needed strength training. Its amazing how much you lose when you don’t use it. I am not exactly week, but I can see it in my body and the weights that I am able to lift, that strength training sessions have been long overdue.

Most of my workouts have been indoors. I’ve been using the warmth and comfort of my basement to as a crutch to getting them in. I can just space out and watch TV while a run or bike. So far it has been working out nicely, although this morning, I think I may go outdoors for my run. It has been a while since I saw Prospect Park before sunrise. I guess I’ll see what is on TV first. I’ll report back here later.

To new blog location – 12/6/07 5:35am

So I haven’t exactly learned my lesson regarding drinking since my big Migraine this past Sat/Sunday. I wound up going out for drinks both Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Fortunately, I didn’t drink to excess; that is I didn’t come home completely fucked up. No, I just drank in moderation like an upstanding American male. So far though, I’ve managed to get in all of my workouts except for a swim last night. I’ll give myself a pass on that one though.

Last nights occasion to be out drinking was at a “well know search engine company’s” customer appreciation get together at the NikeID Studio at Niketown NYC. They had an open bar, which contained Captain Morgan, Hors D’Oeuvres, pizza, dessert and best of all, you got to design a customized pair of Nike sneakers.

By the time I left it was getting to the point where if I didn’t get home, I wouldn’t be able to see my kids off to bed. I decided to forgo a swim workout in order to spend some quality time with them. I was glad I did. I had a lot of fun with my children in the short time I had with them before they went to sleep. Definitely more fun than swimming a lonely 2000 yards in the pool. I can always make up a swim, I can’t recover lost time with my children.

A new post has been added to the secret location. Contact me for details

So today is a day off. The first one in over a week. I went out with my friend David last night to my annual Triathlon club holiday party and got myself completely toasted. I came home with a migraine headache which only got worse as the morning wore on. I started to beg my wife to take me to the emergency room. I thought I was going to die. Fortunately, my brother is a doctor and he was able to phone in a prescription of Imitrex and some sort of suppository to help control my nausea. I was in total agony, hallucinating and throwing up mouths full of stomach acid. I couldn’t even keep down water.

I’ve now been up for over 24 hours. I don’t know what is keeping me awake. At least I am starting to feel hungry again. I should try to eat soon.

So I’ve been sadly lacking for inspiration to train, but perhaps I finally did something inspirational. Before my wife left for Spain in the beginning of the summer, she had sent to my office as a surprise a 3 poster set of the Ironman World Championships in Kona. Well it took me 3.5 months, but I finally got the posters framed and hung in my office. Now when I walk into my office, I am reminded of the athlete I once was and how it would be nice to get back into that sort of shape.

On the night that I hung up the posters, I had my first desire in a while to get on my bike. It was only 45 minutes in my basement, but it was a start. I backed that up with another 1 hour ride this morning and then a 4000 yard swim this afternoon. My first double workout day in quite some time.

What it is though, is that I need something in my life beyond training. I need a closer and warmer relationship with my wife. The closeness I have with my children is great, but I am left feeling empty and lacking for adult companionship. My training took away that loss for quite some time, but 5 years into my training, I find myself wanting more. I just don’t know how to get it. Maybe as I walk into my office everyday, I’ll see those posters and the fire to be the best triathlete I can possibly be will come back. Training hard makes you too tired to care about anything else or at least makes you forget what you are lacking in other areas for a while.

Tomorrow I am going to do the Turkey Trot in Prospect Park with my friend Larry and his family. At least the one thing I have through my training is a network of friends that I can share my experiences with.