I'm back

Well it been a long and trying time for me. I am back. I am back to work. I am off the pain meds. I am still swolen but it should hopely get better soon. I am no longer sick. I been sick for so longer I do not know what its like to be healthy anymore. I will have to go back and get more work done in maybe 6 months but that is purely for cosmedic reasons.

I am getting a computrainer. Some people laugh they ask if I even have a bike and I am like yeah its a piece of junk but I have one. Its not too bad I just need to more training and hense the computrainer. I think I will spend hours on my bike on it so it will be well worth it. it is also alot cheapier than a trendmill, and alot more useful. Sorry for all you trendmill lovers out there.

I am looking for a road bike but it would not really help too much right now so I am going to wait and see what happens. Hopely I can find one used that fits me. You can get some good deals and 63cm bikes are not too popular in size. harder to find and but you may get them for alot less when you do find them.

Yesterday I did .5 miles swimming in about 25 minutes and walked 4.5 miles in about 1:10. I am not pushing myself on the walking to hard. I am just letting things heal.

I am a little hung over since I partied at yogis with everyone. It was fun. In many ways I will be sad when master swim is over but I do not know if 1 I need it anymore or 2 if I will get more out of it. I have gotten pretty good as pushing myself.

No new years plans at the moment. Sounds like the people I party with will not be there this year. Maybe I will just need to have a party at my house.

I am doing fine

Well I did my 1 hour on the bike trainer last night I got up went swimming for a mile but was not able to swim for 1 hour like I noramlly did. I was so sore and tired from yesterday though. I just did my mile in about 45 mins and left. Figuring I would not be able to work out for a few days after my surgery I wanted to make sure I got my excerise in today.

My surgery today went well and I am now sitting at home resting. The doctor gave me some vidodian so I can be very happy for awhile. :). I got my chicago marathon dvd in the mail today it was cool. I even got to see Lora in it.

Just my day

"Much like a cookie, I predict that the Yankee dynasty will crumble and the results will be delicious for Red Sox's fans everywhere." - Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino

Today at Master swim class it was the a hard day. 4 people in a lane and turns out I may be the slowest of the slowest swimmers out there I am the fastest off the wall. What does that mean? It means if a person is 1/3 the distance off the wall I may catch them by they reach the halfway mark. I had a guy who came close to the turn around so I took off because well I been on heals the whole way down on most if the other laps. Since he is faster overall he got slowed down by me at the end. So I got yelled at for pool ediucate. Ironicly one girl was coming close to the way she stood up early and was like let me go and I was like ok. I ended up standing up half way through becuase she was kicking me in the face and when I to swim again I had to break into kicking drills to slow myself down since I was all over her yet again.

still 2200 meters in 60 mins is not bad for me. it almost 1.3 miles in 1 hour.

Last night I walked the 5 mile course for the Alpine Tuesday night run. My knee does not seem any worse because of it. I did take forever to do it but it was nice being out there and I was doing alot of good thinking so even though my time was crap it was not a bad thing either.

I also put in a bid for a computrainer on ebay and I lost. :(. not sure if I wanted to win or lose. saving couple hundred dollars would be nice but it was 3 year old model and who knows how well it worked either. You take a chance on ebay.

The Why

"Ours not to reason why Ours but to do and die." - Alfred Lord Tennyson

Saturday was fun. I went to the new bagel place and talked to a few people. Julie B was like hi Todd bye Todd when I walked in. Atleast she said hi. One of the few people who did. You think going away for a month would cause people to be a little more friendly. Do not get me wrong my regular fans were not there or were like hey at the trotter party.

I did not walk. ok I overselt. I still hit the gym to swim 2.4 miles. Here are my splits. I did stop to pee at 1.2 miles and 2 miles. I thought maybe I could pushed it at 2 but I really so not want to stop once I start that last .4 miles.
That is the pace from start to that time. my last .4 miles I really kicked it in as you can see. Much better than my first 2.4 miles which I avg 3.50 min / 100m

23:06 800m 2.89 / 100m
46:43 1600m 2.92 / 100m
55:43 1900m 2.93 / 100m
1:31:00 3200m 2.99 / 100m
1:54:24 3850m 2.97 / 100m

Satuday night I bikes for 35 mins on the trainer but stopped because my crotch went numb. Decided I better get a new saddle. Hoping to get it on sunday but bears game was too long and exciting.

So since I wass not able to get my saddle I decided to take my chances on the current seat and stopped after 1:35 on the bike. I stopped since I had to sleep for swim class. Wish I could have done more. The movie Breaking Away was so good.

Today I know why I do not swim ever on Sundays atleast if I swim 2.4 miles. Man MAster swim class was brutal. No only some of my swimming muscles are sore but it was a speed day and I am completely exhausted. Oh well enw saddle and hopely 1 hour bike tonight.

Happy Hanukkah

"Put on your yalmulka, here comes Hanukkah
Its so much fun-akkah to celebrate Hanukkah" - Adam Sandler Hanukkah song

Well I was a lazy bum yesterday. I had the day off from work and I had to see the dentist. Being in the middle of the day it was hard for me to get anything in. I was so nervous about seeing the Dentist. The Dentist was like how long has it been and I told her 6 years. She was what and I am like 6 years. Man has it been that long. Last time I saw the dentist it was the day Bush got elected into presidency for the first time.

Wednesday I only swam 45 mins and in the evening I biked 45 minutes but I stopped since my knee was hurting. I may walk on saturday but no running except for drills. I look at my time though for the first 3 miles tuesday night and it was good. We walked the hills but ran 10:30s when we were not on the hills. I am getting faster just do not have the running endurance I used too. Come MArch I will be running again and kicking some major butt.

Well I was at WalMart yesterday and they are like Todd we have your PS3 you want. I was there and there it was the high level PS3 just looking at me telling me I need to buy it. Maybe I could have sold it on Ebay for $1000. man I did think of it at the time but I should have bought it and then hoped for the best. IT could been an extra $400 towards computrainer. Ok just checked ebay they are only going for slightly over store cost so glad I did not get it. Computrainer does seem like a waste of money but also seems like a good investment. The bike does not make one fast its the engine. The better you train that engine the faster you get.

My IM dreams are starting to disappear. As I think about all the things I would need like wet suit, Bike, and the money for the race itself. The dreams of doing an IM is going away for this year. Does not mean I stop training. As my friend Tom says "You can do the training even if you can not do the race that is the best part" I have faith though if it was ment to be the money will come. ITs not a physical issue but a monetrial one. My swimming I am there. Biking I am getting closer there I know the computrainer would get me there sooner than later. Running been there done that :).

Sometimes friends are not a good thing to have

Well last night I went out for a run. First of all that was a mistake. Well running was not a bad idea but I got running with Lawson and that was a mistake. Instead of being able to be lazy I got stuck running about first 3 miles of it at 10:30 pace. Lawson been struggling with pain also since his knee surgery. needless to say my running form was probably off for alot of it. instead of an outside moving drill it became a run. I probably should have walked with Pat and Shannon instead. My knee hurts more now then it did but maybe I ran down the hills too fast also so maybe I can run but I need to avoid hills for now. I did find out some sad news. One of the girls I wanted to date out has a terminal cancer is going to die in 3 to 6 months. I heard 6 months would be really risky also. I knew a relationship would not work out between us but I thought maybe it would been good for us anyways and well that idea is gone now. It seems so weird since she seems so healthy. Maybe its just a nasty rumor that is not true. I can only hope it is. I hope it never comes up in a conversation because what do you say to a woman who is going to die? Somehow the standard I am sorry for your lose just does not work.

Well after the run they were like hey you going to get a beer. I am like its only 7:30 I can stop by for a beer. I left at 7:55 and ended up not sleeping until after 9 pm. I should not have had the beer. Oh well My alarm went off at 4:15 I shut it off closed my eyes and opened it and it was 5:22. OMG I had 8 mins to drive 38 miles to master swim class. I was not going to make it. So I was like maybe I will go back to bed and decided that was a mistake and I got up and went to the gym. I did not want to show up at 6:30 as the master class was getting out because it seemed weird I should been there with my swimming friends and not afterwards. I got there too late though at 7:00 I wanted to be there about 6:45. I swam to 7:45 so I could idealy beat the recepitionist before she got there so I can leave at my time and not have her go hmm maybe he is leaving early everyday. I jsut take a 30 min lunch is all.

I have found oil/ Skinny for a day

Saturday I got to try out the computrainer. Wow. I loved it. It was most wonderful thing I ever did. It combined my love of biking inside, with the fun of racing a friend, and of course not dying. The race was great I totally kicked Lora's butt. Sure it was stopped half way through but still I would have won easy. I was good 600 ft ahead on a 3 mile course. Sure I was losing ground fast going up hill but if we were tied at the top I would have won since it was all down hill from there. It felt like I was outside and made it biking instead of just pedalling. Only problem is I have to start selling drugs in order to afford iot.

Before the race my bike was set for a 165 lbs person let me tell you being 165 made my life so easy. I was amased how much faster I could be if I weight alot less. Its real good motivation to lose weight since I have felt what it was like to be skinny for a day.

Drills, Drills, Drills. I been drilling alot. Satuday and today I been drilling for 30 mins. Running drills that is. I found myself doing alot of bad habits and I am trying to break them. No wonder I got injuried I was running all wrong. So its back to the drills. Swimming its better by drillling since I gone down to :59 for 50 meters. I jsut need to be able to keep that up for 100 meters next.

Another Day Another Lbs

My view that you can gain weight while the scale goes down and you can lose weight while the scale goes up seems to be true. Today I am down to 287.6. 1 lbs from yesterday. Unless the holidays are bad for me I will have conquered the 90s. Right after I got out of the pool though the gym scale said I was 304 but that scale always tells me higher than the regular scale I use and I also had all my clothes on and swim gear on my back. :).

Traffic has been so bad I decided to swim last night after work and I am thinking tonight will be no different. besides I did not do anything tuesday after all either so tuesday will have been my rest day for the week. As for tommorrow not sure if I should walk or run. knee been great and I been doing some running drills but I do not want to push it since well frankly in 2 weeks I will be pushing it again. Its nice to be on a training plan again. I missed it. like I said I think I will run 3 days a week, swim 4 days and bike like 3 days. I need to figure it all out. I am going to train alot harder this year for the marathon than any marathon I have done before. I am going to be smart though and put in less miles on the pavement. The marathon is a nice soft trail anyways so it will be fine. Frankly I do not want to DNF this race. I DNF twice this year and never again. Plus we all know what is going to happen in March. Lora wants revenage for the fact that she has never beaten me at that race. EVen if she beats me she will never get another shot at it again.

Jesus IS magic

Well last night I finally saw Jesus is Magic. It was great. Sarah Silverman is funny and beautiful and sexy and white. ok if you seen the movie you will understand what I am talking about. A bonus clip on the dvd I just had to share. Its perfect for this holiday season.



Well my room is almost back to normal and that means the bike can come out again. ok I have not been biking because of the room so much but the knee. I realised that I have not been steretching enough. I looked at the stretching chart I have in my cube at work and it says 3 reps 2 times a day for 30 secs. omg I only been doing 10 secs. Yesterday evening I did some running drills. It occured to me if I have good form I should not be using my quads so how can they be tight and hurt me. I use them for swimming and biking though. My quads burn on the kick board really bad. So with all the stretching my knee is alot better and I know what Iw as doing wrong. I may only walk on satuday but I will be out there.

Maybe I should walk some tonight just to be sure. If my gym had an indoor track I would be all over it. I am going to hit the pool tonight since I did not get up this morning since I could not sleep last night.

Good news scale says I am down to 288.2 lowest of the year. I am pushing forward and I may very well be able to get to 50 lbs lost for the year.

The other big difference from last year no injury to this year is last year I stretched alot. Simple fact of life. you may stretch 15 mins after an hour run but its something we all need to do.

Its on !!!!!

"Y'all just mad. Because today, you suckers got served. Served. Served. Served! Served!" - David from the Movie You got Served
from South Park Season 8
"
Sharon Marsh: Well, Randy, that was some great advice you gave our son yesterday.
Randy Marsh: What?
Sharon: Those kids showed up to serve Stan again, and he danced back.
Randy: Well, what happened?
Sharon: It's on."

You bet its on. Lora things she can beat me on March 18th, 2007 at March Madness. Well one thing led to another and its on. Now she is not injuried and I am. how can I beat her since even healthy I could not beat her. Simple I am me and she is not me. Todd > Lora anyday of the week.

Ok game plan.
1) Work on form. Form will prevent injury.
2) Lose more weight. She is skinny she can not drop weight. I can I can drop lots of it. if I can get down to 250 by then she is in big trouble. thing about it. I was like 310 for my last half and did a 2:40:00. If I get down to 250 it will be like 60 lbs lost and in theory a 30 min gain in time. That brings me right to 2:10:00.
3) More cross training. I am also a tri athlete which bring that number to 2:00:00.

Can she beat a 2:00 half marathon time? I think not. I am not even counting in speed I can gain from proper form. Man I am good.

Today I did my swimming about 1:15 did a over a mile
I did 9 reps of the tibeatean 5 rites and alot of streching. good news is my knee feels like there is less pull. when the pain stopped before it still felt tight and now tightness feels pretty gone. I need to stretch more and more.

Two weeks

I have only 2 weeks off until well its marathon training season again. Man Time flies when your having so much fun. I will probably use alot of biking for mid week runs until it gets nicer out or snow melts. I will do my best to do my long runs on saturdays. Cool thing about living right off the course when I start doing my 14+ mile runs and I need more water but the water stops are not out that far I can stop at home and get my water belt.

Well my knee is getting better again after it started hurting. It occurs to me my quads take a real beating during my swims and they are getting tight again so I been stretching and the knee been recovering. Its easy to get lazy with flexiblity since I know I do not see the direct value in it but when we get hurt all we can think about is how we should have streched. I am going to start biking again tonight I think.

This morning I was a good boy. I swam for 1:15:00 and then lifted for :30.

I have learnt from my Tanita scale I have the metabolism of a 50+ year old and I need to build more muscle if I want that to lower that score. No wonder I have such a hard time trying to drop weight.

Since 2.4 miles was hard but not too hard I am thinking about doing 2.4 miles every weekend now. One of the best ways to get better at a distance is to do it alot. Plus it going to make my 1.2 mile swims seem more. I love my master swim program.

Saturday

"I dropped out of college my junior year to do Saturday Night Live, and I didn't even consult my parents. They were very supportive because they had no choice." - Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Satuday was a good day for me. I swam 2.4 miles. I felt I could go even farther. I did get really tired though once I got out of the pool for awhile and eat something real for lunch. Still the 2.4 miles was alot easier for me than I figured. I thought for sure I would be more than exhausted and not get close to making it. The key for me was really form, form, and more form. I would not be surprised once my HIM comes that I do the 1.2 miles in 30 - 45 mins. I need to work more on the bike again. Enough trainer time I should be able to do 56 miles on the bike easily for the HIM. I am thinking more and more that signing up for Kona was not a mistake. having now complete 2 of out the 3 events in an IM really makes me feel an IM is in reach.

Now for Saturday night. I got 2 awards at the Arlington Trotter end of the year party. I got an acheivement award for my 8 hour race. Anyone who does an Ultra gets one. The trophy I got for the "Slow but Deadly" award. No one really sure what that means since the main person who's job was to come up with the awards was not there. I think it means basicly I am big and slow but does not mean I am not an amasing runner.