One Last Bowl of Ice Cream...

Four hours, forty-five minutes and the off-season officially ends and the rituals begin: the early rise ~ early to bed, the achy muscles, the fatigue. The black toenails, the chafing. Frozen fingers and toes. Ridiculous yardage in the pool. Hours on the bike. The mental roller coaster that goes with it all.

How I truly look forward to it.

Yes, training begins in the morning.

Same goal as last year, different outcome. New focus, new fervor, new determination.

NOLA you are going down. See you in April.

The Presentation of the New Nickname...

Today is a special day. After much deliberation and thought, a nickname has been earned. This one has been very difficult to establish considering the multitude of nickname possibilities (Bruiser, Clutz, Liability ~ are but a few), but the recent demonstration of clumsiness and her lack of finesse has finally secured her a nickname.

{drum roll}

From this day forward, Here will be known as Grace.

The straw that broke the proverbial nickname camel's back happened last Saturday when she was doing Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred and she sprained her ankle doing jumping jacks in her living room.

Three days prior to this episode she injured herself falling down my stairs.

Prior to that she fell on the boardwalk in Santa Rosa.

And before that there were numerous mountain bike injuries that left her muddy and disheveled.

So please join me in welcoming our dear Fitbird friend, Grace!

Back on The Wagon...

I've been a bit lazy these past few weeks with my blogging. Seems the end of my off-season has impacted all of my life by maximizing any and all spare time for "other" things. I have been trying to do as little as possible that is triathlon related in hopes to clear my mind, refuel my fire, and rest and rejuvenate my body. I have been trying to stay mildly active with adventure racing, mountain biking, and running. I haven't been in the pool in a long time. I haven't woken up early on a regular basis in an even longer time. All that's about to end.

Welcome NOLA 70.3 training November 29th, 2010. Time to fit in one last major holiday food fest, one more quick trip to the beach, and a few more lazy mornings. And then...it's over. Back to a focused effort to destroy the race I struggled through last year. I am ready to give it all I've got. Come on NOLA!

But for now let me enjoy my last week...