The Holidays

I've never been a big fan of the holidays. I seem to eat and drink way too much, put on too much weight and I just get lazy. Well I definitely am meeting two of the three screens. I have been eating and drinking too much and I am getting fat. The one good thing that is that I have still been training. The Houston Marathon is a little less than three weeks away so I just couldn't sit on the couch. My hope is to be a few pounds lighter for the race but I know I will not be at my normal race weight.

This week I plan to start riding and swimming more and basically settling back into my normal routine. In addition to the marathon I have my first ride of the season at the end of January. I have a pretty aggressive 2009 season planned and I need to get going now so I don't fall behind.

Dave Scott and Chicago

Well it seems I have time for two posts in one week. WOW!

Last Friday I traveled with Jay to California to go through the TNT Triathlon Tier 1 certification with Dave Scott. The actual certification was on Saturday and Sunday and it was packed with a lot of information. At one point I thought my head might explode. On Saturday we talked about expectations of a coach, running position and bike fitting. I particularly got a lot out of the running portion of the clinic. It was nice to have someone give you feedback on your running style and to give feedback as well. I think it should help me with my own participants. During the run portion of the clinic we actually got to run with Dave Scott and that was very cool as well. On Sunday the fun really got going. We started off with a little dip in the outdoor pool. It was heated but still cold. We swam around 2000 meters and it really helped my own technique and it gave me some things that I have already brought back to my team. After the swim clinic we went through nutrition in detail. Every endurance athlete knows how important nutrition is and I definitely picked up some information that will be useful. After lunch we did a strength training clinic that kicked my ass. Anyone who knows me knows I love to lift weights and I think I am pretty strong. We weren't even using weights and it really wore me out. I guess I have more work to do. At the end of the clinic I received my certificate took a picture with Dave and Jay and we headed to the airport only to find out that our flight back was delayed by an hour. But wait it only gets better.

Due to my crazy schedule I had another trip planned right after my trip to the Bay Area. I arrived in Houston around 1:30 am and got home around 2:30 only to have enough time to shower sleep for an hour and head back to the airport so I could catch a 7 am flight to Chicago. Needless to say I was dead. I managed to get myself to Chicago O.K. but around 4 pm my very exciting meeting almost put me to sleep. After my meeting it was off to dinner and then finally to bed around 9 pm. The next day we were supposed to get snow in the afternoon and I had a 9 mile run scheduled after my meeting. The weather did just as it was supposed to and it snowed and snowed. I still did my run but it was challenging. I stepped through some ice early in my run and my feet were very wet and cold but I pressed on. I finished my run in 1'22" and I felt pretty good. I would have kept going but I was meeting my friend Steven for dinner. On Wednesday I headed back to H-Town only to find the snow travelled back with me. It was neat to see the snow in Houston. I actually think it was colder here.

Long Road Out of Eden

I had the incredible opportunity to see the Eagles last week at the Toyota Center. This was the show I was supposed go to in September but our friend IKE got in the way of that. This was a very different scene from the Metallica concert a few weeks ago and was probably a good thing. The Eagles have always been known for their great harmonies, their song writing and their ability as musicians and they did not disappoint on this night. They opened up with 4 songs of the new album "Long Road Out of Eden" before getting into a long set with the classics. They did something I have never seen before and that was they put an intermission halfway through the set. After the break they performed a few more songs off the new album and then it was back to classics. The total time was around 3 hours and they were good for every second of it.

This was definitely one of the best shows I have been to. As I was sitting in the audience I was thinking about what great performers they were and how I had forgotten what a great guitar player Joe Walsh is. If you get a chance to see them it is well worth the money.

Ironman Cozumel

I meant to do this post on Saturday but I never got around to it. Saturday marked the one year countdown to Ironman Cozumel. I am still very excited to be competing in this event. I have already began preparing my plan for next year and I think its going to be a great event. I still would like to an Ironman event prior to Cozumel but I am not sure if that will be possible. We shall see.

I did make one decision this weekend and that was to skip the Dallas Marathon. I have done so many events this year and a lot of them have been out of town. I don't mind traveling but it does take me away from the kids and it has just been costing me so much money. I also think I am starting to experience a little burn out and I think I need a break from competitive events. I will still keep training as I am signed up for the Houston Marathon and I want have good day on January 18th.