home bound...

sitting in the airport in Oakland waiting to catch my flight and get back home. ramble, ramble...I have started a few posts recently but I have just been super busy with work and training and hitting those key dates.

I just finished up three days of tech training here in SF and 2010 strategy meetings for our quarterly company goals, etc for work. I had my review about a month ago and my expectations were just not to get fired and keep the flexibility that I have been given to train and be able to get creative with my time. Turns out just doing what is required scored me in the top 90% of the company and i even got a little award and a little something special from Tiffany & Co. Grateful I just didn't get fired ;-)

In November, I decided to make a switch and go long with my training and racing for next year. My 2010 challenges will take on some exploration in an area that I feel is a good fit for me. Keep my mind as interested as my body and I have always felt like I start to feel better after 3-3:30 hours into training or racing. Looking back, I have also done pretty good at longer races even if I was not specifically training for them so maybe this is where I can be competitive at...we shall see. I set out to get a much frequency in Nov-Dec and see how I responded to it... Double my swim volume, run more than I ever have in my life and bike the long rides that I love. My goal was to see if my body or mind would crack or if I wanted more. I love it! I want more! . . . and more importantly it is "working". I have gotten faster at all three sports but more specifically I am able to hold my steady pace for a much longer time... an appropriate theme for going long.

I have also kept in contact with Gordo since I attended the St. George camp back in November. I knew Gordo was a rockstar for long course racing, coaching and repository for endurance fitness but I was very pleasantly surprised at what a nice guy he was when we met in person. The time that he took to address and talk with every athlete and meet their needs was just a natural expression of how he operates. This was very refreshing to see and a big motivation for me.


I have been working with Gordo Byrn and the Endurance Corner team now and I am honored to be a part of the EC team and get some of what I consider the best coaching out there. No excuses now! Time to take my energy and use it at the right times with a structure. Something I have never had before in training but I am actually finding that I really enjoy it. Gordo makes that part easy. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Gordo and I cannot think of a better coach to have for me in my attempt to go long.

My running has been going well...No injuries from the ramp in volume for the 30 days of running and I am even mixing in some more intensity here and there. This weekend I am running the Surf City half marathon and I am excited to see how things shake out. I have no time goals and just looked up my time from last year 1:35:33 or a 7:18min/mi pace. Not bad considering the amount of running I had going into it and the ride the day before.

My only goals for this year are to have fun with it and beat my time from last year. Whatever time I get for the half this weekend I want to beat that time running off the bike at Oceanside in a few weeks so I will be running somewhere between last years time and a manageable pace that I will try to crush running off the bike. Hopefully I don't go out too fast!