#101 Reshuffling the deck

Thanksgiving has come and gone and December is all but here.  I find myself tired, but so ready for the next phase of the year.  I love the holidays as much as the next guy and although a bit early for me to get excited for Christmas and way way too early to even begin to think about shopping (don't want to ruin my record of waiting until the very very last minute), that's not what I'm feeling ready for.  

The main reason I'm feeling ready is that the hectic fall is about to give way to the brief but real period of scheduling-calm (a break from max-intensity kid sports, a brief lull professionally, etc) that will allow me to enter "base-phase 2013" which is one of my very favorite training phases.  

Not that bad yet thankfully

It's not particularly exciting, but base-phase signals the end of the "fat and happy" part of the season which is heavy on recovery and tissue repair, (the fat part of this phase was especially successful this year to the tune of 12 lbs from racing weight, ouch) and now it's time to start the slow march toward progress.

Status - I put somewhere around 20 running miles in this week and a couple of other short workouts and my body is feeling surprisingly well.  My R achilles, which has been nagging me for several weeks now is all but subsided (more soon on the very promising therapy technique that got me on the mend).  I have begun working on my shoulder mechanics which has been a weak spot for me that undoubtedly hurts me in the water and although the last few (very light) months have done wonders at healing some overused muscles, with healing comes tissue shortening, and I can feel it.

Goals - this is going to continue to take me a while, as there is no 140.6 distance on my calendar this year......but besides training hard for Timberman 70.3 in August and my first ultra-distance run (50 miles) in May, I'm not entirely sure what I'm hoping to accomplish.  I'd like to say that I'll be able to qualify for the age-group nationals and/or the 70.3 world championships this coming year....but I haven't thought enough about it at this point to commit.  

The short(er) term (60 day) goals are: 

• to have a great base period racking up lots and lots of low-heart rate, aerobic hours
• to get back in the water in some standard routine and begin doing the work required to take that next jump in that discipline
• to continue to build the strength/flexibility/efficiency in the gym to have another injury-free season of training and racing
• to kindle the mental-fire to train hard and race, something that is generally easy for me after 2 months largely indoors

Schedule - one more week of get what you can and then it's time to get back in the habit.

Ready,

Mike E.

#100 - ooh baby it's a wild world

It's been a few weeks since I last sat down to write.....not a whole lot to write about on the training front.....way too much going on in almost every other facet of life.  In an effort to spare you the details.....here's the short version:

• Went to a conference in Vegas....but I'm told what goes on there.....you know.....is supposed to stay there, so I'm sworn to secrecy.  I'll just say that the place is the epicenter of RED-iculousness.  There's really nothing I've ever seen like it.  Impressive. 
• Flew back from Vegas into the face of an on-coming storm that (at the time was being billed as "Frankenstorm") - yeah, so it lived up to its billing and then some.......
• Power went out in about ALL of New Jersey (or like 90%) and life was brought to the brink of chaos......people stealing (or attempting to in our case) generators, waiting on gas lines, buying (this was a low point for me) firewood, watching the blue flash of power lines coming down and finding ground, seeing pictures of the Jersey Shore and Staten Island, NY being obliterated, and more
• Went for a run that required climbing over, under and through many downed trees
• Rolled my L ankle HARD (never get used to that snap and pain)
• Got through the depression that comes with disaster (no, not the ankle)
• Decided that the NYC Marathon wasn't going to work, went back to the same trail and cleared those same trees (what's better than chainsaws w/friends?) 
• Threw a pick-up-game of marathon, raised $10,000 for hurricane relief and continued to deal with shortages of gas
• Committed to bring aid to the shore, Staten Island and local food banks, and recruited a great crop of people to help us out.
• Registered for Timberman (hooray) and a bunch of folks decided they were up for it too, including my wife who will do her first sprint
• Got power back at BaseCamp31....YES
• Went to the shore and volunteered to help a few people move items and gut their hurricane ravished homes....sad to see, but I think we were a big help
• Took down a 24 year old Cherry tree that was blown over in the storm (thankfully no damage to home) which solves the firewood embarrassment for a little while
• Celebrated a birthday and an engagement, ironically on the same night for the same person....
• And......well, that gets me here.

But where is here?

• Here is a little more physically tired, but mentally refreshed than I've been in a while
• A lot less fit but happy to have put it on hold for some good reasons
• Really ready to get back to a normal routine with work
• Wanting to swim
• Wanting to bike
• Wanting to run
• Excited by the genuine caring by so many folks I've met lately
• Excited by the local pop in triathletes (new training partners!)
• Emotionally cagey about the things on my stupidly long to-do list
• Yet, accepting that those things will still be there tomorrow and committed to helping those who's to-do list has only one item "start-over" however I can

The truth is, it's been a very very crazy last few weeks....and it's not over.....but everyday is a little better.  I am incredibly thankful that my chaos has been a very very mild chaos by comparison to the stories I've heard and the destruction I've seen.  I am more committed than ever to my mission of being a doer of extraordinary things which includes resuming the RED-iculous effort......but I find myself at ease with the new timeline of "when things fall in place".

Swirling,

Mike E.

#99: a "pick-up game of marathon?" WHAT?

So awesome for us to be a part of the Sandy Relief this way.  A whole new spin on the RED-iculous.  

IMAGINE what can be done when you're willing to do the RED-iculous and so are your friends!

Friday 11/2
Idea for marathon 1:30P

Idea socialized to colleagues on 2:30P conference call

Idea to GO at 3P

Online Donation and 
Website up by 4P

Volunteers recruited by 5P

Trail portion cleared of downed trees 5P-8P

Saturday 11/3

Race course signage created, posted and promoted 930A - 930P

Sunday 11/4
Final course prep begins 6A

Volunteer meeting 8A

Race registrants begin to arrive 9A

Race scheduled to start 10A

Race actual start 10:20 A

AN AMAZING STORY?  FOREVER!