Might give this blogging thing a try...

When I first heard the word "blog" I had no idea what it meant. What came to mind was some sort of gooey, sticky muck - nothing to do with computers or communication. Someone explained it to me and I thought it could be fun so I created a blog page (circa. 2008) and proceeded to never use it. Not once. I have had so much fun reading my friends' blogs the past couple of years I've finally decided to dust this empty blog site off and try posting to it.

My life is pretty much work, eat, sleep, train and race from time to time. No one wants to read about sleeping and eating so my focus will be on the other 3. As a veterinary anesthesiologist at a major university teaching hospital I do get some pretty interesting days at work. Most of my friends are athletes of one sort or another so writing about training and racing makes sense.

I've written tons of race reports over the years as a way to cement the memories of the races in my own mind. Some I've shared. Other folks seem to get something out of reading them. If I can figure out a way to put old race reports on this site I'll put some of them up here.
Otherwise I'll pick up my life less than a week from my final race of the 2011 triathlon season, the 70.3 World Championships to be held in the desert in Henderson, NV. Should be fun (windy), challenging (hot) and interesting (hilly). I gave myself a taste of all those elements on my final day of serious training yesterday. The day actually started the day before when I was on emergency duty at work. I ended up being in the hospital from 7 AM Saturday morning until 4 AM Sunday morning with no breaks. I got 4 short hours of sleep then woke up to swim, bike and run. I started with a half hour swim in a warm lake to simulate lake conditions in Lake Las Vegas then hopped on my bike for a short 30 mile ride that was packed with 3300 feet of climbing.

It was windy and in the upper 90's...not quite Vegas but close. After a bit of a break but while it was still in the 90's I headed out for a 60 minute run. I felt great for the first 30 minutes. Then the wheels fell off. Major BONK!! I had neglected to eat anything since breakfast and was firing off of only one glass of chocolate milk. Ouch! I ground out the last 30 minutes hoping this was *not* a Vegas simulation run.

Now it's time to rest and reflect on what has been an interesting season. It started with me recovering from major foot surgery unable to run a step. I literally raced my way into shape. Despite my slowest running season I actually managed to set personal bests at many races this year. My running is just beginning to come around now that the season is ending and I was thrilled to run faster in a 10k off the bike than I ever have just 2 weeks ago. I am excited about the prospect of everything coming together as I hit my new 55-59 age group next year!