Summertime, and the living's easy.

Lots of things are flying through my head the past few days.

The biggest thing is that I have decided to not do the Rev3 Half Iron in September. Due to work load and life balance issues, trying to manage an additional 10 weeks of HIM training is not going to work out. In effect I have been at this endurance triathlon training volume for 2 years now. This is not my job and due to changes in both my life and my work demands, I really need to be more realistic.

With that being said, I have a lot on my plate for this current Half Ironman, the one in just 16 days.
I need to tackle the following things in the next few weeks to really feel that I am good to go.
• My rear tire needs to be replaced.
• I need to get a new tube or two and some back up C02 cartridges.
• I need to pick up some Vittoria Pit Stop as a primary go to in case of a flat .
• I need to make sure that I have all of my nutrition ready and prepped and packed.
• I need to get in one last long ride figuring out where all of the nutrition will be stored.
• I need to make sure that I have TONS of body glide!
• I need to get in two long runs (one 12 miler, one 9-10 miler as part of taper) to solidify the confidence.
• I need to do 2-3 more OWSs prior to Welland. Not big, just comfy in my wetsuit.

I already have on order as of a moment ago the tire, Vittoria Pit Stop, and nutrition supplements (GU Chomps, Carb Booms, etc. I need to fine tune how I plan to carry my nutrition. I am carrying some crackers and some fruit, so I need to make sure that the method I use will keep it well and easy to get to without interrupting my riding.

Wow. In 16 days time I will be a 70.3 finisher. How exciting!

I am very excited to get back to normal life. These high volumes are awesome and I love working out this much, but I am ready to back off a bit and focus on running for a while, and working on the technical aspects of cycling and swimming. 2011 will be the year of speed in tris and endurance in running!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I also have an update on weight. I am now 6lbs below my August 13th goal (yay!) so I have readjusted my goal to be down an additional 10lbs by August 13th. That will put me at race weight from early 2009, and then I would like to drop another 25lbs. No time limit, I just need to drop another 35lbs total in order to really get to where my body is healthy. I figure 1-2 lbs a week is healthy and sustainable (hopefully!) with a variety of workouts (running, cycling, climbing, swimming, tennis, MTBing, walking, rollerblading, whatever) and healthy choices. In 6 months I should be at my goal if I sustained a 1 lb a week loss. We shall see!

I fit in, as of last week, both my goal jeans and my goal dress! With room to spare, mind you!

I am back in the game for the past 2, 3 weeks and I can really tell. Yes, I worry that once I stop the endurance workouts that I will gain weight, but I plan on building muscle and staying focused on my portion sizes and calories and I should get there.

I hope for you all a great weekend! I am getting ready for Motor City Sunday and a long run with my running group, Your Pace or Mine, on Saturday am (EARLY!).