older

I am a little older since the last time I posted, but hopefully no worse for the wear. December is coming to a close, and I can feel the itch returning to my body. This whole month has been only maintenance as far as training goes. I have enjoyed the down time with lots of eating and sleeping in. Last time I weighed myself I gained 10 pounds since the beginning of november. For all the crap I have eaten, that aint too bad...

Tomorrow starts the first "official" training week for me of the '09 season. Kevin is coming to stay with me for a few days and as he is in much better shape than I am right now I am sure I will be hurting after he leaves. The goal for the month of January is to gradually build up the hours while focusing more on strength than quantity. This year I am probably not racing until May, so I am going to take it slow and build a solid base. Last year things were a little rushed in the preparation phase and I dont plan on making that mistake again.

I hope all yall had a great Christmas and have a happy new year. I am still finalizing sponsorships for next year and will post about my plans next year soon.

Cheers,
b

a year in pictures

MEXICO

Mt Diablo, CA

FRANCE
going "euro"

anyone get the joke??
read this funny story here

my 1st interview in francais

les etrangers = the foreigners

leading the French Grand Prix Le Champions de France (team manager)

Luxembourg

photo shoot w/ Olympian Dirk Dockel

LONDON

TURKEY

2nd place team USA World Champs

ASIA

black eggs....mmmm protein

thats all folks....Just a little snipit of my year racing abroad.

cheers,

b

the long road back

This year of racing was pretty hard on my mind and body, so I decided to take a solid break after San Francisco. The plan was two weeks of absolutely nothing, then a few weeks of 1 workout/day building into some decent fitness by January 1. And by decent, I just mean being able to run 90 minutes without having to lay on the sofa in a coma.

Two weeks turned into about 3. I did a couple (read: 2) of "fun" workouts with Lauren over the Turkey Day Holiday, but nothing over 30 minutes. Now that my R&R is complete, it is time to bust out the cobwebs. I think the hardest part for me is being so out of shape wanting so desperately to be in shape. This season, however I am going to use my head a little more and be smarter about training, recovery, and especially my racing scheule (maybe I'll keep it below 24 races and 100,000 miles of air travel within 8 months??), so I have no problem being quite out of shape this point in the year.

The plan is to use Demcember to get re-aquainted with swimming, biking, and running so that on Jan 1st I can actually start training. Jan, Feb, March, and April will be my foundation phase where I patiently build up my mileage and log consistent weeks. My first race will probably be Wildflower the first weekend in May, followed by the Pan-American Championships in Oklahoma 2 weeks later.

Next year I will be racing for U.S. Vendome Triathlon Club in Vendome, France. The difference is that this year I will be making two short trips over to Europe instead of one 4 month-long stay. I will do some bigger races in the US this year as well (i.e. Hy-VEE) and also will undoubtedly travel to Asia several times. I will post a more complete schedule when the ITU releases theirs to us.

Hope everyone has a good holiday season and I will blog again soon...

Cheers,
B