I'm going to do a 5k race against myself tomorrow, so today i just did a :45 easy bike ride, then 500m in the pool. I'm very tight from yesterday's swim, but myf orm was good today and thats all that mattered. I hope to get 25 minutes in my 5k tomorrow, i just wantt os ee what i have, it'll help me motivate. Going into orlando to pick up a check, then going to finally see the hulk! i can't wait!

I also can't wait to hang out with 'J' wed or thurs. Got a whole day planned, also found out she's into diving and some other things i'm into. This should be a great summer!

Ok, now i'm wishing i had mosquito bites...i found out this morning (the tell tale pustual and puck sized swelling) that i have red ant bites. About 11 of them, all on my inner thigh and left buttcheek. Needless to say, i'm not a happy camper.

But on the bright side, i had an AMAZING swim today, 2300m in 45 minutes. Was just great, lots has clicked in the last few days. I felt fast and powerful.

If you ever get zits, pray to GOD that you don't get any INSIDE your ear canal! I've had this recurring zit every few months in my left ear canal for the past year. Every time it's usually a small one, no big deal, hurts a bit. This time its a TRIPLE header, so big it's hard to hear. Anyway it hurts so bad that for the last couple nights that i couldn't sleep on my left side. My whole side of my head was starting to hurt.

Tonight i went to Josh's place to spend the night because i have to take him to the airport in the morning. WHile i was here, i decided we'd pop these zits and relieve the pressure. So i bunched up a towel, put it in my mouth to keep myself from breaking my own teeth from biting down so hard and with aneedle and zit tool, he went to work. It hurt so bad i kept having to think of tropical paradises and stuff just to keep from pulling away. He managed to get the root out of one of them, but by then i couldn't take it anymore, and my whole head is hurting. Dumped a bunch of hydrogen peroxide (the pain never ends) and now i'm writing about it just before i go to bed.

g'night.

Oh, i got to see "J" tonight and we had great conversation as usual. She had a bad day today and when i went to see her later on in the evening, i brought her a small flower (a purple flower i picked from one of Dave's plants heheh). she liked it. :) We're probably going to spend the day together sometime next week...looking forward to that very much.

ahhh what a beautiful day! Went for a 6 mile 'long' run...heheh not very long, but hey, gotta start somewhere. I can tell you that after this 6 mile run, i'm going to go 8 next week, it was a cinch!

I started out real easy (with HR monitor to keep me in check).

Mile 1- 12:31
Mile 2- 12:08
Mile 3- 12:16 I start going back, which has some long inclines.
Mile 4- 12:28
Mile 5- 12:25 OK, last mile, time to go tempo
Mile 6- 10:22! woops! felt good though heheh. actually it felt GREAT.

Only real problem with this run is the insole i put in my sneakers is a bit too small, so the ball of my left foot was on/off the sole, and it made a blister. No biggie, gotta get bigger insoles is all.

IT FELT GREAT!

Tomorrow i'm going long with JJ (Juanjo) on the bike. SHould round out a great week. I actually think i'm going to reduce my intensity on the weekday runs and go longer. i really felt great today.

Things are looking brighter! I rode for 1:30 and swam for :25 today, got to see "J" and we had good conversation, with plans of planting sun flower seeds on Monday. That'll be fun!

on the down side, i saw a study: 60% of americans are obiese (defined: Clinicaly overweight to the fact that their health is at risk). HOLY SHIT BATMAN! How pathetic is that? Highest murder rate in the world? yep, thats good ol' america. Fattest slobs in the world? Yep....good ol' america!

makes me want to vomit.

i ran yesterday for 40 minutes, it was a good run. I'm looking forward to riding this weekend and running. I was having some problems with my left foot in the new sneakers, but i put some old insoles in my sneaks and now my feet are fine. My run yesterday was really good, i ran on beautiful lake shore drive, but unfortunately there's no breakdown lane so i had some close calls with cars that wouldn't or couldnt' move over. Had to run on people lawns a few times. I want to find some new routes, i think thats a problem with my motivation...doing the same route over and over really sucks. today when i go riding i'm going out on highway 27 which happwns to have a bike lane, and riding till i get to my half way time, then turning around...see how it goes.

Yesterday i biked for an hour and swam 1000m in 20 minutes again. My goal is to stay consistent for hte next few weeks not matter what. so far i'm not doing to badly. Today i will run (in an hour) and lift. Then i have to go to World Gym and work out some stuff with Dan, then hopefully go to starbucks and see "J" if she's working.

I got in a short run today like i planned, but i'm still not doing enough. I have all the tiem in the world to train now, and listening to Eric talk about how his body is dialing in to his hard training...a place i've been before, i gotta start keeping consistent. I put on a pair of shorts today that last week were a bit to tight to button. They're still tight, but buttonable. I have to use this motivation to keep this up.

I'm finding with my much improved form in the pool, that my muscles are getting fatigued very quickly, but my cardiovasular system is still the same level. This is where my weight training will hopefully come into play. I just gotta get into the gym and do it.

I'm beginning to think things aren't going to work out like they always do. I really have reached the end of my rope i think this time. We'll see.

Ok, it's worse then i thought, they're 'investigating' my employment at CFT and they will withold money from me until that is complete...a MINIMUM of 4 weeks. FUCK.

Anyway i drove all the way to unemployment to find out this information, on my way back i swam 1000m and will go running later. Going to south lake today to work on some bikes too. : sigh :

I rode today for 30 minutes, but overall felt like doing absolutely nothing. i'm depressed because my unemployment check STILL has not been deposited and i think i may know why. I think they're witholding because of some red tape i didnt' complete. :( i hate having money owed to me and not getting it on time. So i sat in front of my computer and played warcraft III all damned day. Tomorrow i GOTTA get out.

man am i beat! Spent from 5:30 this morning at the race site luggin stuff around, in the rain of course. I biked yesterday for 2 hours...i'm really tired so i'll type mor elater.

i will say however that i miss talking to "J" and i hope she calls me when she gets back from vacation.

So this 10 year old kid and a bunch of his friends were swimming in a river near by, and they kept running out of the river, laughing, then getting back in. Why were they running outo f the river? Cause there were gators in the river and when the gators would get close, they'd laugh adn run away. One of them got eaten...Darwin Awards at it's finest.

SO what does the animal control do? Hunt down and kill SEVEN gators, then take them back to compare teeth marks to the left overs of the kid. WTF? Poor gators.

I'm taking tomorrow off from my work at CFT. My hands are destroyed, cut, bruised, fingers mangled and i have two nice holes in the top of my foot where i dropped some wire cutters. It's also been pouring rain since thursday so it's been miserable. I'll go on race day and see what needs done. Tomorrow i hope to get a ride in but it's going to be raining so it'll suck.

This article describes EXACTLY how i feel when i go on my once every couple year visits. Thanks Jeff for the link.

Yesterday i swam about 1km, my back and shoulders are really sore from lifting so i didn't push it much. I did however, find that i wasn't extending my arm 'over the barrel' and started doing that on the last 200. It was nice because instead of just my back, i was feeling my pecks lock into the pull too. So i'll haev to make sure i keep doing that, thats the proper way to swim afterall. I tihnk i've almost got the whole stroke down.

I went for a ride in the rain yesterday and found out why i was getting holes in my shorts. My stupid seat was so thin it was allowing my thigh to rub against the seatpost bolt, which was making holes. GAH! a new pair of 60 dollar shorts, i have a hole in them. I went to South Lake Bicycles and traded outm y seat for another one real quick and rode the rest of hte way on that one. That one felt good, but it's blue and i was annoyed so it didn't matter.

I'm going to work for CFT as a laborer from today till Sunday, and also i'm going to be working at South Lake Bicycles for free for awhile and maybe "M" will hire me in the interum.

Off to work.

Oh yeah, "J" never called me back after she took her brother to the hospital for his ankle, and she didn't call me yesterday either. I hope things are ok, i took a gamble and called her back at the last number she called me at but no one answered. I"m afraid now i'm not going to get to talk to her until next week sometime because i think she's left for vacation. :( at least i'm keeping busy tho.

I lifted and rode an hour today. I feel great. I'm tired too.

Something i forgot to mention yesterday, i got my first flat? I take my turns very aggresively on my bike, and when i felt the bike sliding out from under me i knew there was a problem, i righted myself (i didn't fall) and looked down and my front tire was losing air. So i stopped on the side of the road, and proceeded to change it. Even though i was taking my time and checking for a cut in my tire and what not, it only took me 10 minutes. It was an experience.

Today i ran 3 miles, lifted, and doing an hour ride later i think. I was supposed to see "J" today, but she had to take her brother to the hospital because he hurt his ankle real bad. Maybe we can get together later today or tomorrow.

I did an hour on the bike today, with plans of doing another hour with Julia and Eric at 6. It started pouring at 5:30 so we scrapped the second ride. I've been putting together a plan with Eric, and he's also been helping me fight my food urges. I think after a few weeks of eating good i'll be ok. I did however sneak an icecream sandwich! aaaaahh!

Ok, with the help of a good friend "A", i've been shown how to archive my stuff. Unfortunately i messed up the code in my html so i only have 2 days from may and no april archives at all :( It's a huge mess, so i'll start archiving by the month starting this month. Going for an hour ride.

I've added a new link to another page i'll be working on. It's called INSPIRATION and it's in the links above this text. Check it out, it's going to be a collection of pics i've scrapped of the internet with an added word. I'm about to give up on archives. If you want to take a look at my html i can email it to you so you can fix it. I'd really like my archives to be to the left of this text, under my picture. If you can help, email me.

Rode this morning next to Eric for a little over an hour. Not exactly an aerobic workout but it got me out at 6 am. Then i proceeded to do squat the rest of the day. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

Talked iwth J today. SHe liked some of the writing i gave her, havn't gotten to discuss any of it with her though. I'd like to know which part of which ones she liked. She's going on vacation next week with her family, and i'm hoping she is able to work some things out in a comfortable supportive environment. I'm working for CFT all that week putting on one of the sprint tri's as a laborer. Make some cash!

Decided to go for a run this morning after buying Mizuno Wave Rider VI sneakers. They feel good, i ran for 20 minutes and felt a tinge in my hip still, i took it real slow and easy though. Was good to get out. Later today i'll ride the whole trail, probably 1:45 or 2 hours. Yesterday i swam 600m, and meant to ride but it poured.

Today i'm going to have lunch with "J" and then take her over either to the lake or the nature preserve where we can chat and what not. Looking forward to it.

God i hate it when this happens. I go to bed, peacefully...tired from training. And i wake up an hour later, completely re-energized. Now i gotta take sleeping pills to get back to sleep because i've been tossing and turning for an hour now. :(

Rode with Eric and Julia today for about 1:45. Was a good ride. My ass is killing me from this new position since i got re-fit., i may have to get another seat.

Yesterday i rode for 1:30! finally! Today my neck is killing me and so is my pachoch, but hey, i'll get used to it again. why 1:30 and not 2 hours? cause i felt like it..and it was raining at the end of the ride.

It felt great though, and i'm going to ride again today. I gotta put together a plan in a spreadsheet tonight if i have time. Dave dropped my rent to $300/month. He's such a nice fellow.

Today id idn't do shit either. But tonight i'm going to break out "Plans for Multisport Athletes" Kickon a spreadsheet and go to town. I have 22 weeks, i have lots of people i'll let down if i don't get my ass in gear, and i need to do this ironman...for me. i NEED this ironman. The plan: Cycle 2 hours a day in an effort to lose weight in the first 6 weeks. I plan on dropping my swimming all together for awhile because i'm very happy where i am swimming - wise, and my shoulder hurts more every stroke i take. My nerve problem is coming back and id on't have insurance to go o the doc and get it checked out. I'm fully confident i could swim a 2.4 right now no problem, in choppy sea water. I will start running again as soon as i get new sneakers. The ones i have are so old my hip is hurting and they are giving me blisters. On second thought, i'll do 2 short runs and keep a long run going, but cycling will be my main focus. It doesn't tear on my body and i can stick with it for 2 hours a day easy, and drop this extra weight. Once i drop the weight my running will come easier. I'll start swimming 8 weeks out to make sure my form is still good. It's the only thing i can think of right now. I NEED TO DROP THIS WEIGHT: Goal: 2 pounds a week for 15 weeks. Thats 30 pounds. I gotta get my nurtition strategy going again too.

Yesterday was my bday, the big 24...iw asn't able to go out with the person i had planned; so i went to Jeffs work and played games till late at night, watched About Schmidt (ok Movie) and then went home at 4 am. I got pulled over for having an expired tag (expired 4 hours previous) but the cop was cool, just told me to get a new tag. Tonight i'm supposed to go out with Michelle and a bunch of friends for dinner, hoping it will be a great time. STill no training yet. Not sure when i'm going to start up again, soon i hope.

I'm trying tog et my archives back up but having a hard time doing it. If anyone wants to help me out, i'll send you my code and you can slip it in. I want it on the left side here where there isn't anything. I can deal with the right side ok. Just send me an email, its up there in the menu bar.

Didn't do the ride, didn't do anything. I have to do something tomorrow. anything.

i think i need to go for a ride tomorrow..a long...long ride.

While on the plane home from Texas, i picked up Outdoor magazine and there was an article in there about Lance Armstrong. I've read his book and hesitated to pick it up because i know quite a bit about his life, but this had some new material in it, and so i bought it and took it on the plane. It described how he has such a passion, obsession for cycling, that he surrounds himself carefully with people who are only 100% supportive, food and items that will affect his cycling in a positive way. He literally eats and breaths and lives cycling.

I want to have passion for something like he does, like William Wallace did, i want to burn to do something. Sure i've burned to do something, and i usually attain it in a relatively short amount of time then the burning goes away to be replaced by cold ashes. I want to burn for something for the rest of my life. I want to yearn for something or someone so much that i'd give up my whole existence for it/them. Is that so much to ask?

Motivation was so much easier to come by when i was pissed off at the world, anger is the most volitle form of motivation, and it's really effective. But its not healthy either, it's empty. I'm going to use these next few weeks to get re-aqcuainted with training again. See what happens.

Where to start: Lets start with the negative stuff first, get it over with.

Saturday i got heat exhaustion in the 103 degree convection oven we call Texas. Saturday night iw as sick as a dog, and i didn't get to the race site until the race was over the next day.

Today i got to work and was laid off from CFT Sommer Sports.

Ok now lets get to the good stuff.


The kids race went amazing. It was so cool to see these kids run their hearts out, chasing each other down. The event went pretty much flawlessly from where i was standing, we tore down that race and set up the olympic all in the same day. It was very hard work but i was having a good time.

You know, i really had a long report to file here, i actually got some motivation to do something great...but it's sort of being eclipsed by being laid off. I'm trying not to be down about it, but it was a parting i almost felt coming. I simply couldn't complete the job successfully or satisfactorily. I admit my fault, i finally bit off more then i could chew...and i choked on it. The president of hte company however did say that in the future, when the company expands, he thinks my graphic talents are excellent and would possibly put me on as a full time artist. I would love that. I also asked that i stay in the industry by being a laborer (which is what i pretty much did at both races), he said it's a possiblity.

Now what? Well i'm going to go back to work for Eventures and PGI. They are event management and i really liked that aspect of hte job, so i'm going to go grab a radio and make some money. After that? I'm probably going to go back to school. I need to figure out what i'm going to do and do it. As for coaching, i suppose i can't afford it now, so i'll be coaching myself thorugh IMFL.