Smart Rebuilding

Very interesting discussion topic I had with my good buddy Joe, who’s also an avid Thai triathlete… sports nutrition and recovery. I used to really waste my workouts by not eating healthily and getting enough rest. It’s easy to forget that the act training isn’t what gets you stronger. It’s actually the opposite – training tears down your muscles so you can regenerate stronger ones. It’s the regeneration process that takes place during rest that causes you to develop. Simply put: bad food, bad rest… no regeneration, no point in working out. (Unless you just like pain, in which case keep going, and I’ll be waiting patiently for you at the finish line.)

Been trying to eat a balanced diet lately. I’ve also been hitting the supplements pretty hard. Here’s what I’ve been taking:

Sports Recovery: Endurox R4

I swear by this stuff. You come back stronger, harder, faster. Always.

http://www.accelsport.com/product-info/EnduroxR4.html

General Multi-vitamins: GNC Mega Men

Keeps you healthyand focused through the winter. Haven't been sick once. (Knocking on my head.)

http://www.gnc.com/sm-gnc-mens-mega-men-multivitamin--pi-2133771.html

Sports Optimizer (VO2 Max): Optygen HP

To tell you the truth, I'm not sure what this stuff does yet but it comes in a pretty bottle. J/K - it contains an ingredient called rhodiola, which dramatically increases your body's ability to utilize oxygen in your muscles, thereby increasing your aerobic threshold. Result is you last longer and go stronger. In more arenas than one. ;-)

http://www.firstendurance.com/optygenhp.html

Aight... going snowboarding at Stratton this weekend, so you’ll notice my weekly volume dip a bit in my training log. Still in base training phase though, so no worries just yet.

Rode My Baby Hard on Valentine's Day

My baby wore me out on Valentine's. I love this girl. She's gorgeous and has never let me down. Alas, my wallet is a lot ligher because of her.

Cervelo 2008 P2C Specs:

http://www.cervelo.com/bikes.aspx?bike=P2C2008

Welcome to the Birth of Craziness

First post. Wow, this is long over due. Where do I begin? Well…

2007 was such a crazy year for me – in so many more ways than I have time to write in this post. No matter though. If you’re reading this, chances are that you were there alongside me through the tough times as well as the emotional highs. Thanks. You rock.

Some notable accomplishments last year were my very first triathlon – I did three actually, with the largest being the Bassman Half Ironman (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run) – and my first marathon. What makes these events even more “notable” for me is that in January 2007, I had never run more than 6 miles at once. Yeah, crazy huh? When people hear this, the conversation typically goes a little like:

Person Who Thinks I’m Crazy: “You must've had some sort of epiphany or conjured some ludicrous reason to wanna embark on a journey like this, huh?”

Me: “No reason. Just started running one day and never stopped. Sorta like Forest Gump.”

(But in life there are always reasons. For everything.)

The real point of this blog though is to journal my daunting voyage through the 2008 athletic season and beyond! New year, new set of insane goals – the most insane of which is the Ironman Switzerland triathlon in Zurich (hence the blog name), a race that incorporates a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and a 26.2 mile run in one event. July 13th, baby. My parents have asked me to go see a shrink, but I told them I’d rather use the money on some nice race wheels for my bike. The latter is a much better long term investment.

Thanks for all your support and prayers throughout last year. I won’t let you down in 2008.

Rock on!

Ton