Well, it's getting to be about that time to sign off over here (tears...runny nose...sniffles).  For those that saw a few of the previous posts, my little "project" that started a few years ago called "A Ticket To Kona" is in the final phase of being transitioned over to the new owner (World Triathlon Corporation).  I think it's in good hands.  My little baby is all grown up and flying the coup.

I had originally thought about doing a finale post with a little more drama.  Maybe a top ten blog list or my personal favorites, etc.  But I am so worn out just making sure the content from the blog was preserved and transferred that I think I'm ready to just cut the cord and pick up right where I left off without any balloons or confetti.

I have been successful in transferring over the entire library of past blog posts and combined them with some of my business blogging over at that location until everything is sort out and organized with what I'm calling the upgrade to Kindzia 2.0 (as Caplan puts it).

You'll need to bookmark and add the new site to your favorites as this blog and domain will be closed (the www.atickettokona.com website will be up but I'm unsure of how that will play out with WTC.)

It should be a smooth transition for me (and hopefully you).  Things are rolling out and changing fast and there will be a few more changes in 2010 with some of the projects that I'm working on.  But the new writing crib is now over here at -

www.thekindziablog.typepad.com

Why don't you come over for a visit and chill for a while.  The door is always open.

Today I took a much needed full recovery day.  I was a lot more tired and fatigued from yesterday's session than I would have thought.  The quads aren't sore to the touch but there is certainly that sluggish feeling throughout my body.

And of course Wednesday wouldn't be Wednesday without some anxiety over Thursday.  What's the significance of Thursday you ask?  That's my long run day.  Tomorrow is already Thursday and Thursdays keep popping up so fast that it's like there is one every seven days or something.  One day I'm running long and then soon enough, a bunch of days come and go that end in a "y" and it's time to run long again.

The only change I might make is to run a bit longer (weather permitting) tomorrow (maybe 20 miles instead of my usual 17).  I'm starting to think I may want to continue to work on overall durability a bit more as I approach my targeted "participant" events.  Mainly, participating in the Marine Corp Marathon on October 25th and then backing that up with a potential full Iron distance race on November 7th.  I'm most likely going to use Marine Corp as a "fun" training day used as my last long run before Beach2Battleship full iron distance.  Not exactly textbook timing and schedule layout but that's what is interesting about the challenge.

So I want to be able to do a solid 18, 20 or 22 miles at Marine Corp before possibly "shutting things down" and either light jogging or a good bit of walking to make sure I don't blow my legs to smithereens prior to B2B on November 7th.

Now the reality of B2B is that in an effort to take pressure off of myself, I'm just approaching the event from a "participant" standpoint.  I'm not "racing" I'm "participating."  The fact that I'm only training about 10 to 12 hours a week and only swimming 1 time per week (if that) is a significant change from entering events in the past.  Now the funny thing about that thought is that for my first few Ironman races I really thought I was "racing" because I didn't know any better.  But now that I look back and can differentiate between my own evolution as an athlete, I wasn't racing back then, I was really just participating.  I just didn't know it at the time.  Ignorance is bliss.

The interesting thing is that I'm actually in decent shape.  Not too shabby.  I'm not at "race weight" nor will I be by November 7th.  Any thoughts or dreams about that is right out the window.  I have zero motivation to add that to my plate of tasks to accomplish in the next 8 weeks.  It's probable that I'll show up on race day about 185 pounds, which is less than my first year or two doing Ironman but certainly higher than peak fitness/racing weight of about 170 like at previous races.

The fun part about all of this is that between relaxing more, not over-training, using all of my experience, and making sure 100% of my training is specific and with a purpose, I'm thinking I could still post a good race result.  It's still too early for predictions (and I'm sure I'll have some as I get closer) but I don't think I'm going to be too far off PR performance on a LOT less training.  I've got three IM's sub 11 hours under my belt, (a 10:39, a 10:48 and a 10:51) and a couple of 11:20's (11:20 and 11:22) and I think I'm going to be capable of posting something in this range and that would be quite satisfying.  Because then it was a good mix for me between participating (which is fun), challenging myself (I still need goals to motivate me), but not letting my life be too unbalanced during this phase (because I'm trying to take on some big projects in other areas of my life right now).

Bottom line is, "Can a person still be an Ironman without it consuming every waking minute of their life and can that process still be challenging and most importantly fun/enjoyable?"  I intend to find out.

It's 7:30pm and I just looked at the weather forecast.  Storms are moving in and should begin at 8:15pm with severe storms at 8:45pm.  Of course!  I've been planning on watching TV at 8:00pm for about 3 weeks now (Free UFC Fight nIght card on Spike followed by the season premiere of The Ultimate Fighter - The Heavyweights).  The programming ends at 11:00pm.  What a coincidence.  That's when the storms should be ended and I'm sure the satellite feed will be back up and running by then.  I'm beginning to think that I'm just not meant to watch television, either by choice or by force.  Maybe that's why I like books so much.  Even if the power goes off, I still have a flashlight!

I actually saw a picture posted on Joe Reger's website the other day where he was riding his bike with a headlamp on.  What is funny is that I immediately thought, "I should get one of those for reading in bed?!?!"  And then I busted out laughing thinking about Angela rolling over and saying, "Honey?" and I would look over at her with a spot light now shining in her face...and she would say, "Turn that stupid headlamp off, put your book down and go to bed."

"Yes dear..."

The rain has been coming down in buckets this evening.  We've also discovered some leaking around our basement heating and air unit (oh what a glorious discovery - good grief...)  Always something.  It never ends.  This year we've already had to paint the exterior of the house, pressure wash and re-stain the deck and fence, and repair a malfunctioning air conditioning unit.  I'm about all "home repair expensed" out for the year. 

Anyway, back to the rain.  It may pose two potential problems.  First, and most importantly, I have DirecTV via satellite at the house.  And for those that have satellite, you soon learn that in bad storms, you can miss the satellite feed for television.  It doesn't happen often (or maybe it does but I just don't watch enough TV to notice) but when it does happen, it's rather a sucky experience because if I'm watching TV, it's because I'm obviously tired of whatever else I do with my time.  And when I want to watch TV and can't, it's frustrating.  Even the DVR doesn't work because that requires a satellite feed.  So you miss everything if a storm is coming through.

And tomorrow is a free live Fight Night UFC on Spike TV that is at 8:00pm followed by the season premier of The Ultimate Fighter "The Heavyweights" at 10:00pm.  So I may be doing "reverse rain dances" between 8:00pm and 11:00pm to keep the rain away.

The second problem is that it looks as though the rain may continue as thunderstorms all the way through Saturday.  That would be problematic for Thursday's long run and Saturday is the Bud Plant "Beautiful Backroads Century".  I might be up for knocking out a long run if the rain isn't too bad on Thursday morning but if it's supposed to be raining at all on Saturday, I'm backing out for what usually is my most favorite century of the year.  Bummer if that happens.

I really want to knock out the big day of training on Saturday because Saturday night is a Pay Per View MMA event beginning at 10:00pm and this way I could stay up late and sleep in on Sunday and use Sunday for recovery.

I don't watch much football (college or pro) but I did watch the last 8 minutes of the Bills/Patriots game last night.  I grew up in Niagara Falls just north of Buffalo which makes it mandatory that you are a Bills fan.  Further, I have a buddy (Mike Parker) who is a big Patriots fan so the Bills losing AGAIN and in the fashion that they did makes me just want to say, "THE PATRIOTS SUCK PARKER!!!"  I don't know why I channeled by supreme Bills letdown against a buddy, but I did.  I kept yelling at the TV, "Parker sucks because these Patriots suck!  This game sucks!  I'm not watching football anymore.  I'm going back to reading my science books."

And finally this morning we did knock out our escalating Tuesday brick workout which is now up to 1:45 of indoor trainer for the bike and then about 1:15 brick run afterwards.  I think my run was a little over 8 miles in about 1:12 or something like that.  So total workout time that is about 3 hours.  These are starting to take a toll on me mentally.  Not only am I not that excited to do them, but it is enough training to get me all out of whack for the remainder of the day.

It's one thing to be a pro athlete and train 3 to 5 hours a day and when you are not training, to sit around and watch cartoons or something with your feet up and take an occasional nap.  It's another to do 3 hours of training in the morning and then go into work for the rest of the day.  I get both physically and mentally tired on these days.  When they were a bit shorter, I felt like I accomplished something and that gave me a perk up of energy.  But at this level, it's really pushing the envelope and unsustainable over the long term.  It's more like, do it while you need to in prep for a specific race and then once the race is over with, return to a normal life.

I'm starting to look forward to a "normal life" (whatever that means as it never really seems my life is "normal" in any sense of the word).  I certainly don't work out like a normal person.  We don't eat like normal people.  I don't have a "normal" job.  My reading habits are far from normal.  But yet, collectively, I think I'm far happier than a "normal" person.  So maybe I'm on to something???

By the numbers;

• 183.4 - today's weight (January 1, 2009 weight was 184.2)  Goal weight for 10/25/09 is 165
• 39 - days until the Marine Corp Marathon
• 220 - Total days trained in 2009  
• 8.00 - miles run today
• 172.25 - miles on current pair of shoes
• 1,127.75 - Miles run in 2009

Did you ever go away for just a few days but when you come home it feels like you were gone for a really long time?  That's how I'm feeling after the weekend up in North Carolina.  I'm sure I'm tired because we really did put some miles under our belts in the car and took in quite a few sights. 

I think I'm going to be anxious to sleep in my own bed.  The bed that we sleep in up in Spruce Pine is about the size of a sardine can and once you add a couple of dogs into the mix I tend to feel as though I'm trying to sleep and play Twister at the same time.

Tomorrow is the return of the Tuesday brick.  I'll be curious to see how my body reacts.  Will it feel strong and recovered or slow and lethargic?

Congrats to all the peeps who did Tugaloo Triathlon this past weekend.  I see some great results were posted; Michelle Shoup, Steve Thomas, Sammy Grant, Elaine Sipos and others really rocking it.  That's good stuff and motivating to watch.

By the numbers;

• 183.4 - today's weight (January 1, 2009 weight was 184.2)  Goal weight for 10/25/09 is 165
• 40 - days until the Marine Corp Marathon
• 219 - Total days trained in 2009  
• 0.00 - miles run today
• 164.25 - miles on current pair of shoes
• 1,119.75 - Miles run in 2009

The title of this blog post (or lesson of the day) should be entitled, "It's all in the description."  It is probably best to put the phrase in a way that could provide better perspective.

Let's say a wife and mother-in-law want to go into the countryside to search out what is happening at quaint general stores, look at the flowers, view the goods available at the little shops and markets, etc.  They could tell "the husband" what the plan was, describe the targeted points of interest and then proceed to chain the kicking and screaming husband to the truck and proceed to the destination points.

But if you are a smart/clever wife, a different approach would be taken.  The smart/clever wife wouldn't say anything along the lines of, "Honey, we are going to the little country shops and look for little knick-knacks and enjoy looking at the..."  Rather, smart/clever wife would say, "Honey, I have a special surprise for you.  You aren't going to believe it.  You know how you love those Lance Armstrong books where they described how he was deciding to make a comeback to cycling after cancer and he went to North Carolina to train with Bob Roll up towards Boone, NC?  Remember those great stories?  Well today Mom and I are going to take you on some of those roads and mountains made famous in those true stories of Lance.  How does that sound?"

Sounds wonderful to me!  How soon can we leave?  And with that approach, getting said husband in the vehicle is about as easy as getting a dog in a crate after throwing in a juicy piece of filet mignon.  The dogs not going to dilly-dally and say, "Hey, what's going on here?"  Nope, the dog is in that crate!

And from there we all had the most awesome day.  

In the picture at the top of the post, is close to the crest of Beach Mountain which was one stop over from our first stop at a town called Valle Crusis.  On our way up to the top of Beach Mountain we saw plenty of road paint that still reads, "GO LANCE" or "VIVA LA LANCE!" and stuff like that.  Each year, there is a cycling time trial where they actually shut down the road going up to the top of the mountain and bikes are released on 30 second intervals.   From there the cyclists are left to their own abilities to torch themselves with racing against the clock on sustained inclines that exceed 7%.

And periodically we would stop and head into some of the coolest little country general stores that you could imagine.  That's Angela and her Mom heading into another right now.

Now every so often Angela (who was doing the driving) would say something like, "Oh my, would you just look at the colors on that tree" or "Wow, did you see those bright flowers."  And occasionally I'd find myself slumping in the front passenger seat because either, "I wasn't really into looking at flowers and I can't see colors very well since I'm colorblind."  And it would be at that moment that the clever Ms. Angela would say to the slumping passenger, "Honey, I think this is where Lance rode towards Grandfather Mountain?!?!"

And sure enough I'd sit up and immediately start imagining myself on my bike, pretending to be Lance Armstrong looking up towards a massive mountain while saying to myself, "I can take that mountain on my bike.  I just wonder how fast?"

 

That's actually Grandfather Mountain above.  It's tough to obtain perspective on just how big it is because I'm using a compact camera and we are also pretty high in elevation already.  But you could see how much climbing would be ahead to get to the peak of that mountain.

So you could see how it's possible to make a really good adventure out of a day that can be suited towards all passengers.  Telling a husband that you are going to take a drive to look at flowers would be like taking a little kid for a drive after telling him that you are on your way to church, followed by the dentist and ending up at Grandma's house where you are all going to sit around a small black and white TV to watch the evening news together.

 

That's Angela above when we were at the Mast General Store which was established back in 1883.  It was VERY cool and we found all kinds of goodies.

It was a great day looking at flowers, shopping and retracing the path of Lance.  And we had such a good time that I'm looking forward to returning in the fall even though I know that there's a good chance Lance may not have stopped to look at the flowers along the way.

Nestled away at the western end of the state of North Carolina, hidden within the sub-fortress of the Blue Ridge Mountains lies the old apple orchards at the Alta Pass.  Surrounded by lush green fields and forests of trees that anxiously await their spawning of brilliant fall colors, the orchards are more than a century old.

With the September nights cooling as a prelude to what is soon to be a seasonal climate shift, the locals have gathered at the Alta Pass to celebrate the sunny Saturday afternoon.  If you were a yankee, you would be inclined to ask, "Why the celebration on a Saturday afternoon?"  You might as well have asked why water is wet.  The sin is in the question, not the answer.

Gathered inside a rustic mix of general store and party hall, the numbers of individuals streaming through the door and sticking around are escalating by the minute.  In the back of the building, on the other side of a make shift dance floor that is following the rows of chairs, a band is setting up their instruments.  "It looks like we really are in for a concert," I concluded.

Why I was surprised by this, I'm unsure.  Angela's mom Mary Lee, Ted and Angela intentionally drove to this destination with a specific time in mind.  Maybe I thought they were just fooling?

Saturday afternoon at the peak of apple season is a great reason to celebrate.  Just ask the locals.  It was enlightening to witness an odd mix of personal envy over a community giving praise to such a reason to celebrate, which was at odds with the deep internal thought that they clearly need something, (anything) to celebrate.

Although my initial reaction over the apple celebration wasn't so obvious, my ability to "blend" with the locals wasn't.

I'm traveling with a laptop and don't have access to my photo-editing software which would allow me to insert text captions within pictures.  If I did, the caption in the above picture would have clearly read, "OK, who brought the Yankee to the party and why is he taking so many pictures?"

I guess deep down in a subconscious way I thought blue jeans would have provided more than ample camouflage with the community allowing me to mingle and mix in without any undue suspicion.  I couldn't have been more wrong.  The closest red Greg Norman golf polo shirt mixed with Asics Kayano XII endurance running shoes with ankle cropped socks was probably 200 miles to the south in the big city of Atlanta.  Tempted as I was to take the proactive approach and loudly proclaim with a confident offensive that my suspenders were at the dry cleaners, I took the mute approach and just hid behind my camera.

 

But the experience was an amazing one and I escaped without being chained and dragged by a tractor back to the Mason-Dixon line.  And later in the evening we were able to enjoy some stuffed apples with filling made of pecans, orange zest, brown sugar, cinnamon amongst other fine spices baked to perfection by the lovely Ms. Angela.  She certainly has skills that were honed in her youth.  I found this treat to be very pleasing to a palette that has been diminished to only recognizing the taste of fruit punch flavored maltodextrin and whey protein delivered in plastic bottles while strapped to the frames of carbon bicycles.

Clearly a day meant to enjoy an "apple celebration."

Oh yeah, and the local homemade fudge sold at the event was fantasitc.  All 12 flavors too!!!

I'm purposely neglecting to post a picture with an image and text that reads, "OK, who gave the Yankee 12 pieces of fudge and is that dancing or is he having a medical condition with that wigglin and shaking?"

My thoughts shortly after the fudge taste testing included, "Hey...Where did my wife go?  She was just here dancing with me before my moonwalking demonstration...What???  What's everybody looking at???  It's called a moonwalk.  You know.  Michael Jackson?  Sheesh?"

Angela and I headed up to Spruce Pine, NC this afternoon to spend the weekend with her mother.  It was an appropriate time for me to exercise what I call "Ironman etiquette."

Sometimes we just have to realize that it's "different strokes for different folks."  Spruce Pine, NC is a tiny little mountain town tucked into the western end of North Carolina just south of Boone, NC.  These aren't big city folk nor would I describe the community as a congregation of endurance athletes.

And thus, because of years of culture passed down from one generation to another, it's just hard for them to understand a different lifestyle.

But it's wise if we recognize that and help close that culture gap.  One of the ways I attempt to do that is to just go with the flow.  So for the evening, I practiced just going with the flow.  Below are a few examples to show my good effort;

As we walked in the front door and exchanged greetings, Angela's mom asked, "Paul, would you like a nice fillet mignon steak for dinner tonight?"  Now I could have started a speech of how I need to make sure the meat is grass fed, hormone free and raised without antibiotics.  But instead I just responded with "Yes Ma'am."

Then she added, "Would you like some potatoes with that steak?"  I was tempted to explain the difference of glycemic index between a sweet potato and a white potato and how one impacts insulin release during the metabolic process.  But instead I just responded with, "Yes Ma'am."

During dinner she asked, "Would you like some fresh baked bread?"  I looked at Angela and had a look on my face as if to wonder whether I should explain how Angela doesn't let us eat bread.  It's probably got gluten in it, is made from enriched flour, probably has some dairy of sorts in it and is empty nutritional calories.  But I quickly looked away from Angela and replied, "Yes Ma'am."

She said, "Would you like some nice butter for that bread?"  This time I could feel Angela's eyes burning a hole in my skull.  Ironmen don't eat butter.  I was tempted to ask if she had any whey protein to sprinkle on that fresh baked bread but rather than offend my overly anxious host, I took one for the team and responded, "Yes Ma'am."

"How about some more potato's and bread?  Would you like that Paul?"  Now it's just killing me.  Gosh darn-it.  Does she not have a clue of my dedication to my craft?  Does she not know the laser like focus I maintain 24/7/365?  But again I responded, "Yes Ma'am."

And then after dinner, my mother-in-law couldn't resist.  I think she even knew that she was pushing buttons at this point.  She had the gall to ask, "How about some delicious chocolate brownie cookies Paul?  Would you like one?"  It's so tough being a good guest.  I was going to bite my tongue at this point but that may have impacted my ability to taste that cookie.  So instead I stayed the course and said, "Yes Ma'am."

"How about another one Paul.  Would you like that?"  Yes Ma'am.

Oh the torture I have to endure as an strict die-hard Ironman. 

I woke up this morning and had an immediate thought come to mind, "Oh man, it's Thursday today!"  Thursday morning means one thing and one thing only - Thursday long run.  But how could that be?  It was just Thursday last Thursday?  How could it be Thursday already?  I don't want it to be Thursday, I like Wednesday's...Why can't it be Wednesday again?

Alright, time to get up and get going.  And so I did.

For those of you that have towed the line, you know how great it is to be an Ironman.  The experience of knowing that you could persevere through all kinds of physical, mental and emotional turmoil does wonders to one's confidence.  I love the feeling like I could run through a wall, that I'm unbreakable.  Nothing can break my spirit, my confidence or my mind.  I'm an Ironman gosh darn it.  I would imagine that being in and completing military training, whether it be boot camp or something bigger like Ranger School or Navy Seals has the same effect on an individual.  It makes you stronger by breaking you down and building you back up.  If you survive, you are a beast.  If you quit, nobody really gives a crap except the quitter (and maybe even they don't care.  Maybe it's a relief to quit).

But the interesting thing about Ironman is that Ironman itself can break your spirit.  It can make you feel weak, demoralized, unworthy.  It can make you feel like a little baby.  All it takes is for a workout to rattle your cage or a race to bring you back down to earth.

During those times, you don't stop and think, "Hey, I'm in better shape than 99.9% of the world's population.  I'm a tough son of a gun.  I can do this."  That's all out the window.  Instead, you think about every person that is faster than you.  You think about all the times you were defeated.  All the times you came up short.  All the times you felt let down.  And you drown in self pity.

Bad workouts have a way of torturing us.  We think about the athlete that we want to be.  We think about the athlete we believe we could be.  Sometimes we get really confused and put thought into the athlete we think we deserve to be.  None of that really has no bearing on reality.  When it's all said and done, we are the athlete that we are.  No better, no worse.

I almost broke down and quit about 100 times during my run today.  My mind was elsewhere.  It was mainly on "I don't want to exert the physical energy today."  And then of course the internal dialog starts which is really just one sided questions that go unanswered for the time being, "Why am I doing this?  Who cares?  Where would I rather be right now?  When is this going to be over with?  What does this matter in the scope of my life if I miss this workout?"

I asked every who, what, where, when, why, and how question in the book today.  But minute by minute, mile by mile I continued.  When it was finished, you would think it would be more sweet, more pride, more excitement for the accomplishment.  There wasn't.  It was a smooth transition to a peaceful mind, a peaceful heart.  The run was now behind me and is just one of hundreds and hundreds of runs that I've done over the years.  This one will not stand out nor will I really ever give it another moments thought.  It's simply in the past, just like the rest of them which includes the great ones and the not so great ones.

That's not to say I didn't collect my data.  Of course I did; (Pace Per Mile, Heart Rate)

 Two Weeks Ago     Last Week     This Week

1. 9:18, 127     8:35, 141       8:11, 132
2. 9:35, 136     9:14, 131       8:39, 136
3. 9:11, 139     9:03, 134       9:05, 134
4. 9:03, 139     8:47, 136       9:06, 131
5. 8:40, 139     8:22, 140       9:05, 130
6. 8:41, 140     8:37, 139       8:45, 132
7. 9:08, 141     8:48, 143       9:25, 136 
8. 8:37, 135     8:30, 136       8:58, 134
9. 8:34, 138     8:26, 139       8:30, 141
10. 8:36, 142     8:33, 143       9:27, 135
11. 8:46, 143     8:44, 144       9:38, 133
12. 9:13, 145     8:41, 146       9:34, 141
13. 8:55, 149     8:54, 148       9:15, 142
14. 8:47, 151     8:54, 150       8:57, 143
15. 8:52, 149     8:21, 150       9:06, 143
16. 8:49, 151     8:46, 151       9:38, 142
17. 9:15, 156     8:32, 155       9:33, 148

Total Time 2:32:01     2:27:50      2:34:50

Avg Mile - 8:56            8:42          9:07

Avg HR      142            142            137

Calories    2,348         2,349         2,298

Interesting to see very clearly that 5 beats per minute lower equates to 25 seconds higher per mile.  This run was far easier physically than prior weeks, just harder mentally.

By the numbers;

• 183.4 - today's weight (January 1, 2009 weight was 184.2)  Goal weight for 10/25/09 is 165
• 45 - days until the Marine Corp Marathon
• 219 - Total days trained in 2009  
• 17.00 - miles run today
• 164.25 - miles on current pair of shoes
• 1,119.75 - Miles run in 2009

My buddy and fellow Iron crazy Jeff "Caps" Caplan recently told me that he is re-engineering himself in the workplace for the next phase of his life.  He called it, "The move to Jeff Caplan 2.0."

I immediately thought, "Brilliant!"  It got me thinking more about myself and how just a whole lot of things are coming together lately and in a very strange alignment/way.  This past year I've made a big investment in myself and my firm to come up with a platform that I think is very appropriate for the next phase of my life.  Combine that with getting married last year, turning 40 this year and being in a position to reap the rewards of a lot of prior work, it gave me reason to believe that I am well on my way to "the move to Kindzia 2.0."

Interesting is also the ebb and flow of an amateur athletic career.  Over time, undoubtedly we will go through phases where we can dedicate more time or emphasis on training and racing and then at other times we need to focus more on other priorities, often work, kids, other hobbies, etc.   All this is quite natural as it keeps things fresh and allows us to recharge the batteries as we continue along the journey of life.

As many of you are well aware, I've been busy as a bee plugging away at my triathlon writing through atickettokona.com and also the blog.  Way back at the beginning I had the intent of taking the project in a particular direction.  As a result I went through the process of obtaining various trademarks, domain names, and establishing content.  About a year ago, two things became clear to me

1. My original vision for atickettokona.com changed, and;
2. There was strong reason to believe that the life of atickettokona was going to be shorter than I would have originally imagined.

Back to #1 above.  My original vision was to have the website be more like a library of sorts with a lot of research, athlete profiles, and what I would call, "timeless articles".  The idea was that each block of content that was completed was just going to be added and available for future use (by everybody and anybody interested) permanently.  For example, for those familiar with the "hero's" section of atickettokona.com, I was in the process of building out athlete profiles of age-groupers that eventually made it to Kona WITHOUT freak genetics or a pedigree athletic background in childhood sports like swimming, running, etc.

Much to my surprise I had a lack of cooperation from the endurance community as many didn't want to talk (shocking because, as we are all aware, normally triathletes CAN'T stop talking about themselves...) I even thought is was a race requirement that you couldn't sign up for an Ironman race unless you had (1) a blog, (2) a Facebook page, (3) a personal website dedicated to your triathlon career, (4) you twitter about every calorie you eat and every workout you do, or (5) all of the above. 

I could not get traction within the athletic community of getting athletes to come forward and share what they learned, what they screwed up, how long it took them and advice they would give others who wanted to move towards their potential in the sport of iron distance triathlon.

I thought this project was valuable and would have been a great resource for the entire community and eventually would become valuable enough to get sucked up into something greater (like a bigger website, a publishing company, etc.)

But as that was going south, my personal blogging was going north and next thing you know, I'm writing and publishing less about others and more about myself (which wasn't really my intent).  That made things easier for me personally but diminished what I thought was more valuable to the triathlon community as a whole.

Anyway, this past week, about a years worth of negotiating has resulted in my three trademarks and the domain - www.atickettokona.com being acquired.  I am not exactly sure what the future holds for those trademarks and the domain but I'm also pretty sure you'll be able to figure out rather quickly the new owner of things.  For those who have been around over the past few years, you have already seen that the process was started a few months ago as the content over at www.atickettokona.com has been removed.

What does all of this mean?  It means I'm in the process of moving content over to a new "crib" on the internet.  I'm going to have a new home on the web because my current home is, "under contract."  And for simplicity, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be combining my various blogs, websites, and online publishing in a manner that is easier for me organize.  I have some new stuff coming out with work (that starts very quickly) and I am going to go to just one personal blog that will combine all of my interests and happenings.  Right now, my finance peeps go one place, my triathlon peeps go another, my business writings go other places, etc. 

So stay tuned as I will be keeping you posted.  But all of this will be happening and transitioning within the next 30 days (and I hope much sooner as I am just wrapping up details).

But for now, Kindzia 2.0 is well into the expedited "work in process" mode.

By the numbers;

• 183.4 - today's weight (January 1, 2009 weight was 184.2)  Goal weight for 10/25/09 is 165
• 46 - days until the Marine Corp Marathon
• 218 - Total days trained in 2009  
• 0.00 - miles run today
• 147.25 - miles on current pair of shoes
• 1,102.75 - Miles run in 2009

 

Sometimes it's hard to get out of our comfort zone and expand our horizons.  When things are on cruise control and going pretty well, it's rather easy to say, "Why bother?"

I don't think our resident chipmunk is going to be in any rush to get out of his comfort zone and expand his horizons.  It seems he has everything he needs for an easy life; a cool fort in the tomato plant, unlimited bird food and peanuts, one heck of a caretaker and laid back paparazzi who don't get in his face.

But undoubtedly, things change in life.  They always do.  For us, we need to balance out enjoying the present but preparing for the future.  Often we tend to get very lax when things are going smooth and easy.  We often think/believe that it will last forever (which it usually doesn't).  Something always changes.  Our lives constantly change and the world constantly changes.  I suppose that is what keeps us on our toes.

How many people reinvent themselves after hitting rock bottom or experiencing a big setback or there is forced change in their lives?  How many of us push ourselves when things are going really easy/well?  In some ways, the best time to be trying new things and reinventing ourselves is when things are going really well and as a whole, things are pretty stable.  It's rather unnerving to be forced into continued large changes when there is very little stability in a persons life.  That's when we crave consistency the most.

Which brings me back to thinking about my own life.  Am I pressing forward and adapting to the ever changing world?  Am I getting too settled in comfort and consistency?  Am I afraid of trying new things and expanding my horizons?

I wonder if the chipmunk is aware that tomato plants are not perennials?  Things change dude and the fall is coming.  But maybe that's why he's always walking around stuffing his cheeks "gettin' while the gettin's good."

 

I guess he's no dummy.

Good solid day of training today as Tuesday's are a key workout day (and they are building each week).  This week was a 1 hour and 30 minute trainer session followed by a 1 hour brick run.  I still didn't download the data.  The bike was solid but my heart rate started to get away from me later in the run while pace climbed in the wrong direction.  Endurance felt fine but perhaps it was hydration?

By the numbers;

• 184.6 - today's weight (January 1, 2009 weight was 184.2)  Goal weight for 10/25/09 is 165
• 47 - days until the Marine Corp Marathon
• 218 - Total days trained in 2009  
• 7.00 - miles run today
• 147.25 - miles on current pair of shoes
• 1,102.75 - Miles run in 2009