Monday, January 11, 2010

Returned

Uh...hello? *tap tap* is this thing on?

Hi everybody. Or one-body, or however many bodies are tuning in after a 4-month absence. 4 MONTHS! That's crazy, and longer than I intended. I like to take a break after the season, and usually it's about 2 months long, but this one was the extended version, I guess. Just pretty exhausted after last season - not burned out, but in need of recharge away from the game. As you know, I'm pretty utterly absorbed during the season. To a point that, I acknowledge, isn't constantly sustainable - especially as a parent, husband, business owner, blah blah blah. Ironman was such a full throttle experience last year that the break required more of me, I guess. I sacrificed and compromised some other things in my schedule, especially last summer as training really ramped up, so I was happy to just focus on some other things for awhile.

But anyway, I'm back, and here we are in 2010, which is crazy. By the way - happy 4th birthday to this blog, which is also crazy. I had, after Ironman, some big ideas for this blog in the offseason...which totally didn't happen. So I'll see about getting to those slowly over the next few weeks or months. I had also fully intended on closing the doors to this joint - as I am no longer Becoming Ironman - but even in my hibernation I had so many random, kind and meaningful comments from people finding the video, or getting ready for their first Ironman and stumbling on something I wrote 3 years ago, or whatever, that I'm convinced that changing venues with this thing doesn't really serve the greater community - which is kind of where my efforts with the blog will, hopefully, channel (for instance, one thing I want to get working on pronto is some kind of Everything I Know About Training/Racing Ironman post that kind of distills all my experiences from training/racing 2 of these into something sensible that people can refer to, or acknowledge, or ignore entirely, or whatever). I have several friends training for 2010, and I'm passionate about throwing in my two cents to whatever might contribute to their successes.

Meanwhile, I'm training for a more relaxed, fun season. I haven't managed the details yet, but I'm thinking Olympic or shorter this year, emphasizing on getting faster. Some trail races would be fun, maybe an XTERRA. Maybe finding some new races, too, that I haven't done before. I dunno, we'll see, I'm figuring all that out now. I do plan on either the Twin Cities marathon or Chicago, next October. Stay tuned.

In other news, I was named a Sugoi Brand Champion for 2010, which is very cool for me - if you know me, or have ever asked my advice on tri apparel (or been around when I submit my often unsolicited advice...), you'll know that I love their stuff. Being a Brand Champion means I get discounts on their stuff (which is friggin awesome), and I'll post thoughts and reviews in kind. Hopefully it's useful to people other than just me.

That's about it. Look for the tone of the blog to maybe change slightly - still focused on training and racing, but I want to really start to articulate my many lessons learned from and through Ironman as they occur to me - my hope is that people training will find this place and have useful things available to them. Not entirely sure yet how that will look, or even if there will be any significant changes to speak of, but that's what's rattling around in my head.

Looking forward to 2010 everybody. The blog is back open for business.

12 comments:

KodaFit said...

Woohoo!!

Welcome back to cyberspace and looking forward to using your experiences to motivate me in my journey this year... Just 109 days to go!

Amy said...

Welcome back to blogging. Definitely looking forward to reading more about your training/experiences/etc.

Maria said...

Welcome back and congrats on the champion!

Erin said...

Happy New Year! Looking forward to continued musings this year.

marathon2tri said...

Great to have you back. After three years of reading your work and watching and rewatching your video, I made the jump and now have just 193 days until I try to become Ironman at IMLP. Hope to take part of this blog across the line with me.

IronWaddler said...

Welcome back....

Alili said...

How did I go almost a week w/o noticing this new post?! Oh wait...my 6 week old keeps me insanely busy (or just plain insane). So glad to have you back and motivating the masses.

:)

Anonymous said...

It is very interesting for me to read the post. Thank you for it. I like such themes and anything connected to them. BTW, why don't you change design :).

Hassan said...

Dude, welcome back. Now I don’t feel like I’m wasting my time telling you this. I did a run the other day and it felt good. Ran the first part faster than my goal time. The last two miles kinda sucked because of it but wasn’t unbearable. So, I really slooooooowed it down. Hell, I ran so hard the first part. I can afford to slow it down, not make it hurt, and reach goal. Then I remembered your race report. When you were surrounded by people that pretty much lost their motivation. You decided you didn’t want to be part of that group and moved on. I thought about that and felt guilty and was able to push it out. So, a big thanks from me and I know you will continue to inspire people and never have a clue you did it.

Daniele Hohol said...

Hey Dude!

First of all, great blog! I was pushed to see the original video by a training partner who told me it was awesome. At first, I was kinda sceptical as I've seen the Ironman videos of the pros and they all seem kinda selfish and self-absorbed..

Your video totally w0wed me..so much so, I did a little digging and read some of your marathon reports and I really enjoyed reading it :)! Sounds familiar to my own race reports! Great insight and great attitude!

Keep it up! Great plan on focusing on the shorter...you can use your Ironman endurance which will stay with you for life and rock some PBs :)!

Anonymous said...

I am really really glad you decided to keep it going. This has been my favorite blog since I started Triathlon 2 years ago. I have learned a lot from you and thank you for that! You really have a gift for capturing what makes triathlon special.

Enjoy the winter and good luck this coming season!

Sarah said...

love this, and sooo glad you are back. I know I've read your blog off and on, and even link to 'This is Why' from my blog and re-read as I train for CdA this June. You posted once about having you're own 'one thing' for Ironman, and I can't find that post, do you happen to remember? Maybe it wasn't you, but for some reason I'm thinking it was your blog. Anyway, as you can tell, I'm looking for Iron-Motivation ;) Cheers! Glad you are back to posting!