12 weeks down, 12 weeks to go. Sometimes it seems like I just got started and sometimes it feels like I’ve been on the training schedule forever.

I did my first triathlon since the wreck of ’03. I’m Baaaaaack!! I still have the remnants of this cold with a cough that sounds like the seals barking for fish at Sea World. I was up-tight all week about the possibility of freezing at the bike start. I didn’t think I would but there’s always that nagging feeling that the demon may still be lurking. I didn’t feel apprehensive at the swim start and didn’t even think about the wreck; well, not a lot anyway. Last year I finished first in my age group; this year fourth. Sounds like a real backslide, but last year the big guns were at other races and this year they were all back.

I got beat up a little on the swim as happens occasionally to everyone. I couldn’t get away from the crowds and got hit pretty hard four times in the head, kicked twice pretty hard with frog kicks around the buoys and lots of other bumps. The transitions were slow and deliberate, but in the reasonable range. I pushed the bike pretty hard but, with the strong North wind, didn’t break any speed records. I felt great on the run and kept the same pace the entire time. I finished with energy to spare so I did leave some out there. Last year 2:43:15. This year 2:47:58. Let’s blame it on the cold, OK?

One of the things that makes good athletes “good athletes” is the ability to focus on their sport. In triathlon, sometimes you need to focus for ten or more hours. I’m not training for ten hours at a crack yet, but have noticed that one of the things that makes me a mediocre athlete is the lack of my ability to focus and the propensity to let my mind wander on the long runs or long bikes.

Last weekend I was either running the 120 minute Sunday run or riding the Saturday 3 hour ride and I happened to notice a chipmunk was stuck to the pavement and had been flattened by a car. Normal road kill is smathered all over the road and, often, you can even tell what kind of animal it was. But not this chipmunk. It’s pelt was perfectly flattened and didn’t have a blemish on it. Of course, here’s where my mind wandered a bit. I thought what a shame it was to die like that and end up stuck to the tire of an old pickup truck.

Then I thought, as a perfect tribute, we could use the road kill skins to make fur cases for our cell phones. Chipmunks are exactly the right size for most cell phones. The pattern is pretty enough to be carried by a woman, but it’s the skin of an animal, so could be carried by us manly men (let’s not be offended by the connotation that historically the man is the hunter and the woman is the gatherer in our ancient civilization). You know I’m an animal lover so I don’t think killing chipmunks for fur is a good idea, but using road kill for something other than jokes about hillbilly meals sounds like a better place for their souls to go. Think about it and don’t laugh. It could be a moneymaker.

After one of my long rides I had turned the corner a block from the house and was riding on the correct side of the street with no traffic on my side. You other riders know that, invariably, some young guys yell at bicycle riders, mostly to scare them into losing control. Of course, one guy stuck his head out the window of his beater truck and said “GET A CAR” as loud as he could. It must be some mating ritual to impress their girlfriends. I like it when idiots make their presence known so I can stay as far away from them as possible.

Thursday I worked on anger management. The satellite installer was to come to the cottage “mid-morning” to hook up the dish and receivers. Not wanting to miss him I got up at 5:50 AM (had trouble getting to sleep-was still awake at 12:30 AM) and got out on my Thursday track run by 6:10. The schedule showed a 20 minute warm-up followed by a 30 minute HR-2 run with four 2 minute HR 3-4 fartleks followed by a 15 minute cool-down. For you non-runners it was a moderate pace run with some faster parts in the middle.

The schedule suggested doing it on trails (the run, not what you are thinking) so I did the Cook-Quimby-Broadway 7 mile loop and pushed up the hills. The cold is better but my lungs are quite congested, so breathing the heavy early morning air without sounding like I had escaped from the TB ward at the VA hospital wasn’t easy. I showered quickly and went to the cottage and waited. At 11 AM the installer called and said he would be there at 2 PM and I gave him directions. 2 PM came and went and his office finally called at 4:45. Apparently he had car trouble, didn’t have a spare tire, and could we reschedule for Friday at 10?

I, not so politely, told her my calendar was in Hastings and I didn’t know what was planned for Friday. I had waited there all day with no TV, no radio, waiting for someone who didn’t show up when originally planned and didn’t bother to call and keep me informed so I could do other things. So here’s the anger management improvement. I didn’t, sarcastically, ask if he had run over his phone which caused the flat and that’s why he didn’t call. Also, it was our 15th anniversary so later when Jean and I went out to dinner, I waited until the third time before I asked her to stop kicking me in the shins; it was my leg and not the table leg. I think I’m improving.

Ta Ta for another week,

Just (Back But Running on 7 Cylinders) Jack