What am I doing?

It's been a few days since my last post. I haven't really had anything to say. My feet hurt, so I'm in rehab for that. I'm putting on "winter weight" by not running. And now I've have done something I really wasn't planning. The story of my life...

Since I have been sidelined with the foot rehab I wanted to stay in shape. How do I do that? I stopped swimming a month ago and the StairMaster is my version of a soccer mom nightmare at the rec. Well, it's old faithful. Back to the pool. Why? Well I'm always up for a new challenge. this year I had some really defining moments while racing, mostly in the swim part. I don't want to get out, I just want the swim to go on and on. Apparently I like the open water, bacteria and driftwood are my thing. I did some research, a little. Actually I googled "open water swimming" and I came up with a Little one that raises money for the Potomac river. There's less than 30 people in the event. The best part is that it starts with a boat ride. I like boat rides. They take the swimmers to Virginia and drop everyone off. Then you swim back to Maryland. 7.5 miles. I look at it this way. Any issues that may be bothering you will be put into a serious perspective over the course of one Chesapeake Bay. So what did I do?

I emailed the race director and asked if I could give her $300 for a boat ride. She said OK I'll see you in May. Here's the best part...There's this other thing I signed up for called Ironman. But that's not until August. Oh yea, There's the Cleveland Marathon two weeks prior. (and the BT50K) What does this all mean?

It means that over the course of the next 12 months I will be completely redefining myself as a the person I thought I knew. Many questions will be answered. How bad is the rotator cuff? How bad are my high arches? How much does my wife love me? Will I ever be in my house during daylight hours?

I put together a basic training plan. It's just weekly yardage at this point and the ramp up to 30,000 yds in May. Each of these weeks have one day that makes up 40-50% of the weekly yardage. this changes in Feb. where one day will be at least 50-60%. At the end of April I will have a weekly swim of 12,ooo-15,000 yds with a 85% being my main set. Here's the fun part, at the same time I will also have a long run around 15-20 miles. The caloric intake of a 40 mile run week and 12k in the water will be around 3500 a day, this includes workout nutrition. So if we break this down I can have 5 hammer gels, 20 Miller Lites, and 12 chicken wings a day. Or something like that.

If anyone even cares, keep an eye on this blog. If no one reads that's fine, At least I will have a forum to keep myself motivated.

Lastly, This weekend is my eighth wedding anniversary. Natalie, and I grabbed a local hotel to get out of the house for 2 nights. Saturday, we will head down to the Cuyahoga valley for a little Buckeye trail running. My first run in 2 weeks. I have to say that I am quite excited to be going on a trail run with my wife in the heart of Autumn.