Have you seen my bucket?

Kate and I made it last week just fine for all the worriers, or is warriors, either way we are still alive and kicking. Been going a zillion miles an hour if 12.3852 directions. I will do a full Team WE recap in the next day or so. Stay tuned, sorry the generic tweeter thing sucked.....I know it would even when I typed it, ha!!!

Day 1

Thus far 1 full day with Kate and the fun we've had. A quick recap:
She arrives last night about 6ish to find me on the bike just finishing up and getting ready to change for a quick transition run. For those that care about me, I felt good and feeling ready for tomorrow.
After the training is done, a quick shower to rinse off and than the "rat race" is on. We head to Start Line for packet pick-up. Off to Gear West for new replacement pedals for Kate's road bike.....long story for this trip. The first 2 stops are north and west of for us. Now comes the true test of driver skill, which for me is speeding without having the po-po catch me....knock on wood I've succeeded so far. Any rate, we are headed to Chaska and Brickyard Bikes to visit our buddy and get some bike "love". We discuss possible new toys and than need food. By this point in the day Kater has been in the car for about 5ish hours and in need of fuel for the body.......who am I kidding, I am starving as well. We stop and get a burrito at Qdoba, only 1 for me tonight, i had 2 from Chipotle last night. I've been told thats about 2000 calories or so, but who's counting, ha!!! We arrive back to Casa de' Norde and call it a day. In goes one of the Seinfeld DVD's and we are both fast asleep.
Today brings another day of fun....the alarms squawks at 5:15 telling us to get to the pool. We show up and are met in the parking lot by our weekend roomie; Matt Wilson. We all change and hop in the warm pool for a short set and off to brekkie at the Original Pancake House. This is a Monster favorite hands down. They have the best bacon I've ever had...the good thick kind. Plus, I've never drank a cup of coffee during breakfast; they are johnny on the spot to refill your cup. I worked at the office today as did Kate, the only difference she works from the comfort of the living room while watching Step Brothers or 40 Year Old Virgin. When I got home from work we got the bikes all set for "the big race" had supper and now we are resting watching game 7 of the Cup.
To be continued.......

T-Minus 1 Night

So its been a really really long time again since I have updated this for the 6 people that occasionally check out whats going on in my life. Since my last post, not much has changed. I am still working, which is always a plus in today's economy. Still training. Still commuting to and from IA to see a little cutie that makes me smile.

Common questions that I am asked that I will answer and then continue with this little post.

Whats new?

Not much. Pretty much the same as always.

Hows training and racing going?

So far its going good. I feel I am swimming faster than I ever have before. My bike feels solid and my run, well, its my run. Lets just say I am glad that I am not "just" a runner

How are things with you and Kate?

Good. We are able to spend a ton of time together regardless of the distance and we make the most of our time. Seldom are we just sitting around. We are constantly on the go

Okay, with those answered, lets continue.

I have Liberty half coming up this Saturday. It will be a good start to the season and a great fitness check for me. I have raced a few times already and have felt pretty good. I did a 10k in IA last Saturday and was going to work on race pace stuff. Clearly I am a moron and have Z-E-R-O concept of pacing. I was out of the gates way to HOT. Tried to settle down and get in a groove, no luck. Tried again at the still no luck. But, like I said I felt good. So I just kept my pace for that race. Not really the goal I had set in my coco-noodle when I woke that morning. So, I feel ready for what is looming ahead for me on Saturday. Sunday morning we (Kate and I) will be up at the butt crack of stupid and heading to the Manitou Sprint race as volunteers. Afterwards we have plans on going to Stillwater to watch the last stage of the Nature Valley Grand Prix cycling race. I've seen stages of this race in the past and its an amazing thing to see. The riders are so impressive and the crashes rival those that Bob Roll shows on his crash compilation DVDs.

More importantly than all of the that is what is arriving tomorrow evening. Kate is coming to stay for the next week!!! I am going to work on doing a generic version of Twitter and give daily updates as to what Team WE is doing....so stay tuned, I promise to entertain.

So for those 3 faithful followers, thats what I have been up to as of late. Exciting huh? Makes you happy that you decided to stop by and take a look, ha!!!

A Weekend of 1st!!!

1st tri of the year
1st tri ever for Boo's dad and oldest sister
1st tri of the year for Team WE
1st in the pool
1st out of the pool
1st in on the bike
1st to cross the finish line
5th overall
Not so bad for the 1st official race of the year.

Grocery Shopping

So its been a few days sine my last post, sorry. Since my last post, I've turned 30, I traveled to Fl and had a wonderful weekend with Kate and her parents in the Villages...which happens to be the most active retirement community I've been to. Okay, so its the only retirement community I've been to, but I had a blast. Kate and I brought the bikes down and got in 2 great rides with Mike. I encountered my 1st flat of the year; only to be followed up by my 2nd flat of the year on Wed during a ride to the bike shop to get more spare tubes. I got to do the walk of shame back to the house to switch bikes. Nothing more depressing than being all dressed to ride and have to push your bike back to the stable because you are out of the proper equipment to repair it on the road. Needless to say, I got more tubes and have had many a good rolls since.
So as the title of the post might or might not lead you to think, I need to go to the grocery store and restock. I tend to forget the amount of food that I consume during training and racing season. I find myself eating 2 sub sandwiches, cookies, soup and sometimes a pop for lunch. I start the day with oats, yogurt, fruit and coffee. Have a mid morning snack, either the listed lunch or leftover pasta, tacos, really anything I can get my hands on. Supper, well my friends, this is usually some sort of Thanksgiving fest. If I have pasta, I always add more noodles than the pot can hold and get the burger and sauce going. I will usually consume all of it in one sitting. Only to find myself hungry 30-45 minutes later. I have a co-worker that thinks I have a tape worm, I am starting to think he might be right.
So tonight, after eating just about everything in the house and not having anything left to make a meal, I am off to the store. This will start with a plan. I will walk into Cub (I {heart} my Cub) dead set on what I need to get. What aisles I need to go to and have meal plans all drawn up in my head. Only to walk into the store and have my mind go totally blank. I will look at items that I can't pronounce, only to see if I can add it to a dish and make a some sort of new meal. The kicker is, because I go into the store sans a list, I will undoubtedly forget something. For instance, I am looking to make baked chicken and rice with beans; I will forget chicken. I don't know what happens to men when we walk into a grocery store; but the next time you see a guy in the store, take a look, he is utterly clueless on what he needs. You will see him when your leaving, more than likely in the same spot you first saw him, still lost. So when you see me, please help. Than just to be extra nice, can you show me to my vehicle as well.

How much is TOO much

With training in full swing, swimming a few times a week, biking what seems like every 6 hours and running whenever I am awake; I have noticed something. I own a lot of spandex and Lycra based clothing. I have it hanging over doors to dry for the next session, loaded in the laundry baskets to be washed, my wetsuit hanging in the shower to dry after a recent pool workout. My house is starting to smell like a hockey locker room with just a hint of neoprene. Its an odd aroma, but one that has quickly grown on me. Is it odd that I find myself doing more loads of training clothes laundry than work clothes? At what point do I get rid of some of it? Than do I have to buy more? I have about 1500 technical t-shirts from races; what am I keeping them all for? I have 3 large Rubbermaid stack able bins just full of "stuff" My cold weather gear; hats, gloves, etc don't even have their own bin. They just get tossed in the training room until I need them again. I have done athletics for pretty much my whole life and if I got all of that gear in one room...my tri stuff would still out number all of the it!

Movies. This is another thing. I have increased my movie collection 10 fold in recent months so I have entertainment while on the trainer or dreadmill. Yet I find myself watching the same few over and over again. I mean, Dumb and Dumber, Elf, Christmas Vacation, Wedding Crashers, 40 Year Old Virgin, Fletch; these are great and make the time fly by.

I have 3 helmets, 3 pairs of cycling shoes, about 8 pair of running/racing shoes, 3 wetsuits, 4 bikes....why? Am I trying to compete with Gear West; I feel like I am running a small tri shop evrytime I enter the house.

So I ask a simple question....how much is TOO much? I might be over my limit.

Sleep, eat, train, work....REPEAT

Movies to pass the time while running or on the trainer

The "South"

The past few weeks have been busy with work, training and travel to see Kate. I pretty much wake up and head to the pool, try to be there by 6, usually late though. Than head to work. Maybe another training session during lunch (if not I head home to nap...the joys of living only a few miles from the office), back to the office for the rest of the day and than a some sort of training at night. I would love to keep a calorie log, but not sure I can count that high. So, if you've been wondering what I've been up to...thats pretty much it. If you are trying to find me...I'll be the one in the pool, or on the treadmill, or the trainer...sometimes I can even be spotted lifting or better yet, attempting yoga.