Please....No Salt!

I have officially become a fat slug the last two weeks. I have been on my bike once since my test on the 9th and that is it. No running, no lifting, no nothing excepy Holday parties, eating and sleeping. I'm disgusted and VERY ready to go buy groceries and start moving again.

I'm contemplating joining the RiverPlex downtown. Its free if I go 12 times/mo and it has a great pool I can get my swim on in. It might be what I need to continue my motivation as well. The downside is that I want to be outside as much as possible and dont know if I can get the 12 times in. Then I would be stuck paying for it. The jury is still out on that one.

I spent my morning today at the Children's Hospital of Illinois handing out gifts. Makes me appreciate the things I have...most importantly my health and my family and friends. Count your blessings all. Like the fantastic rock band of the 80's Cinderella said....Dont know what you got til its gone.

Top Of The List

Well, it didnt take as long to find out about the test results as I was anticipating. I was told on 12/10 that at the conclusion of the process and after the committee had time ti talk it over that I was #1 on the list for appointment to the tac teams. This still wont be official until 2010, but it's nice that I dont have to sweat it out anymore worrying and wondering about it. Now my focus can be on me staying in great condition for the teams and in turn driving me to get ready for what I'm hoping will be a strong 2010 season.

I took this past week off but am more than ready to get back into training mode. I know that the caloric intake doesnt look promising the next couple weeks either so getting back to some level of activity will be a good thing. I intend on starting things off tomorrow with a nice run at Bradley park after coffee. I seem to "find" myself there at it has ofetn been a place for me to collect my thoughts and regroup.

Now Its Out Of My Hands

Well, I made it through my test today. Some parts were easier than expected and some were much more difficult than expected, but its over and I made it. It made for a very long day. Once the physical fitness testing was completed, we immediately went into the firearms qualifications. Due to the weather, we actually did those indoors on our AIS machine. As soon as that was done we went straight to the oral interviews. Lucky me, I got to go straight to the locker room from there and get ready for work. Luckily it was a slow night. My knees are a wreck right now from the testing. Probably wont know anything until after the 1st of the year, but I've done all I can do and the decision rests in the hands of others.

Less Than 48 Hrs. To Go

Wednesday morning is essentially here. I took today off and will spend the day tomorrow stretching and doing some light maint. to be ready for thye next day. I'm feeling pretty confident now and just want to use the time I have left to make myself as ready as possible. My weight was at 209 this morning which is within my acceptable range, but if I can knock a couple more pounds off by Wednesday, I'll be happy. It looks like the testing will move indoors as the forecast says that Winter is here. Extremely cold temps, high winds and some snow are on the menu.

.7 seconds Seems Like a Year

So the FOLEPI went o.k. for the most part. I had a goal of sub 30 minutes going into the race and was a little disappointed at the finish that I thought I had missed it bt 2 seconds. I just looked at the official times and I actually missed it by .7 seconds! I wont deny that I'm a little bummed. My first mile was so bad. I warmed up decent enough and everything but I just didnt want to get too aggressive early with the crowd and blow up later. The result was that my first mile was 15 seconds slower than my eventual race pace. As I type this I'm trying to understand why I'm beating myself up over it. Oh, well. There's always next year.

FOLEPI Tomorrow

The Festival Of Lights East Peoria, IL (FOLEPI) was a good race for me last year. I was very close to a sub 30 minute race, like 5 seconds away actually. I know that this year was a pain in my hamstring for the biggest part of the year, but I feel like I'm pretty healthy right now. I am carrying a couple extra pounds, but I think they're good pounds. I hate to have number goals at a race like this. But I'd be happy to go sub 30 this time. Aside from that. I want to do all the other things right like good prep before the race including fueling and warming up and then just run a smart race. I want to finish feeling strong, not all blown up. Those are mentally hard for me to bounce back from for a few days. I tend to beat myself up over them too much. I got a nice pre race tempo run in today and kept it to just over 15 minutes. I even snuck in a pre meal Thanksgiving day ride yesterday in the cold and wind just to fire up the furnace to help burn off some food.

After the race I will embark on my annual trip to Champaign to visit with my high school friends at The Ribeye for dinner and a few drinks. Not the healthiest of meals, but I'll burn it off quick enough. It's always a good time and one that I look forward to every year.

I'm closing in on my 12/9 test day for the CIERT/ILEAS teams. I'm pretty confident right now. The next 12 days will be about fine tuning and assuring myself so I go into the test with absolutely no questions about getting through it.

The New Addition to the Fleet

The Specialized Transition finally made it home today. It still needs some pedals, a bottle cage and computer yet but it's home. It would be great to get a ride in on it before the weather goes to junk. We'll keep our fingers crossed on that. Today actually would have been a great day, but I've swore off the bikes until after my test in a couple weeks. I hope it wasnt my last chance before the trainer comes out. This bike will take me some time to adjust to and having it on the trainer wont be of much help.

Training for my test is going ok so far. I've been doing some weighted pull ups to assimilate the added weight I'll be wearing for the test. My bench is also progressing nicely. I have to say, I'm enjoying lifting heavy again. It's been a really long time, but the feeling came back quick. I'll never be as powerful and brute strong as I was 15 years ago, but I think what I'm doing for the test will be beneficial for what I want out of my 2010 season.