Yum, bacon sandwiches!
At work, almost every day people ask me "how's it going Jake?" My answer, living the dream folks..
This was kind of a big week for me, with my 3 year anniversary of my sobriety, and today being one year from the day I broke my collarbone. Both these events have their place in my life and weren't just normal days for me.
Please allow me to thank all of my family and friends for your support. While my sobriety isn't something I normally talk about, it is something that I am very proud of. My sobriety wasn't born in AA anything like that. While there is a reason, basically I decided one day that it was time for me to grow up and start focusing my attention on more productive things. Don't get me wrong, I have zero problem with alcohol, and don't judge or view anybody that imbibes any differently than I hope they would view me. Really, it isn't a huge deal. Just something I feel pretty good about. The anniversary has now passed and I won't really think about it again until next February 8th.
My collar bone, now mechanically enhanced by a 6 inch "S" shaped titanium plate with 7 screws mounted on the top of my right clavicle. It was a very unfortunate crash at the Tour de Palm Springs last year, about 70 miles into the ride. I got a flat and somebody ran me over. I decided to have surgery, and I fell off my training and had to back out of IM St George. I did my return and I think that I have recovered fully and have no side effects to mention. Hell, I even went a year without crashing. Not even tipping over at a stop light. Most people know, I used to do that all the time. I did have a momentary loss of balance for a few seconds today at a stop light, but I saved it. Katie was laughing at me when I turned around.
I have now jinxed myself I'm sure.
If you are looking online for swim advice, I might suggest doing your research. I've noticed a lot of ill advised recommendations such as band workouts, and 30 minute time trials, from people that are calling a swim mask a dorky thing to wear. Honestly, if you are swimming a 1:30+ scy base or better yet, you swim on rest intervals rather than a base, you shouldn't be telling people what to do in the water, nor criticizing people for their goggle choice.
Moving right along, my training is going very well but very unstructured. 9 hours on the bike, 15+ miles running, and a lot of swimming. I'm even close to actually looking at my Garmin data.. A whole years worth. That should be interesting. Lot's of early mornings and not late nights. I don't think I can sleep passed 7 anymore. I think Katie and I are competing to see who can get up earlier. I won't win this. Point Katie.
I have found myself leaning towards hopping into a road race to see what I've really got. Maybe someday I'll actually get there. Not until next year probably. Maybe Katie and I will get our acts together and get on a team. After spending about the last 3 months riding with Swami's a few times a week, I've realized that while I can hold my own, without any teammates, things would be difficult, even at the CAT 5 level. People don't seem to like to help if you aren't wearing their colors. I do look forward to the day I make it to the line of one of these races. Should be fun. Hell, I'm even starting to wear bibs and wear somewhat matching kits. I know I know, I haven't shaved my legs or joined Strava. Perhaps someday soon. I'm starting to see a lot of creepy looks at my Ritte. Guys it's a bike, please don't look at it like that.
Swimming was something I loved as a youngster, then loathed in high school, and ended up doing for a job in the Navy. I think I have found my childhood passion again and I'm even in the water 2 days a week before the sun comes up with the "Toes in the Water at 6". La Jolla Cove plays a big part in that. It is absolutely the best spot to get 2 miles in before the day begins. I've even had the pleasure of a few good friends joining the group and getting a cove-shores-cove swim in on Friday. Thanks Steve and Rachel for coming out! I'm just happy I can keep up with Rachel, did you see her swim split at Panama 70.3 today? No wesuit and sub 21? Yikes. Nice work.
A few days a week I'm making it to the pool as well. I'm seeing my base get lower week by week and becoming a much better pool swimmer than I ever have been. I'm really hoping to crack the 1:10 scm base here sometime soon.
Running is not my favorite unless I'm running with Matt and go on an "easy run", aka let's see how fast we can run. I'm looking forward to getting some of that in again this year. I keep hearing he's getting really fast. Other than that, not much to mention on the run front. It's coming along but I've got a long way to go. Orange head buffs are coming back. So if you see a tall skinny kid running up double peaks with a sweet orange buffs, that'll be me. Just as someone caught me coming down the hill here:
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If you are one of the 27 lucky folks that follow me on Twitter (FOLLOW ME), you may see Katie and I mentioning the FY Factor and bragging to each other that our day has been harder, perhaps we could use a little bit of creativity to describe this, but plain and simple it's the Fuck Yeah Factor, hash tag it sometime.
My legs are tired and it's getting late (6pm), time for Katie and I to eat our early bird special and hopefully stay up past 8:30. Not likely though.
I'm also trying to take some more pictures. Standby for less instagram and more Nikon...
Always Awesome,
jake
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