With 2006 all wrapped up and the results posted, I figured I’d do another run of IMNA statistics for the current year like I did for 2005. Again, this snapshot is just the raw numbers of how things played out this year. Like last year, I left out the swim splits:

“You will notice that I didn’t do swim splits. I chose not to since the swim times should vary the least of the three in all the venues, but mostly because IMNA’s display of swim data sucks. A sub-hour swim time is represented as 59:59:00 while an hour swim time is represented as 1:00:00, which messes up my auto-tabulations and I’m too lazy to go fix the sub-hour entries. :P”

So without further ado:

My observations:

• Arizona folks went 6 minutes slower on average than last year. Folks got around 10 minutes faster on the bike, but 15 minutes slower on the run.
• It looks like Ironman Coeur d’Alene had the biggest change in time from 2005, with its competitors going 37 minutes slower this year than last. Bike times were 11 minutes slower and the run was 23 minutes slower on average! The finisher percentage also decreased by 7%. Seemingly, the conditions were harder for athletes this year than last.
• Placid again surprises me with a very high 92.74% finisher rate. I hear that the course is supposed to be one of the harder ones, but folks that do the course seem to have a good chance of finishing. Does LP just attract a more fit crowd of athletes who prepare better during the season? Overall times this year were about 12 minutes faster than last.
• Canada gets the consistency award by having the average finisher time differ from last year by only 18 seconds. :)
• Wisconsin… the only one that I’m personally familiar with. It looks like 95 degrees or 55 degrees, folks seem to bike the same on that course with bike splits differing by less than 1 minute. Run splits were substantially faster though with an average decrease in time of 36 minutes over last year. Times were only 24 minutes faster overall, though which leads me to believe that either people swam WAY slower this year. Or more likely, people were spending a lot more time in the transition area changing clothes and trying to get warm between events.
• Florida gets the speed crown again this year. While it did once again post the fastest bike splits of any other IMNA event, it wasn’t by much - only 4 minutes faster than Canada. And the average run splits in Florida were actually 3 minutes slower in Placid. Again making me wonder what’s up with these Placid athletes and why are they all on the juice? :)

It’s about that time. That time where I wake up from hibernation and say, “Oh crap! The race season is going to be here before you know it!” It’s been weighing on me (quite literally as far as my knee joints are concerned) these past couple of weeks that I should probably start doing something other than being glued to my couch. These days, I’m pretty much disgusted with how far I’ve actually let myself go.

So for the first time in a long time, I ran. Well, I did something that resembled putting on running shoes and going outside. I wouldn’t so much say that I ran as I’d say I sort of shuffled along wondering if and when I’d go into cardiac arrest. And wondering if it was safe to run considering all the sludge that probably built up over the winter and if a big chunk of cholesterol was going to break off one of my arteries and end up lodged in my brain. But I went out and did something, and as much as the run itself sucked it reminded me that I actually like being outside and exercising. Sure, it was gorgeous out this weekend which totally helped. But it was actually a fresh change from being cooped up inside the house watching me have to go down yet another notch on my belt.

So this is it. Yeah, I think it’s it? OK, it’s it. Stamped on my blog and for you all to call me out on it if you don’t hear from me regularly. The season starts NOW!

Twenty pounds heavier than I should be and my HR was somewhere close to infinity just by standing up. But this is the bitter sweet part of the season. Every workout I do sucks, but almost every workout that I do brings me noticeable changes in weight, HR, and RPE of my workouts. It doesn’t feel like I’ll ever get back to where I was, but I’ll have to trust that I’ve done it in years past and that I’ll get there again. It’s good to be “back”.

See you all out there!

I’m out for Wildflower.  Sorry for the false alarm.

… forget the fact that I can’t run more than 2-3 miles right now and that I haven’t sat on my bike since October. Hypothetically if I were interested in signing up for Wildflower, is it still possible to arrange for lodging and transportation this late in the game? Will it be a logistical nightmare trying to arrange to do this race this late or will it still be possible? I know a ton of you guys are heading out there to do the race, so I figured I’d ask the masses. My friend is wanting something on the calendar to kick start the race season. And seeing that I’ve got a 20 pound blanket of fat surrounding my mid-section that wasn’t there last fall, I probably should do the same.

Twenty pounds and trying to get enough base to do a 1/2 in seven weeks? It sounds pretty stupid, but it might just be the kick in the ass that I need to get going.

If you Wildflower goers can provide any details and/or comments on your experiences signing up and planning out this race, I’d appreciate any comments/thoughts that you might have. :)

Rebates have such a way of making things look like such a great deal. And usually the worst of it is having to figure out how you’re going to cut the UPC code out of something. But I’m sure more people than not have run into something like this:

Seven months and eleven days later (and a half dozen or so emails in between), I finally got my rebate. I suppose I should feel lucky that I got anything at all. A simple Google search shows that I’m not the only person that has had an issue trying to get rebates from that company. I’ll never buy from TigerDirect again.

Now back to our blizzard that we’re having over here…

So… tonight was the first time in a long time that I’ve done anything “tri” related. My LBS (LTS?) was hosting it’s annual “VIP Sale” and it looks like I’ve once again managed to do enough damage there that they invite me back to spend even more! After all, you’ve got to spend money to save money, right? … or something like that.

Anyway, I got there just a few minutes before they were ready to open and there was already a line at the door and around the corner of the entrance. In line were a ton of people from the tri club, including the likes of Trimama and the Soapinator, Ironmom Jenny, the man who brought you TriMapper, and a whole bunch of others (who I didn’t put here only because I don’t have nifty links to include for you - sorry!). It was a little surreal seeing everyone there. It made me feel a little guilty, actually. These are people that I saw pretty regularly this past summer and who after IMWI, I haven’t seen since.

It’s something built into my system, I suppose. Every fall, I feel the need to take a little break and recover from IM and the long season of training that preceded it. But soon after that, it starts getting colder out and I lose any kind of desire to do anything active. The idea of there being snow on the ground and having the sun go down earlier and earlier just gets me more and more depressed as the days go by. I hate being outside when it’s cold and I absolutely despise winter. And really the only thing that seems to keep me happy is junk food. That’s quite the killer combination - not working out a lick and eating everything in sight. I was actually matching kwokette’s weight gain during her last trimester of her pregnancy until she had her baby!

All of this probably has you wondering, “Why in the world do you live in Minnesota of all places then?!” I’ve been asking myself that question a whole lot this winter. More than in previous winters in the past. I really do enjoy my job and my best friend is here. But even those two things, as great as they are, has me wondering if it’s really worth it? Is it really enough?

Anyway, I just felt like I should say something. Some explanation of, “Where has Chris been?” And to address the questions that have come in if everything is alright. Some of you that have been reading for a while already know to expect that I’ll be gone pretty much from October and to reemerge sometime around April or May. But for those that don’t already know… well, now you do.

So… sorry to my merry band of tri clubbers, bloggers, and blog lurkers that I’ve abandoned this winter. It is the middle of February so we’re right in the middle of this thing and there’s no where to go but up. Much like long rides and long runs go - getting to the 1/2 way mark is the hard part. It’s mostly gravy after that. :)

I hope you’ll take this prodigal son back in a few months!

(P.S. No major purchases this year (yet). Off the top of my head, I got some full fingered gloves, knee warmers, toe booties, a new chain, some handlebar tape, and a big TYR backpack.)

You know that you haven’t blogged in a long time when your whole blogging interface looks entirely foreign to you and you don’t really remember how it works very well. I guess looking at my last post date, it really has been a long time!

I suppose it’s typical of me if you look at years past. I’ve historically been known to just disappear during the winter months. There isn’t a whole lot to talk about and I’m sure everyone doesn’t want to hear me complain daily about how cold it is here and how I can’t wait to move someplace else (just about anyplace else!).

Anyway, after China (pictures, BTW can be found at my gallery for anyone that is interested and hasn’t seen them already) we stopped by the Manila for the weekend where I met up with some family and celebrated my grandmothers 90th birthday! I haven’t been to Manila in 10 years or so! The ‘lil kids aren’t so little anymore, but other than that folks were mostly the same. It was great to see some of my extended family again.

The picture doesn’t even represent them all. There are still a good number that were missing. Yes, our family (my mom’s side, anyway) is huge!

Then back to Minnesota where I came back to an utter mess of problems at work that over a month later we’re still trying to dig ourselves out of. That’s been my life now for the past month and a half.

I’ve played a little World of Warcraft and had a couple of pathetic efforts at getting my diet under control. As always, that will start again “next week”. I’m up somewhere between 15-20 pounds over my race weight. Not the best feeling, but maybe it’s instinctive for us during these winter months? At least it’s instinctive for me. I can’t help but want to fatten up and go hibernate someplace until the Spring thaw occurs.

I suppose that’s it. I told you I didn’t have much to say. But at least you all know that I’m still alive. :)

… of the world, that is. We’re in China on a grand tour of the country. I’ve gotten a couple emails from folks asking why they haven’t heard from me lately, so now you know! :)

So I’ll be offline for a while. I’m not sure which nights I’ll have Internet connectivity and which I won’t so this may be it for the extent that I’m here. I’ll be sure to publish some photos for anyone that’s interested in my gallery when I return.

Hope all is well with you all. :)

I’ve been:

• Watching new episodes of Prison Break, Heroes, Lost, The Office, and ER
• Building a new computer (to replace my 4 year old one)
• Eating lots (although I’m still only up around 10 pounds)
• Working out very little
• Finally putting my bike back together with Ergomo installed!
• Saving the World… of Warcraft
• Mentally recharging my batteries to hopefully hit it hard at the New Year

I’ve pretty much given up workout-wise for remainder of the year. I’ve got a vacation planned in the next few weeks. And there’s the Holidays right around the corner which will be certain to destroy any good eating habits of any kind. Yep, I think it’s just better to prepare for a restart in 2007. I think if I manage to start in January next year, it has to be better than starting in July like I did this year, no? :)

My good friends just had their first baby this past weekend. She was a chunker at 9 pounds 7 oz! But she’s very healthy and mom, dad, and baby are all doing well!

I seem to know a lot of people right now that either just recently have had a baby or that are expecting very soon now. I’m not sure what to make of that. O_o

Lastly, a BIG congrats to all you IMFL IRON athletes! I tracked most of you throughout the day (except for folks who’s last name or number I didn’t know). Enjoy the recovery weeks to come and welcome to the off-season! :)

And as I’m up at the wee hours of the morning for only God knows why… I feel connected to my brothers and sisters down in Panama City Beach who are probably up right now finishing off their breakfast.

Best of luck guys and gals! I know I haven’t been around much these past few weeks, but you all have been my thoughts this whole time! I’ll be watching and cheering for you guys (virtually) today!

(Sorry for the late best wishes. I actually thought the race was on Sunday for some reason. Doh!)