Here are my goals:

CE: 95
RT: 20
CT: 35

PG1: Triple Terror: 40 hours CT, 1200 pullups, 1200 pushups.
PG2: 5% WLC 9lbs
PG3: swim 1 mile continuous
PG4: D&L Half Marathon 10/23 <2:15
PG5: 50 days of PLP starting at 30 reps

I think I have it, a balance of all the things I want and need to do. Everyday I do the PLP combo of  pullups, lunges, and pushups. I vary the lunges with kettlebell swings, pushups are usually on a BOSU ball or with blast straps.  Knowing I have to get up and do pullups is strangely satisfying. I use the lunges for stretching. I’m starting at 30 so at the end of challenge I  will doing each exercise for 82 reps, of course not all in one set. Let’s hope my upper body cooperates.

The Triple Terror is new, I’ve been challenged by Baseball Mom and testpilotgg, to develop a program to push each other in some similar but not identical fashion. I believe the 40 hour CT goal will accomplish our goals but not lock each person into identical modes. I for one will cut running back to 2x weekly in November and replace it with swimming and biking. How much of each I can’t say but I’ll strive for 40 hours of heart pounding, sweat infused activity.  The 1200 pullups and pushups is a stretch too and we may be reaching a terminal amount here but we won’t know till we try.

As for swimming, it remains the the great unconquered piece for me. I have swam 1 mile in the open water several times while participating in triathlon but I need to do it without the extreme effort that has been required. Swimming is key to my Half Ironman Triathlon goal, I can cycle and run the distance but not if I’m in the water all morning. I’m swimming Wednesday, if nothing else but to prove to myself that I’m serious about this goal.

What else, oh yes, the D&L Half Marathon on Sunday. I’ll do a post in the another category on this but let me say it’s my 6th HM and I’m running with my son John, it’s his first. So how cool is this? We’re not fast but we do have fun.

As for the WLC of 9 lbs, I almost completed this last time but gave it all back in the last 3 weeks of the challenge.  I’m expecting to do better but I always do. I gave away all my clothes that fit at the beginning of the last challenge, replaced them with smaller sizes and now am at the point of muffinesque. No, I’m not re-buying the last size so I have no choice but to make a concerted effort to accomplish this goal.

So there it is, plenty of activity, exciting goals, and an opportunity  to redefine myself yet again. The story begins tomorrow.

It’s heavy.  I walk past it for two days and it mocks me. No way I say, “I’ll stay with my friend the 50lb bell. We fit each other, and swing merrily back and forth in sets of 20.” The 80 bell growls and I hear, ” you know you want to do this”.

I stall until 10:00 PM, and finally as I turn to close the garage doors for the night, I know it’s time.  Two hands around the handle and away we go. I gasp at the effort required to swing this beast. At the 6th swing I get it, the energy flows, my hips snap, hamstrings quiver and we stop exhausted at 10. Gingerly I lower the beast and carefully stand up so as not to totally black out.

It’s not likely the beast will ever be like my 50lb kbell friend but we will meet again and again in  furious moments of unrestrained bravado.

Here are the standards:

CE: 95
RT: 20
CT: 30

PG1: 4MAX – run 75 miles – ride 225 miles – 1000 pullups – 1000 pushups

PG2: 20 consecutive pullups – 7 weeks to 50 pullups Workout – Phase 1

PG3: 5% WLC 9lbs

These are similar to the last challenge but with a change in the pullup routine to multiple consecutive sets 3 times weekly. Everyday pullups were very good for me last time so of course I’m obligated to change to another routine.

I’m excited but not quite prepared having struggled with a massive dose of poison sumac that began a week ago. I’m not even close to being done, yet I need to begin and today is the day.

Rejuvenating this blog should help me keep pressing, if nothing else I’ll be able to laugh at my hubris in 52 days.

Pullups await.

Last year was my first time, having ran the associated 5K three other years. I remember watching with fascination as the 10 mile racers started finishing   at the hour mark with a steady stream at 1:20-1:40.

So in 2008 I had to race it.  The experience was incredible, once I crested the long hill I was on fire, filled with exhilaration for having made it. Yes, the last 2 miles were tough but  I had conquered the mountain,  and powered the long downhill, so my leaden legs followed my desire to push to the finish.

This year feels different. Perhaps I’ve lined up for too many long races and have lost  the fire that drives me to attack this climb.

Yet, I vividly recall my elation as I left behind the pain of the uphill and began screaming down the mountain through the brown leaf carpet, not caring if I slipped, just wanting to go faster.

That is the picture I will hold close for the next 5 days. The fire I’ll feel in my legs and lungs will consume this picture, leaving embers that stay with me until they are  useful once again.

At the obligatory lunch  we rehashed old races and plotted new ones.  I forced myself to the pool, hoping perhaps some minor calamity closed it for the afternoon.  No such luck, entering the pool area I see one man my age  swimming in the middle lane, doing laps, seemingly without effort. I struggled for my planned 30 minutes and managed to swim a whopping 350 yards. Let’s think about this, for a half iron distance triathlon, one needs to swim 1.2 miles. Clearly, I have some work to do.

Help is on the way, I’m going to be working with triathlon coach,  one who has the resources to help me learn how to swim.  I didn’t try to teach myself how to fly some 33 years ago, so why would I think I can teach myself to swim long distances? I hope it doesn’t take 30 years to become as comfortable in the water as I am in the air; I may run out of time.

Returning home with a vision of finishing the day with a bike ride, a rather intense clap of thunder pushed that thought away.  Impending nightfall and steady rain  caused me to revise my plan and so ended my Saturday endurance activities.

While not a day to dream over, I’m pleased  that I was able to push myself to get swimming. No zeros in the Gram Slam ’09 column and I’m eager to actually learn how to swim.

We’ve enjoyed some good questions in just three days of posting. Today’s question was something on the order of “What have you accomplished  that you thought was impossible?”  In my post I replied by stating I have flown airplanes that I never dreamed I could and I have run a half marathon or three.  Some of the other posters mentioned their education accomplishments, post grad work, all stuff to make one proud. Funny, I didn’t think to list  my return to complete my undergraduate degree at 53. I mention this because I’m struck by the fleeting nature of goals. What seems so important at one stage in life, becomes strikingly less important when either accomplished or passed over for newer pursuits.

Post script to our host’s reply, he mentioned flying a P-51 as a dream goal, I managed to get a ride in one last June. I can only imagine how frightened yet thrilled young pilots might have felt some 56 years ago as they pushed the throttle forward for takeoff.

Now for less ethereal notes. To reach my goals, I must concentrate on eating for fuel, not just because I love to eat. It’s not that I haven’t been eating clean, but the extras have to go if I want to see less bodyfat.  It’s tough to train hard for endurance events and lose weight, without any A races upcoming, it’s a good time to make some dietary changes.

As for workouts, I’ll run to train, bike for rehab, swim for technique and lift weights for strength and to  support the fat loss program. Sounds like a plan!