Blogging Slacker!

I know, I know, I've been a blogging slacker. But while I haven't been blogging, I have been training and planning, working and recovering. I've logged some awesome 40-50 mile bricks, a few decent swims, and the usual early morning speed work. I've also been logging some serious hours at work and I'm getting over a chest cold. Redman is now 3 weeks from Saturday, which means one more big weekend.

But more exciting than that, I've also been doing a little window shopping for a new road bike. I think I've found The One. It's a Felt 2011 ZW5. Why the 2011 you ask? Because this year, Shimano revamped the 105 group set. After test riding the 2011, I can't justify the cost upgrade to Ultegras. With a carbon fiber frame, I can always upgrade components later and not lose any thing. Ain't she purty?

Besides the sweet ride, it was also more than $100 less than the comparable Trek and Cannondale. I also have a %15 off coupon for one of the local dealers, which will save me an extra $300. I haven't put in the order yet, but I'm pretty darn close.

And with the future requisition of a road bike, I'm also doing some preliminary research into bike racing for next season. I plan on going to watch some cyclo cross races this fall to get a feel for it, but I may look into a race series for next season.

Then, I have a few friends that want to run their first 50 mile trail race in Feb and asked if I was interested. After very little arm-twisting (or none at all) I agreed to train for it and if my PF flares up, I'll just head down to crew.

Since I don't have enough hobbies and WAY too much free time on my hands, I'm also looking at a 24-hour endurance climbing competition next Sept with some of my lady climbing friends. It would mean getting lead-certified sometime this winter and adding more climbing into training. But I heard "24-hour climbing comp" and I was in.

Oh yeah, I have a completely different kind of endurance event this spring. I'm going to take my licensing exam for structural engineering. It's 16 hours of testing over two days. So some of this may get pushed back or dropped completely since I will also have some endurance study sessions. But for now, I'm happy with planning for everything and letting the execution take care of itself.