Crazyness in Tucson

Hey there from Tucson AZ.  The dynamic Trio of myself, Dragon, and Bechtel have been here in Tucson for over a month now.  Between 27h training weeks (they’re all 27h weeks), and looking after personalbest.ca training camps.  The constant flow of campers down here is a lot of fun.  I really find energy from talking to and working with all the athletes.

Also we were fortunate enough to have 3 weeks of training with Sarah and Nate Haskins-Kortuem.  Very cool people, and talented athletes (Sarah has a world championship medal and was 11th at the past Olympics).  Here is a video of the action

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Powering down the ’09 Season

Mark and I defended our Tin Man Josh title.  It hurt a lot more than I recall it hurting last season.  Again having to go out of my IM comfort zone on the bike really made me suffer.  I was having mouthfuls of acid coming up until I decided that for the sake of my run I should back off and ride more threshold.

Before the run was the canoe though, I sat in the back snacked and navigated while Mark steamed away up front.  Some clowns had over 4 minutes on us starting the 10 km run leg, but around the 7th km I could see a person running who looked like a fast canoe’r.  Just before the 1 mile climb to the line I passed him.  Damn, that was a tough last mile, and I’m feeling it now.

It was a relief to get a win, even if it was the last race of the season.  I also really liked to run into the win, after having had a few rough runs.
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Mount Lemmon Descending Videos

For the 8th week in a row I will be be riding up Mt Lemmon.  I always get pretty stoked on this climb.  It’s 21 straight miles of climbing, then descend a little and go up some more.  The grade is really consistent, which makes it great for intervals, riding easier, strength training, and just riding in general.

Another cool thing is that you go from Cactus forest at the bottom to snowy/ ski hill at the top, and everything in between. 
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Hanging with the Big Red ‘S’ in Morgan Hill CA

FACT: I am a long time bike nut, enthuiast.  Most years I get 5 new bikes, simply because I love having new bikes, and I also love to try out different brands, types, and purposes.

There is nothing like a new project (triathlon, bike tour, off road bike tour, etc) which requires a new bike, new specialized specific parts.  I have been to several different ware houses, but never to the main nerve center where new bikes born, prototypes destroyed.

As part of my road trip last week I managed to spend 2 days on the Specialized Bicycle Components University.  I loved every second of it.
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Another piece of the DCMP coming together next week

I can’t actually tell you what it is, but it’s huge.  HUGE.  One of the largest pieces missing in the ‘Dream Crusher Master Plan’.

I have been hoping to get this piece of equipment for a decade now.  The benifits are huge, and it’s scheduled to arrive down here in Tucson next Wednesday.
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Me = Dream Crusher = Triathlete Motivator

Otherwise I am dog walking/ dog sitting.  The ‘off season’ is over.  It included being ‘less’ active and “maxing-out” my pizza consumption for a bit.  I am now starting up structured workouts.  My race plan is set (see the training and race schedule tab at the top of my site).   Last year, I was essentially worried about swimming; worked hard on it — I know the drill.  I’ll take another 3 minutes off my IM swim time this year, but now I have a very real concern for my running.  I’m running 4h a week right now, really slowly, and will be picking up the hours, but keeping the intensity low.
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And he raineth on them K-Swiss to run with, Yea, Xterra in one day

Mrs Loeberg taught me in grade 9 that I should not to start a sentence with ‘And’.  And look where it’s gotten me!

So I received a K-Swiss care package today.  I was expecting a set of track pants, one pair of shoes, and was hoping for maybe a pair of socks or a t-shirt.

The box was so big that it took up more than it’s half of the front of the rental car (my mtb was in the trunk, and a Specialized super sweet 18.5 lb Carbon Stump Jumper was taking up the back seat).  I need to clone myself 7 times to wear all this stuff.
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more Vegas thoughts & Interbike

One really good omen about the trip down here which I forgot to mention, is that on my South West flight, I sat near to the cutest girl on the flight, but then was distracted talking to a 60 year old lady flying down to gamble.  Both things surprisingly typical.  When I remember the attractive young lady, I triple take looking over before I realize that it’s Kateri a good friend of mine from high school who I’d lost track of for some 11 years.
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