2011 and Beyond – An Interview with Myself

So I've been getting a lot of questions from all my imaginary fans about why I haven't updated my blog lately.  All I can say is that a lot has been going down in Jesse Town.  Since that place doesn't exist outside of my mind, I'll go ahead and lay it out for you utilizing one of my favorite writing techniques, Q & A.  This way I get to pretend like I was interviewed, which makes for some playful banter.  Here goes:

Interviewer:  Why hasn't your lazy ass raced since September?

Me:  I was damn tired after coming back from training and racing in Europe.  Traveling across the world is tiring, and training 20+ hours a week while doing so is slightly more tiring.  When I got back, I was crushed, plain and simple, both physically and mentally.  I needed a break.  I took a couple of weeks down, started to train again, and was in the same spot I was before.  Put simply, it wasn't happenin'.  So I decided I needed to press the reset button big time, take some serious time off (3 full weeks), and re-build to 2011.

Interviewer:  So what about next year, are you going to compete?

Me:  Damn straight!  I am soooo excited for next year.  The break I'm coming off of was much needed physically, but also mentally.  It allowed me to re-evaluate my approach to the sport and how to best structure triathlon as part of my life, not a force against it.

Interviewer:  Wow, that's deep man.

Me:  I know.

Interviewer:  So what specifically has gotten you so excited for next year?

Me:  First off, I recently signed up with a new coach, Matt Dixon of Purple Patch Fitness, as one member of his Pro Team.  Linsey Corbin, one of the top Ironman athletes in the world (also a HS friend of mine and a super cool person) introduced me to Matt.  He coaches some of the best Ironman and 70.3 athletes in the world.  I am, by far, the least accomplished person on the squad, so its an awesome position for me to be in to improve significantly.  Matt, has been absolutely amazing so far, really encouraging.  He sees potential and he's building my confidence.  Seriously excited about it.  I think he will provide a really positive counter balance to my natural tendency to push-push-push.  My training under him so far has gone really well.

Interviewer:  What type of training are you doing?

Me:  Right now, I'm turning myself into a fish, literally.  I'll swim about 35k this week, which is roughly 1.5 times more than I ever swam before this year, and I've been swimming at and above my fastest paces from all of last year.  Matt and I are hoping that getting out of the water earlier in the race will make it mentally easier for me to maintain contact on the bike ultimately setting myself up for a big run.  Still got a long way to go, but its definitely headed in the right direction.

Interviewer:  That's cool.

Me:  Thanks, I appreciate that.

Interviewer:  No problem.

Me:  ………..

Interviewer:  Uh….So….what's the plan going forward?

Me:  Well, basically, I'm building towards next season.  I plan on racing as early as late March or early April, with my first big target race the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon in San Francisco.  I raced so well there last year as an amateur that I'm super stoked to see what I can do when I start with the pros.  Plus I've got some friends that live there who always come out and give me crap about how I look in full spandex, it's great.

Interviewer:  Sounds like fun.  Anything else you'd like to add?

Me:  Only that there will be a lot more updates coming again, so stay tuned on the site.  Follow me on Twitter and or Facebook if you have the guts!  Seriously, I've got a lot of cool announcements I'll be rolling out over the next few weeks, so stay tuned!

Interviewer:  Well, this has been great.  Thanks.

Me:  Really appreciate it.  You did a great job.  Hope to do one of these again.