Seattle Winter Sun!

"My wife and I just prefer Seattle. It's a beautiful city. Great setting. You open your front door in the morning and the air smells like pine and the sea, as opposed to bus exhaust."

Ron Reagan

What does Ronald Reagan Junior have to do with Seattle, or biking, or anything for that matter? And who knew he liked Seattle. And...what?

The explanation will be startling to some, because it is the closest to A.D.D. I will ever be. What I will do is actually write-out my train of thought, as I decided to let the train run its course. It started with biking, and ended with Ron Reagan.

I like to begin every blog entry with a quote that usually has SOMETHING to do with that about which I am writing. In this case, I thought it would be a good blog to describe how surprising the weather was in Seattle today, during our 3 hour bike ride in the very middle of January. Typically, winter is a nasty time of year to be outside in this region.

I decided to describe the sun that came out and how surprised Jan and I were to be biking dry for a change and not be wearing our rain shells. I was even going to point out in the picture that the ground is DRY as a bone, and, if you look closely to the right of the bathroom building against which our bikes are leaning, you see the strangest glow... some parts of the world call it Sunshine. We believe it is a mythical event in the winter, here in Seattle.

Having formulated my basic topic for this blog, I set out on finding quotes about Seattle. I found a couple of interesting ones, including:

"I really liked the Seattle movement."

~Axl Rose

and

"My parents were laborers so we lived on South Park, which was a low-income region of Seattle. You had a choice - you either joined or formed a gang or you let others bully you."

~Jack Bowman

And there are others, less interesting, usually having to do with grunge music or rain or coffee. And then I saw the name Ron Reagan, and, like many of you (or both of you, seeing as how two people read this crap I post) I originally thought former President Ronald Reagan.

No, this is RON Reagan. The cast-away Reagan Jr. who because a liberal, atheist Ballet dancer who lives in Seattle...with is wife. In case you were wondering. He is about as ANTI-reagan as Stalin.

I became immediately interested in this individual and therefore arrived at the page which the link on his name takes you to. Its interesting how we get to where we are, literally, figuratively, and creatively speaking.

And so, now, here we are. We have officially finished the second week of Ironman Training, and we are really feeling it. The 6 days in a row, every week, consists of Monday off, Tuesday Lift Weights, Wednesday Swim, Thursday Lift Weights, Friday Swim, Saturday Bike, Sunday Run. I will be soon adding in additional running and biking during the week, and eventually other things will change. We will eventually nix the weight lifting and increase the number of swimming days. 2.4 miles is a long way...

The second week felt good. I feel my energy level during the day increasing, which usually happens at that apex early in the season when my fitness level is increasing but my training is not completely sapping my will to live. This usually lasts a few weeks and gives way to the MALAISE PHASE of training. This nasty, tired, hungry, grouchy phase is no fun for anyone who has to work or live around/with me, and lasts all the way until a couple weeks before Ironman. So that being said, lets all enjoy ENERGY PHASE while it lasts.

Today my legs were strong, and felt good. The struggle will be to ride faster, this year, but Jan's greatly improved level of fitness (that damn girl was pushing me on the last 10 miles, today) should make it much easier. I remember the last time we did this, in 2007, we both started pretty out of shape, with Jan never having really done any serious long term training. This year she is a seasoned veteran to the world of triathlon and triathlon training, and it shows. She kicks ass.

I feel this week, now. And tomorrow is run day. I remember this feeling... and I love it and hate it all at the same time.

Imagine what Ron Reagan might say about it...