Some Exciting News.........

So, as Derrick just posted, we have been training super hard since back from Belgium. We're back to our boring, simple, but I must add, pretty great lives. Yeah, training hard inside on the computrainer in the winter is really boring. But I do know that the foundation for the season is built right now. I know that I don't need rediculous hours of base training, just lots of muscle crushing workouts. I keep on thinking things will get easier and then I keep on pushing out more watts in my workouts each week and things are getting harder. I am really suprising myself this year, I keep on thinking there is no way I can go any harder and I keep on doing it each week. I don't know what racing cyclo-cross has done to me or what kind of motivation it has given me, but I am ripping myself and my legs apart more and more each week. Probably the reason all this is possible is that I share a lot of this with my best friend, who's also my training partner and now something else. He is the reason some things may be getting harder but sometimes can be seen as getting easier.

Okay, what does this have to do with the exciting news? Well this someone who is very close, and very special to me finally asked me something today. Derrick asked me to marry him! And anybody who knows us, knows I have been a waiting a long time for this. Of course I said yes, and am the most happiest ever. I know the reasoning of waiting so long, as are lives together are pretty perfect and there was no need to change things. But finally

Derrick and I wanted to commit to our lives together. So, needless to say there aren't any wedding plans yet, but we are going to plan to be married by 3 years from today!

deposits and transactions

So I know we havn't been posting alot. Although winter is kind of boring, it's a good chance to train our brains out and get ready for the summer and fall. Most of the time I have to train so hard I usually hate Ken (who writes our program), freak out on Natasha and generally end up feeling lethargic at work. I often feel like passing out, falling asleep or generally not even wanting to leave the house after a few hours on the computrainner.

Yesterdays workout made feel like I was hit by a truck and dragged along a bumpy Quebec road, thrashing into potholes and tasting the salt that has been cemented into the tarmack.
So that was great. Today I reallized that I probably should have eat a little more for dinner last night cause I felt aweful in the first 10 minutes of my ride. So I blamed Natasha for not eating enough carbs last night and then realized that she is not my mom and appologized for being a jack ass and blaming her for my mistakes. In retrospect I realized that I did eat enough, that no matter how much I ate, I was going to feel like ass today, then I just shut my big mouth and silently suffered and 90 minutes lated into the ride voila, I felt better and everything was alright.

The good thing about training yourself into the ground is eventually you get stronger, for me it never really gets easier, it actually gets harder cause you just learn to shut up and bite your lip and taste the the pain even when it's sour. I think that's what it takes. You just have to shut the hell up and do WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO. Don't be A WHIMP. I think some people think this is what they want, to be competitive, but once they realize that there are alot of sacrifices, a lot of the time it's not going to be fun, they just pack it in. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I don't enjoy the process, the quest, but to tell you the truth I had no idea what I was getting into.

It's one thing to write goals and objectives and train and "try" to do your best. The hard part is slapping yourself in the face and digging for that extra 5%. It's not the minute thirty of the two minute interval that makes you strong, it's that last little bit where you tear yourself apart when you need to tell your brain to shut hell the hell up and just deal with it and submerge yourself in a bath of pain, that's the stuff right there that you do over and over and harder even when you can't...that's what I think it takes. That's the part that you have to love, you really have to be crazy to be good and be strong, but crazy about the right things.
You can read a book, use new techniques, blah blah blah, try different training, whatever, but at the end of the day you just have to be ready to deposit 100% into the preperation in order to withdrawl it when it counts.
I'm making my deposits, are you?
DS

Selling my souls and wheels for an SRM...

Hey all,
if some of you didn't hear, I have recently planted some "money tree seeds" in the backyard. I bought them from a Gypsy in Belgium, who lived in a Caravan and told me the money tree would grow to epic proportion if I planted them on Febuary 5th after sprinkling them with vinegar left on counter for 6 days. So I've planted them. But just in case the tree doesn't grow, I guess I'll sell some of my gear to finance an SRM.

Zipp 404.

I'm selling a pair of 404's, I'll include tires(new zipp aero tire with about 40km on it), dura ace skewers, and a slightly used Dura Ace 10speed casette all for the low price of 1100$! These wheels are just sitting in the basement and I will not be able to use them this season due to contractual obligations. Believe me it breaks my heart to sell them cuz they are awesome wheels, but to see them hanging on the cieling is even worse.

I'm also getting rid of a pair of Ksyrium sslc(the silver ones with lots of letters I can never get it right) anyways those are about 2 years old, they been used pretty good, but they are bomb proof, these would make an awesome set of cross wheels, make me an offer.

Also SIDI genius carbon road shoes, 70$, size 42...they are like slippers, I used to like a flexy shoe, but these days I'm into maximum stiffness.

Get it...selling my souls...haha. There is no better promotion than self promotion.
derrickstjohn@hotmail.com

Other than that Tash and I are going to PEAK today to do some testing. If I puke after my test I will consider it a success. Anything less will be considered a failure.