Blog? What Blog?

Hello Blogosphere,

It has been quite some time since we have had a chance to converse.

How have you been? Same ole, same ole? Good to hear.

Well, things have been busy in my world. Yep, that is why you have been so thoroughly neglected.

Sorry, shit happens.

Okay, since most of you are three or more glasses of wine deep lets get caught up bullet-point style:

• Ironman Mont-Tremblant was a freaking blast. My race sort of sucked but had a great time with all my buddies. Kevin and Jon crushed the course and my friend Dave became an Ironman. Mandy had us all laughing the entire time. AND Annie, Jenn (Dave's wife), Beth and Jennie all had wonderful vacations. The Mont-Tremblant Village is incredible. I've travel all over this Continent and cannot think of a better place to host an Ironman. Lodging, dining, entertainment, and the race all with in walking distance or a short Gondola Ride. I have a gazillion pictures that are going to be my next post (We call that a "teaser" in the blogger biz - yep, still got it).

• IMMT - The Race
• Swim - 1:15:16 - Beautiful lake with excellent visibility. The start was much less violent when compared to Ironman Texas. At least the men were less violent, you women are freaking hardcore at an IM swim start. Every time I got smashed and saw the offender of violent swats it was a SHE. Anyway, other then a few bitch slaps (see what I did there) the swim was rather uneventful.
• T1 - 7:50 - This was one long run from the lake to the changing tent. Like 600m long. 
• Bike - 6:10:49 - Not my best ride. I woke up that morning and my stomach was not good. It wasn't nerves either, something was just not right and I visited the bathroom a few times to many before the race started. This carried over to the bike course. Stop #1 was about 30mi in and it was a very quick stop, no damage done (to me, the porto was wrecked). Stop #2 was around the 60mi mark and this one was not so good. I lost over 10mins in the porto - not good times.  After this stop I was behind on nutrition and it was a battle to get it back so I had to slow down. On the bright side this was probably the best bike course I have ever had the privilege to ride upon. Lots of climbing (between 6500-7000ft) but the road conditions were pristine and fast - well done Canada, well done indeed!
• T2 - 4:19 - A little quicker here as the bike transition area was right next to the tent. Legs felt pretty good and my stomach had settle down. It was warm so I changed into a singlet and took off. Hindsight being 20/20 the singlet was a bad decision.
• Run - 4:22:39 - The first mile started off very well. I saw Annie and Jenn and tossed some high fives. This was at the top of a pretty good climb and when I started down my stomach started grumbling. Luckily a porto was at the bottom of the hill and this is where I spent the next 7 minutes. the good news is that when I was done I was my last porto visit and the stomach felt better. The bad news was that sitting for 7 minutes had allowed my legs to cramp up pretty good. The next three miles really sucked as I tried to work out the tightness in my quads and hamstrings by alternating between a slow jog and an even slower shuffle. By about mile six the legs started to felt better and I settled in to a decent pace. However, with all the fluids "lost" I knew it was going to be a longer than expected run and by about mile 18 I felt the effects and had to really slow down. And to make matters worse it started to pour down rain and got really cold and I had wished I kept on the long sleeve Brooks shirt (stupid singlet). The final 10k was tough fighting the cold, rain, and bonk but I just kept moving forward. It was awesome seeing Kevin, Jon and Dave numerous times on the run course. Not having the chance to run much of the course it was a lot harder than expected. More hill training was needed. After crossing the finish line and hearing Mike Reilly tell me I was an Ironman I vowed that this would be the last time.
• Final Time - 12:00:53
• Despite a difficult race I would highly recommend Ironman Mont-Tremblant. It is an absolutely beautiful venue on an absolutely beautiful course. 

• Sorry for the abbreviated race report but I really just wanted to get it done. It has been the proverbial noose around my blogging neck. Promise to make up for it with the pictures.

• Now the real reason I have been away from the internets for so long: I WAS SICK. Really, Really sick.

• A few days after returning from Quebec I had a low grade fever (99-100*) and really thought nothing of it. By the following weekend that fever was holding steady at 103* and I was in bad shape. After a 4hr visit to the Emergency Room, a couple of bags of saline, and a few blood vials drawn it was determined I had something called the Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) and Mononucleosis. Long story short: It was miserable. My spleen was enlarged and my immune system was under a vicious attack. The doctors told me the EBV could linger for months. It was amazing that I was fit enough to do an Ironman and a mere 10 days later I could not even walk up stairs unassisted. These symptoms lasted for about 3.5 weeks.

• We are now close to 2 months since I have been sick and am happy to report a clean bill of health. I received the final blood test results last Friday and the Doctor told me I was, "Disgustingly Healthy". 

• I have been running around 15mi and riding 50-60mi per week. It is hard to hold a 9min pace on the run but for some reason I feel great riding. My overall fitness sucks but I have been down before and will build it back up again.

• Over much deliberation I have decided to not run the Boston Marathon in April. The reasons are many but the main one is that I am not physically ready to train for a marathon right now. I could always go and just run slow and treat it as a victory lap but I am just not a victory lap type of guy. Seems to me the Boston Marathon is not going anywhere so I can qualify again.

• According to Internet Rumors, I have become rather plump in my absence. I am here to let you all know that these rumors are completely false and unfounded. Sort of. My race weight is around 155lbs. After I got over being sick I shot up to the mid-160s. However, this was rather short lived as Annie and I have since begun to see a nutritionist and have been following his plan. My weight as of this morning was 149.6lbs and I have lost 4% BodyFat in just 21 days. I am going to be a lean, mean, racing machine.

• He has us eating TONS of veggies. My wheat consumption is almost non-existent. If you want to know why read "Wheat Belly".  Even more amazing is that my energy level is through the roof since we have changed our dining habits.

• Cooking is kind of enjoyable.

• A big Thank You to all of my internet buddies who checked in to see why I was not writing - it is nice to be missed!

• Good Luck to Jason who is racing IMAZ this weekend - go out and crush it dude!

• You know how above you read something about me "vowing" to never race an Ironman again? Yeah that didn't last very long - Ironman Florida is a mere 352 days away!

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff