Some new books and Lance's first 70.3

I got some very nice bday presents today at my birthday brunch!

Please notice the cupcakes carefully placed next to "Racing Weight" haha

I think I'll enjoy reading these ^^ more than I will enjoy reading the books below, which I have to read for my classes at Villanova this term focusing on Chilean poets and postmodern Spanish literature.

I am learning a lot at Nova, and it's not to say that I don't like what I'm studying, but the pursuit of my masters degree is much more about the end product than it is the journey. By getting an MA, I'll make myself more marketable and hopefully get a raise. On the other hand, I'm really enjoying the journey of my triathlon endeavors. And while I care about where it takes me (hopefully to Kona), I'm just happy training day in, day out, and racing a couple times a year.

Now on to some more tri-nerd commentary... I like Lance Armstrong, a lot. I'm not even going to touch on whether he did or didn't ever do anything to enhance his performance during his cycling career because, to me, it doesn't matter. The fact is, he's a damn good cyclist, and, as it turns out, a damn good triathlete as well. He raced the Panama 70.3 today, and in his first 70.3 distance race, placed 2nd overall in a time of 3:50.xx! A 19:xx swim, 2:10.xx bike, and 1:17.xx run is impressive - not to mention the dude is 40. I can't wait to see what he does as the season unfolds. I don't think he will win any of the big events, but I love the attention he brings to the sport, it's exciting to see someone new in the ranks, and the Livestrong foundation is an amazing philanthropy that will benefit greatly from Lance's participation in Ironman events. As Michael Scott from the office would say, it's the ideal win-win-win situation.

I also really liked a quote he put out there in both a pre-race interview, and post race as well, "the run is the most important part of this thing. In golf they say you drive for show and you putt for dough. In tri, you bike for show and run for dough—I’ve gotta get that run or I’ll be a middle-of-the-packer." -Lance Armstrong.

It makes me feel good about my training focus right now, which is biggest on the run. I'm not even in the same league as Lance (or any of the pros for that matter), but even to be competitive at my level, hearing/reading that make me feel like I'm doing it right.

I'll post my rough program some time in the coming days. I've put in a speed workout every Tuesday morning, which I hope gets my turnover up. I've also got a long run between 1:20-2:00 and a long ride between 2:00-3:00 every weekend, which will get some endurance back. The long run feels strong right now - put down ~11.5 miles yesterday in 1:21, and I didn't feel very strained.

That's enough for now.
Thanks for reading, and happy training!