For new readers

To get an idea of what I'm trying to do and why I think it's possible, check out the following entries, they'll help get you up to speed.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

New Year

Graduate school or the desert trek, which was tougher to finish?  
I've finished graduate school (i think - no diploma in the mail yet...) and don't have a job.  I'm planning to forge ahead with starting this non-profit with the aim of bringing adventure to the great plains.  Hope to make a go of it, but who knows.  It's strange to consider a Masters degree in physics as a 'fallback' plan.

I want to try to also forge ahead with this experiment of mine - Abu Dhabi is now two weeks over but was an eye opening experience.  Yogaslackers placed 14th out of 49 starting teams - ahead of many good teams that cracked in the desert.  But we saw a class of teams (and athletes) that are often absent from stateside adventure races.  Professionals.

It seems silly to try to compete with these guys on my training.  Hell, on my genetics.  Richard ussher and his wife are world class - TOP athletes in many disciplines, and hardcore suffer-o-philes.  Jason (my brother and Yogaslackers team captain) wants to go back to abu dhabi next year and crack the top 10, maybe even top 5.  I'm not sure if it's possible - in fact i'm pretty sure its not - at least not with the commitment i'm willing to give.  Even if i mustered the will to make every one of the 180 weekly minutes as efficient and effective as possible, how much faster could i get?

Nonetheless, it's intriguing.  I've got plenty of room to grow, even on a limited schedule.  i can learn to paddle (apparently i don't know how), become a badass on the bike for rides under 2 hours (all but one of the rides should have taken less time), and maintain the strength i showed on foot in the mountains.  maybe it can be done.  The decision is still a long way off, but the seed is planted.

I intend to write more often this year - develop my ideas - put pen to paper (metaphorically) and come up with some general strategies that could be applied to training for a wide range of situations, and keep trying to find the most efficient way of spending those minutes as i can.  Happy new year everyone!