...and now for something completely different

As I mentioned in a previous post, after a year of trying to one-up myself every weekend (and digging myself deeper and deeper into a motivation hole), for the first time in about 2 years I have no races hanging over my head. I'm going to focus on the farthest thing from endurance training that I possibly can. I've replaced my superendurance pills with creatine, I'm drinking caffeinated Starbucks whenever I want, and I've set foot in a weight room for the first time in almost a year. December 2009 is going to be the month where I focus solely on my lifelong goals of getting a 6-pack and a Tour de France ass. This month I behave like a bodybuilder. "Cardio is just for fat-burning and girlie men." That's my new (temporary) motto.

I made it less than a week from my Ironman before I started going crazy; literally. I was sitting at the computer trying to put together a fluffy, content-free Examiner article when my Firefox crashed. Long story short, I had to spend about 45 minutes backing my work up while my computer had a 2-minute lag time for each click. I am not a patient person. I started screaming and crying and banging my fists against my head. When I finially finished, I had a headache, I felt nauseous, and I knew then that my offseason was over. I had to go back to the gym. There are things that are more important than a well-executed offseason: like staying out of jail.

So the first day I went to the gym and did some back work, some core work, 10 sets of 10 push-ups and 10 sets of 20 sit-ups. Do you know what happens when you pick up where you left off with strength training after 8 months off? Paralysis.

The next day I went back to the gym and decided that my legs had had enough time to heal from the Ironman. I did 95 burpees, 95 squats (45 lb), 95 deadlifts (95 lb), and I was going to do 95 turkish get-ups on each side but that was taking too long so they turned into oblique sidebends half way through the workout. Now I can barely get out of bed. I can't go down stairs. I can't even get out of the car. When I drop something on the floor, I just stare at it and try to look pathetic until someone else takes pity on me and picks it up for me.

This is going to be great!

I know that you're not supposed to just jump into weight training like this, but whatever. The soreness can't last forever. I also went to the supplement store and dropped a mint on creatine powder and Muscle Milk. I'm doing this up right! There will be updates between now and then, but check in around New Years to see before and after pic's.