I no longer have the excuse of the newspaper business to cut in to my training. I've turned my back on the Fourth Estate to edit the University of Wyoming's magazine. Or, in the words of former UW sports information director Kevin McKinney, I'm now feeding from the government trough.
For once I'll have the right amount of time to train and money to help myself. I've always had time to train. Or at least I've always made time to train. I liked training in the morning and afternoon before work but now I'll have to adjust to a new set of work hours. It means swimming at the university pool during my lunch break and maybe working out in the predawn chill before work. And then I can have my evenings to sleep or eat or die or something.
That's why I skipped out of work early today — so I could run while the sun was out. It was a gorgeous, sunny day with that atomic high-altitude sun baking the snow without melting it. That's because it was 18 degrees with a 30 mph wind. I intentionally kept a plodding stride and leisurely pace even with the wind at my back, in deference to that vicious, omnipresent wind and the 7,200 feet of altitude to which I must acclimate. I used to live in Cheyenne, 1,000 feet lower, and it took me a full month of regular working out before I could run, ride and swim without feeling like my lungs were on fire.
From those three-and-a-half years, I know I can make it, though. And I'll be better off for it. Ironman Wisconsin is in less than nine months.
