What's been happening?

So I haven't really written much of anything in close to a month. Some really cool mountain pics, a couple of nutritional tips and a lame race. Oh yeah, we're rockin' the blog. 8-)

The IM Canada prep has now been in full swing for a little over 2 weeks and I'm finally settling into a groove. There's a marked difference to how things are going this year as opposed to last. I won't dwell on the primary reason for too long but more than anything my self encompassing belief that this is what I do, this is what I will be doing for another decade, and this what I seek to pursue to absolute perfection has left me with a singular mindset... do whatever it takes to get better. To take inspiration from "Outliers"... I have the opportunities... I know what to do to take advantage of them. I simply must persevere and just.keep.doing.

An ongoing story.... my improved nutrition has GREATLY aided in my leaning out, losing some muscle and all the while having a great level of energy throughout the day. I don't even think about what my grocery bill is going to be. I simply go into the store knowing what foods I need to procure to fuel my sessions and go on my way. I will likely devote time to a more lengthy post on what I've learned over the past 6 months and how I've implemented it sometime in September once the craziness has passed. What could possibly be more crazy then training for an IM? ;-) For one, I've pulled out of Calgary 70.3 due to a combination of the following...

My brother is getting married in two weeks and I'll have 90+ family and friend members in town with events that I'll be needing to attend to.

The lease on my current abode is up on 8/31... I, and two friends, had agreed on a nice place up on the NE side of town only to be eeked out for the lease. They were left with 4 days to move so scrambled for a 2BD. So now I'm seeking out my own place... I'm far from panicking over it and subtly perusing craigslist but this is something that I would really like to put behind me and be done with. The taking of time to meet and check out places takes away from the, oh so very important, recovery that I've been doing an exceptional job of. (grammarians... I'm sorry ;-)

Every time I find a "great deal" on a place... something glaring about it raises its head upon further inspection. Latest incarnation of this... nice place, good location, amble space, ok view... 100 feet from RxR tracks. 150 feet from RxR crossing (read: whistle and horn blowing in the night). Yeah... that ain't gonna work. Got 4-5 visits lined up for next week at some promising places with ideal move in dates and I'm hopeful something will work out.

I've recently switched to a Mac Book Pro. It's my first foray into the Mac world and thus far i like it. I'd gotten a little bit fed up with the unreliability of my PC and the shaky hardware/software platform I was dealing with.

I'm still finding ways to hurt myself...this time off the bike though. The other day I sliced off the end of my thumb... considering my insurance sucks I've dealt with this on my own. :) It'll make a good story when I'm old... and can afford real health insurance. Dear Washington DC... please get your ass in gear. ;-)

So a lot of life stuff... what about that training... oh yeah... getting back to that. Despite some rough patches in the first couple weeks I'm getting excited about my run, feeling that the cycling is on a good timeline and that I will come into form nicely for the race and that my swim... well... hopefully i can give it a boost in the last couple weeks prior to the gun. It's a nice recovery device right now (Saturday being the only good effort day).

One last note... I've still yet to line up accommodations for Ironman Canada and my long list of got-to folks have come back with nothing. Should anyone out there have a lead on something it would be greatly greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!!!