Paul Asay

On Friday the 21 st I set out on an adventure with Doug Miller, Matt Miller and JR Wilson to make the hike from the Charles C. Deam Wilderness area near Lake Monroe for Patton’s Cave.   We set this trip up a week in advance having no idea that this would be the coldest day of the year at -4 degrees when we left Terre Haute.   We made a stop for big breakfast in Spencer that was satisfying, and then drove on to Bloomington.   After parking in the Hoosier Forest we headed down the snow covered trail making fresh tracks in the snow down the trail.   It looked on the map to be roughly 4 miles, but the cave itself if off the regular trail so no idea exactly how far it was.   Just following the trail was a bit of a trick with roughly 5 inches of fresh snow.   Yeah, it was cold, but after about a mile I was fairly comfortable.   Going was slow but we were all suffering with cabin fever so it was good just to get out and take winter head on.   Made...

Dusted off the mountain bike and took it for a ride in the snow yesterday in Fowler Park.  Talked to my friend Nick at church on Sunday, and the ride was set about 3 minutes after walking in the door.  The turbo trainer has been seeing way too much action the last couple of months with no outside riding.  Even if the trails and roads were covered in snow and ice, it was great to get out. We normally ride all the trails in the park, but limited by the snow we kept to the small trail and the road around the park.  On lap two I it bit it when my back tire slide out in a slow corner.  Not to be outdone, Nick did likewise on the road in a patch of glare ice.  We both had a laugh and road on. Need to make more of a habit of this.  The bike handling skills on the trails at Fowler with the added comradery make it a gas. 

No, I'm not retiring anytime soon, but hopefully I will someday and even then I don't plan to sit and watch the daises grow.  Had a short conversation with someone who plans to retire this month so I asked him if he had any big plans.  The answer was a rather brief one and no big plan seemed forthcoming. For a guy who can't sit still what would I try an accomplish during retirement?  Had a thought on that subject last evening and came up with an idea.  Pack a car full of hiking gear and head west.  Visit the major national parks on the way until we get to Lone Pine California and cap it off with a hike up Mt Whitney.  Head back via the more southernly route and hit the Grand Canyon on the way home.  That should take a good two months and can easily be repeated each year with new as well as favorite sites. One of my other thoughts on the subject is learning to sail.  My one attempt at that in a little Sunfish sailboat was totally comical. ...

The award goes to coach and friend "Daniel Bretscher" for the most creative run workout I think I've ever done. On Black Friday after the Thanksgiving feast this year I skipped the mall and made my way to Hawthorn Park for my run workout.  On tap was an 8 mile run, but not your standard long distance middle pace effort.  The goal was a good warm up then a 2 minute effort at about 80% pace.  Take note of where you are after the 2 minutes then jog back to the start and repeat it so that you go further within the same 2 minute time.  Keep doing this until you can't go any further within the time limit.  Then do your cool down so that you finish out the 8 miles. Basically you are competing against yourself to run faster and more effeciently as long as you can.  At the same time you get in both a long effort and plenty of speed.  I did it all on a scene trail that made it go much faster.  All in all a great workout.  For more of these plus great...

For the month of November I'm being coached by Daniel Bretscher (www.bretschermultisport.com).  I did some work on Daniel's website and he was offering a free month of coaching so I jumped on that.  The workout schedule for the first week arrived a few days in advance.  Daniel asked me my training volume, goals, times and the like so he built it around my answers.  Thought that was very positive since I knew he didn't just pull out a workout and send it to me.  Since the 1st it has been about moving to a higher level.  I'm also taking some college courses now via Western Governors University so my daily schedule is fairly full.  To be honest I'm beginning to think that a full schedule leads to the desire for more success.  Something about having all those goals and limited time to accomplish it makes you really want to achieve at the highest level.  Today for instance starting as a 6 AM wake up, in the pool at 6:55 for my 2200 yards of swim...

A friend sent me a link today about the Crazy Horse monument being carved in the Black Hills of South Dakota. I've heard of it, but not seen it in person, It did make me wonder, who was Crazy Horse? So of course they have an FAQ on the site that talks about him. What struck me was the following sentence: Crazy Horse's tenacity of purpose, his modest life, his unfailing courage, and his tragic death set him apart and above the others. While I can skip the "tragic death" thing, I'm most impressed with the tenacity, modesty and unfailing courage part. Maybe a key here is to have a clear purpose in life otherwise it is hard to have a tenacity of purpose. One other statement later one says he was a "role model of selfless dedication and service to others". Hard to do, but then they don't carve mountains for just anyone.

I raced the Lake Lemon Triathlon September 18th again this year just outside Bloomington, Indiana. This was the only race I repeated from last year and a decent chance to compare fitness from a year ago. Last year I held back on this course with an Ironman 70.3 the next weekend, but this year I had no reason to not give it my best shot. Like last year, I went over a day early with Greg Lucas to setup the bike racks and swim course. It was a beautiful day to hang out at the park, and the setup went easy so we really enjoyed the day. After setting the buoys and making sure it was accurate via a Garmin GPS watch, we set back in the kayaks and just enjoyed the sun for a nice long time. Went for some good dinner at Nothing but Noodles and settled into a hotel for race morning. Race day itself was near perfect weather. A bit cool in the morning, but warming up by mid-morning to a very comfortable temperature. Troy Charters was also racing so I knew it would be an interesting day ...