Update and my plan for the 2008 season

So, I am in the middle of my prep phase of training and it feels good to be back in action. I have only been in the pool once in the last month (2 days ago) and to be honest that one time was rough...I hate being out of shape in the water b/c I feel like I am drowning for the first few weeks until things start to come around.
I am happy with how I feel at this point in the season. I certainly feel out of shape but I feel like things are coming back quickly, which is nice to see. I hit the weight room on tuesday and I am still pretty sore but this is how it always is when you start back with weights...it will get better in a couple of weeks. I will be in the weight room a lot this winter in an effort to build the strength I need to ride fast. Weight training and massive amounts of time on two wheels will hopefully bring my riding to the level it needs to be at for next year. Quite honestly, I didn't dedicated enough time last year to riding so I will be putting in tons of miles over the next few months. Swimming and running will obviously get some attention but riding will come first...it will be fun to see how my body reacts to bike specific training. Back in college I raced my bike for two years (no triathlon training) and in those two years I saw a dramatic jump in my riding abilities b/c of all of the racing and miles I put into my legs. So, I know I can ride fast b/c I have done it before but it will require the same focus and dedication I had back in college...I welcome the challenge!

Here is my race schedule for 2008:
-12 hours of Temecula (January 26th, 2 man team)
-24 hours of Old Pueblo (Tucson, February 16th, 4 man team)
-Xterra Real (Folsom, March 30th)
-Sea Otter Classic (Monterey, April 17th-21st)
-Xterra Extreme (Arizona, April 26th)
-Xterra Castaic Lake (Castaic, tba)
-Xterra West Championships (Temecula, May 18th)
-Xterra Southeast Championships (Pelham, June 8th)
-Xterra East Championships (Richmond, June 15th)
-*70.3 (Texas, June 29th)
-Xterra Mountain Championships (Ogden, August 16th)
-Xterra Nationals (Incline Village, September 21st)
-Xterra Worlds (Maui, October 19th)
-*Ironman Arizona (Tempe, November 23rd)
-I will also be doing several mountain bike races and a couple duathlons throughout the season as prep for more important races.

*Still up in the air on these. My focus is Xterra so I will decide based on how my Xterra season is going.

I will work on getting some pictures up soon...I have been a bit lazy with this end of things.
Thanks for reading. Talk to you all soon.