Hi Ho, Hi Ho, you should have started six weeks ago.

Been a rough couple of days lately. My partner/boss is out of the hospital and back at home, which is in another state. Hopefully resting comfortably. My friend whom several of us believe to be the victim of a semi truck-cyclist fatality has not returned any of our calls or emails. Nor has her husband. I am praying that they are one of their many cycling trips they take around the country.

If its not one thing its another. The stroke and fatality incidents Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday I got a great run in the desert but think I have an ear infection because the bricked swim was absolute torture on me. Had it not been OW I would have got out well before my 1,500 set was done. Today my ear still bothered me in the pool but it also hurt my running today too. I cut my 1/2 mary short because the running made me feel like I was being punched in the jaw and earhole with every step. It may not be an ear infection but some sort of disjointed jaw or something.

In any regard, it sucks.

At the lake Thursday, two newbies showed up. Nice ladies, terribly new to triathlon. As in first time in OW. I acted as lifeguard as they attempted their first 400 yard swim OW around the lake buoy. One had a panic attack but recovered on her own. The other faired better but swam horribly off course going back.

There were several of us there to give them support and talk to them afterward. They said they had started training in June for triathlons but hadn't progressed very far. Blah, blah, blah, busy, blah, blah, blah, we joined a training program and the coach sucked, blah, blah, blah. I was busy messing with my ear when I heard one of them say, "...It took us 4 hours to go 25 miles."

With one finger in my ear and without thinking, I busted in with, "Hey that's a pretty good run time."

She corrected me, "We were riding our bikes."

If it's possible to fall OUT of the water, I think I did it.

My recovery line was, "Well you got all winter to improve."

She responded with, "We're doing the Soma Quarter Man."

Now lookie here folks. I went about my small admonishment to them very gently but I admonished them nonetheless. Because even though their distances are what? 800m/ 26mile/6.5 miles; you can't start taking your training seriously six weeks before the damn race and expect to do well, let alone finish.

One of them told me/us, "I like to play with the big boys, I don't like to finish in the back."

Hello? McFly? Anyone home? A modifed Olympic distance race on six weeks total training, during the second largest and most popular triathlon in Phoenix. (IMAZ being 1st)

They were nice 20-something ladies and truly I, we all, gave them some moral support and advice from what we have learned over the last few years, but to blame a coach for them not being prepared after he/she gave them two months of personalized training programs and group classes, to take no personal responsibility for your progression after saying you do little training on your own. You get kind of a head shake from me.

I am the last person to want to scare someone off from this sport, I love it. But I see a mess for them at Soma. I could see them finishing but in horrible fashion, with a bad taste in their mouth for a coach who can only do so much with what he has and a "I'll never do that again" thought of triathlon.

There is no easy way for me to write this the way it was said. God I sound like such a elitest smuck, but I got a strange feeling about them, as if they were sensing us up for being their personal training coaches; stroking, pedaling and running with them as they trained with us. As we were all drying off and discussing the Saturday ride and distances and meeting times, I said to a long time training partner and Ironman whose coming back from his off-season, "I'm really in a good zone with my cycling, I 'm around your speed now. I have got to get in 60 miles. We need to be moving."

It was my round about announcement to those that heard that I can't be riding with a 110 HR @ 12 mph when I need some quality time @ 148 HR and 90 rpms. Right now that's around 21 to 22 mph. When I was a slower rider or injuried or disinterested in the workout, I certainly sacrificed my training for the betterment of the sport. For the betterment of the tri club. So the new person at least couldn't say, "Those aztriclub guy's are rude, they didn't help at all. They just took off." I make sure they know the route, the turnarounds, introduce them to the group. Make them feel a part of something.

It's a sense of personal pride of mine, that I run into people who remember my name and they shake my hand vigorously with smile and tell me, "I rode/ran with you on suchandsuch, and you were just the best dude to hang with." I am trying to reckoncile that tonight with my goal of riding in my training zone and getting 60 miles in when that future handshaker is two women who will pull me down if I coddle them.

I was there once too. I was and still am a middle of the packer. I've been the slowest on swims and rides. On Thursday they both swam to the lake buoy the first time out. It took me three visits to do that and I almost drown coming back. I understand their need for assurances we can provide assistance and eduction for Soma. What I got from them is very little personal motivation and that to me is just as important as everything else.

I used to tell my members/clients, "Look, I can train you for an hour everyday and tell you what to do the rest of the time, but what you decide to do the other 23 hours is going to get you to your goal. You screw those up and it's not my fault."

I have to do this. I am going to ride my ride Saturday. I owe it to myself.