After mulling it over for a while now, I have decided to end this blog. My last post will appropriately be the race report for the coming Greater Cleveland Triathlon. I am registered to race the sprint distance and scheduled to perform during the post race festivities. As I am going through this current transition in focus, I feel as the metaphor of beginning the day as a triathlete and finishing as a musician serves as the perfect conclusion to this blog.

When I began writing this blog, I saw it as a means to journal my training. Over the past three years of writing I have found it to be a portal into a strong community of support and camaraderie while training for long course triathlon. I have gained a number of good friends as a result of writing and reading other blogs. I feel I have contributed to a greater knowledge base with race reports giving insights to the races I have done. In some cases information on these races was scarce. For many looking for Ironman UK info, my report became a resource that I did not have prior to my race. I am glad that this blog has been used for this. For the reason above all others, I will keep trifolk published. I will however not be adding any new posts beyond the GCT report.

I am grateful to everyone that has followed this blog over the past three years. The intense focus required to train for ironman has often found me very alone. The constant contact I have been able to maintain through these writings, along with your feed back has given all of my efforts greater meaning.

My triathlon and running plans will remain active, but not central. My music is where I am directing most of my energy now. I have set up my music site within blogger and will continue writing regularly on that page www.charliemosbrook.com . If you enjoy my writing, I promise to post regularly. In addition my music site serves as a portal to my web presence from twitter, facebook, and myspace to itunes and other music sources. Feel free to friend me on facebook. I am obnoxiously active on that site and talk about endurance sports often. Ultimately once my music career is where I can rely primarily on it for income, I will have more time to devote to a hobby. When I arrive at this point I may try Ironman again.

As for now my rededication to music has manifested immediate results. A lot of very cool things are happening for me as a musician right now and I am enjoying an excitement about music that has been missing for a few years. Please feel free to take a moment or become a follower of the charliemosbrook.com site. I will continue to follow the blogs I have been reading as many of you have become friends and I want to know how it's going.

Anyhow, to steal a line from Spokane Al,
Thank you for reading,
Charlie

Mondays mean Open Mi

Mondays mean Open Mic at the Coventry Phoenix. I like Monday

Lake Metroparks Pirate triathlon at Fairport Harbor

The Pirate Triathlon is the old Fairport Harbor sprint with a new spin on promotion. I have done this race a 1/2 dozen times in it's original form and always felt that it was one of the best races around. The new pirate theme gave it a little more flair. The swim course is within the break wall on lake Erie, the bike rolls mostly flat along the lake and the run is flat and largely unshaded. The distance is a sprint 500m/20k/5k.

After returning from my vacation I got a hold of Tracy to confirm my ride. Around 6pm I knew the race was on. I had some veggie sushi, converted the bike from road to areo, packed my gear, and chilled.
At 5:30 I woke up and ate a small bowl of cereal and had a 1/4 cantaloupe. Tracy arrived 10 seconds early as I was crossing the street to meet her. We attached the bike to the car, I jumped in and away we drove for Fairport Harbor.
We got to the race just in time for registration($25 w/late fee). Set up transition, and got ready to race. Everything went very smooth pre race. I chose to wear a wet suit.
My wave started at 8:10. A horn sounded and we were off. I felt strong right off the bat. My mind was clear and really felt like I was just focused on the task at hand. The wave was a large group of men 35 and up. The swim was frantic and aggressive. Contact was constant. I remained steadfast and unapologetic throughout my swim. I am not sure of my time, but I stayed with the main group and swam straight. In general I believe it was a very good swim for me.
As I came out of the water I began stripping my wetsuit and jogged into T1. The only problem of the day occurred at this point as I really struggled to get my wet suit from my ankles. My guess is that I lost 3-4 minutes to the suit.
Once on the bike I hammered out the next 12 miles. Going out we had a great tailwind. I was doing an average 24mph and passing a lot of riders. On the return it dropped to 19mph as the winds were now at our face. I used my areo helmet cause I never get to. I think it benefited me on this course. Geek maybe, but it was the right choice.
T2 was quick and easy. I haven't switched out my laces this year, so I had to tie em. Not a big deal.
The run starts with a steep hill and soon turns flat. I went easy up and hit my stride after the climb. The Run went well. My old hamstring issue was apparent but not an issue. My run went well and I finished in 1:20.04(not confirmed yet).
It was fun to get out and run this race. The prep was light, I felt good the whole time and feel as though I put out a solid effort. My interest in time was obvious as I didn't look at my watch after I started it. I just went out and raced. Just had fun doing a tri and pushing my self a little harder then normal.
The race was very low tech but run well. Te new theme was fun, the food offerings were top notch. The cost and venue were as good as can be expected. I honestly believe this race is one of the best bargains in triathlon.
We had a good group of CTC members on hand and everyone seemed to have fun.
My race experience was A1.

Toning it down and tuning it up

I have unsettled business. It is my music. This is what I set out to do years ago. I need to focus on that first and for most. This is what has always driven me, and I am ready to give myself back to it.

A few years ago I hit a wall. I came out of an engagement that I had wanted for most of my adult life. The woman was the one that always left me wondering, "what if?". The long and short of it is that I found out "what if", and it sucked. It left me confused and without direction. In an attempt to regain some direction and focus I turned toward the discipline of triathlon. I developed a multi year plan aimed at completing an Ironman.

The goals I set were accomplished methodically. I finished 2 ironman distance races, 7 70.3 distance races, and 5 stand alone marathons. I relied on the consistency of my training and was always willing to make sacrifices to achieve my goals.

I need to apply the same energy toward my music. I still hope to run a 50k this fall, but I can not see my self commiting to a 50 mile race and being able to give music the attention I need to. I need to be in a place where I can feel ok with missing or skipping a workout or two. Music is my greatest passion . I need to set my musical goals higher then those in sport right now.

The personal healing I looked for has occured and I want to be able to go deeper on an emotional level. I wasn't willing to do that before and my music suffered for it. I am ready now.