Chris Werner

"Crossing at a ford" means, for example, crossing the sea at a strait, or crossing over a hundred miles of broad sea at a crossing place. I believe this "crossing at a ford" occurs often in a man's lifetime. It means setting sail even though your friends stay in harbor, knowing the route, knowing the soundness of your ship, and the favor of the day. When all conditions are meet, and there is perhaps a favorable wind, or a tailwind then set sail. If a wind changes within a few miles of your destination, you must row across the remaining distance without sail."  from A Book of Five Rings  by Miyamoto Musashi (17th century Japanese warrior)

A halycyon time of peace, the sun bright, the air crisp.  I could see out west towards the rolling hills covered with windmills, how small they look...Towards the east I could see the bay, just barely make it out, and see what might be Mount Tam far off in the distance.  It was a moment of peace and clarity.  Alone, I had unclipped from the bike and adjusted my helmet and sunglasses, and I took a moment to take a deep breath and head down.

I had been on my bike for hours, 100+ miles at this point, and I had just climbed Mt. Diablo in the aero position, to check my gut and see if I still had it in me.  It would have been better to keep my heart rate down in Zone 2 and bank some more pure aerobic miles to my base...but I has to see if I could do it again.  I could and it was even less of a challenege than in the past.

It actually made complete sense to me, it was completely clear why the effort was easier...I was armed with knowledge of exactly how my body was responding at the cellular level.

....how my body was recruting various energy supply systems

...how much by products of certain energy supply systems were sitting in my blood, or in reuptake for use as enerygy again.

...it's a confidence that's hard to describe, but I can alsmost see the incredible sypmphony playing, a machine in balance working, from cell, to cell, to cell.  It's a powerful experience.

I was just re-tested again, the same Blood Lactate Test I do every 10 weeks with my coach and his team at Performance Labs in Mill Valley, CA. 

My T1 power numbers (my Ironman bike "cruise" numbers, and my run "race pace" numbers) show that I maintained the base of aerobic fitness from the 2008 season, and that I can now start to build from a base 30% stronger that the year before.  Also, my effieciency in T1 is bettter, my Heart Rate is lower, and my calorie expenditure, my 'burn rate' in T1 is greatly improved.  I will be re-tested again soon, and I need to get out there are contiue to log the long, slow miles it takes to get faster...slower to get faster....slower to get faster...

....so the base is set...and now I have the Boise 70.3 Half-Ironman on June 13th, Ironman Lake Placid July 26th and Ironman Arizona in November out there (thus far) with more races to soon populate the schedule.  The building begins. 

In that moment of peace atop Mt Diablo, I knew inside this season was one of major progression.  In the prossess of establishing myself as an athlete, a coach, and a business person and entrpeneur in the endurance sports industry...I have taken a giant leap into the unknown.

..."it's a crossing at the ford" as the quote so eloquently puts it above.  My  descision to leave the harbor and set sail is more a drive to be out at sea and experiencing life.  It's not a decision I really thought about.  I do know I will not except remaining stagnant, I need to explore my limits physically and in all other aspects of my being.  And in that moment of clarity earlier today I realized I am just embarking on such a journey...