Week 29 - getting closer to Vineman

Hi there!

I am still here. I didn't write for 14 weeks but I am still here and training for an IronMan distance triathlon Full Vineman which is going to take place on July 30, 2011.

It's been a long but exciting journey. Six time a week training for more than half year. Intensity and time of training increasing from week to week. Great team and wonderful teammates.

I am used to running or biking on a constantly fatigued and sore muscles. I learned to swim in open water and started actually enjoying it. I am already used to my friends looking at me as crazy.

I am still afraid of falling from bike at full speed. I saw it already, a teammate fell right in front of me - lots of blood but fortunately only skin cuts and bruises.

Funny thing - I am at the same weight as I started the training season - 210 lb. I burn thousands and thousands calories and couldn't say that I eat too much. But my stubborn body doesn't want to lose that glycemic storages (a.k.a. love handles) for the fear of getting out of fuel on a 80 miles ride.

April 30, 2011 - we (our team and I) did Wildflower long course triathlon. Basically it's a half IronMan distance but much tougher because of elevation. I post some pictures from this course here.

I want to thank my girlfriend Jenia for her constant support and patience (those practices take so much time).

I would like to thank everyone who already donated - your donations make it possible for me to be on this exciting journey. I also want to thank my company www.ebay.com for generous matching some of the donations.

I am at 78% of my fundraising goal - about $1200 to go. Please help me reach this goal and make another small step towards finding a cure for blood cancer. Here is the donation link: http://pages.teamintraining.org/sj/VineFIrn11/mgavryuchk

Mikhail (a.k.a. Misha)