Mr. Sluggo Returns

One of my favorite bits from the early years of Saturday Night Live was the Mr. Bill Show. Mr. Bill was a claymation figure that was supposedly the main character of a kids educational show. Each Mr. Bill episode would start innocently enough but would quickly turn dangerous for Mr. Bill. Along with his dog, Spot, he would suffer various indignities inflicted by "Mr. Hands," a man seen only by his hands. Sometimes the abuse would ostensibly come from the mean Mr. Sluggo, another clay character. The violence would inevitably escalate, generally ending with Mr. Bill being crushed or dismembered while squealing in a high pitched voice, "Ohhhh noooooooooooooo..."

Amongst friends, I've sometimes made self deprecating references to myself as Mr. Bill in some of my road races. "Mr. Bill, surely you can run sub 7 minute miles for the marathon." "But, Mr. Hands, I don't think I can sustain that pace for that many miles." "Oh, Mr. Bill, sure you can." "OK, Mr. Hands, I'll give it a try." Then, along comes Mr. Sluggo and jumps on poor Mr. Bill's back. "Oh, Nooooooo!"

I actually found a Mr. Bill plush toy just before going to Tempe for the ironman. I did little comedy bits for John in which Mr. Hands talks Mr. Bill into doing the ironman. "But that water is really cold Mr. Hands." "That's OK, Mr. Bill. Oh look, here comes Mr. Sluggo to give you a little help getting into the water." "Oh, Noooooooo!" I've been reduced to a prop comic.

My alter ego to Mr. Bill is Mr. Sluggo. I become Mr. Sluggo when my energy levels are off and I don't feel like I can work out. Well, Mr. Sluggo has come back for a visit. This is probably not surprising given that the ironman was just over 2 and 1/2 weeks ago. I've been expecting Sluggo for a while. As I said in my last post, Sundays long run of 10 mile felt much longer. Wednesday, I got up early for a 12 mile run with Tony using the run/walk method. It wasn't a particularly hard workout and felt fine. This morning, I had to get up early again to take my mother in law to the hospital for a routine test. So I got up early 2 days in a row. Well, this afternoon, Sluggo returned in a big way. I feel exhausted.

I guess I should feel lucky. Another tri blogger I read, Missy, just came off of a PR in a half ironman event. A couple of weeks later, she was flat on her back in bed with what sounds like flu symptoms. I guess that no matter how well we eat and sleep, there is a price to be paid for doing these big endurance event efforts. We can get great results from our bodies, we just have to expect Mr. Sluggo to come pay a visit afterward. I just hope he doesn't stick around too long.

P.S. at 10 PM - I just found out that John has registered for the Lonestar 70.3 for April 25, 2009 in Galveston, Texas. So, we now both have pretty full schedules for 2010. "You can do it, Mr. Bill." "But Mr. Hands, that's a pretty full schedule." "That's OK, Mr. Bill. Mr. Sluggo will help you." "Oh Noooooooo!" 2010 is going to be another interesting year.