Losing Training, Family Stuff

We have a baby coming in about 22 days and I have done nothing but go, go, go on kids school stuff and activities.

In the last two weeks:

Nutrition Meeting with Board of Education.  

LSIC (have no idea what it stands for), otherwise known as PTO.  County wide meeting with BOE.

Actual PTO meeting at Eleanor's school.

Became the Pack Leader for Levi's newly formed Cub Scout Pack.  

Drove to Grove City (Outlet malls) to shop and see family.

Went with Tamara to midwife appointment.

Dentist appointment which turned out to be just a sensitive tooth

Haircut

The Bank mis-charged a $12 check (from my haircut) as $1,949 out of my account.  I went negative and then $400 in lack of fund fees. (Remember the the Grove City trip, lots of transactions for small amounts, fees was greater than what I bought).  Since being married we have never gone negative in a checking account, took them two days to correct.  Not stress free I might add.

Trick r' Treating tonight.  Tomorrow trip to Pittsburgh to buy more stuff.  Sunday relax and bake pepperoni rolls with the kids after church.

I can't wait for the baby, because then I have an excuse not to leave the house.

Good news on the baby front even though you never heard the bad news.  The baby was not head down until this week.  It should have gone head down about six weeks ago, but wouldn't.  We heard about chiropractors who do an adjustment on the hip area and it gets the baby moving.  It is called the Webster technique.  Tamara found a doctor and went to see him Monday.  He told her he only had one patient who's baby did not turn due to this procedure.  Chiropractors on a whole have a 85% success rate.  Sometimes takes 3 or 4 adjustments.

Tamara's worked on the first.  This is awesome because now we are looking at a vaginal birth instead of a planned C-section.  We have been praying about this for some while.  If you don't know Tamara had two C-sections before our third child was vaginal.  The worst part of the story is we went to the same mid-wife all three times and this time also, she felt bad about the first two.  Two C-sections, then vaginal is very rare, so we have that going for us.

Just wanted to post an update you all.

Recovery?

It's been nearly a month that I've been dealing with sore legs. Looking at October's workouts, I guess I only had 2 days completely off. In my defense, many days were swim only. Maybe those aren't as easy on my legs as I think?
I keep thinking I'm going to ease up and give myself a nice break and try and recover. But fun opportunities to workout keep popping up. I figure once the weather turns nasty, it's going to come to a grinding halt. So I'm taking advantage while I can.

Of course I wonder if I'm actually gaining strength by continuing as I am. Or if I'm just putting on junk miles as a result of not being able to push hard.
The other thing I've been wondering about is my diet. My current mix is 15% fat, 20% Protein, 65% carbs. Great for having energy but of course when you look at weight lifting/strength building stuff they are always pushing massive amounts of protein for their recovery. Maybe I should give up some carbs for protein? Maybe some weight gain 4000?

Track workout 11

Low 40s'. About 1.5 miles of warmup. .7 mile cool down.
Legs are still sore enough that I didn't ever push into all out mode. Max HR was 185. All the runs were quite comfortable, not sure that's the point of track workouts... still a good workout tho'.

400m - 1:42
800m - 3:29

400m - 1:35
800m - 3:14

400m - 1:32
800m - 3:14

400m 1:31
800m 3:20

Backing out of another long run

Typically Genine and I travel back to Warren PA for Thanksgiving and visit family. It doesn't look like that is going to happen this year. So my Dad will be out to visit us the weekend of the Philly Run, which will extend my streak of backing out of running races.
I had been putting events like this on the calendar in order to have a goal race. I have a feeling that psychological tactic isn't going to work much longer. Haha!
It's probably just as well, my run mileage isn't where it should be anyhow. I've been enjoying biking on the weekends rather than running.

Oh, and to give you all an idea of how "into training" Genine has become. On her way home from a 12-13 hour day at work she says to me. "So I was thinking, there's probably a 5K Turkey Trot going on around here... I'd be into doing that".
I have a feeling we are going to have to make a schedule for the bike trainer soon. :-)

More info regarding Black Fly Tri

Black Fly Triathlon
July 10-12
International will be .25 mile swim, 21.5 mile bike, 5 mile run
sprint will be .25 mile swim, 15 mile bike, 3 mile run
Time Trial Bike will be 5 miles...

Shawn! Is a 5 mile bike race short enough for you?
1/4 mile swim... Booooo. Ha ha!

Swimming

Ah yes, the discipline which I said I shouldn't worry about so much because it's all about bike/run anyhow. Well after timing myself with fins or with the pull buoy and seeing how much quicker I am with those things.... I couldn't help but think that with a bit of help, those speeds are possible all the time.
Because I've been spending so much time trying to self analyze, I was really thinking that I wanted/needed to be video taped so that I could finally understand what it was that I was doing wrong. So I contacted the coach to set up a lesson. I was ready to be very open minded about this. I was thinking this could be a rebuild and I might be stuck swimming slowly for awhile. So be it.

First thing, swim a few laps so he can see where I am. He saw enough wrong that he decided that he wanted to start from step one. I have to admit I was concerned that it was going to be text book from this point on. I'm happy to say that wasn't the case. The coach explained what should be done, then had me swim and then explained what I was actually doing and all the negative effects of this. Then we would work on making the adjustment towards the correct way. It worked well for me because I understood both what I was currently doing and what it was I needed to change to improve. Even though we got down to basics, we covered a ton of ground.

When I got home. I had to sit down and write out some of the stuff because there as no way I was going to remember all of it. (I'll spare you the details of my problems and fixes, I'll post them if you ask).
Later in the afternoon, Genine, Maija and I went to the pool and I got to try and apply some of the stuff we worked on that morning. I made a point of not watching the clock. I didn't want to be focused on being faster. I wanted to be focused on making the adjustments.
I was there for 75 minutes or so, midway through I was feeling fairly comfortable with a couple of the changes. Can't say they are right/perfect but there is a noticeable difference.
I left the pool feeling pretty good. I think mainly because I hadn't been pushing myself too hard during my swims for quite some time. Even tho most of the workout was done with plenty of rest, it was so much better than anything I've done lately. That and I think I've finally got a clue as to how to improve from here. (I've said this many times in the past and a week later I'm clueless again.... I hope this time that isn't the case).

Track Workout 10 from Wednesday

Couple issues today:
Hip flexors are still an issue. My acceleration still stinks as a result and I don't feel I'm really pushing top speed. My HR graph reflects that as well.
It's really windy! But it's a much warmer day than last week. Which was nice.
OK. Enough excuses, here is the workout and results.

1200m 5:06
800m 3:06
400 1:23

1200m 4:45
800m 3:11
400m 1:33

Done Deal

Well, it's official. I drank the kool-aid (or a bit too much pool water from the Bridgewater Y) and have decided to join all of you crazy people. I am officially registered and paid for the Mooseman Olympic and Timberman Sprint for summer 2009. YIKES!! Honestly, I am not sure where this burst of confidence has come from. I know I can manage the bike and I can now comfortably run
4 miles at an 8:45 pace and swim 800m in the pool at a "steady" pace w/o being out of breath.
But come on now, what makes me think I can do all 3 things (not to mention much longer distances & speed) in a row and survive???

I guess I would have to say that it has been watching all of you. Everyone's individual transformations this past year have been truly inspiring to me. So I am leaving the ranks of relay teams (except for the Tango - KB2 still has a title to defend!) and going to learn how to fly solo. I have a TON of work ahead of me these next 7 months. But to that I say....Bring it on!!!

Possible 2009 Tri Schedule

Scheduling a year in advance is a whole new concept to me. Not to mention I look at this schedule and laugh. One of these would have killed me 2 years ago.
Yet I think about how much fun this past summer was. I can only hope to have a repeat performance next summer.

3 Races in NH. Eric and Family will be tired of seeing us.

April 26 Bassman NJ Olympic
May 17 Columbia MD Olympic
June 6 Mooseman NH Olympic
June 28 Morgantown WV Olympic
July 11 Black Fly Tri NH Olympic
Aug 1 Kinzua Country Tango Adventure Race PA... Not sure how to compare. Half Iron+
Aug 23 Timberman 70.3 NH

I'm registered for the ones in red. So I lose money if I back out of those.

Plenty of room for modification.
I put a list like this up last year. It was a good guide is all.

Fun Weekend

Saturday: 6AM we meet up at the Y to do hill repeats with Todd, Esther and Maija. It took me 2-3 miles before my legs actually felt warmed up enough to push it. I got there eventually, we are looking to do this again next Saturday as well, hopefully I'll do a bit better then.

Once it warmed up a bit, Genine and I did a quick 45 minutes ride. Towards the end of my ride I noticed my cadence meter stopped working. That would be because I must have kicked it and it fell off. UGH! So after our ride we hopped in the car to see if we could spot it along the road. Fortunately, we found it and it hadn't been crushed. It was right in the middle of an entry to a parking lot, whew!

Genine then went out with Esther and Maija. Girls day Hair & Nails. Afternoon off, what am I going to do? Well after the typical stuff around the house... time to catch a nap. Then once I woke up I decided it had been way too long since I had played my trumpet (2 years?). The good news is my embrosure is still solid, so the tone wasn't bad once I was warmed up. There was some serious rust going on everywhere else though. Now that's it's been out of the bag, maybe I'll get back to it a bit more often and try to get some chops back.
Then it was off to dinner with the girls and Armando. Hibachi place, entertaining and it was good. Follow that up with some frozen yogurt and call it a day.

Sunday: Sleep in! I think I slept for 10 hours. Of course I woke up at 5AM which is my standard time but had no trouble falling right back to sleep.
2HR Bike with Genine & Maija at 11:30ish. Maija lead us on an great ride absolutely amazing scenery. Fall colors are near peak for sure. Of course the migration is going on now as well. There were a few times that I spotted some Bluebirds. They were absolutely stunning in the bright sunlight.
There were a number of spots today that I wished I had my camera with me. There were some great photo opportunities. I don't think my bird photos on flickr are setup for everyone to see... So here are a couple of my favorite Bluebird photos.
First the Female


Here is the Male

Blogger crops the photos kind of oddly, it's chopping of the right side of the picture, ah well, good enough.

Oh, It was also cool enough out that I got to try out the cannondale bike jacket I had purchased at that sale in NYC a couple months back. Money well spent. It was a good windbreaker and I was comfortable.

After our bike ride, we headed into the pool to swim for an hour or so. Maija was doing IM and kicking drills. I skipped the butterfly stuff and completed about half of the kicking that I should have..... it was still a good workout.
After that it was back to getting stuff done around the house... Once that was done, Kick back with a "Harvest Moon" Ale. This is Blue Moon's pumpkin ale. Honestly, I don't really find that there is any pumpkin flavor to it at all. It's still an OK beer but if you want pumpkin ale, I'm a big fan of the Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale. They were sold out at the place I went to so I gave this Harvest Moon a shot.... I plan on stopping at a different place this week to try to find the Smuttynose. Yeah, it's that good.

It was a fun weekend.

Running Pains

So I've been dealing with my adductors being sore for the last 2 weeks. Initially I was blaming my over the top Saturday workout almost 2 weeks ago. Although I couldn't figure out why just my adductors. Well I think I figured it out.
It's the squat machine at the weight room. I had increased weight on this machine quite a bit and obviously just because my quads can push it, the secondary muscle groups were not ready for it. (sets of 15). Unfortunately I didn't realize this until today, I kind of beat them up again at the weight room last night, unknowingly. Hopefully I'm right about this and I can get back on track with my running.

Lazy, Enjoying My Dark Chocolate M&M

I have not done any workouts since last Saturdays run.  It doesn't look promising tonight.  Tomorrow, right?  I think I will get a run in tomorrow.  Then again on Sunday.  

I went to a Board of Education informational meeting last night about nutrition in the school district.  I volunteered to be the representative from Eleanor's school.  They won't let mom's bring in cup cakes anymore and Halloween parties, no candy! :( 

During the meeting I got the thrust of why.  The schools don't believe that kids are obese in America because of them, but this school district is going to make sure they don't increase it. Plus, with all the food allergies  Good meeting.  The problem is now I have to explain this to the PTO.

But, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a couple things on the way home.  With all this nutional information right in the frontal lobe of my mind, I decided I need a bag of some kind of chocolate.  So, I looked over the M&M's and picked the dark chocolate ones.  See how good of a choice that is?????

*Raza De Los Muertos*  Even though I said the racing season is over, here is an event I would love to do.  

I would also do Bruceton Cyclocross  but I am not sure if Tamara would think kindly of me leaving her during labor.

A little Cyclocross Fun Video.  I can only hope it would be this much fun.

Track Workout 9..... OUCH

Today I got to find out just how much I left out on the course Sunday.

1200m= 5:23 (4:53 2 weeks ago)
800m= 3:16 (3:06 2 weeks ago)
400m= 1:23 (even with 2 weeks ago)..... But wait, we do it again.

1200m= 4:51 (4:53 2 weeks ago)
800m= 3:32 oh yeah, I'm hurtin now.
400m= 2:04 LOL nice right!

The guys then did a 200m, I took about 4 strides and quit. I was going to do some damage if I continued. I decided to live and fight another day. I kept expecting this to happen at my race the other day. I'm glad it waited until today.

2 years into this now

It was 2 years ago today that I got off the couch and hopped on the treadmill with the 5K training program.
I figured I'd look up what the day one workout was just for fun.
40 min at 3 mph. Ha! I remember that now. I was thinking, Man they really are going to take this slow, I walk faster than this during my commute every day.
They waited until day 2 to make me feel badly about myself. Ha Ha... No seriously, I was hurtin.

So 2 years later and 50+ pounds lighter... on some level I still feel like I'm just getting started. Which is a really good thing. I'd hate to burn this hobby out, the only thing negative I can find about it is the hit my bank account is taking from it. :-)
(I worry for Craig... if all of his kids start racing triathlon. Yikes! Goodbye College Fund!)

I'm not posting this to pat myself on the back tho'. I wanted to thank all of you. I know that I wouldn't have been this successful doing this alone. I really appreciate all the time spent blogging, learning, challenging, training, encouraging, inspiring, trash talking.... All of you have played a big part in my success.
Thanks Everyone! (you know who you are)

June 2006 Me w/ my Uncle George in Colorado


Oct 2008 Tewksbury NJ

Waynesburg Homecoming 5K

Good news Bad news scenario.  Good news first.  2nd in Age group, 18th overall.  I won a nice Waynesburg University gym bag.  I didn't need a potty break.  Still under 8:00/mile pace.

Bad news, I ran a stinking 24:45.  This would be 7 secs off my best time here.  I had expected to be closer to 24:00 even.  The Hills got me in this one, also since my last 5k I haven't ran any day that didn't begin with a "S".  So, I have determined it takes three weeks to lose the excellent aerobics you took a whole summer building.  I felt, not good.  I couldn't hold the pace I wanted early in the race and the big hill in the last mile kicked me hard.  I did have dinner with the guy who had designed the course later that night.  Once I got over knowing this about him, we had a nice evening.  His wife is in Tamara's book club, so this was a couples dinner for this group.  We read a short story so the husbands could finish it easily and had a nice discussion over the story.

Last race this year.  I think I have already been working on what I need to get ready for the baby.  I also have realized that I need, I have mentioned this before, occasional training partners.  I hope to hook up with Bryan (5k course designer) for some biking on Saturdays in the next couple months.  Another guy at church is trying to start a cycle group locally and is starting to talk triathlon.  The best news is Bryan, same guy from above, is originally from Wisconsin and when I mentioned x-country skiing, he immediately asked where I go, and that he needs someone to go to the mountains of WV with him.  He doesn't want to drive 2 hours to ski by himself.  So:

Fall/Winter goals:

one x-country ski race (Jan/Feb time frame)

maintain aerobic base (run, bike, ski)

lose weight to get below 90 Kgs. (eating habits)

Abs, Abs, & more Abs. (three times a week)

Swim ? - Baby will mess this one up big time - but will try like I always must.

Toyota Camry update - 28 MPG - this is 6 miles to a gallon more than the old Volvo.  So, per 1,000 miles @ $3.5/gallon, I will save $34.  @ 10,000 miles per year, $340 saving.  So, complete payback on a the "new" used car compared to keeping the Volvo alive (including cost to replace engine & radiator, and scrap value of Volvo)  I will actually break even in 8 yrs.  Of course this does not include future towing bills for the Volvo, for whatever calamity it may have brought me.  Of course, this is one of those moments, where you say:  "Saving your Marriage from total ruins:  PriceLess"

Oh, yeah, took wobble out of Toyota van by doing brake job.  It was wobbling during heavy breaking.  The parts including pads & rotors was $130.  Wow!  I feel for those who have to take this to a garage.  It would have to be at least $200, if a professional mechanic did it.  Next big job is timing belt & water pump in this van.  Water pump is ok, but if I have the timing belt out, I will change the water pump.  I am hoping this is a 1/2 day job instead of a full 8 hrs like the last time I did a Toyota (regardless of the Toyota engine, they are set up the same, one of many good things about Toyota cars).

Took my mom, Dad & kids spelunking at Copper's Rock on Saturday after the race.  We found "Devil's Kitchen".  Great cave.  Tight passage getting in and then it opens to a huge chamber.  My parents also took my kids to the Henry Clay furnance at this state park.  Great historical reminant that shows what it took 150 yrs ago to produce steel.  Shawn got kicked out of this park for playing eskimo (building an igloo) a couple of years ago.  I set him up with the location, not knowing once the park closes for the season you have to get out after dark. If you ever come to Morgantown, I will try to get you up there to see this.  It is like a RimRock on steroids.  Don't worry we won't get lost, I have been hunting up there for three years and got home safely every time.  Bouldering @ Coopers Rock

Tewksbury 5 Miler Results and RR

Tewksbury 5 miler Results Page

Get there early enough to register and get a warmup run in.
Ed and I ran for about 9 minutes and we stopped to get directions for the 1st part of the run. The warmup really didn’t give me much confidence. I felt like I could possibly have a big stitch on my left side just waiting for me.

We got our group photo, Claudia, Bob, Ed and I. Then got into the lineup. I said to Bob, “I think I’m going to be following your lead here.” He says, “I was going to try and follow your lead”. Ha! So we talk about how it might be best if we don’t go out too hot at the beginning, it sounds like there are some serious hills later in the race. He also has us line up closer to the front so we don’t have to fight through as much traffic at the start. Good thinkin.

We are on grass for the first mile and there is a bit of a hill. I remembered to get my arms going into the hill and it seemed to make a difference. On the downhill, which typically has been a problem for me, I decided to just go for it and take everything I can from it. I got to the pavement and the 1 mile maker in 7:33. At which point I was thinking, can I hold this for 5 miles? There are hills later in the course…. I figure I may as well keep rolling with what I’ve got and see what happens.

On the way to mile 2, I start to pass some people, I figure they probably started out too quickly and are falling off a bit…. I finish mile 2 on 6:51 pace. Oh boy… what am I doing to myself? The hill has got to be starting soon.

Sure enough, the hill begins. I have no idea how long this hill is. Which probably worked to my advantage, because I kept telling myself “it’s gotta end soon”. I’ve got 2 people in my sights in front of me. A Younger kid (14 year old it turns out) and a woman about my age (37). I have to admit as that hill kept going, I was thinking that this kid is going to lose it. No reason other than wishful thinking on my part I guess. Neither of them gave an inch.

Finally at the top, not much road running left, I missed the 3 mile marker, so I didn’t get to see what that split was. (it was 7:53). Next thing we are back running on grass. I’m closing in on the woman ahead of me and she’s gaining on the kid. There is nobody else in sight ahead of them but I really wasn’t able to look much. I was too focused on where to place my feet.

Finally I’ve caught her and we both pass the kid not far from mile 4. (7:15).
Now I’m thinking what’s next? Am I going to be side by side with her the whole way in? Crazy foot race to the finish? No sooner do I think this and we’ve got a good downhill ahead of us. I let loose and I pull away. Footing was always a concern but it turns out I haven’t seen the worst of the course yet.

At the bottom of the hill you enter the woods and have to cross 2 small foot bridges. Large rocks were everywhere! There is no running path at all. I ran through this section as if I were running tires, but harder. Because not only were you trying to keep your feet light, your feet were landing at all sorts of crazy angles. I’m fortunate that I didn’t wipe out. A soft landing would have been unlikely.

Back out onto the grass and into the finish (7:09). 36:30.9
Whew!
I stand off to the side and the next guy to come in walks right over to me and says “Are you in the 50 and over group”. LOL I love it. I do have my beard grown in and yes, more grey than ever… I tell him, “No Sir, I think you’ve got the division won”. He then goes on to tell me that ever since I passed him on the start of the big hill he hasn’t let me out of his sights. Wow. I decide that I may as well tell him he’s been chasing down a 38 year old for the last 3 miles. He apologizes, I laugh and tell him It’s no big deal, I just thought he’d like to know. I should have asked if I happened to pull him into a much faster race than he typically runs. Ha ha.

(click picture for larger image)

Something I guess I need to keep track of moving forward, I think I may have pushed myself into a bit of exercise induced asthma. It wasn’t constricting but I was coughing for the next 3 hours.

We stay until all 4 of us are finished. Then Genine and I take off to go for a bike ride. We will meet them all later at Oktoberfest in High Bridge.

When I get to Oktoberfest Bob tells me that he picked up my award for me. It would seem that I won my division. I figure I must have been the only one in the division, kind of like my race in Florida. Wasn’t exactly true in this case but I didn’t know that until the results were posted on Monday.

13th of 140 Overall
1/14 in my age group.
12/94 Male

Run/Bike/ Beer with friends is a pretty awesome triathlon.
Here are the rest of the pictures

Tewksbury 5 mile race report

Red=HR, Blue=Pace, brown= elevation. Click to enlarge picture
The info in the grey box below is avg/max for the event.
Whereas the other info above that is the stats for where the vertical line is on the graph.

I'll get back to writing the report later. I think I was 10 seconds late stopping my watch at the end. I also didn't look at the clock when I got there. Some things never change. So 36:30 less a few seconds perhaps, on a hilly course and a couple miles off road. I'm pleased/surprised. More later I've gotta get ready to go hang out with the gang and drink some beer!

Race Prep

Was an easy day around the house. Hair Cut..Yard work.. oil change.. Kona Iron Man streaming on the computer.. midday nap! Then a short run with some bursts to get the legs ready for some speed tomorrow. I have to say, I'm still not 100% recovered from last Saturday. Which then makes me think I haven't been pushing as hard as I could be. Maybe I'm supposed to be this sore after a few hard weeks?

I'll just have to get a good warmup in tomorrow before the run. Otherwise I have a feeling I'll be pretty slow for the first 2 miles. Also, I don't know exactly what my race strategy is. I'm guessing I'll stay in my zone for the first 2 miles, then see if I can increase my pace the rest of the way in. I say this now, but I really have no clue what I'm doing.
Which made me realize most of the racing I have done has been all about pacing. I wanted to be able to survive/finish the events, as this was something I couldn't imagine doing 2 years ago.
Now the race tomorrow, obviously I'm going to survive 5 miles. So there isn't really going to be any satisfaction of "just finishing the race" as I often feel in the multisport events. I guess I'm going to find out about the more competitive aspect of this. My time will matter....or it should anyhow. I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

Check Engine Light

"New" Toyota Camry is running great.  One of my negotiation points in buying the car was that the "Check Engine" light was on.  With the price I was offering they were hesitating putting it on their machine.  The car was running and running well, so, I estimated it was a Oxygen sensor.  

So, I bought the car without them hooking up to the machine.  I was looking into buying a OBD 2 Code reader, until Matt gave me the idea to go to Advance Auto (it may have been AutoZone).  The guy hooked it up for free, told me it was an Emissions blah, blah, blah.  Usually, remedied by buying a new gas cap.  The gas cap was not holding back the amount of pressure it should, so the car thought it was missing.  $8.95, put on the new cap, Light is out.  Matt, thanks for the idea.

Race tomorrow.  Waynesburg Homecoming 5K.  I am not looking for the 22:04 I ran at my last race because this race has a bad hill, but I have always run well (despite potty breaks) mid race.  Looking to bring home some booty, if not medal than shirts, water bottles, and Panera sweet treats (always a nice sponsor).

Had a consultation yesterday for a procedure that my insurance company deems sterilization.  I guess that is better than neutering, which is how my vet refers to it.  Very funny conversation with the doctor.  My favorite three stories.  The friend of his who didn't listen to the "don't do anything for two days" speech, ended up with grapefruit sized you know whats after playing golf the day after the procedure.  He argued, "I was riding in a cart".

The pizza delivery guy, who did listen to him for the first three days, but decided he had lost too much money being down that long and put in a 14 hour shift on the fourth day.  He was in the office on a Tuesday with a couple of softballs between his legs.  

The best one was the urologist associate to my doctor who decided he could do his own.  He was successful, but he no longer works there was the punch line to that story.  Oh, he did it in his garage.  I could go into some other funny observations about the whole process, but I may not know some of you well enough to share such information.  Catch me sometime in person and I will let you know.  

200 meters is mine

Since we're trash talking here, I thought I should throw down the gauntlet and announce that I can beat you all in the 200 meter sprint. Yes, a 260 pound guy will lay it on the line, Rita's all summer, free back rubs, I'll pump up your tires for you, whatever you want...forget the sprint distance triathlon, they don't know what they're talking about. You don't sprint for an hour. You sprint for 25 seconds.

If we could do a 50 meter swim, 1 mile bike in a velodrome, and a 200 meter run, I will kick your ever-lovin' butts!

2009 Mooseman.

I just signed up for Mooseman 2009 International Distance.
Will be interesting to repeat the race to see the improvements. Although the swim was cut short this year, so it won't be a perfect comparison.
The times don't matter anyhow, as long as I beat Craig, Shawn, Esther, Armando and Maija. I'll consider the race a success.

Breathing in 5/4 time

During the track workout, I remembered that at some point along the way I was thinking about Dave Brubeck's Take 5.

That's because I realized that my breathing pattern was basically the meter of this tune. 5/4. Or for the non musical folks out there that might breathe with their steps, 3 out, 2 in.
Of course it being a track workout. I had kind of crank up the tempo of the tune playing in my head. So I hit my brain shuffle and tried to find another 5/4 song on the mental play list. All I could come up with was Mission Impossible.

Sheesh. I should be able to come up with more than that! I'll blame it on oxygen deprivation. I'll have to find something smokin quick to put in my head if I go do a 5K.

On to swimming. I was just trying some different stuff out at the pool today. I was working on stroke count for awhile. Tried changing all sorts of stuff to get it lower. Only thing that worked was if I was drafting Chaz! Saved 3 or 4 strokes per 25m when I did that.
Ah well.
Next I decided I needed to get back to spending some time making sure I can breathe to both sides easily and/or breathe every 3.... Well because of all the years of trumpet playing, I have a tendency to really take in a huge amount of air. Which is very easy for me to do quickly. Well I think that might be a bad thing. I'm trying to cycle a much bigger volume of air than I need to. So I need to dial that back a bit and see how that changes things for me.

The whole You Tube thing cracks me up sometimes. I wanted to post the original Mission Impossible Theme and this is what I found.

I was thinking "Who has time to do stuff like this??" Then I thought.. ummm what am I doing right now? Ha Ha!

So of course to waste even more of my life... I had to check for Craig's song regarding "Running Bear and Little White Dove"

Genine might not admit this freely to everyone, but she knows all the words to this because her mom had both the 45 and cassette of it. She is amazed that I have never heard this song. I can't say it's like the first time I heard "Whole Lotta Love" by Led Zeppelin. Ha ha!


Lastly anyone that was a VanHalen Fan and metalhead from the 80's has to see this.

Hilarious!

OK. here's the real clip of him playing. Again funny that someone would take the time to make that other one.

Car Update - Final - Until it quits working

2000 Toyota Camry.  Pretty nice.  Had to work over the Dealership.  I was only the second person to visit them yesterday (come on bailout).  I haven't been through this process in 11 years.  Them telling me what they have in it.  Me making an offer, them going in the back room, me pointing out what is really wrong with the car, them telling me what they will do this to make me happy, me telling them to drop the price and don't worry about that stuff.  Then deal done, I am held prisoner for 1/2 hour as they take it to financing.  Then they call me back, they want to sell me a two year service agreement.  

"Did I not just tell you my 1992 Volvo with 320,000 miles just failed, I am not worried about a Camry with 100,000, no service agreement"  

Let's look at it, we will knock $200 off of it.  NO!  Ok let me get you a receipt.   wait . . wait . . wait.  My manager will knock another $200 off the service.  No, I am getting hungry (now 8:30, I got there at 6:00), where is my receipte, I will be back tomorrow to pick the car up, please don't ask me again about this.

I much prefer to buy from other individuals or small, just used car dealers.  I am not use to being such a jerk or playing a game.  But I am happy to find a good car at a good price.

Track Workout 8 and Weight Loss Goal Update

Bob, Todd and I at the track this AM.
A repeat performance of this workout. 3 weeks ago, 3 days after Buckman.
Whereas this week, I've run 10.3 miles Monday and a 6.25 miles Wednesday.

2000m: 1:42, 1:42, 1:41, 1:40, 1:39 = 8:24 (26 seconds faster )
1600m: 1:34, 1:37, 1:36, 1:36 = 6:23 (34 seconds faster..)
1200m: 1:35, 1:43, 1:35 = 4:53 (12 seconds faster..) (I hit the watch late on the 1:43 BTW)
800m: 1:33, 1:33 = 3:06 (11 seconds faster)
400m: :40@200 + :43 = 1:23 (4 seconds faster)

Weight Loss: My goal was 170 by Nov 23rd. My plan was to try and eat the number of calories that I feel like I should to maintain 170. So it would not be much of a deficit and would be a slow loss. I was on track with that and it was working.
The last few days, that fell apart and my eating has been more like my deficit from Jan-March. That combined with a ramp up in run mileage caused me to drop about 5 or 6 pounds. (oh man!). So before my run this AM I weighed in at 170. I know it will fluctuate but the number has been hit so the new goal has to be set. I'm going to say 165 and I plan on getting myself back together with the eating the right number of calories to hold that.
I tried to swim last night and my toes were crossing/cramping after about 30 minutes of swimming. Could be nutrition, could be that I had run the 10K in the AM which is "new".
For those that are thinking that is too light. The incredibly wise BMI charts tell me that I'm finally at a "healthy weight". A 129-174 pound rage is healthy for me. So be glad I didn't say 135!

Tonight I hit the weights. I gotta put some pounds back on!!! Bring on the biker legs!

Spirit of Morgantown

Got this email about the morgantown race:

The MedExpress Spirit of Morgantown Triathlon features a new sprint distance along with the olympic distance and half distance races. The half distance includes a 1.2 mile swim in the Monongahela River, a rolling 56 mile bike ride, and a 13.1 mile run on a new flat and fast course along the Mon River, the Olympic race includes a 1500m swim, 40k bike, and 6.2mi run, and the sprint includes a 750m swim, 20k bike, and 5k run.

Dude, no 6th street hill.  Bittersweet.  I won't miss doing that hill, but no revenge factor or devil.  Man this race is going to be cookie cutter course by the time they are done.  Next thing you know they will actually close the locks on the dam so the swim is without a current.  Bad bike hill gone (06), bad run hill gone (09).  I am going to have to bike with a single speed BMX bike and no shoes to even make this challenging.  HAAAAAAAA!HAAAAAA!

link www.spiritofmorgantown.com

Car update:  Tried to really low ball a dude on a nice used Toyota Avalon (leather, sunroof, nice car).  I thought world banking crisis.  People can't get loans, I'm paying cash.  He bickered for about 3 minutes with me, went to his manager, came out and said this price, which was too high, or no deal.  I said OK, no deal,  call me when you want to send it to auction.  He said this car will sell itself, which I made a comment about why am I leaving without it.

So,  tomorrow I go to look at a couple Camry's, not as nice as the Avalon, but they will probably deal a little more with me.  Of course we are starting to need the car and my father-in-law will probably get sick of shifting cars to help me out if I don't get a deal done this weekend.  It's like when you were dating.  No girls are interested until you get a girlfriend, then they are all over you.  So, many good deals on cars until I want to buy one.

Blog Surfing

It's funny how sometimes you run across something totally randomly that makes your day a little brighter.
This post did it for me this morning. Check out this link.