12.31.2005

Year in Review

Whew - I finished my last workout of 2005 this morning. Here's a recap of December:

Bike: 4h 9m 09s - 63.8 Mi
Run: 12h 2m 59s - 72.24 Mi
Swim: 3h 54m 13s - 11,944.01 Yd

I'm still in Phase I of the plan. I've got about 6 weeks till the Half Marathon. Training is coming along nicely. I've tried to round out my workouts so I'm a little more balanced in the three sports. I'm having a great time.

All the holiday food and winter eating has caused me to level out in the weight loss area. I've been hovering around 190 - 195lbs for most of the month. That will change very soon. I'm hoping to be firmly in the 180's by mid-February and in the low 180's by the BSLT 70.3.

I started tracking workouts in Mid-June of this year. Overall, I'm very surprised by the numbers. It's crazy to watch the time and miles pile up. Check it out:

Bike: 47h 38m 56s - 725.33 Mi
Run: 48h 51m 51s - 283.88 Mi
Swim: 21h 18s - 58,871.17 Yd

Special thanks to beginnertriathlete.com. This is a great spot for us tri-newbies. I dropped just over 40lbs this year. It's hysterical to check out the pictures I posted on Flickr (Before, After). I completed my first 5K races this year, a 5-mile Turkey Trot, 2 Sprint Triathlons and a 100K organized ride. This year I'm planning to completed a Half-Marathon, Half-Ironman, and at least 1 Century ride.

Thanks everyone for a great year. Thanks to my wonderful family. You make my life special. M you are the best official sponsor ever. To everyone - have a safe and prosperous new year!

TTUTri

Saturday Run

I planned to be up early today for another bike/run brick. When I hopped out of bed around 5:30 (yes - AM - on a Saturday), I noticed the house was a little chilly. It was a little strange given that we have had near 80* weather all week. I popped in on weather.com and noticed it was 32*. 32*!! Now normally the local news stations would be on all out 24/7 coverage of the 2005 Deep Freeze event. But, I guess this one slipped through.

Well, I am still a little behind the power curve when it comes to cold weather cycling gear. Or, I should say, I have no cold weather cycling gear. The thought of cutting through 32* air at nearly 20mph didn't really sound to fun, so I geared up for the long run instead.

Today was a new time & distance record for me - these are falling like rain in California lately. Today ended up being just under 10 miles / 1h:40m. I'm really battling boredom now. I try to spend time thinking about BSLT (BSLT 70.3 - The first Half IM - Brought to me by my Official Sponsor, "M".), but even that can only hold my attention for so long. I need some distraction. I loaded up the MP3 player with a couple of podcasts (Zentri & Endurance Radio) and a bunch of AC/DC (Special thanks to Amers - she gave me the CD for Christmas. Wait, does that make you a sponsor?). Brett got me through the first half perfectly. I ran by some guy picking up his newspaper while I was laughing out loud - Brett to his son : "You look like a peanut butter and jelly bomb!". Thanks dude. I couldn't get the AC/DC tracks to play on my MP3 player - what up with that?? I'm getting ready to upgrade the tuneage - I'm just about ready to buy a Creative MuVo TX 1Gb. Right now I'm out running the 64Mb version I have now. Maybe M will want it for her visits to the club.

Today I also wore one of my new Christmas gifts! Robert and Kathy got me the 2-bottle Amphipod. This thing worked great (Thanks Robert & Kathy!!!! - wait does that make you guys sponsors too?) I totally forgot I was wearing it until mile 4. I was worried about the extra weight on my back but the whole thing rests on my hips and doesn't even move! I'm sure I'll be wearing this on just about every long run from here on out. I can totally see going through 2 flasks of Endurance Gatorade during some of those h-o-t runs during the summer. Maybe I should fill them with some JD for the cold winter runs? :-)

Anyway - This was a good strong run today. I was glad to have the gear along. It was well used. Tomorrow - Long ride!

12.30.2005

Return to regularly scheduled life

I just finished 2300M in the pool and I feel great. It's starting to get a little more active at the lap pool. This morning I swear I could sense all the triathletes waking from their winter slumber. January training plans begin soon. I'm headed back for my first full day of work since the holiday. It also happens to be my last full day of the year.

Yesterday was pretty strange. My office is highly "multi-cultural", which I happen to think makes for some pretty interesting workdays. Between the cultural differences, verbal and written communications hurdles, and personality differences we all manage to do pretty well together.

However, I find myself in somewhat of a minority around Christmastime each year because most of my cohorts are from foreign countries and do not celebrate Christmas. The week leading up to Christmas is always interesting because as most of us peel off for some vacation time we start asking everyone - "What are you doing for the, uh, er, holiday?" Most of my office companions use the holiday itself to travel because the airports tend to be mostly empty.

Then, there are the those folks who wouldn't appear to celebrate Christmas, but will openly wish you "Merry Christmas!" -- "Well, Merry, uh, er, Christ -- Happy Hol-i-day -- Thanks!" - Crap, do they celebrate Christmas, or were they just being nice?

This pre-Christmas week awkwardness is easy compared to the return to work. Yesterday.

I strode in all refreshed and full of post-holiday glow.

"Mornin' 'Bob', how was your, er, uh -- did you do anything over the weekend?" - Geez, did that sound as strange as it felt?

"Hey, how's it goin? Did you have a good Ch--, did you take some time off this week?" - Oh man, can I be any more strained?

Oh well, the New Year is upon us. Everyone has to celebrate that - it's a matter of physics. You know - "The space time continuum" and all that? Right? Oh geez.

12.29.2005

BSLT 70.3 - Who's in?

BSLT 70.3 - The first Half IM - Brought to me by my Official Sponsor "M".

Mom and Dad headed back to Colorado today. I dropped them off at the airport around noon - they called around 5 to let us know they had arrived safe and sound. We had a great visit. So sorry to see them go.

Dad mentioned that he was interested in coming down to Lubbock to see us during the BSLT weekend. The cheering section is growing!!

OK - so let's take roll. Who is in Lubbock on June 26th?

Robert?
Kathy?
Amers?
M - Official Sponsor
T - Locked In
Dad?
Mom?
Steph?
Chris?

It Is Done

"Everything is theoretically impossible, until it is done."
Robert A. Heinlein

Tonight I registered for the BSLT 70.3 & the Freescale Half Marathon. How's that for some New-Year's motivation?

I made a strong step back in the right direction today with a 6.6 mile run tonight. I felt pretty strong. I did the hard neighborhood course, averaged under 10 min / mi's without too much effort and kept my HR right in the aerobic range. I was so pumped that I rushed right over to the computer and filled out the registrations.

Coach : No excuses! Do the work!
ND Football Team : Our Lady of Victory! Pray for us!
Rudy (1993)

The training is coming along nicely. I'm deep into phase I and I think there is something like 50 days till the Half Marathon. I'm feeling confident.

Tomorrow morning I'll be at the pool for about 2200 M in the pool. I haven't been to the pool in nearly a week. I'm really looking forward to getting in the water. Saturday I'll be out early for my long run. I'm guessing it will be between 10 and 11 miles - 1h : 40m. I'm also going to try really hard to get out and ride some on Sunday - I could feel how much I'd lost in my cycling legs last weekend. After the Half Mary, I'll have to live on the bike for a few weeks.

BSLT 70.3 - The first Half IM - Brought to me by my Official Sponsor "M".

12.28.2005

Bowling

I managed to finally catch a couple of bowl games this week. Outstanding!!

I'm really going to miss watching football on Saturday mornings after a long workout. *Sigh* There are 4 bowl games on Friday - I'll miss most of them because of work. Darn. Oh well. Perhaps I'll be inspired to start the new core workout during the evening games. I've been eyeing a new set of core exercises for, um, geez - has it really been over a month??

Fat Cow

Whew! I cannot believe vacation is over. Tomorrow I head back to work. Well, OK, a half day of work but it's still work. I'm guessing I should be able to knock out a day-and-a-half work week and head into a three day weekend without problems. I'm way behind the power curve on training this week. Arg!!

Physically this week has been absolute hell. I opened the door for illness and fatigue with an insanely long brick on Friday. I had no idea I had that distance in me! Then, I began consuming mass quantities of food and sugary desserts (not to mention alcohol). Beginning Sunday afternoon I started a low grade headache, the chills, achey muscles and a scratchy throat. Could be Cedar allergies - it is that time of year - but I think bad nutrition is the primary factor. Sleep has been an absolute joke. This is also a contributing factor.

I did a run on Monday that I practically had to beat myself to complete. I hate that. Running has been such fun for me lately, I'd hate to fall back into the dirges I used to complete.

This week I'll focus on getting good foods in me and try to salvage the training plan as much as possible. Next week is a recovery week. I'll use the shortened workouts to recover physically and put me on track for a good solid training month in January to get me ready for the Half Marathon on 2/19. Also this week, I have to register for BSLT 70.3.

Bottom line - I really upset the whole world this week. I have to grab the wheel with both hands and get things back on track.

12.24.2005

Seasons' Greetings!



Well, the stockings are hung by the chimney with care. You know what that means, a jolly visitor will soom be here. I just finished assembling the assemblage for the festivities tomorrow morning.

Today was, well, wild. I got up early and headed out for a long brick. 17.7mi bike + 9.15mi run = 26.85 mi. Whew! It took a little over 2.5 hours. It felt great to be out in the beautiful weather. Although, it felt a bit more like spring than winter. I managed to run sub 10 minute miles again. The HR training is really paying off.

Afterward, I had to head out to pick up some clothes to wear to mass. Being the bright guy I am, I managed to drop off every piece of nice clothing I own at the dry cleaners on Friday morning. Then, I completely forgot to pick it up before they closed for 3 days. Ug. It all worked out - I needed some new clothes. I've lost close to 50 pounds now. Even my underwear is baggy. OK, TMI, sorry.

We decided to go to the 4 PM "Children's Mass" at church today. I've never seen so many people at the church. We opted for the cry room. T is in the process of cutting molars. So, needless to say, he's not exactly quiet. This was a mistake. Imagine being trapped inside a glass box with 25 strangers and 15 crying kids. No, we didn't spontaneously break out singing Silent Night.

T was starving by the time mass ended. We rushed home to feed him and us. Just before bedtime, we had our traditional Christmas Eve ornament exchange. T had a great time playing with the ornaments. Then it was off to bed for T. Finally we started our chores. We'll have a houseful tomorrow so we rushed around to get everything set up. But, it's finally done. Special Thanks to TBS - they are playing A Christmas Story non-stop. It provided some great entertainment during the flurry of activities. Randy : "I can't put my arms down!" Mom : "Well, put your arms down at school." Randy : "Waaaa!"

Hope everyone has a great day tomorrow. I'm looking forward to catching up next week. Also next week: Lots of college football. Gotta love it. My parents will be here so we're planning to head out and do some exploring in town. Should be fun!

Merry Christmas!

12.22.2005

Thanks, Austin


The citizens of Austin gave me a great early Christmas gift today -- light traffic! (no, this is not a picture of me, my stuffed bears, or my ferrari)

I actually was able to take the most direct route to work today without wanting to hit myself in the face with a large brick! So, Thanks Austin! It'll be a Christmas to remember without broken teeth and one eye swollen shut! (Well, hopefully anyway!)

Speaking of severe facial injuries, I (finally) went Christmas shopping yesterday. I actually had a really great time. No hints on the exact location of my shopping trip, but I did see Dick Cheney there. I still have a few items to get this afternoon. The area beneath our tree is starting to resemble a subway car during rush hour. Um, well, I guess a subway car when the transit workers are not on strike. And, er, the people would have to have silver, red, and green bows on there heads. And be covered in paper. M tells me that Raider is particularly interested in finding his gifts in the pile. She had to re-wrap one gift already. Silly Raider, Gifts are for Kids!

Several of the shop keepers on my trip were quite festive. I assume this is a form of retail-delirium that sets in before the big day. One lady literally sang every word to me to the tune of Jingle Bells. I popped her in the "one-horse-open-sleigh".

M is spending the day at the spa. She has a full day of pre-holiday pampering planned. Have fun! She definitely needs it after performing an emergency lasagna-nose extraction procedure yesterday.

The Christmas Music station has completely lost it. I was listening on the way home last night. I think non-stop Celine Dion and Barry Manilow has melted a few brains. The guy kept saying it was Friday and refering to tomorrow as Saturday. Then he had an open-mic phone conversation about the "prize list" over Bing Crosby's White Christmas. Hang in there guys - only a few more days.

OK -Off to work. I'll leave you with a quote from the Muppets singing "Wish you a merry Christmas"...

All: We wish you a Merry Christmas We wish you a Merry Christmas We wish you a Merry Christmas And a Happy New Year!

Gonzo: Now bring us some figgy pudding, now ...
Miss Piggy (spoken): Piggy Pudding?
Gonzo (spoken): No, FIGGY pudding, it's made with figs.
Miss Piggy (spoken): Oh, sorry.
Gonzo (spoken): And bacon.
Miss Piggy (spoken): What?!

12.21.2005

Little Fishy

Well, here I am again at the LTF cafe - I just finished another 2000M swim today 250 / 1500 - negative splits / 250. Whew! There's a master's swim class starting here on the 9th. Looks like I may as well join - I'll have to share the pool with the class anyway based on the schedule they posted. I could really use the help.

OK - Christmas shopping today. No more procrastinating - otherwise Santa will throw coal at me.

I had dreams about moving last night. That's not good. If it has crept into my subconscience, there will be no stopping me until we've moved. When am I supposed to find time to sell / buy homes and then all the junk that goes with moving? *sigh*.

OK - One more full day to knock out before vacation. Tomorrow will be short, I sure. I better get going. A team member set up holly-jolly week for the team. We have had a steady stream of cookies, pies, cakes, and chicken manchuria(?!) rolling through the office all week. I'm sure today will be no exception.

Hasta...

12.20.2005

Rollin'

100_2243
I had another strong run tonight - just over 5.7 miles. It's hard to believe how far I've come in the past couple of months with my running. It makes me happy to see some good results after working hard.

Tonight I ditched the MP3 player and opted for a good 'ol FM radio. I tuned in the all-Christmas music station and cruised the 'hood checking out the lights. It really got me in a good mood. Work has been really riding me this week. It was a nice escape.

OK - I have to get serious about my Christmas shopping tomorrow. I still have a handful of gifts to pick up and I really need to get it done. We are slowly getting a pile under the tree. Christmas is sneaking up on all of us this year! My vacation starts on Thursday. I'm hoping to get in along brick workout on Friday morning at first light : 1 hour Bike followed by 90 minute run. I'm so psyched. The weather here is crazy - I think the high on Friday is 72*. No snow shoveling for us - I might as well take advantage of amazing weather to get in some good training.

The holiday festivities kick off on Thursday evening with some family time. This year we are thinking of going out to look at lights in some of the local neighborhoods - which probably means driving. Although, I hope it means walking! We'll go to the children's Christmas Mass on the 24th. Afterward, we'll head home to get T ready for bed - then M and I will have tamales for dinner - a tradition we started several years back. Christmas morning we'll be up early to see what Santa brought. Nana, Poppi and Amers will be here later in the morning to celebrate. We'll have a big lunch later in the day. Grandma and Grandpa fly in from CO later in the evening. They'll be here for a week.

I'm getting really excited to get everything going. A couple more days of work to knock out first. Woo Hoo!

12.19.2005

Home Movies

Home Movies

Here are links to the home movies I've managed to upload. More to come...

Housekeeping

I'm making some changes to the blog. Hopefully it won't be too messy.


  1. Pictures - I added a ton of new (well, ok, old) pictures to Flickr.
  2. 100_1176 DSCF0008 FireTruck_mod_color1

  3. Template updates - I'm moving around some stuff into archive pages to tidy things up. I'm also playing with some new colors, etc.
  4. Updated some of the links on the right -->
  5. I'm also playing with an idea for a new weekly "feature" post that will attempt to merge the principles of Project Management with Triathlon.
Stay tuned...

12.17.2005

Breakthrough Workout

Ok this is hot off the press but, I have to get it down while the endorphin rush is still on.

The second 5K in the December 5K series was this morning. I ran like a crazy antelope to a new peronal best -- 23:50. I laid down the fastest mile split I have ever seen on a watch : 7:36!! Well, a watch on my wrist anyway. This was such a great way to start the day.

Today was also my long run day on the new training plan. I had about 57 more minutes to lay down, which I did after we got home. And, it resulted in my longest 1 day total mileage - just under 9 miles. The Half Marathon is now within reach.

Whew! It's been a busy day. Special shout out to Brett on the nice self-supported Ironman finish! Thanks for the inspiration - and the recent podcasts. They got me through the second run today!

I wish we had some snow...

... but I guess this will have to do.

I got to Level 4. See if you can beat that!

I also found some great holiday "guidelines" that we should all try to follow during this blessed holiday season.

12.16.2005

Ho Ho Ho


Check out Santa pulling his sleigh!

Holiday movies and "The Law"

Ever noticed how every good holiday movie has the cops in it?

What's up with that??

M and I were discussing this very important topic this past weekend. Just try to come up with a good holiday movie that doesn't have 1 cop in it.

Christmas Vacation - The SWAT team comes to the house
A Christmas Story - The cops come to unstick the kid's tongue
Die Hard - Need I say more?
Elf - Buddy ends up in the clink.
The Santa Clause - Santa ends up in the clink.
Miracle on 34th Street - Santa goes to court
Wonderful Life - The cop forgets his name
Home Alone (1,2, & 3)- The cops bust the thieves
Trapped in Paradise - They run from the cops during the whole movie

Well, anyway. Something to ponder during your next holiday run through the neighborhood.

Shout Out

Just a quick shout out to my favorite podcaster - right now he's a little over 1/3 of the way finished with his self-supported Ironman. That's right sports fans, he's mapped out his own Ironman course and will finish it later today.

Way to go Brett!

12.15.2005

Baby, it's cold outside

Ok - when I got to work I had to check the little weather doo-hickey on the right -->.

34* - I followed some moron for nearly 15 miles on my way in. He was driving a Z4 BMW -- with the top down!!

Geez.

Citius, Altius, Fortius

"Citius, Altius, Fortius" -- "Faster - Higher - Stronger"

The Olympic motto. A fitting way to start off my goals, race schedule, and plan for next triathlon season. Let's dive in. Shall we?

Training:

I pieced together a training plan that takes me through the end of June. It's pretty aggressive, but I know I can do it. I've already started executing it. Essentially its divided into three phases.
Phase I : Half Marathon Training - Ends mid Feb. : Primarily Running focused = COMPLETED
Phase II : HIM Base building - Ends Mid April : Rounded between all three sports = COMPLETED
Phase III : HIM Race Training - Ends in late June : Speed and endurance focused - lots of mixed workouts and bricks = COMPLETED

There's also some weights and a lot of core work mixed in. I think it is fairly well rounded.

Goals:

Half Marathon - Planned - Feb 19, 2006 -- Freescale Half Marathon = COMPLETED
Olympic Distance Triathlon - Registered - April 9, 2006 - Austin's Cactus Challenge = COMPLETED
Half Ironman - Registered - June 25, 2006 -- Buffalo Springs Lake Triathlon = COMPLETED
Sprint Distance Triathlon - TBD - Jack's Generic Triathlon
Sprint Distance Triathlon - TBD

I'm also planning to do at least 2 sprints during the season for fun - probably after the HIM.

I consider this to be a very challenging. Should be a great ride! I gotta get signoff from the "official sponsor" - but I'm sure she'll support me through another season. ;-)

Good luck out there everyone.

Here we go...

Ahhhhh.....

I just finished my short swim of the week - 1500M. Felt great. I was starting to get pretty sore and stiff from the swim on Tuesday. This was a great way to work out all that.

I decided to take it slow today and head to work a little late. I stopped in at the LTF Cafe for some coffee, breakfast and some free wireless internet. It's kind of cool hanging out with a bunch of fit people, drinking coffee, and listening to all the rockin' workout music.

I did another "Trail of Lights - Neighborhood Edition" last night -just under 6 miles. Very nice. I ran through the really nice part of the 'hood. There are some really great houses over there. The MP3 player had 2 episodes of Endurance Radio. Izzy interviewed Dr. JoAnn Dahlkoetter. She's a sports psychologist with some pretty interesting stuff. She talked about using mental toughness to give yourself an edge over competion and difficult training sessions. Everybody knows that demon that starts talking about 6 minutes into the run of a triathlon. Her suggestions are to use some repeatable strength phrases to refocus your mind.

One specific thing I thought was interesting was using your hands to refocus your mind. She recommended thinking about what you do with your hands when you win or finish a big race. Some people pump their fists or reach their arms up in the air. She claims that if you repeat that motion during a particularly tough part of a race or workout, you can actually pull yourself into a better place mentally.

A little nugget we can all use.

So, I'm pretty much done training this week. We have a 5K on Saturday - then I'll try to get a ride i on Sunday before the weather turns cold and rainy.

12.14.2005

Lawn Art

Ok - so when I got home last night we gobbled down some pasta (M made a great bowl of pasta - MMM!), dropped T into the stroller and took off around the block to check out some of the Lawn Art I found during my run on Monday. I think Clark W. Griswold would even be embarrassed by some of the crazy stuff we've seen. Generally, I am extremely happy with the neighborhood - as I have written about many times. But, well, with a few weeks of lights to go - it's time to "out" the crazy decorations in our 'hood. (BTW, checkout this website if you have a few minutes. My favorite is this one.)

Dave Barry has a great blog entry on all the crazy Lawn Art out there for the holidays. I was particularly amused by some of the stories of those crazy blow-up lawn figures which seem to break free and get into strange positions. A few years back, when the Blow-Ups were just making it to the scene, the folks down the street put up this giant snowman holding a candy cane in the air. The thing was downright scary! Every time the wind blew it looked like some deranged snowman was try to kill you with giant candy.

Blow-up Snowglobes are huge around here this year. And, while they looked great in Sears, they seem to lose some of the luster out on the front lawn. We walked by one house with at least 5 blow-up figures on the lawn. Not only did it sound like a vacuum cleaner store, but it looked like he had hired the SWAT Team from Santa's workshop to guard his house! We rounded the corner and -- MAN DOWN! One of the guards had deflated and taken a strand of lights with him. Poor little guy.

There's another house across the 'hood which is going for size. They have 3-20 foot Blow-ups in their front yard. I think they actually had to move the house back to get them all to fit. Just to be safe I crossed to the other side of the road when running past that house. Who knows what might happen if one of those blowers goes out??

And finally, the culdesac. This place is obviously where all holiday decorations go to die. These folks decorate their house for every single holiday of the year. Christmas is obviously the peak decorating season. Ok. Just to give you a mental image. The first time we walked by I turned to M and whispered - "It looks like Christmas threw up on their front lawn." They have just about every aspect covered - Santa (more than once), reindeer, snowmen, wrapped trees, manger scene, angels, bows, garland, net lights, flood lights, lighted deer, lighted candy, stars, 3 wise men, "Santa Stops Here", and on and on.

Very entertaining!

"'Tis the season to be Merry"
"Well, that's my name"
"No sh........?"

12.13.2005

I need new arms

I swam 2000M in the pool this afternoon. I guess I would consider this a "long" swim workout - although I tried to keep the intensity pretty even. I started off with 250 warm up, nothing special here. I followed up with 1500M : 500 on 2:15; 400 on 2:10; 300 on 2:05; 200 on 2:00; 100 on 1:55. I took a 1 minute breather between each set. Finally, I did 250M cool down. My form was so bad by this point I half expected someone to jump in and save me. My arms felt about 20 pounds heavier than when I started. Although, I haven't done a swim workout that long in -- eek! -- 2 months!

It's kind of interesting to watch some of the other folks do swim workouts. I had three other swimmers come and go during my workout. I began to wonder if I was taking too long or if everyone else just does much shorter swim workouts. Hmmm? I have so much to learn about swimming. I should probably think about joining a masters class for a short while to get a new perspective.

12.12.2005

Trail of Lights

Ok - not the real Trail of Lights. Tonight I went on a long run through our neighborhood - a little over 50 minutes. The weather was perfect - clear, upper 40's, calm. I took along my MP3 player and listened to Zen and the Art of Triathlon. Brett was busy doing a bike/run brick. It's good to have a virtual training partner. The neighborhood is almost fully decorated now - it really makes for a great run because there is so much to see.

I heard there was a 5K that went through the Trail of Lights display downtown last weekend. Given how much I enjoy the neighborhood, I'll bet this would have been a blast. We have another 5K this weekend. The silly weather people are already predicting bad weather. Arg.

Anyway - get out there and enjoy the decorated neighborhood while the weather is still nice.

Boo Boo

T-man fell and got a big 'ol boo boo on his head today. Poor little guy. I though M was going to sue the school. She was so worked up when she got home. I kept telling her - you just wait... I had a broken arm and stiches in my head twice before I turned 10.

What a trooper - it hasn't seemed to phase him. He is still walking around like crazy. We definitely have our hands full!

12.11.2005

Update on lots of stuff


Great weekend! Started the shopping. Still not done. *Sigh* Luckily, M has a week off before the Christmas to help finish out the shopping.

Spent some time today getting caught up on all my chores. Ug. Although, now the house is somewhat clean again.

We watched the Survivor finale tonight. My favorite from last season made it all the way to the final 2. Stephenie LaGrossa - what a player. Man I had a good time rooting for her this season. Great job on another Survivor season.

We finally got the house decorated today! Woo Hoo! Looks great - if I do say so myself. (Although, it doesn't hold a candle to Flatman's setup.)


This is my last full work week of 2005!! Man, I am really looking forward to some time off. It will be great to have the whole family around too. I'm planning to kick my training back into full gear this week. I have a couple more weeks before my self-imposed deadline to decide on the Half IM, 12/31/2005. We have another 5K this weekend. The in-laws are coming in to run with us. Should be fun!

New Years is starting to shape up - maybe we won't sit at home alone on New Years Eve! More to come...

OK - gotta get my nose down and knock this week out. I'm pretty sure there won't be a snow day this week. Darn.

12.10.2005

Christmas Shopping


We are way behind with our holiday shopping. The ornaments on the tree are getting quite lonely. After little T wakes up today we're going to load up and take care of a bunch of it.

I'm hoping to get an afternoon to myself tomorrow and finish off shopping for M and T.

I used Froogle this year to make my wish list. I've never really done an "official" wish list - even as a kid. It turned out to be a good way to keep track of all the triathlon stuff I've been considering. Even M decided to create a wish list.

So what are the hot holiday items this year? I guess the Xbox 360 is a hot item. But I just can't see my Mom sitting for hours playing Splinter Cell. Hmmm...

Well, I'm actually looking forward to discovering gifts for everyone. Should be a fun time.

Here comes Santa Claus

... riding on a firetruck! Santa came cruising through the neighborhood this afternoon with the sirens blaring!



Santa on the Firetruck 2 Santa on the Firetruck 4
Santa on the Firetruck 1

December 5K's - Race #1 complete

Lifetime Fitness Finish with Santa


M, T and I all went down to Lifetime Fitness this morning to race in the first annual Lifetime Fitness Reindeer Run in Austin. It was a great event - very well organized.

I finished in 25:18 - a personal best! Nearly 2 minutes faster than my first 5K back in August! I felt really strong through the whole run. After I finished, I back-tracked the race route and met up with M and T. They walked with some friends and finished in under an hour!

Santa greeted everyone at the finish line. Click the picture above to see all the pics.

12.09.2005

Here comes Santa Claus

Blogging all the way...

http://360.yahoo.com/yuleblog

12.08.2005

Deep Freeze - Update

I'm writing this from my kitchen. My client joined the rest of Austin and closed their offices. We found out the office was closed around 9:30 AM. There were a handful of us who left early to beat the late rush hour - we ended up stranded at the office because the rest of Austin was stuck in traffic.

So, I did a little housekeeping then headed home around 11:00 or so. Not much ice left on the roads I traveled on the way home. Lots and lots of wrecked vehicles - everywhere!

So, I brought a little work home. I'm hoping to catch up on all my chores and do a little online Christmas shopping this afternoon. We'll probably head to the grocery store too - gotta stock up the supplies, again. Gotta love a snowday - well, half a snowday anyway.

24-hour TV coverage of the weather continues... They are already warning of similar icy conditions tomorrow morning. I thought sweeps was last month - why the heck are they scaring everyone into a frenzy?? I predict good conditions by tomorrow morning.

Kudos to all the police and fire crews out there. I can't imagine it's too fun working in this ass-chaping weather. We should let them give all the crashed-morons a good bitchslap for bringing them out in this weather. The news is reporting 580+ collisions yesterday and nearly 200 since midnight today. Geez.

Stay warm everyone.

Updated Movie

One last thing before I get to work...

I was feeling so holiday-ish today that and after seeing Flatman's house all lit up, I decided to update the little movie player on my blog to point to the cool Christmas Light movie from my post weeks ago. Enjoy!

Deep Freeze Update

I writing this from my office. I'm here. On time. Cold weather? Bring it on.

Let's recap the last few hours...

  • Most of Austin is scheduled to open at 10 AM. The temperature at 10 AM is predicted to be 29*. Therefore all the ice will still be on the roads. I decided not to commute with the rest of Austin on icy roads and left at my normal time.
  • M's work has cancelled everything today - she's staying home with Little T today. I'm already charging my cell phone battery. (Just kidding honey!)
  • On the drive in I saw at least (no exaggeration) 30 cars/trucks/SUVs wrecked on the sides of the road. Last night must have been a nightmare. I witnessed 3 wrecks. It would seem that Central Texans believe it is a good idea to get their cars up to 70mph, drive straight at a patch of ice, then slam on the brakes as hard as possible.
  • Lots of ice on the roads - more than I expected to see. I'm glad I got a jump on the rest of the city today. I think 9 - 10 AM is going to be a major nightmare. Hopefully I'll make it out before things refreeze this afternoon.
  • Starbucks is open! I got a large coffee and a scone - a reward for my ace driving abilities today.

This weather is great! It has really put me in the holiday mood. I know all you folks up north hate snow - but I wish we could get a little. That would really make things fun! Well, I'm off to start my day. More later on "Deep Freeze 2005!!!"

2 hour delay

Austin got about 1.72546780398 centimeters of ice last night. This has resulted in the complete shutdown and evacuation of the city. You see - unless ice is contained in our tea glass, Central Texans are scared of ice. The news keeps replaying this great footage of some moron driving down I-35 and getting into a spectacular NASCAR crash.

Oh well, we get to go in late today. This should make for an interesting commute.

The best quote of the morning:

Field Reporter: "They have just opened up the fly over. It seems the ice situation has eased enough to allow cars to pass."

News Desk Guy: "That's great news. Say, Jim, is it cold out there?"

*Sigh* - they've been on 24 hour coverage of the weather since Monday. Yes, moron, it's cold outside.

12.07.2005

Gotta love Coach Leach


Quite possibly the best article about the Red Raiders I have ever read. Thanks Amers for sending this to me!

12.06.2005

Tires and Lightbulbs

Have you ever thought that someone or something was trying to tell you something using some strange means?

Well, in the past 5 days I have inflated 4 low tires (2 bike tires, 2 car tires), replaced 5 tires (1 bike tire, 4 car tires), replaced 4 lightbulbs, and noticed 2 more lightbulbs that are burned out!

What kind of weird message is this? What does it all mean?!

12.04.2005

Holiday Movies

Well, in one day I managed to match my cycling distance from last month. I started of the day yesterday with a 40-mile ride across the Central Texas hill country. The ride out was about 17 miles. I was really trucking. Around mile 15, I noticed a slight breeze blowing from behind. The turn around at miles 17 was quite a wake up. It seems there was a stiff breeze (about 20 mph) blowing directly at my back. Which meant I had 17 miles of 20mph wind in my face to go. Bring it on. I finished things out with a flat tire with about a half mile to go. Whew. Quite a day.

Anyways, M and I have been catching up on all our favorite holiday movies this weekend. Right now we're watching Home Alone. Great quote: "Is this toothbrush approved by the FDA?" This movie makes me laugh out loud. In my opinion, the sequels all missd the mark. The first one is great. Another favorite is Christmas Vacation with Chevy Chase. Classic. Great quote: "She wrapped up her cat?" Finally, Will Ferrel in Elf. So many quotable lines in that one. Great quote: "Watch out , the yellow ones don't stop!"

We added a new holiday favorite last night, The Polar Express. For an animated movie, this was very entertaining. M and I curled up on the couch, fired up the Christmas lights and watched this movie like little kids. It was great!

Still to be seen this holiday Season:
  • A Christmas Story - with Ralphie. Com'on you know the one that gets replayed on TBS for 24 hours every Christmas. I love that movie. Great quote: "It's a leg lamp!"
  • Die Hard - Bet you didn't remember this was a Christmas Classic. Great quote: "Yippee-Kai-Yay Mother F*****"
  • Miracle on 34th Street - Not the old one - The "new" one with the adorable little girl. Great quote: I got nothing for this one.

So, if you need a good way to burn off an afternoon, pick up one of these great movies.

12.01.2005

By the numbers

Well, as predicted, cycling and swimming fell off sharply this month. Running was a different story. See for yourself:

Bike: 2h 39m 45s - 39.9 Mi
Run: 10h 45m 57s - 60.43 Mi
Swim: 3h 12m 59s - 9,678.48 Yd

Over 60 miles!! Gotta build that base up - looks like it is working!

That brings my yearly totals to:

Bike: 43h 29m 47s - 661.53 Mi
Run: 36h 48m 52s - 211.64 Mi
Swim: 17h 23m 28s - 48,020.78 Yd

Woo Hoo!

I've also been trying to keep better track of all the walking we do - just to see how it adds up. Check out the month / year totals:

Walking 5h 10m / Walking 60h 13m

No wonder T is such an "outside" kind of kid!

I haven't posted the race / training plan yet. Don't worry - I rapped myself on the knuckles already. I was reading the Kahuna's post and it gave me some pretty serious second thoughts on doing the Half IM in June. I'm doing some soul searching and trying to decide if I can will commit that much time to training this year. So, let me think on it a little more and I'll follow up in a few more days.