Across The Way

Moving on...

2008-09-16T17:53:00.000-07:00

Long time no post. Here anyway.

Lots of time has passed, lots of change and growth.

Started up a new blog to start a new chapter.

The Rambling Raider

Crazy Week

2007-02-01T16:29:00.000-08:00

I just got back from a crazy travel week.

Monday : Texas to Florida

Tuesday: Florida to Pennsylvania (through Detroit)

Wednesday: Pennsylvania

Thursday: Pennsylvania to Texas (through Cleveland)

Whew! Sand to Snow and back again. I did manage to run on the beach on Tuesday morning.

Santa ate my cookies!

2006-12-27T10:17:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday

2006-12-27T10:09:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!

Just a quick post to welcome our daughter, "A". 8 lbs 6 oz; 20 in.

Mom and baby are doing well.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Finally Riding

2006-11-25T10:55:00.000-08:00

Hey folks - it's been a long while.

I took some time off to get my new job under control. I've been traveling a lot. It is great to be out with customers - it takes me back to the reason I loved consulting. Things are going well and I'm really excited to go to work everyday.

I've decided to start base training again - mostly running. I love running through the neighborhood when it is decorated. I'm trying to decide on a marathon right now. I have no doubt I could finish - but can I commit to the training??

We have a new baby due in the next few weeks. We are about 90% complete on the nursery. I better get it finished or I'm sure she'll make an early arrival and I'll be caught unprepared.

See ya out there...

LiveStrong

2006-10-09T18:38:00.000-07:00

Hey folks - long time no post.

Time flies when you are having fun. The new job continues to thrill me everyday. Training has diminished but not stopped. I've spent the last 6 weeks training with a team to ride in the LiveStrong ride.

The ride took place this past weekend. Our team raised money and rode in honor of our team captain's uncle.

Here are a few pics of the great event.

Hope everyone is well.

See ya out there...

It's been a while

2006-09-12T19:57:00.000-07:00

Oh man - the fun I've been having.

The new job is going well. I'm insanely busy, but it comes with the territory and, for whatever reason, it makes me really happy to be headed in a million directions.

I have to tell you about the most surreal day I've had in a while...

Last week I made a trip to Florida. The day started at 3 AM - had to grab the 6AM flight to Houston then on to Tampa. By 12 PM we had landed, picked up our bags and the rental and were on our way. Our team lead had the foresight to get a rental car with a GPS - something I will never ever be without on future trips. It was the most amazing device I've ever seen. We named our GPS Gina.

By 1:30 we had checked into the hotel and were sitting in a beach cabana eating lunch - it was the closest place to the hotel. We were 100 yards from the Gulf. Less than an hour later we were sitting outside of the principals office at the elementary school we had travelled to. After 5 more hours of work we were headed back to the hotel - Gina was leading the way. Finally we found ourselves at another cabana eating fresh shrimp and reviewing the events of the day. Not bad for 18 hours.

The hotel was great. Snapped a few (crappy) pics.

Out the front window - toward the Gulf of Mexico:

Off the balcony toward the bay:

Training has fallen off sharply. I did not do the HIM or Jack's. I wasn't prepared for the HIM and I ended up with a foot injury that kept me away from Jack's last week.

I'm still on track to do the LiveStrong Ride. Training resumes this weekend.

Looks like I'm headed to New Orleans soon. I'll keep you posted.

See ya out there...

Hello out there

2006-08-21T19:08:00.000-07:00

Things have been super busy lately. I've been transitioning into a new job and it is commanding much of my attention. The HIM is a maybe at this point. I just haven't had the time or energy to put in the workouts. All the changes in my life mean that I'm revising the next races and events. Speaking of events...

http://www.livestrongchallenge.org/06tx/ttutri

Check out my LiveStrong site and donate to our team as we ride in support of those battling cancer.

I have maintained a pretty steady run and bike schedule. Our team did a 70-mile training ride over the weekend. It was great fun. Jack's Generic Tri is also still on the schedule for Labor Day.

OK - can't say when my next update we'll be. I'll do my best.

See ya out there...

Happy Weekend

2006-08-11T06:12:00.000-07:00

Today I feel a little like M's favorite weather guy, Jim Cantore. You know him. He's the guy they send out in the rowboat to greet and interview the incoming hurricanes each year. Apparently, the high winds have blown all his hair off. I, however, still have my hair. Anyway, reporting from inside the cosmic event that is my life right now...

A quick post to update on the week. Training has been pretty solid this week. I realized last night that this is a recovery week. I knew I had more free time the normal! Anyway, the time off last weekend paid off and I've put in some quality workouts lately. Today we have lots going on at T's school. A pizza party followed by a meet the teacher night. T is moving up into an older kid room soon. Afterward, all should be calm again. At least until Monday.

Just a few weeks out from the Prairieman Half Ironman. Next week I'll start lots of extended tempo sessions to transition my body into race mode, again. I'm looking forward to the work. I spent some time surveying the landscape of events over the next few weeks. Here's a rough run down of the upcoming schedule...

9/4 - Jack's Generic Triathlon
9/10 - Prairieman Half Ironman
10/8 - LiveStrong Challenge Ride (100 miles)*
10/21 - Round Rock Outlaw Ride (planned - 100 miles, but I might wuss out and only do 100K) (BTW, Carrie - are you in?)

Oh yeah - and I'm still kicking around the idea of joining a marathon training group. Whew. We'll see if I have time for that.

* - Yep, since all you anonymous lurkers are out there, I won't mind hitting you up for a donation to our team riding the Livestrong Challenge. Don't worry you can do it anonymously. Get your donations ready - more to come in the next few days...

I have lots of reading, e-mailing and posting to catch up on. Hope to get to most of it this weekend. If not, have a great weekend and I'll...

See ya out there...

Caution : Cosmic Event Ahead

2006-08-09T05:39:00.000-07:00

Life can be really crazy at times.

Have you ever noticed how big events seem to gather mass over time? They always start out as one moderately big event gently noted on the calendar. As the day approaches, it seems to get bigger and bigger on the horizon. As the size of the event grows, so does its' gravity. Seemingly pulling other moderately big events into it's path until - Ohmygosh -- LOOK OUT! We have a major event dead in our path!

My "event" this week was marked on the calendar about 2 weeks ago -- and it is a big one from the get-go requiring lots of planning, meetings, and such. For M and T, last week marked the end of the summer break. This means T returned to ~~daycare~~ school and M returned to work. Gravity was already at work. Tuesday, T stayed home sick. M had to take a sick day to cover him after just one day back at work. I was completely snowed under with meetings and couldn't help out. (Sorry, M!!)

Today is the calm before the storm. Nothing major today. The horizon, however, is completely full.

Thursday and Friday we have no less than 6 big items on our collective To Do lists including - 2 big work things for M, 2 big work things for me, a school party for T (to which we must provide goodies), a parent teacher night at T's school, and at least 2 social gatherings. This will no doubt leave us completely wrecked for the weekend.

In the background, my training plan is gently calling my name - reminding me of the importance to shift priorities and keep balanced. I had no motivation last night for training. Last week left me wrecked in every sense. After T went to bed, I wanted to sit on the couch and block out the world. I stumbled across this month's Triathlete magazine while on my way (*back!!*) to the kitchen. I swiped it up and started flipping through. (BTW, Austin was named the 7th best Triathlon City in the US!!) Within 10 minutes I was filling bottles and gathering gear to head out for a 1 hour bike/run brick.

I can't report that the workout was good from a technical perspective. But, I think it was a good mental victory in the face of a very slippery slope that leads down to my couch. It felt great to put all of the stress and gravity in its' place for a while and regain some focus that you just can't get while staring into the TV.

I slept great for the first time in a long while last night. I'm ready for the next few days now. Bring. It. On.

See ya out there...

A look into the future...

2006-08-06T12:05:00.000-07:00

Modern technology is great. Friday M and I went for our ultrasound for B2. I'm happy to report that we learned a little more about that little person today. That little person will be a bouncing baby girl.

I am now busy preparing myself to be wrapped around a very tiny finger.

In other news... I ran 10 miles on Thursday night and pretty much blew out whatever I had left. I took Friday and Saturday off. And, at the rate I'm moving, I'll probably take today off too. We made the trip to Dallas over the weekend and took T to see The Wiggles. A great time was had by all. Pics and Vids from the weekend to be posted soon.

See ya out there...

Fun Part II

2006-08-03T05:07:00.000-07:00

So. I'm mostly past the tough round of stuff I've been going through. A few more things to attend to then, I'll begin a fairly significant transition. I'll spare you the details. Just know the really important stuff is still solid as a rock. M and T are great. An appointment for B2 is on the calendar for this Friday when we'll find out boy or girl.

I've been fairly successful with keeping training in check. I must admit that life has won over a little bit and I have stumbled in respect to the schedule. I'm not exactly beating myself up about it either. Even with another Half Ironman just weeks away, I made a decision that this race wasn't about PR's or ego. This would be a celebration of fitness. The plan is to maintain fitness and change things up day to day. More than anything HAVE FUN. I'm not going to live and die by the plan like I did when preparing for BSLT. It's a good way for me to work through the mid/late season. I'll be able to live that again when going for Ironman. Till then, it can wait.

And, in the end, it still totals is more than 8.5 hours a week of training.

So there it is. Ready for the new fun to begin.

See ya out there...

Strength

2006-07-31T04:44:00.000-07:00

Another hefty week on the horizon. I think training will suffer a bit.

Hopefully things will settle in the next 10-days or so.

Triathlon is truly a blessing. I've never felt stronger than I do right now - mentally or physically. These past few weeks have been really crazy - I think maintaining a full life has taught me lessons on how to effectively compartmentalize, divide, and conquer.

Focus on the important things, the rest will work themselves out.

See ya out there...

Stressed

2006-07-28T21:54:00.000-07:00

Today has been a really long day. You know the kind. The kind of emotionally and mentally draining day that leaves a mark.

4:41 AM my mental alarm went off - 4 minutes before the alarm clock. I knew today would be big - I think I slept with one eye on the clock all night, but I felt rested and ready. Swimming on the schedule today - meeting up with Brad to knock out 1.5 mi in the pool at 5:30. Swim went OK. The build weeks are taking their toll on me physically. Brad didn't show.

By 7:10 the day was underway and just kept going.

See ya out there...

What the?!

2006-07-26T06:02:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week was the bear story, now this:

Read on...

Is this some kind of sick trend between man and mother nature?

Watch your step out there...

Wednesday Knock Around

2006-07-26T04:10:00.000-07:00

Busy times these days around Casa-de-TTUTri. Between work stuff, home stuff, training stuff, and all the other stuff that pops up I've barely had time to relax. This past weekend was awesome. Saturday, I did 40 miles around Georgetown & Florence and finished out the day with a cookout with my riding buddies. Sunday - Tour de France, baby. It was a lot of fun watching the final stage. M is absolutely clueless about this race. I spent the better part of two hours trying to explain it all - then I realized: "How twisted am I that I DO understand all this stuff??!?" Isn't addiction great?

This week has been busy. I'm deep into week 2 of 3 build weeks in my training plan. Let me just say WOW. I haven't worked a plan this aggressive before and it is really challenging me. Hopefully, this work will result in some good times at the Prairieman Half in September. Tomorrow the real fun starts for the week : 90 minute tempo run followed by a short ride. So far so good - I'm still really enjoying the varied workouts. On the down side my nutrition and weight are all over the map. I've picked up about 8 pounds (!!) since BSLT and it's been a struggle to get them back off. Pizza and cookies are NOT helping. Looks like I'll have to start tracking calories again. Guh, I really hate doing that.

I signed up for Jack's Generic Triathlon the other night. I know, I know. Overload? Maybe. I now have 2 races during the first week in September. A sprint and a Half IM. Pair that racing schedule with all the craziness you can possibly imagine in my personal and professional lives scheduled for that week and suddenly I have a very full schedule. It's all about balance right?

On the horizon, I have 2 big things in the pipeline. #1 - my first century ride. In the next couple of weeks I'll be signing up for the Round Rock Outlaw Ride in October. I did the 100K course last year, this year I'm challenging myself to finish the century ride. #2 - Round Rock Fit. That's marathon training baby. I have my sites set on a sub 4-hour marathon finish next February. It's just about time to get REAL serious about running.

See ya out there...

The best tri story ever

2006-07-25T03:03:00.000-07:00

We all have our war stories from the field of battle. I dare to say this person will top every single one you have ever had. Read on...

I must meet this person.

See ya out there...

Training recap

2006-07-21T03:41:00.000-07:00

Yes, oh, Yes. I've been training.

I took advantage of a quiet week at home to really dive in deep to my training plan. Normally, I tend to customize the heck out of the plans I find on the web to suit my taste. This go around, however, I've decided to try to stick pretty close to the plan and see how I do.

So far, so good.

Tuesday night I did a 60-ride / 30-run brick in the heat of the afternoon. I was extremely dehydrated at the end. I even had the chills - it was a little scary. The humidity was killer and I was sweating way more than normal. This actually turned out to be a pretty good exercise. I actually knew I was going to get dehydrated, but I pressed on anyway just to see if I could take note of how my body responds. I know now what to watch for and I think I even may now know some how it feels to go through several stages of dehydration and how it felt to rehydrate afterward. It takes more than just drinking.

Wednesday was an off day - which was good because I spent the whole day recovering. I also stopped off at RunTex and picked up a new fuel system for my longer workouts. I decided on the Ultimate Direction Access Plus. I was looking for 2 specific features and came away with that and a bonus. First, I need a BIG bottle. The Amphipod I have is great for shorter distances, but tends to come along for the long part of the ride on my long runs - meaning the bottles are completely consumed within the first 1/3 of the workout. Also, there is a terrible design flaw that makes me a little worried about relying too heavily on it. I need something that can keep up on 9 - 15 mile runs. Second, storage. I need room for a cell phone, gels / shot bloks, mp3 player, etc. This system had both, and an additional gel flask!

Thursday started off with a 90-minute run. I got up early to eat and drink. Then, loaded up the UDAP with all the necessities. I was back before 6:30 AM. It was humid and hot - but I did manage to run a nice RPE 3 pace and still have energy for a strong RPE 5 pace for the last 15 minutes. I was rewarded with a nice sunrise at the end.

Thursday afternoon I hit the pool for a recovery swim. I've been swimming in the afternoons at the LTF outdoor pool. It sure does beat the ball-numbing water temp at 4 AM in the indoor pool. I so needed a break from that nightmare. The change up is showing in my swimming, I've turned in 2-3 second faster splits on each workout. I like to see that. The other change up is that I'm closely following the swim workouts prescribed in the plan. I've never done that before, but it provides some interesting brain food while I'm swimming. I like it.

Tonight, I'm planning on another long swim at the outdoor LTF pool. Then, I start making preparations for what is shaping up to be a TdF weekend! Saturday morning I'm riding with a whole cast of characters for about 2 hours or more. Yes, Party Pat, is scheduled to appear! After the ride, I'm going to go on a quick 30-minute run to finish out the brick. Saturday night we're meeting up for a BBQ and (what I hope) turns into a TdF time trial viewing party. On Sunday, I'm planning to watch the finish on TV and round out my off day with a nice nap.

So, chances are we'll be out on Parmer again this weekend. Comment / E-mail me if you want to join in.

See ya out there...

Greatness

2006-07-20T19:04:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting here watching the evening replay of the Tour. They keep talking about how Floyd Landis turned in an epic ride today that will be remembered for a long time.

It got me thinking about Julie Moss's finish of the 1982 Ironman.

Isn't it amazing how one single act can inspire thousands? I can already forsee Parmer road packed with cyclists this weekend. Every year I seem to notice more cyclists on the roads during the Tour - trying to connect to that energy that drives those men over the french mountains. After Lance won, they seemed to come out of the woodwork. I wonder if a Landis win will do the same?

For many sports nuts, their interaction with the sport is done through the television. For others, it means finishing in the middle of the pack during an occasional race. One of the coolest things of triathlon is sharing that course with the pro's, marveling at their wins, and, still, sharing in their appreciation of the sport.

See ya out there...

Baby Update

2006-07-18T03:35:00.000-07:00

Shifting gears into being a proud papa...

M is approaching week 17 of pregnancy (or is it 18 -- or 19??, I get confused). Wow, time flies. In following the footsteps of any good product lifecycle, we have codenamed the baby - "BABY #2" or "B2". We went for another check up on B2 last week and M got some tape of the heartbeat. I listened to it with T and posted the audio. Pretty cool stuff. (Click here to listen.)

We also made "THE" appointment. You know, the one where we find out if we need to buy a blue bike or a pink bike. I'll be happy with either a boy or a girl, but I'm (not so secretly) pulling for another boy. Most importantly we pray for a happy and healthy Baby #2. We'll find out more on August 4th. Stay tuned...

The doctor makes a DVD video of the ultrasound. I'm still working on a way to YouTube it.

After the August 4th appointment, things will kick into high gear on the baby front. We'll start renovating the guest room and turning it into another nursery. Paint, Trim, Colors, Bumpers etc. - all the important stuff the determines the future existence and mental stability of our newborn.

See ya out there...

Motivation

2006-07-17T19:03:00.000-07:00

Motivation
Originally uploaded by rellim.

Now get out there and train.

Happiness is...

2006-07-15T20:36:00.000-07:00

It's absolutely crazy out there in the world folks. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, switch on CNN for 10 minutes.

I feeling pretty thankful for the life I have.

Just a few notes to (hopefully) lift our spirits...

Congrats to the Kahuna and all others who raced the weekend.
Congrats to Carrie on her big announcement.
Congrats to Hunter Kemper. 1:49:44 = $200K. Nicely done.

The ride today had a great turnout! Two of us! Including me. I met a great dude from the BT boards and we road about 30 miles. We have a ton in common - both have young kids about the same age, both have another one on the way, training, swimming at LTF, training background, etc, etc, etc. Cool times.

And finally...

Happiness is being a triathlete and knowing you'll use all 5 bottles of gatorade you bought at the store. This. Week.

See ya out there...

Weekend Plans

2006-07-14T04:47:00.000-07:00

Hooaah! Friday again.

This is the end of my first full work week in a while. It's been pretty busy. I also managed to spin back up into a regular training schedule. Holy Heck - why did I ever take time off?? It's been a good week.

I worked on my bike last night. The silly thing has been acting up ever since I got it back from the LBS before BSLT!! I adjusted the seat and tweaked the rear derailer. Man it is amazing how small adjustments can make a big difference. T helped out by toodling around in the garage and then jumped on my aero's for a quick trainer session with me.

Hey - for you Austinites -- I posted on the BT forums trying organize a ride tomorrow morning from the Walgreens on Parmer / Avery Ranch. If anyone shows, we'll meet at 8 AM and head north from there. Hope you join in!

OK - so I need some good weekend options. I'm kind of in the mood for a cool weekend outing. Normally, we hit the grocery store and Target. Woopee. We may also go to the Bed Bath and Beyond - but I don't know if will have enough time.

Any thoughts?

Next week, M & T are headed out of town. I'll be bachelor'ing it for most of the week. Let's see. What does that mean? Dinner over the sink? Check. Sleeping with the TV on all night? Check. Spicy Food? Check. Hopefully, I'll get to check out a movie once or twice -- in a theater.

Wait do they still do that?

See ya out there...

70.3 Gear - Where have you gone?

2006-07-13T20:25:00.000-07:00

Where is all the 70.3 gear??

I've been surfing around for days looking for a jersey, hat, anything with the 70.3 logo on it. I found very little.

What gives?

You would think that with the new Ironman 70.3 Series the WTC would have flooded the shelves with branded gear, right? Well, maybe. But good luck finding the shelves. Even the Ironman Store doesn't really have any 70.3 stuff. The BSLT folks finally posted some gear on their site - but it's limited. Very limited.

Maybe it's a brand thing. Are they trying to brand both Ironman 140.6 and 70.3 races under the same M-Dot logo? I don't know maybe it's me. But, it just seems like you have to cover 140.6 to truly claim Mr. M-Dot.

Even at the BSLT expo I expected to find everything including tooth floss with the a 70.3 on it. That was really was not the case. In fact, anything that was really worth buying was sold out. I asked one of the tables for a website address so I could order online, they didn't have a website. No website?! What the heck?? She asked me to write down my number and she would call me when they had a chance to make more. Uh, what?

Then, I found out that most of the gear posted on the BSLT site is sold out. What?!

It's obvious that there is some serious demand here. In fact, I would guess 70.3 gear would sell as well as Ironman gear -- or perhaps even better?

So, it obvious I need to start a business to fill this void. I think I'll call it - LongBrick or, maybe SaltLines. I'll focus on carrying shwag for all the big tri events. If anyone is keeping track, I'm now looking for investors for my two start ups:

T-Zero
LongBrick / SaltLines

I'm only half kidding.

So, If I'm the only person on earth that doesn't seem to know the ulta-secret spot for locating 70.3 gear. Please clue me in, otherwise visit us soon at SaltLines.com.

See ya out there...

Forgotten Items

2006-07-11T04:07:00.000-07:00

I have to know if this happens to anyone else...

It's 9 PM. The kids are finally asleep, the house is picked up (again), the kitchen is cleaned, and you've just finished putting away your cycling shoes and helmet from a quick evening ride. You glance at your training schedule. A 30 minute swim awaits you in the morning. For a split second you contemplate rearranging your schedule for the entire rest of the week in the interest of catching an extra hour of sleep in the morning.

"Well," you tell yourself, "it's time to get packed for tomorrow."

It's now close to 9:15 and you realize you will be leaving for the entire day at 4:30 - just 7 short hours away. You roll through the mental rolodex to the "Swim Checklist". Shoes, Socks, Pants, Shirt, trunks, goggles, water bottle, protein bar, toothpaste, gel, wallet, keys, etc. Then the "Work day" checklist - Laptop, paperwork, lunch, schedule, ID, etc.

You fire up the iron and start ironing clothes for tomorrow - today's clothes are still in a pile at your feet along with your cycling jersey from the ride that ended just a few short hours ago.

"Do I have everything?"

"Oh yeah - my ID for the club. Don't leave home without it." - Snicker to yourself

Another pass through the mental checklist.

And Another.

Something is missing...

After 4 more passes you have sufficiently convinced yourself that you have everything.

It's now 10 PM. Everything is set up for a quick transition from sleeping to swimming in the morning. Now it's time to get a few work details tied up then off to bed.

4:30 AM - Sleep to Swim transition - 40 seconds.

Wait. I'm forgetting something.

You go through the checklists again. Nope all set.

Nice early morning swim - the day is already off to a great start. The pool was so cold you doubt your ability to have any more children.

You head to the locker room for a quick shower and transition for Swim to Work.

The locker opens and...

Crap.

I forgot my belt.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not all THAT concerned with my appearance. Matching socks is a good fashion day for me. But seriously, now I look like a fifth grader wandering the halls at school looking for my other gym shoe.

*Sigh*

Does this stuff happen to anybody else?

See ya out there...

Back in the saddle again

2006-07-11T04:02:00.000-07:00

If I were half as cool as some of you out there I'd have the Aerosmith video "Back in the Saddle Again" playing on my blog today.

Oh man, I must say it is truely amazing how much fitness I lose by just taking a few days off. I didn't even take them completely off and I still feel like I'm starting all over. But I am back into the swing of a regular routine. Yesterday I did a short run and short bike. I just finished a short swim a while ago. Nothing spectacular from any of these sessions, but man it feels good to be moving again.

There's just something about having a 70.3 mile race hanging over my head that motivates me.

I spent part of the evening last night in deep negotiations with my "official sponsor", M. There are 2 races coming up that I have my sights on... Jack's Generic Triathlon & the Marble Falls Triathlon.

I really feel the need to do Jack's Generic because it is anniversary race of my very first triathlon. The timing is a bit quirky. You see the race is on Labor Day -- a Monday. Prairieman is the following Sunday. On paper, I'm supposed to do a workout that will pretty much match my times that day anyway - but should I be racing any distance that close to a Half IM??

Marble Falls is later this month - July 30th, I think?! I'm going to check to see if Party Pat is up for that race.

And Finally...

My first subscription issue (Thanks M!) of Triathlete magazine arrived this past weekend. They had a pretty good interview with Peter Reid about his retirement announcement. Check it out if you have the time. Funny Story - I was talking to a guy the other day about the article and he looked at me kind of funny and asked: "Isn't Peter Reid a porn star?". *geez*

Lastly...

How long does USAT take to process applications? I turned in my app and $$ at BSLT registration. I haven't heard a peep from them. Should I follow up or are they just slow at processing apps?

See ya out there...

The next big thing

2006-07-09T17:54:00.000-07:00

I've been bitten.

September 10th, 2006 - another Half Ironman. I just signed up 10 minutes ago.

Vacation is over ladies and gentlemen. Tomorrow I go back to work - both to my day job and to training.

It begins early tomorrow morning with a tempo run.

Bring it.

See you out there...

Vacation

2006-07-07T06:06:00.000-07:00

Ahhh. Vacation.

I've been enjoying some time away from training and work this week. Yesterday we headed out to San Antonio. We spent the day exploring Sea World. It was lots of fun to spend some time with M & T.

This weekend I'm going to get a plan in place and be back on the training path next week. Training for what? We shall see.

See ya out there...

BSLT 2006 : Run

2006-07-05T10:37:00.000-07:00

It's been a whole week and I'm just now getting around to finishing this up.

Gimme a break. I'm on vacation...

My run began with some terribly wobbly legs. It took about 20 minutes or so to find a good stride - but I found it. I met up with a really cool guy from Austin about 10 minutes into the run. It was really great to talk with someone after 3 hours of solitude on the bike. I never did get his name or race number, but he really helped me get on track.

In retrospect, my plan was a little too conservative. I was downright scared of the half-marathon. I walked through each aid station and gave up almost one minute per mile. I wish I would have pushed a little harder, especially in the first 6.5 miles. I had a really great moment at the half way mark. At this point I knew I would finish. I stopped thinking in terms of 6-miles left and shifted into 63-miles completed. It was a great feeling!

The run course was really challenging. Several really tough hills. I tried to run them all, but ended up walking good portions of them. The best water stop was at mile 4 / 9. They had a great location right at the bottom of a pretty tough hill. Lots of energy which really got me moving.

The toughest section of the run was at mile 10. The course descended back into the canyon, alongside Buffalo Springs Lake. I could see runners ahead of me across the lake, people out in boats enjoying the beautiful day, and could hear the finishline announcer in the distance. I knew I only had about 5K to go, and the finish seemed so close but still pretty far. I knew that with the splits I had, I still had about 30 - 35 minutes of running. An eternity. I started thinking back to all the tough runs I have had over the last 6 months - all the Saturday morning bricks, the time sacrificed with my wife and kid, the changes in my life over the past year. How did I ever get here?

Around me I could see lots of folks beginning to crack - an ambulance taking someone in just 3 miles from the finish; lots of people reduced to walking. The active, excited conversations had gone quiet. It seemed that everyone had gone inside their heads to gut it out. Me too. I decided that I was going to finish out strong. No more walking. For the first time all day I was passing people. I tried to offer encouragement to everyone I passed. A couple of the Texas Iron folks kept running ahead and stopping to walk. We leap frogged a few times. I don't remember who finished first.

With about 1.5 miles left all the pros started riding past us heading back to the campgrounds. They were really cheering us on. It was pretty inspiring, I could only muster a smile. Lots of spectators were out too. "Only 800 meters to go!", "Keep it up! You're almost there!" "Lookin' strong 271!". We rounded the last turn and I could hear the announcer. It felt great to see the finish line.

I have to say crossing that line was the most challenging physical thing I have ever done. It was an amazing experience. It was also the most rewarding thing I have done. I wish everyone could have a feeling like that in their life. M met me at the finish line. I gave her a huge hug and told her I loved her. The emotion of the day finally spilled through. I was so happy to see her. She told me I had missed T by just 20 minutes. He had fallen asleep waiting for me to finish. If I had one disappointment of the day - that was it.

Finally, I want to thank some really important folks.

M and T - You sacrificed many things to get me to the finish line. I love you both so much.
Robert, Kathy and Amers - Thank you so much for being here. Your support and encouragement has made all the difference.
Mom - Thanks so much for making the trip. You and Dad are great roll models and you seem to always turn up at my big races. Thanks for your support!
My blog friends - thanks for telling your stories. I've never been much of an athlete and your stories and experiences have helped me figure it all out.

So that's it. I consider this the end of the first chapter in a journey to change my life. I've learned so many things this year. I've changed for the better and I'm proud of this accomplishment. As always there is room for improvement. Actually I've left LOTS of room for improvement! I've already started planning for Ironman. Right now it looks like summer 2008 - probably IMAZ or IMFL.

See ya out there...

Vacation Time

2006-07-05T04:43:00.000-07:00

Vacation is in full swing. I think I'm actually busier than when I'm at work! The final post from BSLT is in the works. I'll have it posted later today.

Hope everyone had a great 4th. We spent ours on Party Pat's balcony watching a pretty impressive fireworks show from the amateurs in the neighborhood. Good Times!

I've been slacking pretty bad in the workout department. I have nothing to train for!! Arg. That too, will be fixed very soon.

See ya out there...

BSLT 2006 : Swim and Bike

2006-06-28T18:27:00.000-07:00

Part 2 of my race recap. But first, a few Bonus Links:

My technical Race Report
Another Round Rock Racer who had a much more difficult time than I.
Tri-Greyhound's Race Recap
An Ironman CDA Race Report that will make you cry. I have so much respect for this guy. More on this later...

The swim began with the normal bumping, pushing, splashing, etc. The course started in a small cove then opened up into a wider section of the lake. This made for some congestion, but I came through OK. I had made a conservative decision to stay near the back, knowing that I would spend most of the trip to the first buoy moving through traffic. Honestly, I did this out of respect for the folks with larger dreams than mine. There was no reason for me to go head-to-head with some Kona-bound Iron-kid. My big picture goals didn't call for that.

By the first buoy, I was already starting to see different colored swim caps. I cut the turn close in and swung wide to the outside. I sighted the farthest buoy I could find, set a direct course and dug in. The back side of the course felt very long and straight - I tried to use the open water to move out ahead of the pack from the previous wave. The last turn came up and I could see the swim finish in the distance. At this point I felt really strong and I went into full sprint mode. Suddenly I found myself standing on the other side of the swim finish mat pulling my wetsuit down.

The swim exit is always so disorienting. After spending nearly a half-hour on my belly listening to only bubbles and splashing it always surprises me to see 35 - 40 people yelling and running in every direction. I made my way over to my bike at the far end of transition. I tried to slow myself down mentally as to not forget anything. Forgotten nutrition at this stage would be race ending for me.

The next thing I know I am bombing down the first hill. I checked my watch - 41.XX. Holy crap - I was planning to be in transition at 40.XX not on the bike! I knew the swim had been fast. Then my mind started to catch up with me - I could hear my family yelling for me as I exited T1 - I even saw my kid in the replay in my mind. Wow! I was already 4 miles into the bike!!

The first 15 miles or so were cake. I settled in and started executing the nutrition plan. Then the hills began. I had skipped driving the course on Saturday because, well, because I'm a wuss. I'm glad I did. I would have been scared as hell if I knew what was waiting for me. I after the first 3 hills I started to get worried about finishing. By hill #4 I pulled out the Granny Gear and took a conservative approach to climbing the rest of the way. I also, apparently, hung a sign on my back that said "Pass me as fast as possible". I spent a good portion of the bike course watching a parade of the some of the finest bike hardware on earth go by. It was beautiful.

I focused in on hydration and nutrition which passed the time. (Mental image: Pedaling up hills while balancing multiple spinning plates in the air.) I did manage to take in some of the scenery along the way. Yes, folks Ransom Canyon was very pretty. I also settled into a pace without about 6 other racers that allowed us to play leap frog through most of the course. One racer I nicknamed "Dragon Lady" because of the giant Dragon Tattoo on her back and Pinkie because of her pink bike.

At mile 40, I was tired. But, we had made it back to the flats and I was relieved. We turned the corner and WHAM. I was hit by a stiff wind that felt like 20 mph sustained. The next 5 miles were brutal. Then we turned and I finally had the wind at my back. I dropped into a low gear pushed up to cruising at about 25 mph. I was finally doing some passing! I lost both Dragon Lady and Pinkie during this flat and never saw them again. I assume they blew by me on the run.

I actually swerved to RUN OVER the 50 mile marker painted on the street. We were only 6 miles and two big hills away. I wanted off the bike in the worst way. We had turned back into the wind, but I knew I would meet two goals: 1) Finish the Bike 2) Average 17 MPH.
Finally the last downhill. I was so happy to see the transition area.

Only 13.1 miles left...

BSLT 2006 : To Lubbock through the Swim Start

2006-06-27T19:28:00.000-07:00

Ok folks. It's taken some time to get this all out. I'll break it into a couple of posts for dramatic effect, er, brevity.

We left out early-freakin-burley on Saturday morning for Lubbock. By 5:30 AM we were on the road. We made it just in time for a torrential downpour in north Williamson County. It was so bad that I actually considered stopping several times. After about 30 minutes of rain we cleared the storm and it was a nice ride the rest of the way to Lubbock. We managed to arrive around 11:30 AM. The hotel room wasn't ready, so we headed out to grab lunch and take in some of the Tech campus. Mom and I took a couple of great shots of T exploring (More Pictures, and More Pictures).

By 2:00 the room was ready. We unloaded and I headed out with Mom and Amers to the expo. It was a pretty quiet expo but we did manage to see a few pros (Jamie Cleveland and Andrea Fischer). I also signed up for USAT. I figured it was about time. The packet was a bit wimpy, but whatever. The day has long passed where I get really excited about the contents of a race packet. We headed over to Target to get supplies for our stay. By the time we finished, it was time to head back to the expo for the race discussion. There was some pretty good information during the session but it kind of degraded into a bunch of folks dissecting the rules toward the end. We left early.

Next, we headed out to grab some grub. We had the whole clan in tow: Mom, M, T, Amers, Poppy, Nana and Amers friend Brianna. Quite a crew. We picked up meals from United and headed back to the hotel. After dinner, I spent several hours expending nervous energy over my pre-packed tri bag, my bike, and my bottles for race day. I headed off to bed around 9:00 PM for a restless night sleep.

The alarm went off at 3:30. I got dressed ate a Clif Bar and drank a bunch of fluids. By 4:00 AM I had the car packed. I swung by the hotel lobby and picked up a cup of coffee for the road. By 4:45 I had parked and I was making my way down the giant hill toward the bodymarking and transition area. There was a storm brewing with some lightning and wind. I thought: "Oh great, here we go again." I milled around the transition area and tried to meet the guys in the racks around me. Everyone was really nice and it eased a lot of the pre-race jitters to talk with some folks. The storm completely missed the race course and we started on time.

I caught up with M and crew shortly before the race, got in a few kisses and waves then got lined up for the start.

6:40 AM : The horn sounded and the day began.

More to come...

A quick update

2006-06-26T19:12:00.000-07:00

I'm just getting around to my e-mail and such -- we drove back from Lubbock today.

Thank you all for your well wishes. Things went VERY well for me. This event was life changing.

I was bib 271 - my stats below:

SWIM: 31:09
BIKE : 3:17:35
RUN: 2:36:06

OVERALL: 6:32:08

It's going to take a couple posts to get it all out. More to come.

See ya out there...

2006-06-24T05:41:00.000-07:00

It is done.

2006-06-22T21:00:00.000-07:00

I officially finished my self-made training plan this evening. Whew. I'm planning on a celebratory jog around the 'hood in the morning - to give my training plan a proper send off. Then, everything gets packed up as we start preparing for the trip to Lubbock.

I was looking over the Ironman Live site tonight, and noticed that they are advertising athlete tracking for BSLT. Pretty cool.

Click here for the BSLT 70.3 tracking page.

Ironman CDA is on Sunday as well. Good luck to everybody.

I'm not sure if I'll have a bunch of time to blog over the next few days - but I'm going to try to do a few audio posts to capture the moment. It'll be fun to look back and hear the excitement someday.

See ya out there...

The Final Countdown

2006-06-22T03:36:00.000-07:00

2 full days till BSLT.

Weather Forecast:

93*
Chance of Thunder (30%)
East wind - 13 mph

My last "official" training day for BSLT is today. I have a short swim / bike brick on the plan. I'll probably throw in a short fun run afterward or in the morning.

Today is also my last day of work before the big event. Tomorrow is a big prep day with lots of packing and a trip to the airport to pick up my Mom.

I also need a haircut REALLY bad.

See ya out there...

Voices in my head

2006-06-21T20:52:00.000-07:00

Have you ever noticed how the subconscious mind seems to keep you on track? Mine tends to nag quietly all day or while I’m sleeping. It can range from little things like trimming the crazy man-eating bushes out front of our house (which may take over the house while we’re gone one day) to important stuff like setting the DVR to record “Deadliest Catch”.

Side Bar: Deadliest Catch is the coolest show on TV. I found it while I was recovering from my piriformis injury last month and now I can’t stop watching it. I sat in front of the tube for almost an entire day watching these guys raise big metal cages (pots) full of ugly crustaceans (crab) from the sea and dump them into a big tank. This all takes place as they try not to die in the freezing Bearing Sea. Fascinating.

Occasionally I’ll get something really important stuck in my mind and, try as I might, it won’t be ignored. It builds and builds as I sidestep the warning signs of not dealing with it and before you know it I’ve let it develop into a real situation. They say life is a balancing act. Sometimes I think the most successful people have learned how to listen effectively to that inner voice to know when it is time to deal or if it can slide few hours more.

Part of triathlon training is that you must learn quickly to tune into that inner voice – or pay the consequences. 8 weeks ago, the voice started letting me know that I was running on fumes. 6 weeks of hard training had taken its toll and it was time to recover. I ignored it. One morning the alarm went off for a 4 AM swim and it told me stay in bed. I ignored it. That night my shoulder started to hurt and I had the sniffles. The next day – a ten mile run. The voice said – cut this one short. I pushed on. The next day my back was so tight I could hardly move. You know the rest.

So what have I learned? Tune in. Find a quiet place in life to listen to your inner voice. Then, reflect and act. I think this holds true in many aspects of life.

See ya out there…

... and then there were 2...

2006-06-20T19:50:00.000-07:00

... workouts left before BSLT.

4 full days.

Race day forecast: 95* / possible Thunderstorms. Eek.

I had a really great brick this afternoon. Everything felt dialed in and secure. Swimming was on fire.

I stopped in at ATC this afternoon. My last gear pickup before the race. I got a new pair of tri-shorts, goggles, and a small flask for some Perpetuum paste during the run. I also was able to finally find the Oatmeal Raisin Clif Bars I've been searching for. I'm ready.

See ya out there...

Tale of the Tape

2006-06-19T18:51:00.000-07:00

My OCD kicked into overdrive tonight after reading this post on the BSLT message board.

Here's the result - an estimated breakdown of the BSLT course...

Race Begins
1.2 - Exit T1
2.2 - 7.5% Up / 8.9% Down
4.2 - 6.7% Up
11.2 - 4.5% Down
12.2 - 4.9% Up
15.2 - 4.9% Down
18.2 - 4.5% Up (7)
25.2 - 2.9% Down
28.2 - 6.1% Up
30.2 - 6.1% Down
31.2 - 6.0% Up (11)
39.2 - 6.0% Down
43.2 - 2.9% Up
54.2 - 6.7% Down
56.2 - 8.9% Up
57.2 - 7.5% Down
Exit T2
58.2 - Mile 1
60.2 - Mile 3 - 7.6% Up
61.2 - Mile 4 - 6.5% Down
62.2 - Mile 5 - 6.4% Up
63.7 - Turn Around
64.2 - Mile 7 - 6.4% Down
65.2 - Mile 8 - 6.5% Up
67.2 - Mile 10 - 7.6% Down
70.3 - Mile 13.1 - Finish

Looks like fun.

See ya out there...

My Shadow

2006-06-18T19:34:00.000-07:00

T has been following me around the house lately - like my little new shadow. He is constantly talking away and occasionally an intelligible word will make its way out in the form of a question: "dhd askasd askuasd cookie? Yes."

This morning we all piled in the car to head out to a Father's Day breakfast in Georgetown. I headed out to the car a few minutes early to get T all strapped in and he immediately took off out the garage door, around the corner, up to the porch and stopped at the doorbell. I trotted along behind to corral him back to the car. By the time I caught up, he was already pressing on the doorbell.

I reached out and took his hand -he still can only comfortably hold two of my fingers - and we slowly walked back to the garage, stopping along the way to inspect every leaf and bug. As we rounded the corner into the sunlight, our shadow appeared on the ground before us. T stopped, pointed, looked up at me and babbled something.

He was right, of course. All these weeks of training had left my legs looking fantastic! Uh, wait. Maybe that's not what he meant.

The image of the shadow stirred me and has been stuck in my head all day. A father and son holding hands - how appropriate for Father's Day. It suddenly hit me how much my life had changed in the past few years... A new baby, another new baby on the way, turning 30, getting in shape, changing my life for the better. I suddenly felt very happy and a good sense of accomplishment. I'm a really lucky guy to have such a great, supportive family. It was an honor and a blessing to spend Father's Day with my son and beautiful (and pregnant) wife.

Time stood still for that one instant. It was awesome to appreciate one of those instant milestones that will be with me forever. I hope your Father's Day was as great as mine.

Now go call your dad.

See ya out there...

Wha?!

2006-06-18T17:36:00.000-07:00

T says: "In 6 days your going how far?!"

M made team shirts for the whole crew for the big race next weekend. Pretty cool stuff. Actually, very cool stuff!! Just a few more days to obsess over the whole event. By this time next week it will all be over.

Another easy taper week this week. Gotta love that.

Today was Father's Day. Officially my second - or third depending on if I am supposed to count the Father's Day where M was pregnant. I started the day with a really nice short brick workout at an easy pace 1200 yd Swim / 8 mi bike / 2mi run : 1h:05m. Running felt great today - a first in a long while. After my workout, we headed north to Georgetown for breakfast. We stumbled on a really great little place in downtown Georgetown. If you're ever in Georgetown, you have to try the County Seat Cafe on the square. Afterward we took T to the park to play. This afternoon we headed to the Dell Diamond to catch some baseball. Great times.

I have a busy work week this week. Time to get to it.

See ya out there...

Overdrive

2006-06-17T18:37:00.000-07:00

7 full days left till BSLT.

Most of the weather stations are now predicting mid 90's for race day. One is predicting a 21mph northerly wind. Ouch.

My brick this morning was cancelled due to a 3-hour morning thunderstorm. I ended up making up the run this afternoon. I have another short three-sport workout scheduled for tomorrow. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. Start time : 6:30 AM.

We made a quick trip down to Jack and Adam's today to pick up the last few items for the race.

Tomorrow is Father's Day. We have plans to grab a light breakfast after my early brick and take T to play someplace in town. It should be fun. We are also planning to go to the afternoon Round Rock Express game. I'm looking forward to spending time with the fam.

See ya out there...

Form

2006-06-15T17:46:00.000-07:00

Do you ever get a really good look at the form of the swimmer in the lane next to you? This happened to me this morning in the pool. It was actually pretty interesting. I'm a unilateral breather - at least, that is what I'm labeled because I can only breath on my right side (without inhaling water and dying). So, I always get an interesting change in scenery after each turn at the wall.

This morning I had a guy with relatively poor form on one side and woman with EXCELLENT form on the other. So, off I went on my 3x500's. At each 25 I turned and was able to catch a glimpse of the swimmer next to me. I tried hard to focus on form and body position of each swimmer. I saw some interesting things.

It was actually quite beautiful. The guy was visibly exerting himself splashing, kicking and turning in wild motions. This also effected his pace. He got slower and slower until I had lapped him. Twice. His ankles we dragging behind him and each time he took a breath he would kick so hard his entire head would shoot up out of the water. The woman on the other hand seemed to float on top of the water. She had a very shallow, quick kick and her arms seemed to move in and out of the water with robotic ease. She was also a bit faster than I was. It took a little bit of effort to keep up - but I tried to pace her for as long as I could. I only realized after I was out of the pool that she obviously was doing drills and was capable of speeds that would probably rival Olympians.

Anyway, it was a good workout because it helped me to visualize my swim form and remember the importance of minimizing effort and maximizing efficiency. The differences were as clear as night and day.

See ya out there...

BSLT Weather

2006-06-15T07:24:00.000-07:00

Can this be anywhere close to correct????

AccuWeather.com 15-day Forecast for Lubbock, TX

Sunday, Jun 25
Sunny intervals
High: 88° F
Low: 62° F

Yeah, baby.

Thoughts

2006-06-15T04:47:00.000-07:00

9 full days to BSLT.

Training is going well. Well, Tapering is going well. It stings a little to see the volume drop when I know I'm capable of more. I have a lot of excess energy these days. It's funny. Excess Energy + More Free Time = Trouble. Last night I cleaned up my office. I filed paper work that has been building for months, threw out a bunch of trash, etc. I also spent an extreme amount of time ironing my shirt. Ironing? Please.

What will the next few months bring?

I've already started to plan for the next 6 months or so. Here's how it looks now:

New training plan to begin sometime in mid July. This one will be Sprint/Oly focused training and last only a few months.

I think that means :
~ 1500 - 2000M swims :: 500-800M speed drills :: 2 x week
~ 20 - 50 mile bike rides :: 20 miles TT :: 1 long ride / 1 short ride / week
~ 6 - 8 mile long runs :: at least 2 short speed runs / week :: 3 runs / week

I want to try to implement some (all?!) of the things learned from the training bible in this plan. I'd love to feel like my workouts are more than just items to check off. It would be great to have a specific goal for each one. What does that mean? varied intensity; Time trials to measure progress; Drills;

Racing looks like this:

August 6 - Austin Muddy Buddy (w/ Party Pat)
September 3 (4?!) - Jack's Generic Tri & maybe SeaWorld again? (Amers - you up for it?)
October ? - Sprint or Oly in Dallas
November - Turkey Trot and various other 5K / 10K's

There are a couple of Half IM's late in the season lurking out there. Maybe?

Longer term - I have a couple of cool goals to get me through early 2007.

Marathon Finish ~ 4h:00m - 4h:30m

This will most likely be the ball-freezing, Freescale (Freezescale) next February (2/18/2007). I'm seriously considering joining a training group for this. Even M was supportive of the cost. My guess is that most training groups will start up in August / September timeframe? Anyone have any thoughts on a good training group in Austin / Round Rock? This would be a real opportunity for me to get my running on track.

Century Ride ~ RR Outlaw Century (October 21)

I did the 100K last year and had a ball. This would be a great opportunity to do a century ride close to home.

Ironman is lurking on the horizon out there. M and I have already started the negotiation. Looks like 2008 might be a possibility. Arizona? Florida? Early on, it sounds like Florida might be a good possibility with a vacation at Disney afterward. We shall see.

See ya out there...

Copy Cat

2006-06-12T18:05:00.000-07:00

So...

I picked up a geeky new way to wear my HRM watch. I'm nearly certain I picked it up watching Jamie Cleveland on the TV coverage of the CapTexTri. (Which was fantastic, by the way.) It's silly really, but it works. And, I thought I'd pass it along...

Turn. It. Over.

Yep. it's that simple. I now wear my Polar S150 with face under my left wrist, instead of on top of my wrist. It raises the usability factor by a full five points. Check it out...

In the aero position, I no longer have to rotate my arm over the top of the bar to read the time or HR.
It is much easier to hit the lap button in a transition using my thumb instead of pinching my whole wrist and pressing with my right index finger.
It feels soooo much better while swimming. I'm mean really. I used to feel like I was swimming with a brick on my arm until I flipped it. It kind of feels like there is less drag!?

So, give it a shot and let me know how it works for you.

I finished my short tempo run in the heat a short time ago. I opted for a 4:45 run in 94* heat to work on the acclimation factor. Not bad - my fastest run in over a month. I'm going to keep this up for each of my runs through BSLT.

I also have had an eye on the 10- 15 day outlook for the weather in Lubbock. Looks like we may get a slight break from the 103* heat. Holy Huckleberries lets hope so.

See ya out there...

Grinding it out

2006-06-12T04:22:00.000-07:00

Back to the grind again today. This weekend was amazing. We spent the whole day yesterday doing the family thing. We shuttled T around Austin like he was some kind of out of town visitor. We basically toured all the cool playgrounds in downtown and finished out the day swimming at LTF. He loved swimming and even better - fell asleep around 7:30!

A truly great weekend.

Back to work and tapering today. I have a 20 minute run scheduled - which almost made me laugh out loud when I read it from my dwindling schedule. I haven't been out for a 20 minute workout in at least 3 months. I may try to knock this out in the middle of the afternoon heat to work on my HR/heat issues. Or wait until later and crank out a tempo run? We'll see.

I finished up a big writing project at work on Friday. Whew. I have real respect for people who can sit and write for 8 hours a day straight. Holy smokes - I was crushed mentally after doing this for 3 weeks straight. It felt good to get that off my plate and get back to some "regular" work.

BSLT plans are coming along. We have almost everything planned out now. Almost time to execute. 12 full days left. After this weekend, I have a sense of calm. It was great to restore some confidence in my body - to know it can withstand the pressures of the day to come. Thanks to everyone (Amers!) for the support lately. It's been wonderful.

Also - a shout out to Carrie on a sub 6-hour Half Ironman finish! Way to go! You're an inspiration!!

See ya out there...

Race Sim

2006-06-10T16:07:00.000-07:00

I woke up early this morning. 4:30 AM. For whatever reason I was nervous - butterflies in the rib cage nervous. For a training day? This was anything but a regular training day - this was race simulation day. I had gone through all the pre-race prep yesterday. Good eating, lots of water, all my shtuff in a big pile on the kitchen counter.

Goggles - Check; Endurance Gatorade - Check; Perpetuum - Check; Clif bar - Dang! / substitute with Marathon bar; Endurolytes - Check; Helmet, Gloves, Shoes, Computer, Sunglasses - Check; Sunscreen - Check;Running shoes & Socks - Check; Enervite, Shot Bloks - Check; Water - Check; Running Hat - Check; HRM - Check; Tri-shorts, Singlet - Check; Ok.

Whew. I hadn't even left yet. But, I was psyched.

I left for the pool around 6:40. I opted for a swim at our neighborhood pool. It was locked up when I arrived. What the?!? Luckily I found the keys laying nearby and let myself in. Pretty secure, eh? By 6:45, I was swimming. It was a fantastic swim. A great start. I transitioned well and headed out for a stort loop around my 'hood making a quick stop at the house to drop off my swim gear. No need to take goggles with me for 40+ miles, right? Then I left for the long loop through Georgetown. A good ride. I focused on keeping good form and rigidly following the nutrition plan. (Salt every hour, Perpetuum every 15 minutes, gatorade as needed) I arrived home in 90* heat. I felt great. Running in good form, I quickly clicked off 2 miles and rounded the corner to my water stop in the driveway. My only concern at this point was my sky high HR. I kept running slower and slower trying to bring it back into the 150's - it never really got there. I finished out 4.25 miles with an average HR in the mid 160's with an 11+ pace. Ouch.

Here's the recap:
Swim - 2500 yds / 45h:42m
Bike - 42.5mi / 2h:23m (Check out the Bikely.com route - review of this tool to follow...)
Run - 4.25mi / 50m:32s

Very good workout. No piriformis pain, good form, good nutrition. This workout really helped me build confidence for BSLT. Now the real taper begins. Two weeks of easy training. 14 days left ... and is a break in the heat possible (LBB 6/21 - 96*)??

See ya out there...

HRM

2006-06-09T17:47:00.000-07:00

M and I had our second appointment for the new baby today. They used a Heart Rate Monitor of some sort to let us hear the heartbeat. 160ish - which, the doctor informed us, can be a sign of a boy?! Cool. Everything is going along well. I hope to get some cool media posted of the next visit. I'll keep you posted.

See ya out there...

Where the sidewalk ends

2006-06-08T19:45:00.000-07:00

I was updating my training plan this morning with the outcome of recent training and I actually found the end. The last day on the plan: June 26th. Race Day. It's shaded in a nice light green color.

What to do? What to do?! I don't even have any more races on the calendar after BSLT.

Eek.

I had a great swim this morning. Today was all about building confidence. 2000M time trial in the LTF pool. I started with a quick 200M warm up - I recently read that you should warm up with a set that is around 10% of your goal for the day. It worked. I finished 2000M in 37 minutes flat / 1:51 per 100M. For grins I looked back at my times from last year at this time : 650M - 2:55/100 yards!

I had physical therapy this afternoon. Turns out I don't need to make any further appointments. Ariel was very pleased with my progress and didn't see the need to keep coming in. She said that I should call if I felt I needed an adjustment or that the exercises weren't working on my trouble spots. Woo Hoo!

See ya out there...

Bikely?

2006-06-07T09:11:00.000-07:00

Anybody checked this out yet?

http://www.bikely.com/

Add this to the list of route mapping websites around the web. Pretty cool stuff.

Now we just need an enterprising triathlete to create a site that does run routes, bike routes, and good swim spots all on one site so I don't have to manage 55 user id's and passwords. Gah!

Make the Turn

2006-06-07T04:05:00.000-07:00

17 days now.

The excitement is building - almost to the point of exhaustion. I just want it to be over. I can't think about the day any longer. It is consuming - the idea of 6+ hours and 70.3 miles. I'd lost some perspective and respect for the distance during my recovery period. That all returned last night.

I dropped of my bike at the LBS around 6:30. The 'helpful' associate found $125 worth of things that needed to be fixed or replaced including a new chain, new rear tire, full component cleaning, new rear brake pads. I actually left there thinking - "it's a wonder I didn't die on that death machine I call a bike". Then I got home, broke the news to the official sponsor and began to think about the pending work. Actually it is good timing and I hadn't taken my bike in for service in over 6 months. It hadn't been cleaned during that period either. It's probably good to get all this out of the way a few weeks before BSLT and have good equipment under me for 3 hours.

I headed out for a run (my second in about 3 weeks) a little later. Boy howdy did I feel the 3 week layoff. I was sucking wind after just 20 minutes. My HR was out of control and I just could not find a stride. At first, I whipped out my mental freakout list and began to assess the impact of this set back to my pending race. As I continued to run, I realized 1) it is about 15* hotter now than a month ago - I need to acclimate 2) I'm still healing - give it time 3) I suck at running anyway - what's the big surprise here?

I still have 2.5 weeks. Suddenly that time feels both very long and very short at the same time. I have this underlying belief that the whole world is cyclical. You know, like one big trigonometric curve of time and 'pain' (not necessarily in the literal sense). The comfort in believing in this is that no matter how bad something gets it will 1) get better at some point 2) always return to balanced state at some point 3) be really good some day.

This general theory seems to apply in some form to just about everything in my life. The amplitude changes as does the time. But balance does return.

Work: Sometimes it is insane other times I just can't get enough of a good thing.

My son was born: 1) the highest high I could imagine 2) no sleep for 6 weeks - a pretty low low 3) playing with him on the floor each night before bed - a pretty high high.

Injury: 1) Pain - Low 2) recovery - a balance (I guess) 3) New found strength - A high

The weather: It is supposed to be 101 in Lubbock today. Draw your own conclusions.

And finally in training. How many Triathlete Magazine articles have you read about some elite that just rebuilt everything from the ground up? The articles always talk about how they finally hit the low, turned that corner and came back to win big.

I went back and read through the last year of my BT workout log last night. High's and lows were all over. The fact that right now

my running is crazy-weird,
my swim stroke looks like I have water-wings attached to my ears and 50 pound weights to my toes,
and my bike is clearly one pebble away from catching fire and sinking

means that I am about to turn a corner. I can only hope the timing is spot on for the big day.

You see, the only thing we can't directly control in the whole equation is time. You get no more than 24 hours a day and no less. If you withstand the pain and make the decision to bear down and perceiver the turn will come.

My turn is at hand. Until race day I'll make good decisions and prepare. Worst case, I'm closer to a balanced state, best case I'm beating my goal time by 30 minutes.

Form. Focus. Finish.

See ya out there...

Worth your salt

2006-06-06T03:55:00.000-07:00

18 full days left now.

Today is a freakout day. I woke up this AM pretty sore from the ride last night. I took a modified long trip up Parmer and back in about 80 minutes. It was pretty hot out and the wind was blowing in my face the whole way back. I averaged about 19.5 out and about 14.8 on the way back. Wind Blows.

Am I prepared for the nutrition part of this?

I've been focused recently on being very disciplined in fueling during the longer bike rides. Last night I finished off a bottle of Endurance Gatorade and a bottle of water in just over an hour. I felt a little dehydrated afterward. Really I felt more drained than dehydrated. I did a little research and it sounded like symptoms of low electrolytes / salt. I'm thinking that I will really need to address salt intake during the bike to make sure I have juice for the half marathon during the race.

Weather forecast for Lubbock, TX today: High 101; Wind 15mph.

Freakout.

I used some of the freebee salts from a goodie bag a few weeks ago during a long brick - Endurolytes maybe? It seemed to work well and I had some kick'n salt lines afterward, but I'm not sure if there is a better brand out there. I think IronBenny (or was it TriDaddy?) used LavaSalts (?) for his IM a few weeks back. Perhaps I should try those out.

Anybody have thoughts on a good salt product?

It's time to get down to brass tacks here. Time to pick up the final items for race day and get them broken in. I've put together a nice shopping list for later this week:

Perpetuum - This stuff tastes like playdough (play-doh!), but seemed to work great during Red Poppy a few weeks ago.

Tri Shorts - I've put some pretty big miles on mine. It's time for a new pair.

Body Glide - Love this stuff. I've been using the free sample from the Half Marathon for about 4 months. Time to get a new supply.

Bento Box - A nice to have. Not sure if I really need this.

Aero Bottle - I'm freakin out that I don't have enough fluid with me on the bike. I'm thinking this might be a good water supply to have.

Lava Salts - For the heat.

Water Bottles - I just need a few new ones.

Shot Blocs - I just can't stomach the Gu's in the heat of the moment. I gotta have something to chew on.

Goggles - Mine are fogging, again. I saw some sweet goggles at the CapTex expo, but I decided to wait. Soon they'll be mine.

Freakout #3 - Lubbock.

I love Lubbock. Yeah, Yeah. Don't hate it because it's beautiful - because it's not. I have some of the best memories there. It is a really great college town. M and I scored a great place for the race. The Marriott Residence Inn. We have a penthouse room with 2 king beds, a pull out couch, and a kitchen. Plenty of room for the the three (and a half) of us plus my Mom. I'm digg'in on the kitchen. I won't have to fish around for something to eat the night before at some restaurant.

The down side - I really don't think Lubbock will have 1) a Bagel shop open at 5 AM for a pre-race power bagel with peanut butter or 2) a coffee shop open that early either. What the heck am I going to do for some pre-race fuel? Oatmeal and hotel room coffee. Freakout.

Side note: That's a great idea for a little business venture. Set up a small cart in front of the transition area before a race - sell all the essentials and the pre race fuel needs: coffee (that's, good coffee), bagels, gatorade, etc. I think I'll name it T-Zero. Ok - I need a investor with some cash. E-mail me.

Carrie has a great post today. She always knows of the coolest places to go in and around Austin. Her Half IM is this weekend. Can't wait to read about the experience.

So, tonight I have a quick trip to the LBS to drop off my ride for a tune up and wash. Then I'm headed over to LTF for a short swim. And finally, if I have the energy, a medium run. But me thinks the run will be moved to tomorrow... there just isn't enough time in the day for all of this.

See ya out there...

Stay Cool

2006-06-05T03:57:00.000-07:00

Full training weekend in the books. Including... a run!

I rode 26+ miles with Party Pat on Saturday. It was a great morning for a ride. The wind gods were smiling and gave us a nice easy push on the return trip down Parmer. Makes for a nice 28mph cruise. It felt great to be out on the bike in the early morning again.

Sunday morning I woke up early and headed down to Barton Springs for a wetsuit swim. Not too many folks out at 6:30 AM on a Sunday. I felt like I had the whole town to myself. After about 6 laps or so I stopped for 10 minutes and watched the sun come up over the city. Beautiful. I finished off another 2 laps and headed to the car to don the running shoes.

I decided to start off slow with about 10-15 minutes of walking. If I had any pain I was going to scrap the run and just enjoy the nice morning stroll and company of Austin's fittest. At ten minutes I could no longer hold my shoes back. Beep, I started the HRM and took off east bound toward the bridge. I ran past the Stevie Ray statue and crossed over the river on the (Lamar?) bridge. I turned east and ran up to the Congress bridge, crossed back over the river and turned west back to the car. All in all I clocked about 30 minutes ~ 3.1 miles.

Good run.

I met up with T and M for some breakfast tacos at Rudy's afterward then headed home for a nap. Ahhh. My back feels great. I have some soreness but no pain.

Taper is now in full swing for BSLT - 19 full days left. I guess I really started tapering last month but whatever. Nothing heavy this week. I have one big workout this weekend. I plan to execute the race nutrition plan and cover about 45 miles or so in about 4 hours. Should be a good test.

See ya out there...

BSLT Countdown - 22 full days remaining

2006-06-02T04:37:00.000-07:00

22 days left until the 2006 Buffalo Springs Lake Triathlon.

My Thoughts: I feel confident in my training. If I have a really great day, 6 hours is within reach. I have the miles behind me, I have the speed, I have the gear.

Swim:

My strongest sport.

Bike:

Hills. Could I ever really be ready for the 8% grade hills? I need to make it out to Kittie Hill for some repeats.

Run:

I really need to get in a couple of good long runs before the big day to build some confidence in that area. Nearly a month of no running has me a little scared, but I know I can do it.

Nutrition:

My biggest concern. How will I hold up in the heat? I have a couple more workouts to try out the nutrition plan and make changes. Then, we'll just have to see.

See ya out there...

No Pain - All Gain

2006-06-02T04:26:00.000-07:00

Last night started out pretty rough. Really rough. I fell asleep around 10 PM only to wake up at 11:30 with some serious back pain. I'm not talking tight muscles - I'm talking PAIN. Worse, I couldn't find a position sitting, standing, laying, crawling, hanging or otherwise that was comfortable.

About 12:10 AM I started exploring the very edges of my "adult" vocabulary. This impressive display of universal tongue promptly woke the dog. I knew it was time for drugs. I hobbled over to the Motrin and quickly took a few. My mind started to spiral out of control as my dreams of a BSLT finish started to fade into the cloud of pain in my head. I finally dosed off around 12:30.

5:30 AM -

M: "Hey, do you want me to reset the alarm or are you getting up."

She's teaching summer school and has Fridays off. In her pregnant condition, she resents the fact that I wake up early enough to feed chickens and milk the cows on her day off. Sorry, hon.

Me: "I'm up."
In my head: "Hey, wait a minute. I'm up!"

NO PAIN. None. Nadda. Zip.

Wait, I actually feel good. Really good. What time is it again? Maybe the Motrin is still in full force? 5:30 - well maybe. I better take the Motrin bottle with me today - just in case.

I got ready, no pain.

Put on pants - No Pain.
Put on socks - No Pain.
Put on shoes - No Pain.
Tie my shoes - No Pain.
Brush my teeth - No Pain.
Pick up T - No Pain.

Wait, I actually feel good today. Like 98% good. Perhaps these PT exercises are working?? Maybe it's the new mattress we purchased? What's better? I feel rested - I haven't slept that soundly in a long while.

I'm now focused on a solid weekend of training. Swimming, Biking and *GASP* a run or *DOUBLE GASP* two!

See ya out there...

In Therapy

2006-05-31T18:40:00.000-07:00

...Physical Therapy that is.

I had my first PT session this afternoon. She poked, prodded and popped my back. At one point she wrapped me up and twisted me until my back made the most amazing sound I have ever heard. Ahhhhh. I left with a handful of exercises and some confidence that I'll be ready for BSLT.

The coolest thing (besides the most amazing back-pop ever) was the fact that my therapist, Ariel, competed in the CapTexTri this past weekend.

I have appointments pretty much every week until BSLT.

After PT, I headed over to LTF and put in 3500M in the pool. Very nice. I took a page from Steven's blog and swam 300 warm up, 6 x 500 steady with 15 seconds rest; 200 cool down. Great workout. I was beat afterward - a really good sign.

Ariel said I should wait until this weekend to start up running again. So, I'll be religous with my exercises in the meantime and start running on Saturday morning. Hopefully on Sunday I'll get in 3000M - 4000M at Barton Springs (wetsuit swim!) and a short run on the trails afterward.

I suppose I'll take my (pregnant) official sponsor out for taco's afterward. ;-)

WooT!

See ya out there...

As Promised...

2006-05-31T17:54:00.000-07:00

Let's start with the fun stuff... CapTexTri!

I didn't get to compete in the race this past weekend. My sports doc said I'd be in for a rough time trying to recover in time for BSLT if I reinjured my back. BSLT is the "A" race this year so it made the decision easy. I also found somebody wanting to buy an unused registration, so I ended up getting away without loosing any dough. My official sponsor was pleased with that!

We met up at the race expo to square everything away. It also gave me an excuse to peruse the race expo. I also mad a quick stop at the ATC expo. Very cool.

I got up early on Sunday and made it downtown in time to see the second wave start. I stood on the bridge and watched as the swimmers made there way up town lake, under the bridge and back to the swim exit. It was very cool.

After about 20 minutes of watching the swim I made my way back up to first streetjust in time to catch a glimpse of Desiree Ficker. She blew by me doing about 30mph on her bike. Unbelievable. I never saw her again. Turns out she went on to win!

I crossed first street and walked back up to Congress. There were very few bikes on the course, so I decide to walk all the way to the Capital building to take some pictures. About half way up Congress I saw Andrea Fisher walking with her bike. She was talking to a race volunteer and had a big smile on her face. We exchanged smiles and I heard here say "It's OK, I was having a great time." Classy. I wanted to stop her and talk for a while but she looked like she was trying to make her way back to the transition area. As I kept walking north toward the capital, I was suddenly overcome with the presence Andrea had. She is pretty tall and VERY muscular. She has a $1M smile. Even though she was out of the race she was smiling. I was really impressed.

Check out the the pics here (Yes, Carrie, use 'em!):

Next year I. WILL. DO. THIS. RACE!

See ya out there...

The Return

2006-05-31T04:27:00.000-07:00

Wow. It's been a while. Too much to post about now. It's amazing how much junk I let back into my life during my 2-week recovery. I'm getting all the cobwebs out and I'll be back to posting regularly soon.

I'm back to full swim and bike workouts (which is *very* nice). I have a PT session scheduled for this afternoon. If I get a good checkup, I'll hopefully get in some running miles by the end of the week.

I have a ton of stuff to post from the CapTexTri this past weekend. I'll do it tonight. I promise. Here's a preview:

DNS - Almost, I transferred the entry to another person who hadn't registered in time. No race for me.
Pictures - Lots of 'em
Congrats to Carrie and all the BT'ers on great finishes!
Props to Desiree Ficker on a big win.
Thoughts on gear breakdowns minutes after I saw Andrea Fisher drop out.

Swimming on the schedule after PT this afternoon.

See ya out there...

Roid Rage

2006-05-23T19:13:00.000-07:00

Quick update before bed:

Day one of the roids is over. 6 pills today, 5 tomorrow, etc. I feel MUCH better already. In fact, I spent some time tonight going over the plans for the CapTexTri. I really want to do this race.

I did another short ride tonight. I pushed a little harder on my muscles with no problems. 2 weeks of rest does wonders for training! Tomorrow I'm back in the pool.

See ya out there...

What's up doc?

2006-05-23T04:51:00.000-07:00

I made a visit to a sports doc yesterday to have my back checked out. Came away with a PT appointment and a prescription for some steroids.

The PA I talked with said it probably would not be a good idea to race on Memorial Day. Arg!!! We'll see.

I did manage a 45-minute ride this weekend. It felt great!! No pain. I am going to take the first to two days of the 'roids easy, then start back up with regular swimming and cycling. I throw in running once I am pain free.

Work has me tied up like crazy. I'm really looking forward to a three day weekend.

See ya out there...

Kryptonite

2006-05-18T16:43:00.000-07:00

Remember in the Superman movie (c'mon you know you saw them) where Superman marries Lois and gives up his powers? He walks around like a real person and gets his butt kicked?

I'm starting to feel this way. I haven't donned the training gear for about a week and I've started the descent down the slippery slope into my regular joe life. Awake-Work-TV-Sleep-Repeat.

It. Sucks.

Yesterday I found some great articles for "treating" my self-diagnosed Piriformis Syndrome. It involved laying on a tennis ball for about 45 minutes every few hours. Well, raquet ball, because my dog has eaten all the tennis balls in the house. Well, actually, it started as a golf ball, but apparently I still have a rather padded rear end and it didn't work too well.

It has worked wonders. For the last week and a half I've spent the first 4 hours a day in mind numbing pain. Today, about 2 hours. A significant improvement. By 10 AM I was able to walk and sit without pain. A significant improvement.

I'm starting to take control of this. I'm planning to ease back into the exercise plan with a 30 minute swim and a ride this weekend. It may require a 2:30 AM wake up to allow for some stretching and kickin back with a raquet ball under my right butt cheek. But, I. WILL. TRAIN.

You heard it here first folks. Here's to ball sittin'. It's time to jump back in that ice chamber and reclaim the superpowers. Now where did I put that cape?

See ya out there...

Sacre Bleu - Piriformis Syndrome

2006-05-17T04:20:00.000-07:00

I did a little searching on the web last night and I think I have found a name for my pain - "piriformis syndrome". It's somehow related to the sciatic nerve. Great. The article says it can take weeks to months to recover. Great.

I found a couple good articles on home treatment. Anybody know anything about this stuff?

See ya out there (soon)...

Withdrawal

2006-05-15T18:04:00.000-07:00

5 days without bike shorts, running shoes and goggles. This is the longest I've gone without training since the end of the season last year. Being a triathlete feels like a beautiful dream I had last night and can't recall the details. I saw my running shoes in the closet this morning and looked at them oddly like a friend I hadn't seen in a while - happy memories struggled to register in my brain. They looked slightly familiar, but forgot their names. My sleeve got caught on my aerobars as I walked through the garage tonight. The bike misses me - I miss it.

My back is getting better day by day, but it is pretty slow. The morning pain is the worst.

Insult to injury: The weather here has been, well, nicer than what they get in heaven this time of year. I should be training - I want to be training. Instead, I spend about 90 minutes a day stretching. It seems to make some difference. Who knows if I'm doing it right or contributing to the problem. I've also been walking with the family every night - trying to keep as active as possible without wildly cursing at the ever present pain running up my leg and into my back. Ug.
Stress: The CapTexTri is less than 2 weeks away and is starting to become a question mark on the calendar. Big picture: I need to be fully recovered for BSLT in late June. Can I fully recover and race on Memorial Day? We'll see.

I read about something called athlete's depression. Turns out injured athletes all go through common symptoms during an injury or extended lack of vigorous exercise. The author seemed to think it was a chemical imbalance caused by the drop in regular endorphine levels in the body. Sort of a side effect of chemical dependency withdrawal. Apparently, it can lead to all kinds of things - illness (colds, aches and pains), acne, attention deficit, trouble sleeping, etc.

I most certainly don't feel like my ~~old~~ new self. Depressed - no. Stressed - yes. I'm not known for my patience. I think that is the source of my stress - impatience.

OK. Sorry for that Blogorehia.

The good side:

I'm losing weight. 2lbs this week. How is that possible?
I'm all caught up on chores. Ok - mostly caught up.
I've seen TV shows that I had forgotten about.

See ya out there (soon)...

Cheering Section + 1

2006-05-12T16:34:00.000-07:00

For immediate release:

Baby on Board. Details to follow...

Stupid Body

2006-05-11T03:24:00.000-07:00

I have the will to do every single workout and more. How come my body won't keep up?

So, I have this silly shoulder thing which turned into a silly shoulder/back thing. It's one of those nagging, slight twinge everytime you walk kind of things. Just enough to really mess with my mood around 5 PM everyday. Actually, its more than just my back it's, well, actually my back and my butt. Can you strain your glute? It feels like a strained muscle that runs down my back over my butt and into the top of my right leg. I feel tired after just standing for 10-15 minutes. (Darn Starbucks line!)

I finally had enough and left out for a 2 hour brick last night about 7 PM. I thought: "I'll just run it out." The brick was fantastic thanks to a light cool front and a clear sky. I took it easy and turned in 17 miles on the bike and 7 miles of running. A good nights' work.

My back was a little sore afterward, so I got out the cold pack and iced it for a couple of hours. Woke up this morning ready to turn out 3500M in the pool and my back felt like crap. Crap! Swim cancelled.

OK. So, enough. I'm going to shut it all down and heal up these nagging injuries before they turn into season long problems. Hopefully all will be well for my long ride / run brick scheduled for Saturday morning. Hopefully. I need to complete this session.

I need help from you Tri gods out there. Any good stretches or thoughts on how to deal with a strained muscle in your back/butt? Ice or Heat? Any magical potions that will get me back in my running shoes / on the bike / in the pool faster?

===

Just wanted to give a shout out to my official sponsor M. She's one beautiful lady and the greatest wife. She's been really supportive lately with my heavy training schedule and whining about my strained muscles. Also, she and I will be giving a short press conference (read: blog post) on Friday afternoon to announce something special. Stay tuned.

===

In other news, the house hunt has begun. M and I have been scouting out several neighborhood on the north side of Austin as potential places to move. We've just about outgrown our house. Let's face it we have too much crap and not enough house. We have some planning to do in the short term, but my guess is that we'll be in full house hunting mode in the next few weeks. More to come.

So, there's the update. Hasta.

See ya out there...

Off Day

2006-05-05T19:59:00.000-07:00

So, it's an off day. And, it's Cinco de Mayo. I think that's spanish for "Eat 5 times too much Mexican food", which we gladly did.

Ok, so I figured on my off days I should try to round out the sharp triathlon edge of this blog and post about something that is *GASP* not triathlon training related.

*Sigh*

Somehow, I found my way to E! tonight. I watched The Soup and the Chelsea Handler Show. Both hysterically funny. I'm not much of a TV watcher anymore. Thanks to the DVR, I rarely watch a show "live"anymore. Most of the time I turn on a recorded show for background noise while I'm logging a workout or catching up on reading in the blogosphere.

In related Entertainment news...

The Da Vinci Code movie is due out in the next few weeks. I absolutely loved this story. I hope the movie is as entertaining.

And on a Da Vinci note...

Some bike porn:

A biking buddy rode one of these Da Vinci tandems on the Red Poppy ride last weekend. It was really cool. Most tandem bikes have a setup where both riders have to pedal the exact same speed (I forget what that's called, anyway...) - not so on this bike. There is some serious engineering going on that allows each ride to pedal independently. Very cool. And check out the emblem:
Notice the joints on the frame? Turns out the whole bike comes apart and fits into a suitcase. He's planning to take it on a cycling trip to Europe this summer. How cool is that?

Anyway, back to it tomorrow.

See ya out there...

The Long Way

2006-05-04T19:52:00.000-07:00

I had a race with Mother Nature tonight. You see, it's May and she's all about cooking up storms during prime training hours. She seems to have figured out that if she starts rolling the storms in from far West Texas they are good and cooked by the time they arrive here.

I left out for a 1h:45m mile run about 7 PM. I watched the sun set across the "lake" at Brushy Creek Park. By the time I cleared the park I saw it - a quick flash in the corner of my eye. Either my papparazi were at it again or the storms were arriving. I was at least 5 miles from home. A long, hilly 5 miles.

How the heck did those come up so quickly? Whatever. Let's throw down Mama Nature. Bring it.

First there was wind. No Problem. The lightning started to get closer. Thunder. Sprinkles. 4 miles out. More Thunder. Flash. Flash. 3 miles out. Flash. Thunder.

Will I make it before she gets really pissed?

2 miles out. No problem. I got this. FLASH. The street lights went out. No. It wasn't a power outage - the bright flash caused the lights to automatically turn off. Ok. This is starting to get nuts.

Still no strikes on the ground. I'm close enough to book it to the house now if I need to.

The watch says I still have 20 minutes of running to go.

I can do this. Flash. I made the turn for the long loop around the neighborhood that would give me 2 more miles and result in 10 miles for the evening.

1 mile left. Constant lightning now.

Beep! 1h:45m.

Till next time Mama Nature. 20 minutes later the skies opened and it poured.

See ya out there...

In the thick of it

2006-05-04T04:51:00.000-07:00

25 minutes into my 1h:25m run Tuesday night I checked in with the HRM. 131. 131?!?! Holy Smokes! How the heck did my heart rate get so low? My goal was to keep it at 140 and below 145 the entire time. I haven't run in the "slow" gear for a long while -- since the 1/2 marathon training during the winter. Turns out my slow gear is getting much easier. But, I guess that's what is supposed to be happening. According to everything I read, long slow running should result in a lower heart rate. It is working.

It's strange how I can train everyday and be surprised by improvement. I mean, I'm out here 6 days a week - I should be seeing improvement. I'm measuring progress and seeing improvement. But, for whatever reason Tuesday night really caught me off guard. My macho manliness immediately thought "Pick up the pace, Nancy". After training in the 150s - 160s for a few months I've had to make an effort to remind myself : "The Half isn't going to be about speed. It's about lasting the distance."

Last the distance.

It would have been easy (and fun) to blow out the last 4 miles. Instead, I focused on form and hitting a stride that I could hold forever.

===

I'm starting to feel the effects of the increased training volume. I can't seem to eat or sleep enough. It would be so great if my work would enact a mandatory nap time around 2:30 every afternoon. T has one of those at his school. What gives? Oh yeah, and snack time. I'd love a plate of grapes and crackers around 10:30ish. Yeah. That'd be great.

Another side effect: Guilt. Yeah, guilt. I can't seem to escape it. I mean, if I miss a workout I feel guilty and if I spend 4 hours out riding I feel guilty for being away from home for so long.

**SIGH**

It feels like the countdown to Christmas. BSLT is now visible on my calendar and training schedule. I spend at least 20 minutes a day obsessing over the number of training sessions left. Do I have enough long workouts? Will I be recovered enough for the CapTexTri? How many more runs can I get in before it is a hundred billion-gillion degrees outside and my shoes melt? Will Santa bring me those new tri-shorts?

Ok. How's that for a nice rambling post? Enjoy and...

See ya out there...

April Recap & Pool Time

2006-05-02T04:58:00.000-07:00

My workouts are coming so fast and furious. Last week I logged my longest training week ever. 11h:44m!! A drop in the bucket for you Ironman trainers out there, but this is a real milestone for me. This week is a bit of a recovery week. I found a 2 hour error on my training schedule that should have been on the schedule for next week. So, I'm down to a 8.5 hour week this week.

April turned out to be a really good month, considering I lost nearly a week to a pulled muscle in my back:

Bike: 18h 3m 45s (including trainer time) - 260.1 Mi (not including trainer time)
Run: 12h 25m 12s - 71.28 Mi
Swim: 7h 34m 07s - 26,460.59 Yd

The neighborhood pool reopened and I've managed to log two good Swim-to-Bike bricks recently. Pretty cool stuff. BTW -- Does anyone else feel like they just finished a keg stand during the T1 transition?? On Sunday I thought I was going to fall right over on my wet butt. Which would have been quite embarrassing considering I was the only person at the pool besides the 19 year-old lifeguard.

At the end of last summer I was pretty upset with all the neighborhood pool. It was so hard to get in a good workout without running into little kiddees or sharing the swim lane. Of course, last summer 20-minutes was a long swim session. It's been quiet so far this season. We'll see how long it holds. One thing's for sure, this pool is much more convenient. I can save nearly an hour by going to this pool over the one at LTF. This mostly means I get more sleep. On the downside, the shallow end is only 3 feet. Flip turns are a bit scary for me in 3 feet of water. I can just see the headlines : "Triathlete dies in freakish flip turn accident while lifeguard 'texts' her boyfriend.' Sheesh.

Anyway. It feels great to be swimming outdoors again. I'm starting to develop crazy tan lines. My arms, shoulders, neck and face are all golden brown. My hands, back and chest are all white-bread. Maybe some outdoor swim sessions will help fix that. Otherwise, I'll be the talk of the beach this summer.

Here's to kick ass tan lines.

See ya out there...

Cooked

2006-04-30T19:06:00.000-07:00

What a weekend.

Saturday morning started early - I can't even say bright because we were up and moving before the sun. Party Pat and I met up with a riding buddy and completed the 47 (45.5, actually) mile route of the Red Poppy Ride.

I tried out Perpetuem for the first time during the ride. I expected the worst - but it actually worked out great. Really felt great through the whole ride. I think this stuff just made the nutrition plan for BSLT Half Ironman.

Saturday afternoon, Party Pat and I headed out to Sam to pick up a bunch of food. The whole neighborhood showed up at his place and we layed out an awesome BBQ. Good Stuff! It felt great to take a night off with friends and family.

Sunday it was back to training. I did a 3h:40m session and covered each sport. After the long ride on Saturday and the blazing Sunday afternoon sun, I was cooked mentally & physically. It was really good to get in a long session. My confidence for BSLT is growing.

Anyway - I'm off to get some much needed sleep.

See ya out there...

180

2006-04-26T19:54:00.000-07:00

I've been sitting on this post for a couple of days... hope it all still makes sense.

Today I weighed in at 180 lbs.... for the 7th straight day. In my book that makes it official. I weigh 180 lbs. I started out back in May of last year at just over 240 lbs.

180 is a pretty significant number for me:

The number of degrees I've turned my life.
My "big picture" goal weight when I started my new active lifestyle.
A weight I haven't seen since my freshman year of ... gulp, high school.

Check it out:

...and more recently:

Whew. Check this one off the list. Next?

See ya out there...

Outsiiiidddeee

2006-04-26T19:37:00.000-07:00

My son's favorite word : Outside. He will stand at the back door with his hand on the door knob and repeat that word over and over until someone takes him outside. "Outsiiidddeee, Outsiiidddeee" It's kind of cute really. Every once in a while he'll realize he has someone's attention and he'll throw in a "Please?" -- or "Peaze?" -- complete with the pseudo-sign language he's picked up. That's really cute. He's an outdoor kid, which makes me pretty happy. He seems to be much more interested in exploring the backyard right now that anything else.

It occurred to me tonight on my ride (18 miles) that, through triathlon, I've become quite an outdoor person. I would much rather run outside in the rain or cold than on a treadmill -- ride at dusk on the darkened neighborhood streets than on the trainer. I've even began plotting ways to get back outside to swim my laps in the afternoons. During the day I find myself peeking out the windows at work. I can see the wonderful "sprummer" (spring-summer) weather. Occasionally, I'll catch a glimpse of a midday cyclist or runner and say "How lucky are they?"

Sometimes everyone kinda wishes they were "Outsiiidddeee".

See ya out there...

2006-04-24T20:11:00.000-07:00

Where to start? Where to start?

I'm so behind in blogging so here's the abridged version of what's been going on...

We had a great dinner with JoJo and D-man on Friday. It was fun to catch up.
Killed off a 6.75mi run on Friday night after everybody left. Didn't get it in till nearly 10 PM!
Got up early on Saturday and went riding with the gang. It was amazing weather. Found out that 2 more cyclists were hit on Parmer... while we were out! That makes 4 cyclists down in one week. Ug.
Saturday was pizza at JoJo and D-man's.
Back in the neighborhood pool on Sunday morning for a great 3550 yards. I had the whole pool to myself and I followed it up with a 10 mile ride and 2.25 mi run. Great stuff.
We headed down to San Marcos on Sunday afternoon and grabbed lunch at Joe's Crab Shack with the in-laws.
... and back at work on Monday. Work is kicking my butt. I'm super busy right now.
Tomorrow - swimming, running and presenting.

How boring. Sorry folks...

See ya out there...

Rough times

2006-04-20T04:35:00.000-07:00

I'm having some tough times lately. The short vacation has given me a high spring fever. That means I'm having motivation problems all over.

I cut my swim short last evening because of a killer headache. I felt defeated afterward. That is the third swim workout I've cut short in two weeks.

I gotta get back on track. I have 90 minutes of running on the schedule tonight. With storms in the forecast I'm pretty sure I'll have to head over to the club and knock it out on the treadmill. Great. Doesn't that sound fun?

See ya out there...

....and we're back!

2006-04-18T19:28:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks!

After a long posting break I am back.

Let me fill you in: We have just returned from a trip to Colorado to surprise my Mom for her birthday. She's an occasional reader (Hi Mom!) so, I couldn't give any hints. Just a few days of silence while we carried out our little adventure.

Check it out:

Colorado was amazing. Amazing! It was so beautiful here. I saw a TON of people running and cycling all over town. I could never move to Colorado because my wife and kid would never see me again. I would train, eat and sleep. And, maybe work.

I went for a run on Saturday afternoon in Colorado Springs. It was amazing. I decided to take a really hilly course up through my folks' neighborhood and out onto some of the streets close by. It was crazy windy out. Between the hills, altitude and wind I was pretty worn out after about an hour. How great is that?! I headed due east for the first half of the journey with the wind at my back climbing hills the whole way. About 20 minutes in I turned around and was greeted by a face full of wind and this:

It was amazing.

We headed back to Austin and were promptly greeted by 100* temps. Yes, that's right 100* in April. Did everyone enjoy spring? Good. Now it's summer. Shut up and enjoy. I gave the early heat wave the 'ol finger by heading out shortly after we got home for a quick 45 minute ride down Parmer. Hot and Steamy. Just the way I like it.

I did lots of thinking during the ride. I have a lot of work to do in my last month leading up to the race. I need to get on top of the nutrition plan soon. Real soon. Party Pat came by last night and we signed up to do the Red Poppy Ride on April 29th. It should be a good test bed for a potential bike nutrition strategy.

My schedule has been wild again. Last week training pretty much fell down hard as I ran around to get everything ready for our big trip. This week is a recovery week (even though I probably don't need it after last weeks' time) and I've already missed out on a run because of a late afternoon thunderstorm. Arg. Back to it hard core tomorrow.

And Finally...

I pretty much always listen to the Jeff Ward show on the way home from work. It's somewhat entertaining and pretty informative. Anyway, today he and the mayor we're talking about the recent rolling blackouts in town. At the end of the interview, Jeff mentioned that he had heard the mayor was training for his first Triathlon...the Capital of Texas Triathlon! Then he mentioned that he was training for it too! How great is this? Drive time radio coverage of the biggest triathlon in Austin!

It was pretty cool to listen to them talk about their first time experiences, water fears, and the wonder of their first sprint tri. Very Cool!

See ya out there...

Pain in the back

2006-04-12T05:02:00.000-07:00

How I could go from a screamin' week like last week and fall flat into this week is beyond me!?! Sunday night it started. A slight twinge in my back, just to the right of my spine. It's a deep muscle twinge that causes your whole body to tense up when it starts. Any deep breathing or quick moves remind you that it's there. Yeah, you know what I'm talking about. It has awakened me every night since Sunday for a couple of hours. I even *gasp* took some Motrin to relieve some of the pain. I don't take pain meds. Ever.

I had this thought that I could exercise it away with a good solid swim last night. As I swam the planned distance turned from 3500M into 2000M. Then 2000M to 1500M. I finally quit at 1150M. Swimming wasn't helping the muscles and my form was terrible which would only cause more trouble down the road. I also had a run on the schedule. An hour (and 2 more Motrin) later I would have none of it. Skipped the run and hit the sack early.

Ug.

Today I'm supposed to have a 1:30 Bike / 1:05 Run Brick. We'll see. Stupid back.

In other tri-news, I signed up for the CapTexTri today. Hooray! I'm pretty excited. This is supposed to be a great event. Guess I'll have to cancel on volunteering for this race. Sorry guys. So, the Cactus Challenge was all about the swim : Wetsuit / Transition etc. The CapTextTri will be all about nutrition. I will have my nutrition plan for BSLT in place by then and I'll be putting it (partly) in motion.

Looking at the training plan, I have some serious work to do to get there. Check these weeks out:

This week: 10h:25m
Next Week: 8h:15m (recover)
Next : 11h:30m
Next : 10h:20m
Next : 10h:55m
Next : 11h:00m
Next : 8h:35m (recover)
RACE

Considering most of my training to this point has been in the 4-8 hour-per-week range this marks a significant upage of the bar. After the race, I taper pretty much all the way into BSLT. I just have to keep my head down and press through these next few weeks. But first, I gotta get this silly back thing worked out...

See ya out there...

New Week - New Goals

2006-04-11T03:13:00.000-07:00

OK. Onward and Upward.

10 and a half hours on the schedule this week. Pretty aggressive - but doable.

I did my first real trainer workout last night for a hour. Wow. Sweat was pouring off me like a waterfall. That is some h-a-r-d work! Good stuff. My back continues to give me problems. Sleeping has been suffering. I decided to push back my workouts until this afternoon to give it some time to relax. I think it is just stressed muscles from the race this weekend.

Work has slowed to a race pace. Finally. I am digging out of a few weeks of absolute craziness. BSLT is squarly on my mind now. Something like 75 days out. I've got to get another race on the schedule before then to get me more closely focused. Looks like I'm going to re-add the CapTexTri to my schedule this week. I know a ton of folks planning for it. Should be a good time.

Not much else to update on.

See ya out there...

Cactus Challenge 2006

2006-04-10T19:46:00.000-07:00

My first Olympic distace triathlon. It was fantastic!!

The short version : Everything went very smoothly for me during the race, I was extremely happy with my time... 2:47:44. A great time for me!

Special congrats to Party Pat - completing the event just 2 weeks after his first child was born - on just a couple hours of sleep. Way to go man!

Pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ttutri/tags/cactuschallenge/

The long version (spare yourself the pain...this is long):

It all started for me on Monday. I had stomach issues all week and I struggled to get my nutrition in order. By Wednesday I was feeling much better. I cut back all my workouts and rested up. By Saturday I was feeling very strong.

Friday afternoon I stopped in to ATC and picked up my packet and do a little shopping. I got a cycling jersey in my race packet! My first one - it will be put to good use. They opened the transition area on Saturday for bike check in - I skipped it. Something just didn't sit well with leaving any of my gear out all night. In hindsight I'm glad I did. Much less worry for my obsessive personality. I packed and repacked my Tri-bag - all. day. long.

Sunday morning: Race Day.

6:00 - Party Pat and I met up in the driveway at 6:00 AM to load bikes and gear.
6:15 - A quick stop by Starbucks to load up on caffine.
7:00 - We pulled into the parking area shortly after 7 AM and started unloading. We were early and had full run of the transition area, chip check-in and to walk the Swim-to-T1 run area. I took my time setting up. It really helped to calm the nerves. By the time we lined up for the start I was feeling great.
8:00 - I took a quick 250M warm up swim. The water was great. Nice and cool. The wetsuit fit great.
9:00 - Around 9AM the race director came on and let us know that they had dropped the ball and the bike course would not be completely closed off. At this point you kind of got the impression that things were starting to spiral on them. There was definitely a sense of urgency in his voice.

9:30ish - I don't remember what time the swim actually started. The swim felt fast. I remember checking my watch in T1 and being really excited because I was almost 7 minutes faster than my planned pace!

I transitioned fairly smoothly and hopped on the bike. No problems. The bike felt fast and fluid. Good stuff. Lots of strange things to keep up with on each loop (4 loops total). Loop 1 - I noticed spray paint all over one intersection of the road. Turns out there was a fatal collision on that road a few days beforehand. Yipes! There was still glass on the road. I looked long and hard at the markup of the wreck on each loop. Loop 2 - I caught a passing glimpse of a bike and helmet down in a ditch. I have no idea what the story was here. I saw it again on Loop 3 & 4! By loop 4 lots of drivers were starting to get aggressive. I was glad to be done.

I didn't do a good job of hydrating or eating on the bike. This worried me a bit going into the run.

T2 - feeling good. I ran hard for the first mile or so to get the legs under me. The course was a bit uneven in places and really through off my stride. Luckily it only lasted for a mile or so. There was a killer hill on the back side of the run. It got me both times. I ended up walking a quarter of it both times.

M, T, and Amers cheered Party Pat and I on the whole day. It was really great to see them so much. By the time I was on the second loop of the run, I was actively looking at the spectators expecting to see them. Cool feeling have some great folks to cheer you on. Amers took all the pictures. Thanks Amers!

Lessons Learned:

I still don't have a good feeling for nutrition. I especially need to work on bike nutrition.
I was on empty at the end of the race. Makes me wonder about being able to "race" BSLT. I'm thinking that BSLT will be about finishing - not racing.
I need to train on hills - lots of them. Hard ones. I did not run on hills well at all during this race.

OK - every great adventure needs a scandal. This adventure delivers. I was reading a couple of the message boards on the race today. Turns out there are some unconfirmed reports that the first Age Group wave turned about 250M early. I was in the first wave! It's a little tough to tell from my splits if I turned early. It was a very fast pace for me but I was really swimming well and had the added benefit of the wetsuit.

I can say that I was very aware of the first turn. I know there we no more buoys in sight when I started my turn. The only thing I can figure was that a boat or lifeguard may have been blocking the view?? I guess we'll never know for sure. But, it would explain why I was so surprised by my pace. We'll see if anything comes of it.

I really like this distance. There's just more time to enjoy every sport.

The course was fantastic. I loved every part. This was a good race - a little disorganized but nothing that couldn't be handled. It would also be nice to get this race USAT certified.

See ya out there...

What a Day!

2006-04-09T19:25:00.000-07:00

Hey there everyone! Well, my first Oly is in the books. It was outstanding. I couldn't have asked for a better experience. I'm working on a detailed post, but I'm still waiting on the results to post. And, yes, I've got some great pictures Thanks to Amers!!

More to come...

See ya out there...

Shout outs

2006-04-06T06:21:00.000-07:00

Just a quick shout to Benny #1373 and Gina #1095 as they take down Ironman Arizona this weekend. Good luck!!

I was poking around on the IMAZ website and got to looking at the participant list. A few observations:

1) Way to go Austin!! I just eyeballed it, but it looks like we have more participants listed than any other Texas city!!

2) Have a look at the "Occupation" column of the participant list from your area. Turns out we have some pretty talented folks running IMAZ... (I'm not making this stuff up)

Garden Gnome - Joni Moore #1697
Professional Goofball - Michelle Andreas #1561
Stripper - Brent Drake #253
Cat Herder - Sam Smith #1315

And my Favorite...

I'm Batman - Kevin Hall #515

3) Just eyeballing the whole list I noticed a bunch of Police, Firefighters, and ... get this ... Attorneys.

Pretty interesting stuff, eh?

See ya out there...

Bulldozing

2006-04-05T19:27:00.000-07:00

Attention -- Attention

2 posts in one day! That means I have successfully caught up on ALL my crazy work projects, training and some of my home projects.

Today I turned in my taxes. Yes folks, despite 3 concurrent work projects, 10 hours of training last week and the dreaded IRS - I am completely caught up. Ah.

OK. I turned in 22 miles on the bike tonight. Gotta love DST. I'm feeling pretty strong again. It felt great to get my legs moving.

Alright, one last thing to catch up on... sleep!

See ya out there...

Rebuild, Repair, Remember?

2006-04-05T04:39:00.000-07:00

This week has been a bit of rebuild for me. The stress from last week (both work and training related) has taken its' toll. I think it has a lot to do with the poor eating over the weekend but I can tell I've lost a step or two. Yesterday was pretty rough. I decided to cut back on the volume this week to taper for the race. I was pretty winded after just 2100M in the pool and only 30 minutes of running.

This must be fixed by Sunday! I did a little research and it sounds like this fatigue is related to depleted glycogen stores and dehydration. Both fixable. I guess jelly beans aren't a good recovery food. So, last night we had a nice whole wheat pasta supper. Very nice. I feel much better this morning. I'm going to keep on the good eating this week and the light workouts.

I'm ready for the race.

I've already started obsessing over race day details. I had forgotten how much planning it takes to do race day right. I'm sure some folks can just roll out of bed grab their bike and show up. I'm not one of those people. Looks like I'm going to do a little shopping at ATC during packet pick up. I need a new singlet, some bike chain cleaner, goggles, and a few other little things. Did I ever tell you I have the greatest sponsor?? Thanks, M! I also need to check my seat. It felt a little loose after my ride on Sunday.

That reminds me. I found a "new" site the other morning while I was trolling the net for tri-stuff. Turns out ATC has a "not-so-secret" website with lots of great stuff : http://www.atcunderground.com. Check it out.

I received an e-mail from the race director for the Cactus Challenge earlier this week. They want us to rack our bikes on Saturday afternoon. Outside, Overnight!! Oh man. This is going to take a leap of faith. I posted on the BT Boards and everyone seemed fine with it. So, I guess we'll see.

Party Pat is still planning to race this weekend. Even with a 2 week old baby! That dude is made of steel. I think were going to go pick up packets and drop off bikes, etc. this weekend. Very cool.

So. I have a 1h:15m ride this afternoon and another swim/run day tomorrow. Then, I shut down for a couple days to completely recharge. Can you feel the race day energy building?

See ya out there...

Mouth

2006-04-03T06:31:00.000-07:00

I stopped in for my dental checkup today. My dentist is the coolest. So get this. I sit down in the waiting room to decide between Highlights Magazine and a two month old copy of People. When, out of the corner of my eye, I saw it. Those large type letters we all love to see in the mailbox every month. No, not Playboy -- T-R-I-A-T-H-L-E-T-E. My dentist had last month's copy of Triathlete magazine just sitting out in the bin waitng for a tired weekend warrior to come by. I had made it through about 1 article when they called me back.

The first, thing Mary says: "Wow! You look terrific! What have you been doing?" Mary has worked with me for years - she only sees my twice a year and having lost 50 lbs really threw her. She's finished the Danskin and is a marathon'er. She pulled up my pictures to show the doctor. Oh yeah, the doctor is training for the Danskin with the IronChicks! And, another doctor has finished 2 Ironman races. The coolest dentists I tell ya!!

I, once again, came away with a clean mouth - no cavities. Ever. The doctor even asked if I had already had my cleaning when she looked at the 'ol choppers. I hadn't. Afterward, they even invited me to go around and kiss everyone in the office. Ok, not really.

I asked the doctor about the effect of Gatorade, Powerade, Gu, etc. on teeth. Turns out it's bad. But, not as bad as chlorine. She said she saw an olympic swimmer one time with almost no enamel left on their teeth. The chlorine had worn it away. She recommended 2 things: 1) Never drink sports drinks unless it is for a specific purpose like training or recovery. The sugar will kill your teeth. 2) Brush your teeth with floride rich toothpaste in the evenings after swimming or taking in a large amount of Gatorade. There is a good floride-rich toothpaste you can ask for at the pharmacy - or you can get your dentist to give you tube during a checkup.

Coolest I tell ya!

See ya out there...

Heavy Lifting

2006-04-03T03:43:00.000-07:00

Lots to catch up on - let's get started

Training Recap

Oh my gosh. Fri/Sat/Sun was crazy. Here's the breakdown:

Fri - Brick Day : 45m Bike / 30m Run
Sat - 2h 30m Bike
Sun - Tri Day : 49m Swim / 45m Bike / 30m Run

I did a really horrible job in fueling my body for this kind of load and ended up pretty tired and sore by last night. Lesson Learned. I'm going to take an unplanned rest day today to recover and get things back on track. Race day in T-7 days.

Sunday was a really fun day. First off, let me say how much I L-O-V-E Daylight Saving Time. My clock just works better an hour ahead. Sunday - I popped out of bed ready to roll. I packed up the fam and brought them along to Zilker Park while I swam in Barton Springs Pool -- in the new wetsuit. What a great time! I can't believe I've lived in Austin for 7 years and never taken a dip in Barton Springs Pool. I'm thinking that I may need to make that workout at least a monthly thing. It was great to swim in the open water and practice sighting on more thean the end of a lane. After the swim we headed back home and I finished out the bike and run. It got up to about 90* during the run. Whew! We spent the rest of the day hanging out. Sunday = Funday!

I also broke down and ordered a trainer this weekend. I decided to order the Minoura 500D. (Thanks for the help Flatman!) Ageebike.com had a great deal. In about a week I'll have no more excuses for missing a bike workout.

Also this weekend, I found out Nytro had decided on my ~~stolen~~ borrowed team name I dropped in her comments a few weeks back. "Hoof Hearted". I wish I could be there to hear that team name announced as they cross the finish line. Classic.

My first race of the season is this coming Sunday - the Cactus Challenge. I'm really pumped. Everything kicks off in the Thursday/Friday timeframe with packet pickup. Then, bike drop off on Saturday and the race on Sunday. Can't Wait. Taper starts today.

See ya out there...

Out and about

2006-03-30T04:12:00.000-08:00

Looks like this week is going to be one of "those" weeks. I've been fighting like hell to keep up - so far so good.

I did get my run in on Tuesday. (Thank goodness!) I really needed that time to let my mind finish thinking about the day. It was pretty therapeutic to hear my feet and breathing for an hour. I also listened to a really interesting podcast from the SXSW Interactive Festival. James Surowiecki presented on "The Wisdom of Crowds". I have no idea why I found this facinating.

Yesterday was just busy. All. Day. I ended up taking an unplanned rest day so I could spend some time with my Mom and Grandma. I moved the Bike/Run brick to Friday. That means I have 4 days of 1+ hours rides starting tomorrow. If you see me walking funny on Monday, now you know. I think this week has been a bit of an eye-opening experience for my Mom. I don't think she really understood what I meant by "training". I can tell she's uncomfortable with the amount of time I spend training.

This morning I was up early again to knock out 3000M in the pool. I was not as quick as Monday - but still really happy with the results being below 1:55/100M average. Tonight: more running - 1h:15m on the schedule. I've already loaded up a couple of Zentri episodes that I haven't listened to yet - should be a nice run.

The Capital 10K is this weekend. I'm kinda sad that I won't be running - but it's for the best considering my first tri of the season is on the schedule for April 9th, next weekend! Good Luck to all you lucky folks - I'll see if I can get M and T to come along to cheer you on.

See ya out there...

Caught Speeding

2006-03-28T10:00:00.000-08:00

Things have been out of control for the last 48 hours. Let's recap.

Monday. 'Nuff said. Ok, well, actually Monday moved at a downright frenetic pace. It was 2 PM before I actually made it through all my E-mail. Work is still crazy - full time client + presentation prep + website coordination / development + part time client = EEEK!
I left work around 3:30 to run a few quick errands and get in 3000M in the lap pool at LTF. The pace of the day carried forward into the pool : 1:49/100M average pace -- for 3000M!!! I did a 300 warm up, 5 x 500 and 200 cool down. Probably one of the strongest days I have had in the pool. Looks like the long sets on Thursdays are starting to pay dividends.

Afterward, I quickly got dressed and headed back downtown for a dinner meeting with the visiting big wigs. Stayed out late. Came home to a full house. My Mom and Grandmother arrived on an afternoon flight. M picked them up and they were already moved in and settled by the time I arrived home. After spending some time catching up and doing a couple of household chores, it was close to 10:30 PM. I finally climbed into bed around 11 and fell asleep while catching up on e-mail.

Tuesday. T was awake by 5:30. So, the day started off like a shot with diapers and cheerios flying around. Luckily Grandma and Granny were there to provide some early morning entertainment. The weather here was terrible. It took me 2.5 hours to drive 14 miles. That's when I felt it. I caught myself speeding. Something had finally gotten in the way and I was no longer able to keep up with the pace that I was trying to keep. I no longer had control of the situation. And. it. was. killing. me. I was so pissed at traffic I was actually making up new swear words.

I pulled into office #1 at around 9:30ish and was off to office #2 by 10:30. Made it to office #2 just in time to open my e-mail box before the 20th unread message arrived. Just. in. time. A couple of meetings on the docket today and I'll be off to fight my way home through the evening traffic jam - they're predicting more rush hour storms. Perfect. I have an hour of running on the plan for tonight. Looks like I'll have to get it in after some family time. So help me, I'll run through a damn thunderstorm tonight just to get in some decompression time in my running shoes.

I'm a bit concerned for my bike time this week. I have no desire to take my ride out in the rain. I don't have the gear or skill to be tooling around for an hour on wet streets and stormy weather with drivers that have just sat through a 2-hour commute. M, my official sponsor, gave me the green light on a trainer. Flatman gave me a few web leads, but I might just have to break down and pick one up at the LBS in the interest of time. I got a note today from Bicycle Sport Shop that their annual sale starts on Friday. Can I make it that long without a trainer? We shall see.

See ya out there...

Weekend Recap

2006-03-27T04:37:00.000-08:00

We came. We saw. We biked.

36 beautiful miles through Bastrop State Park and on to Smithville, TX on Saturday. It was hilly and sunny and downright beautiful. I went with D-man and a bunch of his buddies from work - my first ride with this group. It was a blast. Here is a rough map of the route we took. And, no, we didn't see Sandra in Smithville. Darn. This was a great ride for me. The front half had some really challenging hills. I did pretty well, but I need to get on the hills a little more to work on climbing. The second half was fairly flat. I spent about 45 minutes cruising at 24 mph. This was a great workout.

I had my last recovery week run yesterday - 6 miles on Brushy Creek. The legs were dead.

This week should be interesting. I start into the "Oly to HIM Bridge" section of my training schedule. On the docket : 4 runs ranging from 0:30 - 1:15, 3 swims ranging from 0:50 - 1:05, and 4 rides ranging from 0:45 - 1:15. I should top 10 hours of training this week!

The biking hours are starting to become an issue. There just isn't enough daylight to get in safe rides during the week. The dilemma: spend $150 on night riding gear or $150 on a trainer. I'm leaning toward the trainer. Anybody wanna offer up any guidance on a good trainer?

Also this week: my mom and grandmother are visiting! It will be great for them to see little T. He is just about over his battle with the bug he had last week. Whew. Sick kiddos are no fun.

And Finally... Congrats to Party Pat and J! They welcomed their daughter into the world yesterday afternoon. Mom and kiddo are doing great. Can't wait to meet the new baby!

Happy Monday to everyone.

See ya out there...

New Addition

2006-03-24T21:01:00.000-08:00

Hey there...

I just added a new gizmo to the bar -->

Google is still turning out magic. Now I can mark interesting posts and they show up here automatically. This does nothing for you feed folks - unless you subscribe to the gizmo.

Geeked out.

Talked with D-man earlier. Sounds like the ride tomorrow is turning into an event. Should be fun - more tomorrow.

See ya out there...

Reality Check

2006-03-24T04:43:00.000-08:00

Ok - Spring has sprung. Except in Central Texas.

Woke up today and it was 35*. 35*? That's colder than our so called "winter"!

I got to looking at the Hour-By-Hour on weather.com. Uh, it's supposed to be like 40* tomorrow morning. I'm a weenie and I won't be swimming, wetsuit or not, in 40* weather. Yipes!

Instead, I'll be heading to Bastrop State Park with D-Man for 25 miles or so on the bike. Should be fun.

Last night I ran: 9:12/mi - 2.7mi. Holy smokes that fast! Gotta love recovery week.

Lots to do today - I'm home with T. He's sick. Poor little guy.

See ya out there...

Learning : Introduction

2006-03-23T18:01:00.000-08:00

I realized recently that I have learned a whole lot in the last 9 months about triathlon. I'm not an expert, coach, or professional athlete. I'm simply a middle of the pack age grouper that started from - well - literally, my couch. I have never been much of an athlete. After college, *gulp* 8 years ago, I settled into 10 hours a day in front of a computer, 5 hours a day in front of the TV, and the rest sleeping and eating (and eating and eating). By age 29, I was not in a good place. It was time for a change.

In June of 2005, I made some major changes and began embracing a new way of life. A Triathlete's Life. A life filled with movement, early mornings, late evenings, risk, reward, planning, learning, and personal achievement. I've met a ton of great people and done things I never thought possible. I became a Triathlete. I can honestly say I am happier and healthier than ever.

Honestly, I was overwhelmed in the beginning. Where do you start? How far do you go? Is it OK to rest today? What kind of bike should I buy. Do I really need a speedo?

Bottom line - Triathlon works for me. Yes - my schedule is full, but I eat better, use my time more effectively, and grow everyday. I've lost a bunch of weight (I actually weight less than I did in college) and I feel great.

There are lots of books out there on how to train better, develop training plans, run, bike, swim, eat, etc. I don't want to try to recreate that here. Honestly, I'm don't know enough about all that stuff to help anyone. I owe a lot to this great sport and it's time to give back. In fact, this season I'm going to go out of my way to try to give back to this sport. My goals for building these pages are:

Write down what I have learned and what I continue to learn.
Create a resource for those new to the sport of triathlon.

I decided to pick a handful of topics and create a 'page' for each one. As I get new information, I'll post new pages and/or content. I'll try to note the updates in my regular posts, so my everyday readers will know when I've updated.

So, here is the list of topics:

Tools - Training Logs, Websites, Special Gear I use on a day-to-day basis
Swimming - All things Swim
Cycling - All things Bike
Running - All things Run
Lifestyle - The 'soft' side. How do we get it all done?
Events - The icing.

See ya out there...

Learning : Tools

2006-03-23T06:02:00.000-08:00

Training Logs

It all started for me with a good training log. I'd never kept one before, but after just one week I knew I would love to watch the time and miles pile up. Logging the time and mileage became a religion for me. It's one I practice to this very day.I've found 2 great training log sites.

Top Pick : Beginner Triathlete

This log is easy to use and provides just enough functionality to a newbie as to not overwhelm. For a fee, you can turn on the extra functions and features. There is a great support community in the message boards and it was easy to connect with some regional triathletes. I haven't been to a race yet that didn't have a fellow BT'er. The whole site keeps the small community feel. I personally have contacted Ron, who runs the site, on several occasions and received feedback in a matter of hours. Pretty impressive.

Second Pick : TriFuel

This log is a little more advanced. In my opinion, it is more difficult to use and allows for more customization. There are also some great graphs and summaries. Again, I'm into easy to use - but this tool is fantastic for those with a little more time on their hands.

Heart Rate Monitor

I didn't buy a heart rate monitor for a long time. I don't know why I resisted, but I guess I figured I just didn't need one. I was wrong! This is one of the most important tools in my training toolbox.

Why?

Well, that's a good question. Go read a book. Lots of folks love to talk about the use of HRM's. I knew I needed one when I was completely decimated at the end of every week. I wasn't getting faster, more efficient, or having more fun. Everything was stagnant. I picked up the Polar S150 on sale on the web. I thought it would be good to have the bike stuff integrated. I couldn't get it to work.

My opinion : Don't spend the money on the bike accessories for a HRM. There are tons of Bike computers out there that measure speed, distance, cadence and HR a whole lot better than the S150.

There's a bit of research to be done in learning to use your HRM. I took a pretty direct approach and went straight to the American Heart Association. I figured they would know about the heart, right? I also used Google to find a bunch of information on what my target rates should be. Once you have a basic understanding of the HR, you have to mix this into your training. For me this was the change from "working out" to "training".

I started with running. 3 runs a week :

Run #1 - Short : HR 150 - 160
Run #2 - Med : HR not above 150
Run #3 - Long : HR Avg 145

Then I moved on to cycling with a similar plan. I still don't use my HRM in the pool.

Excel

Excel as a traithlon tool? Yes. Yes!

I use 2 Excel spreadsheets for to track a whole bunch of stuff. I'm a geek that way. E-mail me if you want a copy.

Training Schedule - I use formulas to keep track of my plan by sport, day, week, and month. It's just easier to work with than the online tools for planning.
Eats - Calorie tracking. All the online tools are too hard to use for quick calorie tracking. I wanted an easy way to drop in the calories I had eaten without having to search for foods or enter the % of vitamin B12... blah blah blah.

I did find to great websites to help in determining calorie intake:

http://www.thecaloriecounter.com/
http://www.nutritiondata.com/index.html
Routes - Some of the online tools will track these for you, but I liked having all this in one spot. I use the Gmap-pedometer to map my routes - you can recall them by saving the URL.
Gear Checklist - For race day - I obsess.
Race Day Schedule - I kept notes on my first couple of races to help me figure out what race day would be like. What time to wake up, when to eat based on start time.
Race Goals / Actuals - I obsess. I admit it. I created a little formula box where I can put in my goal times and estimate my pace to see what my times would be. Yeah, this stuff is on the web too - again, I liked having it all in one place.
Track my HR zones and descriptions. This helps in planning. I hate having to go back and look this up evry time I start planning.
Weight, Waist and Neck measurements - This started out as fun. Now it's amazing.

Bike Computer

Ok, this one isn't essential. But it is worth the money. I love being able to see how fast I'm moving. I splurged a bit (Ok is an extra $4 splurging?) and got a Trek Incite 8i wireless model on sale. It's also nice to have the mileage available after a ride. Try sitting in front of the computer mapping out a 40-miler. It ain't fun.

What I've Learned About Triathlon

2006-03-23T06:00:00.000-08:00

I've learned a lot about Triathlon. I'm no expert, but I've managed to wrap my head around this sport enough to keep going and have fun. I'm creating a series of pages to try to help other new folks learn some of the stuff it took me almost a year to figure out.

Introduction
Tools - Training Logs, Websites, Special Gear I use on a day-to-day basis
Swimming - All things Swim
Cycling - All things Bike
Running - All things Run
Lifestyle - The 'soft' side. How do we get it all done?
Events - The icing.

Lap Pool Closed

2006-03-23T03:38:00.000-08:00

I read those words at 4:27 AM this morning from a sign conspicuously placed at the steps of the lap pool. There I was standing in my Nike Jammers, bleary eyed, bed head - my goggles dangling from the tip of my right index finger. I slowly closed my eyes, gently rubbed them and re-opened hoping the sign had vanished. Nope.

Crap.

I went back to the locker room to grab a shirt and go ask, "What gives?!". Turns out the chemicals are all jacked up in the lap pool - again. It must be all those folks who pee in the pool. (Thanks, Kahuna). I was invited by the LTF staff to swim in the "Leisure Pool".

Hmm. Let me draw you a picture. There are 2 "lap" lanes in the leisure pool. These lanes start right next to the 3' 6" sign. That's right. My fingertips drag on the bottom of the lane. Flip turn at your own risk - risk of death! Oh, and the lane is about 12M long which means about 2 good strokes before you need to turn around.

There would be no "Leisure Pool" lap swimming today.

I guess it was just too early because I wasn't really that mad about the pool being closed. I was mad about no good coffee shops being open at 5AM. Dammit. Texas is arresting drunks in bars to keep us safe. How about forcing a few coffee shops to stay open so I don't fall asleep on my way to work.

Anyway, I think this whole pool situation is actually a sign from the pool gods. You see, I bought my wetsuit a few weeks back and I have yet to get in any practice yards in it. I did take a wetsuit lap around my living room to show it off to M - but I don't think that counts.

I do believe that I will be making up my swim early Saturday morning in a wetsuit at Barton Springs Pool. It's the right thing to do. Perhaps I could get M and T to meet me for a bite to eat afterward. What's the name of that cool taco place on South Congress?

So anyway, here I sit at work at 5:40 in the morning. Ah, the life of a triathlete.

Quick Update

2006-03-21T19:57:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update on the happenings around Casa de TTUTri...

Recovery week is coming along swimmingly... Actually, I just got back from a quick 1350M in the pool. The swim tonight was more of a mental training session than physical. Although, I did 1200M at race pace. LTF has family swim time from 6 PM to 9 PM every night. This means that the indoor pool area is jam packed with people when I go for a late swim during the week. I had to wait on a lane, because most of the folks in the lap pool are just killing time while their kids swim and don't know how to split a lane. This means I stand around like a turkey vulcher for 15 minutes trying to make eye-contact with everyone doggy paddling in the lanes.

Swimming during the family swim time actually feels more like race conditions. There is a ton of activity outside the pool to distract me. It can be very loud and the water has lots of splashing and waves. It took a little more mental effort to get my mind on my form and keep track of the distance. It was a good exercise for mind and body. I was also surprised by the results : 1:49 100/M. This is a pretty fast pace for me.

I also knocked out a quick 50 minutes on the bike this afternoon. My legs are still feeling the effects of last weekend's effort. Overall, pretty good day of training/recovery.

That reminds me -- The Shiner BASH is coming up soon. I gotta remember to get registered for this ride. It looks like it will be f-u-n. Turns out BASH stands for Bike Austin San Antonio Houston -- Rides leave from each city and meet up in Shiner, TX. Anyone else out there planning on this one?

Work is still grilling me pretty hard. I've had zero time to finish out the "What I've Learned" pages - so, I'll shoot for trying to get them published this weekend. Unless the Tax gods take over my entire weekend. Ug.

Resting tomorrow - another double workout planned for Thursday : Swim / Run.

See ya out there...

Weekend Recap

2006-03-20T18:48:00.000-08:00

This past weekend was huge. It was the peak of my latest training cycle.

Thursday (3/16) - Brick : 8mi Bike; 5.25mi Run
Friday (3/17) - Personal St. Paddy's Day Tri : 4000M Swim; 23.50mi Bike; 3.4mi Run
Saturday (3/18) - R&R
Sunday (3/19) - Brick : 22mi Bike; 4.4mi Run

You're probably wondering if it gets any better. Oh Yes. Stay tuned. This week is a recovery week, then I get to work up to another level again. HIM bound!!!

M, T, Raider and I all went on a quick road trip to San Antonio on Saturday after the Personal Tri to see the in-laws. Pretty quick little trip but it was really fun. Roberto got a great video of T trying out Amers new car. Should be a post of it coming soon. Thanks for everything guys - we had a great time.

I spent the last few nights working on my bike. The little tire incident ended up requiring a trip to the LBS for a couple new tubes. I got to tinkering last night and ended up needing to replace the front tire too - the darn stem on the front tire went bad while I was working on the back tire. Tonight I gave the 'ol girl a bath and lubed the chain. I love getting geeked about my bike.

Today sitting in my cube, I noticed that I hadn't quite gotten all the grease off my hands from the night before. It looked so cool. Just picture it : A few grey streaks of grease across my knuckles, my wrists showing that great "glove tan" from my ride a few weekends back, my forearms peeling from the sunburn. I looked like a weekend warrior today - back from the front line to my 6x8 container to wait for my next release.

God I love this.

See ya out there...

St. Paddy's Day Triathlon

2006-03-17T04:56:00.000-08:00

Good Morning!

Today I'm going to complete a personal Triathlon -- The first annual St. Paddy's Day Personal Tri.

06:30 -- Just finished 4000M in the pool at the club.

Up next - A long ride. Not sure of the distance yet.

10:00 -- Just got back from the ride. It was great! Nice weather. Party Pat joined in and we were cruising. Ran across a patch of nails and things ended rather abruptly. Listen in as I stand by the side of the road waiting for M (the most beautiful SAG wagon driver) to pick me up:

We managed 23.5 miles before the tire issues. Sweet.

Up next -- Quick recovery run

10:35 -- Just back from the run. Covered just under 3.5 miles. Great day for running.

All in all this was a great first St. Paddy's Day Personal Tri. This one is dedicated to my Dad - Happy Birthday, Dad. I hope it's a great one!

Special thanks to M for being a great support crew with T in tow. You're the best.

Till next year everyone. See ya out there...

This is war

2006-03-16T19:23:00.000-08:00

This post is not for the faint of heart.

The opening shots of this seasons' war with The Lawn were fired this week. In a show of solidarity with my sanity and keeping me firmly on track toward my Half-Ironman dreams, M joined my alliance and went nuclear. She let loose an army of mercenaries. That's right ladies and gents -- M hired someone to cut my lawn for me every other week.

Clearly The Lawn did not see this coming. The first cut brought it to it's knees. Honestly, it looks so good that I actually think it was caught off guard. And, I don't have to worry about The Mower.

Thank you M.

Thank you.

See ya out there...

Big Weekend Plans

2006-03-16T04:59:00.000-08:00

The tough work week keeps rolling on. Almost done...

I planned to take tomorrow off a few weeks back. Glad I did. I have lots planned to fill my off time...

Tonight - Short Bike / Tempo Run Brick.

Tomorrow - Long Swim (hopefully my first 4000 yard'er) followed by a long ride (2h:30m) then a short recovery run. It's my own personal St. Paddy's Day Triathlon! I'm trying to get D-man and Party Pat to join in on the ride.

Saturday - Hiking: more on that later

Sunday - Long run.

M got a me a totally kick @ss St. Patrick's Day shirt. I'll post a few pics on Friday. After my personal tri, I'll be search for green beer to go with my shirt.

Everyone should take a second and check out Steven's new ride. I feel like I'm walking faster today just having looked at pictures of that beautiful machine.

The new "pages" are just about ready for release. I need to spend about another hour or so getting things tweaked then I'll start posting away. Stay tuned...

See ya out there...

Have a nice day

2006-03-14T04:40:00.000-08:00

Hey folks --

Could 4 days have really passed by without a single post? My goodness. I was just looking over my training log on the BT site and noticed it has also been 4 days since the last time I did any core work. Arg! I will fix that today. (No wonder I've been able to sit up straight and roll over without any sore muscles -- what was thinking!)

Things have been absolutely crazy the last couple of days. We had planned to go to Dallas on Saturday to catch up with everyone - but little T was feeling a little under the weather. It was not the kind of thing I wanted to take chances with while driving for 6 hours. 'Nuff said.

Instead we took advantage of the great weather and had breakfast downtown at HEB Central Market. They have a great playground. I had a great time climbing, running and... wait, uh, I mean T had a great time running and playing on the playground. Yeah - that's the ticket. After a couple of hours of playground fun, we headed down to the capital. T hadn't been inside the capital before. We walked all over and showed him around. We figured the capital would be a great place for a Saturday. Only, we failed miserably. You see, people spending time in the capital are supposed to waste time AND money. We only managed to waste time. Darn.

T fell asleep on the ride home. He was very tired. I suited up and headed out for a 46 mile ride. It was great weather and a great ride. I even managed to get a little sunburned. Nice. After about 90 minutes I found myself in Georgetown! It was pretty windy coming back south - but I managed to do the whole 46 in 2:30.

Sunday, I headed out on an afternoon "hot" run through Brushy Creek Lake Park. I've decided to make an effort to train in the heat to get my body acclimated as quickly as possible to the pending summer weather. It was about 85* and I was beat after only 7.5 miles. It is amazing what a little heat will do to my HR.

Last night, I headed out for another ride. This time Party Pat came with -- which totally saved me. I have such a motivation problem in the late afternoon. We headed out Parmer and turned around on the far side of Kittie Hill -- man that hill kicks butt. We killed off about 25 miles and still managed some time to check out a new neighborhood and finish off a plate of cookies. That's right, Party Pat's wife, J, made us fresh, homemade cookies! M, T and I finished the whole thing in one evening.

Party Pat and J are expecting a new baby girl any day now. M is so excited she's about to bust wide open. She asks me everyday if we don't see them: "Do you think they're at the hospital having the baby?!"

Work has been a bear lately. I have 4 projects all going strong at the same time involving 2 different customers, creating materials for a training class on Project Management I'm scheduled to give next month, and producing content for a new internal website for our PM team at the company. Oh yeah - and raising my son; spending time with my beautiful, funny, amazing wife; playing with my giant dog; training for a Half-Ironman; paying bills (no thanks to Party Pat - inside joke); and completing all the other regular chores. What else? Oh yeah - my arch nemesis is coming back to life. The Lawn.

The Lawn and I have a bitter feud every spring & summer. The damn thing tries it's best to grow no matter how much I neglect it, ignore it, and poison it. But, alas, it never fails. I always end up spending 2 hours a week cutting all the tops off it's silly green (ok - mostly brown) heads. I hate - no, loathe - lawn work. It has rained about .0001 cm since last year and I walked out last night only to find The Lawn green and growing. Round 1 in our epic 2006 battle will come this week. I just know it - unless the lawn's sidekick gets in the way: The Mower.

That about wraps it up. Apologies for the long layoff between posts and this long makeup post. If you've made it this far - check you HR, grab some Gatorade and a Builder Bar (my new post workout fave) and cool down.

See ya out there...