Well after running windows Vista ultimate for roughly a year now I doing something that is becoming less and less uncommon. Thats right im downgrading (upgrading if you ask me) back to Windows XP. Why am I doing this. Let me sum up a few reasons.
My machines is pretty beefy with an intel pentium D proc and over 3 gigs of ram. I have a nice video card. Dual 17" displays two optical drives ( a cd burner and a dvd burner). And its current age is 2 years old. SO its no slouch and in genreal. However....
compared to an xp machine with lower specs or both proc and ram it takes me over a minute longer to boot than a lesser xp machine.
1.) I am using over 2 gigs of ram most of the time and am having issues with not enough free RAM
2.) My hard drive has become bloated to the point where I only have 2.5 gigs free of space. Vista seems to consume my hdd. just last week I cleared out a lot of stuff that I no longer needed and some stuff that I would have liked to keep but decided it was not critical and could be replaced. This got me to around 14-16 gigs of free space. Well now in the space of a week im back down to 2.5. When I search my drive I can find nothing that should be consuming this space. And when I went through my computer and backed up the files I wanted to keep including all my media I was only at around 17 gigs? SO where is the other 60?????
3.) Microsoft programs often crash while using Vista. This includes IE7 office 2007, even notepad crashed on me this morning. FREAKING NOTEPAD?????
4.) Vista ultimate is the biggest piece of skank ware I have seen yet. (if you dont know what skank ware is look for my wiki on it coming soon!!) I cant believe they charge more for this version. The only usable extra I have seen from it that I tried out was a crappy little texas hold em game. Thats it. Windows dream scene, which I did not plan to use but was excited to see, wont run on a dual monitor system like mine. there goes another feature. Oh and Aero often randomly turns itself off.
5.) programs hang all the time. ALL THE TIME.
6.) The sidebar is perhaps THE most pathetic attempt at copying something from apple. Their are like no real usable gadgets and they dont work as well as widgets do.
7.) It takes forever to do anything. I was trying to edit a photo awhile back and my machine kept crashing while doing a more complex editing option. Well after spending an hour trying I got fed up and decided to try it on my laptop. Ok if you have not seen my laptop its a mobile centrino proc with 512 of ram. it literally took me 30 seconds start to finish to do the edit I was trying to do!!!
8.) The security features serve only one purpose. ANNOYANCE! I only ever saw false positives from all the built in agents and the only person they stopped from accessing my machine was me.
9.) the last straw. today I was trying to upgrade to the newest version of Anti-Virus I have and it took me over an hour to uninstall the old version. Then it took a couple of re-boots before I could install the new ver. All in all took me about 1.5 hours to do. Brian in the next cube over. Same thing 5 minutes.
I am officially disgusted by this piece of garbage that Microsoft released.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Friday, March 07, 2008
Portal is the ROCKAGE!
Ok so I was talking to a couple of friends and had mentioned letting them borrow the orange box but before I could let it go for a small period of time I had to give portal a try. I have to say that this little concept game is one of the best games I have played in years. The aperture portal gun is simply brilliant and the physics behind the game are flawless. Any game that takes you a good couple of levels to really get your mind around what the heck you are actually doing, and not because of poor design, but because the concept is so new and fresh, is just so awesome. The levels are so well done and they scale in difficulty brilliantly. By the last couple of levels I could come up with a concept of what I would have to do pretty quickly but then the idea of "how the heck am I gonna pull that off" comes into play and makes each level a great challenge. I think whats also great about portal is that although it is totally linear, b/c of the portal system many levels have a number of different ways of reaching the goal. After beating Portal I went online and started to watch vids of how other people played levels and was really surprised at how different they were from my experience. Some did better others did worse but we all got through it. Other areas of note. The narration makes the game what it is. I wont go into too much details but this game has replaced my all time favorite line from a video game. Before this it was from the second nights of the old republic. There is a scene where you meet a new jedi named jolie and in the course of the conversation you have the option of saying "I hate you old man" to him. That used to be my favorite line. Now replaced with "oh come on we had fun didnt we? Like that time you thought I was going to murder you in the fire - that was fun right?"SO anyway if you have a 360 you need to buy the orange box. Not only is it the best deal in video game history - 5 games for $60 bucks but it includes portal. Did I mention portal rocks. If you dont feel like you can put out the coin for the game then at least go rent it. Portal takes about 4-5 hours on your first play through so its easy to get through with a rental.
BTW -- Portal rocks!
Cheers!
Friday, February 08, 2008
Somedays I feel like people can see right through me.
Oh wow I guess somedays people can see right through you and today is one of those days. I have been having a bit of pain in my right femur over the last month or so, so my doc suggested I go in and get some slides done just to be safe. I still have not heard the results yet but I will put the slides up here for your viewing pleasure!
Here we can see a nice cross section of my right femur. What is most interesting is if you blow up the picture you can see the shadows of where the screws used to be. Im not sure if this is quite normal or not but I have to say im not terribly thrilled about it. If you look in the top left of the slide you will see a little dot under the R. thats approximately where my bone is hurting. Oh Joy!
the hip bone is connected to the femur bone!
Here is a nice dead on straight shot that shows how much metal is still left in what is essentially my knee. Again I didnt realize it was this much and am not too happy about that. although it does help to explain my my knee hurts so much sometimes.
Well there ya go. A little up close and maybe too personal look into my leg.
Cheers!
Here we can see a nice cross section of my right femur. What is most interesting is if you blow up the picture you can see the shadows of where the screws used to be. Im not sure if this is quite normal or not but I have to say im not terribly thrilled about it. If you look in the top left of the slide you will see a little dot under the R. thats approximately where my bone is hurting. Oh Joy!
the hip bone is connected to the femur bone!
Here is a nice dead on straight shot that shows how much metal is still left in what is essentially my knee. Again I didnt realize it was this much and am not too happy about that. although it does help to explain my my knee hurts so much sometimes.
Well there ya go. A little up close and maybe too personal look into my leg.
Cheers!
Thursday, January 31, 2008
new phone on its way!!!!!!
well im super jazzed b/c this morning i placed the order for my new phone. its a xv 6800 by htc and it will have a full qwerty keyboard wifi and win mobile 6. so it should be pretty cool and i am hoping that its here by sat b/c i have been waiting a month for this. more when i get the phone!
cheers
cheers
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Vista sp1 rc1
so yeah right now im instaling sp1 for vista. why? b/c it cant suck any worse than vista does right now. so for the next hour or so my pc is unusable so im blogging from chiyo right now. Hopefully i will get my pc back soon and it will be working better.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Happy belated birthday to me
ok so i guess not quite yet but at the end of this week i will be finally getting my new mobil an i cant wait!!!!! if i get what i want it will me a new era of blogging for me as the phone i want runs win mobile 6 and has wifi so that means i can start to really utilize things like blogs and twitter more often. b/c i often have like 5 or10 min to kill and i am discovering that wifi is rather ubiquitous. So lets hope for a good late b-day for me!
Monday, December 31, 2007
10957 days without colour
I came acrossed this video today and it really spoke to me. Im feeling a bit more melancholy than usual and I think it has to do with the fact that in two days I will no longer be in my 20's and im less than thrilled about that. I have also come to another couple of conclusions over the past few days.
1.) I hate my grandfather wolf. - yikes! WOWZA! how can I say that?? Well I never met the guy (that I remember) and despite being an abusive alchoholic of a father and husband he only gave me two things. The first is the reason I shave my head. The second is a world without colour. Man I hate that guy.
2.) I have also grown to strongly dislike Shinobu Ishihara. If you have ever looked into a circle of coloured dots and seen a number you can thank him. If however you have ever looked into a circle of colured dots and seen only coloured dots you can thank him for helping to ruin your life.
Im thinking of designing a t-shirt to express my disgust for his lifes work and my rejection of his test. I have not been able to come up with a good idea though. I definitely want the text to all be in Japanese so I will be looking for help on this from those good with the jp speak. My basic idea is a test plate with some text like "dont label me" "you ruined my life" " you have crippled me" " I will hate you till the ends of the earth" that type of thing. but it should be clever and right now im just in angst mode so im not happy with what I am thinking thus far.
cheers!
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Some random fun
Now that the ironman is over everyone keeps asking "what next???" Maybe we will give this a try
Sunday, November 04, 2007
I AM AN IRONMAN!!!!!!!
Well its Sunday morning and I can finally say that I am an IRONMAN! The race was the longest thing I have ever done in my life and it was more pain and suffering than I think I have ever been through. But its over and im pretty psyched that I finished. Total time of 15:38:17. CRAP THATS A LONG TIME!
Well im going to give some brief highlights. I got to my bike to check the tires on race morning and the rear was flat again. SO I pumped it up and put 140psi in it so that it would have a bit extra. I figured that I would probably have to add air at some point on the bike course but that it would hold in general. I got everything else set up and went to go put on my wetsuit. I got to the start and seeded my self exactly where I wanted to be. all the way in the back on the inside. I wanted to swim as little as possible so I did not want to be far off to the right like a lot of people do. My thought was that if I was one of the last into the water I wouldnt impede anyone.
The Swim:
Things started really well and I felt great. The water temp was perfect and things were going pretty well. The swim for an ironman is nicknamed "the wash cycle" b/c thats what the ocean looks like when you drop 2300 people in it all swimming in the same direction. I got beat up quite a bit and had a really hard time finding open water to swim in. I made it out of the first lap in 43 minutes and was just so excited to be on track for my time goal of an hour 30. I got back in the ocean and just had a great second lap. The water was a lot clearer and I got to draft off of quite a few guys and that made my 2nd swim lap just as fast as my first but with less effort and thats pretty good to me. I got out of the water at 1:30 on the money and felt great
Out of the water onto the timing mat and then to the wetsuit strippers. WOW that was funny. Two guys told me to lay down and whooosh my wetsuit was off. At least they could have bought me a drink first!
T1 12:04
SO I come out of the water and I got my wetsuit and they hand me my t1 bag and im into the changing tent. I actually managed to find a seat! I quickly get all my gear on and my wetsuit and stuff is lying on the ground. I start stuffing it into the bag and a volunteer yells "let me do that you just get going!!!! SO out of the tent and they start calling my number for someone to get my bike. They kinda dropped the ball on this one as I was not supposed to have to go to my rack to get my bike but I basically did and when I got there I grabbed my bike and the first thing I did was check the rear tire. Which was dead flat. DOH. SO I ran to the mechanical tent and spent the next 8 min watching them change my tire out. So my t1 time sucked big time
The Bike 7:02:57
Well after the mechanical issue I was off and feeling really good. I was glued to my heart rate monitor and was sure to not go outside of my target zone. In the beginning I was being passed by a lot of people and just kept telling myself to ride this thing smart and to listen to my body.
Which I did. I was riding really solidly and was surprised at my pace which was around 17-18 mph. I just kept picking off mile markers and was having a total blast. At this point I was loving racing the ironman and was just having the most fun ever! I even came up with a little song that I kept singing to myself on the bike. It went like this
I love my softride it is really great
it smooths out the rough roads that other bikers hate!
I saw a lot of crap on the bike course that really surprised me. Bottles still in their cages. I saw one bike just on the side of the road and a ton of tubes and tires and stuff that people had not secured properly to their bikes that fell off. Well around mile 70 things started to go downhill for me. First my computer just stopped registering at all. I dont know why. I pulled over at the next stop and checked and everything was aligned properly but it just no longer was working. SO that stunk as I no longer has any clue how fast I was going. Then the first major issue of the day happened. I started to have an asthma attack on the bike. I had my inhaler with me and took a couple of puffs while riding but it just took too long be effective and I was really hurting. I was barely able to take a breath without my lungs hurting and burning and it just made the last 50 miles or so of the bike miserable. I still ended up avg like 15ish mph but had I not had breathing issues I could have maintained my original speed.
T2 7:22
I got off the bike and back into the change tent which was much less crowded this time and I just took a second to sit there and take it all in. At this point I was still not breathing all that well and my right knee was really hurting quite a bit. For those of you not in the know. I still have a rather large screw in my knee from when I broke my femur and it usually only hurts when I go long in workouts like the ironman. SO I was off the bike and not looking forward to the run at all. I got my socks and shoes on, put on my hat and headed out the door. I stopped to hit the port o potty and also to put sunscreen on. My neck and shoulders were pretty burned by this time as well despite putting sunscreen on before racing and re-applying once during the bike.
The run 6:45:33
As I was exiting the transition zone I look over to see my wonderful support crew of Iron spectators and boy did I need to see some familiar faces. SO who was there to support me? Lisa and Kaiya, Laura, Sara and Sue, And Chris and Kerry Wright. It was awesome to have so many people there watching and I really needed them. SO as im exiting I hear "Your a silly sausage" and " Its bumper to bumper on the rainbow bridge" Which I know sounds really random but it made sense to me and it made me smile which is exactly what I needed at the time. I ran probably the first mile and then I had to start walking. I was just in too much pain with my knee and I just could not breath. Plus the more I tried to use my inhaler the sicker to my stomach I got. At this point I had not eaten anything in about an hour and had, had very little liquid. I realized I was getting dehydrated and I needed calories and food. SO I started taking cola at the aid stations and cookies when they had them. Ahh cookies and coke! The combo that saved my ironman. I dont think I have ever wanted to quite something so much in my life as I wanted to quit right then. I was about mile 2, walking, in lots of pain, and the thought of another 24.2 miles just seemed like too much. It seemed impossible. But then I started to think about a conversation that lisa and I had a few weeks before. She asked if I had ever not finished a race and I said no. I have always finished a race and I have never dropped out. At that point I said to myself I am not going to let this race beat me. I am tougher and stronger than this race and I will beat this race it will not beat me. I then realized what the ironman was to me. It was not a race for time. It was not a shot at a spot for kona or an age group win. It was about me beating myself. Overcoming my physical limitations and finishing despite the fact that I probably shouldn't be able too. So then I shifted the focus inward. I told myself I couldnt run with my knee hurting AND not being able to breath but if I could overcome one of those I could run again. I knew I could not do much about my knee. I mean there is a big hunk of metal in there I cant change that. SO I started talking to my asthma. I told it that I would not let it beat me. Not this time. I told myself I was stronger than my asthma that I could do this without breathing and that if I had to I would. SO I kept walking and just told myself that every step was a step closer to the finish and that if I had to walk the whole thing I had enough time to do that. SO I kept walking and I made it to the turn around and that felt really good. It was starting to get dark and it was getting colder so I put my arm warmers back on and that helped a TON. I had talked to my bro Rich the day before and he had told me that whenever he was doing a run and felt like he couldnt go any farther that he would sing psalms in in his head and that always helped. SO I started singing the one he suggested (cant remember the #) and 119x I also sang be thou my vision to myself as thats a special one to lisa and me. About mile 8 I realized I was breathing pretty well and that my knee was no longer hurting that much. SO I started to run. I decided I wanted to finish this loop and run to the next turn around. I wanted Lisa and Kaiya to see my running and not walking. SO I actually ran the next 4 miles and kept a pretty good pace. Then the psychological warfare started. With about 1 mile till the turn around is also the finish and spectators dont know if you are on lap 1 or 2 so they all assumed lap 2. SO for like 15 min all I heard was good job your almost done. That was really hard knowing that I had another 13 miles to walk/run and that I wanted to be done so bad. I wanted to be on my second loop and I didnt want to be going back out into the cold dark night. Plus at this point I was close enough to hear mike reilly telling people they were ironmen and I wanted to be there. I wanted to cut the course and just run it in. Skip the last 13 miles. I figured hey I will cross the line get my pics and my medal. They will say im an ironman and give me my medal. It will be awhile till they figure out I skipped half the marathon. But I didnt do that. I saw lisa and she said hows it going. I replied "this sucks" I told her I was in a lot of pain and I didnt want to keep going. They all started to tell me I was almost done and not to think about how much I had left but how much I had already done. I really cant thank my family and friends enough for helping me get through this. SO I made the turn around and started my way back out into the night. I made another deal with myself. Walk a mile run a mile. Well that didnt happen I walked 1 ran a half and then ended up walking the rest. I was right back to where I was before. Burning and cramping in my lungs and my knee hurt so bad. I just kept thinking about the turn around and trying to make it there. Before I knew it I was there and I decided I wanted to try to be at 15 hours with 3 miles to go. I figured I could walk three miles in an hour and if I didnt I would still be in the low 16's. Well I was walking a lot faster than I thought I would be able too. 15 min miles so 4mph. Before I knew it I was at 15 hours with a little over 2 to go. I realized that I would finish in 15 hours if I just kept going. Those last two miles were really hard. I was so tired and just so worn out I wanted to just collapse on the side of the road and lay down. I remember thinking that I coulndnt stop for anything b/c I didnt think I would be able to start again if I stopped. SO I just kept going. As I approached the line I realized this was it. I was almost done. I had been walking with this really sweet girl and she said she was going to run the last bit in b/c she didnt want her family and friends to see her walking. She was also a first timer and we both agreed doing ironmans was really stupid and this was the last one for both of us. I let her go on ahead and kept walking content to walk across the line. But then as I got close I decided I wanted to try to run. SO I did. I got to the finish stretch and all the spectators were cheering and I no longer noticed that I couldnt breath or that my knee hurt. I just was so in the moment. I heard them say Chris 29 from franklin ohio YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!!!!
Post race:
SO I really thought as soon as I crossed the line I was going to just collapse but I didnt. I was ok. I could still walk a bit but much slower than before and I just went looking for my ultimate finish prize. A hug from Lisa and Kaiya!!!! After I found them I went for my post race massage and then to the food tent to eat some victory pizza.
SO the big question is do I think I want to do this again? HECK NO! That sucked and was too long. I think I am more suited for olympic and half iron distance but at least I can say I am an Ironman now and nobody can take that from me ever!
Again thanks to all my fam and friends who have supported me over what has been one of the longest most stressfull years of my life. You have all been super great and I love you all so much. Thanks for making this possible and for helping me fulfill a dream of mine that I have had for a long time.
Sorry no pics yet I have not gotten any but when I do I will post em.
Cheers!
Well im going to give some brief highlights. I got to my bike to check the tires on race morning and the rear was flat again. SO I pumped it up and put 140psi in it so that it would have a bit extra. I figured that I would probably have to add air at some point on the bike course but that it would hold in general. I got everything else set up and went to go put on my wetsuit. I got to the start and seeded my self exactly where I wanted to be. all the way in the back on the inside. I wanted to swim as little as possible so I did not want to be far off to the right like a lot of people do. My thought was that if I was one of the last into the water I wouldnt impede anyone.
The Swim:
Things started really well and I felt great. The water temp was perfect and things were going pretty well. The swim for an ironman is nicknamed "the wash cycle" b/c thats what the ocean looks like when you drop 2300 people in it all swimming in the same direction. I got beat up quite a bit and had a really hard time finding open water to swim in. I made it out of the first lap in 43 minutes and was just so excited to be on track for my time goal of an hour 30. I got back in the ocean and just had a great second lap. The water was a lot clearer and I got to draft off of quite a few guys and that made my 2nd swim lap just as fast as my first but with less effort and thats pretty good to me. I got out of the water at 1:30 on the money and felt great
Out of the water onto the timing mat and then to the wetsuit strippers. WOW that was funny. Two guys told me to lay down and whooosh my wetsuit was off. At least they could have bought me a drink first!
T1 12:04
SO I come out of the water and I got my wetsuit and they hand me my t1 bag and im into the changing tent. I actually managed to find a seat! I quickly get all my gear on and my wetsuit and stuff is lying on the ground. I start stuffing it into the bag and a volunteer yells "let me do that you just get going!!!! SO out of the tent and they start calling my number for someone to get my bike. They kinda dropped the ball on this one as I was not supposed to have to go to my rack to get my bike but I basically did and when I got there I grabbed my bike and the first thing I did was check the rear tire. Which was dead flat. DOH. SO I ran to the mechanical tent and spent the next 8 min watching them change my tire out. So my t1 time sucked big time
The Bike 7:02:57
Well after the mechanical issue I was off and feeling really good. I was glued to my heart rate monitor and was sure to not go outside of my target zone. In the beginning I was being passed by a lot of people and just kept telling myself to ride this thing smart and to listen to my body.
Which I did. I was riding really solidly and was surprised at my pace which was around 17-18 mph. I just kept picking off mile markers and was having a total blast. At this point I was loving racing the ironman and was just having the most fun ever! I even came up with a little song that I kept singing to myself on the bike. It went like this
I love my softride it is really great
it smooths out the rough roads that other bikers hate!
I saw a lot of crap on the bike course that really surprised me. Bottles still in their cages. I saw one bike just on the side of the road and a ton of tubes and tires and stuff that people had not secured properly to their bikes that fell off. Well around mile 70 things started to go downhill for me. First my computer just stopped registering at all. I dont know why. I pulled over at the next stop and checked and everything was aligned properly but it just no longer was working. SO that stunk as I no longer has any clue how fast I was going. Then the first major issue of the day happened. I started to have an asthma attack on the bike. I had my inhaler with me and took a couple of puffs while riding but it just took too long be effective and I was really hurting. I was barely able to take a breath without my lungs hurting and burning and it just made the last 50 miles or so of the bike miserable. I still ended up avg like 15ish mph but had I not had breathing issues I could have maintained my original speed.
T2 7:22
I got off the bike and back into the change tent which was much less crowded this time and I just took a second to sit there and take it all in. At this point I was still not breathing all that well and my right knee was really hurting quite a bit. For those of you not in the know. I still have a rather large screw in my knee from when I broke my femur and it usually only hurts when I go long in workouts like the ironman. SO I was off the bike and not looking forward to the run at all. I got my socks and shoes on, put on my hat and headed out the door. I stopped to hit the port o potty and also to put sunscreen on. My neck and shoulders were pretty burned by this time as well despite putting sunscreen on before racing and re-applying once during the bike.
The run 6:45:33
As I was exiting the transition zone I look over to see my wonderful support crew of Iron spectators and boy did I need to see some familiar faces. SO who was there to support me? Lisa and Kaiya, Laura, Sara and Sue, And Chris and Kerry Wright. It was awesome to have so many people there watching and I really needed them. SO as im exiting I hear "Your a silly sausage" and " Its bumper to bumper on the rainbow bridge" Which I know sounds really random but it made sense to me and it made me smile which is exactly what I needed at the time. I ran probably the first mile and then I had to start walking. I was just in too much pain with my knee and I just could not breath. Plus the more I tried to use my inhaler the sicker to my stomach I got. At this point I had not eaten anything in about an hour and had, had very little liquid. I realized I was getting dehydrated and I needed calories and food. SO I started taking cola at the aid stations and cookies when they had them. Ahh cookies and coke! The combo that saved my ironman. I dont think I have ever wanted to quite something so much in my life as I wanted to quit right then. I was about mile 2, walking, in lots of pain, and the thought of another 24.2 miles just seemed like too much. It seemed impossible. But then I started to think about a conversation that lisa and I had a few weeks before. She asked if I had ever not finished a race and I said no. I have always finished a race and I have never dropped out. At that point I said to myself I am not going to let this race beat me. I am tougher and stronger than this race and I will beat this race it will not beat me. I then realized what the ironman was to me. It was not a race for time. It was not a shot at a spot for kona or an age group win. It was about me beating myself. Overcoming my physical limitations and finishing despite the fact that I probably shouldn't be able too. So then I shifted the focus inward. I told myself I couldnt run with my knee hurting AND not being able to breath but if I could overcome one of those I could run again. I knew I could not do much about my knee. I mean there is a big hunk of metal in there I cant change that. SO I started talking to my asthma. I told it that I would not let it beat me. Not this time. I told myself I was stronger than my asthma that I could do this without breathing and that if I had to I would. SO I kept walking and just told myself that every step was a step closer to the finish and that if I had to walk the whole thing I had enough time to do that. SO I kept walking and I made it to the turn around and that felt really good. It was starting to get dark and it was getting colder so I put my arm warmers back on and that helped a TON. I had talked to my bro Rich the day before and he had told me that whenever he was doing a run and felt like he couldnt go any farther that he would sing psalms in in his head and that always helped. SO I started singing the one he suggested (cant remember the #) and 119x I also sang be thou my vision to myself as thats a special one to lisa and me. About mile 8 I realized I was breathing pretty well and that my knee was no longer hurting that much. SO I started to run. I decided I wanted to finish this loop and run to the next turn around. I wanted Lisa and Kaiya to see my running and not walking. SO I actually ran the next 4 miles and kept a pretty good pace. Then the psychological warfare started. With about 1 mile till the turn around is also the finish and spectators dont know if you are on lap 1 or 2 so they all assumed lap 2. SO for like 15 min all I heard was good job your almost done. That was really hard knowing that I had another 13 miles to walk/run and that I wanted to be done so bad. I wanted to be on my second loop and I didnt want to be going back out into the cold dark night. Plus at this point I was close enough to hear mike reilly telling people they were ironmen and I wanted to be there. I wanted to cut the course and just run it in. Skip the last 13 miles. I figured hey I will cross the line get my pics and my medal. They will say im an ironman and give me my medal. It will be awhile till they figure out I skipped half the marathon. But I didnt do that. I saw lisa and she said hows it going. I replied "this sucks" I told her I was in a lot of pain and I didnt want to keep going. They all started to tell me I was almost done and not to think about how much I had left but how much I had already done. I really cant thank my family and friends enough for helping me get through this. SO I made the turn around and started my way back out into the night. I made another deal with myself. Walk a mile run a mile. Well that didnt happen I walked 1 ran a half and then ended up walking the rest. I was right back to where I was before. Burning and cramping in my lungs and my knee hurt so bad. I just kept thinking about the turn around and trying to make it there. Before I knew it I was there and I decided I wanted to try to be at 15 hours with 3 miles to go. I figured I could walk three miles in an hour and if I didnt I would still be in the low 16's. Well I was walking a lot faster than I thought I would be able too. 15 min miles so 4mph. Before I knew it I was at 15 hours with a little over 2 to go. I realized that I would finish in 15 hours if I just kept going. Those last two miles were really hard. I was so tired and just so worn out I wanted to just collapse on the side of the road and lay down. I remember thinking that I coulndnt stop for anything b/c I didnt think I would be able to start again if I stopped. SO I just kept going. As I approached the line I realized this was it. I was almost done. I had been walking with this really sweet girl and she said she was going to run the last bit in b/c she didnt want her family and friends to see her walking. She was also a first timer and we both agreed doing ironmans was really stupid and this was the last one for both of us. I let her go on ahead and kept walking content to walk across the line. But then as I got close I decided I wanted to try to run. SO I did. I got to the finish stretch and all the spectators were cheering and I no longer noticed that I couldnt breath or that my knee hurt. I just was so in the moment. I heard them say Chris 29 from franklin ohio YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!!!!
Post race:
SO I really thought as soon as I crossed the line I was going to just collapse but I didnt. I was ok. I could still walk a bit but much slower than before and I just went looking for my ultimate finish prize. A hug from Lisa and Kaiya!!!! After I found them I went for my post race massage and then to the food tent to eat some victory pizza.
SO the big question is do I think I want to do this again? HECK NO! That sucked and was too long. I think I am more suited for olympic and half iron distance but at least I can say I am an Ironman now and nobody can take that from me ever!
Again thanks to all my fam and friends who have supported me over what has been one of the longest most stressfull years of my life. You have all been super great and I love you all so much. Thanks for making this possible and for helping me fulfill a dream of mine that I have had for a long time.
Sorry no pics yet I have not gotten any but when I do I will post em.
Cheers!
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Its almost time.
Well its tuesday morning and I swear I feel like im back in HS waiting on the last day of class before summer break. I just want to get out of Dayton and on the way down to Panama City Beach (PCB). Real quick reminder that anyone who wants to can keep track of me on race day via the Ironman website. You should just need to navigate to the Ironmanlive link and that should do it. I would link direct here but it wont be active till Saturday so this is the best I can do right now. Again my race number is #358 and you should be able to use that or my name to find out where I am. Lastly for anyone wanting to invest a wee bit more time they will have a live webcast going all day long with cameras set up at key points of interest. Mostly this includes the exit of transition and the finish line. SOOOO that means anyone on the net should be able to watch me finish if they want to. right now I think I will be finishing in the 13-15 hour range which puts me around 8-10pm CDT or 9 -11 EST.
Last minute prep is going ok. I am starting to stress a bit over all that has to be done before I leave and just worrying that I am going to forget something crucially important like my bike helmet or my bike! I realized last week that I had a tire issue so I went to the shop last night and my coach helped me swap out my tire and mount my spare. That went really well and I was feeling really good about it until this morning when I went out to the garage and the tire was totally flat. I had a 160psi (yes you read that right) in that tire and it was totally flat this morning and that shouldnt be. SO I pumped it up again this morning and we will see how it is when I get home today. Im hoping that its a temp / press change thing but that seems a bit drastic to me. SO im not happy about that. Also I have been trying to get arm warmers for like a month now and my coach finally got some and I forget them at the shop. DOH! SO lisa is going to pick them up for me or I might be making another trip out to the shop to buy a new rear tire. DOUBLE DOH! SO outside of the mechanical issues on the bike things are looking good. Im totally immersed in my taper right now and its driving me crazy! I just want to go out and workout and push hard but heres my schedule for the week
sunday - off
monday - off
tuesday - off
wednesday - 30 min easy ride
thursday - light swim in ocean
friday - 30 min easy run, light swim in ocean
saturday - BIG RACE DAY!
SO yeah im going a bit nuts since im used to working out for like an hour each day and now im just doing nothing. But I know this is very important as its time for my body to recover a bit from the training and re-energize!
Well I think thats it. I dont know if I will blog again before the race. I might who knows take some pre-race pics of the expo and what not and throw a quick post up, we shall see.
Real quick I just want to say thanks to everyone who has supported my journey here. The support from all my friends and family has been really great and despite being told "im totally crazy" more times than I can remember I know everyone is really excited for me with this. I cant believe its almost here. This has been one crazy long year filled with many ups and downs. Im just so thankfull that I am getting this opportunity and that I am healthy and injury free.
See you guys at the finish!
Cheers
Last minute prep is going ok. I am starting to stress a bit over all that has to be done before I leave and just worrying that I am going to forget something crucially important like my bike helmet or my bike! I realized last week that I had a tire issue so I went to the shop last night and my coach helped me swap out my tire and mount my spare. That went really well and I was feeling really good about it until this morning when I went out to the garage and the tire was totally flat. I had a 160psi (yes you read that right) in that tire and it was totally flat this morning and that shouldnt be. SO I pumped it up again this morning and we will see how it is when I get home today. Im hoping that its a temp / press change thing but that seems a bit drastic to me. SO im not happy about that. Also I have been trying to get arm warmers for like a month now and my coach finally got some and I forget them at the shop. DOH! SO lisa is going to pick them up for me or I might be making another trip out to the shop to buy a new rear tire. DOUBLE DOH! SO outside of the mechanical issues on the bike things are looking good. Im totally immersed in my taper right now and its driving me crazy! I just want to go out and workout and push hard but heres my schedule for the week
sunday - off
monday - off
tuesday - off
wednesday - 30 min easy ride
thursday - light swim in ocean
friday - 30 min easy run, light swim in ocean
saturday - BIG RACE DAY!
SO yeah im going a bit nuts since im used to working out for like an hour each day and now im just doing nothing. But I know this is very important as its time for my body to recover a bit from the training and re-energize!
Well I think thats it. I dont know if I will blog again before the race. I might who knows take some pre-race pics of the expo and what not and throw a quick post up, we shall see.
Real quick I just want to say thanks to everyone who has supported my journey here. The support from all my friends and family has been really great and despite being told "im totally crazy" more times than I can remember I know everyone is really excited for me with this. I cant believe its almost here. This has been one crazy long year filled with many ups and downs. Im just so thankfull that I am getting this opportunity and that I am healthy and injury free.
See you guys at the finish!
Cheers
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Bring on the Taper! +Take a # please!
I have my race number!!!! I am number 358! SO know you guys can track me online during the race!!!!
Well I did my "mega" workout this past saturday and WOW it was a total test of both physical and mental toughness. I went 5 hours on the bike and 2 hours of running, but its a little more interesting than that. Since I was going for a 7 hour workout and it does not get light here till 8am right now I did not want to start that late as it would put me finishing around 3pm and that would just take up to much of the day. SO I got my butt out of bed and on the indoor trainer at 5am. OITS! I can officially say that is too early to start working out. SO yeah I did 5 hours on the indoor trainer which my coach says that every hour on a trainer is like 1.5 hours on the road. SO that means my bike effort was equivalent to 7.5 hours of riding which is way longer than I project to be riding in the ironman so that is pretty darn cool. But WOW was that boring. I watched a TON of anime on my laptop and that is the only thing that kept me sane. Also I am officially sick and tired of gels, bars, and sports drinks. YUCK! SO that was pretty tough to just get through. I was getting so antsy by the end of the bike. I just wanted to get off that darn thing. SO I went for the run and I have to say my legs feel so fresh off the bike. I love riding a steep 78-80 degree seat angle, it makes a huge difference. SO I decided that I wanted to bonk on the run and test my mental toughness some more so I didnt bring any water or gels or anything. About an hour in I did in fact bonk and I pushed through it and kept running for the whole 2 hours. Do I think I could have kept running for another 3. Probably not but I do plan to keep eating and drinking on the run in the ironman and I do not plan to bonk. But if I do I am prepared.
SO all in all things are going well. Its 10 days to go and I just want to get there. I still have to much to do to pack and prepare and I just got my new wheels in yesterday so I have to get them mounted and take them for a few spins to get used to them. I have a 4.5 hour workout this saturday so that should be a good time for me to get a feel for them and break them in.
Well thats all for now
Cheers!
Well I did my "mega" workout this past saturday and WOW it was a total test of both physical and mental toughness. I went 5 hours on the bike and 2 hours of running, but its a little more interesting than that. Since I was going for a 7 hour workout and it does not get light here till 8am right now I did not want to start that late as it would put me finishing around 3pm and that would just take up to much of the day. SO I got my butt out of bed and on the indoor trainer at 5am. OITS! I can officially say that is too early to start working out. SO yeah I did 5 hours on the indoor trainer which my coach says that every hour on a trainer is like 1.5 hours on the road. SO that means my bike effort was equivalent to 7.5 hours of riding which is way longer than I project to be riding in the ironman so that is pretty darn cool. But WOW was that boring. I watched a TON of anime on my laptop and that is the only thing that kept me sane. Also I am officially sick and tired of gels, bars, and sports drinks. YUCK! SO that was pretty tough to just get through. I was getting so antsy by the end of the bike. I just wanted to get off that darn thing. SO I went for the run and I have to say my legs feel so fresh off the bike. I love riding a steep 78-80 degree seat angle, it makes a huge difference. SO I decided that I wanted to bonk on the run and test my mental toughness some more so I didnt bring any water or gels or anything. About an hour in I did in fact bonk and I pushed through it and kept running for the whole 2 hours. Do I think I could have kept running for another 3. Probably not but I do plan to keep eating and drinking on the run in the ironman and I do not plan to bonk. But if I do I am prepared.
SO all in all things are going well. Its 10 days to go and I just want to get there. I still have to much to do to pack and prepare and I just got my new wheels in yesterday so I have to get them mounted and take them for a few spins to get used to them. I have a 4.5 hour workout this saturday so that should be a good time for me to get a feel for them and break them in.
Well thats all for now
Cheers!
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Im almost there!
Well things really feel like they are coming together for me and my first Ironman Experiance. I will in no way be doing anything "Amazing" by other athletes standards but I think this is going to be a really good experience for me. Im really getting excited about doing this event which I have to say is really surprising me b/c a month ago I was in sheer terror about the whole thing. Now im so excited its like X-mas!!!!! SO let me give some highlights of what all has been happening:
Last weekends workout went really well. Despite terribly crappy weather 37 degrees at the start of my bike ride and me with little cold weather clothing I managed to still maintain 15 mph avg for the 3 hour bike and put in a solid 45 miles. Had it been warmer I could have gone a lot faster! Then my coach wanted me to run 4 5k's and negative split them.
5k #1
I started on the first 5k and it was purely awful. My feet were so frozen it was a good 2 miles into the run before I could even feel them so that 5k was pretty rough. A little bit of walking and stopping to try and stretch out my frozen muscles in an attempt to get them warmed up.
time of 38:50ish
5k#2
by this time my feet and legs were back in business and I was just fighting to not run faster. Really watched the HR and tried to stay in control and keep myself in zone 2 which is the zone I will spend most of the Ironman in. I felt great during this 5k and ended up with a time of like 38:30ish first negative split!!!!
5k#3
I decided that if I was going to negative split I needed to step up to zone 3 and turn off my heart rate monitors beep function and just ignore the fact that I was out of my "ideal" zone. I instantly picked up the pace and felt really good. I couldnt believe that I was actually accelerating after biking 45 miles and already running 6 but I was. I went entirely to fast and ended up running a 32:30ish for the 3rd 5k. WOW for super negative split
5k#4
I tried to keep up the pace of the last 5k but I just couldnt do it. By this time I was in the upper limits of zone 5 which is not where you want to be. I realized I really blew myself out in the last 5k and should have toned it down a bit. I could not get my heart rate to settle back down to even zone 4 so the last 5k was really hard but I kept running through it and just pushed through. end time of like 38:10ish -- not a negative split but more inline with what I need to be running.
SO yesterday I went and saw my coach and for the first time he was excited with my results!!! This is how our mtgs usually go.
Coach: Ok so how are your workouts going?
me: well I have gotten a few in but have missed these.
Coach: I cant believe you think your going to do an ironman. Do you realize how underprepared you are. Im sorry but your going to die out there. Do you have a good life insurance plan? Man you are going to be hurting bad I hope your ready for a long painfull day. Hey your about the same size as my wife. Can she have your bike when you die from being so out of shape.
me: ummm I dont....know....I guess.....maybe
SO yeah they are usually pretty depressing and he usually tells me there is no way I will make any of my current time goals and that im going to have a tough time even finishing. But after this past weekends workout he was really getting excited. He was all like WOW your going to do this and we did some figuring and if I can keep up the paces that im shooting for I might just be able to break 14 hours which would be sooooooo amazing. Im still thinking 14-15 is where I will be but if I can transition well I think sub 14 is a real possibility. Provided I have a great day and nothing goes wrong. But hey this is ironman racing what could possibly go wrong!
On another note my wheel situation has resolved itself in quite a wonderfull way. PRAISE THE LORD!!!! Here is the quick rundown. I put basically an SOS message on a tri forum that I frequent (ok I live there) sometimes and got a reply. What I have been offered is a pair of carbon fiber tri spoke wheels that retail for $1500 for the pair. Oh but it gets better. I asked the guy if they came with tyres. Long story about why that is important but it is. He said let me check. Oh yeah they come with Continental Competition tyres. I know that doesnt mean anything to any of you but they go for $85 a tyre. yes for 1. SO thats $170 worth of amazing hand made german rubber. SO thats a grand total of $1670 worth of wheels for the bargain price of $200 yes you heard me right. 2 to the 0 to the big ol 0 SO im sooo excited and I have wanted carbon tri spokes forever!!! SO this is really like the coolest thing ever for me.
Well thats about it. I will probably post again after my next workout. ITs a mega workout. 5 hour bike (on the trainer ZZZZZZ) 2 hour run.
Cheers!
Last weekends workout went really well. Despite terribly crappy weather 37 degrees at the start of my bike ride and me with little cold weather clothing I managed to still maintain 15 mph avg for the 3 hour bike and put in a solid 45 miles. Had it been warmer I could have gone a lot faster! Then my coach wanted me to run 4 5k's and negative split them.
5k #1
I started on the first 5k and it was purely awful. My feet were so frozen it was a good 2 miles into the run before I could even feel them so that 5k was pretty rough. A little bit of walking and stopping to try and stretch out my frozen muscles in an attempt to get them warmed up.
time of 38:50ish
5k#2
by this time my feet and legs were back in business and I was just fighting to not run faster. Really watched the HR and tried to stay in control and keep myself in zone 2 which is the zone I will spend most of the Ironman in. I felt great during this 5k and ended up with a time of like 38:30ish first negative split!!!!
5k#3
I decided that if I was going to negative split I needed to step up to zone 3 and turn off my heart rate monitors beep function and just ignore the fact that I was out of my "ideal" zone. I instantly picked up the pace and felt really good. I couldnt believe that I was actually accelerating after biking 45 miles and already running 6 but I was. I went entirely to fast and ended up running a 32:30ish for the 3rd 5k. WOW for super negative split
5k#4
I tried to keep up the pace of the last 5k but I just couldnt do it. By this time I was in the upper limits of zone 5 which is not where you want to be. I realized I really blew myself out in the last 5k and should have toned it down a bit. I could not get my heart rate to settle back down to even zone 4 so the last 5k was really hard but I kept running through it and just pushed through. end time of like 38:10ish -- not a negative split but more inline with what I need to be running.
SO yesterday I went and saw my coach and for the first time he was excited with my results!!! This is how our mtgs usually go.
Coach: Ok so how are your workouts going?
me: well I have gotten a few in but have missed these.
Coach: I cant believe you think your going to do an ironman. Do you realize how underprepared you are. Im sorry but your going to die out there. Do you have a good life insurance plan? Man you are going to be hurting bad I hope your ready for a long painfull day. Hey your about the same size as my wife. Can she have your bike when you die from being so out of shape.
me: ummm I dont....know....I guess.....maybe
SO yeah they are usually pretty depressing and he usually tells me there is no way I will make any of my current time goals and that im going to have a tough time even finishing. But after this past weekends workout he was really getting excited. He was all like WOW your going to do this and we did some figuring and if I can keep up the paces that im shooting for I might just be able to break 14 hours which would be sooooooo amazing. Im still thinking 14-15 is where I will be but if I can transition well I think sub 14 is a real possibility. Provided I have a great day and nothing goes wrong. But hey this is ironman racing what could possibly go wrong!
On another note my wheel situation has resolved itself in quite a wonderfull way. PRAISE THE LORD!!!! Here is the quick rundown. I put basically an SOS message on a tri forum that I frequent (ok I live there) sometimes and got a reply. What I have been offered is a pair of carbon fiber tri spoke wheels that retail for $1500 for the pair. Oh but it gets better. I asked the guy if they came with tyres. Long story about why that is important but it is. He said let me check. Oh yeah they come with Continental Competition tyres. I know that doesnt mean anything to any of you but they go for $85 a tyre. yes for 1. SO thats $170 worth of amazing hand made german rubber. SO thats a grand total of $1670 worth of wheels for the bargain price of $200 yes you heard me right. 2 to the 0 to the big ol 0 SO im sooo excited and I have wanted carbon tri spokes forever!!! SO this is really like the coolest thing ever for me.
Well thats about it. I will probably post again after my next workout. ITs a mega workout. 5 hour bike (on the trainer ZZZZZZ) 2 hour run.
Cheers!
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
T - 24 days and counting!
Well its a little over 24 days till the ironman and I have to admit Im starting to get pretty excited. I watched a video clip this morning from the 1986 ironman and it really helped to put some things in perspective. People have been racing this distance for years without all the high tech gear that we have today. Back then they did it on bananas and water. There were no specially formulated energy drinks, no powerbars, no gu, just normal people making a go of it. I feel that is a pretty good description of me. Just a normal guy making a go of it. SO I wanted to take some time to reflect on the past year. I have realistically done maybe 40% of the training I would have liked to have done. What does that mean? Well it means this is not going to be easy for me. It means I will more than likely be closer to the 15 hour mark of my 13-15 hour time goal. It means this is going to hurt. Im going to feel very alone and Im going to want to quit this more than I have ever wanted to quit anything in my life. But I wont. The Ironman means so much to me. Its a dream I have had for at least the past 10 years and is really symbolic of a lot of things to me. Its a journey that has been going on for a long time and it will be really nice to arrive at the destination. I have read a lot of stuff on positive visualization and I have to say I think its working. About a month ago I was feeling down right freaked out and like there was no way I was going to finish but I have since spent a lot of time just thinking about what its going to be like to be out on the course, how im going to feel and what im going to be focusing on to get to the finish. I think its working and I think I owe some of that to me feeling better about things. I also am starting to realize that I dont have as much to prove as I thought I did. I am not only an athlete but I am a long distance tri-athlete and im learning that my body is really well suited for that. If I had the time and a few less severe injuries in my past I think I could have actually been something maybe not so special but competitive. And im ok with that.
SO in 24 days I will be more than likely somewhere between the bike and the run and thinking about how cool it is that Im doing this. Im going to be hurting, hungry (sick of gels and bars), tired, but most of all I hope im really happy. But the coolest part of the day is going to be when I cross the line and get my congratulations hug and kiss from Lisa and Kaiya!
this is going to be soooo freaking awesome!!!!!
SO in 24 days I will be more than likely somewhere between the bike and the run and thinking about how cool it is that Im doing this. Im going to be hurting, hungry (sick of gels and bars), tired, but most of all I hope im really happy. But the coolest part of the day is going to be when I cross the line and get my congratulations hug and kiss from Lisa and Kaiya!
this is going to be soooo freaking awesome!!!!!
Friday, September 28, 2007
WDW race report wrap up! ~BONK!~
Well im back and as promised I have Pics from the race! w00t w00t! Ok so I know you all are wondering how did it all go? Well let me tell you. I think this distance could really suit me well for racing and hey maybe if I got real good I could get an olympic spot some day since this is technically the olympic distance for tris -- LOL can you say pipe dream! neway on to the race report.
About a week before the race Disney released information that had most of us a bit concerned. It seems there is this killer amoeba that lives in lakes and it seems this little bugger loves to swim up the nose of unsuspecting swimmers and then it proceeds to eat away at your brain and spinal chord until well to be blunt your dead. The total time for this little guy to work his magic is roughly 3-5 days from first contact. Now your saying why am I bringing this up. Well it turns out that the lake we were swimming in meet all the criteria to be optimal for this little bugger to thrive and well yeah when they tested the lake he was there. YIKES! so what did disney do??? they suggested we all wear noseplugs and provided pretty nice noseplugs at the swim start. They also allowed everyone the option to bail out of the swim however their time would not be counted in awards. SO that was a bit of a scare but the closer we got to the race the less "ideal" the lake became and I actually heard volunteers saying they were testing the lake everyday just to be sure that the lake was in acceptable levels and safe to swim in.
SO at 7:50am I along with 61 other people in my age group ran into the water with noseplugs on! I do not feel like a very strong swimmer so I really kinda seeded myself near the back of the back b/c I really didnt want to get in anyones way and I really didnt want to get swum over. Boy was I wrong! It turns out compared to the people there I was not that bad of a swimmer and passed a TON of people in the swim. I still dont think im a good swimmer I just think I was more prepared for the distance then a lot of the guys. I was really surprised how many people were having to take a break before we even got to the turn around in the lake. In general I was really happy with my swim. I stayed very calm kept my heart rate down and just swam at my pace. My ability to sight in the water still sucks big time but thats ok with me. I got through it and I feel good about my swim.
Swim Time = 37:44
T1 sucked big time. I swear we had to run like a 1/4 mile just to get into transition and once there they had all the age groups racked together so you were climbing over tons of people just to get to your gear. These were some of my slowest transitions ever and the course and layout had a lot to do with that.
T1 Time = 3:57
The Bike -- Ok heres a shot near the end where I am looking all aero and studly. I was super duper scared of the bike, not for the distance but b/c I was doing something that you just dont do in Triathlon. I was running new untested gear for the first time in a race. YIKES! So what was new??? Oh only my wheels - nothing major there. Also I got a visor for my helmet and opted to try that over sunglasses. I liked it and the wheels worked great!
SO I decided that I would do the first 20 on the bike easy and then crank it up after that. Well the first part of the bike was awesome and I felt like I was barely working yet I was avg 21mph which is smoking for me! My strategy turned out to be a good one as around the 21 mile mark we really nosed into a head wind and I needed fresh legs to be able to maintain the pace I had been going. And I had those fresh legs. I had an absolute blast on the bike! The course was very very fast and despite it being pretty crowded and a lot (I mean a TON) of unexperienced riders on the course it was just so much fun. I really started hard into my nutrition plan on the bike and was taking in a gel every 30 as well as lots of water and endurance energy drink. I felt like I was really doing well and then something happened around mile 31. My legs started to get cold. Now you might be wondering how that would be possible. The temps were in the upper 90's with 100% humidity. And my legs were getting cold??? Your saying to yourself, now sparky that doesnt make any sense???? Well let me tell you something. The human body is pretty cool and when you get really dehydrated (like severely dehydrated) your mind tricks your body into thinking its cold, why???? So that you stop sweating and conserve water. SO I knew that was a bad thing and kept trying to rehydrate in the last few minutes on the bike but I knew that this was bad and that it was going to be hard to recover and get rehydrated on the run. As I entered the dismount shoot for T2 I sat up off the aero bars and got a nasty cramp in my tummy. Turns out my stomach was pretty unhappy with me too and that was just the beggining.
Bike Time = 1:50:44
T2 Time = 2:09
Onto the run. WOW things went from bad to worse very very quickly. I was glad the photographer was close to the run start b/c I still had enough in me to run hard for the photo and get a good "action" shot.
You would think from this photo that I was feeling really good and going really hard. Well I wasnt. I think I started walking as soon as I passed the camera guy and I ended up walking most of the first loop. How come you ask? Well I felt like total and utter crap. My stomach had claimed mutiny on me and I discovered that I could no longer even take in water without getting sick. I decided I really needed to focus and regroup. I hate walking during a run and it a real big issue for me to be able to stop running and start walking. However this is really a "ego thing" and not a "whats best for me thing" so I re-evaluated and changed my goal for the day from finishing under 3:30 to finishing without ending up in the medical tent. The run was two 3.1 mile loops and the first one was just awful I felt so sick and just like I couldnt move and I was getting more dehydrated. My legs started cramping pretty badly and I was so hot I just wanted to be done with the whole thing. After the end of the first loop I saw my two coaches. Bob yelled out "pick it up and try to run the second loop faster than the first one" I thought to myself "well since I have walked most of the first loop I dont think thats going to be too hard"
So after getting myself settled down and composing myself I decided two things. 1.) I wasnt going to try to drink anything else for the rest of the race. And 2.) I was going to try to run the whole second loop. Well I took a 2 very small sips of water and did run most of the second loop. I was slow but I was moving faster than walking. Below is probably my favorite pic of the bunch. I really like how I look in this pic and I think it really captures how I was feeling and how determined I was to finish this race. Side note. At this point in time I was freezing and had goos e bumps all over my body. What fun it is to race!
SO I got to mile 5 looked down at my watch and figured out I had roughly 20 minutes to finish under 4 hours. This gave me a new goal and one I felt I could achieve. I at least wanted the first number in my time to be a 3. A 4 was unacceptable. SO I kicked it in and ran the whole last 1.2 miles and ran through the finisher chute and was soooo happy to be done with that race.
Run Time = 81:06
Total Time = 3:55:38
Age group place = 35 out of 61
overall place = N/A
SO what happened to me that really threw the wrench in my race? Well I spoke with my coach afterwards and we feel that b/c of the extreme heat and humidity in the start of the bike that I probably lost more salt than I was used to losing and in a very short period of time. Salt is really important in your bodies ability to retain and process water and once you become deficient in it well you see what happened to me. SO it was a good learning experience and one Im taking with me in a month to IMFL. I think I will have some salt tablets or something to try to help avoid this again.
SO that was my race. I want to give a big shout out to Hannah Rumping who is the big reason I did this race. After the race Lisa asked me if I thought about her at all while I was racing and I said "yeah actually I did a lot" I really struggled in the run and just wanted to quit so badly but I kept thinking about hannah and how strong she has been and that if she had quit on herself she would not be with us anymore. She really was the strength I needed to finish and was such a great motivivation to finish strong. SO thanks so much hannah your awesome!
well its about a month till ironman so look for that race report too!
cheers!
About a week before the race Disney released information that had most of us a bit concerned. It seems there is this killer amoeba that lives in lakes and it seems this little bugger loves to swim up the nose of unsuspecting swimmers and then it proceeds to eat away at your brain and spinal chord until well to be blunt your dead. The total time for this little guy to work his magic is roughly 3-5 days from first contact. Now your saying why am I bringing this up. Well it turns out that the lake we were swimming in meet all the criteria to be optimal for this little bugger to thrive and well yeah when they tested the lake he was there. YIKES! so what did disney do??? they suggested we all wear noseplugs and provided pretty nice noseplugs at the swim start. They also allowed everyone the option to bail out of the swim however their time would not be counted in awards. SO that was a bit of a scare but the closer we got to the race the less "ideal" the lake became and I actually heard volunteers saying they were testing the lake everyday just to be sure that the lake was in acceptable levels and safe to swim in.
SO at 7:50am I along with 61 other people in my age group ran into the water with noseplugs on! I do not feel like a very strong swimmer so I really kinda seeded myself near the back of the back b/c I really didnt want to get in anyones way and I really didnt want to get swum over. Boy was I wrong! It turns out compared to the people there I was not that bad of a swimmer and passed a TON of people in the swim. I still dont think im a good swimmer I just think I was more prepared for the distance then a lot of the guys. I was really surprised how many people were having to take a break before we even got to the turn around in the lake. In general I was really happy with my swim. I stayed very calm kept my heart rate down and just swam at my pace. My ability to sight in the water still sucks big time but thats ok with me. I got through it and I feel good about my swim.
Swim Time = 37:44
T1 sucked big time. I swear we had to run like a 1/4 mile just to get into transition and once there they had all the age groups racked together so you were climbing over tons of people just to get to your gear. These were some of my slowest transitions ever and the course and layout had a lot to do with that.
T1 Time = 3:57
The Bike -- Ok heres a shot near the end where I am looking all aero and studly. I was super duper scared of the bike, not for the distance but b/c I was doing something that you just dont do in Triathlon. I was running new untested gear for the first time in a race. YIKES! So what was new??? Oh only my wheels - nothing major there. Also I got a visor for my helmet and opted to try that over sunglasses. I liked it and the wheels worked great!
SO I decided that I would do the first 20 on the bike easy and then crank it up after that. Well the first part of the bike was awesome and I felt like I was barely working yet I was avg 21mph which is smoking for me! My strategy turned out to be a good one as around the 21 mile mark we really nosed into a head wind and I needed fresh legs to be able to maintain the pace I had been going. And I had those fresh legs. I had an absolute blast on the bike! The course was very very fast and despite it being pretty crowded and a lot (I mean a TON) of unexperienced riders on the course it was just so much fun. I really started hard into my nutrition plan on the bike and was taking in a gel every 30 as well as lots of water and endurance energy drink. I felt like I was really doing well and then something happened around mile 31. My legs started to get cold. Now you might be wondering how that would be possible. The temps were in the upper 90's with 100% humidity. And my legs were getting cold??? Your saying to yourself, now sparky that doesnt make any sense???? Well let me tell you something. The human body is pretty cool and when you get really dehydrated (like severely dehydrated) your mind tricks your body into thinking its cold, why???? So that you stop sweating and conserve water. SO I knew that was a bad thing and kept trying to rehydrate in the last few minutes on the bike but I knew that this was bad and that it was going to be hard to recover and get rehydrated on the run. As I entered the dismount shoot for T2 I sat up off the aero bars and got a nasty cramp in my tummy. Turns out my stomach was pretty unhappy with me too and that was just the beggining.
Bike Time = 1:50:44
T2 Time = 2:09
Onto the run. WOW things went from bad to worse very very quickly. I was glad the photographer was close to the run start b/c I still had enough in me to run hard for the photo and get a good "action" shot.
You would think from this photo that I was feeling really good and going really hard. Well I wasnt. I think I started walking as soon as I passed the camera guy and I ended up walking most of the first loop. How come you ask? Well I felt like total and utter crap. My stomach had claimed mutiny on me and I discovered that I could no longer even take in water without getting sick. I decided I really needed to focus and regroup. I hate walking during a run and it a real big issue for me to be able to stop running and start walking. However this is really a "ego thing" and not a "whats best for me thing" so I re-evaluated and changed my goal for the day from finishing under 3:30 to finishing without ending up in the medical tent. The run was two 3.1 mile loops and the first one was just awful I felt so sick and just like I couldnt move and I was getting more dehydrated. My legs started cramping pretty badly and I was so hot I just wanted to be done with the whole thing. After the end of the first loop I saw my two coaches. Bob yelled out "pick it up and try to run the second loop faster than the first one" I thought to myself "well since I have walked most of the first loop I dont think thats going to be too hard"
So after getting myself settled down and composing myself I decided two things. 1.) I wasnt going to try to drink anything else for the rest of the race. And 2.) I was going to try to run the whole second loop. Well I took a 2 very small sips of water and did run most of the second loop. I was slow but I was moving faster than walking. Below is probably my favorite pic of the bunch. I really like how I look in this pic and I think it really captures how I was feeling and how determined I was to finish this race. Side note. At this point in time I was freezing and had goos e bumps all over my body. What fun it is to race!
SO I got to mile 5 looked down at my watch and figured out I had roughly 20 minutes to finish under 4 hours. This gave me a new goal and one I felt I could achieve. I at least wanted the first number in my time to be a 3. A 4 was unacceptable. SO I kicked it in and ran the whole last 1.2 miles and ran through the finisher chute and was soooo happy to be done with that race.
Run Time = 81:06
Total Time = 3:55:38
Age group place = 35 out of 61
overall place = N/A
SO what happened to me that really threw the wrench in my race? Well I spoke with my coach afterwards and we feel that b/c of the extreme heat and humidity in the start of the bike that I probably lost more salt than I was used to losing and in a very short period of time. Salt is really important in your bodies ability to retain and process water and once you become deficient in it well you see what happened to me. SO it was a good learning experience and one Im taking with me in a month to IMFL. I think I will have some salt tablets or something to try to help avoid this again.
SO that was my race. I want to give a big shout out to Hannah Rumping who is the big reason I did this race. After the race Lisa asked me if I thought about her at all while I was racing and I said "yeah actually I did a lot" I really struggled in the run and just wanted to quit so badly but I kept thinking about hannah and how strong she has been and that if she had quit on herself she would not be with us anymore. She really was the strength I needed to finish and was such a great motivivation to finish strong. SO thanks so much hannah your awesome!
well its about a month till ironman so look for that race report too!
cheers!
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
SO ive been like ummm busy and stuff.
Ok the last month or so has been really hectic and I have not gotten to blog nearly enough and I know Lisa keeps saying "I need to update Kaiya's blog" We really do have lots to post. TONS of cute pics and even some new super cute video clips of her. Shes growing up so fast but I will leave that to lisa and her update that I promise is coming soon.
Well im like I dunno 43 or 42 days from Ironman Florida and depending on the day you catch me will depend on my response. Most days im pretty freaked out but some days I feel pretty ok about it. I have been getting some longer 5+ hour workouts in and thats helping to boost the confidence but I still need to get to the 7+ hour range to really have the confidence to push through this behemoth of an event. I have really been working on dialing in my nutrition and thats going well. Here is a little lesson for anyone who cares. While exercise the human body can only take in about 400 cal/hour. Yet I will be burning roughly 800-1000 cal/hour so its very important that I take in enough calories so as to avoid the dreaded "Bonk." Racing Ironman is not like most races its a very delicate balance of basically keeping your body just a little bit ahead of the bonk and maintaining that level of energy for the whole event. SO my plan right now is a energy gel every 30 min which gives me 200 calories and then half a bottle or about 10 ounces of powerbar endurance sports drink. Which will give me about another 200 calories or 400 for the hour. SO thats the plan.
SO thats the big thing on my mind but another thing I got going on is another race this weekend. My Team in Training race has finally come and I leave for Florida on friday morning with lisa and kaiya to go down to disney and race. This will be the longest race I have done in awhile and should be a pretty good warm up for my Ironman. My coach wants me to race this all out but im not really sure how to do that. I know how to all out a sprint Tri but the disney tri is like 3xs longer than the longest sprint I have done so if I go all out im going to burn out before the finish. SO im going to have to try to balance and find a pace somewhere between the sprints I have done and the pace I am using in training for the Ironman. The distances for the race are .9 mile swim (in killer amoeba infested waters, im not even joking) Then a 35 mile bike followed by a 6 mile run. Thats pretty long but im shooting for a time of 3 to 3.5 hours. We shall see how I hold up. SO wish me luck. Im totally stressing over my bike. I had to give it up last week to be shipped down and its just feels so wrong to not have it.
Theoretically next week I will have a post up with lots of pics from the race as well as my results.
cheers!
Well im like I dunno 43 or 42 days from Ironman Florida and depending on the day you catch me will depend on my response. Most days im pretty freaked out but some days I feel pretty ok about it. I have been getting some longer 5+ hour workouts in and thats helping to boost the confidence but I still need to get to the 7+ hour range to really have the confidence to push through this behemoth of an event. I have really been working on dialing in my nutrition and thats going well. Here is a little lesson for anyone who cares. While exercise the human body can only take in about 400 cal/hour. Yet I will be burning roughly 800-1000 cal/hour so its very important that I take in enough calories so as to avoid the dreaded "Bonk." Racing Ironman is not like most races its a very delicate balance of basically keeping your body just a little bit ahead of the bonk and maintaining that level of energy for the whole event. SO my plan right now is a energy gel every 30 min which gives me 200 calories and then half a bottle or about 10 ounces of powerbar endurance sports drink. Which will give me about another 200 calories or 400 for the hour. SO thats the plan.
SO thats the big thing on my mind but another thing I got going on is another race this weekend. My Team in Training race has finally come and I leave for Florida on friday morning with lisa and kaiya to go down to disney and race. This will be the longest race I have done in awhile and should be a pretty good warm up for my Ironman. My coach wants me to race this all out but im not really sure how to do that. I know how to all out a sprint Tri but the disney tri is like 3xs longer than the longest sprint I have done so if I go all out im going to burn out before the finish. SO im going to have to try to balance and find a pace somewhere between the sprints I have done and the pace I am using in training for the Ironman. The distances for the race are .9 mile swim (in killer amoeba infested waters, im not even joking) Then a 35 mile bike followed by a 6 mile run. Thats pretty long but im shooting for a time of 3 to 3.5 hours. We shall see how I hold up. SO wish me luck. Im totally stressing over my bike. I had to give it up last week to be shipped down and its just feels so wrong to not have it.
Theoretically next week I will have a post up with lots of pics from the race as well as my results.
cheers!
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Simpsonized!
Here is a little bit of fun for everyone. Burger King is running this thing that "simpsonizes" you and it works so so but it lets you tweak stuff a little bit more if they didn't quite get it right. Not as good as the mini wii stuff but not bad. SO here is Lisa and Me as Simpsons characters.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Shifting to a harder gear...maybe
Well I have taken a bit of a hiatus from posting lately and I just spent a few moments reading back over the posts I did in july of 2005 and 2006. WOW I couldnt believe how long ago some events happened and it just got me thinking. This whole blog thing is pretty cool. It not only provides up dates for friends and family but it also gives me the ability to look back on my life and remember what was going on at any given point over the past years since I started this. If you know me you know my memory is not the greatest so its nice to have something available to help me remember. SO on to the posting!
SO what is up with me??? Well since last posting in june (sorry its been so long) I have traveled to CA for the first time to see Tim Kochendarfer and meet his family. That was really cool. Highlights of the trip include:
1. Seeing the giant redwoods. I honestly thought this day trip was going to be gay but I went along and WOW was I wrong
2. Pismo beach. Running on Pismo beach is the bomb bizzle. I got to do a nice easy 4-5 mile run with Tim on the beach. WOW did this bring back memories as we used to run together A LOT! but have not in many years.
3. Disneyland. Ok the whole disney thing doesnt mean as much to me as it does to lisa but I gotta tell you. Seeing Kaiya's face during small world made it all worthwhile.
4. watching tims kids try to kill each other and realizing if I have more thats whats in store for me.
5. hearing Tim say "hey we need to buy a house out here b/c this is the spot that would be perfect" roughly every 1/2 hour of time spent in the car. (which was close to 24 hours)
SO that was cali and as neat as it was I actually missed Ohio when we got back. thats not to say that I still want to live in ohio im merely stating that I like ohio better than cali.
This month I FINALLY met with my coach and have spent the last week doing heart rate max and avg tests so that I can get my zones properly set up. Oh the fun! Im feeling better about this Ironman thing, well at least today I am! LOL NEway I should start having structured workouts designed for me and that is really really great. Plus that my coach says a lot of nice encouraging things which I think I really need to hear right now. Im a little over 3 months out and I cant believe it. In like 3 months im going to be getting ready to drive down to FL and compete in one of the hardest single day sporting events in the world.
Work. BOOO HISS for work. Im still "transitioning" and well it kinda blows. Plus that I just found out today one of the co-workers I really like and who has made being here a bit better has taken another job and will be gone in two weeks. BOOO HISSSS on Andy.
Gaming - well I am playing games a lot right now with lisa which is totally cool but they are not the conventional games like you would think. Im playing on XBOX live Arcade a lot now. Uno, Settlers of Catan, and Carcasonne are the games we are playing the most and they are nice 15 min distractions. Well catan is like an hour but you get the point. whats also been nice is hooking up with friends and family on live and playing games with them. I really like the online features modern consoles like the xbox are not only offering but really supporting well so that its a great experience to play in.
Training - well it could be going better but I hope that changes soon. I have felt lost and without direction and now with a coach I hope both of those go away and that I start to get back on track. I am just really lacking the volume that I need right now and its just hard to juggle work, family, and training. Lisa has been a champ though and lets me have saturday morning to go off to the park and swim, bike ,run. thanks honey!
Well I think thats it for now. I dont like the post I just made b/c I feel like I just glazed over a whole month and I could probably write a few short novels about stuff recently but just dont have the time. I will try to invest some more time into this and even if its something short post a bit more regularly.
cheers!
SO what is up with me??? Well since last posting in june (sorry its been so long) I have traveled to CA for the first time to see Tim Kochendarfer and meet his family. That was really cool. Highlights of the trip include:
1. Seeing the giant redwoods. I honestly thought this day trip was going to be gay but I went along and WOW was I wrong
2. Pismo beach. Running on Pismo beach is the bomb bizzle. I got to do a nice easy 4-5 mile run with Tim on the beach. WOW did this bring back memories as we used to run together A LOT! but have not in many years.
3. Disneyland. Ok the whole disney thing doesnt mean as much to me as it does to lisa but I gotta tell you. Seeing Kaiya's face during small world made it all worthwhile.
4. watching tims kids try to kill each other and realizing if I have more thats whats in store for me.
5. hearing Tim say "hey we need to buy a house out here b/c this is the spot that would be perfect" roughly every 1/2 hour of time spent in the car. (which was close to 24 hours)
SO that was cali and as neat as it was I actually missed Ohio when we got back. thats not to say that I still want to live in ohio im merely stating that I like ohio better than cali.
This month I FINALLY met with my coach and have spent the last week doing heart rate max and avg tests so that I can get my zones properly set up. Oh the fun! Im feeling better about this Ironman thing, well at least today I am! LOL NEway I should start having structured workouts designed for me and that is really really great. Plus that my coach says a lot of nice encouraging things which I think I really need to hear right now. Im a little over 3 months out and I cant believe it. In like 3 months im going to be getting ready to drive down to FL and compete in one of the hardest single day sporting events in the world.
Work. BOOO HISS for work. Im still "transitioning" and well it kinda blows. Plus that I just found out today one of the co-workers I really like and who has made being here a bit better has taken another job and will be gone in two weeks. BOOO HISSSS on Andy.
Gaming - well I am playing games a lot right now with lisa which is totally cool but they are not the conventional games like you would think. Im playing on XBOX live Arcade a lot now. Uno, Settlers of Catan, and Carcasonne are the games we are playing the most and they are nice 15 min distractions. Well catan is like an hour but you get the point. whats also been nice is hooking up with friends and family on live and playing games with them. I really like the online features modern consoles like the xbox are not only offering but really supporting well so that its a great experience to play in.
Training - well it could be going better but I hope that changes soon. I have felt lost and without direction and now with a coach I hope both of those go away and that I start to get back on track. I am just really lacking the volume that I need right now and its just hard to juggle work, family, and training. Lisa has been a champ though and lets me have saturday morning to go off to the park and swim, bike ,run. thanks honey!
Well I think thats it for now. I dont like the post I just made b/c I feel like I just glazed over a whole month and I could probably write a few short novels about stuff recently but just dont have the time. I will try to invest some more time into this and even if its something short post a bit more regularly.
cheers!
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Happy Fathers Day to me!
Ok I know Fathers day was a couple of weeks ago but I didn't really get my big fathers day present till yesterday so I was waiting to post. What did I get??? Something I have been asking for, for months. A night out with my girl Lisa. We have not gone on a date or just had some time for ourselves since december and thats really too long. SO for fathers day lisa arranged a fantastic date for us. It started with me getting to pick where we went to dinner. I chose Perkins which has a ton of benefits. First off they have like the best chicken sandwich on the planet. 2nd only old people eat at perkins so they are usually quiet and not full of rowdy roughians. and "C" most perkins are on the verge of going out of business which means that it doesnt matter what time you show up there you are seated instantly and if you know what you want like lisa and I do you get your food within about 15 minutes of arriving at the restaurant. SO its a good time. Next we went for a couples massage and I gotta tell you - WOW - that was awesome. I got a 60 minute sweedish massage and all I can say is God bless the sweeds. It was amazing and I purposely worked out extra hard yesterday knowing that I was going to get things worked on later that night. After that we went for a bit of ice cream at graeters and that was really nice too. Mocha chip = big time yummage. SO that was the major part of my fathers day present from lisa but wait theres more. She got me the "in training" shirt for my ironman which I have wanted since about January and she also booked me another massage in July which I have to tell you is really going to help the body deal with the training. SO thanks honey last night was really special. SO after the date we came home and played a match of settlers of catan online and just barely lost. I swear we had 9 points and the winner had 10. As we finished our last turn I looked at lisa and said the next guy is our only competition and unless he wins on this turn the game is ours on our next. SO thats cool and we are getting a lot better at it. I think we might get our first win soon!
Training stuff -- Oi! I kind of had a bit of a hiatus which is not good. I got really sick for about two weeks and just could not train consistently and the workouts I did get in were absolute WIC. But im back in the saddle again and trying to get back into it. Im trying to convince myself that waking up an hour early in the morning to run is a good idea but so far my mind has not agreed at 6am when the alarm goes off and so I go back to sleep. I really need to start ramping up the volume but I just dont know where the time to do it is going to come from. OH OH OH big news on the Ironman front. We have secured our lodging and its at the host hotel which is the ROXORS!!!!!!! This is going to be so freaking awesome as we have a condo now that is close to 1400 sqft for the week and Im litterally going to be able to walk out the condo in my wetsuit onto the beach and be at the start. Lisa made the comment. "does that mean we can watch the swim from the balcony?" and I said yuppers. SO im really excited and the place is AMAZING. Truly spectacular.
what else is up. hmm not a whole lot else but hey thats ok.
cheers
Training stuff -- Oi! I kind of had a bit of a hiatus which is not good. I got really sick for about two weeks and just could not train consistently and the workouts I did get in were absolute WIC. But im back in the saddle again and trying to get back into it. Im trying to convince myself that waking up an hour early in the morning to run is a good idea but so far my mind has not agreed at 6am when the alarm goes off and so I go back to sleep. I really need to start ramping up the volume but I just dont know where the time to do it is going to come from. OH OH OH big news on the Ironman front. We have secured our lodging and its at the host hotel which is the ROXORS!!!!!!! This is going to be so freaking awesome as we have a condo now that is close to 1400 sqft for the week and Im litterally going to be able to walk out the condo in my wetsuit onto the beach and be at the start. Lisa made the comment. "does that mean we can watch the swim from the balcony?" and I said yuppers. SO im really excited and the place is AMAZING. Truly spectacular.
what else is up. hmm not a whole lot else but hey thats ok.
cheers
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Updatage
Well its been a bit of time since I posted anything on here so I thought I would give a quick update.
Training stuffs:
I went to Wheelie Fun last night and got my professional bike fit done. All I can say is wow! I thought my coach Bob was going to do the fit but instead it was this really nice lady named Kathleen. She's learning the ways of bob and I was a good learning experience for her since she had never fit someone to a softride. She was a really neat lady who has done 14 yes count them 14 Ironmans! OMG!!! And 11 of them were on the big island! She has also won her age group at least once in Kona and that means she knows her stuff. She also did Florida so I got to talk to her a bit about that but since she makes her living by coaching triathletes for Ironman I tried to respect that and not be a nuisance. SO onto the fit. I really wish I had gotten the chance to take before and after pics b/c their is a quite a big difference. I thought my back was flat before but it was not and now its really flat. Both Kathleen and Bob were really excited with how well my fit turned out and how well it translated to my bike. w00t! And I have not spent a lot of time on the saddle yet but so far its so much more comfortable than it was before. SO what does all this mean???? It means im going to be able to go faster, longer, and with more comfort than I was before. SO im pretty jazzed. I still have not had time to talk with Bob about my training schedule and just feel a bit lost right now. I know I need to be doing more but im just not sure what. And my motivation has been sapped a bit lately. Hopefully that will turn around soon.
Life at home:
Life at home is good. I love my lisa so much and I love my kaiya bear too. Right now the girls are having a bit of a break from me and are in Boston with Sue and Sara. SO I have been a bit of a bachelor this week but miss them a lot and cant wait for them to get back.
Gaming:
Im a bit dissapointed as I thought I was going to get a lot of time to game this week but due to a deacons meeting on tuesday that just has not happened. Oh well I am still playing FF XII and will be for some time. I also picked up burnout again and have been enjoying that.
Well thats about all that worth mentioning.
cheers!
Training stuffs:
I went to Wheelie Fun last night and got my professional bike fit done. All I can say is wow! I thought my coach Bob was going to do the fit but instead it was this really nice lady named Kathleen. She's learning the ways of bob and I was a good learning experience for her since she had never fit someone to a softride. She was a really neat lady who has done 14 yes count them 14 Ironmans! OMG!!! And 11 of them were on the big island! She has also won her age group at least once in Kona and that means she knows her stuff. She also did Florida so I got to talk to her a bit about that but since she makes her living by coaching triathletes for Ironman I tried to respect that and not be a nuisance. SO onto the fit. I really wish I had gotten the chance to take before and after pics b/c their is a quite a big difference. I thought my back was flat before but it was not and now its really flat. Both Kathleen and Bob were really excited with how well my fit turned out and how well it translated to my bike. w00t! And I have not spent a lot of time on the saddle yet but so far its so much more comfortable than it was before. SO what does all this mean???? It means im going to be able to go faster, longer, and with more comfort than I was before. SO im pretty jazzed. I still have not had time to talk with Bob about my training schedule and just feel a bit lost right now. I know I need to be doing more but im just not sure what. And my motivation has been sapped a bit lately. Hopefully that will turn around soon.
Life at home:
Life at home is good. I love my lisa so much and I love my kaiya bear too. Right now the girls are having a bit of a break from me and are in Boston with Sue and Sara. SO I have been a bit of a bachelor this week but miss them a lot and cant wait for them to get back.
Gaming:
Im a bit dissapointed as I thought I was going to get a lot of time to game this week but due to a deacons meeting on tuesday that just has not happened. Oh well I am still playing FF XII and will be for some time. I also picked up burnout again and have been enjoying that.
Well thats about all that worth mentioning.
cheers!
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Im on a Team again!
Yes the joys and delights of being on an organized team are once again upon me. SO what does this mean?? It means 7am workouts in a freezing lake! Thats what it means. Seriously though I have Joined Team In Training (TNT) to compete in the Walt Disney World Triathlon. This is an olympic+ distance event that I will be competing in for a little girl I know named Hannah who was diagnosed with leukemia just a few months ago. I will have a static link in my links section soon but if you cant wait go
HERE
to find out all about it and maybe throw some coin my way!
Thanks everyone!
Cheers!
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