Well, the time has finally come to put up or shut up.
Later today I will fly to Disney for a few days with Mickey and the Florida Half Ironman on Sunday. I will finally get to see what it's like to play this triathlon game on the national stage.
When I was first challenged to my first sprint tri last summer, I had no idea that I would embrace this sport like I have.
Triathlon has given me a focus outside of work and family, a focus that has been lacking for many years as evidenced by my various dabblings in everything from racing cars to political sport. Triathlon has taught me that my limits aren't really limits but rather are excuses for me not to do something. If I want something bad enough, and it is physically possible, then I can do it. It may take me a few months or years to figure out the right formula, learn the right technique, but I can do it. I will do it.
Triathlon has given my body bulges of muscle in new places - my quads, my upper back, my calves. It's given me a resting hr that hovers around 50. It's let me eat more ice cream... ;)
I was never really an athlete when I was growing up. Yea, I was athletic. But competitive athletics were not encouraged by my family. I played a little football but I had too many casts on various body parts to play consistently. I ran a little but had no role models and had no idea how to properly run or train. I played golf a little but, again, I had no role models to teach me.
But triathlon has taken me from athletic to athlete. While Crossfit introduced me to fitness, triathlon has taken me to the next level. I hadn't done pull-ups in a few months before last week when I easily pulled a set of 20. There are veins bulging on my arms that I've never before seen. I can go outside right this second and run 15 miles and actually be able to walk tomorrow morning. That to me is amazing... I feel like an athlete, like a competitor.
I doubt I ever will win a triathlon, and probably will never even be competitive in my age group. But that's not the point in triathlon. The point is getting yourself ready to go the distance. It's the journey, not the destination. And I think this journey is pretty damn sweet.
The journey.
So for this particular journey to Disney, I'll be taking Emma and my mom. Emma turns 7 on the 23rd so she gets a birthday Disney trip, and my mom is coming to play and help Emma cheer during the race. My mom is the best! Friday we'll play in the Disney parks, then Saturday will be split between race prep and probably another park. Sunday will be devoted to the race, and Monday will be spent playing in the parks until we leave Monday evening.
It's looking like the tri-blogger community will be well represented for this race. 6 or 7 of us are planning to get together Saturday for bike rides and dinner.
I can't wait to meet IronGirlNyhus and Tri Nick, 2 of the Gear West team that also will be travelling to Zurich for IM Switzerland next month.
In other news, I've added another race to my schedule. I'm heading to Colorado Memorial Day weekend for a couple days of cycling and then Bolder's namesake race, the Bolder Boulder. This will be the first 10k running race I've ever done, and I must admit, I'm more than a bit nervous about the elevation changes and the altitude. Boulder looks like it is about 5500 feet, and I live at - oh, about 700 feet. Yikes!!!
But no matter how much I suck at the race, I'm looking forward to meeting him and her, and other bloggers making there way to Boulder to run with 50,000 of their closest friends.
The next 2 weeks is going to R O C K!!
Until next time, thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.
May 16, 2007
May 14, 2007
Weekend Recap, and My First Ironman Swim
This weekend left me exhausted, sunburned, and proud...
Saturday morning Emma and Anna had their last soccer games of the spring. Emma, in typical fashion, scored 3 goals for her team. Anna, likewise in typical fashion, told the coach she wanted to play on the bench instead of on the field. Too cute... I forgot my a hat and sunscreen so my nearly bald head was an ultraviolet magnet that has had me on the verge of screaming with each shower the last 2 days.
After soccer and an early mother's day lunch with my mom and sister, I went to the Y to swim. Now I'm not following any training plan, and I basically just try to get 3 sessions a week of each tri discipline plus 1 or 2 hours of stretching and strength. I knew I was going to swim, but I didn't have any set plan for the session. So I just started swimming. And kept swimming. And swimming... For an hour and twenty-eight minutes until I hit 2.4 miles!! I swam the Ironman swim!!
After that, I was exhausted for the day and went home and napped before work Saturday night.
Sunday morning I travelled a couple hours north to pick up a bike travel case that I had bought off ebay. I spent a few minutes talking to the guy selling it to me. He had bought it to travel to tris, but then stopped racing when his 6th kid was born! Says he just lost the last bit of time he had to do any training when the 6th one came. Wow! And I thought 4 was alot...
After I got home I hurried out on the bike into the 90 + degree afternoon. I had wanted to get 80 + miles, but the heat and the hills and not much sleep were too much for me. I ended up with 60 miles and 4300 feet of elevation gain in about 3 hours and 15 minutes. I went for a quick 4 mile transition run in 31 minutes, then rushed home to shower and get back to work for the night.
Here is the Garmin graph from the ride:
I'm more than a little happy that this weekend's race, the Florida Half Ironman, won't have nearly that much elevation change!
Thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.
Saturday morning Emma and Anna had their last soccer games of the spring. Emma, in typical fashion, scored 3 goals for her team. Anna, likewise in typical fashion, told the coach she wanted to play on the bench instead of on the field. Too cute... I forgot my a hat and sunscreen so my nearly bald head was an ultraviolet magnet that has had me on the verge of screaming with each shower the last 2 days.
After soccer and an early mother's day lunch with my mom and sister, I went to the Y to swim. Now I'm not following any training plan, and I basically just try to get 3 sessions a week of each tri discipline plus 1 or 2 hours of stretching and strength. I knew I was going to swim, but I didn't have any set plan for the session. So I just started swimming. And kept swimming. And swimming... For an hour and twenty-eight minutes until I hit 2.4 miles!! I swam the Ironman swim!!
After that, I was exhausted for the day and went home and napped before work Saturday night.
Sunday morning I travelled a couple hours north to pick up a bike travel case that I had bought off ebay. I spent a few minutes talking to the guy selling it to me. He had bought it to travel to tris, but then stopped racing when his 6th kid was born! Says he just lost the last bit of time he had to do any training when the 6th one came. Wow! And I thought 4 was alot...
After I got home I hurried out on the bike into the 90 + degree afternoon. I had wanted to get 80 + miles, but the heat and the hills and not much sleep were too much for me. I ended up with 60 miles and 4300 feet of elevation gain in about 3 hours and 15 minutes. I went for a quick 4 mile transition run in 31 minutes, then rushed home to shower and get back to work for the night.
Here is the Garmin graph from the ride:
I'm more than a little happy that this weekend's race, the Florida Half Ironman, won't have nearly that much elevation change!
Thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.
May 11, 2007
Newton Running Shoes - a Review
After the 15 miles on the treadmill Wednesday, I was going to run outside today no matter how hot. 90+ for my noon mile repeats on the soccer fields... I don't know which is harder, the treadmill or the heat, but I sure had more fun outside.
Anna and Aidan played on the playground outside the field while I ran, and every few minutes Anna would run my opposite direction to steal a daddy kiss. That girl...
So the last few weeks I've put about a 100 miles on the new Newton running shoes, and let me tell you - these things rock! They are different than any shoes I've ever tried in that they force you to run in a more anatomically correct way.
I've read their website a few times and looked over the information that came with the shoe, and I still don't understand how it works. Actuators, membranes, Sir Isaac Newton, reactions creating propulsion... It all sounds pretty damn complicated to me.
But it works. OMG it works. Before trying these, I thought I consistently landed on my forefoot. Oh no. Now I know what it feels like to really strike with your forefoot, and let me tell you - it feels great!
I honestly feel like I'm running like I would if I were barefoot. No heel strikes - it's basically impossible to strike with your heel first in these shoes. And my knees already notice the difference and are thanking me with pain-free runs over all surfaces so far.
I noticed another advantage to the shoes. I tend to have too much lateral motion in my legs, as opposed to strict anterior/posterior motion, while running. I'm hypothesizing that this issue is what has tended to give me recurrent iliotibial band problems. Well, for some reason with the Newtons and striking in the forefoot, I'm running with almost no lateral movement.
I don't know if these things will make me any faster or not. I feel like they will, like they already have. I do feel confident that I am running in a more anatomically correct way thanks to the Newtons, and I'm hopeful this will help avoid some recurrent nagging injuries that have plagued me in the past.
Newton running shoes - they don't pay me, but I still recommend them.
Thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.
Anna and Aidan played on the playground outside the field while I ran, and every few minutes Anna would run my opposite direction to steal a daddy kiss. That girl...
So the last few weeks I've put about a 100 miles on the new Newton running shoes, and let me tell you - these things rock! They are different than any shoes I've ever tried in that they force you to run in a more anatomically correct way.
I've read their website a few times and looked over the information that came with the shoe, and I still don't understand how it works. Actuators, membranes, Sir Isaac Newton, reactions creating propulsion... It all sounds pretty damn complicated to me.
But it works. OMG it works. Before trying these, I thought I consistently landed on my forefoot. Oh no. Now I know what it feels like to really strike with your forefoot, and let me tell you - it feels great!
I honestly feel like I'm running like I would if I were barefoot. No heel strikes - it's basically impossible to strike with your heel first in these shoes. And my knees already notice the difference and are thanking me with pain-free runs over all surfaces so far.
I noticed another advantage to the shoes. I tend to have too much lateral motion in my legs, as opposed to strict anterior/posterior motion, while running. I'm hypothesizing that this issue is what has tended to give me recurrent iliotibial band problems. Well, for some reason with the Newtons and striking in the forefoot, I'm running with almost no lateral movement.
I don't know if these things will make me any faster or not. I feel like they will, like they already have. I do feel confident that I am running in a more anatomically correct way thanks to the Newtons, and I'm hopeful this will help avoid some recurrent nagging injuries that have plagued me in the past.
Newton running shoes - they don't pay me, but I still recommend them.
Thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.
May 10, 2007
May 7, 2007
Hills, More Hills, and Mohawks
Another training week of IM Switzerland deposits has come and gone, and a quick check of the calendar tells me there are only 48 days until racetime! Aaaaaggghhhhhhh!!
Where have all those months gone??
This weekend I had a couple of key training sessions, not to mention a ton of fun doing them. Saturday I had a hills session on the bike. Big gear, 100% of time in the saddle, stroking going up and coasting going down. Can you say - BURN!!! It's 2 days later and I can still feel the burn from that one.
Then Saturday afternoon I swam in the lake to practice sighting. I only swam for about 10 minutes before I became paranoid of all the boats speeding past nearby. I hate the underwater sound of a boat engine - from the moment you hear it until it sounds like it is right on you happens so fast, I thought a couple times I was certainly about to be propeller turbulence. So I cut the swim short. But I was rather satisfied with my sighting and direction for the short time I worked on it.
During my bike ride Saturday I met another biker Brock who lives full-time at Willow Point at the lake. He recommended to me a nearby trail if ever I have my mountain bike with me. Well, no mountain bike this weekend; but, I figured if it was good for a mountain bike, it probably is good for running shoes!
So Sunday I set off to find this trail and it turned out to be incredible. Up and down hills on old fire road with a few creek crossings and noone - no one - else on the trail for the 10 miles I travelled. Sweet! For any locals that might be reading you can find this gem by turning off Hwy 63 onto Willow Point Cutoff Rd (about halfway between US280 and Kowaliga Marina), and then the trail is a half mile on your left and marked by several boulders at the trail head. I highly recommend it.
Little man Aidan and I got mohawks over the weekend. We snapped some pics to document it, but mine will be shaved off before I go back to work tonight - I don't think a mohawk is considered a physicianly cut... But Aidan gets to keep his for awhile - lucky guy...
May 3, 2007
Warning - potentially offensive
There are few scenarios I see in the ER which I find truly disgusting. I'm talking lose your lunch disgusting. Let me tell you about the worst one.
Now let this be your warning - if you are easily offended, or if your kids are reading this with you, don't read below this paragraph. Seriously.
Ok, so you've got a tough stomach? No, then come back Monday and read my next post - it will be gentler. Promise.
Now if you still are reading, don't say I didn't warn you.
The subject of this post is lost rectal foreign bodies that present to the ER.
Yea, I warned you...
So a few days ago a very nice, nice and sweet, middle age guy comes to see me.
"Sir, how can I help you tonight?"
"Doc, this is the most embarrassing thing I've ever done..."
Uhm, yea. I hope so.
He continued to tell me that he had been pleasuring himself with a jar of hair gel. No, not typos there. A jar of hair gel.
Ok, I think I missed that chapter in my 10th grade Teenage Sexuality textbook. Thank God.
So I take as much of a history as I can trying to put myself in the right mindset to examine this guy's problematic area. Finally, I pull one of my nurse's in the room so that my battle-story can be validated if need be, and I get to work.
First I probed enough to get an idea of the shape and size and location of this thing. Now hair gel containers come in many different sizes, and luckily this one was reasonably short. Short, but FAT. Way fat. As in the size of the big tub of Vaseline fat.
So, being the nice guy I am, I knock him out with a couple of potent injections, and I get busy trying to pull it out.
First with one finger. Uhm, not going to happen. 2 fingers. Nope. My right hand. Still can't get it. Both hands.
Now let's pause here for just a second and think about this guys. Both hands. All 10 fingers, up to about 2 inches on the wrist side of where your fingers connect with your hands. Feeling a little queasy right about now? Yea, me too.
I work at it for 15 or 20 minutes before realizing that I'm not delivering this baby myself. It had gotten stuck by the rectal vacuum phenomenon just above the curve of the tailbone.
So, after a couple of phone calls, he went off to the operating room for surgery.
Now this wasn't the first time I've dealt with rectal foreign bodies, and more times than not they end up in the OR. Over the years, I've extracted from the rectum cans of shaving cream, medicine bottles, packets of crack, vibrators, a razor blade and even a (dead) hamster.
So, 2 requests. Guys, ladies - don't do this to yourself. And if you for some ghastly reason decide that you need to experience this sensation, tie a string on it. Please. Pretty please... Your local ER doc will be much appreciative...
Thanks for reading My Daily Spin.
Now let this be your warning - if you are easily offended, or if your kids are reading this with you, don't read below this paragraph. Seriously.
Ok, so you've got a tough stomach? No, then come back Monday and read my next post - it will be gentler. Promise.
Now if you still are reading, don't say I didn't warn you.
The subject of this post is lost rectal foreign bodies that present to the ER.
Yea, I warned you...
So a few days ago a very nice, nice and sweet, middle age guy comes to see me.
"Sir, how can I help you tonight?"
"Doc, this is the most embarrassing thing I've ever done..."
Uhm, yea. I hope so.
He continued to tell me that he had been pleasuring himself with a jar of hair gel. No, not typos there. A jar of hair gel.
Ok, I think I missed that chapter in my 10th grade Teenage Sexuality textbook. Thank God.
So I take as much of a history as I can trying to put myself in the right mindset to examine this guy's problematic area. Finally, I pull one of my nurse's in the room so that my battle-story can be validated if need be, and I get to work.
First I probed enough to get an idea of the shape and size and location of this thing. Now hair gel containers come in many different sizes, and luckily this one was reasonably short. Short, but FAT. Way fat. As in the size of the big tub of Vaseline fat.
So, being the nice guy I am, I knock him out with a couple of potent injections, and I get busy trying to pull it out.
First with one finger. Uhm, not going to happen. 2 fingers. Nope. My right hand. Still can't get it. Both hands.
Now let's pause here for just a second and think about this guys. Both hands. All 10 fingers, up to about 2 inches on the wrist side of where your fingers connect with your hands. Feeling a little queasy right about now? Yea, me too.
I work at it for 15 or 20 minutes before realizing that I'm not delivering this baby myself. It had gotten stuck by the rectal vacuum phenomenon just above the curve of the tailbone.
So, after a couple of phone calls, he went off to the operating room for surgery.
Now this wasn't the first time I've dealt with rectal foreign bodies, and more times than not they end up in the OR. Over the years, I've extracted from the rectum cans of shaving cream, medicine bottles, packets of crack, vibrators, a razor blade and even a (dead) hamster.
So, 2 requests. Guys, ladies - don't do this to yourself. And if you for some ghastly reason decide that you need to experience this sensation, tie a string on it. Please. Pretty please... Your local ER doc will be much appreciative...
Thanks for reading My Daily Spin.
May 1, 2007
Birthday Party!
Yesterday we celebrated the 4th anniversary of Anna's birthday! I took cupcakes and party goodies to her school for her school birthday party, and then she had all afternoon and evening alone with daddy (a rarity for her to have time away from her 3 siblings).
We played on the playground, where she serenaded the other kids repeatedly as you can see from the video.
Then we went to DQ for blizzards and went home to open presents.
We played on the playground, where she serenaded the other kids repeatedly as you can see from the video.Then we went to DQ for blizzards and went home to open presents.
April 27, 2007
Swim Progress Update
I remember last fall when I started to swim laps when I would struggle to get in 500 or 750 yards over 20 or 30 minutes. More wasn't an option - I was wasted after that. I asked everyone around me how to swim and I tried anything and everything.
There was no magic that would make me an instant swimmer.
In January I boasted about completing a 750 yard straight swim, a distance huge at the time but which now seems almost laughable.
Flash forward to today.
This morning I swam 2100 yards of mixed intervals after a 400 yard warm up. This was a medium day both in intensity and distance, and I stopped when I did because my hour of allotted childcare had ended. This week I'll meet the 10,000 yard mark for the first time. My long swim Sunday will be either 3000 or 3500 (if I'm feeling it), both distance which I already have conquered.
There was no magic that allowed me to swim.
There was only persistence. And a stubbornness that I WILL.NOT.FAIL.
Thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.
There was no magic that would make me an instant swimmer.
In January I boasted about completing a 750 yard straight swim, a distance huge at the time but which now seems almost laughable.
Flash forward to today.
This morning I swam 2100 yards of mixed intervals after a 400 yard warm up. This was a medium day both in intensity and distance, and I stopped when I did because my hour of allotted childcare had ended. This week I'll meet the 10,000 yard mark for the first time. My long swim Sunday will be either 3000 or 3500 (if I'm feeling it), both distance which I already have conquered.
There was no magic that allowed me to swim.
There was only persistence. And a stubbornness that I WILL.NOT.FAIL.
Thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.
April 25, 2007
Another Lesson Learned
I learned another lesson today that will pay dividends come race time.
I had a little more free time today than I do most Wednesdays, so I decided to go for an extra longish ride. I stopped by the LBS and got a couple extra tubes and CO2 cartridges, mixed a couple bottles of Perpetuem, and off I went.
I decided to ride the Hwy 78/119 route, which starts on the Powerman bike course and continues southeast before turning west toward Double Oak Mountain. This happens to be the route I flatted on last time I rode it (without a spare tube) and had to hitch a ride back to town - thus, the extra tubes and cartridges before I left.
Well, at least I can say that this time I was prepared.
I only made it 2 miles from home when - BOOM - the front tire exploded (at about 35 mph I should add - what a rush!). I was actually stoked by the pistol-fire like noise coming from my bike; I mean, if I'm going to flat I'd rather it be with a bang than a whimper like last time. So I rear braked to the side of the road with a great big grin because I was about to change my tire during a ride for the first time. Yea, I know... But I like novelty...
It only took a few minutes to get the new tube in and get the tire seated. I inflated with the CO2 cartridge, but I must have screwed something up somehow because just as the CO2 was almost done - BOOM - another explosion.
This time I wasn't nearly as excited...
So I repeated the motions, put my last tube on, and then started inflating. This time I pulled the cartridge off earlier than I should have to avoid blowing another tire before I could even get back on the bike. This left my front tire with only about 2/3 of necessary pressure, so I decided a long ride today was not going to happen.
I limped the bike back home, and then made a second trip to the LBS for more tubes and cartridges. LBS dude looked at me kinda funny-like, but I didn't let it phase me. I held my "I know what the hell I'm doing" look with perfect form.
I fully inflated and rechecked everything, repacked the extras, and walked outside to try for a short ride. But alas, now there was thunder and the first hints of rain. Sigh...
So my extra long ride became 2 hours on the trainer and then a strength session at the gym.
Oh well.... At least I got to change a couple of tires on the road for the first, but certainly not the last, time. Another small step along this journey to Ironman, and another lesson learned...
Thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.
I had a little more free time today than I do most Wednesdays, so I decided to go for an extra longish ride. I stopped by the LBS and got a couple extra tubes and CO2 cartridges, mixed a couple bottles of Perpetuem, and off I went.
I decided to ride the Hwy 78/119 route, which starts on the Powerman bike course and continues southeast before turning west toward Double Oak Mountain. This happens to be the route I flatted on last time I rode it (without a spare tube) and had to hitch a ride back to town - thus, the extra tubes and cartridges before I left.
Well, at least I can say that this time I was prepared.
I only made it 2 miles from home when - BOOM - the front tire exploded (at about 35 mph I should add - what a rush!). I was actually stoked by the pistol-fire like noise coming from my bike; I mean, if I'm going to flat I'd rather it be with a bang than a whimper like last time. So I rear braked to the side of the road with a great big grin because I was about to change my tire during a ride for the first time. Yea, I know... But I like novelty...
It only took a few minutes to get the new tube in and get the tire seated. I inflated with the CO2 cartridge, but I must have screwed something up somehow because just as the CO2 was almost done - BOOM - another explosion.
This time I wasn't nearly as excited...
So I repeated the motions, put my last tube on, and then started inflating. This time I pulled the cartridge off earlier than I should have to avoid blowing another tire before I could even get back on the bike. This left my front tire with only about 2/3 of necessary pressure, so I decided a long ride today was not going to happen.
I limped the bike back home, and then made a second trip to the LBS for more tubes and cartridges. LBS dude looked at me kinda funny-like, but I didn't let it phase me. I held my "I know what the hell I'm doing" look with perfect form.
I fully inflated and rechecked everything, repacked the extras, and walked outside to try for a short ride. But alas, now there was thunder and the first hints of rain. Sigh...
So my extra long ride became 2 hours on the trainer and then a strength session at the gym.
Oh well.... At least I got to change a couple of tires on the road for the first, but certainly not the last, time. Another small step along this journey to Ironman, and another lesson learned...
Thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.
April 22, 2007
Weekend Lake Photos
The troupe and I made our first trip of the season to Lake Martin this weekend. We played in the boat and the water, and I was able to slip away for a long bike ride this morning.
The bike ride was the strongest I may have ever felt. I was able to stay hydrated and I think even had adequate energy intake thanks to some recent bloggerland advice.
On the lake Emma drove the boat solo for the first time, and she knee-boarded for the first time. The driving went well, but she still needs to get stronger to control the board. I think she'll have to stick to the tube again this summer.
Tess, Anna, and Aidan were worn out watching big sister in the cold water.
But even big sister crashed on the way home...
The bike ride was the strongest I may have ever felt. I was able to stay hydrated and I think even had adequate energy intake thanks to some recent bloggerland advice.
On the lake Emma drove the boat solo for the first time, and she knee-boarded for the first time. The driving went well, but she still needs to get stronger to control the board. I think she'll have to stick to the tube again this summer.
Tess, Anna, and Aidan were worn out watching big sister in the cold water.
But even big sister crashed on the way home...I'm taking the week off of running (and soccer) this week to let my left knee extensor mechanism (quad/patella tendon) cool off. It's gotten a bit inflamed I think due to playing soccer so much with the kids (3 days a week for a couple hours a day) the last few weeks. Although I think it is the soccer that caused it, it's irritated when I run too.
So, this week will be all about the bike and the swim. I should be able to get close to 15 hours of volume this week, so I'm hoping for some serious breakthroughs in the pool and on the bike!
Thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin!
April 18, 2007
April 15, 2007
Race Report
Some say that to be prepared for Ironman you need to be prepared to face ANY obstacle on raceday, because anything that can go wrong very likely will go wrong over the course of 140.6 miles.
With that in mind, today was a great Ironman training day.
This morning I competed in the 8k/53k/8k Powerman Alabama race. I treated it as a long reverse/regular brick and didn't taper any. Well, my only training yesterday was a mile swim so I guess I rested my legs yesterday. But I had run 10 miles Friday, which, after today's 10 miles gave me 30 miles running for the week (longest running week ever!)
Anyway, the race. Forecast weather was low this morning of about 44 and then mid-to-high 50's by midday with overcast skies, maybe rain this afternoon. Uhm, no. That didn't happen. Try low 40's at the start of the race and low 40's (with a feel like of 35) at the end of the race with wind swirling and gusting at 20 mph and rain. Yes rain - a mist for the first hour and then a constant light rain for a couple of hours and then back to a mist.
Now in case you don't know me, I don't like training in the cold. I'm all about snow runs, as long as I'm reading about them and not participating in them. I've never ever ever ever ridden my bike outside when it was in the 40s. Or when it was in the 40's and raining.
When I got to the race venue this morning, I was surprised to see my friend Mark already there and marked. Mark is the fool that talked me into my first tri last year, but Mark is almost always late for every race. In fact, for southeast xterra championship last year, Mark showed up so late the entire field had already finished their swim (lucky for him, the understanding organizers let him start anyway and he got the course to himself...)
Anyway, so I got marked and put on my tights that (thank God) I had stuck in the car just in case and then went to the start line to freeze while waiting for our signal.
The first run of the duathlon went as well as I could ask for. Mark and I ran together for the first couple of miles before he dropped back. I finished out strong and felt good, with a time (official results not posted yet) of about 35:30.
And then the misery started. The 2 loop Powerman bike course is hilly (not the steepest grades, but long mile plus 3 or 4% grades), and tends to be windy even in calm weather. And with temps in the low 40s and windy and rainy, I suffered.
The first loop I could still feel my feet, but by the second loop I realized that I couldn't. Ditto my ungloved hands. There was so much snot coming from my nose that I found it easiest to just collect it in my mouth and then spit. Yea, gross. Like I said, I suffered.
I noticed there was much less traffic on the course for the 2nd lap. Initially I thought I must be bringing up the rear. Then it dawned on me that people smarter than I were calling it a day after 1 lap. But I wasn't going to let that happen to me. I was out there for fun, and fun is what I was having. At least that's what I kept telling myself.
Actually what made the bike bearable was thinking about IM Wisconsin last year, with low temps and rain, and realizing that this race was preparing me, at least mentally if not physically, to be able to handle it if this year's IM brings similar ugliness. And after today, I have even greater respect for last year's IM WI racers. Dude, cold and rain on a bike suck.
When I dismounted the bike after (I lost count, but I think it was ) just under 2 hours, I stumbled when my feet hit the ground. I honestly could not feel them. I felt like a long-time diabetic with neuropathy. I gingerly jogged through transition. I never before have had so much trouble getting my running shoes back on and getting my helmet unsnapped. Couldn't do it. Couldn't feel what I was doing. My laces weren't the issue, they're the easy kind, but it felt like I was putting the shoes on someone else's feet. Weird. Then it probably took me a full 30 seconds to get my hands to find the right button to push to release my helmet.
After a mile and a half of the second run, I still couldn't feel my feet. It felt like I had bricks strapped to my legs. My knees were stiff. I was slow.
When I first started getting feeling back, it was painful. I felt like there was a rock under my arch in each shoe. At 2 miles I sat down and took off my shoes to inspect, but everything was normal. I trudged on, but it was probably the slowest I've ran in a long time. I even walked a couple of hills. I was spent.
I came across the finish line unofficially in about 3:20. This was much slower than I would have predicted pre-race, but that's ok. This race was huge for me in learning to overcome piss-poor weather, dealing with hands and feet that I can't feel, and taking in nutrition.
Oh yea, nutrition. It sucked. I am a chronic under-drinker on the bike, and today was even worse. With cold weather and rain, I just didn't want to drink anything. I drank nothing on the first run, and I took in a total of 6 ounces on the bike. The 2nd run I took a couple of powerades.
And I didn't eat enough either. 2 1/2 hours before the race I had 2 pieces of toast and an orange. Then I had 1 gel on the bike. I naively expected there would be some gels handed out somewhere along the racecourse so I brought only 1 with me. Rookie mistake that won't happen again.
Between the frozen feet and the lack of fuel and hydration, I knew the 2nd run was going to be tough. Yea, I bonked. Oh well. It was still fun (I mean, how often have you been able to spit your snot??) and a huge learning experience, and a deposit to the IM bank.
After eating the post-race meal with Mark, I was shivering uncontrollably. I had put some fleece pants on over my tights, but I was still wearing my wet top. There were no finish-line blankets or anything like that at this race. A couple of strangers said I didn't look well and asked if I was ok. Yea, I'm fine I lied. I realized then that I must look as hypothermic as I felt and headed home.
Once home, I changed into dry socks and the warmest fleece I own, turned my thermostat to 75, put an extra comforter on my bed and slept for 2 hours. Didn't change position once. I woke and felt great, with minimal aches (left IT feels a little tight) and no pains.
All in all, a great training day! Thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.
With that in mind, today was a great Ironman training day.
This morning I competed in the 8k/53k/8k Powerman Alabama race. I treated it as a long reverse/regular brick and didn't taper any. Well, my only training yesterday was a mile swim so I guess I rested my legs yesterday. But I had run 10 miles Friday, which, after today's 10 miles gave me 30 miles running for the week (longest running week ever!)
Anyway, the race. Forecast weather was low this morning of about 44 and then mid-to-high 50's by midday with overcast skies, maybe rain this afternoon. Uhm, no. That didn't happen. Try low 40's at the start of the race and low 40's (with a feel like of 35) at the end of the race with wind swirling and gusting at 20 mph and rain. Yes rain - a mist for the first hour and then a constant light rain for a couple of hours and then back to a mist.
Now in case you don't know me, I don't like training in the cold. I'm all about snow runs, as long as I'm reading about them and not participating in them. I've never ever ever ever ridden my bike outside when it was in the 40s. Or when it was in the 40's and raining.
When I got to the race venue this morning, I was surprised to see my friend Mark already there and marked. Mark is the fool that talked me into my first tri last year, but Mark is almost always late for every race. In fact, for southeast xterra championship last year, Mark showed up so late the entire field had already finished their swim (lucky for him, the understanding organizers let him start anyway and he got the course to himself...)
Anyway, so I got marked and put on my tights that (thank God) I had stuck in the car just in case and then went to the start line to freeze while waiting for our signal.
The first run of the duathlon went as well as I could ask for. Mark and I ran together for the first couple of miles before he dropped back. I finished out strong and felt good, with a time (official results not posted yet) of about 35:30.
And then the misery started. The 2 loop Powerman bike course is hilly (not the steepest grades, but long mile plus 3 or 4% grades), and tends to be windy even in calm weather. And with temps in the low 40s and windy and rainy, I suffered.
The first loop I could still feel my feet, but by the second loop I realized that I couldn't. Ditto my ungloved hands. There was so much snot coming from my nose that I found it easiest to just collect it in my mouth and then spit. Yea, gross. Like I said, I suffered.
I noticed there was much less traffic on the course for the 2nd lap. Initially I thought I must be bringing up the rear. Then it dawned on me that people smarter than I were calling it a day after 1 lap. But I wasn't going to let that happen to me. I was out there for fun, and fun is what I was having. At least that's what I kept telling myself.
Actually what made the bike bearable was thinking about IM Wisconsin last year, with low temps and rain, and realizing that this race was preparing me, at least mentally if not physically, to be able to handle it if this year's IM brings similar ugliness. And after today, I have even greater respect for last year's IM WI racers. Dude, cold and rain on a bike suck.
When I dismounted the bike after (I lost count, but I think it was ) just under 2 hours, I stumbled when my feet hit the ground. I honestly could not feel them. I felt like a long-time diabetic with neuropathy. I gingerly jogged through transition. I never before have had so much trouble getting my running shoes back on and getting my helmet unsnapped. Couldn't do it. Couldn't feel what I was doing. My laces weren't the issue, they're the easy kind, but it felt like I was putting the shoes on someone else's feet. Weird. Then it probably took me a full 30 seconds to get my hands to find the right button to push to release my helmet.
After a mile and a half of the second run, I still couldn't feel my feet. It felt like I had bricks strapped to my legs. My knees were stiff. I was slow.
When I first started getting feeling back, it was painful. I felt like there was a rock under my arch in each shoe. At 2 miles I sat down and took off my shoes to inspect, but everything was normal. I trudged on, but it was probably the slowest I've ran in a long time. I even walked a couple of hills. I was spent.
I came across the finish line unofficially in about 3:20. This was much slower than I would have predicted pre-race, but that's ok. This race was huge for me in learning to overcome piss-poor weather, dealing with hands and feet that I can't feel, and taking in nutrition.
Oh yea, nutrition. It sucked. I am a chronic under-drinker on the bike, and today was even worse. With cold weather and rain, I just didn't want to drink anything. I drank nothing on the first run, and I took in a total of 6 ounces on the bike. The 2nd run I took a couple of powerades.
And I didn't eat enough either. 2 1/2 hours before the race I had 2 pieces of toast and an orange. Then I had 1 gel on the bike. I naively expected there would be some gels handed out somewhere along the racecourse so I brought only 1 with me. Rookie mistake that won't happen again.
Between the frozen feet and the lack of fuel and hydration, I knew the 2nd run was going to be tough. Yea, I bonked. Oh well. It was still fun (I mean, how often have you been able to spit your snot??) and a huge learning experience, and a deposit to the IM bank.
After eating the post-race meal with Mark, I was shivering uncontrollably. I had put some fleece pants on over my tights, but I was still wearing my wet top. There were no finish-line blankets or anything like that at this race. A couple of strangers said I didn't look well and asked if I was ok. Yea, I'm fine I lied. I realized then that I must look as hypothermic as I felt and headed home.
Once home, I changed into dry socks and the warmest fleece I own, turned my thermostat to 75, put an extra comforter on my bed and slept for 2 hours. Didn't change position once. I woke and felt great, with minimal aches (left IT feels a little tight) and no pains.
All in all, a great training day! Thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.
April 13, 2007
What should I do?
As I begin writing this post, I'm at a crossroads. There is a decision that I need to make today. Within the next 30 minutes... And I am completely on the fence about the issue, although it is a decision that has potentially huge (well, relatively, I mean, it's not like we are withdrawing troops from Iraq based on me or anything...) ramifications.
I have 2 major hang-ups. Ok, I have a lot of hang ups but there are 2 that loom over all others and tend to create trouble for me repetitively. You see, I tend to jump into a game without thinking things through. I speak and write without realizing what exactly it is that I am saying, I commit myself to things that I really don't want to be committed to, and I start things without considering whether I can finish.
The biggest example of this is my relationship with my ex-wife. We met when we were freshmen in college. The first night I met her I told my roommate I was going to marry her. It only took a few months for me to realize that we weren't exactly the most compatible, or even a reasonably compatible, couple. But I was stubborn and felt that I said I was going to do it because I said it so I couldn't stop until I did it.
And that leads me to my second big problem.
I don't finish things. I can begin a million projects and get them to near completion and then walk away. I don't know why, but I don't need the satisfaction of the final destination to enjoy the journey. My marriage, my school science projects, entrepreneurial pursuits, books I've written... I take them to the point of no return, and then I return. I don't make the final efforts to realize the potential of what I start.
That's one of the primary reasons that I jumped into endurance sports. The only true measure of success in endurance sports is finishing the activity. Yea, you can argue that you can succeed by preparing even without finishing; but, while I respect this philosophy it just doesn't work for me. When my goal was to complete a marathon in December, I wouldn't have considered myself successful if I had only done a 20 mile training run without doing the actual 26.2 mile race. I think of Ironman the same way. I can train for years but if I never do it than I will never hear the dude say "DV You are an Ironman!" and I will not be successful. Some will disagree with this definition of success in endurance sport, but that's my definition. Finishing.
So endurance sport seemed the perfect way to battle this demon, in addition to a few others that I'll save for another day.
I planned on racing Ironman Wisconsin since last fall, and I added Ironman Switzerland to my schedule around the start of January. When I added IM Switz, the selling points were that it was a fun race with some new friends in a place I've never been. Sweet!
But I really didn't consider most of the things that a logical person should have considered prior to committing to 8000 miles of round trip travel and their first attempt at one of the most epic of endurance sports events. Money for travel and expenses (I now have learned that when you travel as an age grouper to an international race, you may as well make a vacation of it and include the race as the main activity but one of several activities...), childcare for a week, the loss of close friends and family presence at the event (my family could be at Wisconsin, but not in Switzerland), the inability to hold my kids' hands as I cross the finish line, the ramped up training schedule that would push me to and beyond the limits of my limited triathlon experience body and mind - all of these things I should have considered but didn't. Typical DV... Demons...
The last few weeks I've struggled a little meeting training demands. My long swims have gotten shorter and my long bikes; well, what long bikes? I have been running more than ever, and my run performance has been my sole confidence booster.
So, with my training not going as well as I hoped, and a million other things pulling at my time, and not getting finances to work out like I thought they might, my second demon started to show its ugly head. Why am I doing this? Why don't I just wait, be patient and let IM Wisconsin be my first IM as I had planned all along? More training time, family at the race, cheaper travelling....
I had already arranged childcare for the week of IM Switzerland, so then I started thinking of what I could do with a week off with no kids in mid June. How about a kick ass training week? Sweet, I could go to the mountains visit friends and ride and run until my legs were rubber. How about volunteering at a race? Hey, IM CDA is on the same day as IM Switz, so I could travel to Idaho and get some first hand IM experience before actually competing in IM. Sounds great!
And so the last week I've been struggling with this decision. Do I go to Switzerland under less than ideal conditions, ok in my opinion maybe even piss-poor conditions, suck up the pain from training that will probably be inadequate, and make the best of it? Or do I step back and be logical and take a more patient and calculated approach while letting my demons claim victory?
See the kind of crap I get myself into???
What if I get hurt between now and Wisconsin and can't race?
What if I push too hard to try and catch up with Switzerland training and I get hurt and can't race there?
What if I meet a lifer in the mountains or in CDA?
What if I still travel west and get some mountain training this summer on a different weekend?
What if my kids don't see me in Switzerland? It's me that want them to see me race, not them that want to see me race. And they could still see me in Wisconsin.
What if I am so burnt from being undertrained/injured in Switzerland that I can't recover enough to compete in Wisconsin?
What if? What if? What if?
Well, it's time that I have to make a decision.
Do I shoot down my second demon and go to Switzerland without the family presence that is so important to me and without the most appropriate financial situation and with the probability of inadequate training?
Do I back out of Switzerland and go train in the mountains with friends and volunteer/learn at CDA for the week I would have been overseas?
In the end, it's all about the Demons. If I drop out of Zurich, they win. Again. Like they have so many other times in my 31 years. And my epitaph may as well read "DV - never finishes what he starts."
Not this time.
I will finish what I started. I will toe the line in Zurich. I will finish Ironman Switzerland. And even if it is in French (or German, or whatever the hell language they use in Switzerland), dude will say "DV, You are an Ironman" on June 24, 2007.
I will win this battle.
I have 2 major hang-ups. Ok, I have a lot of hang ups but there are 2 that loom over all others and tend to create trouble for me repetitively. You see, I tend to jump into a game without thinking things through. I speak and write without realizing what exactly it is that I am saying, I commit myself to things that I really don't want to be committed to, and I start things without considering whether I can finish.
The biggest example of this is my relationship with my ex-wife. We met when we were freshmen in college. The first night I met her I told my roommate I was going to marry her. It only took a few months for me to realize that we weren't exactly the most compatible, or even a reasonably compatible, couple. But I was stubborn and felt that I said I was going to do it because I said it so I couldn't stop until I did it.
And that leads me to my second big problem.
I don't finish things. I can begin a million projects and get them to near completion and then walk away. I don't know why, but I don't need the satisfaction of the final destination to enjoy the journey. My marriage, my school science projects, entrepreneurial pursuits, books I've written... I take them to the point of no return, and then I return. I don't make the final efforts to realize the potential of what I start.
That's one of the primary reasons that I jumped into endurance sports. The only true measure of success in endurance sports is finishing the activity. Yea, you can argue that you can succeed by preparing even without finishing; but, while I respect this philosophy it just doesn't work for me. When my goal was to complete a marathon in December, I wouldn't have considered myself successful if I had only done a 20 mile training run without doing the actual 26.2 mile race. I think of Ironman the same way. I can train for years but if I never do it than I will never hear the dude say "DV You are an Ironman!" and I will not be successful. Some will disagree with this definition of success in endurance sport, but that's my definition. Finishing.
So endurance sport seemed the perfect way to battle this demon, in addition to a few others that I'll save for another day.
I planned on racing Ironman Wisconsin since last fall, and I added Ironman Switzerland to my schedule around the start of January. When I added IM Switz, the selling points were that it was a fun race with some new friends in a place I've never been. Sweet!
But I really didn't consider most of the things that a logical person should have considered prior to committing to 8000 miles of round trip travel and their first attempt at one of the most epic of endurance sports events. Money for travel and expenses (I now have learned that when you travel as an age grouper to an international race, you may as well make a vacation of it and include the race as the main activity but one of several activities...), childcare for a week, the loss of close friends and family presence at the event (my family could be at Wisconsin, but not in Switzerland), the inability to hold my kids' hands as I cross the finish line, the ramped up training schedule that would push me to and beyond the limits of my limited triathlon experience body and mind - all of these things I should have considered but didn't. Typical DV... Demons...
The last few weeks I've struggled a little meeting training demands. My long swims have gotten shorter and my long bikes; well, what long bikes? I have been running more than ever, and my run performance has been my sole confidence booster.
So, with my training not going as well as I hoped, and a million other things pulling at my time, and not getting finances to work out like I thought they might, my second demon started to show its ugly head. Why am I doing this? Why don't I just wait, be patient and let IM Wisconsin be my first IM as I had planned all along? More training time, family at the race, cheaper travelling....
I had already arranged childcare for the week of IM Switzerland, so then I started thinking of what I could do with a week off with no kids in mid June. How about a kick ass training week? Sweet, I could go to the mountains visit friends and ride and run until my legs were rubber. How about volunteering at a race? Hey, IM CDA is on the same day as IM Switz, so I could travel to Idaho and get some first hand IM experience before actually competing in IM. Sounds great!
And so the last week I've been struggling with this decision. Do I go to Switzerland under less than ideal conditions, ok in my opinion maybe even piss-poor conditions, suck up the pain from training that will probably be inadequate, and make the best of it? Or do I step back and be logical and take a more patient and calculated approach while letting my demons claim victory?
See the kind of crap I get myself into???
What if I get hurt between now and Wisconsin and can't race?
What if I push too hard to try and catch up with Switzerland training and I get hurt and can't race there?
What if I meet a lifer in the mountains or in CDA?
What if I still travel west and get some mountain training this summer on a different weekend?
What if my kids don't see me in Switzerland? It's me that want them to see me race, not them that want to see me race. And they could still see me in Wisconsin.
What if I am so burnt from being undertrained/injured in Switzerland that I can't recover enough to compete in Wisconsin?
What if? What if? What if?
Well, it's time that I have to make a decision.
Do I shoot down my second demon and go to Switzerland without the family presence that is so important to me and without the most appropriate financial situation and with the probability of inadequate training?
Do I back out of Switzerland and go train in the mountains with friends and volunteer/learn at CDA for the week I would have been overseas?
In the end, it's all about the Demons. If I drop out of Zurich, they win. Again. Like they have so many other times in my 31 years. And my epitaph may as well read "DV - never finishes what he starts."
Not this time.
I will finish what I started. I will toe the line in Zurich. I will finish Ironman Switzerland. And even if it is in French (or German, or whatever the hell language they use in Switzerland), dude will say "DV, You are an Ironman" on June 24, 2007.
I will win this battle.
April 12, 2007
Eccentric?
It was pointed out to me recently that keeping empties for the last year may be a sign of eccentricity...
Am I crazy, or am I just ready to store countless small item collections when the occasion might arise?
April 9, 2007
Intro to Trail Running
I learned the joy of trail running today.
I've always been a road runner. Well, let me clarify. I haven't always been a runner; but, in the past, when I ran it was always on pavement or sidewalks. I never did cross country, and I never before today have ventured onto a trail for the specific purpose of running.
I drove to Oak Mountain with my mountain bike with the intention of riding for a couple of hours. But when I arrived, I just couldn't get motivated to ride in the cold (ok, it was really only about 50 F but that's a LOT colder than my preferred 75, and yes, I admit I am a wuss about the cold.) So, I decided to run.
Much to my surprise, the first probably 2 miles of the trail were straight UP! Or at least it seemed that way. I started much faster than I typically run for a warm up, I think maybe because the ground was so soft and impact-free. But after just a mile or so, I realized that I was cruising along with a HR of about 170 - much much higher than I needed to be. The ground was soft and the air was so cool I didn't even realize that I had been running uphill the entire mile.
Adjustment, slow de eff down!
I ended up with about 8 miles for the afternoon. I walked some, in part because I overdid it the first couple of miles and my legs were already burnt from a computrainer session this morning. This was also the first time I ever had run with a pack, which I noticed much more than I though I would. I reasoned that since I was running in the middle of the forest and there was basically NObody nearby, I probably should carry at least a little water and money (as if I would just happen to run past a store at the top of the hill in the middle of the woods - not!) and phone (no one to hitch with here ;) )
Although it was only maybe 3 pounds, that's 2 % of my body weight so I guess that's enough to notice over the course of a few miles.
I didn't see any animals (no cows there, C), but I was amazed at the silence. I even turned the ipod off for a few miles and just listened to my feet strike the earth. It's such an elemental sound, such a simple feeling. I've learned that the most complicated situations almost always are made easier by focusing on the most basic components. Trees, dirt, rocks, and me. And silence...
It doesn't get more basic than that my friends...
Yea, I think I'm going to like running trails...
I've always been a road runner. Well, let me clarify. I haven't always been a runner; but, in the past, when I ran it was always on pavement or sidewalks. I never did cross country, and I never before today have ventured onto a trail for the specific purpose of running.
I drove to Oak Mountain with my mountain bike with the intention of riding for a couple of hours. But when I arrived, I just couldn't get motivated to ride in the cold (ok, it was really only about 50 F but that's a LOT colder than my preferred 75, and yes, I admit I am a wuss about the cold.) So, I decided to run.
Much to my surprise, the first probably 2 miles of the trail were straight UP! Or at least it seemed that way. I started much faster than I typically run for a warm up, I think maybe because the ground was so soft and impact-free. But after just a mile or so, I realized that I was cruising along with a HR of about 170 - much much higher than I needed to be. The ground was soft and the air was so cool I didn't even realize that I had been running uphill the entire mile.
Adjustment, slow de eff down!
I ended up with about 8 miles for the afternoon. I walked some, in part because I overdid it the first couple of miles and my legs were already burnt from a computrainer session this morning. This was also the first time I ever had run with a pack, which I noticed much more than I though I would. I reasoned that since I was running in the middle of the forest and there was basically NObody nearby, I probably should carry at least a little water and money (as if I would just happen to run past a store at the top of the hill in the middle of the woods - not!) and phone (no one to hitch with here ;) )
Although it was only maybe 3 pounds, that's 2 % of my body weight so I guess that's enough to notice over the course of a few miles.
I didn't see any animals (no cows there, C), but I was amazed at the silence. I even turned the ipod off for a few miles and just listened to my feet strike the earth. It's such an elemental sound, such a simple feeling. I've learned that the most complicated situations almost always are made easier by focusing on the most basic components. Trees, dirt, rocks, and me. And silence...
It doesn't get more basic than that my friends...
Yea, I think I'm going to like running trails...
April 5, 2007
Perception
I believe that everything can be explained in a way that makes some sense. Call it spin, or relativity, but my perception will be different than your perception. And we both will be right, even when one of us is wrong.
Take the case of the "eye witness" to a crime. Now you would think that a person who sees a crime would be an excellent witness in the courtroom. But it doesn't always happen that way. It has been well proven that the eye witness doesn't always perceive the events the way they actually happen.
Another example: my residents present their patients to me after the initial evaluation. The resident physician tells me why the patient is in the ED, tells me their pertinent history, their physical examination findings, and then synthesizes a diagnostic and therapeutic management plan. Frequently, the resident reports that the "heart exam is normal" or the "neuro exam is unremarkable." On the surface, this seems a reasonable statement. But if I ask for the result of a specific neuro or cardio exam finding, I might find that they did not perform that part of the evaluation. So, what the resident reported to me was true to them because they did not know for which truth to look.
And the truth you seek frequently is both the result and the creator of your perception.
How does this apply to triathlon training?
I was running this morning on the treadmill. The temperature here in Alabama has dipped back to the 40's and I needed to run this morning, so I hopped on and started hamsterring.
I was planning on running 8 miles with negative splits and a tempo pace. I wasn't too excited to run 8 miles, but I knew it wouldn't be that difficult for me. Perception. You see, not long ago 8 miles was a long run for me. In fact, as recently as 6 months ago I had never run 8 miles in my life. Then, I would have told you that 8 miles was both a long run and a hard run. Then, truth to me was that an 8 mile run was hard and long.
Today, truth to me was that 8 miles was short and easy. Miles 1-2 in 8:31/mi, miles 3-4 in 8:00/mi, miles 5-6 at 7:30/mi, and miles 7-8 at 7:00/mi. And it wasn't hard either. I don't wear my heartrate monitor like I should so I can't tell you exactly how not hard it was, but I was breathing quite comfortably throughout.
My perception has changed.
It's getting to be that time of year when many of us are starting to realize substantial training gains. We have completed 1 or maybe 2 builds, and our aerobic base is (hopefully) solid. Our bodies are being trained to handle the rigors of raceday.
As we start our race season, our perception of our abilities will play a major role in raceday performance. If you perceive that you are supposed to be at the starting line, that you are fit and ready, you will succeed. But if you enter with a negative attitude, a perception that you don't belong or that you are undertrained, you likely will suffer. Even if you are in top shape, you have to be convinced of that.
So the mental approach to raceday is probably just as important as the physical training. I am the first to admit that I have struggled getting in some of my training sessions. My time is divided tediously and spread across a large number of demands, and quite frankly training for this hobby of mine is just not as important as some other things.
But I am seeing positive gains physically, and that is helping create mental gains to the tune of believing that I really do belong in this sport and that I can compete reasonably well. I could easily have a negative perception of my whole training process, and feel like I am ill prepared for racing, since I have not met all of my training goals to date.
But instead, I am happy with the progress I have. There is noone but me depending on my performance. There is no money, no sponsorships, no contracts - nothing is dependent on my outcome.
So progress is progress. Perception drives reality. And the reality, my reality, is that I'm going to kick ass come Ironman time...
Take the case of the "eye witness" to a crime. Now you would think that a person who sees a crime would be an excellent witness in the courtroom. But it doesn't always happen that way. It has been well proven that the eye witness doesn't always perceive the events the way they actually happen.
Another example: my residents present their patients to me after the initial evaluation. The resident physician tells me why the patient is in the ED, tells me their pertinent history, their physical examination findings, and then synthesizes a diagnostic and therapeutic management plan. Frequently, the resident reports that the "heart exam is normal" or the "neuro exam is unremarkable." On the surface, this seems a reasonable statement. But if I ask for the result of a specific neuro or cardio exam finding, I might find that they did not perform that part of the evaluation. So, what the resident reported to me was true to them because they did not know for which truth to look.
And the truth you seek frequently is both the result and the creator of your perception.
How does this apply to triathlon training?
I was running this morning on the treadmill. The temperature here in Alabama has dipped back to the 40's and I needed to run this morning, so I hopped on and started hamsterring.
I was planning on running 8 miles with negative splits and a tempo pace. I wasn't too excited to run 8 miles, but I knew it wouldn't be that difficult for me. Perception. You see, not long ago 8 miles was a long run for me. In fact, as recently as 6 months ago I had never run 8 miles in my life. Then, I would have told you that 8 miles was both a long run and a hard run. Then, truth to me was that an 8 mile run was hard and long.
Today, truth to me was that 8 miles was short and easy. Miles 1-2 in 8:31/mi, miles 3-4 in 8:00/mi, miles 5-6 at 7:30/mi, and miles 7-8 at 7:00/mi. And it wasn't hard either. I don't wear my heartrate monitor like I should so I can't tell you exactly how not hard it was, but I was breathing quite comfortably throughout.
My perception has changed.
It's getting to be that time of year when many of us are starting to realize substantial training gains. We have completed 1 or maybe 2 builds, and our aerobic base is (hopefully) solid. Our bodies are being trained to handle the rigors of raceday.
As we start our race season, our perception of our abilities will play a major role in raceday performance. If you perceive that you are supposed to be at the starting line, that you are fit and ready, you will succeed. But if you enter with a negative attitude, a perception that you don't belong or that you are undertrained, you likely will suffer. Even if you are in top shape, you have to be convinced of that.
So the mental approach to raceday is probably just as important as the physical training. I am the first to admit that I have struggled getting in some of my training sessions. My time is divided tediously and spread across a large number of demands, and quite frankly training for this hobby of mine is just not as important as some other things.
But I am seeing positive gains physically, and that is helping create mental gains to the tune of believing that I really do belong in this sport and that I can compete reasonably well. I could easily have a negative perception of my whole training process, and feel like I am ill prepared for racing, since I have not met all of my training goals to date.
But instead, I am happy with the progress I have. There is noone but me depending on my performance. There is no money, no sponsorships, no contracts - nothing is dependent on my outcome.
So progress is progress. Perception drives reality. And the reality, my reality, is that I'm going to kick ass come Ironman time...
April 4, 2007
Lock Down
Last night when we told the family of a 16 year old boy that he had been shot to death, the response was ugly and frightening. A riot, at least the closest thing I've ever seen to a riot, ensued. The hospital went on "lock down" and noone could enter or leave for an hour while dozens of police took control. Here is the initial story from the local newspaper...
April 2, 2007
Lessons Learned
1. It's not a good idea to bike without a spare tube. Especially when you are going for your long ride... Especially when your long ride involves travelling directly away from your house... Especially when thunderstorms are forecast... Especially when you also forget your cell phone...
2. Hitchhiking is an acceptable form of transportation. Especially when you are 25 miles away from home and you have flatted and you have no spare tire... Or cell phone... Especially when the first thunderstorm of the spring has struck 5 minutes after you flatted... Especially when the guys that pick you up live a mile from your house, are returning from a fishing trip, and were planning to stop for ice cream anyway so buy you a double scoop of mint chocolate chip because you also forgot to bring any cash...
3. Even 3 year olds feel really bad when they score a goal for the wrong team during the soccer game. Especially when it was her first goal ever. Especially when her coach, who is a patient fun-stressing guy most of the time, accidentally slips out a rather stern "Anna you just scored for the wrong goal!"
4. Luckily, 3 year olds easily forget mistakes when they taste success. Especially when it comes in the form of not one, but two, goals into the right goal... Especially when it helps her team notch their first win of the season... Especially when the coach gives her a popcycle reward...
5. Crushed strawberry makes a visually realistic fake blood and can create more than a few screams. Especially when
poured over a finger bent in such a way to look realistically amputated. Especially when there is a preserved (real) amputated fingertip in a basin beneath the supposed amputated finger. Especially when it is a saturday night April Fool's Day in an already stressed ER and the staff need a little tension-breaker...
2. Hitchhiking is an acceptable form of transportation. Especially when you are 25 miles away from home and you have flatted and you have no spare tire... Or cell phone... Especially when the first thunderstorm of the spring has struck 5 minutes after you flatted... Especially when the guys that pick you up live a mile from your house, are returning from a fishing trip, and were planning to stop for ice cream anyway so buy you a double scoop of mint chocolate chip because you also forgot to bring any cash...
3. Even 3 year olds feel really bad when they score a goal for the wrong team during the soccer game. Especially when it was her first goal ever. Especially when her coach, who is a patient fun-stressing guy most of the time, accidentally slips out a rather stern "Anna you just scored for the wrong goal!"
-772000.jpg)
4. Luckily, 3 year olds easily forget mistakes when they taste success. Especially when it comes in the form of not one, but two, goals into the right goal... Especially when it helps her team notch their first win of the season... Especially when the coach gives her a popcycle reward...
5. Crushed strawberry makes a visually realistic fake blood and can create more than a few screams. Especially when
poured over a finger bent in such a way to look realistically amputated. Especially when there is a preserved (real) amputated fingertip in a basin beneath the supposed amputated finger. Especially when it is a saturday night April Fool's Day in an already stressed ER and the staff need a little tension-breaker...
March 30, 2007
Healing a Breaking Heart
It's rare that I truly heal anyone.
I am an ER doctor. My days (mostly nights, actually) are spent treating coughs and colds, patching wounds created by drunken falls and flying bullets, and battling off the inevitable progression of chronic disease.
Sometimes I get the feeling that some people expect me to be a healer, which I'm not. I can give you antibiotics to make an infection go away, but the medicine does the healing - not me. I can fix the nastiest gashes and cut open your chest and sew your heart back together, but almost all wounds heal with simply the prescription of time.
The one thing I feel like I can sometimes heal is despair.
An early-60's lady with breast cancer that had moved to her spine and pelvic bones came by ambulance to my ER last night. She said the pain in her pelvic bones and hips had been so severe the last several weeks that she wouldn't eat or drink anything for fear of having to walk to the bathroom. Last night, weakened by severe dehydration, she stood up and collapsed to the floor and broke her hip that already was being eaten away by cancer.
When I saw her, I first was struck by her lips - parched, cracked with several layers of dead grey skin that needed to be cleaned away before you could even see their natural pink. The next thing that struck me was how pleasant she was. This lady had every reason in the world to be pissed off and frustrated at her plight, but she was appreciative and nice and even may have let loose a slight smile.
Later when I talked to her about staying in the hospital to get hydrated and have an orthopedist take care of her hip, I realized there had been no family with her.
"Do you have family nearby?"
"I guess I do..."
"Hmm, what does that mean?"
I could sense a wave of disappointment in her at the recognition by someone else that she was dying lonely.
"Well, I only have a son left, and I've been trying to call him for a month but his phone message just says he isn't taking any calls. I had my neighbor try to call him and she just got the same message."
I can't describe the emotion that was pouring out while she was saying this. If you have kids you hope your kids will be there for you when old to return the favor of their life and childhood. I can't imagine the feeling of abandonment and anger when they are not. This is what she was feeling, and it showed.
"He has a 3 year old son too..."
I don't like people to emotionally hurt. I've experienced enough of it to know that misery, and it hurts me when people hurt like that. So I sat down in her bed with her, and I held her hand. And we talked...
We talked about her son, and her only grandchild. We talked about her mom and her dad that died in WWII. We talked about God, and we shared a short prayer that her suffering might be eased. We even talked about dying, and she told me she wasn't ready to give up yet even if it meant having to tolerate intolerable pain.
I spent way too long with her. But it was worth it. I think it helped her, and I know it helped me.
I assigned my social worker the task of finding her son and getting him to the ER. The local police found him in his apartment and had him with his mother within an hour. After he arrived, she smiled more than anyone I've ever seen with a broken hip.
Time heals, in most cases. But sometimes the burdens of disease make it impossible to heal the complicated social situations we encounter today.
Last night, I think I really healed. I healed a heart that was starting to break inside an already broken body.
If you have a mom or dad, call them, thank them, hug them if you can. They miss you more than you know...
Thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.
I am an ER doctor. My days (mostly nights, actually) are spent treating coughs and colds, patching wounds created by drunken falls and flying bullets, and battling off the inevitable progression of chronic disease.
Sometimes I get the feeling that some people expect me to be a healer, which I'm not. I can give you antibiotics to make an infection go away, but the medicine does the healing - not me. I can fix the nastiest gashes and cut open your chest and sew your heart back together, but almost all wounds heal with simply the prescription of time.
The one thing I feel like I can sometimes heal is despair.
An early-60's lady with breast cancer that had moved to her spine and pelvic bones came by ambulance to my ER last night. She said the pain in her pelvic bones and hips had been so severe the last several weeks that she wouldn't eat or drink anything for fear of having to walk to the bathroom. Last night, weakened by severe dehydration, she stood up and collapsed to the floor and broke her hip that already was being eaten away by cancer.
When I saw her, I first was struck by her lips - parched, cracked with several layers of dead grey skin that needed to be cleaned away before you could even see their natural pink. The next thing that struck me was how pleasant she was. This lady had every reason in the world to be pissed off and frustrated at her plight, but she was appreciative and nice and even may have let loose a slight smile.
Later when I talked to her about staying in the hospital to get hydrated and have an orthopedist take care of her hip, I realized there had been no family with her.
"Do you have family nearby?"
"I guess I do..."
"Hmm, what does that mean?"
I could sense a wave of disappointment in her at the recognition by someone else that she was dying lonely.
"Well, I only have a son left, and I've been trying to call him for a month but his phone message just says he isn't taking any calls. I had my neighbor try to call him and she just got the same message."
I can't describe the emotion that was pouring out while she was saying this. If you have kids you hope your kids will be there for you when old to return the favor of their life and childhood. I can't imagine the feeling of abandonment and anger when they are not. This is what she was feeling, and it showed.
"He has a 3 year old son too..."
I don't like people to emotionally hurt. I've experienced enough of it to know that misery, and it hurts me when people hurt like that. So I sat down in her bed with her, and I held her hand. And we talked...
We talked about her son, and her only grandchild. We talked about her mom and her dad that died in WWII. We talked about God, and we shared a short prayer that her suffering might be eased. We even talked about dying, and she told me she wasn't ready to give up yet even if it meant having to tolerate intolerable pain.
I spent way too long with her. But it was worth it. I think it helped her, and I know it helped me.
I assigned my social worker the task of finding her son and getting him to the ER. The local police found him in his apartment and had him with his mother within an hour. After he arrived, she smiled more than anyone I've ever seen with a broken hip.
Time heals, in most cases. But sometimes the burdens of disease make it impossible to heal the complicated social situations we encounter today.
Last night, I think I really healed. I healed a heart that was starting to break inside an already broken body.
If you have a mom or dad, call them, thank them, hug them if you can. They miss you more than you know...
Thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.
March 29, 2007
Wisconsin
Speak to me
your clarity,
and tell me the secrets
I need to make you mine.
Show to me
your curves,
and give me the strength I need
to endure your climbs.
Give to me
your sights and sounds,
and let me smell
the brilliance of your dew.
Feed to me
your energy,
and let me taste
warm rain on my tongue.
Take from me
my naivete;
in September,
our time will come.
March 26, 2007
ING Georgia Half Marathon Race Report
Yesterday was the inaugural running of the ING Georgia Marathon and Half. 15,000 registered runners packed the Atlanta streets on a warm day with race start temperature near 70. It was the largest inaugural marathon event in history.
Anna and I arrived in Atlanta Saturday afternoon. We went over to the Americas Mart for the race expo, and we were impressed! Aisle after aisle of
vendors and sponsors. OMG the free snacks - Anna was in 3 year old bliss! I was a little surprised the expo closed at 6 - that seemed a bit early; but fortunately we got in and out just as they were closing down. Amazingly, despite 15,000 registered runners, I didn't have to wait ANY to get my race packet/number.
We shunned the traditional pasta pre-race dinner due to lack of any walkable kid-friendly options, and dined at a nearby Quiznos sub shop. The shop owner was incredibly nice, letting us stay an extra 15 minutes after his 7 pm closing time so Anna could finish. Thanks Quiznos guy!!
I woke about 2 1/2 hours before race start and went for a brief run, then grabbed a bagel and yogurt for breakfast. Then I sat on the balcony and watched downtown Atlanta come alive while stretching.
The race started at 0700, and it took me about 3 or 4 minutes to actually get across the start line. I was a little surprised that there were no corrals or staggers, but everyone seemed to move pretty well. I had given up on inching my way toward the front pre-race, and instead was in the middle with the 5 hour pacing team. So, the first mile was weaving in and out of thousands of people trying to find room to run.
After the first mile, I realized that my Garmin wasn't recording anything except time. I had set it for auto-laps at each mile, but I'm not techno savvy AT ALL, and well, I wasn't getting any distance info from it. Oh well, it became a funny looking watch...
The run was essentially uneventful. I just tried to keep a steady pace and practice hill management. I had never been on the course before raceday, but it was rather hilly. Nothing major, but some longish gradual inclines. With each hill I shortened my stride length while increasing my turnover, and that seemed to work perfect.
There was a large cheering crowd, and it was rare for there not to be someone
cheering for you. I carried an American flag with me for the entire race, part of my efforts toward Operation Rebound, and that seemed to garner a lot of extra cheers from the crowd.
The final mile was about 0.6 uphill (ok, that one hurt a little) and the last 0.4 was a downhill sprint toward the finish. My chip time was 1:40:38, or 7:40 pace (275th overall, 85/1317 age group).
This was simply my long run for the week, but I was quite happy with my PR time (easy PR, since it's the first half mar for me). Most importantly, as I write this the morning after, I have a little calf soreness but no other aches or pains. Next race - Powerman Alabama in just under 3 weeks!
Anna and I arrived in Atlanta Saturday afternoon. We went over to the Americas Mart for the race expo, and we were impressed! Aisle after aisle of
vendors and sponsors. OMG the free snacks - Anna was in 3 year old bliss! I was a little surprised the expo closed at 6 - that seemed a bit early; but fortunately we got in and out just as they were closing down. Amazingly, despite 15,000 registered runners, I didn't have to wait ANY to get my race packet/number.We shunned the traditional pasta pre-race dinner due to lack of any walkable kid-friendly options, and dined at a nearby Quiznos sub shop. The shop owner was incredibly nice, letting us stay an extra 15 minutes after his 7 pm closing time so Anna could finish. Thanks Quiznos guy!!
I woke about 2 1/2 hours before race start and went for a brief run, then grabbed a bagel and yogurt for breakfast. Then I sat on the balcony and watched downtown Atlanta come alive while stretching.
The race started at 0700, and it took me about 3 or 4 minutes to actually get across the start line. I was a little surprised that there were no corrals or staggers, but everyone seemed to move pretty well. I had given up on inching my way toward the front pre-race, and instead was in the middle with the 5 hour pacing team. So, the first mile was weaving in and out of thousands of people trying to find room to run.
After the first mile, I realized that my Garmin wasn't recording anything except time. I had set it for auto-laps at each mile, but I'm not techno savvy AT ALL, and well, I wasn't getting any distance info from it. Oh well, it became a funny looking watch...
The run was essentially uneventful. I just tried to keep a steady pace and practice hill management. I had never been on the course before raceday, but it was rather hilly. Nothing major, but some longish gradual inclines. With each hill I shortened my stride length while increasing my turnover, and that seemed to work perfect.
There was a large cheering crowd, and it was rare for there not to be someone
cheering for you. I carried an American flag with me for the entire race, part of my efforts toward Operation Rebound, and that seemed to garner a lot of extra cheers from the crowd.The final mile was about 0.6 uphill (ok, that one hurt a little) and the last 0.4 was a downhill sprint toward the finish. My chip time was 1:40:38, or 7:40 pace (275th overall, 85/1317 age group).
This was simply my long run for the week, but I was quite happy with my PR time (easy PR, since it's the first half mar for me). Most importantly, as I write this the morning after, I have a little calf soreness but no other aches or pains. Next race - Powerman Alabama in just under 3 weeks!
March 23, 2007
Becoming
I realized this week that I'm not going to become an Ironman.
You see, I took the kids to the beach for a few days this week. We go a few times a year to Sandestin, on the Florida panhandle. It's an easy drive but a world away.
Although they are young, the kids feel ownership there. They've explored most
of the couple thousand acres beachside and bayside. They know which is our table at Roberto's, the pizza place where we go at least twice each trip a couple hundred yards from the condo. They know every nook and cranny of the mega-playground also walkable from the condo. It's their place... No, it's our place...
I wish more people, moms and dads, had the chance to spend several consecutive days uninterrupted with their kids. It is an amazing experience. I'm talking EVERY minute of the day with them. I think that's a rather unusual thing these days to spend every minute of the day with your kid. The rewards are priceless.
My 3 year old Anna has recently learned to create and tell stories. Now she's heard me tell countless stories, always starting "Once upon a time." Hers always start "Once a little time..." I smile every time because she knows she is so right. Her stories usually are about mommies and daddies and little girls named Anna (surprise!). But she weaves into the plot monsters and tornadoes and houses and volcanoes. She gravitates toward destruction, which is 180 degrees contradictory to her sugar sweet demeanor.
And she always wants you to guess what she is going to say.
Today, she was telling us a story, "And then the su..."
And I'm supposed to guess the word she is going to say.
Me: "Sun."
Anna: "no, sunn....."
Me: "sunny"
Anna: "sunnd.."
Me: "Sunday"
Anna: "no, sunday..."
Me, now laughing "I just said Sunday..."
Anna: "Nooooo... sunndyday"
Me: "Sunny day?"
Anna: "Noooo... sunndyday"
Me: "It's not sunny day?"
Anna: "Noooo.... sunndyday"
Me: "I don't know then."
Anna: "Guess daddy!!"
Me: "I don't know what it is, what is it Anna?"
Anna: "It's sunny day!!"
Me: "But I said that a bunch of times..."
Anna: "But I didn't hear you..."
And the story goes on...
I had 2 occasions this week when I was struck with the idea that my life is absolutely beautiful.
The first was Tuesday when we were building a sandcastle just out of reach of the ocean's waves. There was no time, only the moment. The kids were quiet, each digging, pouring, and shaping the sand. There were people around us, but the sea breeze and the crashing waves drowned all other sounds. The only noise - wind, and waves. Kids working diligently, healthy and beautifully happy. Middle of a weekday when most people are sitting at a desk. And my thought - I'm here. This is where I've worked to be. I don't need anything else, because I have it all right here.
The second moment was of similar thought process but it occurred this morning when we were all in the hot tub. 9 am. Azure skies. Quiet. The only noises were the water jets and the kids' laughter. And my recurring thought - I'm here.
We often get trapped into always looking toward the future. Our goals for the future too easily control our lives in the present. But we can't shortchange the present or we'll end up with an unappreciated past. And you never know when the future will stop following the present.
On June 24 I'll complete an Ironman. But I won't change. I won't become an Ironman.
I realized this week that I don't need to become anything - I am everything I want to be.
You see, I took the kids to the beach for a few days this week. We go a few times a year to Sandestin, on the Florida panhandle. It's an easy drive but a world away.
Although they are young, the kids feel ownership there. They've explored most
-740315.jpg)
of the couple thousand acres beachside and bayside. They know which is our table at Roberto's, the pizza place where we go at least twice each trip a couple hundred yards from the condo. They know every nook and cranny of the mega-playground also walkable from the condo. It's their place... No, it's our place...I wish more people, moms and dads, had the chance to spend several consecutive days uninterrupted with their kids. It is an amazing experience. I'm talking EVERY minute of the day with them. I think that's a rather unusual thing these days to spend every minute of the day with your kid. The rewards are priceless.
-783219.jpg)
My 3 year old Anna has recently learned to create and tell stories. Now she's heard me tell countless stories, always starting "Once upon a time." Hers always start "Once a little time..." I smile every time because she knows she is so right. Her stories usually are about mommies and daddies and little girls named Anna (surprise!). But she weaves into the plot monsters and tornadoes and houses and volcanoes. She gravitates toward destruction, which is 180 degrees contradictory to her sugar sweet demeanor.
And she always wants you to guess what she is going to say.
Today, she was telling us a story, "And then the su..."
And I'm supposed to guess the word she is going to say.
Me: "Sun."
Anna: "no, sunn....."
Me: "sunny"
Anna: "sunnd.."
Me: "Sunday"
Anna: "no, sunday..."
Me, now laughing "I just said Sunday..."
Anna: "Nooooo... sunndyday"
Me: "Sunny day?"
Anna: "Noooo... sunndyday"
Me: "It's not sunny day?"
Anna: "Noooo.... sunndyday"
Me: "I don't know then."
Anna: "Guess daddy!!"
Me: "I don't know what it is, what is it Anna?"
Anna: "It's sunny day!!"
Me: "But I said that a bunch of times..."
Anna: "But I didn't hear you..."
And the story goes on...
I had 2 occasions this week when I was struck with the idea that my life is absolutely beautiful.
The first was Tuesday when we were building a sandcastle just out of reach of the ocean's waves. There was no time, only the moment. The kids were quiet, each digging, pouring, and shaping the sand. There were people around us, but the sea breeze and the crashing waves drowned all other sounds. The only noise - wind, and waves. Kids working diligently, healthy and beautifully happy. Middle of a weekday when most people are sitting at a desk. And my thought - I'm here. This is where I've worked to be. I don't need anything else, because I have it all right here.
The second moment was of similar thought process but it occurred this morning when we were all in the hot tub. 9 am. Azure skies. Quiet. The only noises were the water jets and the kids' laughter. And my recurring thought - I'm here.
We often get trapped into always looking toward the future. Our goals for the future too easily control our lives in the present. But we can't shortchange the present or we'll end up with an unappreciated past. And you never know when the future will stop following the present.
On June 24 I'll complete an Ironman. But I won't change. I won't become an Ironman.
I realized this week that I don't need to become anything - I am everything I want to be.
March 18, 2007
Addict
I think I finally realized the source of my increasing fatigue.
You see, I am an addict.
There, I admit it. Now that's the hardest part, right?
And now since I've taken that first step, let me explain. I've battled this caffeine addiction for years. It started when I was in high school, innocently, with a sporadic cup. By the time of junior year I would go through phases of an entire pot of coffee a day.
In college, I was largely caffeine free, which I suspect had something to do with the fact that if I was drinking something, it was almost always beer. If it wasn't beer, I wasn't drinking it.
But since medical school, me and coffee have been best buds. There have been a couple of short-term caffeine-free phases, but none for several years now.
At the end of last week, I took a caffeine count. On average, I drink about 40 ounces of coffee and about 24 ounces of diet Mt Dew each day. WAY. TOO. MUCH.
I think my caffeine levels stay so high that any little dip during the day makes me feel tired. And thus, I declare myself an addict.
Friday morning I put it down. I finished my coffee, and that was it. Done. Finished. No more.
Saturday I felt awful. Slept the day and night away, and when I wasn't asleep I was a zombie. I didn't get the headache, but only because I was alternating tylenol and ibuprofen every few hours.
And then, this morning, I woke at 0800 and felt almost great. I've felt little fatigue, and I still haven't had a headache despite having no analgesics since this morning.
I'm hopeful that I can continue caffeine-free. It will help my training by letting me feel a more honest fatigue so I will know easier when to rest. It will help my wallet by avoiding all those damn Starbucks trips.
And it will help me, because I don't want to be an addict to anything.
You see, I am an addict.
There, I admit it. Now that's the hardest part, right?
And now since I've taken that first step, let me explain. I've battled this caffeine addiction for years. It started when I was in high school, innocently, with a sporadic cup. By the time of junior year I would go through phases of an entire pot of coffee a day.
In college, I was largely caffeine free, which I suspect had something to do with the fact that if I was drinking something, it was almost always beer. If it wasn't beer, I wasn't drinking it.
But since medical school, me and coffee have been best buds. There have been a couple of short-term caffeine-free phases, but none for several years now.
At the end of last week, I took a caffeine count. On average, I drink about 40 ounces of coffee and about 24 ounces of diet Mt Dew each day. WAY. TOO. MUCH.
I think my caffeine levels stay so high that any little dip during the day makes me feel tired. And thus, I declare myself an addict.
Friday morning I put it down. I finished my coffee, and that was it. Done. Finished. No more.
Saturday I felt awful. Slept the day and night away, and when I wasn't asleep I was a zombie. I didn't get the headache, but only because I was alternating tylenol and ibuprofen every few hours.
And then, this morning, I woke at 0800 and felt almost great. I've felt little fatigue, and I still haven't had a headache despite having no analgesics since this morning.
I'm hopeful that I can continue caffeine-free. It will help my training by letting me feel a more honest fatigue so I will know easier when to rest. It will help my wallet by avoiding all those damn Starbucks trips.
And it will help me, because I don't want to be an addict to anything.
March 15, 2007
Time Management
"You will face new challenges at each step along the way to becoming an Ironman."
This wise warning was offered to me by an experienced Iron(wo)man when I started this journey to Ironman last fall. And as I get further into this process, I understand clearer and deeper the significance.
The challenges come in many forms - the challenge of preventing and overcoming injury, of financing the sport, of finding the motivation to train when all I 
really want to do is sleep.
really want to do is sleep.But the most immediate challenge to me right now is the challenge of time.
How do I find more hours to make increasingly large deposits into the Ironman bank?
When the sessions were rather short but frequent, it was easy to manipulate everything else to accommodate the training. But now there is little I do that doesn't require at least a dedicated hour, if not 2 or 3 or more. And it won't start to decrease until taper, which is still a long way away.
Last week Emma and Anna started soccer practice, and this has committed me to 5-7 hours a week previously (relatively) free. Tess started cheerleading - 1 1/2 hours a week. This is in addition to the 2 hours a week of ballet, the 3 hours a 
week spent sitting in carline, the 5 1/2 hours a week spent driving to pick up kids or drop off kids (to/from school, to/from their mom's house), the 42-44 hours a week that I spend teaching and treating in the ED.
week spent sitting in carline, the 5 1/2 hours a week spent driving to pick up kids or drop off kids (to/from school, to/from their mom's house), the 42-44 hours a week that I spend teaching and treating in the ED. As the family obligations stack and the training volume increases, the thing most easily sacrificed is sleep. But that's what I probably need more than anything to help absorb the increased training.
Many regard nutrition as 4th triathlon sport. For me, right now, I feel like time management is becoming just as much of a sport as the swim bike and run.
I just need to find more hours somehow. And more sleep.
Thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.
March 14, 2007
March 12, 2007
March 9, 2007
About Me Changes
My "About Me" needs to change.
No, I won't admit to having changed. But my environment has changed, and I can definitively say that I am happy with the changes.
First, I've reached a kid milestone - they all are out of diapers! My youngest finally has graduated to the underoos. No more wet wipes, no more late night trips to Publix when I realized at their bedtime that I had used the last pull-up, no more diapers to pull from the washing machine when someone decided to help with the laundry, no more little swimmers, no more... Diaper free!!!!
Second, I no longer can claim to be trying to learn how to swim. Know what?? I know how to swim! When I was first introduced to this triathlon thing back in July, I had never once swam a lap in a pool. Never. My first sprint tri included a 600 yard swim, and I was doggie paddling/back floating for about 3/4 of it. In January my longest non-stop swim was 750 yards. My long swim this week was 2000 yards straight. 2000 yards!! I'm certainly not fast, but I'm steady. And last time I checked, steady finishes.
Finally, I must admit that I'm starting to enjoy running. I've always been a decent runner - I could do a 5k with no training at any point in my life (although I rarely did). But I always have hated to actually run just to run. But it slowly is growing on me. I think when I ran without a real purpose in my non-training life, I would always run at the same speed and about the same distance over and over and over. I could never go farther, because I would run too fast. Long runs, tempo runs, interval runs - all foreign concepts. Now, I know I can run slow if I need to run long, and that will help me run fast for shorter distances. My favorite runs now are the mid-distance tempo runs - not too fast, not too slow, lots of ground covered.
Time passes no matter our reaction to it. We can exist, or we can live. We can stagnate, or we can train.
Little things like learning to use modern plumbing are just as monumental to me as swimming for more than a mile straight. It's progress. And progress lets me know that I'm not just existing, I'm living.
Thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.
No, I won't admit to having changed. But my environment has changed, and I can definitively say that I am happy with the changes.
First, I've reached a kid milestone - they all are out of diapers! My youngest finally has graduated to the underoos. No more wet wipes, no more late night trips to Publix when I realized at their bedtime that I had used the last pull-up, no more diapers to pull from the washing machine when someone decided to help with the laundry, no more little swimmers, no more... Diaper free!!!!
Second, I no longer can claim to be trying to learn how to swim. Know what?? I know how to swim! When I was first introduced to this triathlon thing back in July, I had never once swam a lap in a pool. Never. My first sprint tri included a 600 yard swim, and I was doggie paddling/back floating for about 3/4 of it. In January my longest non-stop swim was 750 yards. My long swim this week was 2000 yards straight. 2000 yards!! I'm certainly not fast, but I'm steady. And last time I checked, steady finishes.
Finally, I must admit that I'm starting to enjoy running. I've always been a decent runner - I could do a 5k with no training at any point in my life (although I rarely did). But I always have hated to actually run just to run. But it slowly is growing on me. I think when I ran without a real purpose in my non-training life, I would always run at the same speed and about the same distance over and over and over. I could never go farther, because I would run too fast. Long runs, tempo runs, interval runs - all foreign concepts. Now, I know I can run slow if I need to run long, and that will help me run fast for shorter distances. My favorite runs now are the mid-distance tempo runs - not too fast, not too slow, lots of ground covered.
Time passes no matter our reaction to it. We can exist, or we can live. We can stagnate, or we can train.
Little things like learning to use modern plumbing are just as monumental to me as swimming for more than a mile straight. It's progress. And progress lets me know that I'm not just existing, I'm living.
Thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.
March 7, 2007
March 5, 2007
One Step at a Time
Life doesn't happen in leaps and bounds. It happens one step at a time.
That little idea kept creeping into my mind yesterday when I took 10 miles worth of little steps on the treadmill.
10 miles running for me may as well have been a marathon this time last year. And I never, not for a second never had a thought of it wasn't even considering it, would have thought that right now I would be running 10 miles at a time, and 25 miles a week. Not to mention cycling for 30 or 40 miles at a time and swimming a mile at a time. Unthinkable.
Someone at work last night was talking among a group of us about running, and he said that "5 miles is nothing when you're an Ironman like DV..." Wow! Even though I am not, not yet anyway, that was the first time I received this nod of Ironman respect.
You see, Ironman is about more than the distance. More than about the 2.4 miles, the 112 miles, the 26.2 miles. The distance is the leaps and the bounds.
But Ironman is about the baby steps. It's about putting one foot in front of the other consistently, and routinely. It's about learning how to swim without a lesson, and then practicing for hours on end until you are swimming straight mile repeats. It's about finding those 10 or 12 or 15 hours a week to train when you have no extra hours to offer. It's about accepting that even though today's training session was crappy, the fact that there was a session today means progress. It's about tossing the superfluous and embracing the necessities.
It's about doing what you believe in to become what you don't know if you are.
It's like life.
And life doesn't happen in leaps and bounds. It happens one step at a time.
That little idea kept creeping into my mind yesterday when I took 10 miles worth of little steps on the treadmill.
10 miles running for me may as well have been a marathon this time last year. And I never, not for a second never had a thought of it wasn't even considering it, would have thought that right now I would be running 10 miles at a time, and 25 miles a week. Not to mention cycling for 30 or 40 miles at a time and swimming a mile at a time. Unthinkable.
Someone at work last night was talking among a group of us about running, and he said that "5 miles is nothing when you're an Ironman like DV..." Wow! Even though I am not, not yet anyway, that was the first time I received this nod of Ironman respect.
You see, Ironman is about more than the distance. More than about the 2.4 miles, the 112 miles, the 26.2 miles. The distance is the leaps and the bounds.
But Ironman is about the baby steps. It's about putting one foot in front of the other consistently, and routinely. It's about learning how to swim without a lesson, and then practicing for hours on end until you are swimming straight mile repeats. It's about finding those 10 or 12 or 15 hours a week to train when you have no extra hours to offer. It's about accepting that even though today's training session was crappy, the fact that there was a session today means progress. It's about tossing the superfluous and embracing the necessities.
It's about doing what you believe in to become what you don't know if you are.
It's like life.
And life doesn't happen in leaps and bounds. It happens one step at a time.
March 2, 2007
I Believe
I believe that falling repeatedly makes me a master at picking myself up.
I believe that before every training session I have the choice of being a coward, and going home, or being an Ironman. Coward, or Ironman.... Coward, or Ironman... It's been a long time since I skipped any training.
I believe that the things we appreciate most are earned through patience, perseverance, and sweat. Keep your gifts; I'd rather work for it.
I believe that expression is the most underrated quality of a person. I marvel at a person who, unlike me, can do it consistently, clearly, and concisely.
I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let... (oops, got carried away... uhm, no, I will not admit that I actually know or like this song. All apologies, Whitney. And remember, crack is wack...)
I believe that newly-learned techniques and movements proceed at lightspeed, until they become habitual, and then they proceed at snailspeed. Minor tweaks with major results always happen at snailspeed; never at lightspeed.
I believe that the more I hurt when training, the less I will suffer when racing.
I believe that given the opportunity to walk away or persevere, there will be a time when I am so weak and weary, so tired and hungry, that I will consider the former, but choose the latter because I have chosen each day to be an Ironman, not a Coward. An Ironman, not a Coward...
I believe.
I believe that before every training session I have the choice of being a coward, and going home, or being an Ironman. Coward, or Ironman.... Coward, or Ironman... It's been a long time since I skipped any training.
I believe that the things we appreciate most are earned through patience, perseverance, and sweat. Keep your gifts; I'd rather work for it.
I believe that expression is the most underrated quality of a person. I marvel at a person who, unlike me, can do it consistently, clearly, and concisely.
I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let... (oops, got carried away... uhm, no, I will not admit that I actually know or like this song. All apologies, Whitney. And remember, crack is wack...)
I believe that newly-learned techniques and movements proceed at lightspeed, until they become habitual, and then they proceed at snailspeed. Minor tweaks with major results always happen at snailspeed; never at lightspeed.
I believe that the more I hurt when training, the less I will suffer when racing.
I believe that given the opportunity to walk away or persevere, there will be a time when I am so weak and weary, so tired and hungry, that I will consider the former, but choose the latter because I have chosen each day to be an Ironman, not a Coward. An Ironman, not a Coward...
I believe.
February 27, 2007
Continuity of Care
The first time, they took his legs. This time, they took his heart.
There isn't supposed to be continuity of care in the emergency department. People go to their primary doctor for most of their problems, and they come see me for life or limb threatening emergencies. That's how it's supposed to work. But our healthcare machine doesn't always work the way it's designed...
I work more than any of the other physicians in our department. It's a choice, not a necessity, and I like what I do. No, I love what I do. Can't imagine doing anything else. My residents think it's funny that they can look through the computerized records of every patient in our department at any given time and I have taken care of at least half of them previously. Continuity of care, in a way.
The people that come to the ER regularly are usually the people with severe and unrelenting diseases, or with personality disorders (who have been banned from "regular" doctors), or who have been labelled "drug-seeking."
Of the many I see fairly regularly, there are a few that I have become attached to. I look forward to them, grow giddy when I see their name appear on my computer, and greet them fondly with an appropriate embrace.
I lost one of them this morning.
I was a new attending in our ER when I first met M. He came by ambulance after suffering a missile wound to the abdomen, his spine shattered by the .45 in the name of street justice. He would never walk again. He was 18 then.
Over the last several years I saw him at least every couple of months, sometimes every few days. His crippled legs developed blood clots, his non-emptying bladder developed UTI's, his post-op abdomen developed obstructions. He lost weight, became malnourished, and developed a painful condition called SMA syndrome that causes the bloodflow to the upper intestines to be restricted with every meal.
And despite all of this misery, M was always pleasant. He never complained, although he had every reason to do so. He was a master of the XBox 360 and competed in the local Madden tournaments (once he blistered a thumb so badly from XBox that I had to debride and bandage it with burn-wound dressings...).
I never once saw a family member or friend with him, although he insisted to me that he had many of both.
Today, after he arrived DOA from another gun shot, this time a lethal strike through his heart, I met his family. Dozens arrived... They cried, and I did too.
What could a 23 year old paralyzed chronically ill guy possibly do that is so atrocious that the penalty is execution?
I don't know, maybe he was still a thug, maybe he incited something today, maybe he had wronged someone who was hell-bent on retaliation. I probably will never know, and I don't think it much matters.
The first time, they took his legs. This time, they took his heart...
Sometimes continuity of care can be painful.
Disclaimer: Any patient information has been alterred by name, age, gender, location, and in other ways to protect individual privacy.
There isn't supposed to be continuity of care in the emergency department. People go to their primary doctor for most of their problems, and they come see me for life or limb threatening emergencies. That's how it's supposed to work. But our healthcare machine doesn't always work the way it's designed...
I work more than any of the other physicians in our department. It's a choice, not a necessity, and I like what I do. No, I love what I do. Can't imagine doing anything else. My residents think it's funny that they can look through the computerized records of every patient in our department at any given time and I have taken care of at least half of them previously. Continuity of care, in a way.
The people that come to the ER regularly are usually the people with severe and unrelenting diseases, or with personality disorders (who have been banned from "regular" doctors), or who have been labelled "drug-seeking."
Of the many I see fairly regularly, there are a few that I have become attached to. I look forward to them, grow giddy when I see their name appear on my computer, and greet them fondly with an appropriate embrace.
I lost one of them this morning.
I was a new attending in our ER when I first met M. He came by ambulance after suffering a missile wound to the abdomen, his spine shattered by the .45 in the name of street justice. He would never walk again. He was 18 then.
Over the last several years I saw him at least every couple of months, sometimes every few days. His crippled legs developed blood clots, his non-emptying bladder developed UTI's, his post-op abdomen developed obstructions. He lost weight, became malnourished, and developed a painful condition called SMA syndrome that causes the bloodflow to the upper intestines to be restricted with every meal.
And despite all of this misery, M was always pleasant. He never complained, although he had every reason to do so. He was a master of the XBox 360 and competed in the local Madden tournaments (once he blistered a thumb so badly from XBox that I had to debride and bandage it with burn-wound dressings...).
I never once saw a family member or friend with him, although he insisted to me that he had many of both.
Today, after he arrived DOA from another gun shot, this time a lethal strike through his heart, I met his family. Dozens arrived... They cried, and I did too.
What could a 23 year old paralyzed chronically ill guy possibly do that is so atrocious that the penalty is execution?
I don't know, maybe he was still a thug, maybe he incited something today, maybe he had wronged someone who was hell-bent on retaliation. I probably will never know, and I don't think it much matters.
The first time, they took his legs. This time, they took his heart...
Sometimes continuity of care can be painful.
Disclaimer: Any patient information has been alterred by name, age, gender, location, and in other ways to protect individual privacy.
February 26, 2007
Want a Free SwiMP3?
Today marks the first day of fundraising for me for the Race for a Reason/Challenged Athletes Foundation.
This organization is a non-profit that helps challenged athletes compete. It 
helps with equipment such as special chairs and prosthetics, and it helps with therapists and trainers who help them get to the starting line.
helps with equipment such as special chairs and prosthetics, and it helps with therapists and trainers who help them get to the starting line.If you have ever gotten a little motivation from watching Sarah Reinertsen cross the finish line at Kona, or from seeing Ma
jor David Rozelle finish in 2006 at IM CDA and Kona, then you owe the Challenged Athletes Foundation your support.
jor David Rozelle finish in 2006 at IM CDA and Kona, then you owe the Challenged Athletes Foundation your support.What does this have to do with a free Swim mp3? Well, some of you may know that I bought a new Finis Swim mp3 a few weeks ago.
I've used it twice, and I decided that it is too bulky on the back of my head for my taste. Now, don't get me wrong, there are tons of people who love this 
product, and nearly every review I've read raves about it. I think that it isn't good for me because I still am way too conscious of my head position so that I constantly "feel" it.
product, and nearly every review I've read raves about it. I think that it isn't good for me because I still am way too conscious of my head position so that I constantly "feel" it.Anyway, it works great. Sound quality is excellent. It holds about a 4 hour battery charge (although I've only actually used it twice for about 45 minutes each time), and holds about 30 songs.
Free. Free (including domestic shipping) to the first person that emails me and tells me they want the player and will donate $50 towards my CAF goal. You don't have to donate the money until you are confirmed by me as the first, unless you want to donate anyway. And it's a helluva good reason (and a tax deductible one) to donate anyway...
So that's the deal. Want a free Finis Swim mp3? Zap me a message (my email is at the top of my sidebar).
Thanks for joining me on My Daily Spin.
February 23, 2007
Training
She's all I think about. Whether I'm driving my kids to school or intubating a patient in cardiac arrest, she's right there with me.
She's the last thing I'm aware of before I sleep, and the first thing in my mind when I wake.
If I go a day without her, I feel awful. Miserable. Forgotten my mother's birthday miserable. So I try not to let a day pass when I don't give to her at least a little bit of me.
And she repays me like nothing I've experienced before. She gives me confidence like Ali and speed like Sugar Shane (ok, I wish she gave me speed like Sugar Shane, but a boy can dream can't he?). She tempers and humbles me, humiliates and rebuilds me.
She makes me hurt. Oh my God, she makes me hurt. But I beg for more, insatiable like Mardi Gras gluttony.
I buy things for her. Little gifts here and there, sacrifices to the greater cause of our relationship. She uses my gifts to hurt me more, and it only makes me want to repeat the cycle, again and again and again.
She controls me, even without making demands. She puts me to bed early, forces me to abide to a one beer a week rule, and laughs at me when I remember ever smoking a cigarette. Yet I've learned to accept her rules, knowing that we will be stronger by avoiding the habits of my former I.
And her wishes and desires and needs have become my wishes and desires and needs, so that we are symbiotic in this creation.
And as one, for better or for worse, richer or poorer, in sickness or in health, we will face all obstacles thrown at us on June 24, and on September 9, and on any future days when we might happen to find 17 hours to swim, bike, and run our way over 140.6 miles.
My girl... My girl...
She's the last thing I'm aware of before I sleep, and the first thing in my mind when I wake.
If I go a day without her, I feel awful. Miserable. Forgotten my mother's birthday miserable. So I try not to let a day pass when I don't give to her at least a little bit of me.
And she repays me like nothing I've experienced before. She gives me confidence like Ali and speed like Sugar Shane (ok, I wish she gave me speed like Sugar Shane, but a boy can dream can't he?). She tempers and humbles me, humiliates and rebuilds me.
She makes me hurt. Oh my God, she makes me hurt. But I beg for more, insatiable like Mardi Gras gluttony.
I buy things for her. Little gifts here and there, sacrifices to the greater cause of our relationship. She uses my gifts to hurt me more, and it only makes me want to repeat the cycle, again and again and again.
She controls me, even without making demands. She puts me to bed early, forces me to abide to a one beer a week rule, and laughs at me when I remember ever smoking a cigarette. Yet I've learned to accept her rules, knowing that we will be stronger by avoiding the habits of my former I.
And her wishes and desires and needs have become my wishes and desires and needs, so that we are symbiotic in this creation.
And as one, for better or for worse, richer or poorer, in sickness or in health, we will face all obstacles thrown at us on June 24, and on September 9, and on any future days when we might happen to find 17 hours to swim, bike, and run our way over 140.6 miles.
My girl... My girl...
February 21, 2007
February 19, 2007
Inseparable
Last week I was in a funk of uncertain etiology. Maybe it was the training hours starting to add up, or maybe it was the kids needing a little more attention and chaperoning than normal. Maybe it was just one of those weeks...
There are times in life when you have to stop thinking of all the reasons that you should or could or would do something, and you just need to shut up and do it.
I used to be a thinker. Or maybe I am still a thinker, I am just learning to suppress it.
Every decision, every fork in the road I would analyze with the detail of an archaeologist whispering away the flecks of sand from a 20,000 year old skeleton. I wouldn't order from a menu without reading EVERY single option, including a perusal of the dessert menu just in case I needed to plan on extra room for an irresistible treat (oh and believe me, I need to!). I wouldn't go to the gym without asking myself a million times why don't you just sit down and drink a beer and watch the football game like every single one of your friends?
But things are changing. Circumstances are changing. Goals are changing. Me, I'm not changing; but I am adapting to the changes around me.
I look forward to the gym like never before. I'm talking about 3 trips to the gym yesterday - yep, count 'em, a morning stretching-core routing, then home to fuel, then back for a swim session, then off to meet some friends for lunch, then one last time for a dreadmill run prior to work.... Unheard of for me... 3 workouts in one day! I must be effing insane!
[Which reminds me of one of the better lines from the movie Breach, in theatres now... Hannsen says of himself, "I must be either insanely brave, or just plain insane, or maybe both..." Check out the movie if you get a chance...]
But back to the thinking. One of our fellow tri-bloggers taught me a while back to just stop thinking about that which you have to do, and do it. I can sit here all day and think of a million reasons why I should skip my swim today, or I can get off my ass and go swim. Know what? I don't think about it anymore, I just swim.
And that, my friends, is progress. When you are able to do what needs to be done without trying to talk yourself out of it, without sitting at that fork for 20 minutes trying to reinvent daily why you are on this journey, you are becoming inseparable from your goals.
And that is what I want... I want to be so ingrained in what is important to me right now; teaching and loving my kids, helping those who are suffering, and training for the upcoming Ironman season, that I am inseparable from it.
Man this is going to be one helluva spring and summer! I can. not. wait. for my first 70.3, the Florida Half Ironman in May! Train on, my brothers and sisters, and thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.
There are times in life when you have to stop thinking of all the reasons that you should or could or would do something, and you just need to shut up and do it.
I used to be a thinker. Or maybe I am still a thinker, I am just learning to suppress it.
Every decision, every fork in the road I would analyze with the detail of an archaeologist whispering away the flecks of sand from a 20,000 year old skeleton. I wouldn't order from a menu without reading EVERY single option, including a perusal of the dessert menu just in case I needed to plan on extra room for an irresistible treat (oh and believe me, I need to!). I wouldn't go to the gym without asking myself a million times why don't you just sit down and drink a beer and watch the football game like every single one of your friends?But things are changing. Circumstances are changing. Goals are changing. Me, I'm not changing; but I am adapting to the changes around me.
I look forward to the gym like never before. I'm talking about 3 trips to the gym yesterday - yep, count 'em, a morning stretching-core routing, then home to fuel, then back for a swim session, then off to meet some friends for lunch, then one last time for a dreadmill run prior to work.... Unheard of for me... 3 workouts in one day! I must be effing insane!
[Which reminds me of one of the better lines from the movie Breach, in theatres now... Hannsen says of himself, "I must be either insanely brave, or just plain insane, or maybe both..." Check out the movie if you get a chance...]
But back to the thinking. One of our fellow tri-bloggers taught me a while back to just stop thinking about that which you have to do, and do it. I can sit here all day and think of a million reasons why I should skip my swim today, or I can get off my ass and go swim. Know what? I don't think about it anymore, I just swim.
And that, my friends, is progress. When you are able to do what needs to be done without trying to talk yourself out of it, without sitting at that fork for 20 minutes trying to reinvent daily why you are on this journey, you are becoming inseparable from your goals.
And that is what I want... I want to be so ingrained in what is important to me right now; teaching and loving my kids, helping those who are suffering, and training for the upcoming Ironman season, that I am inseparable from it.
Man this is going to be one helluva spring and summer! I can. not. wait. for my first 70.3, the Florida Half Ironman in May! Train on, my brothers and sisters, and thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.
February 15, 2007
Life Press
Sometimes I feel like the demands of life are an Olympic bar and each responsibility is a separate plate. The job is a 45# one, the kids are 2 45#'s, the house a 35#, training maybe a 25#.
And me, I'm trying to press that bar successfully.
Now any of you that have spent any time pressing know the importance of technique. A successful press requires perfect form, with feet shoulders width apart, knees nearly fully extended, wrists extended and elbows pointing forward. The motion should be all upper body - no lower body cheating allowed. Straight up, then slightly back as the bar extends over your head.
Sometimes I feel like that bar is so loaded with responsibilities that I'm maxed out. And any additional plates will force me to break form and use my legs, or, even worse, send me crashing to the floor in defeat.
I guess that's why flexibility, and compromise, is important, so that I won't be so bull-headed about perfect press form and will let myself use my legs for a little extra oomph when needed. That extra oomph might just keep me from crashing.
And that's also why repetition is important. If I practice enough, get fluid and strong enough, I will master the form and be able to handle a heavier load. My responsibilities sure don't seem to diminish as I get older, so the capability to gradually handle more seems a necessity.
But lately, it seems like there's been an extra 10# plate added to just one side, knocking off the entire balance of the bar. And that one, that one I haven't figured out how to handle yet...
And me, I'm trying to press that bar successfully.
Now any of you that have spent any time pressing know the importance of technique. A successful press requires perfect form, with feet shoulders width apart, knees nearly fully extended, wrists extended and elbows pointing forward. The motion should be all upper body - no lower body cheating allowed. Straight up, then slightly back as the bar extends over your head.
Sometimes I feel like that bar is so loaded with responsibilities that I'm maxed out. And any additional plates will force me to break form and use my legs, or, even worse, send me crashing to the floor in defeat.
I guess that's why flexibility, and compromise, is important, so that I won't be so bull-headed about perfect press form and will let myself use my legs for a little extra oomph when needed. That extra oomph might just keep me from crashing.
And that's also why repetition is important. If I practice enough, get fluid and strong enough, I will master the form and be able to handle a heavier load. My responsibilities sure don't seem to diminish as I get older, so the capability to gradually handle more seems a necessity.
But lately, it seems like there's been an extra 10# plate added to just one side, knocking off the entire balance of the bar. And that one, that one I haven't figured out how to handle yet...
February 12, 2007
Great Training Day, and a Wallflower
Friday: Swim 1000y TT 20:45
Run 2m WU (7:31 pace), then
1m repeats
(6:44,6:22,7:31,6:12)
Saturday: Run Easy 2m with kids
Sunday: Sick (gave up after 3 unplanned stops in 1st mile of run)
Monday: Run 7m (59:59)
Stretch/core (30m)
Bike 21.8m (64 min)
Swim 1500y (500 wu, then
5x100
(1:42,1:36,1:34,1:32,1:33),
then 10x50 (all :41-46s)
Today was fun! I finally got to take my bike for her maiden voyage (why are things like bikes, and cars, always considered she's?) I learned how a bike is supposed to feel, finally. You see, my first tri bike came from ebay and naive me bought a 51cm bike because it was a good deal and it was a Cervelo and that was the only brand tri bike I ever had seen.
And funny thing is, I didn't even realize it was too small for me until probably 3 or 4 months after I bought it when I was complaining to my friend JM about how I couldn't stay aero for more than a minute or 2. That's when she informed me that for tri bikes size does matter... Light bulb moment! I see...
So today I took my properly fit bike for its maiden voyage and stayed aero the entire hour! I did realize that I need to lower the cockpit somehow; I didn't feel aero enough. Heh, maybe that's why I felt good for the whole hour. Hmmm. So I flipped the stem, and that lowered it by a couple of inches. I dropped the clip on aerobars (I am totally lusting after the HED aerobars with the third brake lever - I gotta get me one of those!) so that they are at a slightly negative slope. I've taken out all of the spacers. Any other suggestions???
I just finished reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. I didn't realize it until I downloaded the photo that it is classified as "adolescent fiction." This is fitting, but I swear it was in the plain ole literature 
section not the teenager section at the local bookstore. Anyway, I guess in many ways I'm just an old adolescent anyhow...
section not the teenager section at the local bookstore. Anyway, I guess in many ways I'm just an old adolescent anyhow...The entire text is a series of letters (this kind of book has some special name which I'm probably supposed to remember from Ms Frucci's 10th grade English class, but - sorry Ms F - I have no clue what it is...) from a 10th grader named Charlie to a never-named recipient described only as someone who wouldn't sleep with a girl just because he could. Hmm.
Charlie is one messed up little dude. He's depressed and occasionally psychotic (in a seriously mental health need-a-psychiatrist kind of way). The story is about Charlie's first year of high school, a series of highs (some literally) and lows as he finds love in a group of friends, makes peace with his football hero brother and older sister, experiments with pot and LSD, and laments the loss of his Aunt Helen. There is an overwhelming sense that there is something more to Charlie that forces his social awkwardness, and that something finally is revealed in the last 10 pages (but ya have to read it to find it out!).
It's a fun read that forces you to reminisce about high school; and, if you're like me, when you read those last 10 pages you suddenly can identify wholeheartedly with the troubled Charlie. Grab a copy and see for yourself!
Thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.
February 10, 2007
Mercedes Race Report (Troupe)
Today was the 2nd race of the season for 2 members of the TriJack Troupe, Tess and Emma. They raced the last mile of the Mercedes Kids Marathon in Birmingham.
So I was new to the kids marathon format until we started this adventure a few months ago. Each registered kid, and there were around 4000, ran 25.2 miles
individually between October and today, then completed the last mile of the marathon together this morning.
Emma has been counting the days until racetime, even telling me yesterday how she was going to sprint at the finish to take 1st place. Tess wasn't quite as excited, although her interest level did increase dramatically when I promised ice cream after the race (how anyone can want ice cream when it is 25 degrees is beyond my comprehension...).
They div
ided the 4000 kids by grade, so Emma started at 11:00 with the 1st graders. She had told me for weeks that she wanted to run by herself, and I had talked myself into being ok with that, but at the last minute she decided she wanted me to run with her. Cool!
That girl ran the entire way, passed tons of peeps, and then finished with a kick that Carl Lewis would be proud of. Final time - 9:09.
I hurried back to the starting line for Tess's 11:15 start. She was a little more
nervous, but was fighting the cold and a little nausea like a champ. She ran for the first half mile, then did a 100 yard power-walk, and then finished running! She was so proud to hear her name at the finish line. Final time - 12:27.
The kids collected their medals, and both have already decided that next year they want to "run another marathon!"
So I was new to the kids marathon format until we started this adventure a few months ago. Each registered kid, and there were around 4000, ran 25.2 miles
individually between October and today, then completed the last mile of the marathon together this morning.Emma has been counting the days until racetime, even telling me yesterday how she was going to sprint at the finish to take 1st place. Tess wasn't quite as excited, although her interest level did increase dramatically when I promised ice cream after the race (how anyone can want ice cream when it is 25 degrees is beyond my comprehension...).
They div
ided the 4000 kids by grade, so Emma started at 11:00 with the 1st graders. She had told me for weeks that she wanted to run by herself, and I had talked myself into being ok with that, but at the last minute she decided she wanted me to run with her. Cool!That girl ran the entire way, passed tons of peeps, and then finished with a kick that Carl Lewis would be proud of. Final time - 9:09.
I hurried back to the starting line for Tess's 11:15 start. She was a little more
nervous, but was fighting the cold and a little nausea like a champ. She ran for the first half mile, then did a 100 yard power-walk, and then finished running! She was so proud to hear her name at the finish line. Final time - 12:27.
The kids collected their medals, and both have already decided that next year they want to "run another marathon!"
February 9, 2007
TriJack Gets Pimped
While the Kahuna is getting stripped, TriJack is getting pimped in a techno kind of way.
You see, I tend to do things kinda old-fashioned. I like tuxedos and old Cadillacs, I open your car door even if we're not on a date, and I'd rather have a person look real and flawed than plastic and perfect.
And that's how I've been doing my training - bare bones old school grinding it out based on how I feel on any given day. But things are changing.
My motivation and goals in triathlon have transitioned from stepping up to a friendly challenge from my friend Mark to do a sprint tri with him last summer to racing, not just finishing, 2 ironmans this year. Big step up, without a lot of the baby steps along the way.
In taking that step, I'm starting to realize that I need the resources to support me. For that first sprint tri last summer, I bought a tri-bike off ebay (which turned out to be about 5 cm in frame size too small - I'm so naive!), a timex watch and a pair of swim goggles. That's all I needed. Problem is, the only thing I've added to my equipment since then is a pair of fins.
My friends, TriJack is about to get pimped... My new bike, the Cervelo p2sl, has arrived. And I've ordered a Computrainer which hopefully will be arriving within the next few days. I think I'm more excited about this than I am about the bike.
The concept of riding countless different course simulations stimulates the little-kid video game geek in me, and I think this will work well for my training. I've noticed that it is hard for me to commit more than an hour on the bike at a time due to kid responsibilities, but I think the Computrainer will help me fix that issue. I hope...
And, of course, with the Computrainer I can "train with power..." Because it seems everyone is preaching that if you aren't training with power, you aren't really getting the most from your training. Well, I'm stepping up to the big leagues my friends.
The second techno pimp item I've ordered is the Garmin Forerunner 301 heart rate monitor. Now I'll know whether I'm supposed to run faster or slower or just quit for the day (heheh)...
It will be interesting to compare my old fashioned how-I-feel training to power and heart-rate training. I'm certain that the new toys will add a bit more fun to the sessions, at least for a few weeks until the novelty fades.
The final pimp-my-TriJack item is the Finis SwimMP3. Most all of the reviews I've read for this are good to outstanding, and I'll try anything to keep me in the water longer!
Well, old-fashioned TriJack is being replaced by techno-training TriJack. But know what? I'm still going to open the door for you, and I still like you more real than plastic.... Some things never will change.
Thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.
You see, I tend to do things kinda old-fashioned. I like tuxedos and old Cadillacs, I open your car door even if we're not on a date, and I'd rather have a person look real and flawed than plastic and perfect.
And that's how I've been doing my training - bare bones old school grinding it out based on how I feel on any given day. But things are changing.
My motivation and goals in triathlon have transitioned from stepping up to a friendly challenge from my friend Mark to do a sprint tri with him last summer to racing, not just finishing, 2 ironmans this year. Big step up, without a lot of the baby steps along the way.
In taking that step, I'm starting to realize that I need the resources to support me. For that first sprint tri last summer, I bought a tri-bike off ebay (which turned out to be about 5 cm in frame size too small - I'm so naive!), a timex watch and a pair of swim goggles. That's all I needed. Problem is, the only thing I've added to my equipment since then is a pair of fins.
My friends, TriJack is about to get pimped... My new bike, the Cervelo p2sl, has arrived. And I've ordered a Computrainer which hopefully will be arriving within the next few days. I think I'm more excited about this than I am about the bike.
The concept of riding countless different course simulations stimulates the little-kid video game geek in me, and I think this will work well for my training. I've noticed that it is hard for me to commit more than an hour on the bike at a time due to kid responsibilities, but I think the Computrainer will help me fix that issue. I hope...
And, of course, with the Computrainer I can "train with power..." Because it seems everyone is preaching that if you aren't training with power, you aren't really getting the most from your training. Well, I'm stepping up to the big leagues my friends.
The second techno pimp item I've ordered is the Garmin Forerunner 301 heart rate monitor. Now I'll know whether I'm supposed to run faster or slower or just quit for the day (heheh)...
It will be interesting to compare my old fashioned how-I-feel training to power and heart-rate training. I'm certain that the new toys will add a bit more fun to the sessions, at least for a few weeks until the novelty fades.
The final pimp-my-TriJack item is the Finis SwimMP3. Most all of the reviews I've read for this are good to outstanding, and I'll try anything to keep me in the water longer!
Well, old-fashioned TriJack is being replaced by techno-training TriJack. But know what? I'm still going to open the door for you, and I still like you more real than plastic.... Some things never will change.
Thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.
February 8, 2007
Crashed, Like a Barge
Wednesday: Swim 250y WU, 5 x 100 on 2:15, 250y kicks, 10 x 50 holding
:40-:42s
Run: 5m easy (38:30)
Thursday: Swim 20 x50 drills, 250 kick
My swim yardage has increased quite a bit this week, and I felt it this morning. My shoulders and legs were sore and tight, and I felt like a barge. Didn't help that I was training on 2 hours sleep over the last 36 hours. Tomorrow will be better though, especially since I get to sleep tonight!
I think my web-host has crashed. I haven't had access to my pages for the last 24 hours. Frustrating...
My eyelids are heavy, the kids are asleep. It's time for me to follow their lead and re-energize!
Tomorrow I'll post some news about TriJack entering the tech age - stay tuned!
Thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.
:40-:42s
Run: 5m easy (38:30)
Thursday: Swim 20 x50 drills, 250 kick
My swim yardage has increased quite a bit this week, and I felt it this morning. My shoulders and legs were sore and tight, and I felt like a barge. Didn't help that I was training on 2 hours sleep over the last 36 hours. Tomorrow will be better though, especially since I get to sleep tonight!
I think my web-host has crashed. I haven't had access to my pages for the last 24 hours. Frustrating...
My eyelids are heavy, the kids are asleep. It's time for me to follow their lead and re-energize!
Tomorrow I'll post some news about TriJack entering the tech age - stay tuned!
Thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.
February 6, 2007
I Told You So, the Prologue
Monday 4.5 m run, 2 m WU then 10 x 200m on 9% with 200 m rest
2000y swim, 4 x 500 with 1-2 min rest
Tuesday Crossfit/Strength/Stretch
I was talking to a group of tri guys at the gym yesterday, guys who have been tri'ing for several years and a couple of whom have completed a few different Ironmans. I told them about Zurich, and Wisconsin, and about my swim struggles. They expressed a sincere doubt that I would be able to swim IM Zurich by the time cutoff, AND that I would be able to survive IM Moo just 2 1/2 months after Zurich...
I smiled, a bursting at the seams new car for my birthday kind of smile...
You see, there is very little that motivates me more than someone who knows what it takes to accomplish something doubting that I too can accomplish it. If a couch potato with a beer belly the size of Montana doubts I can swim 2.4 miles, who cares... But if a 3 time IM doubts me, game on.
My high school guidance counsellor pleaded for me not to drop out... What will happen if this doesn't work? Yea, you're smart, but you can't do anything without a diploma... Well, Ms C., how ya like me now??? Doubters...
You can't take 4 kids 5 and under for a week-long road trip covering 2500 miles... Ha!! Ask my 2 oldest kids what the most fun thing they ever have done and you know what they say?? "Driving around the world with Daddy," that's what! Doubters...
It probably is pathological and child-like, but I get immense pleasure from saying "I told you so..." Not that I usually actually say that, but you better believe I think it.
So, as if I needed any extra motivation, from this point on IM Zurich is about I told you so... Because I can, because I will, and because they think I can't...
Game on!
2000y swim, 4 x 500 with 1-2 min rest
Tuesday Crossfit/Strength/Stretch
I was talking to a group of tri guys at the gym yesterday, guys who have been tri'ing for several years and a couple of whom have completed a few different Ironmans. I told them about Zurich, and Wisconsin, and about my swim struggles. They expressed a sincere doubt that I would be able to swim IM Zurich by the time cutoff, AND that I would be able to survive IM Moo just 2 1/2 months after Zurich...
I smiled, a bursting at the seams new car for my birthday kind of smile...
You see, there is very little that motivates me more than someone who knows what it takes to accomplish something doubting that I too can accomplish it. If a couch potato with a beer belly the size of Montana doubts I can swim 2.4 miles, who cares... But if a 3 time IM doubts me, game on.
My high school guidance counsellor pleaded for me not to drop out... What will happen if this doesn't work? Yea, you're smart, but you can't do anything without a diploma... Well, Ms C., how ya like me now??? Doubters...
You can't take 4 kids 5 and under for a week-long road trip covering 2500 miles... Ha!! Ask my 2 oldest kids what the most fun thing they ever have done and you know what they say?? "Driving around the world with Daddy," that's what! Doubters...
It probably is pathological and child-like, but I get immense pleasure from saying "I told you so..." Not that I usually actually say that, but you better believe I think it.
So, as if I needed any extra motivation, from this point on IM Zurich is about I told you so... Because I can, because I will, and because they think I can't...
Game on!
February 5, 2007
Slap Training My Latest Read
I think it's time to start posting my training stats to make myself accountable, so:
Sunday - 1750 y swim:500wu, 5x200,10x25, 6m run (50min)
I'm feeling stronger each day with the swim, and I'm ready to start pushing the volume up. It was pointed out to me recently that my IM is only 4 months away, and that I need to be swimming 5000 yards or so straight (holy sh*t!) prior to the race. So it's time to get grooving!
Moving on...
Sunday - 1750 y swim:500wu, 5x200,10x25, 6m run (50min)
I'm feeling stronger each day with the swim, and I'm ready to start pushing the volume up. It was pointed out to me recently that my IM is only 4 months away, and that I need to be swimming 5000 yards or so straight (holy sh*t!) prior to the race. So it's time to get grooving!
Moving on...
I'm foolhardy. I admit it. Guilty as charged. Find me a judge and a jury, let me cop a plea, and give me the punishment I deserve. Or maybe I'm just a fool.
You see, sometimes I don't think before I act. OK, I'm supposed to be honest here, so let me restate the last sentence. You see, usually I don't think before I act. I'd rather leap then look, follow my passion then clean up my messes. It frequently is not the most logical thing to do, but it usually is my modus operandi.
And yea, sometimes it gets me in a lot of trouble and gets some people hurt.
Now I'm not talking about physical harm to anyone except occasionally me (the leap occasionally is followed by a resounding thud), and I'm not talking about my professional me in this post. My professional me and my non-professional me are 2 way different persons that I tend to keep separated for the safety of everyone involved. My professional me is definitely a thinker by necessity.
Complicating the problem is that I'm not savvy enough to always realize the meanings of what someone says, nor even the meanings and ramifications of what I say. You know how some people can think with such clarity that it seems like everything they say is perfect? Well, that's not me.
So sometimes I write and say things, things which sometimes might appear in this forum in the context of posts or comments, which are poorly conceived or have meanings or interpretations that I don't recognize. It's a problem for me, and it's a recurring problem for me no matter the context in which I am writing or speaking.
I speak before I think thoroughly about what I am saying.
I was reminded of this problem by a particularly stunning slap in the face via phone from a friend who was hurt by something I said. It was an ill-conceived comment and it didn't represent my thoughts in a way consistent with my actions and feelings. The details of the comment are absolutely unimportant to anyone but me and said friend, but the slap definitely reminded me of this problem.
So, add this to my list of ways that I ef things up. Heh, funny how that list seems to get longer the older I get. Isn't it supposed to be the opposite? Maybe I just know myself deeper and recognize my faults easier (especially when recognition is forced by things like a slap in the face, even if it is a phone slap)... Y
I just finished reading Life and Times of Michael K by J.M. Coetzee. It's a shortish novel set in 197o's civil war South Africa. The story chronicles Michael K, a slightly disfigured fatherless guy institutionalized as a child with other physically or mentally challenged kids. When he reaches manhood, he wanders the countryside, through warzones and abandoned farms, while he tries to avoid contact with essentially all of society. He is malnourished but only wants to eat what he grows for himself. He repeatedly is captured and interred in labor camps, but always escapes to wander back into the nowhere.
The book is interesting on several levels. It is yet another example of how you only are truly free when you have and want nothing. Michael is offered shelter, and food, but he shuns almost all assistance ("Why are you so interested in helping me?" he asks) so that he can live as he chooses. Michael is not dumb, but he is by no means sophisticated. In the end, he wanders back to the town where his mother first tried to raise him to drink his water from the earth one teaspoon at a time.
Not a life-changing read, but an entertaining one definitely.
Thanks for joining me on My Daily Spin.
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