Another great thursday trick. 17 mile bike, (45 minutes)1.1 mile swim (47 min.) 1.5 mile run (10.5 min.)consistency gives you wings.

In a twist of fate, i have 2 posts waiting on thinking everyone moves slower than me the closer i get to i.m. & Now posting by cellphone. Irony.

A Mighty Mo Update

Tarheeltri, who along with Flatman are damn near as close to internet brothers as I can get. I can assure all of you that when you get a comment from one of us, the other two were going to write the EXACT same thing. We only know this because we zap e-mails off to each other about it. Well Mostly to Flatman since he spends all day online.

The point. The other day Tarheeltri shot me a e-mail telling me to stop crying in my coffee, take off the diaper and put my big boy pants back on...oh yeah how about a Mo Update Loser.

Mo is doing great. Many of you remember how he spent all of last winter in confinement from other kids and through a miracle was cured of all his major aliments. The last pictures I posted were of his first day of summer school. After a few months of that he rules the whole darn school.

• Teachers fight over wanting him in their class, because he is a positive influence.
• He plays and interacts with every click in his class with equal self assurance and confidence.
• Other parents compliment me on how well he behaves.
• I was told third person that when there is a break in class he operates the front door for parents when they come in or out and says hello and good bye to them.
• He is the official 'Hall Monitor' and 'Line-Fixer'.

He is completely potty trained now and I think every parent can relate to little boys who come out and have to show you how clean their butt is after they have used a quarter roll of toliet paper for one wipe.

Mistress lost on the toy gun front. We went to a party and thats all the boys did. The only toy guns in our house are squirt guns so she feels some satisfication there. Of course he does not call them guns, they are called, "Bad Boys" because we watch Cops on Saturday night and thats the theme song. Now he watches Cops almost as much as dinosaur movies. Mistress has no satisfaction in that, she can't stand the stuff where perps bawl their eyes out when guilty, looking for sympathy.

He is still dinosaur crazy.

Mistress thinks that he should be able to swim a meter or two on his own very soon. And he loves to sit in Daddy's hot pool aka my jaccuzi.

Where is my head at...

Physically I feel pretty much ready or will be ready for this thing called Ironman. My support system of training partners and family are all behind me 100%. No one has missed me on my long lunches at work.

Mentally I think I am hurting myself.

I think most people can think of huge goal they had coming up and got a bit nervous over it. Like when you have to give a public presentation or upcoming event you have never done before. Heck it took me ten minutes to sign my wedding certificate, after the pastor, the witnesses and my soon-to-be had signed it and handed me the pen...and stared at me for ten long minutes.

My nerves right now have more to do with not letting myself done. Not beating myself up out there on the course but building myself up. I jokingly wrote on my arms a few weeks ago; one arm a reminder that ego equals bonk and the other that the plan equals ironman. It was more an admonishment to stay positive in adversity than anything else.

Who hasn't mentally flogged themselves in the middle of run? I have. "To slow. You were faster last year. Stop running, you can walk, its no big deal. I'm thirsty, gulp your water down. You can't finish this. Stop." And on, and on, and on. I am not alone here right?

My mind has the ability to create good thoughts too. Positive energy that with each strong affirmation is a benefit to putting one step forward, moving one mile per hour faster on the bike, there are no sharks in the lake.

Mistress see's the cracks in my mental game. She bought me a mental toughness CD specifically for triathlon. I haven't tried it yet. Maybe I will fall asleep to it tonight.

I do not want to imagine the tricks my negative self will play on my pysche, made even that much more fragile by having swum and biked so far. I do not think the demons will abate until the run. Most assuredly they will wash over me in the swim as I am being lapped by stronger triathletes on the two loop swim course.

My physical training plan has been in full affect for months now. The reward, my ironman tattoo and finishers medal, firmly envisioned. Mentally I still have dragons to slay and affirmations to memorize when I am out there alone in my head for 140.6 miles.

I have a track record of being stubborn. Of not quitting. I often ask myself deep into my training, "Do I have enough heart?" Is that the right question? After almost twenty years of overcoming obstacles, do I still need to ask myself that. Apparently I do.

The race course will be won or lost in my mind and that is where I will spend between 14 and 17 hours on November 4th. The epic battle that will take me from the sea, to bike and finally my own two feet will rage and howl though my face may be blank. Already the wearied look of training long volumes masks my inner turmoil and the lack of energy subdues my pacing back and forth across the carpet, but make no mistake every minute of every day I think of Ironman. It consumes me and not always in a positive, harmonious way.

After 433 days of countdown, and peaking for one ironman already this year, I feel somewhat like Frodo from Lord of the Rings, trudging each day a little closer to Mt. Doom. Gollum representing the negative part of my mind and Sam the believer in the cause. I don't really consider Ironman Florida a ghastly place like Mt. Doom, but like Frodo I have the doubts and the fears of measuring up when I look into that water on November 4th and visualize how the day will end.

Race Report #5 2006- The Practice Race

The undreground tri that John, The Machine and I hashed out for an AzTriClub workout was a tremendous success. There were at least a dozen triathletes who showed up for either the long course or short course. Well there was actually only four of us who went long.

There were some logistic issues to contend with and as it turned out the set distances that were planned for the short and long courses became more of a guideline if you will. Most went long or short of the planned turnarounds which made a ranking system out of the question.

Since this race is on the low-low, we did not have buoy markers or aid stations. The person who was to be standing on shore at the turn around for the swim did not show up there so I and a few others went long. I went real long and easily ended up adding an extra 1,000 meters to my swim.

I was the last to leave our transition area for the llonger course ride, but the short course winner, Karl finished the short as I was leaving. For those that remember the name, he is the ironman that ran a half marathon with a halo screwed into his head for a broken neck.

My bike ride was all hills and all zone 4/5. I will put the graph up highlighting this part of the course. I have been spending so much time on the flats just spinning away that the steep inclines beat me up pretty good.

As I got back everyone was sitting around the table drinking beer and celebrating their workouts. I was told that the run course was unrunnable and to just run a circuit around the campgrounds one time equalling two miles. I did not have a problem with that.

Mistress and Mo came to see me and drove by me while on the bike course. It was nice to see them standing on the road yelling, "Go Daddy Go!" Bless them.

When I got done with my run, I went down to the water to cool off and then Mistress went for her first open water swim in years. She was very happy as she was a miler and medley swimmer for Washington State University. We watched her stroke out like a bullet and then flip over into a perfect backstroke for a while, then tear out for a good swim and back. I love my wife and I am very jealous of her swim ability.

Finished the workout with a triple cheeseburger from Wendy's. Gotta love when your in a 5,000 calorie defiecit at noon on a weekend.

Jump away fade...

Just checking mail and thought I would throw a quick post in the hoop. No training today, I helped out at a Polar seminar this morning, (have to keep the sponsors happy), and it was kind of a bust. As luck would have it the state cycling championships are this weekend so pretty much all the purists are gone.

Sunday is our swim, bike, run 'training day' that just happens to be sprint or olympic distance. Will be interesting to see how many people attend. I am looking at it as a good training plan, but already I see that I will want to go past my ironman training zone and into not being the last person to cross the finish line. I mean look its obviously counter productive to do an olympic at iron pace and expect to come in the top 30 percent. Olympic's should be a red line experience not staying in zone two.

I hope to have some good stuff to post by tomorrow afternoon.

Insatiable

I think we can all think back fondly to those pre-triathlon days when we ate whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. When food was for entertainment instead of for fuel. When we didn't refer to a meal as 'nutrition' and liquids as 'hydration'.

As we become more physical active and fitness improves its only natural to change the stale eating habits that attributed to the physique or figure you are using triathlon to escape.

But I have a question....

What's the one surprising habit you have picked up in your nutrition program that was not there before triathlon? Good, bad or neutral. What do you Jones?

Mine? I went from not drinking any soda pop product in over a year to now I don't feel like my workout is complete without having a bottle, not can of Coke Zero. I think it began because I had to find a way to burp after having so much liquid carbohydrate in my stomach after my long rides. That burp felt so good. Now I am addicted to getting that burp. Pretty much the only time I drink diet soda pop, which is all I drink, is after a workout but I will drink like 20-24 ounces as fast as I can.

How about you?

An sprint and a secret

Thursday is the triple workout day, a little from each. If things go according to plan, meaning there is a big storm planted over Phoenix right now, I will get in a one hour bike, 45 minute open water swim and a 30 minute run. Gotta love Thursdays, a sort of weekly sprint or olympic distance kick off for hard core weekend training.

For anyone in the Phoenix area looking for a little race focus training this Sunday, I hear tale of an underground triathlon taking place at Butcher Jones Bay, which is just up from Saguaro Lake. I must confess this was not my idea, I did not take this from anyone online, it came from another party. But under extreme duress I may cop to having come up with the race course layout. But only under duress and I won't take that fall by myself. There are several other people going down with me.

Could it be...

I actually met someone today who had no idea what triathlon was. No clue. He is an older gentleman, late 50's and he no has no clue about the sport or what an Ironman is.

As I was trying to explain what a triathlon is, okay we all know it is Swim, Bike, Run but he thought it was just so weird, our mutual friend mentioned that I am training for an Ironman in Florida this November. The envitable question came up, (you know "How far is that?"), his jaw just dropped all the way to the floor when I told him.


Thats me...opening one mind at a time.

Well I made that up...

Nothing really went right yesterday until it was almost over.

Drove out to two clubs to work with people and at each club the person was gone. As I pulled into my third club where I was going to swim, I got a call to return to my office to pull some stuff off my computer for a meeting. No sweat, I can spin tonight at home and still be good for the day.

At 6pm as I was getting ready to leave The Machines office after an adjustment, I get a frantic call from Mistress as she is driving home, "Do not leave. Do not come home. Do not drive. A massive monsoon is right over the house and all the streets are flooded. I had to drive on the curb to get home. The park is flooded. The thunder and lightening is so loud and bright that Mo is telling it to be quite. The wind or a lightening bolt has destroyed the pool fence. I am really freaked out, but do not come home yet."

Okay...well The Machine had to hang out for a few hours after work anyway's since his son was at a meeting at the civic center so we went to a bar and each had a dozen buffalo wings and couple microbrews.

So all the calories that I was way deficient on over the weekend, I have officially replaced with three alarm boneless wings and good beer. The company was top notch too. Almost an empty bar and fifteen big screens playing football, poker and baseball. The Machine and I worked on his Polar clinic this weekend that I am helping him with, discussed some club business and planned an out of country triathlon trip.

Anyone for the Cancun 70.3 mid-September 2007?

A needed lesson

I learned a lot yesterday on my brick which turned out to be a 60 mile ride and 6 mile run.

I am still out of CarboPro so I had to change my nutritional strategy for the day. I had a bigger peanut butter and honey sandwich and bought three 24 ounce bottles of gathered Endurance at Quick Trip when I got ice. As it turns out the lesson is that each bottle was 150 calories, exactly half my normal hours bike intake and it was just so much volume of fluid to put in my stomach (24 ounces of Gatorade and probably another 20 ounces water) that my gut was just filled up. It makes me more confident of my own calorie bottle mixture.

I should up an hour early to get in a lap by myself before everyone else showed up. I pushed the speed a bit and felt great. Once we all got started we then spent 30 miles attacking each other in the ride, lots of surges and tests. I did this as well and was happy with my results. At a stop on my third loop, their second, I informed that I was 2.5 mile per hour over my ironman pace and I was going to brick my run when we finished the loop.

Well I ended up doing one more 15 mile loop albeit at my IM pace. The Machine convinced me to add one more loop on the bike to take 30 minutes off my run brick, (from 2 hours to 90 minutes).

The run was hot one and I stayed right at my IM pace of 11 minute miles, which seems so slow but we are talking Ironman here, running a marathon after 112 miles on the bike not to mention the run, an 11 minute mile split is good in my eyes. My stomach full of water and Gatorade gave me a slight ache. My hamstring got very tight and the last two miles I was able to practice my walk strategy which is to not trudge but move at around 15 minute miles.

The big lesson learned was actually the culmination of a lot of information I processed during the week. From two or three sources I was told to wear tri-shorts with a pocket on the side for ice. When your on the IM course, its easy to drink too much water and get a bad stomach. By jamming ice in the pocket at the aid stations, you can suck on cubes which is water management and cures your need for liquids which is mostly that your mouth is hot a sticky and your not really thirsty. That was exactly what happened on this brick, too much Gatorade, too much water.

A great lesson for me.

I see crazy people...

Maybe I have become one of the crazy people out there. I am a quarter way through my 4th and final loop at the lake on Saturday, checking my time out by the lake buoy when I see another wetsuit.

"Hey I'm Commodore! Whats your name?"

"Eric! Are the crazy guy swimming 4 miles today?"

"No just 4 loops."

"Thats 4,000 yards right, ironman distance?"

"Yeah, thats what I'm swimming. Oh...Oh I thought you said 4 miles, not 4, 000. Sorry dude a little out it right now."

Eric found us online at the club website and decided to check us out. His first time in open water, first time in a wetsuit and first time swimming more than 850 yards. The guy actually swam really fast.

When I got back to shore I looked in my swim bucket and found a dri-fit that had this written on it:A late birthday present from Andy.

I realized at 0400 when I woke up that I was still snockered from the workout the day before and my lack of calorie consumption was going to make the day tough. I went to bed 2,000 calories in the hole and that is simply too much. It was one of those days that it was impossible to get enough quality food in me to make up for the deficit I had created working out and went to bed still trying to stuff my face full of food.

Friday Night Lite

There was a time in my glorious past that a Friday night consisted of being treated like family at a number of popular bars by the owners and bartenders. High ball glasses flowing with Jack and Coke for bartender price ($2 versus $10 for the crowds).

There was a time in my glorious past of drinking a few too many beers or cocktails along with some snacks and passing out in front of the TV while watching at movie till midnight.

There still is occasionally sparks of my previous life that was once ruled by the sweet tooth. I couldn't get enough chocolate, ice cream, peanut butter, caramel, fudge,pieces of chocolate and whip cream into a bowl. I would buy pints of french vanilla ice cream and tubes of pre-made chocolate chip cookie dough and make my own gooey mix, since I didn't think anyone else got the ratio right.

However, tonight I come to you in my current state, that of a man driven to complete Ironman. Falling asleep on the couch at 7pm on a Friday night. Still 2,000 calories in the hole today despite trying to eat as much as I can without going into the fast food zone.

I come to you tonight with my newest concoction. No it is not gooey, nor chocolatey, nor does it include cookie dough. It is made in a blender and uses crushed ice...

Its a Gatorade X-Factor, Orange and Tropical Punch flavor slushy. Damn if doesn't actually taste good.

Where does the time go?

After three months of 100+ degree weather and sometimes insufferable heat, Phoenicians start to go batty for cooler weather. Most go to southern California desinations like Disneyland or San Deigo. I myself am not immune to this. I have drooled over some blog posts recently that have pictures of beautiful bubbling streams and wooded trails to run on and curse the fact that my long runs usually involve the desert and avoiding rattlesnakes and catcus needles.

Just today the topic of every conversation has been about what others are doing this weekend; going to northern Arizona aka the high country and cooler weather, vacationing in San Diego, weekend at a local resort, or zipping to Las Vegas.

When they ask me what I am doing this weekend, its usually asked in a way that implies nothing could be as cool as what they just said but they feel compelled ask just so they know they are right.

I sleepily tell them that, "I swam 2.4 mile in open water and biked for an hour last night. Today I am going for a run around Tempe Town Lake for two hours, tomorrow is another 2.4 mile open water swim and then a 5 mile run, Sunday is a 3 hour bike followed by another two hour run in the desert."

"Holy Crap!" they say, "I don't do that in a month."

"Oh." I repsond. "Pretty typical weekend for me lately."

I have sometimes finished with, "Wish I was doing what your doing this weekend..." Said in such a way as to imply that nothing they said was as cool as what I just said but I feel compelled to ask just so they know that I am right.

Off to that run now.

Thoughts on Quitting...

I am not quitting ironman or triathlons have no worry about that. I don't even like to think about quitting, I am too darn stubborn. Oh sure I can alibi cutting a swim, ride or run short but that's not what I am thinking about today.

I have a weird take on quitting. I think there is two dominant types of quitters; those that quit something because they are motivated but otherwise overwhelmed by circumstances and those that quit because they had nothing invested to begin with.

For those that have nothing to gain to begin with, quitting is a normal almost everyday occurrence. These are people that have no vision, purpose or direction in life and instead of stretching themselves just a little bit to become better they never start, settle for less than excellent, do the minimum in life.

For those that are motivated but otherwise overwhelmed; these are people with high intention but terribly frustrated by the cruel hand dealt them that day. We can all describe our thoughts on wanting that long workout but its cut short by multiple flats, body aches, work issues or whatever. That happens and really is not what I would describe as classic quitting. Its being overwhelmed and having to make a decision based on sacrifice. Do you sacrifice three days of blisters and hobbling on your feet just to finish a 10 mile run? Many of us would say yes. Would you begrudge someone else for saying no? Probably not.

The point of my issue is not that the thought of quitting is wrong. In fact I think the thought of quitting is right.

If you are passionate about something, be it work or triathlons or a different hobby; wanting to quit means that you have something to give up. You have something you care about and the thought of giving it up, of quitting, gives you a terrible feeling.

I also think the more you are invested into something, the more you think about quitting. Its like when you move up the ladder at work or going from a sprint distance to signing up for an ironman the following year; the more responsibility you have to others or yourself the more you want to quit. Its natural for us 'A' type personalities to step up for responsibility and then perfectly natural to doubt that you can get it done. You have assumed responsibility for it.

So I want to change your paradigm. Its okay to think about quitting, because chances are you will not. For those of us that take on responsibilities like management or ironman or even say parenthood, quitting really means that your committed to wanting to do a good job, your just overwhelmed at your current situation.

Go forward.

Let Me Help You...at the end

I like doing good things for people. If this can help you out then I have done my job.

Situation: I use CarboPro. For those that don't know what that is, its basically a calorie addtion that you put in your bike bottle along with your Gatorade or PowerBar Endurance or Cytomax or whatever nutrition you perfer to fuel your training session. CarboPro is a neutral tasting powder so it doesn't sweeten or change the flavor of whatever you use it just adds more calories to the bottle.

One serving (2 scoops) equals 224 calories, all carbs, no protein, no fat. I have added as much as six servings (12 sccops) to a large bike bottle along with three or four sevings of powdered Gatorade or Cytomax to get up to 1,800 calories in essentially a 28 ounce bottle. I would then consume on average 300 calories per hour on the bike. (I can do a whole other post on just this technique)

As you can see, this means a lot of CarboPro. CarboPro is not cheap. On the low side it runs approximately $20 for a 3 pound jug. Something must be done.

The intrepid Age Grouper (thats me) had to find a cheaper way to get my liquid calories in me for training and racing. When I ran out of the Gatorade powder I was using at the time, I didn't buy another jug; instead I went with 100% CarboPro and added lemon juice into the water. Works well but you have to up the amount of sodium pills you take since your getting zero electrolyte replacement.

Its a spartan training style but I wanted some more flavor and bought a jug of Ctyomax and I am back to having a huge exspence.

Solution: Think outside the box. I sort of dabble in staying up on the supplementation industry and see that CarboPro is made from just one ingredient, maltodextrin, which as everyone knows is just plain old corn. (You knew that right?) And corn is a bulk product, maybe maltrodextrin is as well, so I google it online. BING BING BING.

Bulk maltodextrin for cheap. How cheap? Five pounds for $8.00. Add a handling fee and its shipped to my door for $13.48.

That is $2.69 per pound versus $6.66 in the local bike shop. Thats 40% off with shipping. With shipping!!

I can get behind that kind of savings. Can you?

Sticking to the Plan...

As many of you know, I have a bit of a "Push the envelope" mentality when it comes to training. I am trying to get better about not going over the edge but first I have to remember that when I see the edge, I can't automatically assume I can fly over it.

Some of our spouses, (well not mine) might find it strange when we talk about ego. "You have an ego on the bike?" Ego, yes in the sense that no one likes to be out rode or sped past and there is that urge to get past them or keep up when you know DAMN WELL that your half way through a 50 miler and they could have just started their 12 miler, but you don't know.

So I wrote this stuff on my arms for my long ride Sunday. I knew if I looked at my arms while in aero for six hours and read what was on it that I could keep myself on the plan. It worked.

2 A What?

Rainbow asks the logical question, 'Why get up at early on a Sunday morning?' I also got that many times at the six old's birthday party I went to on Saturday, from friends wondering why I wasn't eating or drinking more.

Well first off, I don't see much of my friends outside of work anymore due to ironman training and many of my previous habits have been curbed. Second, I got up at 0245 so I and some team mates could start our long ride before it got to hot and before the real good cyclists showed up and made me want to get my ego involved, screwing up my steady state plan.

Four out of five of us made the 0400 show time, which is good if you want a reason to chew Trident gum but not when your waiting to ride. Mike showed up ten minutes late and took ten minutes to get ready, effectively messing up the first 50 minute loop since we had to meet another group in the same spot in 35 minutes (0500).

However, it was a great day to ride and I could not have been more pleased with the results. The mission for the day was to ride between 75-90 miles, essentally five or six loops on a 14.5 mile flat course. The goal was to get in long saddle time, nutrition, a low heart rate, higher cadence and be comfortable. This is a Florida Ironman simulation ride.

Time including stop lights, bathroom breaks, waiting for catch ups: 5hr 19min
Ave speed: 16.4
Ave Hr: 114
Ave. Cadence: 85
Nutrition rating: B-

I absolutely nailed all the things I wanted to. The HR really surprized me considering I was 20-25 beats slower than Mike and normally we are within about 5 beats, (we group check pretty regularly.)

I give my nutrition a B- because the mix started off wrong. My mix of CarbPro and Cytomax was light on calories since I ran out of product and I tried a mix of something else that was 200 calories of lemon lime flavor in a seperate bottle for the first loop but it didn't set right.

I definitely could have pushed another mile per hour had I wanted and my legs were right on the money after we got done. I did get in a quick run at home just to see what I had in the tank and the legs turned right over.

I just need to duplicate this about six more times before ironman with a bit more volume and bit more intensity but no more ego.

This is OFFICIALLY the earliest I have ever gotten up for triathlon training. This is truly nuts.

Not the first but the latest

Had a good swim today. I went for a full 2.4 miles and finished in 1hr 45min. I understand I am breaking no records but so what, I break the ironman cut off and I felt pretty good after. In fact so good that at 0830 I popped a bud light and watched the boats and jet ski's in the lake while talking to a couple of team mates.

I was going to brick a 3 mile run but will have you fine people know that I listened to reason and rested my legs instead. I put in 20 miles on two walk/run workouts this week and decided to play it cool before my ride tomorrow.

Because its has been so hot and I need longer rides than whats been offered in the club, I began riding two hours earlier. So I would start at 0500 instead of when everyone else started at 0700 and just time my loops accordingly to met up. Well it started a trend. Now there is a 0500 and a 0700 group.

I decided earlier in the week that this Sunday I was going to start at 0400, to get in one extra 14 mile loop before the 0500 people showed and then I would have 3 or 3.5 loops in before meeting the 0700 gang. Well I let it slip to Heather a team member and IMFL entrant, since she missed all of last weeks long ride and she told Hardcore, who happened to be sitting across the table from her since this occurred over beers waiting for the storm to blow over on Thursday.

Mike said, "I'm in."

I told mike it wasn't necessary, his last two races this year are an Oly and and a 1/2, why put yourself through a 0400 start. He looked at me and said, "Dude, you were there for every stroke, every pedal and every step of my training plan for Ironman Arizona and you knew you weren't doing it. I'm going to be there for you."

The next day I got a call from John who was mock mad at me for not inviting him and telling me he will also be there at 0400.

So tonight I go to bed early and will wake up at 0245 to be out the door by 0325 and be riding by 0400. The goal is a modest 75 miles with the potential of 90 miles before the temp's get to hot, its supposed to be 107 degrees.

Oh and by the way, I have the coolest training partners on the planet.

Happy Birthday PC

Today is the 25th anniversary of the first personal computer from IBM. Wow, only that old. It seems like computers and Bill Gates have been around forever. What year did you or family get your first computer?

Do you remember the five inch floppy disk? It has since gone the way of the beta video tape, but if you do remember them, it would take ten of them to old the information of one mp3 song.

So today as you surf the web, give the little filly doing the work a loving pat on the tower. Twenty five years ago today, technology to slacking to whole new level.

Oh and today is Mistress birthday too, though she is a slighty more mature than 25. My birthday was a few weeks ago which means my body turned 36 on August 1st and my memory will turn 20 on November 8th.

Oh the humanity

While out on my run this afternoon, a ten miler, I heard a toss away news release at the bottom of the hour, "Krispy Kreme has filed for bankrupcy and closed its doors in Arizona." That was it. But it says alot. Krispy Kreme has been stylized as one of the great sins in this country, not that this country wants to discuss sin. But the Krispy Kreme doughnut which is a marvel of sugar and fat has reached an understanding with our pop culture conscious with as much gusto as the 1 pound cheeseburger and stock news footage from the 6 o'clock news showing obese people walking away from the camera while a nattily dressed news-chick with her non-regional specific dialect tells us how bad a person we are for eating them.

Well I don't think just because Krispy Kreme is closed that all of a sudden cholesterol numbers will go down and people will cancel their gastric bypass appointments but think that there should be some reporting that even though we half heartedly hate the fact that we krispy kreme doughnuts, that we don't love them enough to want their business to be successful.

I was always a Dunkin' man myself, as in Dunkin' Doughnuts, the much maligned and goofed mainstay of police officers and late night workers. To be honest I;m not so much the doughnut fan as I think they have awesome coffee. Just trust me in this.

So its fair well to the upstarts, leave the flashy conveyer belts and stream of chocolate toppings behind and put those expenditures on the bottom line instead of the cake rack. Meanwhile I will continue to walk by the doughnut case at the gas station and get my 20 oz drip coffee and a power bar, the true breakfast of champions.

Monsoon thwarted drive to lake. Waited 4 it 2 blow over @ a cantina. I swim pretty good after a bowl of chips, 3 beers & a fish taco. Who knew?

Oly Thursday

I love Thursday training.

Spin.
Swim.
Run...well jog...well technically I will probably walk most of it.

But I love Thursday training.

Before my leg went all jiggy on me The Machine and I were up to a full Olympic distance training on this day albeit in a schewed order. We start with a one hour ride outdoors or spin in his rehab clinic, then drive to the lake and swim 2500 yards in open water then run a 8k. Then when we got back to the car all of us that ran would cool down watching the sun set over the canyon and having a beer before driving home.

Now the Machine really hasn't stopped doing Oly Thursdays and Hardcore has started showing up for the spin so he is 'Tricking' his Thursdays as well, everyone else just swims and runs which is really quite the workout in and of itself.

Lately I have only rode and swam and maybe walked a bit after but no longer. I am taking something of everything off tonights plate.



I had the opportunity to 'Quad' today by adding an hour ride at 0500 but I declined to stay up a little later with Mistress since we haven't seen each other much lately.

Become a member

Sometimes things that are too good to be true, are not true. But I must say from personal witnessing, this is a really good deal.

Javelin, a big name in triathlon, has an application for becoming a member of their triathlon team. Well, team Javelin is perhaps the greatest sales concept ever. You apply online, with the link provided above, look for 'Application' at the bottom of the page, submit it and they reply that you made the team. Congratulations in advance by the way. Now you need to buy your Team Javelin uniform.

The uniform consists of a really great looking tri jersey and tri shorts that fit true to size (unisex I believe). Its $25 plus s/h. No really its only $25 and you have yourself a matching uniform that is easily $100 in the store. A couple of my training partners got theirs a while back and they are very sharp. I believe they are made by Sugoi.

A word of warning. It took them almost two months to return my acceptance.

I ran today

Yes I know, I am being treated for a stress fracture.

Yes I know, I am having more pain in my ankle than from stress fracture.

Of course I noticed that it's 103* and 26% humidity. You may scoff at the humidity but considering the norm around here is 3%, thats a big increase.

I had a two hour walk planned and I did start out walking, for a mile. Then thought lets just see what happens. I ran three miles at 10:30 pace. I walked for a mile then did another 3 miles at 10:30 pace. My total pace time with the whole 9 miles was 12:30 per mile.

I have no illusions. This was not smart and I am not planning on running on a regular basis from here on out. This was just a test. A small step if you will to moving gback the shadow in my conscious mind that is doubting Florida.

Mission Accomplished. Time to rest.

For Cryin Out Loud...

Now look here...in my personal opinion I think the mainstream media is skewed in the anti-President Bush category, which is what it is. But its not just that, I think the media really just hates success otherwise the first ten minutes of a newscast would celebrate life instead of the latest reason to move away from where you're at. Triumph does not equal headlines, unless its a 'Mission Accomplished' banner on a naval vessel, but this isn't a political post I promise.

Last week I posted about how fit the President is based on being a 60 year old man weighing 196 pounds with 16% body fat and a resting heart rate that makes an marathoner jealous. Everyone was pretty much in agreement that for his age group and position in the world, he is a really fit dude.

Now look at this excerpted article from ABCNEWS today. Can you believe this?

How Much Is Too Much: Is the President Too Chunky?

His Body Mass Index Puts Him in Overweight Territory, but What Does That Mean?

By FELICIA D. STOLER, ABC News Medical Unit

Aug. 7, 2006 — - Last week President Bush underwent his annual physical. It revealed he was in pretty good health, except for one thing. According to his body mass index, he's overweight.

His BMI was 26, putting him in the lower range of the overweight category. He weighs 196 pounds, meaning he has gained 5 pounds since last year and his percentage of body fat has increased to 16.8 percent, which is, overall, pretty good for a man who just turned 60. (To calculate your BMI, go here).

Still, the appropriate body weight range is 157 to 192 pounds for a 5-foot, 11-inch man. Is there cause for alarm? Should the president go on a diet?

Possibly, dietitians say.

"When you're 60 and your BMI is 26, it's a risk," says dietitian Cathy Nonas, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. "As you get older, you are more prone to other ailments -- diabetes, arthritis and cardiovascular disease. It is helpful to not add another BMI point each year."

I am not even going to get into the passive-aggressiveness of this piece, I want to deconstruct the process instead because I personally feel that the BMI index is a terrible mathmatical fitness assessment formula and should be done away with as a realiable source of fitness. However many (non-fitness) people like professors and physicians continue to force it as a reliable method.

The BMI index was created in around 1840!!! Don't you think that the physiological complexities and stressors on the human body have made some changes to our physical make up since then?

Give me a break!!!

Who's your wetsuit?

Buying a wetsuit is a big commitment, not only in cash but in physical demands. For those that don't own a wetsuit or having tried being fit for one; well if you're a guy just imagine what a bride goes through picking out a dress and if your a lady and you've been married...you understand.

I didn't have much problem buying my wetsuit, I bought it online and it fit just right. I did call the shop just to make sure it would fit.

I have known several triathletes who have gone through several wetsuits; some because they didn't fit right, some from chaffing around the neck, others just because they had a sleeveless and wanted sleeves.

I think answering some questions about your suit will help others in their decision to change, upgrade or buy their own.

So the question's of the day are: What wetsuit do you currently wear? How many did you try on before choosing? Which brands have you worn in the past? Ever had a chaffing or rubbing issue with your suit?

A Curse? Hardly.

"Its 3:30 in the morning. I have another hour and fifteen minutes before I have to get up to swim. I am so excited to swim today and try out my new mechanics from the swim coach. I'll just lay here and try to fall asleep again."

"It 4:30 in the morning and I might as well get up and get ready; take all little extra time to eat some oatmeal, take my vitamins and sit on the pot." "Oh cool the sun's is going to be up by 5:00 tomorrow when I start my bike ride."

"God this coffee tastes good. Thank the lord for a Quick Trip next to my house." "I can't stand all this weekend FM infomercial. Why can't I get in a good channel? Oh yeah, the oldies is coming in just fine, nothing like a little James Brown in the morning."

"I feel sorry for those poor folks who can't witness a beautiful sunrise while sipping coffee, driving to the swimming hole for a two mile swim while listening to American Pie by Don McLean. A curse to train before daylight...I don't think so. I love when the sun is just peaking over the mountains and casts that shadowy light on the valley below, almost like a thin veil of fog. I can't believe its only 77 degrees, I got the windows down and the a/c off."

"Almost there. Ah the straight-away, I got my coffee going on, I got no traffic in front of me, lets hit 90 on this bad boy before the switchbacks start. " That was awesome, 85 mph and Thin Lizzys Boys are back in town on the radio."
_____________________
Those were most of thoughts heading out to the lake today; it truly is a blessing to be going to do something you love to do when the sun comes up. Some people just groan at having to get up early for working out, but how can you complain.

I had a great swim, two miles went by so quick. I practiced keeping my head down and swimming in the forward quadrant thanks to feedback from the swim analysis. It really did pay off to have that done.

Have a great weekend.

Shoes?

A little Friday fun. What is your favorite running shoe of all time? Something you currently wear or a model from the past? And Why. Also how many pairs of running shoes do you have in your closet right now?

Me: All time favorite is any Asics Gel-Cumulus. Never knew a shoe could feel so good on the feet. This year I am rotating the Gel-Cumulus VIII and Nike Pegasus 2005 for training. I currently have six pairs of running shoes in my closet, two pair of Asics and four pair of Nike Pegasus.

Natural or Environmental or No Ones Special

Is the use or anabolic steriods and performance enhancing drugs like EPO a natural progression of a competitor or a product of the environment you live in.

Back up a moment from the stigma of designer drugs or tried and tested anabolic stacks and look at your medicine cabinet. Do you have some fat burners in there? Perhaps some electrolyte replacements?

While it is a stretch to equate an electrolyte tablet to a steriod, don't YOU think that taking that pill full of sodium and pottasium will give you the edge over someone who doesn't in a race? You may be thinking you only take it to fuel your own body to run your own race, but c'mon people are you willing to tell me you never thought about blowing by someone in a race because you felt you were better prepared for it than them with your nutrition.

When you have used considerable will power, lost some weight and still have that nagging last five or ten pounds; you haven't reached for that appetite suppressant or fat burner to give that 'liitle extra bit"? Of course you have.

Now the big difference in my examples is that I am talking about the common man and not a paid professional or amauter athlete looking for a podium finish and cash. But I am here to tell you the difference between taking testosterone and a fat burner is the same difference between being a pro athlete and being a common man.

Now my memory could be fuzzy but didn't an olympic gymnist have her gold medal taken from her because she tested positive for a banned substance. By the way that substance was cold medicine.

In researching this post I found four triathletes that had all tested for high testosterone and been banned from racing only to have the courts throw out the rulings based on faulty designs of the testing, those would be Rutger Beke, Berasategui Luna and fellow Spaniard Iban Martinez and also Katja Schumacher.

Did Floyd? Didn't Floyd?
Thats really the whole point of my post. I find several things confusing. First, if Floyd has naturally elevated T levels, why have they not been identified in earlier tests during the tour or in previous tests during his career. Second, much hulabaloo has been made that the test came back positive after his incredible stage finish where he made up so much time.

Well I can tell you this with asurity and it not been mentioned once by the media, Landis did not go back to his room after his poor showing and before he went out boozing, stick a 16 gauge needle of testosterone in his ass and inject 4 cc's of it in his body then rip out the ride of his life the next day.

That is how he is being portrayed. It simply does not work that fast. If it did, then why would sprinters do cycles of steriods for two or three months before a race. It takes weeks for the effects to produce results thats mimic what Landis did in his now (in)famous stage. According to this media math you could pop three fat burners on Friday and drop six dress sizes by the party Saturday night.

If Landis did this, used banned drugs, and got popped like he did he could have taken a different track. How could Landis think that the technology wasn't there to determine what is and what is not real? He had a perfect environment to admit guilt and still be seen as a good guy. Remember several top level cyclists along with Ullrich that got chucked out of the tour before it even began?

Landis could have said something like this:

"A sample of my urine has come back testing positive for high levels of a banned substance. I am here to confrim this report and confrim that I did indeed use a banned substance in order to be competitive in and ultimately win the Tour. I am deeply saddened by this turn of events that will result in my loss of the title but I will not apologize for seeking to be competitive in a sport that rewards success with millions of dollars and failure with nothing.

As has been seen already this year, I am not alone in this desire to be number one at any cost. The sport of cycling is rampant with the use and abuse of substances that are manufactured to illicit a response that allows a finely tuned athlete to have an edge over a peer. When everyone is using banned substances in this sport then everyone is to blame for the environment it cultivates and when everyone is to blame no one is guilty.

I was born and raised a christian and I will continue to live my life in a christ like manner. I am ashamed of myself for failing to recognize my walk down a path full of temptations and I thank the governing bodies of this sport for having the courage to do what is right. I hope my fans will forgive me and my sponsors will have the faith in me that they had just days ago to be allow me to continue representing their brand."

Of course, he could really be innocent and this all a big misunderstanding but if not, why put everyone through this prolonged hassle. You know your going to get busted in the long run. Didn't the baseball scandal teach people anything?

I think all three choices are valid. It is natural for people to want to find shortcuts for success. Its hard to fight the environment you live in that says, 'to be great at this or that you have to corrupt your core values or you will be irrevelant.'

And as society is so quick to point out that when no one is special, then everyone is special. The following converstaion may have taken place many years ago between Floyd Landis and his elementary school teacher at the end of the school year fitness day...

Teacher: "Here's your blue ribbon for finishing the one mile run."

FL: "But I won, I beat everybody. Don't I get a trophy or a medal that says #1."

Teacher: "Oh no, everybody gets the same ribbon just for participating. We can't let the slow and disinterested people feel bad about their performance. Their personal accomplishment should be applauded."

FL: "But...but...I trained really hard to win this race."

Teacher: "Yes you did and you should be proud, but we can't diminish those that didn't train at all."

See when everyones speical, no one is.

Tale of the tape...

Love him or hate him, President George W. Bush is the fittest president this country has ever seen. His statistics are more attuned to an olympic athlete than a elder statesman. His yearly medical evaluation was posted online for all to see before the evening news could even report it.. Cough, cough, Clinton never disclosed his in eight years, cough, cough. Okay that was a jab, but c'mon people read these numbers and not be impressed. I wish I had some of those number right now, let alone 24 years from now.

Vital Statistics- (President George W. Bush, aka Dubya, aka #43)

Age: 60 years old

Height: 71.50 inches (without shoes)

Temperature: 97.5 degrees F (oral)

Weight: 196.0 # (last year 191.6#)

Body Composition: Body fat 16.8% (last year 15.65%; normal for age 16.5-20.5%; Cooper data)

Resting heart rate (seated): 46 bpm

Resting blood pressure (seated): 108/68

The President underwent Balke protocol exercise treadmill testing (ETT) with echocardiogram. He exercised for a total of 26:02 minutes achieving a maximum heart rate of 179 bpm with a 1-minute recovery of 148 bpm (31 beat differential). No signs or symptoms of cardiovascular pathology were noted. Stress echocardiogram was normal. Screening ultrasound of the abdominal aorta was normal.

There are few better personal moments than sitting at your desk with your hrm on and see 52 bpm.

Do you T.I.? Would you T.I?

One of my tri goals this year is to have my swim mechanics analyzed on digicam by a swim coach. I get the opportunity this Thursday which is cool. While having a dialouge with the coach she explained to me that for a little more money I can get a custom program that includes a more thorough program to follow. I am hip to that and I understand how training works. I am not opposed to it, except for one thing....she is a total immersion instructor. All her drills and swim philosophy's come from this program.

The first photo at right is from a TI book. The second an olympic swimmer and apparantly no olympic swimmer uses TI. I think the majority of swimmers are not using TI, not that thats a negative against the program, only that I personally have never done it and am conflicted about switching over with such a big race coming up.

I am not anti-TI. I think there is some really good ideas behind it. I know that some of the information that has been related to me in regards to T.I. is over-exaggerated on both the positive and negative aspects. I know that I have no formal training experience in swimming and an instructor that can decrease my time and increase my efficiency in my ironman swim is worth an investment.

But I am a little concerned about being less than 100 days from Florida. Right now with my stroke I can still complete a 2.4 mile swim, though slowly. Turning over to a whole new paradigm in swimming could give me some unease in my swim ability.

What are your experiences with Total Immersion?

Would YOU completely switch over to TI this close to an Ironman or ask for help with coaching from a traditional freestyle stroke point of view?