|
| 1 Year Ago: |  Tuesday, August 28, 2007 | | Monday, August 27, 2007 | | 2 Years Ago: | | Monday, August 28, 2006 - Coffee with Stewbeef, American Chopper with Sr. | | 3 Years Ago: | | Hurricane Katrina a Category 5 | | 80 Mile Bike Ride, 25 Min Run | | 4 Years Ago: | | 112 Mile Bike, 5 Mile Run. Heat. Suck. | | Camera Phone Action For Sat, Aug 28, 2004 | | 5 Years Ago: | | java.lang.reflect is Godlike | | 6 Years Ago: | | Collegehumor.com Claims Self-Absorbtion | | Burgers with Kendra and Joe |
Technorati Profile
|
 |
12 Hours Ago | Posted to: Triathlon
Up at 4:30 after seeing 1:29 before getting to sleep. Coffee, needless to say. Run was pretty good. Nice drizzle the entire time kept me cool but after a while gets soggy and somewhat annoying. Took me 3:48 on avg hr of 123 bpm. Heart rate was fine for the run but pace was a little faster than I was looking for. I felt a good bit of fatigue in my legs and lungs. Need some rest. Saw the regular old ladies. Stroller brigade was a little less prominent but there were some diehard baby pushers out.
2 Comments | 0 Images
15 Hours Ago | Posted to: Random Stuff
I know I've said it a number of times recently. But I think I have a saddle winner. Marc Crouch gets credit for this one if it does in fact work. His shiny new Cervelo has a custom version similar to this saddle.
It's the Selle Italia SLR T1. I know, how crazy of me to go with a triathlon-specific saddle, right?
A few things I like about it: 1) Sitting on it doesn't feel like sitting on broken glass rods from high school chemistry class. 2) The nose has an incredible amount of gel padding... it's squishy... check out the pic. 3) The main material is Lorica, a very slippery plastic-leather material that's used in top-end Sidi shoes... very durable... but also less friction for the sides of the saddle when jammed up into my junk. 4) It's light... at 205g it's the lightest of the four saddles I've tried... I just didn't expect this much padding at that weight. 5) It's got a big honkin' nose... which I tend to ride when pushing it hard. 6) The center of the saddle is a sticky rubber to keep me on the thing... we'll see how this works out but I like it in theory.
All of this after just a few minutes on the trainer but the difference between this and all the other saddles is pretty obvious. Tri-specific... duh.
Also put the Fizik Gel Pads onto the aerobars... maybe my forearms won't hurt after long rides. Was a little concerned that they'd be slippery when covered in sweat but last night's trainer session proved that it's not an issue... they hold nicely and feel better than the stock pads.
0 Comments | 6 Images
Yesterday | Posted to: Emme, Our Second Daughter
Emms just wouldn't go to sleep tonight so I took her and we watched some Apollo 13, did some computing and just walked around the room. She's a cute little bugger.
0 Comments | 4 Images
Yesterday | Posted to: Triathlon
Swim felt pretty good again. Core/abs workout. Then some CompuTrainer action for a half hour.
0 Comments | 0 Images
Yesterday | Posted to: Random Stuff
Tropical storm Fay's been dumping rain on Atlanta. An impromptu The Shawshank Redemption reenactment, minus the raw sewage.
0 Comments | 38 Images
2 Days Ago | Posted to: Triathlon
Swim felt really good. I was strong and able to glide a bunch. Loved swimming today. Core/ab/weights workout took it out of me. By the time I got onto the treadmill I was rather whupped. Only 4 miles at 8mph and then I hopped off.
0 Comments | 0 Images
3 Days Ago | Posted to: Random Stuff
As I type this the closing ceremonies are just starting.
This is the first Olympics that I've ever really paid attention to. And remember, I lived in Atlanta during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. But I wasn't into the sport side of things. In 2004 I watched the tri, gymnastics and marathon events but that was about it. This was the first time that I was swept up in Olympic mania!
I got hooked by chance. I had no plans to watch any of it. I was working and saw something online about the opening ceremonies and turned on the tv. It was so spectacular that I Tivoed the next night. And I was hooked, often staying up waaaay too late!
Part of it is the fact that I'm now more into athletics with the triathlon stuff. I can better appreciate the work that these athletes go through and the raw talent they must possess to compete on the ultimate stage.
But a bigger part of it is perspective. More than the sports side, I saw dreams in the Olympians. People who worked from a young age, often for little or no money, to reach their event. All had obstacles in their way.
I'm struggling hard to make my little entrepreneurial dream happen. Summarizing my progress to date: five years of kicks to the groin, no pay. I'm at a very hard point in my business' history... a completely unique and new product being launched into a stale economy. It's putting massive strain on my extended and nuclear families. Seeing things so bleak every day, it's incredibly uplifting to see these Olympians get "there"... get to within arm's reach of their dreams.
To hear about Lolo Jones, the tough life she's had. The doubters that said she couldn't make the team. The doubters that said she couldn't win. But she persevered. And she was winning with two hurdles left. She could see her dream, a few steps away. But a stumble took it away from her as she clipped a hurdle. What struck me wasn't that she lost, it was the reach she made towards the line just after she lost her dream. In slow motion you could see her dream being lost through every fiber of her body. Like Edward Munch's The Scream painting, but on a track. And in that moment you could see how very much she wanted it. In fact, only in that moment could you really see so clearly how much it meant to her. A second or two of her life. But it touched me.
I truly wanted Lolo to win. Because that would prove to me that people can achieve their dreams if they just stick to it and work hard. But I think that the way she lost... the way she reached for her dream as it slipped away... gave me, and the world, a glimpse of something even bigger... her dream itself. Lolo holding gold wouldn't have shown us that dream nearly as clearly.
One shot that I'll never forget was of Lolo under the stadium after leaving the track, after giving a positive matter-of-fact interview for the cameras. Standing under the stadium she didn't know that the telephoto lens could reach her. She was leaning up against the wall with her hands on her hips, clearly trying to hold the emotion in. Again, I was touched. I saw a small video clip today of a tear streaming down her cheek... I'd like to know the context... I suspect it's another glimpse at the dream.
In 2004, by luck, I watched the men's all-around gymnastics finals where Paul Haam (sp?) had his amazing night and achieved his dream with a come-from-behind performance. It was inspiring but I assumed it was a fluke. I don't watch gymnastics! So when gymnastics came on during these Olympics I assumed I'd just fast forward through them. But I watched a little. And really enjoyed it!
Gymnastics amazes me for two reasons. The physical attributes required to compete are just incredible. Strength, balance, flexibility. These are almost superhuman athletes. But above the physicality you have a sport with incredibly slim margins for error and huge pressure. One shot at a six second vault to determine whether your team wins a medal. One extra step after a flippy jumpy thing and you're out of contention. Bend your arm a little bit? Bye bye.
The women's team event was a good watch. The men's team event was better. Fueled by Jonathan Horton's infectious "Go USA" rallying, the US team put themselves into medal contention. And Jonathan had one of those spectacular nights, hitting all the hard stuff. I jumped out of bed pumping a fist at least twice watching the men's team finals.
But dreams are somewhat hidden behind the team in the team competition. In the individual all-around you see the real dream. Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson, two American gymnasts, both had the same dream... gold. Only one could win, of course and Shawn Johnson was favored.
I had picked Nastia as my favorite in the previous days. It's always fun to root for somebody's dream. She performed spectacularly and won the gold. Unlike Lolo who taught us about dreams through her loss, Nastia taught us about dreams by winning.
The most touching part of the event was, of course, right near the end. When the main contenders are doing their final performances. When tenths of a point make all the difference. After Nastia did her final floor routine she was likely to achieve her dream. But Shawn still had her floor routine to do. What was amazing was to see the dream so close. After watching the coverage for hours you got to know Nastia a little and you could now see small differences in her demeanor. Hard to describe but fascinating to watch. As the final scores hit the board and she knew she'd won she let some emotion out.
And then we got a repeat of the buildup as she walked out to accept her medal. Trying to hold back the emotion, eventually letting the dream shine through. Touching. Lolo showed us that a dream can be seen in failure. Nastia showed us that a dream can be seen in success.
Also touching was the fact that her father and coach was standing with her through the whole thing. As a father myself I know that watching your daughter achieve her dreams is even more spectacular than achieving your own. I am truly jealous that he was standing so close, on such a massive stage, while his daughter won one of the most prestigious gold medals of the Olympics.
And then there was Phelps. What can you say? The dude dominated. The best swim of the event was the 4x100 where Jason Lezak pulled out an heroic and amazing come-from-behind final leg to secure the win. I was yelling and screaming, jumping up and down. And moments later got a text message from Heather who was sleeping with the kids in the other room: "please be quiet." The build-up to that race was perfect. The commentators had been saying for hours that the Americans wouldn't win. They were down going into the last 50 meters. They were down going into the last 25 meters. Lezak pulled it out. Amazing Olympic moment.
Another amazing moment was the 1/100th of a second win in the 100m butterfly. A mere fingertip. But what was more amazing was how close his competitor was when he was still a full meter away.
I caught every one of Phelps' medal swims. Didn't plan to. But glad it turned out that way. He's an amazing athlete. Eight golds.
What we learn from Phelps isn't about the struggle leading up to your dream. He dominated in seemingly effortless fashion. No, Phelps isn't motivation for guys like me, hacking to get to the dance. He's leadership for those who've achieved something in their lives.
What we learn from Phelps is modesty and respect. At the Olympic trials he was careful to always say "if I qualify." Of course he would. Everybody knew it. But he was respectful of his competitors and the process. In interviews he was always modest. He acknowledged the strength of his competitors and the huge contribution of his team. He brought his family into the coverage.
Some people are destined to achieve their dreams. It just comes effortlessly to them. And most then abuse their standing, mock their rivals and assume it will all continue. Not Phelps. Class act.
Which brings us to Usain Bolt. Amazing athlete. Huge personality. Two world records. When he broke the 100m record I blogged instantly that I felt disrespected. The next day I heard similar reports from NBC and the IOC.
Usain, like Phelps, has incredible natural talent and is destined to achieve his dream so we won't learn about the touching struggle to achieve. And his personality means that we also won't learn about modesty and respect. What we learn from Usain Bolt is this: dreams are awesome! Chest-thumping, crazy-dancing, finger-wagging and trash-talkingly awesome!
Usain expresses in vivid detail the elation that a person experiences when they achieve their dream. As much as I was turned off by his disrespect for the other competitors and the sport, I truly appreciated the glimpse at the result of achieving the dream. Whether I'll dance around the board room when I achieve my dream remains to be seen, but I do hope to feel some of Bolt's emotional high.
Beach volleyball on the women's side rocked. I didn't learn a terrible amount about the dream, but I enjoyed watching hot chicks chase balls in skimpy bathing suits. I got into it, watching about half of May/Walsh's matches. It was nice to see them win... in the rain... in white bathing suits... through telephoto lenses... in HD.
In men's water polo the US team defied all expectations and took silver. Their funding had been dropped by the US Olympic Committee and they were working out in a high school pool for years. They brought in Terry Schroeder, silver medalist from the 1984 Olys, to turn the program around. And he obviously did just that. What we learned from this is that dreams don't require resources. Sure, maybe they would have won gold if they had a travel budget and could train against top competition. But they accomplished their dream of putting the US back onto the podium with no resources. Or, with the most important resource of all, hard work.
I caught the men's marathon, of course. Ryan Hall took 10th. A Kenyan took gold. Despite the Kenyan nation's incredible success in distance running, this was their first marathon gold. What strikes me is that the marathon is one of the more physically demanding events. You might think that in such an event you'd see dreams popping out all over the place. But you don't. Despite watching a sweat-level profile shot of five super-fast dudes working as hard as they can to achieve their goal for two hours, you really don't see much of the dream. You can infer that the dream is in there via the anguished looks on their faces. You can intellectually conclude that anybody willing to hurt themselves that much is working very, very hard for the dream. But it's hard to see it. And I think this is an important lesson. Dreams aren't about how much you show people that you're working hard. They're often internal. They're often closely-guarded and worth putting yourself through hell to achieve. Sometimes not seeing a dream is seeing the power of dreams.
I watched fencing, diving, BMX, track... even some crazy stuff I didn't even know was a sport. I didn't catch a single second of triathlon coverage. And only a little of the road race. Sometimes I saw the dreams. Sometimes I didn't. But I always knew they were there.
In the opening ceremonies we saw the dream of the Chinese people. They want to be appreciated for their history and their people. I thought the show was incredible and the theme of putting so many people, working together, was powerful. The artistry, graphical presentation and scale were inspirational. I would not want to be the guy or girl in charge of the London opening ceremonies.
I'll miss the Olympics. But what I'll miss I also know that I'll get again in four years. This will certainly be a lifetime thing for me.
Whatever your dream is, be sure of a few things. First, be sure you know what it is so you'll know when you get there. Second, be sure you know why you want it so you don't implode from a lack of internal motivation when things get tough. Third, be sure you're working towards it... you, like me, may not get there... but you'll learn a lot trying. Of all of the Olympic stories that touched me only one (Usain Bolt's) was directly about achieving the dream.
What's my dream? Well, I'll save that for another day. But I've got a business dream, a triathlon dream and a family/relationship dream. Pretty far away from each of them right now. Gotta get to work!
The closing ceremonies have been spectacular. The square symbolism from the opening ceremonies is now circular. People are still pixels in a grand piece of moving art.
The Olympic flame was just extinguished, closing the games of the 29th Olympiad.
See you in London, dreams!
2 Comments | 0 Images
3 Days Ago | Posted to: Random Stuff
11:00:22 AM: Intently watching some IronmanLive.com coverage of the Canada race! Go Kindzia!
01:49:10 PM: Supermarket for some healthy food. Found some probiotic with 7 billion bacteria/capsule. Lots of fruits/vegs. Sr watched the little ones.
07:25:10 PM: Gutter down from a strong but quick thunderstorm. Not as dramatic as MetaMarshall's Fay damage, but a pain nonetheless.
0 Comments | 9 Images
4 Days Ago | Posted to: Random Stuff
Got together with a group of about fifteen triathletes and support posses headed to Louisville for next week's Ironman race. Good group. Great to see Keith, Danielle, Hunter, Dave, Olga, Tat & Steven, Bob & Sue and Misty. And great to meet Jim, Kimberly, Mark, that other guy, that woman across from me, the guy with Kimberly, Jim's wife... yeah, I know it's spooky, I'm like a name dictionary... sorry guys... I'll get your names down. Should be a great trip and I look forward to seeing everybody at the finish line.
0 Comments | 5 Images
4 Days Ago | Posted to: Triathlon
06:24:10 AM: Water was cold and I swear there was a headwind. I fauxPhelpsed it to keep warm.
08:05:46 AM: Testing a new lighting system. Two keychain LED lights velcroed to the bottom of my forks. Works well but the lights automatically turn off every five minutes. I can turn them back on while riding.
08:08:46 AM: At mile 20 of bike. Body not yet "working" yet... not sure why. Saddle's actually ok today.
08:09:15 AM: Anna and Kelly about to hit the trail!
08:10:02 AM: Audiobook: Grisham's The Appeal.
08:10:49 AM: Goal for day: go easy. Which is boring and provides little motivation. Ugh.
08:14:47 AM: Anchor moth pic for Nat.
10:32:30 AM: At 56 miles of bike. Legs decided to show up for some work. Now trying to slow down. Wind going east isn't as bad as I had thought, but it is extra work. Sprinkling rain is awesome. Clouds look ominous.
11:57:59 AM: I don't think Tom gets full credit with Alice.
02:20:33 PM: Slow 112 miles in 6:24 on avg hr of 114 bpm. Wind can blow me.
02:23:06 PM: What is it with me and snakes lately?
03:13:18 PM: Five mile run on 8:26min/mi pace at avg hr 141bpm. Legs felt pretty good in the aerobie zone.
0 Comments | 13 Images
5 Days Ago | Posted to: Random Stuff
Had to dump the new saddle for tomorrow's ride. Two trainer rides with many adjustments up, down, fore, aft, etc. and I don't think it'll work. Sorry Mark. I said I'd give it two weeks and I was committed to that until I put the 12 year old mountain bike saddle back on and it felt 100x better than the Selle SMP. Marc C said something today... he can't ride saddles with the slit in the middle. Maybe I'm in that crowd... the one the Pauls ride has one and these last two that've killed me had slits. The problem with the mountain bike saddle is that it's cheap and after two rides is already falling apart.
Brakes were my next concern. Rear brake wasn't working. Had to debug the issue. Turns out the back 1/3 of the cable had rusted. Something that isn't supposed to happen with Nokon cables because they have a very snug cable housing. And when it does happen the brake cable won't move. So I reluctantly slipped out the cable and started fishing the new one in. I got super lucky with the initial fish into the first portion of the cable which made things seem easy. Teflon lubed the heck out of the cable on the way in.
Next issue was the bad end tape. I use electrical tape and it was sliding and getting sticky/gunky on rides. Really annoying. So I put my last bit of bar end tape on. And I unwrapped and re-used the wrap on the actual handlebars.
Cleaned the chain, lubed everything. I think the bike'll work tomorrow. With the winds and possible rain I knew I didn't want any little annoyances to give me an excuse to abandon the workout.
0 Comments | 0 Images
5 Days Ago | Posted to: Triathlon
Swim felt ok. I did some sets. A little harder than just cranking out laps. A little easier than real intervals. Weight session. Run was crap. Legs not turning over. Did 30 minutes painfully on the comet and went in. I will say, it was nice being outside in the swirling winds. Some debris down. That sense of something about to happen. Unfortunately it wasn't any sort of fast running.
0 Comments | 0 Images
5 Days Ago | Posted to: Random Stuff
0 Comments | 0 Images
5 Days Ago | Posted to: Random Stuff
Outlook somehow managed to hose my RSS feed list. Annoying. I've been out of the loop for a week or more. I back up the list to OPML every now and then but hadn't done so since last December. Luckily I keep my favorite sites list fairly up to date so I could quickly find those new blogs.
Four or five years ago I was following hundreds of feeds. Business stuff. Technical stuff. Skydiving stuff. Triathlon stuff. Friends. Now I've pared it down to 65 or so feeds. Mostly friends. One or two key blogs in the industries I follow. A couple athletic coaches I like. That's about it.
Over time it's become very clear that the voices of those I know in real life are more important than the voices of those I don't know.
Update: Man, you guys put out some great stuff! Now I need some time on the deck with the lappy to get all caught up with the 350+ insightful (mostly) posts you've made!
0 Comments | 0 Images
5 Days Ago | Posted to: Random Stuff
Paul Kindzia's in Penticton for Ironman Canada to set a PR and kick some butt! His travel arrangements are completely whacked out but I know he's in the zone and ready to roll. I'll be watching and wish him nothing but good luck and strong legs!
0 Comments | 0 Images
6 Days Ago | Posted to: Random Stuff
As I peered from the upstairs landing I saw a branch that had clearly defied physics and landed on the small window frame ledge on the second story window. What's this? It's moving?
It's a snake. Time to grab the camera.
Took a few shots from inside and then went outside. Poked at it with a stick a bit. Not really sure how it got up there but I'm guessing it used the cable wire and came down from that.
As I poked at him he was rather docile. He stretched out... about five or six feet. Then he climbed to a 3/4 inch ledge one set of windows lower. At which point he fell. Almost onto me as I was taking his picture.
And he scurried off into the woods. I wasn't hungry so didn't Bear Grylls his arse.
Update: I think he was a gray rat snake, unlike the banded water snake I find in the stream out back periodically. In one description they say that gray rat snakes are good climbers, and this dude certainly qualifies. Here are other Georgia snakes.
1 Comments | 21 Images
6 Days Ago | Posted to: Triathlon
Swim felt somewhat out of whack. I've slacked off of the swim a lot lately with that pinched nerve in the shoulder thing. Then a core weights session, home to a 45 min CompuTrainer and finally a quick run on the t-mill.
0 Comments | 0 Images
7 Days Ago | Posted to: Random Stuff
Let's see if this thing trashes my junk. In stationary trainer testing it felt pretty good. Certainly fine in the upright position but when I go to the aerobars on any saddle I feel the dread undernut pressure. We'll see. I'll probably do an extended trainer ride tomorrow and then hit the Comet over the weekend.
0 Comments | 3 Images
7 Days Ago | Posted to: Triathlon
09:41:58 AM: 23 miles in 3:40 at avg 9:35min/mi at avg heart rate 126 bpm.
Moonlit run this morning. Kinda neat until some jackass decided to tail me for three miles... in the dark... at 5:30am. Kinda spooky, to be honest. I kept looking back when I was in the shadows. Then I stepped off the trail and let him pass. Was still kinda spooky because I couldn't really see him ahead of me and expected him to pop out of the bushes with a buzzing chainsaw at any moment. Ah, imagination. I said hi to him twice and he responded kindly each time... probably a very nice guy.
After that I settled in to Grisham's latest book, The Appeal. Pretty good. There's a lawyer couple in the book that's mortgaged itself to the brink to fight a big bad corporation. Interesting to see those in the legal profession as entrepreneurial. They really are. Wonder how Jennifer Stanford's firm is doing. I'm sure she would feel the characters too.
One major downside of blazing first tracks on El Silver Cometo at 5:30am: spiders. Good golly. Each time I do this run I end up with three or four full web faceplants that completely wrap my head in silken annoyance. Couple that with a good twenty single-stranders that catch my head, an arm or a leg and then tickle me until I take my next pee break and brush them off of my entire body. And on each run I usually end up feeling at least one spider rummaging through my hair, which causes a swift and frantic freakout to get it out of there.
Tried to lay off the caffeine a bit today. Only what I thought I needed. Two scoops of instant coffee to start. Only about four 25mg gels throughout. Trying to avoid the crushing headaches that now seem to come like clockwork after I slam as much caffeine as possible into my system for these big workouts. The effect of caffeine is diminishing and I'm building both a dependence and a tolerance; I want neither.
Pacing: while spooked I went a little harder than I wanted to. Then I settled in for a while. Last eight miles I went a little too fast. Overall I ended up five minutes faster than last week and seven minutes faster than the two weeks before that. Still within the range of a slow run with an average heart rate of 126bpm but next week I'll definitely need to keep things in check and shoot for an even slower time.
Great to see "the regulars" out today. A solid contingent of little old ladies scattered from mile 0.0 to mile 11.5 on the trail. I was out a little earlier today so I saw most of them at slightly different times. Kind of neat to be part of the Silver Comet's Wednesday routine.
Little knee pain... I think I'm through worrying about it for now. Some muscular soreness but nothing unexpected. Double duke out which is a slight improvement over last few weeks. Aiming for more fluid-based calories in the day before the big run.
Yay running, my therapy. I always feel better afterwards. As per usual, I was met by voicemails, text messages and emails on the Treo smartphone when I got back to the car. Why exactly is carrying one of these things smart?
0 Comments | 4 Images
8 Days Ago | Posted to: Ava, Our Daughter
Poor little kiddo. She's on day two. On average it lasts a little over five days without antibiotics. The bacterial version causes the gunk around her eye. Right now it's her right eye and we suspect that her other eye will get infected too. I watched some Backyardigans with her tonight and she was reserved but positive.
1 Comments | 0 Images
8 Days Ago | Posted to: Triathlon
Was hitting an average 200 watts at an average 127 bpm heart rate which seemed low. So I re-calibrated and was still at those numbers. Somewhat surprising. Fairly recently I was seeing 150 bpm at 200 watts. I guess the long rides are paying off. Today's workout was admittedly a filler workout before tomorrow's long run. I should have done a swim too but my shoulder's got a bit of a pinched nerve or something.
0 Comments | 0 Images
9 Days Ago | Posted to: Triathlon
Did this bread n' butter workout in the sub-den on the treadmill. No heart rate numbers. Just running.
I'm working on my intuition of feel lately. Usually this refers to my feel of pace for a given workout (or race.) But in the last couple weeks I've been thinking more about feel on a macro scale. This may end up being a lot more important than feel for any one workout.
Generally I go base, base, base until I realize it's too close to the race. Then I go speed, speed, speed. It's not optimal. This year I'm trying to find that middle ground where I'm working harder than base but less than tempo. I'm using this mindset on overall volume and goals too. Last week I had a goal of 50 miles on the run (to mirror the 50 I did do the week before.) But my knee bothered me. So I backed off.
Common sense stuff. But I generally don't do it. Somehow I get caught up in numbers and goals and charts and graphs. This year I'm doing it by feel. It's more fun. And maybe it'll work better. Maybe it won't.
Did I mention it's more fun?
0 Comments | 0 Images
10 Days Ago | Posted to: Random Stuff
Headed out to Lake Oconee for Knox's second birthday. Dead rattlesnake.
| | |
