Take Flight Photos

Today was a free day all around. No workouts (even though I was thinking of swimming a few laps but ran out of time) and no diet restrictions. I had Special K for breakfast,  Phillie cheese steak and fries for lunch, chicken quesadillas (can neither spell that nor find it in spell check) for dinner, and Mountain Dew icee for desert. I'll get back on the diet tomorrow (I hope). Season is over but my mind is still on off season training, planning next season's races,  my half-marathon training starting next week, bikes, and other crap. I even called the Y today to get prices for private swim lessons. When I indicated to her that I knew how to swim and wanted an instructor who could help me be for competitive, the aquatics director was surprised and said that no one had ever called and asked for that before. I also found some time trial races about an hour from my house, it could be fun just to practice going fast on level ground. Also, it is at a NASCAR track. That way I can say I've raced on Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Below are some pictures from yesterday (maybe) and captions (MAYBE)

Let's Roll

It's Early!!

# 306

GO!

Sighting #305 to pass, had to wait until the next length because she blocked me at this wall.

#304 blocking THIS wall before I pass her on the next length.

First time I've seen a photo of me with body roll and high elbow for recovery

#307 just in front of me and #303 behind me. Oddly #303 beat me by about 12 minutes yet I pass him here,
and never saw him on the bike or run. He must have gone out when I went back for my helmet.

Going out WITH my helmet this time.



Seat still up.



Look- my seat has fallen and I am sitting on the top tube, but my feet are out of the shoes already.

Getting my number on. It only LOOKS like I'm walking.

Watch the curb!



This is one of my favorites. If you look carefully, BOTH of my feet are off the ground!!
I wish she had this one from the front, but they wouldn't let her back there. See the skinny guy on my back?

All photo credits to CB

Take Flight Triathlon Race Report 10/10/10

PRE-RACE

I have more pictures but they won't load on the air card.

Up at 0520, BM, shower (just to make me feel good), ate PB and honey toast, grabbed the bag (bike still in car from yesterday), and headed to the car. Went back inside and got CB.

The race started at 07:30 and I was shooting to be there at 06:45. The swim was time trial start and I was number 306 with a start time at 09:00:15. I figured I'd get there and start warming up at 07:00. My warm up strategy is to go through all of the events in reverse order, but I knew I would have to modify that since I wouldn't be able to bike on the course once it started. The closer we got the worse my stomach felt. I needed to use the bathroom again but also could puke at any moment.

We got there I racked my bike, dropped the bag, went to get my timing chip, body marking (still don't know why they wrote my age on my calf), and hit the latrine again. Finished that and had 15 minutes till the race start to get the bike warm up done. Wanted to just run through the gears. Got on the bike and realized that they adjusted my seat at the shop, I could barely reach my pedals.

Got back in and unpacked my bag/set up until I got to my tools. I fixed the seat. Just as I did this the ref came up and told me the race started in 2 minutes and that I needed to clear out because once the race started the area was closed. I RUSHED through setting up and left. This spoiled my run warm-up since I wouldn't be able to put my shoes back. I headed to the pool were CB was sitting and paced sat with her until 08:30. I ate my half PB sandwich snack and hit the warm up pool. Swam a few laps, a few drills, and sat in the WARM water. Swam a few more practicing the lane change and it was time to go. Time to head to the big pool.

SWIM



Goal: 250m in 5:30 or better (best in practice is 5:45) and pass 2 people. Perfect day- Sub 5:00

First, I put the Garmin in a bag in a ziploc under my swim cap, but the button got pressed during the swim and by the time I was done the Garmin said I was in the bike section. Second, the water was FRIGID. 3.2.1 Go! By the time I got to the end of the first length I was behind #305 by inches. I got to the end of the second length and she (305) got in my way and would let me pass. As soon I got the third length underway I passed her. Moments later I passed 304, then 303, and 302. Just after that 307 got right next to me, I decided to let her pass and slid into her slip stream. I could have pushed it but I decided I would just draft. Out of the pool and out of the door. The cold air hit me and I cussed. Time unknown at this point.

T1

Goal: under 1 minute.

I had a great spot. On the end of a rack pointed out to the bike course, only 15 feet from the exit. This however, meant a long run to the rack. I shorted it at first and ran to the long rack, looked around and went back to running. Got there, jersey on, shoes on, skull cap on, and time to go? hit the exit jumped for the mount and a volunteer yelled "306 HELMET!" . I looked at the volunteer when he yelled and I MISSED the seat. I hit the top tube with 200+ pounds of force into some not so nice body parts. Then my wet shorts slid on tube and as my foot missed the pedal I fell over. Picked the bike up and ran back in (I think I technically never mounted the bike), grabbed a helmet and coached #304 (it was her first race that is what not to do). Ran back out, moved to the side and mounted the bike. SLOW IT DOWN. got on an tried to pedal. NOTHING. Tried again. NOTHING! Another volunteer yelled at me again and informed me when I fell I knocked the chain off. I tried twice to put in on but my hands were SHAKING! A volunteer helped me get it on and told me to relax and make it up on the run.

BIKE

Goal: 37 minutes (scouted it between 38 and 39). Perfect day Sub 35:00.

Somewhere about .1 of a mile out (garmin off so I don't know how far it was but it was before the first turn) the seat dropped. All the way down. Hmm.... The bike course seemed like it went fast, a lot faster then when I scouted it a few weeks ago. However, all the hill were easier today. I picked about 4 people off. I got passed twice, both by guys with bibs in the 150's which tells me I passed them in transition. On the biggest hill I had to come out of the saddle, and was mashing about 1 RPM a minuted. MASHING AS HARD AS I COULD while keeping my balance. The end came up faster then I realized and I got my feet out of the shoes and coasted in. Jumped off the bike and knocked a shoe out of the pedals. Had to run back for it. Still didn't know what my time was since the Garmin was off.

T2

Goal: under 1 minute.

Lost the helmet and skull cap on the way, racked the bike, stepped into the shoes. Back of right shoe bent and I had to bend over to take it back off, fix it and put it back on. Grabbed visor and race belt and was off again.

RUN

Goal: Sub 30, but perfect day sub 27.

Although legs were sore, my normal problem during bricks is waiting for my knees to get used to running. No problem with that today, but the first .1 out of transition was on grass, I haven't run off pavement in 6 month, it was working my core. The first mile was just under 8:35. Not to shabby off the bike. I was actually at 7:16  for most of it but once I got into the hills it came down. Not sure how I liked the run course. Not because of the hills ( I train on hills) but because of the course. It was through a residential neighborhood and we would would run down the a main street down into a cul-de-sac and turn around, go back to main street and to next cul-de-sac. I think this way not be as fast as a out and back or loop course. I crossed through the same intersection 3 times. Slowed on mile 2 to 9:14 and back to 9:04 for mile 3. Just before mile 3 was the biggest hill on the run. I took it slow and most people on the course with me stopped to walk it. I passed a  (lanky runner) guy and after I passed him he started jogging, he walked again, and then jogged. Just enough to keep up with me. At mile 3 some other came back on the course to run with that guy. He I picked up my pace when I saw the finish. I heard the guy behind me's turnover increasing so I sprinted for it. I WAS NOT GOING TO LET SOMEONE WHO I PASSED FINISH BEFORE ME- AND I DIDN'T!!!


Post Race

After I finished I walked to the end of the finish chute and put my hands on my knees I took about a minute and was good. This told me that I may have been able to push harder since I didn't even feel like I had to throw up (CB sayed I recovered a lot faster than my first race in July). I grabbed a water and Powerade zero, a cup of goldfish and sat down. After about 10 minutes I went to wash my face (my skin burns when I sweat) and pack up transition. I after I sat down to pack up and once everything was up I stayed sitting there and I prayed.

They posted the preliminary results of everyone who finished by 10 (not me) there were 6 Clydesdale who had finished and I was around 5th compared to their times. Since I knew there was no podium spot and CB was getting sunburned I decided we should leave. I like to stay and out of respect to all the top finishers, but CB was nice enough to come with me so I should make her suffer anymore.

One the way home CB took me to Chilli's for lunch. Still in bike jersey and body marking.

Home and into compression gear to recover. I actually look forward to putting the tights on tonight. They really do help.

OVERALL

Goal: Under 1:25. 2010 goal is under 1:30.

I finally saw my times when the posted them this evening.

Swim: 5:22 (PR)
T1: 1:30
Bike: 40:24
T2: 1:34
Run: 27:34

OVERALL: 1:16:21

Clydesdale- 6/8 (#4 in the run)
Men's- 137/191 (although 136 had the exact same time to the second)

If I had been in the novice class- 7/15
If I had been in the 25-29 AG- 16/18

I feel solid, but I could feel better. I felt like I didn't leave it all out there, but that maybe because of not working as hard as I could have on the bike with proper saddle height. Today's time was good but could have been better considering the waiting in pool to pass, helmet issue, bike issues, and shoe issue. That could have shaved 3 or more minutes off. Nice considering I was only 4 minutes behind the person in front of me in the division and 10 behind #1. Next year after a little swim coaching, a better bike, and continued running work I hope to be a beast. AND from now on the helmet stays attached to the bike so it is not forgotten.

This started as a race report but turned into it's own pre-race report.

Before I get to the race report I am going to breakdown my days before the race.

After I posted my Thursday post on Friday, I decided not to do my Friday post and take away from a more heart felt post. I had planned to post about goal setting for next season, I'll do that sometime next week.

Friday went decently. I ate very healthy. 206 lbs at the beginning and end of the day. After work I went for a 800m swim with pull drills (forearm and . Then for a planned 90 minute easy spin. With the sun setting I decided to try to cut it down to 60 minutes. Just after leaving the house, the Garmin dies. I have no idea how long I rode. I went for a leisurely ride around town. I kept hearing a ticking noise that sounded like it was in my front wheel but I couldn't figure out what it was. That evening I was in a great mood, feeling happy for getting my feelings off my chest in the earlier post. I started collecting my stuff for my transition bag. I planned to pack it completely, but since my new tri suit wasn't here yet I thought I might want to go for a run and a swim in it once it came. I just gathered most of the stuff. I used triathlon.racelist.com to come up with the list. I lubed my chain too. I finished and was checking over the bike and noticed the rear wheel was so out of true it was rubbing brake pad. I adjusted the brakes but to get it not to touch I had to loosen so much they wouldn't engage. I decided to think over my options over night. Knew I didn't have the money to take it to the shop and not sure I had the time.

Saturday morning, feeling strong, confident, and positive. I woke up, grabbed my Park Tools Big Blue Book and decided that I would see if I could true the wheel myself. I followed the directions. It was moving to the left, so I found the center of the problem and looked for the loose right spoke. Found it! Gave it two 90 degree turns, but it was still loose. I looked down and realized it was broken! Is this an OMEN? Called the bike shop and they said it would be $2 to fix. I can do that.

My plan was to clean the house then go for a 800m swim and a 3 mile walk. I decided to go get my pre-race stuff out of the way and clean Saturday night to keep my mind off stuff. Went to Wal-Mart (the devil) and got a runner/welcome mat. This was a tip given to me to use in place of a towel on the ground. Then I went for a head shaving hair cut. Once CB was back from her morning breakfast and shopping with friends errand we headed to the bike shop.

While they replaced the spoke, while they worked I looked at new bikes. I found the Giant Defy 2, compact double, carbon fork, carbon seat post, and Shimano Tiagra shifting. A huge step up in components from the Defy 3 and only 200 more. At 1099 it's not too much of a stretch for me. CB was in a good mood and decided to make some calls to see if she could buy it for me as an early Christmas present. It didn't work out, but that's ok. I am still in a decent mood.

The bike mechanic called me to the back and asked me how old the wheel was. He told me all my spokes will probably start breaking because of age, he said he would trust this wheel to ride on. After he got it put together he told me I needed a new tire. I knew I needed a new tire, it has a red warning track showing. He asked how many miles the race was and told me he wouldn't trust it for more that 10. This hurt my feelings. I knew part of the course had a rough roads.

Since we were out I decided we should save gas and go ahead and go to packet pick up. I had planned to do it at 5:00 to make the pre-race meeting at 5:30. We got to the exit for the race site and were only 7 miles away. It turns out there is a renaissance fair a half mile before the race site. It took us OVER AN HOUR to get 7 miles. Packet pick up took 3 minutes.

On the way home I convinced CB we should stop at REI and pick up a jersey or skinsuit just in case mine didn't get delivered. They were out of everything. They said they clearanced everything last week.

I was so upset I went to the five guys next door and ate fries and drank a diet coke. (ordinarily a five guys and a rei next to each other would be second to Disney World to me).

I got home and my new tri gear was not here. Now I have to replan my strategy. I was really looking forward to not having to swim in running shorts and not have to transition into a jersey.

The combination of this and my my bike put me in a REAL funk. As bad as it may make me look, I was near tears. I was torn up inside. I probably was also a bit of ass to CB. I went to the shower to calm down, it felt like I stood there for hours. I'm not even sure the water was still warm when I got done. I started repeating to myself its ok, its ok, its ok.

I got out, packed my transition bag, and sat down to dinner with CB. She made ziti for me. She kept trying to cheer me up, and I appreciate it but sometimes its better to just say nothing.

After dinner I headed to bed. Try to wake up feeling better given my mental state.



10/07/10

Goals: AM-swim drills Pm- 30 minute Tempo run

Results: PM- 800m drills, 25 minute tempo run.

Diet: egg whites, black tea, celery with peanut peanut butter, grilled chicken breasts, meatballs with small serving of pasta.

Thoughts: I woke up and was way to cold to go walk to the Y and swim, decided to push it into the evening. Hectic day at work kept my mind off the the weekend. Got home and went for my swim. Swam 800m of drills 100m warm up, rhythm drill, 200m one arm swimming, 100m recovery drill, closed fist drill, catch-up, and kicking. 

Out of pool, right into a 30 minute tempo run. At about 17 minutes in I realized I was out of fuel. I kept pushing but as I rounded 20 minutes I was watching my pace drop (hills and no food=bad). I waited until I had 2.5 miles even and decided to walk the last few minutes. I think it is better to conserve now and be stronger later. Two more scheduled workouts in the taper- a 90 minutes easy spin and a slow swim tomorrow. I still think I am going to bag a short jog or swim on Saturday just to keep my mind right. Nothing hard at all, a leisurely pace. Maybe I will run with Holly.

As I said earlier my way of avoiding obsessing this week is to think write about other things. Before I get to that I have one thing I will obsess about today (other than where is my trisuit, should be here any day now). With watching and reading stuff about Kona all week, today I had to step back and take a look at myself. This can easily be called the most important triathlon all year. Kona is such a big deal, not only do you have to earn a place there (mostly), but winning makes you the world champion. That take a lot of work. With that in mind, why am I obsessing about a small local, race? It's not Kona, it's not an Ironman, it's not an Ironman 70.3, it's not an ITU, it's not even part of a circuit. With so many more important races and so many of you I converse with near daily that have done those races, like Emz running 50 miles against horses, Molly recently with a marathon, more of you than I can list finishing Steelhead, Mooseman, Timberman, Rhode Island, etc, etc, etc., or Diesel winning the Aquabike division in his circuit (not official, but you did so good I can't possibly jinx it); this made me think to myself to myself  "self.... knock it the **** off and chill out this isn't that important".

After a few minutes I rethought things. To ME this IS important. This is kind of like my personal Kona (very weak metaphor but it makes more sense to me). It may be a small local race, but like pros who train hard all year for everything to culminate at Kona, this is comes at the end of 50 weeks of trying to make positive life changes and get back in shape (I've actually never been in shape). I keep obsessing because I want to prove myself to ME. Trophies and medals are motivating, but doing my BEST is the MOST important thing to me. That's why I have been obsessing for weeks about bikes, times, splits, and gear. I know what my best is and I want it to come out. This race has the potential to disappoint me and I realize this (I might being crying like I just finished an Ironman), but I am going to push until I have nothing left in hopes that even if I don't like my splits, I have no excuses. I left everything on the course.

I VOW to continue positive changes and an endurance sports lifestyle, and am proud to say that I have gone from barely running to running double digits, not being able to finish 25m pool lengths to swimming more than a mile. As of this morning I have lost 43 pounds in 50 weeks (the longest I have stuck to a healthy lifestyle and I know I fell off a few times). I know I have more to lose, but for the first time in my life I have walked out on my deck without a shirt on and not cared what the neighbors might say about the fat boy.  That is a great feeling. This may be a feeling better understood by my peers who are trying to get in shape or change their lifestyles, but maybe some of the prolific athletes were there once in their lives too.

I often think about what the seasoned athletes that follow my blog must think about what I write. Completing monumental races and victories and reading my whining about wanting to get my pace on the bike up from 12mph to 15mph. Despite that everyone is still always encouraging, but in the end I write this for me. And one thing I KNOW is that this race is a milestone for me. I like the term milestone, because it indicates it is a marker, NOT A DESTINATION. Right now I am traveling the road not knowing how long the road is. It could be 26.2, 70.3, 100, 140.6 or longer, but all I know is that this is just the FIRST milestone!

I apologize now for this post. This has probably been the most emotional posts I have written. It started as one thing and went somewhere else, but it is just what is on my mind. I am not going to go to the top to edit the lead-in of wanting to discuss something else. I leave it as a surprise when you get here, the other stuff can wait. Apparently my subconscious wanted this out and not knowing who to share it with, you guys got it. I left another surprise below :).

10/06/10

Goals: 10/05/10- PM run and swim. 10/06/10 AM- Ride and Swim. Clean Eating.

Results: 10/05/10- PM 1600m Swim. 10/06/10 AM- 5 mile light spin and 2 mile easy run. PM 800m swim 

Diet setbacks: 10/05- cheeseburger and half of a fountain coke. 10/06- None to note.

Thoughts: Diet so far has this week has been pretty good, except for that cheeseburger. My caloric intake is a little lower since I am working out less. Yesterday was black tea with skim milk and yogurt for breakfasts, various snacks including turkey and cheese roll ups, apple with peanut butter, and at bed time Colby cheese and crackers, dinner was a grilled chicken breast and salad.

Tuesday's workouts were hampered when my wife wanted to go to the her parents for dinner. I only had time for a swim. I didn't have time to run, but I had time to make it a long swim. I did a 400 meter warm up with drills, 8x50 for time (and the splits sucked), and 800m slow for a cool down. Also worked on my turns and my entry. Moved the run to 10/06.

Wednesday I woke up and went for the run and then transitioned to the bike. Coldest bike ride I have ever had. Wanted to ride for 90 minutes, not the 5 miles I did, but i rethought my plan due to traffic. After work swam 2x250 for time (not as good as last weeks) and some. Even though I am stressed this has been a decent week, One reason for this I think is that for 4 days in a row I have had some of the best sleep I have ever had. Each night was 7-8 hours of non-stop sleep. I do not know what has changed, but it has been nice.

Although I DID go into a LONG summary of what I have done for the last few days, I decided a few days back in order to keep from obsessing about this weekend that I would try to write about other things this week. Today I decided to write about how Wednesday I got to do one of my favorite things ever. Run with my dog Holly. Due to the long runs and speed work, and everything else I have not been able to run with her in months. a 2 mile easy run was perfect to get her back out. A while back Laura at Box, Run, Eat asked for pictures so here is a long little bio and a ton of photos on Holly.

I aw searching for a dog in 2007 and wanted to find a dog that would be a good apartment dog, but also a good fit for me. A dog that isn't girly, and I take running, hiking, etc. (no poodles). On Christmas day 2007 CB showed up at my apartment with her. I named her Holly because it was Christmas (I normally call her tater).

PS- I know the formatting sucks. I haven't be able to get Blogger to work with me for the last two days.



She stole ALL of the bows as we opened gifts.



She was tiny.



She tried to sleep in CB's suitcase the 1st night.



She is Pitbull and Greyhound

    

She kept growing.

 

And growing.



And growing.



Her general disposition is.....

...to leave no toy undestroyed.

She's been hiking since she could walk and not fall over.

She has a travel bowl but prefers her own bottle.



  

Sometimes CB comes with. (Holly posed on her own)

But usually that just leaves me with two girls not paying attention.

Holly is MY dog and my best friend. It was just me and her for years until I got married last year. However, I would be remised if I didn't give some honorable mention to the other goober in our house. Last winter Cb knew I was looking for another dog to give some company to Holly come spring. I wanted a male, UKC purple ribbon pitbull. I wanted to find a breeder who's dog's had a body style I liked. At this same time one of Cb's coworkers had found a puppy that ran into the street. She posted adds, asked the neighbors, and even did a commercial on the free cable channel. No one responded and she already had a puppy. She was going to take her to the shelter. But first, they arranged to bring her by my house "to see if I liked her".
 



She was little and sweet.

 

And Holly didn't try to eat her.



 I named her Samantha


She grew.

And grew.

 Now I have the hardest time dealing wither her

because she is too damn cute to be mad at.

Weekend wrap up and a look at the new week (a day into the week)

This is the fourth time I have attempted to write this post. I can not concentrate. It has started in paragraph format the first three times and then I deleted everything. I apologize for going bullet style again, I promise i Will not make this a habit (when I do this posts are longer and less focused).

• I can not think straight, it feels like I have too many irons in the fire right now, but I think I actually have less than usually.
• I am having an internal battle setting priorities right now (actually I am having 3 or so internal battles).

  -Priority 1a is taper week. My only real "A" Tri is this weekend. I want to go at it very seriously. It is supposed to have 800 people that is the largest tri for me yet. 

  -Priority 1b is to try and lose 10 pounds in October. This would mean I would end up having lost 50lbs in 1 year.

• This taper thing sucks! I want to keep pushing myself, but I know that I can't before a race (internal battle 2). My plan called for a 2 mile run yesterday. I turned it into 2 miles of hill repeats because after the last few months a 2 mile "easy" paced run was just that..too easy. I am still behind one long run and desperately want to make it up this week, but probably shouldn't.
• After an intense few month I am looking forward to my unstructured zero week.  However enter internal battle 3- I know I should recover but desire to lose the 10 pounds this month wants me to push interval runs and speed work (I lost weight the fastest when I was just running and it was mostly these workouts, although I have gotten in better shape and seen the most performance improvements while working all three sports). I know this type of training that week would be could lead to injuries, but I am at war with myself.
• I did my brick workout Friday as scheduled. 11 mile bike route with 2 miles as fast as I could and a jog of .6 miles to round out 5k. Even with the jog the run was sub 30 minutes and although I struggled at first, once I was in mile three I felt I could keep going. The bike was concerning because I felt I pushed myself the hardest I ever have, but I was slower than last week's time. Sad. Also, and most oddly it was the first time I was ever cold on the bike.
• I have been worrying fretting thinking about the fact it will be 49 degrees when I check in Sunday. Seems way too cold for me. Luckily, I am bringing insulation with me (24 extra pounds of it).
• I ordered a tri suit last Friday (shorts and top), I was hoping to fnd a bib style tri suit but had no luck. I hope it is here in time and fits. If I am lucky it will cut some more time off in the pool.
• Bought my first swim cap last Friday..it's so weird. I can't tell if my head is in the water or not. I did a 250m time trial that day and was 15s faster, not sure if it is the pool work or the swim cap but that means 45 seconds has been cut since 3 weeks ago. Still not the 3 minutes I want.
• I have been looking at the times for this event. I think it is really weird that the times from last year in the Clydesdale Division go from 57 minutes to 1:25 and then drop to 2 hours with no one in between.
• yeah, I'm Stressing!
• I've been obsessed about my bike every day since that is the area I have seen the least progress in, but weather and day light have prevented me from getting any extra rides in. 90 minutes scheduled tomorrow and 90 minutes more on Friday. I am hoping by the grace of the big guy upstairs I will have a new bike by Sunday. Everytime I ask, CB tells me I can't buy one. (yes I have to ask permission for things in that $$$ range) and it makes me more sad, but she says be happy for what you have. I should be, but it's hard.
• My younger sister in law wants to sponsor me to run the Disney Marathon. She's one of the sweetest 16 year olds I know, but she wants to make sure I am going so that she can come too! It makes me laugh.
• CB says the blog needs more pictures...ironically, she knows I don't own a camera.
• I had a job interview in Charlotte, NC to go into a position in probation/parole under what I did when I left. I have mixed emotions and am trying to figure out what the gut is telling me,
• Once I left the interview it had been 5 hours since breakfast and I had missed my 10am snack. I reached for it and it was melted. I had my lunch salad with me since I was going straight to work, but decided it was not going to be easy to eat it and drive. I stopped at McD's to get a cheeseburger and diet coke. I was upset when they gave me real coke, it sat funny in my stomach. That wouldn't have bothered the old my and it would have been a large coke with large fries and 5 cheese burgers. What has happened to me???
• CB has yelled at me because some of my clothes don't fit me any more. They are too big!! As good as outgrowing the clothes is she tells me we can't afford to buy ones that fit so I'd better stop losing weight.
  
  
  WARNING: PERSONAL RANT BELOW THESE ARE MY OWNS FEELINGS (TODAY) PLEASE SKIP IF YOU ARE OFFENDED EASILY OR ARE GENERALLY ARGUMENTATIVE.
• Today I have been emptying out my mind onto the screen and have one last rant- Last night I was on craigslist.org. I often look for odd jobs to make extra cash or to entertain myself with reading what people are selling for ENTIRELY too much money and reading the personals (the personals are the most funny, especially the ones for NSA encounters). Last night I found several adds similar to: "I'm a single mother and I'm pregnant and need baby stuff, please dontate. I have no ride so you will have to drop it off" or "I am poor and have no car, I want your old car. I have no money to pay but will take it off your hands as long as it runs". There was a third but I can't remember it. These annoyed me a lot. Mostly, because I grew up moderately poor (on government assistance a few times), after years of hard work in college and working for the state I have improved my standing to lower middle class (If me and CB didn't have student loans and vehicle payments we would have more cash than we need). Given what the level of hard work I have put in, these ads try my patience. The one for the car reminds me of the 6 months I spent driving a 1979 Oldsmobile (in 2007) I paid $250 for it. It had no air, heat, radio, locks, or working windows and had a screwdriver holding the driver seat in place. The adds also bothers me because as much as I want a high end road bike (and many other things), or even a $899 road bike, I have never gone to Beginnertriathlete.com and begged for one nor will I- I just beg my wife instead. I don't know what bothers me more, people begging for things or the fact that some people actually get handouts while others of us are stuck in downward spirals trying as hard as they can to pull up.
  RANT OFF
• The rant was going to be the last thing I wrote about (because it was the last thing on my mind) but it brought to mind something else (see my mind is working overtime today). I was to teach Surface Water Rescue again Sunday, but I had an obstacle. On the way to class a truck pulled up next to me and told me I had a flat tire. I pulled of the highway and my passenger rear tire was flat. I headed to a compressor to try and fill it up to drive home and figure out what's next. At the compressor I noticed that a tire I thought was leaking last week was low again (15 psi low), and my spare (on the truck in place of another flat tire I fixed earlier) was about 10 psi low. This was the most interesting to me because they were all checked Thursday when I had the oil changed. Two leaks fast enough to go flat in  3 days and two more that will go flat in a week.Spoke to Goodyear and they want me to take them to be inspected. I admit the tires have high miles, but having that many leaking tires is WAY to weird in my opinion.
• It's salad time. Hopefully, I will get a chance to catch up an everyone else's blogs today. I HOPE!

A Weeks Worth of Dribble

It's been a different week, not gonna write about the whole thing so I'll use bullets.

• • Taught Surface Water Rescue for fire fighters last weekend. On Sunday they had to do their combative swimmer practical. Swim up to a victim (me) who is panicked and get them under control and tow them in. One of the guys got mad and quit the class because he had to fight me and couldn't get me under control.
  
  • Saturday night I rode the course for my next race. It was close to where I was teaching. It is pretty much rolling but every few mile there is a huge hill that I can't keep my speed on. Finished it in 38 minutes. My Goal is 30. Still thinking about changing to an 11-28 freewheels if I can find one cheap.
  
  • Got home Sunday night and went for my long run (7 miles), got 2 miles down the road and started feeling sick to my stomach. I quit and walked home in the rain.
  
  • I have been sick all week. CB thinks I have the flu. She thinks that because last year when I had the swine flu I had cold chills (actually, last year I set the heat on 90 got under 6 blankets and was shivering violently. It was so hot my dog was sweating), earlier this week I was cold and since she wasn't, I must be having cold chills. I have also gotten exhausted very easily.
  
  • Despite my work hatred situation, I still made it to work everyday. I worked until I was exhausted and then went home.
  
  • Horrible weather all week, we went from rain, to thunderstorms, and then just as the rain cleared the top of that tropical depression thing hit. Luckily, we did not see all that flooding that the other end of NC saw.
  
  • Even with being sick and the weather not cooperating I have hit all my workouts but two. My long run and my long ride. At the scheduled time of my long ride there was a thunderstorm. I hope I can make them both up.
  
  • Looking forward to taper next week. Also looking forward to a zero week after that.
  
  • Called for three job interviews this week. For one of them the HR person informed me it would be a demotion and it was mis-posted (I declined), the other the HR person called me and wanted to know if I could be there for an interview in an hour, I was home sick and the location was 2 hours away. I will be taking the third interview next week. It is a job that has more pay than I make, is a step down from what I used to do and I am not convinced I would like. I think I would be a shoe in because they don't have to train me; I already have my state certification. That saves them 4 months of me not being able to work unsupervised and saves them 6 weeks of having to send me away to training.
  
  • My wife wanted me to runt he Charleston, SC Bridge Run because we want to visit Charleston. I was amazed when I saw that for a 10k it had 31,521 finishers last year. The top finisher ran 10k in 24:28. That is NUTS!! Of course he is Kenyan!
  
  • That got me reading about Kenyans all week. I am very impressed regarding many of their work ethics and cultural differences.
  
  • Did my hill ride yesterday. Added one more repeat than I did last week last week. As part of the workout I increase my gear with each repeat. I assume this is to build strength and therefore be able to spin easier in the future. Oddly if you look at my splits I climb it faster in the harder gears. I stay in the saddle and concentrate on form for all intervals, so no difference in technique. With the 12t I am spinning 100 rpm, when I hit my last interval I was only spinning about 65rpm, but going faster by almost a minute.
  
  • I originally chose the hill I work on because the training book said to find a hill that took 3-5 minutes to climb. It originally took me 3:45ish to get up it. Now it takes just under 2 minutes. Looks like I need a new hill.
  
  • The above raises a strategy point for me. Spinning v. Mashing. Since I don't spin well with my current gearing, I would have a better bike time if I mashed instead. What I am unsure of is if after I got off the bike, how would my legs be for running?
  
  • I took a look at last year's results for this race. The #1 Clydesdale was 18 yo, finished the swim in 3 minutes, bike in 30, and run in 21. This seems unnatural. I don't know the guy but I'm betting he couldn’t pass the pencil test. Personally, I think if your time will put you top 5 in your age group then don't sign up as a Clydesdale just to get a medal (this guy actually would've been #2 in the 16-19 age group). When running I have a desire to trip skinny runners, I have similar desires to beat people like this with a baseball bat post-race.
  
  • Lastly, I bought myself one of those nifty race number belt things yesterday. I am excited because that is my reward for hitting 210 lbs. I have been less than 210 lbs for about 9 days and even as low as 206 one day (That was one kind of off because it was after a workout).