Are we there yet?

So many levels to that question this Friday. Top Three?

1. Is this surgery going to work for Mo?
2. Will I go crazy during the 30+ hour 190 mile Ragnar Relay with five others in a Suburban?
3. How will the EvoTri vote end?

The doctors convinced each other and then Mistress that this surgery is going to be a good thing for Mo. He is having his tonsils and adenoids removed and scraping and restructuring his sinuses. Its a long painful procedure that will have him recovering for over a week. The debate was how individually the procedures are 'routine' but when done all at once and considering he has zero immune system without drugs it is considered experimental. This does nothing for his more dangerous colitis issue.

Ragnar will be a long day for me. I don't sleep well when traveling. I haven't met three of the six in my vehicle before. Its one thing to have a kick ass 7 mile run workout but when you repeat it every 6 hours and then just sit in a car seat for the time in between and not getting normal food, who knows what will happen. I do look forward to this race. It was my idea for us to do it. I think it will be one of those very memorable races of my life. Gee, maybe us bloggers should do one next year. Only need twelve per team and there all over the country.

I have really been stumping for EvoTri votes this week. In some regards I am glad it is a week of voting as it takes time to plan and execute such a campaign. But not knowing what place I'm in or how anyone else is doing, it can make you think to much about it in a unhealthy way. I always tend to look at it as I am in the back of the pack, don't take anything for granted, obstacles will come up, just work as hard as I can to finish strong. Gee, maybe a life lesson there. Believe it or not the part that I dwell on the most right now is that regardless of the outcome I won't be able to do a proper thank you or congratulatory post until the end of the weekend; after the relay, after taking a turn with Mo and after my century ride on Sunday.

No matter how it ends, though I hope and prefer it ends well for me, I am so humbled and appreciative of all the people that took the time to vote for me and send the messages out. I received so many emails from people saying, "Hey Comm's, heres a response from so and so about voting for you."

Have Fun.

Heads or Tails

Yeah I noticed my Bloggerheadz custom site header is missing. Don't have much time to work on it for the next several days. Have a pal checking it out though.

The Heart of the matter

In my pocket is a folded piece of plain paper. It hasn't left my pocket since it was created Tuesday afternoon. Along the left edge in blue ink are dates running all the way through the month of March. Next to each date is my workout for the day. The most aggressive, sustained three week program of my triathlon life.

Why?

Because I chose to do a race called Ironman in April. Not for glory. Not for redemption. Not for bragging rights. I chose to do it because every time I am out there on that course I learn what kind of man I am.

I think all of us look forward to races because their ultimately so simple. Give it all you got and cross the line. There is nothing to hold back for tomorrow. There is no pressing appointment conflicting with time. The day is sublimely perfect in its purpose. It is there for you alone.

Its off the course that it gets all muddled. Distractions to health and wealth. Family and work. The payoff seems so far away and there is so many miles of training left to get there. Compromise comes into play. 15 mile runs at a sustained heart rate of 10 miles of rolling hills? 35 miles of up and down riding of a 4% grade or a century ride at a steady state?

Equivocation.

When a Common Man like me trains with people who have clear athletic ability, like pretty much all my training partners, equivocation and compromise take place to maintain the pack. But really I need the long endurance training that I do in base work, just farther because of my goals. I can't just do a dozen 60 mile rides and expect to do well at an Ironman like many people can. I need several 100 mile rides.

In my pocket is a plain piece of paper. On it is a plan to I will stick to. Along the left edge in blue ink are dates running all the way through the month of March. My next race is here today when I started a 3 hour ride at three o' clock this morning. I have another one every day through the month of March. The most aggressive, sustained three week program of my triathlon life. Ironman is where I find out what kind of man I am. I forgot that the training is WHO I am.

bring the heat

after starting off in the whole at work, i have clawed myself up to point where i will get some great training done tonight. in my pocket is a piece of paper that has every day of training between now and April and i intend to hold myself to it. I can still have a good solid ironman showing.
It's 80 degrees today and why people come here for vacations right now. I can't believe I get to train in this weather. Todays practice is one loop of the IMAZ run (about 8.5 miles) and then about 1.5 miles in the pool.
Been rallying the troops at work and hope each of you will stop three more people each day and have them to vote for me for the evotri sponsorship.
have fun

So far, So good

Mo is at home now, resting but beat up. Things were worse than expected upon examination but the operations were a sucess. Mistress says his face is a swollen, black and blue mess and his jaw and neck are non-existant. Am told he's throwing up blood but was to be expected. thank you for your prayers and well wishes.

Ragnar is going well. I ran 7:30 miles for 5.5 miles. Nice surprise for me. Our whole van ran at or under pace. We're done now until my next leg around 8:30 pm

Ragnar Relay

This Friday myself and 11 of my friends (male/female) will hop into two suburban SUV's and partake in a 190 mile running relay, the MyoMed Ragnar here in Arizona. Each runner has three legs of varying distance and elevation. I volunteered to do one of the hardest legs for the team running a total of 18 miles and having a 'hard' or 'very hard' designator.

The nice thing is that once I get in the SUV to drive out to the start very early on Friday morning, I can forget about just around everything in my life and focus on making the next 30 hours pure fun. Except for EvoTri voting, that will stress me out regardless through the deadline. Someone will need to call me or send me an email or text to let me know the outcome as I won't have immediate access to the results Saturday morning.

Apparently yesterday Mo's primary doctor (he sees several physicians that are all specialists) raised a flag over the operation and wants more information before she would be comfortable with it. So Mistress has to sort through some more medical stuff today. The surgery is still on, but by the end of the day maybe not. Mistress and I made a conscious decision to consolidate Mo's surgery, all upper respiratory procedures, on this same Friday because the alternatives were all mid or early week. This just seem to fit with our schedules best. I will be missing work on Friday for Ragnar and then working from home on Monday and Tuesday.

You know when I said...

Time never stops. No matter how many times we sleep in or not. Eat right or not. If you have the balls to set a goal, it looms. As you get closer it really looms.

Part of me says, "Your training for your fourth Ironman in three years. You didn't sign up for the first, it was just a test of balancing life, but you did the distances over one full weekend. You finished #2, you got pulled for medical 2/3 through #3, and #4 is really only three weeks of training away. You've had the flu and a concussion and assumed two other peoples work responsibility in the last five months. But your been here before an ironman, others doing it for their first time are freaking out and your not."

The other part of me says. "..your not freaking out. You may get through this race but its going to be ugly. Your training level is mid season half iron level. Pathetic. You looked better before the concussion in November and thats not an excuse that you."

So I am torn. I had a mentor admonish me today for my training level. I deserved it. I have been mentally distracted by a lot lately, more than I have even put down in the blog. Add to that everything above and trying to get on EvoTri and its disappointing I have allowed myself to get here.

So I have to make changes that I wish I didn't have to make. I have three weeks to get back to a respectable Ironman condition. That means I will be eschewing much of my team training for solo work. Most of them can find results on less effort but I can not. I have to focus on my weaknesses and that right now is my bike and my distances.

I am never one for discouraging other triathletes. But for those of you thinking of doing an Ironman and your on the fence, this is the post you don't want to have to write six weeks before the race.

One last chance to win it all

Making the final round of voting on EvoTri has been quite the experience for me and has left me feeling rather odd.

When you watch my video you see that I am a giver not a taker, another way of saying that I am far more solicitous of others than myself. So it is so strange for me to be on this campaign to get votes just trying to crank out more and more like a jockey whipping his horse. He doesn't want to hurt the horse, but without pushing the horse harder the jockey will lose. I feel like a jockey right now, just constantly whipping my readers and friends to vote for me in this pursuit when the last thing I ever want is for them (you) is feeling I am abusing our relationship, being a taker.

Friday night I got a bit too anxious about round 2 and fired off a few emails to well connected friends for new sources of votes. It was impulsive and in the end I felt bad. I have lost count of the emails I have sent or received during this process. This isn't the hardest thing I have gone through, (pleaz) but today, this week and of course last week, its predominately on my mind going through all the range of emotions and thoughts.

Making this team means a great deal to me as I must suppose it does to all those still in the running. I do not believe that this can be accomplished by one man and a couple emails. It has to be a group effort of like minded people who rally behind the cause. I am not asking anyone for money or to mail anything, there is no financial investment to sell someone on...just me. Just a Common Man with no serious athletic ability but fierce willpower and deep empathy.

So yet again...I have sent out another beautiful letter from mom who can say things so much better than I can. I can only ask that each of you who received a copy send it to everyone you know with a personal message asking for it to be acted on and forwarded again. If you didn't receive a copy and want to be a part of the cause, let me know and I will forward it to you to start the thread anew.

How much harder do I push to be the final victor? How hard can I push? In a triathlon its always just about me, alone, against the course and the clock. In this vote process I have to rely so much on the generosity of...well, everyone.

I am not used to being carried and it leaves me unsteady, confused and unsure of myself.

So Much to Say...

I have made it to the third and final round of the Team EvoTri voting. I once again want to thank the team mate who is tallying up all the votes, this is surely a tedious process. I want to say to those from round 1 and 2 who did not make it to the next rounds, I respect your tenacity and your story. All of you have been foremost on my mind the last week.

I am hoping mom will crank out another letter for me today, and I will send it out as soon a possible. It took me by surprise the first time.

I am praying that all of you that have helped me get this far know that you so much to me. I couldn't be here without you and with your help will make EvoTri a success so that you have a similar opportunity in the future. When you watch my video you know I am doing this for you.

You also know that I am asking for everything you have given me and more in the next week. Everyday just ask yourself if there is one more person you know who could watch my video or cast a vote for me. Would it be an imposition to copy my mom's letter and leave them at the front desk of your work? If theres someone in your address book that you haven't connected with in years this gives you an opportunity to reconnect in a neutral way. Do you have a tri-team or group send that you haven't tapped yet?

I need all your help. Those that know me know I would rather do it myself than ask others to do my work but I am at your mercy to get the vote out. Thank you so much for all that you have done.

POOLS OPEN.

Today is my first open water swim of the year at Canyon Lake. It will be a cold 50 degree swim along the shore line, wearing skull caps, gloves, full suit, the works. Don't want to get to deep or away from shore in case of cramping or hypothermia. Oh...you can see one of my photos of last years first swim in my EvoTri video in the beginning. Afterwards we will have a little BBQ on the grill at the beach and some drinks. Mostly the grill is to warm ourselves up.

Ragnar Relay

I haven't even really mentioned this yet but next Friday is the MyoMed Ragnar Relay, a 190 mile race with 11 of my closest friends. It will take us about 30 hours to finish the race. More to follow, but it will pretty much take me out of contact with the EvoTri votes all day Friday depending on cell phone connections.

Steel yourselves for the final push of voting.

Round 2 mid point

Just beating the drum here. Please tell everyone you know to vote for me by Saturday night by sending an email to vote@evotri.com with Commodore Round 2 in subject line. I have been giving out post-its with the evotri web address and to vote for me.

I have one more round to make the team but have to give it my all this round. Leave no stone unturned. Tell everyone.

Round 2 Round-Up

"My fine, fine people..." -Bolder in Boulder

First I would really like to address the the EvoTri member who is doing the vote tally's. I sincerely want to thank that person, not because I made it to Round 2 but because I can only imagine the stress that person is under to tabulate and sort what must have been thousands of votes in just 72 hours. This person has a job and probably a family and training to do and other commitments yet he/she must have spent hours pouring over emails only to do it again starting today. Thank you.

I could not have survived Round 1 without you, the readers and voters. Thank you. Having never run for office, I now have some idea of the enormity it takes to run a campaign. I could not be here today without you, in not just this sponsorship opportunity, but in my life, I now see so clearly the reaping that occurs when good seeds are sown.

Mistress and I were up until 11pm Wednesday night shoring up votes over the phone to those last minute friends and family who we wanted to make sure had done their part. I am so proud of my wife for spending hours on the phone calling her friends around the world and asking for them to watch my video and participate.

I hit the sack at 11:45 and was up at 3:45 for a two hour trainer ride before work.

Round two voting I hope will go easier, even though the competition will be harder. Earlier today an email from my mom was sent to most everyone in my address book. Its a grassroots effort to create something more organic than just calling people up and asking to vote. Please forward the letter to all that you can. It's our hope that it just cascades into thousands of inboxes and I move to the next round on Sunday.

If you want your were overlooked a copy, I apologize. To request a copy to start your own thread, click my photo top right and my email button will be on the next page.

I need your help once again to make Round 3. I sometimes find myself putting too much emphasis or importance on this when I write and have to correct myself, but I take seriously the importance I put on making this team, not just for me but the future of other people like me, the Common Man, being able to participate from a wider assortment of sponsors in the future.

Thanks. I mean it.

A new day...

Wow. I have to tell you by yesterday afternoon I was seeing stars in my eyes and little black swirly things. I woke up okay, as if my flu was gone from my body but I had a headache that was flooring me. Not the same type of headaches I get from my concussion or from sinus pressure, just a stabbing, throbbing, almost puke at a moments notice pain in my head.

I ended up going to see Jeff, my training partner and chiropractor, and after an hour of acupuncture and therapy I was a completely new man. I am a new man.

All my energy was back and strangely enough any mental misgivings I had about missed training went away too. Now I am staring at 53 days to Ironman and while not at square one, I have a lot of ground to cover in a short amount of time.

Shorter term I have my first triathlon camp of the year on Friday, with 11 kids this time and a few adults too. Mo's surgery is next Friday, the same day I start Ragnar's 190 mile relay next week. I am not sure if I have mentioned that before so I will make sure to post on that soon as a distraction to the EvoTri voting going on.

Please remind one more person today to send an email to vote@evotri.com and put Commodore in the Subject. Today is the last day for Round 1.

Thanks.

Shimano Purchases Pearl Izumi

Japanese cycling-component giant Shimano announced today that it has purchased Pearl Izumi, a leading maker of apparel and footwear for cycling and running, from the fitness company Nautilis, Inc.

"The acquisition brings together two companies started by Japanese families who share a passion for cycling,” said David Pfeiffer, president of Shimano American Corporation, in a press release. “Both have strong research and development backgrounds, offer industry leading innovations, and share an obsession with quality and performance."

Nautilis, Inc., based in Vancouver, Washington, is reporting that the total purchase value is $69.5 million. Pearl Izumi, with headquarters in Broomfield, Colorado, and Kirchzarten, Germany, will now be wholly owned by Shimano American, the U.S. subsidiary of Osaka, Japan-based Shimano, Inc. But the press release noted that Pearl Izumi would remain as a standalone company with separate management. And despite the acquisition, Shimano will continue to make its own branded apparel and footwear.
—John Bradley for Outside Magazine Online

Get the word out

Not even a day into the EvoTri vote and I want to thank everyone who has done their part. I am simply numb with the votes I have received from you great people.

I am truly blessed to make it this far and can only make it to Thursday with your aid.

I know I don't have the most viewed blog in the Tri-Alliance but I want to crash the servers at EvoTri World Wide Headquarters. If some of you would put up a post for your daily blog readers to vote for me by sending an email to vote@evotri.com with Commodore on the Subject line, I would really appreciate it. Or go covert and forward a message off to your email list asking them to support me.

To view all ten applicants go to the EvoTri website.

One more vote can make the difference....

Team EvoTri Round 1

I am fortunate enough to have made it to Round 1 of the EvoTri video application. The top ten applications can be found at the EvoTri website through Wednesday.

Please vote for me as per the rules from the website:

And now, tell us who YOU think best answers the contest questions below by sending and email to vote@evotri.com with the name of the entrant in the subject line. As we're expecting a deluge of voting, for efficiency purposes emails will not be opened. You may only vote once, multiple votes from the same email address will not be counted.

Team EvoTri Submission

THIS MESSAGE WILL REMAIN UP FOR SEVERAL DAYS. SCROLL DOWN FOR MY NEWEST POST.

Yup, I put my bike helmet in the ring for Team EvoTri. Feel free to check it out HERE . Voting starts Monday at www.evotri.com. Go to the website on Monday to see if I made the cut for online voting.

Team Evotri Mission Statement

The members of Team Evotri will challenge themselves and others to live a healthy and active lifestyle through endurance sports. Given the extraordinary opportunity to train and race with the same equipment and coaching of the pros, they will dedicate themselves to maximizing their potential, to sharing what they learn from their experiences, and to making a positive contribution to the endurance sport community.

Optimistic

I am trying to be optimistic about things right now. I am on Day 13 of SickGate. I didn't even take off this much time after my last concussion. Ba-dum-bump.

Today it poured at my house but clear as a bell a mile away. It bodes well for my century ride for tomorrow. Yeah, how stupid am I. No workouts in two weeks and I'm just going to jump on my bike for a century. Its either the stupidest thing I have done this week or what I need to get over the hump of this illness.

There are some great Team EvoTri submissions put up at the last minute and I am hopeful and optimistic I will make the top ten chosen to go online for voting on Monday, I think I have a good entry. My submission is linked above and HERE. Check EvoTri on Monday to find out. You can be sure I will post a vote link if I make the first cut.

Spring is right around the corner folks and that might just be the most optimistic time of the year. Trees go to shoot, flowers bloom, love is in the air. The perfume of opportunity hangs in each sniff. We have all had our motivation and health issues in the last few months and I just want to affirm to you and myself that blue sky is right there around the corner. Stand fast and prepare for the opportunity to find those moments for your fitness snack.

Valentines Day--Bah!!

This is a reprint from a post two years ago. Still relevant.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Let's Be Honest...

Non-Tri post here folks...Valentines Day is a BS holiday. And not just Valentines Day but Mother's Day, Father's Day, Arbor Day, Halloween theres more; I am an equal opportunity despiser.

I don't think some corporation needs to tell me that regardless of all the good deeds, love letters, flowers and unforgetable moments I give my wife, aka Mistress, during the year; that if I neglect to buy one of their cards or buy some of their candy or overpriced roses and give them to her on February 14th, I am a bad person.

I am not a bad person. I buy Mistress flowers every week, why go out of my way to buy the same bunch for twice the cost during the week of Valentines Day? So I can show society I care about my wife or that I care about the institution of Valentine's Day?

I buy my mom books and candy and speciality things and give her gift certificates all year long to show how much I love and appreciate her. She knows I love her, why do I need to bend to social conformity on Mom's Day? I don't.

Just so you don't think I am some unfeeling robot, let me give you a vision of the personalized side of me. Remember Christmas, just a few months ago really? Remember what people gave you? Maybe one, maybe two gifts. Did you send thank you cards? Come on be honest? To everyone? I do. And when I use their gift for the first time, such as a gift certificate or flashlight or whatever, I send another letter or call them to let them know how their gift was used. This might take all year to use a dinner card.

Just like at Christmas when I wish everyone a un-PC, "Merry Christmas" regardless if they celebrate or not, I will graciously accept all the "Happy Valentines Day" wishes I recieve today. I will even respond will a good heart.

Thats how much I care about people. I love people. I appreicate the gift of giving but don't appreciate the corporate crap that has been heaped on top holidays.

Mistress knows all this. In fact I had a conversation with her because I am conflicted. Yes people I am conflicted. See I will not bow to the Hallmark-Hersey-Industrial-Complex, but I felt that maybe she expected something from the Mighty Mo. Seeing as he is not quite 3 years old that means I would have to buy the card and the gift and sign his name to it. I told her that I would really just like to raise my boy to not have to partake in this holiday and she told me that she only wants something from him when he understands the meaning of the day. She's a good woman. Update 2008: I just mentioned in a post this week that I did take Mo to the mall and he picked out a gift for Mistress for Valentines day. He gave her a yellow girl power ranger so they can play together. Totally appropriate for his age.

She obviously has the more traditional "I've bought in" mentality so she thinks I am being just wierd. I told her that if she wants a card and a gift and flowers then I could do all that AND tell her I love her and then be completely unobligated to do any of that or tell her I love her until next February 14th. She laughed and said, "Ah, No." See guys you will never win with Valentines Day. Your expected to dish out all year long but dish out much more on Valentines Day.

So Flame On folks. I expect many of you who have bought expensive jewerly or two dozen roses or going to an expensive dinner tonight to stand up and defend yourself and your expense. As for me, its business as usual, day as usual.

I thought it would be nice to have you see some of the comments from 2006 and last year as well.

Photo Essay

I've got some of my own life in action photos to put up but for today this will do.

Mo loves this dragon on the carousel at the mall down the street. Mistress was able to wrangle a lifetime free pass, which saves us about five bucks a month in tokens.

Long time Mo viewers know he loves his preppy polo shirts. Here he is showing his new hat.

The long awaited Wolf photo from AG tryouts. There were 1000's of people there and he was a very nice guy. A great representative of the show. Mo was feeling pretty sick and we were on our way out. The guy in the background (left) is of course smiling and staring at the M-Dot on my calf which made it look bigger than Wolfs. And I am also hunched down a bit so Mo would fit into the photo, Wolf is not 6'8"

Gosh

Man you guys are great. I really, really appreciate your comments. They helped pull me through an abby-normal (Young Frankenstein) day. I hate writing posts that don't inspire people but I took a chance and in return you inspired me in return.

I am still pretty sick on this relapse. Almost as if the first part was just a warm up for what I am going through now. Today started Day 8 of no training. I got ten hours sleep last night and still feel pretty crappy but hoping to clear up during the day.

Mo and I went to the mall and we rode his favorite carousel and ate at Chik-Fil-A, or as he knows it, "The original Chicken nugget place". Then bought him a big red dragon to play with and a Yellow girl Power Ranger for his Valentines Day gift for Mistress.

I may or may not put up my annual anti-Valentines day rant but expect my holiday M-Dot soon.

And a new low is reached....

Yes only an Intrepid Age Grouper could pretty much strike out on every level today.

Let's start with after saying 'Good morning" to his son, said son avoids Intrepid Age Grouper like the plague and refuses to be picked up by said Intrepid Age Grouper later in the day from school.

Then adding to that after a breakfast of yogurt and banana and halfway through the Intrepid Age Groupers second cup of coffee he suddenly finds himself retching uncontrollably in the bathroom for no good reason. (Cue: all symptoms muted but never cured by every cold medicine created)

Then include parents dog (visiting overnight) dragging a ragged paw over Mo's face scaring him, making him cry and leaving some claw marks, reminding Intrepid Age Grouper of his helplessness to protect son from a horrific dog mauling earlier in his life and he contemplates murdering an animal with his bare hands.

Still seeing red and unable to physically abate adrenaline while swirling in a mental vortex of current illness and past fears, Intrepid Age Grouper sets off an IED by saying an offhanded but very hurtful thing to wife who is still consoling crying child in arms and then Intrepid Age Grouper walks out the door.

Traffic sucks and Intrepid Age Grouper's 20 minute commute becomes 45 minutes. All stations play Mirah Carey's new song for 45 minutes straight.

Then finds his new phone sent from carrier to replace current phone has been stolen from receptionist desk.

Intrepid Age Grouper receives scathing, venom filled email from wife and knows he's in deep shit. Contrite apology and supplication follows.

Cue worsening condition of illness and co-workers telling you to go home because, "You look like crap...your all ashy and pale looking...have you lost weight....why are you shaking/shivering like that it's hot as hell in here."

I think the Intrepid Age Grouper is going to pick up his son from school and go buy some jewelry, chocolate, beer and whatever else he can think of to please his wife, some chicken nuggets for his boy and then probably sit on his couch under a blanket staring at his lonely trainer the rest of the day, to sick to start training again.

Oh yeah...Ironman's only 60 days away. No pressure at all to miss another workout.

Bugged

Our house got the bug late last week. I suppose my stress, training volume and having a boy whose been sick for two straight months will do that to me. I haven't got it as bad as Mistress but it whacked my back out so I spent the last three days, flat on my back or walking around exhausted. It's amazing how much energy it takes to make a one hour trip to the store. Probably the lowest amount of training I have done in months. Which really sucks because it was cloudless and 75 degrees on Saturday and Sunday.

This morning all of us were tired, short on nerves, emotions on our sleeves. Mo and I argued over what shoes to wear and how they feel on his feet. Really important stuff to a 4 year old. In the end I retreated upstairs and they left. I could hear Mo crying in the garage below me. I felt terrible and of course when I finally went back down they had already pulled away.

The one thing we did do over the weekend was see the American Gladiator tryouts. There were thousands of people who showed up. Many from out of state. Mo and I did get a picture with Wolf, I will download that stuff this week. The one thing that came from the experience is that NBC was looking for a thin demographic. By that I mean they want athletic people but not ones that could really beat the gladiators. You will not see a 6'3", 220 pound ex-college football player on the show as a contestant. It doesn't detract from my appreciation of the show.

My goal today is to do something active for myself, maybe stretch or do a circuit of some kind. Plus find a way to mend a fence with Mo. As a father your only as good as last argument, not your last good deed. Come to think of it, its the same with being a husband...I'll take the trash out tonight too.

Preception

I have been auditing a class of new employees through a personal training course. They have been pretty involved and its fun to see them get smarter as the days progress. The instructor, a good acquaintance, makes it all enjoyable. It sort of makes me feel smart, knowing that on the subject I am very well versed compared to new and open people. I haven't felt very smart lately. I certainly don't have all the answers, nor speak up when I do, but I have given a couple of funny anecdotes. Most of these employees are trainers with weight room backgrounds and mentalities so when I pipe up about long distance triathlon training it brings humor because they can't comprehend a training weekend of an 80 mile ride and 16 mile run. To them a workout consists of zero cardio and a total of thirty sets over sixty minutes. A long run might be considered a 5k. You know, because its metric.

I ran into 'just one more person' this week in class, who has a diet that has her not eating after 8pm. Her excuse is she goes to bed at ten, works out at five in the morning and eats breakfast around 7am. Thats eleven hours without eating and a workout in there to boot. It amazes me the mythos surrounding nutrition. In reality this person should be working within her daily nutritional intake and having a larger meal at night or more likely eating closer to bed time and then eating or drinking some calories before her workout.

Ack! I could go on forever. But that is what this class does, teaches people the fundamentals of nutrition and supplementation so that when they have clients they use modern fitness techniques and not gym myth or self help pap.

Someone will ask so here is the answer, just eat like you know you should. Whatever you put on your plate, most likely take half of it off. The less processed the better. The fewest combined ingredients the better. The fresher the better but yes frozen vegetables and fruit are often better nutritionally than stuff in the bins. Eat often. Graze through five small meals and not two large ones. Drink as much water as you can. There is much more but thats the gist.

American Gladiator Tryouts

Oh good Lord no, I am not trying out as a contestant for next seasons American Gladiator; I can only do like....4 pull ups. My company is one of the national tryout locations this weekend. They are expecting a ton of people to show up so it should be fun to watch. Mo loves watching the show and he always cheers for the red team. Why you ask? I asked him too and as he rolled his eyes he said, "Daadddy,Ironman (the M-dot logo) is red." From the mouths of babes. I want to go because I appreciate the fitness aspects of the show and want to get some ideas for my own benefit plus I went to high school with Titan and while I doubt he would be there it'd be fun to shake his hand again.

With Mighty Mo going into surgery later this month he is going to miss school and be stuck in the house for at least a couple weekends. So Saturday morning instead of me going out for a 80 mile bike, he and I are going to eat 'poncakes' at IHOP and then go watch the tryouts. Then later I will ride the trainer at home while he watches movies or rides his smart cycle.

Depending on how the recovery goes, sometime this month we, will all go to the Renaissances Festival that opens this weekend. For a long time I thought it would be bit dorky to go but honestly we went last year and had a blast. It is literally a 30 acre medieval village with food, and wares and tournaments, animals and all sorts of fun stuff. In fact in the photo above you can see a wooden sword the was bought there last year.

Have Fun

Being Big

Mighty Mo has been going to the doctors a lot lately. On Monday he had two appointments. The second appointment was a 'poke'. That is Mo verbalizing an appointment that is needle based, either getting a shot or having blood drawn. Mistress and staff still have to do the distractions that all of us need, but he has had so many poke appointments in his life that he just lays his arm out and waits for the lollipop when he is done. In this regard he is years ahead of children his age and quite a few adults as well, myself included. I hate needles. But for him their is nary a tear shed anymore.

The first appointment was a final consult on a surgery to have his tonsils and adenoids removed at the same time. Apparently when done together its a major deal. He has been on progressively stronger antibiotics for the last two months for sinus, throat and lung infections that have not gone away. Over the last 72 hours we have been fighting off a nasty cough turning into bronchitis. In essence his immune level is nil, much like a few years back when many of you might remember he was sequestered for several months from being around school aged children.

Now they are hoping by doing both operations at once, they can boost his immune system in recovery when he is out of school anyway.

As always, on the positive side, he appears to be a cherub of God. He officially is signed up for kindergarten. He played non-stop over the weekend. At one point he and Mistress were in a parking lot and had to get past two redneck hillbillys who were smoking, eating and drinking in the car parked next to theirs. The rednecks leered a bit at them, not bothering to close their doors or give them any space. But Mighty Mo just walked right up, (wearing the exact outfit in photo right) and started charming them. Within a few moments, they had put out their smokes, picked up their liter, closed their doors, laughed jovially and smiled widely as Mo said goodbye to each by name.

The kids got a gravity that just pulls people towards him. I can't describe it. Some blogger saw it a dinner for the PF Chang marathon, where Mo was actually being quite shy at the table. Apparently at some point he put out some kind of vibe to a table of senior citizens and when they left they all just walked by and rubbed his head or touched his shoulder with broad grins on their face. Most not even saying a word, others whispering in his ear. It was almost reverence.

Bewildered

The last couple of days has been a bit...problematic. Yesterday I could barely have a conversation that didn't involve me having to repeat a sentence two or three times because once again, I kept using the wrong word. When I told Mistress I was going to get my sweaty clothes from my car, I told her I was going to get my groceries out of the car. I told my dad I loved freezer, when I was telling him I loved the steak he made me. I called a good friend by someone else's name while we were talking.

I did a 15 mile desert run yesterday, basically 3x5 mile loop. I have run this route many times. Yet it seemed every time I looked down at the trail or around at the landscape, I was seeing something new. Ultimately I knew to just follow the road straight up to the trailhead and back and couldn't possibly get lost, but sometimes I didn't know where I was. I was glad to be running with Jeff, because I didn't have to worry about putting much thought into it. Run up, run down.

Last night while driving home from my parents with Mo after watching the Super Bowl, I got lost. Twice. They live ten miles west and one mile south of me. Not a lot of turns in that equations.

This morning at work, I have been looking at emails and on simple instructions seeing the exact opposite explanation. When one says, "The number is 10k to low", I read, I need to lower the number another ten grand. Not that I need to increase it that amount. Until the third or forth time I look at it and already made adjustments to other forms.

I am wondering, and this is completely speculative on my part, that increased volume in training above a base level negatively affects my mental routines from my head injuries. I put in almost 20 hours of training last week. When looking back at some of the worst patches of cognitive functioning over the last three years its also during some of the higher build portions of my Ironman training. I mean obviously anyone is going to be tired after a massive amount of training, but I am wondering out loud if my specific cognitive functions are short circuiting because of it. Its hard to express but I mentally feel sharp and alert, I just can't get my thinker and my speaker to hook up 60% of the time.

Thank God its a rest day.

SuperBowl Event: The Feed

I had my first energy drink evah, last night. Not bad. I've smelled it on enough breath to know what it would probably taste like. The last hour turned more into a spin class than anything else. Some great 70's and 80's music came up and people who weren't spinning were dancing. A bunch of ladies did a great Grease karaoke and a couple of people danced to Right Said Freds, I'm To Sexy song. Brave.

Here is the LINK to see what this is all about. Just click on the main box or the AMP energy event notice at the bottom.

I found that you can buy the trainers that generate the power. LINK Not a bad concept once I read up on it.

SuperBowl Event: The Feed

I had my first energy drink evah, last night. Not bad. I've smelled it on enough breath to know what it would probably taste like. The last hour turned more into a spin class than anything else. Some great 70's and 80's music came up and people who weren't spinning were dancing. A bunch of ladies did a great Grease karaoke and a couple of people danced to Right Said Freds, I'm To Sexy song. Brave.

Here is the LINK to see what this is all about. Just click on the main box or the AMP energy event notice at the bottom.

I found that you can buy the trainers that generate the power. LINK Not a bad concept once I read up on it.

Super Bowls Green Scheme

The secret sponsor for the live marketing event is AMP energy drink. Ironic considering I have never drank this style of energy drink in my life. Yup. I've never drank a redbull, rockstar, monster, amp, redline, whatever else is out there. Nope. Not once.

The concept is that Trek beach cruiser type bikes, quite comfy, are hooked up to trainers which in turn have been turned into generators. The power generated by the cyclists goes into batteries which when piled up over the next few days will power 30 minutes of the pre-game show in conjunction with the period AMP energy (owned by Pepsi) has sponsored for the event. I think it will be around 90 minutes prior to kick off.

I am usually a bit skeptical of these things, like does our actions power the DJ set up and the mikes and the lights while we ride? They did. In fact when we all stopped, the entire tent powered down to darkness. Cool. So theoretically the event is power positive in its offset for the goal.

Among the group I was in for two hours were; my friend/training partner Andy, (Ironman), a Cat-3 cyclist who had already done 6 hours that day and two obvious cyclists behind us. We kept trying to see who could get the most amps out of our systems. (They had little digital displays that showed the amps generated by the pedaling). All of us got to eight amps, some a bit higher. We were told that our group for the two hours had the highest combined battery upload of any group that day.

What was kind of cool is that there was this massive bank of batteries in the bank and each group had a Red Digital Readout (RDR) that showed totals amps being uploaded. The more juice going in the brighter the green glow of the neon they put around the battery's. So we could constantly see our output compared to everyone else. And we were doubling the other groups.

In reality it wasn't a contest to see who could do the most. There was no smack talk or recriminations. In fact I was sweating my ass off staying in Zone 2, while most were just lazily moving the pedals, reading a book, texting, etc. To stay in my zone I had to generate about 3.5 amps and was told in general most people were just doing 2.0 amps.

Look forward to another two hours tonight. Then Saturday a four hour shift. When asked if I was coming back on Sunday I told them I had a 16 mile run instead. Got a good look on that comment.