Improper grammar in title emphasized for a reason.
I won't make this long given that I have to be at work at 5am (so ... 7ish hours?), but given that I haven't blogged in forever, I figured I might as well.
Anyway, I have a few things I'd like to talk about, but since time is of the essence, I'll mention two:
1.) I figured out there's a good reason triathlon has the swim first.
Obviously, yes, I know, it's because one can always crawl across the finish line. One needs the most energy on the swim because if one stops moving in the water, one could die. Yes, I get this.
And, when I go to the gym for a swim/bike "brick" (i use the term loosely), I always tend to swim first, mostly because it's triathlon order but partly because the gym floor is HOT and being slightly damp from the swim helps in the first bit of the ride.
However, tonight the pool was ridiculously ass-crowded and I didn't feel like sharing a line, so I hopped on the stationary first (more on this later). Once I was done, I wandered back into the pool area and saw that there were two lanes free. Sweeeeeet. So, I quickly changed, showered and hopped in.
Yeah, I managed 500m before my shoulder started giving me some crap which it NEVER does on swims. I know my workouts have been slacking a bit lately (more for another blog post), but geez. I figure it's from the stupid bike first, as that's the only explanation. I also never got past that early fatigue which usually disappears after the first 200m. Oh well.
The bike mention brings us to:
2.) Taking three weeks off from the bike is bad. VERY bad.
I haven't been on my actual bike since September and had barely been on a stationary since who knows how long when I started stationary cycling fairly regularly in January. However, given that February sucks (again, the blog post for later), I haven't been on the bike in probably about three weeks. Yeah, I felt it tonight.
The stationary sucks as it is. I find it boring and extremely hard to concentrate while I'm on it. Given that I got about a month of regular spinning on the damn things, the rides started to slooooooowly get easier. Well, take a few weeks off and it's back to hell. I typically keep my towel over the display so I don't see anything except my RPMs/cadence but tonight, Mr. Towel slipped. And I saw that I was only 11 minutes into my 25 minute workout. I wanted to die.
Good news is, I pushed through it, but it was painful. Colorado, will you warm back up into the mid-50s (and a WARM mid-50s? this cold mid-50s is just not cutting it) for a few days so the snow melts on the paths and I can drag out my freshly tuned bike? Kthx.
So that was more than I intended on writing, but it's not quite 10pm so I can hit "publish" and still be okay for now. Sweet.
The fitness adventures of two Ironman triathletes
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
Is triathlon too easy or accessable?
I just became a fan of USAT Midwest on Facebook. I admit it. I'm a huge facebook junkie. I've been on the site since late 2004...when the address was still TheFacebook.com and it was only open to college students. Now granted I wasn't one of the first people on it, but still. I was on it when you could only have a page of your music tastes, favorite movies, interests, and groups. I could browse every group at UND in like an hour.
Today, pretty much any organization has a fan page on Facebook. So naturally, I am a fan of things like USA Curling (I'm a nerd, shut it), RoadID, Steve in a Speedo, and USAT. I was browsing their fanpage and came across an interesting article. It was about triathlon and how it is the new status symbol.
Article can be found here.
I've heard about the running craze of the 70's. How "jogging" became a household thing. How every person went to the store to buy a new pair of Nikes and went for Saturday morning runs with the family. Another craze was beginning to take form...the Ironman! The Hawaii Ironman started from a discussion between some Navy seamen (don't laugh) about which athletes were the best. They decided to settle it by combining 3 brutal races...the Waikiki roughwater swim (2.4 mile swim), the Around Oahu Bike Race (115 miles, normally a 2 day event), and the Honolulu Marathon (26.2 miles...duh). They decided to shave off 3 miles of the bike to have it start at the finish of the Waikiki rough and end at Aloha tower, where the marathon traditionally started. Thus, the Ironman was born.
Fast forward to today. The Ironman gets coverage on NBC with Mike Rowe's voice detailing the suspense of an entire day's work in 90 minutes. Ironman is a brand name. Triathlon itself is a business with stores dedicating themselves to triathlon-specific equipment. It is now a summer olympic event.
In all this...is it possible that triathlon has been dumbed down too much? Has it become an event that everyone can do? Does someone who has completed one triathlon in their entire life deserve to be called a triathlete? More importantly, a person that completes ONE SPRINT triathlon deserve that title?
To me, things like marathons and triathlons are special. The people that do these events deserve to be held in a certain high regard. It's like saying you're a poker player. What defines a "poker player"? Do you play the game one time at a friends place and suddenly you are a poker player? Or is it years of grinding it out at the tables, winning and losing, learning a lot about the intricacies of the game and other players?
I consider myself a triathlete, even though I have completed one sprint triathlon. But I also plan on growing in the sport. Expanding on what I have learned. More importantly than calling myself a triathlete, I would much rather call myself an athlete.
And that's the rub. Have a good day. :-)
Today, pretty much any organization has a fan page on Facebook. So naturally, I am a fan of things like USA Curling (I'm a nerd, shut it), RoadID, Steve in a Speedo, and USAT. I was browsing their fanpage and came across an interesting article. It was about triathlon and how it is the new status symbol.
Article can be found here.
I've heard about the running craze of the 70's. How "jogging" became a household thing. How every person went to the store to buy a new pair of Nikes and went for Saturday morning runs with the family. Another craze was beginning to take form...the Ironman! The Hawaii Ironman started from a discussion between some Navy seamen (don't laugh) about which athletes were the best. They decided to settle it by combining 3 brutal races...the Waikiki roughwater swim (2.4 mile swim), the Around Oahu Bike Race (115 miles, normally a 2 day event), and the Honolulu Marathon (26.2 miles...duh). They decided to shave off 3 miles of the bike to have it start at the finish of the Waikiki rough and end at Aloha tower, where the marathon traditionally started. Thus, the Ironman was born.
Fast forward to today. The Ironman gets coverage on NBC with Mike Rowe's voice detailing the suspense of an entire day's work in 90 minutes. Ironman is a brand name. Triathlon itself is a business with stores dedicating themselves to triathlon-specific equipment. It is now a summer olympic event.
In all this...is it possible that triathlon has been dumbed down too much? Has it become an event that everyone can do? Does someone who has completed one triathlon in their entire life deserve to be called a triathlete? More importantly, a person that completes ONE SPRINT triathlon deserve that title?
To me, things like marathons and triathlons are special. The people that do these events deserve to be held in a certain high regard. It's like saying you're a poker player. What defines a "poker player"? Do you play the game one time at a friends place and suddenly you are a poker player? Or is it years of grinding it out at the tables, winning and losing, learning a lot about the intricacies of the game and other players?
I consider myself a triathlete, even though I have completed one sprint triathlon. But I also plan on growing in the sport. Expanding on what I have learned. More importantly than calling myself a triathlete, I would much rather call myself an athlete.
And that's the rub. Have a good day. :-)
Monday, February 15, 2010
Randomness...
I had a moment last week. A big moment. It may seem small. But it was big to me.
I've obviously had a rough couple of weeks. It's still kind of surreal to think that my airline is shutting down and I will be unemployed. And in turn, this news has affected my workouts. You read about it all the time how people are able to rise up and make exercise work for them when bad news hits. Not me.
But in any event, the other night I was overnighting in Durango and I just felt like I had to get out there and run. It was an urge, like having to pee or something. I was looking at the scenery as we were driving to the hotel and I was like man, I have to get out here and enjoy this. So as soon as I got to the room, I got bundled up (cause the sun had already set and it was chilly out, like 19 degrees) and went for a 2.14 mile run.
It was nice. And made me happy.
I've obviously had a rough couple of weeks. It's still kind of surreal to think that my airline is shutting down and I will be unemployed. And in turn, this news has affected my workouts. You read about it all the time how people are able to rise up and make exercise work for them when bad news hits. Not me.
But in any event, the other night I was overnighting in Durango and I just felt like I had to get out there and run. It was an urge, like having to pee or something. I was looking at the scenery as we were driving to the hotel and I was like man, I have to get out here and enjoy this. So as soon as I got to the room, I got bundled up (cause the sun had already set and it was chilly out, like 19 degrees) and went for a 2.14 mile run.
It was nice. And made me happy.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Some good and some bad...
Hello TBD readers.
First, I should get the serious news/bad news out of the way. No, I didn't injure myself, and no, I didn't die. I found out that come April 19th, I will be unemployed.
You see, the airline that I work for is called Lynx Aviation. We were a wholly owned subsidiary of Frontier Airlines. When Frontier filed for bankruptcy in April 2008, Lynx went in with them. Frontier needed to gain some capital and get out of bankruptcy. To do this, they needed someone to buy them. A buyer emerged, named Republic Airlines, came out and decided to purchase Frontier. With this purchase came Lynx Aviation. The CEO of Republic, Bryan Bedford, publically said he had no idea what to do with Lynx. In the past, Bryan has made it quite clear that he is not a fan of turboprop aircraft. I can understand that to an extent. The public is still fearful of turboprop aircraft. But in terms of cost and efficiency, a turboprop is amazing on short routes. That's why it works so well in the mountain towns and on these short hops. But Bryan doesn't understand that. So he said they would "reevaluate" Lynx and revisit it in 6-7 months.
Well, 6-7 months came and Bryan's decision was to get rid of the turboprops and eliminate Lynx. Just like that, about 400 jobs have been eliminated. 400 more people treading the unemployment line. 400 people who have to re-adjust their lives because their CEO doesn't care about them, only about flying fancy jets. April 6th, 3 of our airplanes will be gone and 40 pilots will be on furlough. April 19th, 3 more will be gone and 40 more of us will be on furlough. And by September, the rest will be sold and all of us will be on furlough.
Basically, this is another challenge that life has thrown me. No problem, right? Wrong. I'm getting tired of these challenges. I'm getting tired of always having to pick myself up and dust myself off. Just as I get established, I have to deal with something else. It's really frustrating and I'm getting sick of it. None of my friends have to deal with this. None of my family. It really feels like it's only me.
Realistically, I know it's not, but still...
Anyway though, I should hit the high points thus far of the month...I've been doing well in terms of working out. I have kept up with the running, hitting my goal of over 8 miles last week. I swam 1950 meters last week (miscounted...oops!0 and I've done a couple treadmill sprints. So far, the year has gone better than I was expecting in terms of working out.
The rest of life...not so much...
First, I should get the serious news/bad news out of the way. No, I didn't injure myself, and no, I didn't die. I found out that come April 19th, I will be unemployed.
You see, the airline that I work for is called Lynx Aviation. We were a wholly owned subsidiary of Frontier Airlines. When Frontier filed for bankruptcy in April 2008, Lynx went in with them. Frontier needed to gain some capital and get out of bankruptcy. To do this, they needed someone to buy them. A buyer emerged, named Republic Airlines, came out and decided to purchase Frontier. With this purchase came Lynx Aviation. The CEO of Republic, Bryan Bedford, publically said he had no idea what to do with Lynx. In the past, Bryan has made it quite clear that he is not a fan of turboprop aircraft. I can understand that to an extent. The public is still fearful of turboprop aircraft. But in terms of cost and efficiency, a turboprop is amazing on short routes. That's why it works so well in the mountain towns and on these short hops. But Bryan doesn't understand that. So he said they would "reevaluate" Lynx and revisit it in 6-7 months.
Well, 6-7 months came and Bryan's decision was to get rid of the turboprops and eliminate Lynx. Just like that, about 400 jobs have been eliminated. 400 more people treading the unemployment line. 400 people who have to re-adjust their lives because their CEO doesn't care about them, only about flying fancy jets. April 6th, 3 of our airplanes will be gone and 40 pilots will be on furlough. April 19th, 3 more will be gone and 40 more of us will be on furlough. And by September, the rest will be sold and all of us will be on furlough.
Basically, this is another challenge that life has thrown me. No problem, right? Wrong. I'm getting tired of these challenges. I'm getting tired of always having to pick myself up and dust myself off. Just as I get established, I have to deal with something else. It's really frustrating and I'm getting sick of it. None of my friends have to deal with this. None of my family. It really feels like it's only me.
Realistically, I know it's not, but still...
Anyway though, I should hit the high points thus far of the month...I've been doing well in terms of working out. I have kept up with the running, hitting my goal of over 8 miles last week. I swam 1950 meters last week (miscounted...oops!0 and I've done a couple treadmill sprints. So far, the year has gone better than I was expecting in terms of working out.
The rest of life...not so much...
Friday, February 5, 2010
Sign #34 2010 Is Better Than 2009
If you followed us over from Inspiration Stardust Dreams, you'll remember that my running times and my attempt to drop them was a large source of frustration for me.
For those of you who are new ... I ran and ran last year and just couldn't seem to get faster. From April through early August, my times WOULD NOT DROP. My first serious year of running (2007), I was slowly able to work my way down to an 8:30/mi pace. It was awesome. I was keeping that consistently too.
2009? Couldn't crack freaking 10:00 until mid-August. When I FINALLY did, it lasted for about a month and then oops, went back up.
2010? It's February 5th and I've already cracked 10:00/mi. Today: 1.86 mi in 18:18 for a 9:50.32/mi pace. Oh yeah.
I know why, too. It's because I'm putting in more miles. It's because I'm putting in LONGER runs. Last year, most of the runs during that time were 1.04, 1.36 miles, with a couple longer ones, but they were far and few between (and mostly races). This year, I'm refusing to do that stupid 1.36 loop and am making myself do one run of at least three miles a week. I've also found a new 4.12 mile loop that I love so much.
I wouldn't have even thought of doing runs beyond the 5K even three years ago when I first started. Now, I have aims of races of 5mi, 10K and a half-marathon for this year.
Pretty awesome, I know. :)
For those of you who are new ... I ran and ran last year and just couldn't seem to get faster. From April through early August, my times WOULD NOT DROP. My first serious year of running (2007), I was slowly able to work my way down to an 8:30/mi pace. It was awesome. I was keeping that consistently too.
2009? Couldn't crack freaking 10:00 until mid-August. When I FINALLY did, it lasted for about a month and then oops, went back up.
2010? It's February 5th and I've already cracked 10:00/mi. Today: 1.86 mi in 18:18 for a 9:50.32/mi pace. Oh yeah.
I know why, too. It's because I'm putting in more miles. It's because I'm putting in LONGER runs. Last year, most of the runs during that time were 1.04, 1.36 miles, with a couple longer ones, but they were far and few between (and mostly races). This year, I'm refusing to do that stupid 1.36 loop and am making myself do one run of at least three miles a week. I've also found a new 4.12 mile loop that I love so much.
I wouldn't have even thought of doing runs beyond the 5K even three years ago when I first started. Now, I have aims of races of 5mi, 10K and a half-marathon for this year.
Pretty awesome, I know. :)
Monday, February 1, 2010
January Round-Up
Well, we've hit the end of the first month here at Team Baby Dinosaur (and I still need to make us a logo. oops) so it's time for my month in review!
January didn't start off so well. First couple days were taken off thanks to one hell of a killer workout on December 31st. After that though, I got into a fairly nice groove. Arguably my best week was week three - I had my highest week of run mileage ever (a little over 8!), a couple swims, a tough stationary bike workout ... and probably the least amount of sleep all month.
As a result, it comes as no surprise that this past week, January's last, was spent mostly sleeping. No, seriously. Slept like 14 hours on Monday, a good 10 or 11 on Tuesday and nine on Wednesday. You could say I needed it. It was good to get in a week of tough workouts and long runs ... but it does me no good if I do it on no sleep. Lesson learned, I suppose.
I finally got back on the training wagon on Thursday, going for a cold, shortish (1.86 mi) run, then for a longer run in probably one of the funnest outfits I've ever gone running in. Because really, what's the point of training if you can't have some fun?
Yes, I was a bright eye-sore, but I felt HAPPY and FUN running in this.
Finished the month up with a swim and a stationary bike yesterday and that brings us to our monthly totals:
Running: 23.17 miles
Swimming: 3.98 miles (6400m)
Cycling: 34.2 miles (four sessions on the stationary bike)
Lifting: two official sessions; one unofficial session
Other: one partial day of skiing
All in all, not too bad. That's the most I've ever run in a month and close to the most I've ever swam in a month. Cycling needs to be more. However, it's been too cold for me to want to get on my actual bike (though it's going in for a tune-up later today) and the stationary bike just sucks. However, I do need to get in more lifting as well as some workouts not related to triathlon. Brandon got in a yoga session this month; I'd like to get in more skating/hockey.
In any case, it's been a good, fun starter month and I look forward to what February will bring!
January didn't start off so well. First couple days were taken off thanks to one hell of a killer workout on December 31st. After that though, I got into a fairly nice groove. Arguably my best week was week three - I had my highest week of run mileage ever (a little over 8!), a couple swims, a tough stationary bike workout ... and probably the least amount of sleep all month.
As a result, it comes as no surprise that this past week, January's last, was spent mostly sleeping. No, seriously. Slept like 14 hours on Monday, a good 10 or 11 on Tuesday and nine on Wednesday. You could say I needed it. It was good to get in a week of tough workouts and long runs ... but it does me no good if I do it on no sleep. Lesson learned, I suppose.
I finally got back on the training wagon on Thursday, going for a cold, shortish (1.86 mi) run, then for a longer run in probably one of the funnest outfits I've ever gone running in. Because really, what's the point of training if you can't have some fun?
Yes, I was a bright eye-sore, but I felt HAPPY and FUN running in this.
Finished the month up with a swim and a stationary bike yesterday and that brings us to our monthly totals:
Running: 23.17 miles
Swimming: 3.98 miles (6400m)
Cycling: 34.2 miles (four sessions on the stationary bike)
Lifting: two official sessions; one unofficial session
Other: one partial day of skiing
All in all, not too bad. That's the most I've ever run in a month and close to the most I've ever swam in a month. Cycling needs to be more. However, it's been too cold for me to want to get on my actual bike (though it's going in for a tune-up later today) and the stationary bike just sucks. However, I do need to get in more lifting as well as some workouts not related to triathlon. Brandon got in a yoga session this month; I'd like to get in more skating/hockey.
In any case, it's been a good, fun starter month and I look forward to what February will bring!
One Month Review
Graduation day!
Ok, yesterday was officially graduation day, as we reached the end of January. I don't think I need to tell you that 2010's January went much better than 2009's January. In addition to having a weekly exercise schedule via whiteboard, we've both learned a lot about ourselves. For me, the most important thing I took away from January is my ability far exceeds what I thought it did. I am capable of so much. It's just a matter of breaking down those mental blocks.
Soooo...let's get to the totals, shall we?
- Ran 8 times for a total distance of 22.56 miles. Average pace of 10:46.9 per mile
- Swam 8 times for a total distance of 4.04 miles. Average pace of 36:42.33 per mile
- Stationary biked 3 times for 21.1 miles
- Lifted 3 times
- Treadmill sprinted twice
- Skied once
- Did hot yoga once
Overall, this was a very positive month. I took away a lot of good things from it. My running mileage was very impressive, as was my swimming mileage. I did good with trying out hot yoga and the fact I was able to stationary bike at all is awesome. Things I need to improve on for February and beyond include lifting more. Lifting 3 times in a month is unacceptable. I also want to treadmill sprint a little bit more and really need to get out on my bike.
Ok, so now that we're one month done, let's look now at what's upcoming for February:
- the theme for the month is growth. Time to grow both mentally and physically. This means increasing our distance in both running and swimming, as well as lifting more
- I want to run 8 miles a week, one of the runs being 4+ miles
- I want to swim 1000 meters twice a week or more
- I'd like to do a bike workout twice a week...either stationary or my actual bike. Also, up the times that I am on said equipment
- LIFT MORE!!!!!
- Try to do some more yoga
We had a great January, looking forward to a great February! Happy training, athletes!
Ok, yesterday was officially graduation day, as we reached the end of January. I don't think I need to tell you that 2010's January went much better than 2009's January. In addition to having a weekly exercise schedule via whiteboard, we've both learned a lot about ourselves. For me, the most important thing I took away from January is my ability far exceeds what I thought it did. I am capable of so much. It's just a matter of breaking down those mental blocks.
Soooo...let's get to the totals, shall we?
- Ran 8 times for a total distance of 22.56 miles. Average pace of 10:46.9 per mile
- Swam 8 times for a total distance of 4.04 miles. Average pace of 36:42.33 per mile
- Stationary biked 3 times for 21.1 miles
- Lifted 3 times
- Treadmill sprinted twice
- Skied once
- Did hot yoga once
Overall, this was a very positive month. I took away a lot of good things from it. My running mileage was very impressive, as was my swimming mileage. I did good with trying out hot yoga and the fact I was able to stationary bike at all is awesome. Things I need to improve on for February and beyond include lifting more. Lifting 3 times in a month is unacceptable. I also want to treadmill sprint a little bit more and really need to get out on my bike.
Ok, so now that we're one month done, let's look now at what's upcoming for February:
- the theme for the month is growth. Time to grow both mentally and physically. This means increasing our distance in both running and swimming, as well as lifting more
- I want to run 8 miles a week, one of the runs being 4+ miles
- I want to swim 1000 meters twice a week or more
- I'd like to do a bike workout twice a week...either stationary or my actual bike. Also, up the times that I am on said equipment
- LIFT MORE!!!!!
- Try to do some more yoga
We had a great January, looking forward to a great February! Happy training, athletes!
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