Rosy and Grey

Time Travel

2011-11-06T20:46:00.004-05:00

I've traveled in time...at least in terms of this blog. Last post was pre-first born...over three years ago. Lots of changes: a financial system melt down (which honestly is that that great when you and your wife both work for different banks), survived a financial system melt down, got to be relocated back to DC from RVA, had a kid and worked a fair amount and basically forgot how to work out.

With a new child on the way (t-minus a few weeks or so), I'm kicking this blog back up. I'll think that I'll write about a few things:

1. How I deal with child number two in a busy working family.

2. Getting back into shape: I got shut out of the NYC marathon for the past three year, so next year I'm in like flynn.

3. Planning a renovation or expansion of our house for the growing family.

4. Where to eat with kids in my general neck of the woods.

Let's see how well I do - my history on this stuff not exactly stellar.

Photos from Recent Events

2008-07-13T19:00:00.004-04:00

Below you will find some photos from my recent races and a photo of me in my new DC United Jersey with the VW logo standing in front of a stroller my parents purchased for the upcoming family addition:

DC United Jersey and phil and ted's sport stroller:

Finishing the "I love the Tavern" Triathlon

James River Splash

Finishing James River Splash

6th out of the water at I Love the Tavern - number 7 right behind...

Getting on Bike at ILT - number 18 of of the water passing me...

Great color co-ordination at ILT

Long Awaited Update

2008-07-06T13:45:00.003-04:00

My life is nothing but exciting, so here are a few updates since my last post (almost three months ago):

1. I did an open water swim on June 14th: James River Splash, which was part of an event called "The James River Games" that featured such events as the Xterra Triathlon East Coast Championship, an off road 10k, mountain biking and wake boarding. I finished 10th overall, 4th in the men and 1st in my age group. Not bad for no real training....with Dara Torres making the Olympics, perhaps I should shoot for a come back in time for 2012? Maybe Open water swimming?? I think that I might tri and start maybe some masters swimming?

The same day I flew to Atlanta for BPH's graduation from Chef School. Pretty cool, I cannot wait till he opens his own place, so I can get all the free beer I need, err I mean eat some really great food.

2. My competitions also included a triathlon - the second annual I Love the Tavern Triathlon. I did this same event last year in the lead up to the Musselman Half Iron, in which I was training quite a bit. My training this year was ok until the ING Georgia Marathon (i.e. I ran just enough to finish a marathon), after which I really did not do too much - a few swims here and there, a few sessions on the bike trainer at home and some running, not more than 5 miles at a pop. In any event, I went about 4 minutes and 30 seconds faster (even though my T1 and T2 were much slower). Perhaps I've discovered a new training method? I am pretty sure that my about 4 minute improvement on the bike is to blame, but I would like to think that it was my heroic beer drinking that did it.With that said - the P2C is great - a huge improvement over my last bike - very smooth and pretty comfortable.

I finished 1st in my age group on the swim, which is always fun. Everyone (basically) had a better T1 than me - I do not have a water bottle attachment for the bike yet or anything to put my tubes and co2 in, so I was spent time stuffing all of that stuff into my tri top. Folks were passing me on the bike, but not as many as usual, so I was pretty pleased with my time and the bike. My run was ok, i passed a few people, I was passed by a few people - i need to run more basically. My attitude was pretty great after improving over last year, so was pretty pumped to find additional races this summer, but the baby training might get in the way.

3. I attended something called Boot Camp for New Dads, which is a training class for Dads to be in which "Veterans" bring their kid to introduce the "Rookies" (me) to what life is like with a newborn. You can hold an infant, see a diaper change (actually change one if you REALLY want), and learn coping strategies for when the child will not stop crying. An interesting class - one of the kids was seven months old and (i kid you not) was 30 pounds. I think that perhaps the parents must be force feeding that kid, because he was H-U-G-E. A few good tips were picked up and I got a new T-shirt, so it was three hours well spent.

P2C Photo and More

2008-04-20T18:12:00.006-04:00

After a few week delay - below is a photo of my new P2C. As you can see this bike is the DuraAce set up. Waaaaay back in January, I had ordered the Ulterga set up. After waiting over two months, I get the call that the bike is finally in and roll down to my dealer to finally pick it up...and Ben the bike guy rolls out this Red and White Dura-Ace frame, to my dismay. After pointing out that my order was for a Ultegra set up and frame (sweet looking black and silver), the bike guy checks his notes (i reminded him that we discussed at "my level" - i.e. slow, the difference in price between the two set ups was not worth it.) and says - "yep, I have you down for the Ultegra, but I ordered the Dura-Ace...looks like I can get an Ultegra in a couple of months." The look of dismay on my face must have moved the bike guy and he offered to give me the DuraAce setup for a discount off the retail price. Clearly, I bought the bike and it is now sitting in one of my indoor trainers. You'll see that the front fork is red, which is some sort of unannounced upgrade (downgrade?) but is supposed to be pretty light weight. The bike feels great on the trainer and having real aero bars is a nice upgrade from the snap-ons on my fugi.

My recovery from the ING Georgia Marathon is finally over. The first week I was hobbling around until I got a sports massage, which made me feel a world better. My first run was one week after the marathon in a hotel workout room in Orange County, CA. When the speed got over 6 mps, my Achilles tendon started to kill, so my recover got an additional week added to it. This week has been fine with 3 runs including some "speed work" today. Next on the schedule is to start getting back into the water so I can remember how to swim...

ING Georgia Marathon 2008. A tale of two cities.

2008-04-05T22:12:00.012-04:00

I ran the ING Georgia Marathon last weekend (March 29, 2008). It feels pretty great to actually have run a marathon. Pretty damn good actually. Let's dive into some details:

1. Some time ago, say about 10ish years ago, I made a bet with my older brother ("MDH") that when I ran my first marathon I would "crush" his best time. I may have said this after a couple of beers, but I was very much feeling my oats as an ex-college swimmer. At that point in life, I was sure that my athletic accomplishments and dedication to training would ALWAYS be stronger than MDH's. I had just spent about 8 years of my life swimming six days a week for about three hours a day. MDH, granted, had done some good things - nice undergrad grades (4.0 ish), got in to a nice top MBA program (MIT) and he may have been a better basketball player than me, but he had never swam a mile in under 15 minutes and 50 seconds. So, there was no way that he would ever be able to actually do better than me in a real athletic event. We might have been on the T in Boston - details are fuzzy but I like to think that we were on the T - and said something to the effect that "I bet a case of beer that the first time I run a marathon, I will beat your best time - a case of the good stuff- Sam Adams!" (note: actual conversation may have taken place in a different location and involved a different beer).

"A Brewer and a Patriot"

Well, ten years later - it turns out that this was a bad bet. Ten years of working has taught me many things (list to be included in a future post), but one thing is for certain - MDH is a better Marathoner than me. He has qualified for Boston. MDH finished an Ironman in less than 12 hours. MDH has run about 20 marathons. I, well I just barely beat Oprah in my first attempt. So, MDH and KSH will be getting a case of Sam Adams beer. Here's hoping that it helps with the transition from city living to the suburbs!

2. My time was 4 hours and 21 minutes. The run was a tale of two cities, or two halves. The forecast was actually pretty good compared to the initial running of the peach - last year was super hot (record high?), this year was cool and cloudy with rain in the forecast. The rain ended a few hours before kick off, so no issue.

A few weeks prior to the race, during my last 2o mile run, I rolled my ankle, which limited the training for the last few weeks, so I was actually not that excited about the run when MMH (w/ peanut!) and I flew down to the ATL. In fact, I was considering switching to the half marathon. However when I got down to the GA Dome for the Expo, I figured that I would simply stop at mile 14 at my parent's house if my ankle was hurting too much. So after my dad dropped me off at Centennial Olympic Park at 6:15 in the AM, I guessed I was ready to go.

It was dark, cold and a little strange in downtown ATL - the damage to the park and broken windows on some of the highrises from the recent tornado was almost unreal to see. I lined up with the 3 hour and 50 minute pace group. I wanted to break four hours and I thought that my training runs had been pointing to around this finish time. At a bit after 7 am we were off. It was pretty crowded in the corrals and I was not as skilled at pushing through the crowd as the pace leaders, so I was a fair amount behind the pacers when I crossed the start pad. I eventually caught up and stayed about 10 feet back. Nice run through GA State, looping around the King Center, up to Little Five Points. I was feeling pretty good keeping pace and in little five points, I dropped my long sleeved shirt with my parents and declined to pick up a Gatorade from MAH for the first time. We then proceeded a bit toward the Carter Center and the half marathon people turned toward home while the marathoners turned toward the unknown, I mean Decatur. We continued up a nice hill next to the Candler Park Golf Course (where I think shoes are optional). We then ran toward Ponce De Leon.

At this point, I was up with the pace group and a few things happened. One girl in the pace group fell a couple of times (the course was wet at this point) and I started talking to one guy running along who pointed out that the pacers had run the last two miles 30 seconds a mile too fast. So as we ran up a really long hill from Clifton and Ponce to a Marta stop, I backed off a few second a mile. The course finally flattened out a little after we reached the Marta stop and ran down College ST (ave?) and had a really quick jog in Agnes Scott College (ASC), which had a water stop staffed by the students.

The girls at ASC were cheering really loud and made me feel a bit like a local celebrity walking (running) the red carpet. In fact, I would say that ASC won my vote for best cheering on the course and crushed the college competition - GA State - No student support (it was 7am in GAS's defense), Emory - NO STUDENT SUPPORT (hugely disappointing - were they on spring break?), GA Tech - comes in second with decent support, but honestly nothing like the roars coming from the ASC students.

After ASC we turned toward downtown Decatur. Decatur went all out to win the cheering award - bunches of signs which said something like "Decatur is a great place to live, but not sure that we would run a marathon!" The run through downtown Decatur is pretty neat - good crowd support and views of post marathon beer options. The halfway point is located here - I crossed the mat in 1:53:07. That was only 3 minutes and 8 seconds slower than my run of the half last year! This is was a pace of about 8:37 - right about on pace for a 3:50 finish and looking good for for a sub four hour run. MMH and my parents were there and took some really great photos. I turned down Gatorade from MAH (again).

So the second half of the run starts down Clairmont, right by my parents' house. I was feeling pretty good at this point, so no thought of stopping really passed my mind...plus last year about 97% of the starters finished and no way I was going to be in that 3%!. So I kept on trucking. Ran down to North Decatur Road and turned right toward Emory. We did this little turn into a local street for like 150 yards and then we turned into Emory. Now Emory's campus is not bad looking (it seems a little sterile to me), but having absolutely NO students out cheering was a big let down after the ASC students really got you motivated. The run continued through the campus and dumped out at Everybody's Pizza, my brother's old place of employment. Good pizza and good beer. I was thinking that beer would soon be coursing through my body as I still felt pretty good. Then the race turned to to Druid Hills....which proved to be pretty tough mentally and physically.

My parents lived on Oakdale Rd for a few years and I never really thought that it was all that hilly back in the Druid Hills...I was clearly wrong. You go up Lullwater, past the "Driving Miss Daisy" house and past the H's (not my H!) house who host a really great Christmas eve party each year. Then you run UP Ponce, then a downhill on Oakdale...where it felt like someone shot me in my left knee. Right about in front of my parent's old house on Oakdale I let out an audible yelp and spent a minute stretching at the 18 mile sign. You then run up another hill and then up another street and then up the by-way...lots of mind numbing hills.

You eventually turn down St. Charles street at which point I must have been looking bad because a few people passing me gave me the old pat on the back and "come on almost home!" yell. It worked a bit so I said - I'll hook up with the 4 hour pace group and tough it out for the last 6 miles with them....they went flying by me a few minutes later. At this point my knee was like "hey dude, let's stop." I suggested that we try some "walk- run combo as you don't really hurt when we walk."

I ran and walked through Virginia Highlands, Piedmont Park and Midtown. In Midtown, I going slow and started to feel cold, so I had to put my hat back on. Evidently I missed MMH, how rude and how rude's better half at 23 screaming at me...i was focused on trying to get to the finish, not signing autographs at that point. We eventually made it to GA Tech's campus, ran by the stadium and...hit more hills.

In general the race was really scenic, expect for mile 25, which was downright ugly. I think we passed a "gentleman's club" on mile 25. This area was basically somewhat "industrial" and seemed to have a couple of car decks. The finish line eventually came up, but the last area was this really weird maze like area where you had to go around a bunch of 90 degree turns. I heard that the finish was like this because of some tornado damage, so it seems hard to argue, but hopefully next year it will be different.

The race ended:

My mental state wasn't too bad - I wasn't as physically tired as expected but my knee hurt a bunch and I really didn't feel like going too much further. My guess is that since my knee didn't want to co-operate I saved some energy by walking. Also I consumed Hammer Gels every 45 minutes and got water or Gatorade at every hydration station. MMH, my parents and MAH were at the finish line...but had taken the Marta down, so we had to walk (hobble) over to the Marta for the ride back to Decatur.

Not hitting a goal time was somewhat disappointing, but actually finishing the marathon was pretty cool. I hopefully break the four hour mark next race, but I'll be focusing on some Triathlons this summer (i.e. no more three hour runs for a couple of months!):

Weekend of April 12 - A triathlon of visiting SF, wine country and Alcatraz. This is going to be tough as I really haven't trained.

June 14th - James River Splash One Mile open water swim....first half against the current. I won my age group* last year. (*only one person in my age group last year).

June 29th - I love the Tavern Triathlon - Swim, Bike and Run by and In the James River at Robious Park.

July 13 -Montclair Triathlon - International Distance Tri south of DC.

P2C!!!

2008-03-23T17:48:00.003-04:00

I finally got my Cervelo P2C!! Placed order on January 26th and I finally got it on March 22. I went to the bike shop (3sports - they are great by the way) and walked in and Ben pulled out the bike. Now I'm expecting the Ultera set up, which comes in black and sliver, and the bike which comes out is Red and White (with red front fork). I' m thinking - "did they start shipping the set-up I wanted on the red and white frame?" Nope - the bike is set up with the Dura Ace components. After some thought and a little back and forth, I ended up taking the Dura Ace bike (the Ultegra was going to take at least one additional month). It looks great and feels pretty smooth. MMH notes that my back is much flatter on the P2C vs my tri-setup on the Fugi.

I won't get any real time on the bike til the week after next - the ING Georgia Marathon in next weekend. I rolled my ankle three weeks ago and missed a 20 mile run (rolled it basically on mile 5). My ankle is still sore...sort of like a dull sore if I don't run and a more sharp pain after running. Hopefully this week will see some additional improvements...

It is nice to know that I am easily amused

2008-02-25T21:33:00.002-05:00

What's more important? The fact that i'm on the moon or that I have three hands?

Perhaps you might find the fact that I am trying to grad the Eiffel Tower more important:

I suppose that the most important thing is that I am still easily amused...thank goodness for our new MacBook and Photobooth!

After two hours...i figured out i am getting lazy.

2008-02-24T17:27:00.006-05:00

Work this week was slow - early flight on Monday to Boston and then the rest of the week was pretty light...which was nice as I was able to get a get all my workouts done. Saturday was scheduled for a 16 mile run. However, since I missed a few workouts the previous week, I was aimed for a few extra miles on the run. I ended up with almost 18 miles. Not really that bad. I did learn that my fuel belt does not carry enough water / Gatorade for 18 miles and that eating chex mix is hard while running.

After about the 2 hours and 30 minute mark, I started to think "why the heck I am doing this? It is cold, my feet are wet, i am hungry and thirsty." Having no good answer, I continued on and finished, got home has some pita pizza and took my traditional post workout nap. When I awoke I thought- I must finally be getting old, or just lazy as I remembered my workouts from when I was young. During the high school swimming season I trained 27 hours a week. During college i trained about 20 hours a week. Now I am lucky to get 8!!! Appears that I need to work on my mental strength if I worry about finishing after only 2.5 hours!

Amazing Grace

2008-02-17T10:32:00.007-05:00

Working for a large (read: huge) company: dangerous to your health - because the travel hits into your workouts.

This week was not that fun and cut into my training:

-Monday: flight to LGA at 6am, back to RIC at 1:30am.

-Tuesday: Work late.

- Wednesday: work then fly to DEN (via CLT) and arrive around 2am (EST).

- Thursday: meeting in the AM and then back to RIC via CLT, get home at midnight.

- Friday - early meeting and tons of work

As it turns out, working out can be dangerous to your health as well:

- I had a long run scheduled for saturday am. The weather was brillantly sunny and about 45 degrees (in other words, perfect) when I left the red house to start off. I'm running along, down Monument Ave, feeling pretty good - the ipod is rocking and I believe that the birds might have been singing as well. In any event, I get to Monroe Park at VCU and have to cross my first major street - Belvidere. So I'm running along and the light turns from Red to Green (in my favor), the "walk" symbol comes up so I start to run across the street and then a red station wagon comes out of nowhere (well it was behind me on Franklin Street turning right on to Belvidere) and misses running me over by about 6 inches. I actually reached out and slapped the car as i jumped back and screamed "WHAT THE (h-e double hockey sticks)!!! I'm glad that it was me crossing the street not someone pushing a stroller or something!

Note: these things can be dangerous !!!

As it turns out almost getting killed while running really gets you ready to run fast - I would guess that my next mile was about 7 minutes. So, there I am running along thinking "wow, I'm lucky to be alive" when THE RED STATION WAGON PULLS UP BESIDE ME!!! The lady driving the car actually turned around to chase me down to APOLOGIZE! Wow. I think that I would have been too embarrased if i almost killed someone to apologize. Now this was strange, but nice. I gave the lady a quick "don't worry about it" and kept running along toward the capitol building. The rest of the 2 hours and 1o minutes was pretty uneventful, albeit somewhat muddy in the James River Park portion of the run. So when I got home I found some realy nice salt encrusted mud on my face.

ROCK CITY USA

2008-02-02T16:26:00.000-05:00

For work this week (ok this entry is a week old...), I was scheduled for a trip to ROCKCITY USA (aka Detroit) on Tuesday and the a trip to the Windy City (aka Chicago) on Wednesday AM.

Sounded like fun on the surface and started out well with a quick (albeit bumpy) flight directly to Rock City USA. I stepped off the plane and thought: "wow - nice airport...i figured that Detroit had basically disintegrated into nothing at this point...i'm impressed"

I meandered over to the rental car counter and got my car. As I pulled onto the highway I noted that:

a. Detroit's roads are still paved (vs. my assumption that the roads had disintegrated to all dirt roads at this point)!

b. 89% of the cars were American made (i wondered where they all were!)

Note: Saw plenty of t-shirts like this in Michigan

Note: Typical car in Detriot - remininscent of old Havana!

After a typical day of working away, I dropped a co-worker at the Airport and went to find my hotel: The Detroit Airport Marriott. As I, the one who stays at the Waldorf=Astoria when in the "City" (either that or the Holiday Inn Express on 29th and 7th!), checked out the DAirMar I was struck by a couple of things:

a. There is a Westin ACTUALLY IN THE AIRPORT. Why did travel put me off site??

b. The workout room at DAirMar is pretty poor. I labored down to get a quick run on the treadmill in and was stuck watching TV to pass the time, because I forgot one of the most important pieces of workout equipment: my IPOD. While running (8 minute miles) I was watching a "hidden camera" show. Why is it that "hidden camera" shows now all appear to take place in Europe? Americans must be too saavy to get caught in a hidden camera gig such as: having a fake policement give you a ticket WHILE NOT WEARING ANY PANTS (ie - tighty whitey briefs only)? Would American's simply say "Where's the camera dude?" and ruin all the fun???

So, I ordered some room service (review: too hot and crappy for my sophisicated Waldorf taste, so hot and crappy that in my rush to consume a portion of the veggies, i burned the top of my mouth) and went to bed, after setting the alarm for 5:53 (3 is my lucky number).

At 6:15 my wake up call came (had pre-arranged the night before). Crap, I'm late...rush....rush....rush...to run outside and find out that the earth had finally spun out of orbit from the sun, or at least it felt like it because it was what cold experts call "damn" cold. So cold that your feet hurt. The trusty american rental car was frozen shut and ice was on the inside of the windows, no ice scrapper, of course. A scary drive to the rental car return (forgot to get gas) and I rush into the airport and rush over to the gate....to wait...and wait...and then get up to start getting on the flight to Chicago...and then be told to sit down...and wait...and wait...and wait...and then be told that the flight was canceled. I being mr. works for a big firm and have american express travel services said to myself: look at the poor suckers running back to the ticket counters outside of security, I will call american express and have them simply rebook me on the next flight, only to be told by american express travel to go back to the ticket counter. Great, that means I would be last in line for the limited seats on the next flight. So I went back to the ticket counter (outside security).

Some times you think, "wow, life is good" and other times you think "WOW LIFE IS AMAZING." The two people behind me in line had been on "Deal or No Deal" and they told everyone who would listen about it for the entire 70 minute wait in line. Here is how the conversation went:

Guy on Deal or No Deal (GDND): "I was on Deal or No Deal!!! It was crazy man, they got us all hopped up on Red Bull prior to going on the show!!!"

Random Person in Line: "That's AMAZING!!!"

GDND: "Man it was CRAZY!!!!!!!, They loved me!!!! You could play video games prior to going on camera!!!!!!"

Random: "That's AMAZING!!!!".

In any event, I eventually got to the ticket counter...and booked a different flight home at 9pm and spent all day in the NWA lounge on conference calls.

Feeling Bad and Looking Cool

2008-01-27T18:23:00.000-05:00

This weekend started out not so great. Had to work late on Friday (my comment to a friend on email was "i am getting crushed, but I don't know why because the market sucks").

In any event, I had a long run scheduled for this weekend and woke up to 35 degrees to accompany me during my run. So I got suited up and started to run and after about 15 minutes, I realized that I felt like Krap (yes with a capital K). Running by the state capitol did not help my mental or physical well being:

Note: Virginia State Capitol. Designed by Thomas Jefferson. Me running by in pain wasn't likely on his mind when finalizing the design.

After a painful couple of hours (and quick tour of Rocketts Landing) I finally returned home. Well, after a long shower in hopes of making me feel better (no luck), I finally broke down and went to 3sports and got measured for a new bike. Yep, I stepped up and bought a Cervelo P2C. Not quite the same bike which won Kona this past year, but same exact frame. I figure at least I'll look good when people fly by me on the bike legs in Triathlons. Here is a photo of the new toy. Yes, I think it is worth more than my car (note: my car is like 10 years old, but still...)!

Note: I asked that Cervelo customize the bike with DC United colors and logo and this was the best they could do!

In any event, the bike should be here in about two - three weeks...I hope.

Training Update

2008-01-21T12:43:00.000-05:00

Training HAS RESTARTED!!!

After finishing the musselman last summer, I toned down the training regimen - only a few workouts a week with nothing really too punishing. Turns out that I really need something to aim for or else the motivation meter is lacking. In any event, I joined the "flabfest" at work. The "flabfest" is a contest among certain co-workers to test overall fitness. I figured with my on-going training, i would blow the others out of the water.

To make things fair, I run in flip flops in certain triathlons.

The events are as follows and each event is 100 points max:

1. About a three mile run from Riverfront Plaza, around Belle Island and back.
Time for 100 points is 24 minutes. This is a somewhat challenging run with hills, bridges and trails.
2. Pull ups - 10 equals 100 points.
3. Max pushups in 2 minutes. I think max is 60 for 100 points.
4. Situps - 80 in 2 minutes is 100 points.
5. Weight loss - 10% is 100 points.

We started the contest around mid October - the first check in was December 13th - the final check in is Fat Tuesday.

At the first check in - I fared somewhat poorly:
1. Three mile run - 24:30 and I was winded. Luckily I beat the competition by about 2 minutes.
2. Pull ups. I am not sure that I should actually publicly say this, but I only did 4 pull ups. Quite sad.
3. Push ups. I think that I did like 42.
4. Situps. I recall 70.
5. Weight loss - 1/2 pound. Now when i was training for the half, I only lost like 9 pounds. This could be an issue.

Overall I ended up in second place. However, I had only really started to get kicked back into gear for training. I signed up to do the ING Georgia Marathon, which is run at the end of March to get some motivation. I did the half marathon here last year, so why not the full this year? So, I downloaded a training plan from this Internet thing (thanks Al Gore!) and last weekend was a 14 mile run. This was my longest run ever - I was not sore the next day, so I think I need to teach myself to push faster and more into the uncomfortable zone. Anyway the program builds up to a couple of 20 milers, which should be fun.

Additionally, I've started to get back spinning on the bike in front of the TV...only problem is that I broke my fluid trainer and have been using the magnetic one. I've been planning on buying a new tribike, but have had trouble getting to the bike shop to get fitted and get the order in. My tri-shop of choice is not open on Sunday or on holidays. Here is a photo of the bike I am going to buy (unless I hate the "fit"!) :

Finally, I was going to start swimming...TODAY, but I went to the "Y" and the pool was closed!!! C'est la vie?

This is what I have been up to!

2008-01-20T10:37:00.000-05:00

Yes, I'm back....and it looks like that will never be enough from some people...

SOOOO, what has changed since my last real post:
1. No Ironman...I did actually go see the Lake Placid Ironman - my brother did actually do the race - like 11:50. Here are some pretty cool shots from the day:

Lake Placid is pretty cool - snow all year round!

MTH and MMH with Mirror Lake in the background (LP ironman swim is in this really clear and calm lake)

Stud bro MDH on his Rocket Ship (aka Cervelo P2C).

MDH Starting the Run...only 26.2 miles to go.

Finishing!

2. However, I was able to do a Half Ironman...or a full musselman!

KSH and MTH prior to starting...looking so happy.

Me thinking - "I used to do a mile in under 16 minutes?!?"

Me Thinking: Time for a nice leisurely bike ride around central NY.

Me thinking - this run might be trouble.

Me thinking - where is the beer?

3. Other stuff happened:

I (we) bought a house in the Fan district in Richmond, VA. Quite a change from Alexandria...very different. I miss DC, but our house is pretty neat - about 100 years old in a neighborhood which features restaurants, bars, art galleries, museums, large parks, pocket parks and the largest University in Virginia (VCU).

We went to Ireland with SM and JR - This is from a Church in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Belfast is a very interesting place to visit...cannot wait to go back.

This is the world famous Blarney Castle...what is it that you do at Blarney?

That's Right you kiss the Blarney Stone (must have been scary before the safety grate!).

Also we drank...in this case Murphy's in the Mutton Lane Inn in Cork. This funky bar was located down a tiny side street which the sheep used to use to run through the city.

More later....

I'm back

2008-01-09T22:29:00.001-05:00

I'm baaaack. How long before ETK notices?

Training is Hard and Expensive!

2006-08-26T16:51:00.000-04:00

Needless to say, getting back into shape after an extended period of working, traveling for work, missing sleep for work, not being able to sleep because of work, sitting under the fluorescent sun for 15 hours a day is very challenging. It has had some benefits - one person at work asked if the stress was getting to me because I apparently look like I lost a little weight!

In any event, one month after my brother (in jest) challenged me to sign up for the Ironman USA Lake Placid here is where I stand:

Swimming: I finished my collegiate swimming career a little over nine years ago with a somewhat disappointing time in the mile (1650 yard swim): my time was like 16:05 or something. Evidently my swimming really just wasn't natural talent, as I now cannot believe that i actually swam any where near that time. My feel in the water is starting to return, but I still don't feel that smooth or consistent in the pool. However, I certainly do know that the swimming is by far my strongest leg of the three legs of a triathlon. The focus of my workouts have not been on swimming, but I am hitting the pool for about 3,000 meters (the indoor city pool in Alexandria is meters) a pop. Mike mentioned that I should not focus on the swimming portion of the event, but that I will need practice with open water swimming - to that end, i believe that I'll be part of a relay at "The Nation's Triathlon" and do the swimming part - 1,500 meters in the beautiful Potomac River at Washington Harbor. I believe that this swim will lead to something I have not done as part of the swimming training: spend money! I'll have to get a wetsuit, as I've heard it helps with swimming faster.

Biking: My last bike experience had to be the summer I turned sixteen. That summer I learned how to drive and left the old schwin bike to collect dust in the garage. Well we ain't in Kansas anymore. Bikes today: expensive and they don't even come with a kickstand. Based on feedback from Mike, a few co-workers and the guy at the bike shop I bought a Fuji Roubaix RC. You can see the bike here. My bike was upgraded from the "base model" with better wheels and tires -or so the guy at the bike shop said! Additionally bikes these days do not have pedals. One may ask "well then, how do you pedal?" Answer: You have to buy special shoes with cleats that will attach on to the "crank shafts". In English you are attached to the bike! This leads to some very interesting and painful learning experiences. I basically had to relearn how to bring a bike to a stop...with the old schwin I would just stop and put my foot down, with the "clipless pedals" you have to "unclip" yourself from the non pedal or else the bike falls over. My first day out I fell about 20 times and in the process got some pretty huge bruises and cuts. One cut in particular from the "teeth" of the thingee which holds the chain looked like a shark took a bit out of my lower leg - that damn thing is still not totally healed after three weeks! Regarding the non pedal-pedals, I got something called Speedplay X/5 Chrome-Moly, which can be seen here. Other items which are required for biking include bike shorts. Bike shorts are skintight shorts with a gel like pad to protect one's backside from the terrors of the bike seat. My longest bike ride so far has been to work and back (about 30 miles round trip - all up hill on the way there). Believe me when I say that I'm glad that the gel pad is in place and I might be forced to invent something more comfortable for the longer bike rides up ahead of me. One kick ass part of the biking experience is the biking jersey - these are tight shirts which are made of a fabric that helps to "wick" away sweat to keep you cool and aerodynamic. The jerseys also have pockets along the bottom in the back to keep stuff you need to grab (sunglasses, food, cell phone to call for a ride, teddy bear to keep you company on long rides, etc). Jerseys as also know for interesting and cool designs and motifs. At the bike shop where I purchased the bike shorts, i had the option of two Jersey types in my size southpark or The Beast from Avery Brewery. I'll let you guess which one I went with!! The OTHER neat thing about biking is the socks - I've just received six new pairs which i bought off of Amazon. The socks were a good price, so I was not expecting anything very interesting...however the six pairs included one which states "Canada Kicks Ass!" and a second one with the catchy slogan of "PBR me ASAP". I can relate to that - a beer is what I need after getting off the bike!!

Regarding the training on the bike - this is so far my weakest leg. I do not recall that biking was really that difficult back in my schwin days. I have a lot of wood to chop as far as the biking goes. On an upside, a gentleman at work is doing an Ironman in Florida this fall, so I am going out to ride with him in a few weeks on one of his "easy" two hour rides. Hopefully he'll give me some pointers on how to actually ride the darn thing!

Running:
Ahhh running. What can I say about running. Let me begin with a short story about running and me. Let me take you back to winter 1998. I had been working at an investment bank for about 8 months by the time the winter holidays rolled around. The first couple of years at an investment bank are pretty rough - lots of late nights and weekends spent in the office basically not really doing all that much, but waiting around for other people to figure out what they want to do - sort of a rite of passage in the industry. The firm (really your clients) provide you will three square meals if you are at the office 24 hours a day. This is great as you don't ever spend money on food, the down side if that you end up eating crap all of time. I think that I gained like 40 pounds in eight months. In any event, my parents lived in Atlanta, GA so I had to fly down there to visit. This was before all of the security concerns, so my brother (mike) was waiting at the end of the jet way to drive me to the parental units house. As I waddled (yes waddled) off the plane my brother looked at me in surprise and said "WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?!?!?!". I started running right after that. Through non eating (well, no fries, no mayo, light beer, no fried food and no snacks) and running I lost like 45 pounds over the next few months. Note: I don't think that's really healthy, so I don't really recommend that to anyone. I've been running on and off since then. I think my longest run was like maybe 10 miles at one time, but I'm getting back into the flow. Coach Mike is pushing for a marathon this fall / winter. I'm looking into it now, so perhaps that's a halfway goal for the ironman.

One month down, Eleven to go!!!!

The Weird Cheese

2006-08-15T23:09:00.001-04:00

Well, I've lost my old blog. However, that's not generally a problem in the land of Free Blogs! Welcome to the New Rosy and Grey! Not only do you get a new site, but you'll get to follow along in my lastest adventure: the Ironman Triathlon. Why did I sign up for this crazy? Painful? idea? Why do we do anything folks? That's right:bpeer pressure. My older brother - Let's call him "Mr. Jealous that my Younger Brother Generally Kicked My Ass In All Things Athletic" (mr. JTMYBGKMAIATA for short) - did the musselman half iron man with his soon to be wife a few weeks ago and evdently got "the bug". So he called me up to basically brag that he was signing up for an ironman and said: "why don't you sign up?". So I did.

The Weird Cheese

2006-08-15T23:09:00.000-04:00