Rock Star Tri: My journey back to Iron

The trash can incident.

2013-05-18T13:44:00.000-04:00

One of my garbage cans broke. I found it split down the side. I am blaming it on raccoons since I think they try to knock the cans over and hop on them to get to the feast (at least from a raccoon perspective) inside. The net of this incident was that I needed to buy a new can.

I didn't think that buying a can would be an issue but was more concerned with how to throw out a garbage can. People were recommending to leave a note on it, to put it in the back of the car and find a dumpster to dump it in or to just tip our garbage men to take it away. The problem is that we are the first stop for our garbage men in the morning and that means that they often are at our house before 5am so talking to them (or tipping them) would be a challenge. Our garbage men are good and take almost everything in the almost 20 years we've lived in this house.

While thinking of my approach on broken can disposal, I went to the local Lowe's where they had quite a selection of new cans. I chose a nice wheeled can that had a rather solid cover (to frustrate those pesky critters to the point where they'll go somewhere else for midnight snacks). I got two of the larger cans to minimize the schlepping. I've had an issue in the past where we've "lost" the top of the cans so I got some spray paint and painted our address on the cans.

The other morning I needed to go to work early so was leaving the house about quarter to five and heard the garbage truck. I grabbed the broken can and walked down to the street to give it to them. I said good morning and they said that there was a problem with the new cans. They were too big per the guys. They said that the town passed a law a while back that said the maximum size can be 32 gallons. Our old cans were bigger than that but they said they were grandfathered in so they kept taking the garbage. They said that they wouldn't take the garbage in the new 45 gallon cans. I mentioned that facts like this would have been nice to know BEFORE I brought new cans and asked why would the store sell cans that couldn't be used? They, of course, couldn't answer that. They did take the broken can.

I mentioned before that these guys have been great over the years. I checked the town code and it does say 32 gallons or 50 lbs. max. I can't return the cans because my address is spray painted in them. I can understand the rationale if some people loaded up these cans to the brim they could be extremely heavy and that isn't really fair to the guys who have to lift them. I'm not blaming the guys. I'm blaming mysef a little but I'm more upset at the store for not simply putting a sign up with the regulations.

Now I have 2 new cans that I can't use, have to buy 2 new ones and do this all again. $80 down the drain. An expensive lesson. I'm sure I won't be the only one learning this lesson though.

Do you throw out new unusable garbage cans?

Not doing and doing stuff.

2013-05-15T14:53:00.003-04:00

I took off Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from work this week. I did not go away. I did not have a race-cation. I did not go looking at colleges for my daughter. I took off simply to help improve my mindset. I tried to avoid work as much as possible and I set some lofty goals to sleep in, do as much or as little as I felt, and to think about my personal goals for this year and beyond related to weight loss plans and racing. I think I met those goals. Of course, every time I put on the TV it appeared that "Office Space" was on and that kept me thinking of work.

The good news about this effort is that I came to some conclusions. Most of the conclusions have to do with desire and focus. I can still have a successful year but I need to prioritize and get to work. I've decided not to cancel on IMAZ. I have a couple of other training events that will act as checkpoints to see if I'm progressing. I remembered that this stuff should be fun. We get to do it - we don't have to.

I've decided to start the C25K as "Couch" is a good description of my running fitness at this time. My fitness level will change. It will improve. I still have the chance to do great stuff or at least damn good.

Stay tuned.

Chris Christie and another fat guy.

2013-05-13T15:49:00.000-04:00

News reported last week that Gov. Chris Christie had lap band surgery last February. Dr. George Fielding of the NYU Langone Medical Center did the surgery. Since the operation it was reported that the governor has lost about 40 pounds. He has not said how much he weighed when the surgery was performed but estimates were that he was somewhere between 300 and 350 pounds.

The picture on the left was from when the he was on the Letterman show recently. I haven't seen any post surgery pictures of Gov. Christie but when I look at pictures of him from before his surgery I see someone who I consider fat. I'm sure that everyone has a different gage as to what is fat versus what is not fat but I rationalize it as someone who is much fatter than I am (at least through my eyes).

Objectively, though, I am in the same weight range as Gov. Christie. I don't think I'm as fat as he is but I guess I am. I'm not proud of this but facts are facts.

I haven't been training as much as I did in the past for a whole bunch of reasons. Am I getting fatter since I'm training less or am I training less because I'm gaining weight? I don't know. There will come a point in my life where I will not be able to train the volume that I have in the past. That point may in fact be now.

Before this news came out, I made an appointment and saw Dr. Fielding to talk about weight loss and weight loss surgery options. He is very persuasive and lays out a very well thought out rationale. One of his points is that you rarely see fat old people. Why? Because they all die before they can get old. I also know a lot of people that have successfully lost weight after a heart attack or stroke or something like that. The choice is to lose it now and avoid that potentially life ending event or not. My weight is high enough to qualify for the surgery.

I haven't decided what to do yet.

I did realize some things though. The bariatric folks are into meal replacement drinks and gave me a list of those that they recommend as healthy (you would be amazed how they differ nutritionally). I'm trying them to see if I can tolerate them by starting to have them for breakfast and will continue down the list for taste and other stuff.

Gov. Christie said that he is now working with a personal trainer 4x a week. I looked at what is preventing me from training (I know what to do) and found it is all about priority. I seem to find things (normally not significant things) that I do instead of training. There are ways to solve that problem.

I'll try this and watch what I eat. Maybe then I'll be less of a fat guy. I need to. It will be either one way or another.

Wind and cold or sausages?

2013-05-05T14:51:00.003-04:00

I haven't been following a structured training plan in a while. This fact does not bode well for my 2013 race calendar but I need it that now for my sanity and future. The net of this is that I am not training more than I am training but when I train my primary goal is to have fun rather than increase fitness or test or to generally embrace "the suck" or (you get the idea).

This morning I decided to ride with the TNT group out east. They had 3 routes on the docket: a 25 miler, a 42 miler, and a 73 miler. The team is gearing up for a century ride on June 1, just a few weeks away, and I expect to be joining them. My training is not where it needs to be but I believe I can fake it through a century. A better way to say that, though, is that I've faked a century before, survived, and didn't pay too high of a recovery price. At least that's how I remember it.

The weather yesterday was beautiful here. The high temperature was about 70 degrees and it was a perfect day. Unfortunately, the ride was today. I woke up and it was 39 degrees and the wind was whipping. My daughter's track team was volunteering at the local marathon/half marathon so I needed to leave the house anyway to drop her off. The cool weather was good for the runners but I decided to not mess with the cycling gods. I knew if I wore tights, it would get warm, so I wore shorts. I did wear a windbreaker but didn't bring full finger winter gloves.

When I met the people for the ride it seems like some of them were dressing for Shackelton's Antarctic expedition. People were looking for reasons to bail and I knew if one person bailed, there would be a stampede to the diner. I started whispering the work "sausages" while people were pumping up their tires. The wind seemed it was howling. The sky was getting darker. I decided to do the 42 miler route and see what the weather looked like and how I felt. The groups left.

We pushed the pace a little harder that was comfortable for me. I really can't complain since for a lot of the ride I was setting the pace. I kept asking, dare I say begging, for the group to drop me so I could bail and turn around to head back to the cars. They wouldn't. I said I would pay for the sausages. They still wouldn't. Dayum.

At the end of the ride it was still windy. It was still cold but probably was now high 40s. Nobody got sausages. They chose wind and cold over sausages! I think the world stopped rotating there a moment.

Maybe I am embracing the suck. Just a little.

PS: Maybe I wasn't as focused on sausages as I recall though. Think I can sell sausages for dinner tonight at home?

Training Resurection

2013-04-27T11:39:00.002-04:00

I was supposed to be in St. Petersburg, FL this weekend racing St. Anthony's. I did not go because there was no way that I was ready. I haven't really trained in a while and I doubt I could even finish without a personal tragedy happening. I was doubting if I'll ever be racing again for me and if I should just drop the training lifestyle forever. I imagined I could find something else to fill the little free time that I have.

This morning, though, I ran. I could list all the caveats around it how it was only 30 minutes, there was copious amounts of walking, it included a warm up and a cool down, etc., but the net is I had a choice to run or not and I chose to run.

I'm looking forward to choose to ride my bike tomorrow. There is a group going out with about 60 miles on their agenda that I think I'll join. The pace will be slow but I think that on a bike is where I need to be next in this journey.

Game on.

Absentia, Boston, and Mojo

2013-04-18T21:42:00.000-04:00

I could give a lot of excuses as to why I haven't blogged recently but the chase is that I haven't. The only thing that I've been doing less of than blogging seems to be training though. I did go for a bike ride last weekend but that ride wound up being sort of a train wreck. The ride was 52 windy miles. I did finish. I realized during the ride that the last time I was on a bike was the first week in March when I was in California. That ride was sandwiched between looking at colleges with my daughter and some business meetings. After last weekend's ride it took a few days for my muscles to stop aching but that might be because after the ride I hopped in a plan for a 18 hour plane ride to the other side of the world.

I was in the air last weekend and heard the news about the Boston Marathon bombing. I had a bit of a different perspective than I would have had as I only had the international news coverage to give me information. I did get spotty emails that the people I knew were running Boston were all ok. Last night on my way to my hotel the roads were closed since they were running the local version of a corporate challenge. I was happy that they were running this local race with apparently thousands of runners so I didn't mind the inconvenience. I did have a flash through my mind that I should have run this race too but realized that my lack of training would have made that very ugly.

Right now I'm sitting in the Singapore airport watching the Yankees play on TV while I wait for my ride back to New York. I don't know if the game is from today, yesterday or perhaps even tomorrow since my inner time zone clock is all off. But watching baseball is good. I thought about going to a game soon but decided I want to ride this weekend and perhaps even try a little run. Perhaps.

I'm still in search of my mojo. I miss my mojo. I need my mojo. Often when I travel I eat poorly. This week while I didn't eat great, I did eat better than the "travel" usual. If I can start mixing in more training, maybe my mojo will come back. I decided not to race St Anthony's next week but I am still go ing for the Montauk Century in June. There is still joy to be found on my bike. It is right in front of me and I just need to recognize it.

PS: The best thought I read this week is how while Boston and New York are typically rivals in almost everything but it is more like a sibling relationship than true hatred or dislike. We may argue but they know we've got their back. Always. Even more so now.

Realize, though, the Red Sox are still allowed to suck.

Make it difficult to do the wrong thing.

2013-02-25T15:48:00.002-05:00

The other day my kids were watching my wife's cousin give a techie talk on YouTube or some other webcasty type of thing. I wasn't paying much attention to his talk but I overhead him comment that a goal of his "stuff" was to make it difficult for users to do the wrong thing. That short sound bite got me thinking.

Deep down and somewhat in real life I am a techie. My family keeps forgetting that I actually knew (note the tense) some things and I often have to remind the folks that work for me that I used to be smart. Normally this results in an eye roll or even a laugh/snort but I've given talks like his talk in the dark ages before every talk's video was immortalized via digital archiving. It is frightening that I would have to pay to get copies of some of the technical articles I wrote back in the day (assuming I would want them) but at least the patents that I've gotten more recently are still freely searchable. Why do I write all this? Perhaps I think my thinking about sound bites could be profound. Yup, that was an eye roll. I realized that I didn't want to write about this in terms of technology since that could cause me to go down a path of regularly writing about technology. That would have more detriments than benefits so I'll put this into an endurance sports slant.

Back on topic: the statement "make it difficult to do the wrong thing." I thought if the corollary "make it easy to to do the right thing" was valid or perhaps even more impactful of a thought. I realized that idea was valid but wasn't more impactful. Then I thought if it was hard to do the right thing and/or easy to do the wrong thing, what would happen. That, I thought, was the cause of many endurance training failures. The right thing to do seemed too damned hard. Perhaps not physically. Perhaps mentally. Perhaps with life balance. Perhaps with everything else that goes on in ones life. Some times the right thing to do does seem hard. But is it?

Compare it against the wrong thing to do. Is it harder to do or not do a workout? Scheduling the right thing and the wrong thing takes the same effort. The choices one makes while scheduling (the workout or something else) might be though. If you are doing the workout, you can do it right or you can do it wrong. I often try to make mental excuses as to why I can't do something then all of a sudden, I've done it.

Where am I going with this? The more I think about it the more I realize that if I make it difficult to do the wrong thing I will be more successful at what I'm doing.

Success, my friends, is the right thing.

Defining success is a topic for another day.

Broken new scale

2013-02-20T10:03:00.002-05:00

As we were walking through the mall my wife mentioned that she wanted to get a new bathroom scale. We had a Tanita but she recently got these Fitbit things and there is a scale that synchs to the pedometer and such. Since I wasn't emotionally attached to the scale (and wanted to bank some good will for when I want to buy something new), I said go for it.

She was configuring the scale last night (yes it requires configuring) and said it was ready to go. This morning before I got dressed I got on it and then got on the old one. The new scale reads 3.4 lbs heavier than the old.

The new scale must be broken. The old one can't be. I know the old scale was 5 pounds lighter than the official weight watchers scale but I rationalized that as the weight of clothes. I asked my wife and she noticed it too.

At some point I'll have to bite the bullet,use the new scale, and track my weight with it going forward. Why couldn't it have read lighter? Would have made me feel much differently.

First trimester of iron

2013-02-17T18:56:00.002-05:00

Nine months from today is Ironman Arizona. I realized that as I was procrastinating rather than doing my scheduled bike workout looking at events that would act as training sessions for the rest of the year. When most people think of things that take nine months they normally do not think of Ironman preparation but of a pregnancy.

How is ironman training like a pregnancy? Full disclosure, I have never personally been pregnant (even though I have had times where I may have looked like it). I first thought that there was no way that ironman training was similar to being pregnant. I need to lose weight, not gain weight. Then I thought a little more. I need to watch what I eat. I need to take care of my body. There will be times where I don't feel so good. There will be other times when I feel great. I need to listen to my doctor (and coach). I'll need my rest. My family will be pulling for me. Some times I'll not be making so much sense but people will humor me. Near the end I'll just want to get it over. November 17 is the date I'll go into my final labor. I'm hoping the labor is less than 17 hours.

Today is the beginning of my first trimester of iron. Time to get on that trainer and do that bike workout.

The WW Weigh in Ritual

2013-02-15T21:43:00.001-05:00

Make sure no watch is on.
Move the phone and wallet to coat.
Keys can't be in a pocket.
Don't want to weigh that belt.
Make sure that you remembered to go to the bathroom beforehand.
Shoes off.
When the formerly fat person working the desk says you may step on the scale, you do.
Make sure there is no air in your lungs because Physics told you that air weighs something when you were in 12th grade (perhaps the only thing you remember about AP Physics except shooting the laser at people across the quad).
Breathe a sigh of relief when they tell you that you lost 5 lbs.
Now comes the true irony. They say you should consider exercising some or a little more. You scream to yourself "I'M TRAINING FOR AN IRONMAN" then you demurely explain that exercise isn't your problem. They look at you confused.
Later go home and don't wimp out on your bike trainer workout since you have to do the weigh in ritual again next week.

Fat intervention

2013-02-10T11:29:00.000-05:00

"By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail." - Benjamin Franklin

My weight has been out of control recently. I've noticed. Other people have noticed. I thought of the quote above and thought it applicable to life in addition to my races. The reality of the situation is that life is more important.

I had to get some new suits since my old suits didn't fit well and I had some events where I needed to "suit up". When I buy suits I normally spend a lot of money to get something similar to the classic Brooks Brothers type of cut, often from Brooks Brothers or even custom made. The problem with custom made is that you don't know your size. I went to Brooks Brothers and while the largest suit there was too small, the selection was smaller than usual. I then went to another store and they had suits that fit but the size scared me a little. Even though they fit me, they didn't fit me well. I was into fat sizes though. Since I'm tall I buy my shirts at the tall and fat. I went there and got two, cheap, basic suits. I didn't spend a lot of money since I hope to fix my weight problem quickly.

I've lost weight (and gained it back) many times. One of the guys at work asked me if I've ever considered stomach surgery. He had it done and now seems to be an evangelist. I'm going to find out the facts.

In the meantime, I went back to weight watchers last Friday. If I can't fix myself with diet, I need to consider more radical methods. I'm at the mindset where my life will be shortened due to my weight. Gaining weight while training is something unexplainable as well. A fat intervention was declared. By me. For me. As a priority.

Scratching an itch.

2013-02-08T10:52:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago I got a rash on my right calf. It quickly spread to my left calf, then both shins, my stomach, and then finally in the part of my back between the shoulder blades that cannot be reached by conventional means. The itching was driving me crazy.

I realized that my wife started using fancy detergent, Tide pods, that are cleaner to use (for her) while washing. I guessed that I might be allergic to this so asked her to return to old school Tide. She did. The itching kept driving me crazy.

I was seeing my doctor for a follow up from my plague and such and showed him the rash explaining that I thought it an allergy. He didn't think it was an allergy so recommended for me to see a dermatologist. I saw the dermatologist and he said I was suffering from dry skin. He recommended some cream to get from the drug store to solve the dry skin and a prescription cream to stop the itching. The local CVS had neither in stock so had to order some. Been disappointed with CVS lately as the folks working there seem to be getting less smart (aka stupid) and they never have what I need.

I kept thinking of this stuff as "the cream and the clear" from BALCO or potentially a "balm" from the Maestro. I picked up my creams last night fighting the crowds preparing for the snow storm and started applying liberally. I'm still itching but hope this will be cured soon.

PS: Everyone in the house seems relatively healthy these day having gone over our various illnesses. Thanks for all the emails.

PPS: The only thing worse than 2x20s on the bike trainer is 3x20. Guess what is on the plan for while the snow comes down? Yup, 3x20. Maybe I'll get an itch for more training.

When you think you can plan....

2013-02-03T10:50:00.001-05:00

Last night, while I was reviewing some essays that my older daughter was crafting to get into some nerd summer program, my younger daughter called from her school activity saying that the barfies had shown up. She was requesting a pick up as she was the one channeling the barf. I gave my wife the choice of fetching or editing. She chose fetching as the essays were due yesterday.

I was debating either running this morning or seeing my kids perform but after six overnight barfs my younger daughter was in no shape to perform. We decided that my wife would go to the concert and I would stay home with our plague petri dish.

We had about 30 people scheduled to come over to watch the game later Sunday. Since we felt that we didn't want to give all our guests the now fully incubated plague, we decided to cancel our super bowl party. I was able to cancel some of the food we ordered (so that was good) but we have plenty of chips and beer. I have a call into Roger Goodell to reschedule the game but somehow I'm not getting through on his cell. Maybe I have the wrong number or maybe the Saints were able to get his phone service suspended while in New Orleans. I'm sure someone there tried.

The net of this is that even though I had grandiose plans, I'll be watching this game with a sick teenager cuddled up net to me at best. I hope to still get in some sort of workout during the pre game show. I'll still be rooting against the Ravens though.

PS: We'll hear about this summer program sometime in April. She has a few other programs that she has already applied to as well that we'll hear about the same time. Next year she'll be writing college entrance essays. Joy. Joy. Joy.

Super Bowl Concerto

2013-01-31T15:07:00.003-05:00

For the last few years my Super Bowl Sunday has been quite predictable. We get up early, head into Central Park to run in the 4 mile NYRR Gridiron Classic, then head home and have a bunch of folks over to watch the game. The race puts an interesting counterpoint to the eating bonanza that normally occurs. As part of the classic, there is a football toss at 8am and the race follows at 9.

This year is different. My girls were invited to audition for a concerto competition. Their audition is on Super Bowl Sunday. One is scheduled to play at 11:00am and the other almost immediately afterwards. Now on one hand it seems good that they were scheduled to perform before the big game but this time makes it close to impossible to do the race and the concert (they are about an hour drive apart). My older daughter, while registered for the race with me, realized that and chose to play her concerto.

I have a dilemma. I've seen my girls play many times. The latest time was just last week. I fully expect them to nail this audition and they will perform again shortly. Even if they don't get selected for this competition, there are many on the schedule already. My so called running will make the race a train wreck but it is better to do it than not. Yes, forfeiting the race fee and giving up the tee shirt isn't a good thing but the registration wasn't that expensive since we registered so long ago.

So, what to do? Race and miss this performance or don't race and see the performance. I'm leaning towards running early solo, missing the race, and seeing the concert but I'll probably waffle a dozen times before I actually need to make a decision.

In any event, I'll be watching the game rooting against the Ravens. Not for the Niners, but against the Ravens. Read into that what you will.

Surgery interruptus

2013-01-27T10:32:00.002-05:00

Last month I was scheduled to have a minor surgical procedure that would hopefully have had a positive impact on by preventing the medical woes I experienced last summer. My issue is that nasal polyps grow in my sinuses that are most likely due to allergies and they sometimes grow to the point that I need them surgically removed. I had them removed twice before years ago and my ENT said that it is time to remove them again. We scheduled the surgery to happen in December.

Unfortunately, I got the flu a few days before the scheduled surgery date. This cancelled the surgery at that time and it was rescheduled to last Thursday. I was ready but had a cold. Nothing all that serious and in fact I wouldn't have even gone to the doctor but since I had to get cleared for this surgery, I went. The result was yet another cancellation. Apparently surgery on a sinus isn't that easy with a runny nose.

Now I have no reschedule date. I've been very haphazard with my training as I mentally viewed the surgery as step one and then real training for StA to be step 2. Somehow in work and for others I can balance a gazillion things at the same time but with my own training I'm very sequentially oriented. I need to fight that tendency and get with the program.

I still have enough time for St Anthony's triathlon to be a success. I'll deal with the surgery as a surprise and not schedule it in. Time to get on the trainer.

A hike through Disney

2013-01-15T15:00:00.002-05:00

Last weekend was the Disney Marathon Weekend. This Disney extravaganza has grown into a series of events and my daughter earlier in the year said she wanted to run the half as her first half marathon. Her previous longest race was 4 miles but she is a runner. I was going to run it too so I signed us both up at that time.

Her training plan was to start adding weekly long runs in early November with her longest run scheduled for 11 miles a couple of weeks before the half. She did all the training per the plan and was ready. In contrast, I did minimal training except for getting fat. I can't really run well so I walked a bit. My longest "walk" prior to race day was 7 miles. Getting the flu a few weeks before made me regress even more. I was just starting in mixing in a little jogging to my walks but I realized, at best, I was undertrained. I didn't really understand how undertrained I actually was but that epiphany was coming.

I wrote previously that my goal was to not get picked up by the SAG bus. My plan was to move up in the corral to gain some slack from the sweep. My goal was to move my daughter up too so she could run with people at her pace. Her goal was 2 hours and to not have to walk at all.

We were originally in corral H. They moved her up to corral A (with the fast folks) and me to corral E based on previous race results. I thought that fair. The expo was interesting where we listened to Bart Yasso give a talk and checked out the expo. The main buzz had to do with the heat wave being experienced in central Florida. The high temperature the day before the race was in the mid 80s - not great for running.

The clock was set for 2:45AM on race day and we were out of the house by 3:30 per plan. My goal was to go back to sleep in the car but my daughter was bouncing around already. We headed over to the staging area and they let us head towards the start at 4:30. After the long walk to the corrals, I walked her to near her corral, wished her luck, then started the long trek to corral E. When I got to D, the bouncer said this entrance was for D and above. I hopped in and blended with the "real" runners.

After the anthem and the starts for the other corrals, it was our turn to run and off we went. I started jogging planning on a jog 2/walk 3 mix to start. I thought I was golden It was, as expected, very crowded with 25k runners or so. There were time where the road narrowed and people stopped running. All was good until about the 2 mile mark when I started feeling a slight tinge in my upper right hamstring. To save myself I decided to walk it in. Walking was fine, running wasn't. I somehow convinced myself that goal#1 was to not be picked up, goal#2 was to get a medal, and goal#3 was to make the official 3:30 cutoff.

About 10 miles in I realized that as long as I kept doing what I was doing, it looked like I would meet goal#1and#2 but not #3. It would be close but then I started feeling a blister start. I also noticed that my hands were swelling and starting to hurt. I was near the end so it wouldn't be that bad so I kept going. At this time everyone around me was walking. There were no runners at all.

I saw my daughter at the 12 mile mark. She had her medal, space blanket, and was very happy. She walked in with me and told me about her race. She said she was doing great but had to really go to the bathroom at mile 8. There was a line for the porta potties so that delayed her. She said when her Garmin said 13.1 miles she was under 2 hours but at the end Garmin said 13.28 miles in 2:01:11. She was happy but was talking about being more aware of the tangents and bathroom next time. She said that there was a big difference between 11 miles and 13.1. She said at the beginning it was so fun she was thinking about the full next year. At the end, though, the half was enough for her.

I didn't get picked up. I got my medal. I didn't make the 3:30 cutoff. There were still thousands of runners behind me. My blister wasn't that bad but my hands were hurting from the swelling so I went to the medical tent and iced them down. This was a mystery to me but with the heat and lack of training, odd things should have been expected. The medical folks seemed to feel that this wasn't a big deal.

After about an hour, my hands were back to normal. I've proven that I'm stupid enough to get this stuff done by virtue of my inability to admit defeat. No need to prove that again. I wasn't in that bad shape but realized that there is some advantages to actually training. That has to be the plan going forward.

StA up next.

Racing a bus

2013-01-07T21:32:00.002-05:00

This upcoming weekend is the Disney Half Marathon. The plan was that this was going to be my 16yo daughter's first half marathon and I was going to run it too. The plan called for some training. She did the training. I thought about it, at best.

So here we are the week of the race. She is ready. I am not. She is hopeful for sub2:00. My goal is to not get picked up by the bus. The bus?

Let me explain. Disney requires a 16:00/mile pace or they sweep you off the course. Supposedly there are a few points along the route where if you don't make it in time, they have a bus to drive you to the finish. If you get in the bus, you don't get a medal. Bragging rights were conceded to my daughter some time ago.

I have been walking a bit but my training has only started. I walk at a little less than 18:00/mile. I need to run some and I need to ~~run a scam to~~ position myself properly at the start.since the bus clock starts when the last racer crosses the start line. With 20.000 racers, I could probably get me 15 minutes of slack that way.

The other issue is that 13.1 miles can be a long way if the longest you've covered in a while has been about 7 miles. At a slow walk. To add insult to this perfect storm it is supposed to get hot in Florida (surprise) That only will impact people who are out on the course a long time (like me). I can only hope that I get on a roll and see what happens. If I'm in danger of hurting myself, I'll divert and start riding Splash Mountain early. My family expects to hit the parks after the race for the rest of the day.

I'll be happy with finishing last. Next time I'll train. Or monorail. Want to avoid that bus though.

Other types of PRs

2013-01-04T16:10:00.000-05:00

I was thinking about PRs in racing and training. Many people are posting about how many miles they raced or trained last year or PRs that they set. My mileage was low last year but I didn't dive into the numbers. My PRs are fairly modest compared to most but I keep track of them, look at them from time to time, and sometimes figure out which one to attack next. This year I hope to break two of PRs - Oly tri and Ironman - at least that's the goal.

I don't believe that I'm very different than most so called athletes. As an experiment as someone what their PR is in a common distance like a 5k. Most athletes will rattle it off immediately but then the next sentence is often either an excuse or a plan to improve. Try it.

Then I had a brain fart. What if you had PRs in other parts of your life that you mentally track as closely? I thought of how much money one makes in a year or the biggest bonus or commission if you work in fields like that. I knew that off the top of my head too.

Some other ideas for PRs came to mind:

The most vacations taken in a year. (notice it isn't the most days worked in a year)
Worst sunburn (hard to measure).
Smartest moment.
Number of near death experiences.
Number of times fate intervenes in near death experiences. (all?)
Highest (dubious) or lowest weight as an adult.
Smallest size clothes you've fit into.
Date of last all nighter.
Luckiest you've ever felt.
Date of last all nighter not work related.
The fastest you've ever driven in a car (mine was >100mph since the speedometer only went that high)
Dumbest moment.
The fastest you've ever ridden your bike. (I've topped 50mph a few times, last at a Placid training ride).
Longest your house has been out of power.
Coldest/hottest temperature you've experienced and where.
Saddest you've ever been.
Most frightened you've ever been.
Happiest you've ever been.

Some of these have crossed into the athlete mode again - hey, it happens. I can't remember all of these for me but it is an interesting exercise and I'm thinking about keeping track. Any to add?

Resolutionista statements and questions

2012-12-31T11:06:00.001-05:00

Hey Fatso, I know what your resolution is!
Cardio while reading a novel doesn't count as high intensity?
The volume of grunting isn't proportional to effort?
Cannonballs are not allowed in this pool?
Is a lap there or there and back in this pool?
I don't sweat so I don't need to wipe off the machine.
Isn't my watch cool? Do you know how to use it?
Is it ok if I water jog in the same lane you are swimming in?
What about my friends too?
You are supposed to ride a bike more than 12 minutes?
How long does it take to run a mile?
Is it always this crowded?
Are you supposed to wear underwear under your bike shorts?
My goal is to run a 5k marathon.
I can't take pictures of you working out and post them on Facebook?
What do I do with my cell phone while I'm on the treadmill?
It isn't polite to stare?

December ramblings.

2012-12-24T08:52:00.003-05:00

There could be lots of reasons why I haven't written a blog entry lately but the net of it is that I haven't. No excuses. Fact.
I've been traveling a lot recently. Sleep overs in New Jersey and London were the most time consuming. I have a lot of work travel to plan. Dallas, Singapore, San Fran, Prague, Hong Kong, Tampa, and Boston need to be queued up.
Getting PLAGUE on the way home from London in the petri dish known as American Airlines sucked. (The doctor said it was the flu, not PLAGUE, but I'm still a little messed up).
Our treadmill was fixed but I haven't used it yet.
I'm no where near being ready to run a half Mary in less than 3 weeks. In fact, I really can't run at all although I've walked 6-7 miles or so one a week in addition to some other training when not suffering from Plague.
My daughter, in contrast, seems ready for Disney having thrown down a 10 spot last weekend with the running club. I walked 6.
Losing all this time has made the holidays sneak up on us. Can we just delay it a few more weeks?
I really don't like email holiday cards. Seems too impersonal. Especially when you have to remind yourself who that person actually is - most commonly a vendor wanting to sell crap.
I like picture christmas cards but not when I can't recognize the kids in the picture as they have changed so much.
The NYC marathon resolution has been published. The lesson that I learned was do not cancel until the last minute. Since I cancelled 3 weeks earlier I do not get a refund. Don't know what options I do have but rescheduling it for 2014 would have most appeal to me. It will be my first marathon.
I'm so fat that I can't fit into my clothes any more. Need a self intervention. Don't want to buy fat clothes again but might have to. Christmas cookies aren't helping but this is the key to my year.
My 2013 race calendar is set. Two races in Florida, one in New York, and one in Tempe are the highlights.
Training is going slow but going. The indication of real triathlon training is when I'll be swimming. Thinking about kicking that up this week and either masters swim or private lessons after the New Year.
Merry Christmas to all.

Deadmill

2012-12-01T12:33:00.000-05:00

Those who know me know that I have a love/hate relationship with my treadmill (and there ain't so much love involved). I've had a LifeFitness T55 treadmill for a while and never felt we've gotten the value that we paid for it. It was expensive.

A couple of years ago when I ramped up the use of it we had issues where the treadmill would randomly shut off mid "run." It would immediately turn on when you repressed the start button but was very annoying. My wife called for service and was told that it was still under warranty for parts but not for labor. The tech came and told us we just got it in before our warranty expired. He did his magic and while the problem still randomly occurred it was usable. He said that there may be a problem with the quality of the power but we never looked into it.

Last week while I was on it for a very casual workout, it died again. This time there was a slight smell of smoke and it would not power on again. It was dead and I have to admit I had mixed feelings.

If the 'mill was just under the warranty last time there was no way it was covered now. We decided to go look at the new treadmills to see how the offerings have changed. My wife and I both consider ourselves technologically savvy. We believe that there is a change upcoming where tablets (iPads or the like) will be used to control this type of equipment. There will be a software revolution that additional capabilities with updates to a controlling app. There will be the treadmill equivalent of a CompuTrainer where the incline will adjust to a video to give a virtual reality feel. This revolution will also cut down on the cost as the electronics wouldn't need the initial investment by the treadmill manufacturers.

Unfortunately, we are more innovative than the equipment manufacturers. We found they are going that way but very slowly. Also, treadmills are not cheap. We were originally looking in the $4k and up range but got a little frightened to what the "and up" turned into. Our quest turned to the internet since we didn't want to make a large investment into something that would be rendered obsolete shortly.

My wife found out some of the next generation treadmill information. It seems like LifeFitness was one of the more innovative companies so she called to see when these products would be available. Their road map was long with the first step on this journey happening later in 2013. While on the phone she tried to get an estimate on fixing our existing one.

Their first estimate was about $750 with the caveat that no one checked out the unit in question. Some newer treadmills have lifetime warranties (excluding labor). The person on the phone said that ours came with 5 years and since we bought it in mid 2006 it was out of warranty. My wife noticed in the instruction book where she got their number it said we had a 7 year warranty. If 7 years, we are covered! The person on the phone said if our book says 7, we get 7. Seems odd but we'll go with it. It'll be about $200 for the labor but that beats thousands for a new one.

They said a tech will contact us. We asked to have him bring all the parts that went into the $750 estimate. Out treadmill is dead. I hope it gets fixed soon.

Once fixed, I can start hating it again.

A change in plans. Ironman Arizona 2013

2012-11-20T08:35:00.002-05:00

My plan for a long time was to not register for Ironman Arizona in 2013 but to register for the 2014 flavor of this event. The primary reason was that I believe that the 2013 event conflicted with my 20th wedding anniversary and I couldn't imagine Mrs. Rockstar enjoying this milestone with me in either post race stupid syndrome or gimping around like I was post IMFL2011. Reality is that I wouldn't enjoy it much either so I point blame on her. There were some secondary concerns around my body composition, medical aches and pains, and squeezing in the actual training. Also of a concern is that my oldest daughter will be in the final push for applying to colleges. But then, while stalking the people doing the race this year, I saw that the 2013 race was not scheduled for November 24 as I expected but on November 17 instead.

I thought the race would be November 24 as Thanksgiving in 2013 is scheduled for November 28. I thought the race would be the Sunday before (as it has been) but somehow the race is the week before. This would give me enough time to recover and immediately became a viable option.

I emailed my coach to get his view (previously he said that IMAZ would probably be next for me if I ever wanted to do another Ironman). While waiting for his answer I broached this idea with my wife. Her primary concern was that I need to be supportive of my daughter in her college quest. She said during my last Ironman training I was a bit useless to the family spending my time between training and being a zombie from training.

My coach emailed back stating that we had plenty of time to get ready training wise but he was concerned about my physical state. The doctor and I have a tentative plan. I figured if I could register online before it closed out, it would be an omen. Some magic happened and I got an email which started:

Dear RockStar,

Thank you! You are now registered for the 2013 IRONMAN Arizona - IRONMAN......

This and that.

2012-11-18T14:08:00.000-05:00

Hurricane Sandy cleanup on Long Island continues. This sign was on my run this morning. There was some of the path was cleared but other parts were not. Clearing a running trail shouldn't be a priority compared to the impact that others still have.

I entered the lottery for the 2013 NYC triathlon. I was rejected. I decided to enter via the "Champions Club" as plan B This seems to be a scam where you pay an extra $250 to get an entry to the 2013 race, a gym bag, 2 tickets to a special waiting area, and the ability to bypass the lottery for 2014.
I thought about signing up with Team in Training but decided against it. I might do St Anthony's Triathlon with TNT but I'll see if I get in via conventional registration first. That registration date is 12/1.
Just need to dial in a 70.3 for the tail end of 2013. I would think Shoreman in NJ the leading candidate. Beach 2 Battleship and Rev3CP are still under consideration but there is a lot of travel involved there.
NYC marathon is still under consideration.
Plan is still IMAZ in 2014. I thought about moving it up to 2013 but decided to stay with the plan.
Cablevision is an evil company. The most recent examples are that they are making people apply for refunds for during the Hurricane Sandy recovery time rather than just applying an appropriate credit. The second example was when we lost internet/phone, and cable again yesterday they would not even look into it, after waiting on phone for 15 minutes of advertizing because not enough people reported the outage so it couldn't be real. 24 hours later it is magically fixed, no one showed up, no one called.

Saw this sign on my run too and thought it great but probably not the context it was meant. BTW, doesn't everyone have a flag on their bike?

Taking the medical over

2012-11-16T15:25:00.001-05:00

One of my nieces graduated from medical school last spring and is currently a resident doctor at one of the local teaching hospitals. A second niece is graduating from medical school next spring and is in the process of applying for residency positions expecting that the last year of med school will end favorably. My sister added a PhD in Nursing to her resume a while back which included being a RN and a NP. My mother was a nurse in her day. My older daughter is starting to look at colleges for her undergraduate studies and is expecting (at least today because it seems to change rapidly) to select a pre-med program with the expectation of becoming some sort of a doctor.

Not without knowledge in the medical field, I seem to be expert in seeing doctors and getting ambiguous answers. Or no answers. Or seemingly unlimited follow on appointments. Or misdirection. I gots skillage (to paraphrase the youth of our country).

Today I saw an ENT. I originally went to him a few weeks ago to diagnose the chronic coughing that has plagued me since June. After that initial visit, he sent me for CAT scans and to see three other doctors for tests. Today was supposed to be the test review meeting.

He said they found a whole bunch of things wrong with me (surprise - not!). For one issue he is recommending minor surgery on my sinuses. He wants to try diet and drugs for some others. After his spiel, I asked the simple question if any of these "findings" could be the cause of my cough. He said probably not. I asked could I have had these "issues" for my whole life. He said maybe.

He saw where I was heading on this and then played the doctor scare card. You know the story: it probably isn't anything serious but what if it is? My biggest issue was trying to determine if he was sincere or if he needed the bucks before ObamaCare really kicks in. Maybe he wants to retire soon. Maybe he wants to book this revenue before the so-called fiscal cliff raises his tax rate.

Whoa there RockStar, this isn't an economics blog so get back on topic. BTW your finance degree is grossly out of date. Sorry.

The doctor said to give this a try and see if it does cure my cough. One of the findings is that I'm allergic to almost everything. The allergist is recommending allergy shots that I don't have much faith in. So I'll try the diet. I'll try the drugs. I'll see when we can schedule this surgery and I'll continue to train. This must be the carpet bombing approach to medicine.

I wonder if they teach that approach in med school or not yet. If not, I'll invent it and it will be named after me. Of course, it will only work if my cough actually goes away. I believe the over/under on the quantity of more doctors to see is 5. I'm taking the over.

Maybe I should go to med school. Bet I would see fewer doctors that way.

Old people walking in the mall

2012-11-15T06:16:00.000-05:00

One day last week, according to my coach via TrainingPeaks, I was supposed to get in some sneaker time. I haven't been running yet but have been doing all of these time based workouts walking. On tap was 50 minutes, potentially with hand weights.

Life post Sandy on Long Island is a bit different than before. While the lights are coming back on slowly but surely, this night had miserable weather and no dread mill available for me (due to the lack of power not the hate of the evil hamster wheel). I couldn't walk inside, I couldn't walk outside, so where should I go?

The mall.

I knew there is an army of old people who walk the mall every day. While most of them are there in the early morning, I went at night. I started doing a lap at a decent pace, zigging and zagging to avoid the shoppers, happy with myself being a genius on how to get this training in. I thought I was doing good when it appeared that a pace line of 80 year olds were almost sprinting in front of the Apple store. They dropped me like a bad habit with them not even breaking their conversation while they were wearing their vintage Member's Only jackets. Have you ever seen an old person sweat. I don't think they do.

Each lap took me about 13 minutes and I ultimately got my workout in. A few of the old folks passed me and I passed a few back. I was determines to not get geezered in the mall, let alone during races. I felt I was getting my game face one.

I forgot that this was their turf. They had home field advantage. They deftly knew which stores would have a lot of traffic in and out (for example, the teen emporium of Abercrombie) vs. which stores where a few months from closing (for example, the 2013 calendar store with the clerk trying to stay awake). They may not know how to use a cell phone without yelling at it but they can adapt to the weaving and sudden stops a teen texting up a storm. I tried to draft off the fogies for a while and then I realized that I was out of my league.

Christmas shopping is starting soon. This may be the mall walker Olympic season. I think I can try the mall again only in January and start at the bottom. Maybe in about 40 years I will have enough experience to compete with them.

Then again, maybe not.