Idle thoughts

Ok. This morning, on the way home from my ride, I noticed that I have a cassette deck in my truck. I no longer have any cassettes, but if I had them, i could totally rock out. I have a cassette shaped adapter which has a headphone dongle on the end so I could plug in my satalite radio - which i cancelled. I wonder if i should go on a hunt to find cassettes of all my favorite groups. I bet they are cheap.
I rode with two friends this morning, 25 miles, in 1 hour 7 minutes.i didn't do the lion's share of the pulling, but when i did pull, I did until my legs were toast. The last bit they were burnt toast - half chewed on by wild hyenas and peed on my a large albino gorilla - who proportionally has smaller testicles than man.
I can't believe that nobody has commented about the fact that picking scabs is one of 10 things that make me happy. That is just plain weird.
I friended someone I knew in High School recently, and he works at Microsoft as an SDET. I wonder how you really get a job at Microsoft, and then whether I would like working there as much as I like my current job - as a software QA engineer -specializing in load testing web-based applications (this is for when Microsoft does a search for themselves and sees my post - then they can comment that they are looking for a quirky, witty person just like me to not only help them out with their software, but to be on their in-house Triathlon team, not because I have posted any great times, but because I am a hard worker, am fun to be around, and have great untapped potential.
Mom just sent me information that turmeric helps with inflammation, and also prevents Melanoma from metastasizing. Ancient Chinese secret, but they published it in a natural health magazine! Those guys are not good at keeping secrets...

Nike has it right.

Since I started training to do triathlons, I have been looking online and for books that would help me to get better, and I have been looking for ways to improve my form and endurance, and strength, etc. I have the shoes, the hat, the outfit, the bike, etc. Everything I need to get-er-done. I don't have the best in class of everything, but all of my stuff is appropriate for what i am doing. I have a tri-bike, zoot shoes, and tri shorts for swimming and racing in. I have bike shorts for long rides, and lots of jerseys I have only worn once or twice.
At this point, I am not suffering because of the equipment that I do or don't have, I am suffering from No-Nike-itis. "Just Do It" needs to be consistent to my vocabulary, not just something I say in the beginning of the week, or something I make excuses for. I miss workouts because I do not "just do" them. I postpone them until I can't do them today, and I may as well not do them before tomorrow, since I have a workout scheduled tomorrow.
All this summed up is that I am frustrated at my lack of commitment, and need to do better.

10 things that make me happy.

Tagged by Running Buddy

1. Spontaneous displays of affection by Mrs. Supervision. That really brightens my day.
2. Watching the kids achieve something. - Make a basket, win a debate, show me something they made or learned.
3. Being very small - Those times when you look up or around and think to yourself - "damn, look at that! not many people get to see that!" Example: swimming at Lucky's Lake Swim, looking up at the stars and the moon, then watching the sun rise as you are swimming, seeing shafts of dawn filtered down through the water.
4. Picking scabs. Weird, I know. It just feels good to pick whatever it was that was on your skin off.
5. Post workout THROB. Knowing you worked out so hard that your muscles are singing, and going to really hurt tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and possibly even sometime next week.
6. Friends. I am making more, and the ones I have really are cool.
7. Eating. This one sucks a bit because I am trying to lose weight, but Mrs. Supervision is a really good cook, and even when she thinks a dish is not so good, it is great. Example: Breaded Chicken breast stuffed with shrimp and brie. Awesome.
8. Feeling strong. Sometimes I just feel like I could do anything.
9. Being included. I love getting invited to stuff. Even if i can't go. It means someone chose me. - having my blog followed is the same feeling.
10. Managing people and groups. I like to be responsible for multiple people, having them achieve their goals, while at the same time, having goals for the entire group and achieving them as well. I like to advocate for people and fight to get them what they want, need, or deserve. Ultimately (and eventually), I would love to coach.

There is 10 things. Notice none of them say "getting melanoma." Fer pete's sake, people, cover up! no tanning booths. SUNBLOCK

Although, I still am scabbing and picking at my last melanoma incision....

Now I have to tag 10 people? sheesh, some are going to be double tagged.

Elizabeth the Marathon Girl
Trigirlorlando
miss melanoma
kim ("teta" means "booby" in spanish
Tawnee at Tri*tawn
Krazy Kit Kat
tri-al
Terri at My Life. My Sport.
Michael @ Trilife
Ryan from Caught on the Run.

Some of you have not posted in a while, and will not likely get this because you don't follow me, but you need to post! I miss some of you!

I appreciate this post because sometimes you have to sit down and think about what makes you happy. It is more of an exercise for you, than for those who read it. Except the fact that now people know some of my secrets that are kinda disturbing...

intervals and a pffft

Last night was Y-Tri workout night, and we warmed up with 1 mile and some plyometrics like lunge walking, reverse lunge walking, karaoke run, dips, pushups,

(pause) here is where I got something in my eye.

then another little run

(pause) I tried to rinse my eye out in the bathroom to get whatever it was out, but that was not happening. My wife and son noticed as I was heading to the bathroom to clean it out, and when i came out, they told me how bad it looked, and got me a cold pack. After a couple minutes, they went to yoga, and I got me a bike and went outside for the workout.

Spinning was interesting. I had a pretty high cadence on the bike initially, and i guess i was supposed to be standing vertical for a part, instead of leaning forward, but for the most part it felt pretty good. After a few intervals of speeding up, then mashing, then sprinting, then spinning, we headed out for our first run. (less than a mile, pretty hard.) The goal here is to exercise, and get used to bike-run transition. I mid-packed it for the run.

Then we were on the stationary bikes again. spin, standup, sitdown, mash, etc. the coach mentioned that I had it to easy, so i spun the knobby thing twice and continued. standup, mash, sprint, then pretend like powering up a hill fast, then we ran again.

Here is about where my run breaks down - and where I realized this was a great drill for me. I was out of the gate last, and stayed last for the whole .6 mile run. Looking back at it, I probably could have gone faster running. I need to realize that the workouts are only 1.5 hours long, and that I really need to push it more. That would also increase my speed/cardio/mitochondrial density? etc. Note for Thursday, push harder.

Cooldown was core and stretching.

Note to self, I did 20 pushups for warmup. that is lots more than i did before. (like 2x)

Today I was going to bike on the airport loop, but one workout partner didn't have their bike, and one didn't want to go out if we didn't have a group. (I am sure that group meant that he didn't want to look at my butt the entire time... (kidding)). So, I have between now and this evening to do something. Maybe I will take a long lunch or a pre-dinner bike ride. It should be warmer by then. It was 40degrees F this am, which is pretty darn cold. BTW, this is the pffft. workout planned, but not executed.

Sunday.

Yesterday's bike was good. Really good.

6 mile warm-up riding to the Y

2 mile time trial (HR up to 167 which was as high as I could get it.)

3x9mile ride. 18-20 avg for first 9, 15-18 avg second (got a chance to chat with a guy named eric) and 18-22 for the third 9

6 mile cool down ride home.

total: 41 miles.

Today was supposed to be a run day, but i am taking a day off. I feel like the soreness and tired legs would get me into trouble, and I have a big workout week planned for this next week, so I am taking today off from a workout.

Went to see Avatar last night with the family. The images of flying are a little what I am trying to get to when i am on my bike. I strive for the glide, piercing the wind like an arrow. I get that feeling some when I am riding at 30+mph. That doesn't happen much, but it will. I had it on Thursdays ride in the wind, and yesterday for a few minutes in the time trial.

On a positive note, my ass doesn't hurt near as much today as it did last sunday, and the mileage is similar. I figure in a few more weeks, I will be able to do 50 pretty easily and then I can start getting my legs to push me faster, and also will be able to start doing a long run the day after.

Y workout

warm-up.

Run test - don't know how long it was, ran as fast as possible. 8 Laps around this little grassy thing. Kept HR at max, which was between 175 and 180.

running drills - kinda like swim drills, only running. butt kickers, knee ups, side running, form running with emphasis on pulling knee through and landing mid sole, lean knee-ups against a wall - (or some guy named todd)

pushups, situps, dips, strength plyometrics like walking lunges, side hops, backwards running, etc.

planks. (holy mother of all creation that hurt.) both sides, and middle plank.

stretching/yoga.

I think that was all of it. I am tired.

What I should be posting...

I really don't plan any time to actually post anything here. It is just a process of logging in, looking at other people's blogs, then vomiting some stuff that has happened to me lately. I really should be logging my workouts, or making cute observations, or laying my soul bare, or something...

In an attempt to be more consistent with my training, I am doing a couple of things. I joined the local YMCA tri-team. Y-Not-Tri.

They are located less than 5 miles from the house, and there are 20 or more people in the club. - At least there were at Monday's strength assessment. I am hoping to increase my Triathlon network, (maybe some of these people will work out with me.) and save money on gas and tolls because practices will be close to home.

My strength assessment sucked. Here are some reasons why. 1. I rode 45 miles on Saturday, and a "recovery" 20 miles in hills on Sunday. My legs were toast. That means my wall sit was about 2 minutes. I am overweight, and weak in the upperbody. So, that means 1.5 pullups, and 9 pushups in a minute. That is totally cool. I have a lot of improvement there.

Situps took me for a loop. I did 34 situps in a minute. I remember when I did 70+ in high-school. I think that just goes to show how far out of shape I am now. It is Thursday now, and my abs are still sore...

I rode 25 miles today in the wind. That was an awesome ride. 15-16 miles per hour going out, then 24 miles an hour going back. Then 16mph going out again, then 24+ coming back. I wanted to see how fast I could go, and hit 30mph before I had to slow down. 30mph on the flat is awesome. (even with a wind at my back).

Tonight is the run assessment at the Y. I suck at running (i mean running is my biggest obstacle), so this should be fun.

Here is the new haircut. Mrs. Supervision didn't want to go all the way bald, so we went with a #1 all over. I kinda like it. Now that I cut it this short I see lots of people with this style, (or lack of style) and it doesn't bother me. it does bother me that when light hits the sides of my hair it is light, but when it hits the tops it is dark, which gives me a halo of sorts in certain lighting. My kids mentioned that now my whiskers are longer than my hair, but since they mentioned that I will have to shave... I always shave when people mention my whiskers. They know they can get me to shave just by saying "Dad, are you growing a beard?"

On the training front, I am focusing on running. Monday I did intervals, I do not have them mapped, but since my entire run took 40 min for 4 miles, and I alternated running fast and walking, I would estimate the running portion to be sub 8 minute miles. Wednesday was a solid 10 minute mile tempo run.

Now that my incisions from the melanoma have mostly healed, I think I can start getting back into the pool. Now I just need to find a lane that is heated and not filled with New Years resolutionists.

It is quite cold out (32F) and so I am going to have to set up the trainer for the bike for a couple weeks. I was really hoping to get outside, but that is going to have to wait until the weekend when I can start a little later in the day when the temp is closer to 50F degrees.

So that is it in a nutshell. I am mostly healed and ready to go. Gulf Coast Tri is in 17 weeks. I gotta get my volume up and start working on that run. Since Augusta was 6.5 hours, I am going for sub 6 at gulf coast. I think that the courses are both easy, and the 10 minute benefit I got from swimming downstream in Augusta should be made up in at least 10 minutes gained on the flat bike course. The run for GCT is flat as the one in Augusta so hopefully overall fitness and improved running efficiency should get me 30+ minutes - hopefully. We will see. My parents got me a digital video recorder for Christmas, so maybe I can make some video to post too.