I don't know japanese.

Whoever keeps posting comments on my old blog posts in Japanese which links back to porn or hacking sites is persistant.  I would ask them to stop, but I don't think they are reading my blog - mostly because I have been on break.

It was only a break.  Sheesh.

I am picking up the training again.  Since I posted last a few things have happened.  1. I strained my calf during a long run - which turned it into a short run.  I was running along and then POP!  It felt like someone snapped me in the calf with a rubber band.  I was 2 miles into a 6+ mile run, and so I limped 2 more miles and decided to cut the day short.  Later on I would Ice it, then notice bruising.  I decided to take a week off.  After the week it was not better, so i took another week off.  Then I found I could run to the Y to a spin class, and that was OK, but 1/2 way home it would start to hurt again.  Riding was ok, but running is a no-no.
I rode 45 miles yesterday, not too hard, but when I tried to do the 6 mile run portion of the BR-ick...well, let's just say the ick started early.  I began feeling strain in my calf, and then abnormal strain on my right quad - which means I was running lopsided without knowing it.  I walked back.  I am going to start this week to build my running up to snuff for my October race.  I will start with small runs, followed closely by some wicked foam rolling to get the muscles back.  I have lost a lot of my bike, and all of my run in the last 6 weeks, so this should be a heavy build up for Oct. 31 Miami HIM. 
Another issue that I have discovered in the last 6 weeks is that there is a really good chance that I am gluten intollerant.  This means flour makes me feel yucky.  REALLY yucky.  I didn't know that until i stopped eating wheat based products.  I started to feel a little better. My stomach is more sensitive to different foods now.  Then I ate some fries at a shop which had some sort of batter on them.  It was wheat, and boy did I know it.UGH!.  So, I am going to keep on with the no-wheat thing for a while, see how I feel, and see if it makes any difference.   Common thoughts on the subject is that for a gluten intollerant person, eating wheat based products causes mood swings and depression, bloating, GI issues, and the inability to properly digest food, so they feel hungry because they are missing nutrients.  They tend to be overweight, and not able to lose the weight.  This is me in an nutshell, so I am giving it a go.  My family is behind me (which is ok now that I am not having such bad GI issues.). 

I will post more later, since Tri season at the Y starts tomorrow, and I have a ton of people bugging me to start P90X.  Later.

Subway giveaway

I eat at subway too much, but here is a giveaway to help not fix my habit.  I will post meaningful stuff later. unless  you think the other stuff is fluff...in which case, i am glad i was able to make your day and post something meaningful.

Subway Give Away (and a pretty cool blog)

Giveaway - this one is really cool.

Visor of the STARS!!  I am gonna win this visor.!

Where the heck is my fitness?

Ran 4 miles this morning.  I ran 6 miles 2 weeks ago and beat my feet up really bad,  - bruising and pain, no reason why.  Shoes were 6 weeks old and had been through a race, I should have been recovered.  I figured they maybe were too tight.  I could not figure anything else out.  Then last week I ran 4 miles and just felt like dog shit.  First mile was bouncy, second mile was uncomfortable, then 3 and 4 were both just like in the race - walking with little runs inbetween.  I chalked that one up to the fact that it was 90+ degrees.
Today I ran the whole thing, and only walked on the mile markers to get a swig of water.  I finished the 4 miles, but they were not the most comfortable 4 miles ever.  I wonder where my fitness has gone.  I was doing 10 mile runs without stopping before the race.  Now it has been a month, and I should be healed and raring to go!
Bike rides have been better, so maybe tomorrow's ride will be good.
On a positive note, I was up at 5 and running at 6 today!  The move to consistent morning workouts has begun!

CEP giveaway.

Ok.  Gonna have to try them now...  If I don't win these, I am going to buy some.

Barefoot Angie B and her Great Sock Giveaway.

-ryan

I am a dumbass and didn't reapply sunscreen even though I have had one of the most deadly skin cancers there is...TWICE!

So, there you have it.  Transition 1 and I am putting on my long sleeved UA heat gear, buckling my helmet, putting on my glasses, getting into my bike shoes, and throwing all the nutrition back into my pocket that fell out when I thought I would be so cool as to already have it in my pocket before I put my shirt on.  What did i forget? Re-application of SPF70 sunblock.  It was right there, I just missed it.
So, the bike was fun.  It is my favorite part.  The first part was a little head-windy, so I took it easy.  I passed some excellent swimmers, and just cruised.  18mph or so, into the wind coming up off of the water.  Then when we hooked inland, the wind went away, so I continued to cruise along.  Chugs of my nutrition about every 15-20 minutes, with water in-between.  My goal was to get to the feeling that "If I have any more of this crap I am going to be sick", and I got there after about an hour.  I had water in my aero bottle, and Sustained Energy mixed with Gatorade in my bottle.  I had two open butt bottle holders for picking up at the hydration stations, which I did at the first and second.  Gatorade and water.  I also had some shot blocks in my pocket to change up the flavors if I needed to.  Up and over the causeway bridge thing, and then down WHEEE!  35mph on the down.  I love going fast - almost too much.  My 245lb massive freight-train body makes me able to pass the little people on the downhill even if I don't pedal.  Then there was a long stretch of smooth, flat, new pavement that I just kept on with - all the way to the turn-around.
Thats when I realized that I had been helped a bit with a tail wind for the last hour or so - cause coming back was a tad harder.   So, I pushed through and tried to keep some speed so I could hit my goal of 3 hours for the bike.  Up the bridge was a little slower than last time, but since there was not a turn at the bottom this time, I could keep my speed for longer  WHEE!. Then back on the straight stretch coming in, the wind was at my back, so what should a speed freak do?  Pedal harder!  By this time I was feeling it.  The extended swim in the choppy water had taken it's toll on my upper body, and so I was uncomfortable in aero position.  I was spending more time vertical, which was bad in the second half because of the headwind on the way back to the beach.  The tailwind along the beach was not too bad for being vertical in, but I could tell that I was getting tired.
I ended up getting back to transition in just a teeny bit over 3 hours.  I think it would have been a really great race time if that had been the end of the race.  4 hours for those two events was right on plan for me.  Problem is that I was tired, and this was normally the end of my workout.  4 hours of exercise, then a day off after.  I realize now this was one mistake that I had made during training.  Oh, I had done long bricks during training, but I always took the next day off to recover.  My long bricks also usually were heavy on the bike, and light on the run.  My longest included an hour of running where I felt like I was probably running 10's but really was closer to 12's.
Anyway, that is the bike in a nutshell.  Stay tuned for "You Idiot! Why didn't you run more?"

Gulf Swim

The swim for Gulf Coast Triathlon was really hard.  I was told it was more difficult than St. Anthony's swim which was cut short so nobody would get hurt. I am not saying they should have canceled, or cut it short, but just that it was more difficult than I thought it would be.  So my goal in the swim was to find a fast person, and draft for dear life.  Then I found out that the current was pulling people from right to left, so people were going way off course.  So, I positioned myself at the far right thinking this is where I should be so that the current will pull me into the course and I will line up with the buoy just fine, (this is also where the slow people swim on the outside so that they do not get trampled). So the horn sounds, and we stalk into the breakers.  Yes, I said we STALKED into the BREAKERS.  The waves pushed us back, but we stubbornly walked into them.  As I started getting hit above the waist with waves, I started diving into them kinda like you see the surfers do it on TV.  That worked OK, and all the sudden I was swimming. I did what I had intended for a while, and followed some feet.  This was GREAT!  Then after a while, I looked up to find a buoy and see how close I was to the big red one signaling the turn.
There were no buoys!  What the hell! That is when I also got my first sinus cleaning and throat gargle of salt water.  Awesome.  So I waited until I was at the top of a wave, and looked again.  I was off course.  WAY off course.  I was very near Texas I was so off course.  The other problem, is that I could only see two buoys.  I could see the one I was parallel to, and the one I was supposed to be going to, and i guess the one that i should be going away from THREE buoys.  I could see three buoys.  So course correction, I started seeing some little hands windmilling over by the buoy I was supposed to be near, so I headed that direction.  After two more course corrections, I finally made it to the big turn.  Gulped another mouthful of salt water, and then turned and headed out to sea.  After about 10 strokes, the nice man in the kayak trying not to fall over said, "HEY, THAT WAY" and pointed me back towards shore.  Swim, Swim, Swim, look up, drink seawater, swim some more.  It went this way for a lot longer.  Then I hit a sand bar.  I walked for about 25 feet in 2 foot water, then swim again the last little bit to the beach.  Unfortunately, the waves were not regular enough to body surf them.  Oh, well.  During this long swim, I was passed by the orange capped guys, and most of the purple capped guys, and was seeing some of the women from the wave behind them.  All in all, 54 minutes to get out of the water, about 15 minutes more than I thought I would do, But I was still alive and racing.  I sauntered up the beach, rinsed off in the shower things, and tippy-toed over to transition and my waiting bike for my favorite part of the race.

Stay tuned for "I am a dumbass and didn't reapply sunscreen even though I have had one of the most deadly skin cancers there is...TWICE!"

Gulf Coast Triathlon RR

Here are my results:

538 JONATHAN COMBS          37 ORLANDO FL              

Total time: 7:18:51    

Swim time: 53:37  

T1: 4:37  

Bike Time: 3:02:29  (Avg 18.4)

T2:  3:51  

Run Time: 3:14:19 (Avg 14:50)

I will break this down over the next couple posts.

-Ryan         

Honesty

This one is for the honest scrap tag given to me by TriMommy.  10 honest things.

1. I have a real issue following through.  Example: I didn't finish my Masters, even though I started a couple times, I don't have a teaching certification, I never build a strip built kayak, I haven't even started my book - even though I bought a book to help me write it, and most of my big chores go undone, or 1/2 way done until I get bugged to finish them.  To that note, I have not really been doing all the workouts I need to do for my 1/2 IM which is in 2.5 weeks.
2. I have big dreams.  I see myself doing things, and getting things that may be slightly out of reach, or that I may not know how to do.  That gets me into trouble sometimes with #1.  An example is a house we put an offer on.  It is going to take a lot of work to fix, and we would either have to pay someone to do it, or I would need to step up and do the work.  I work in software, not in construction, and the projects I do sometimes come out...marginalized...?
3. I am kinda insecure.  I feel like I am kinda goofy looking and may not have the greatest personality, and sometimes can't figure out why someone would like me, or why my family would appreciate me.  I have to tell myself that they are probably in the same position, and wonder the same thing about why I like them.
4. What do you call it when you say things out of one side of your mouth, but do the opposite?  Like when I watch the biggest loser and say, "I could totally lose weight." then continue to eat the same way, and not change my habits.  Or "I could totally become an elite athlete" and then miss training more than once a week.  I am one of those guys.
5. I have a strange views about how i should look.  Specifically, I have these huge scars on my neck from having melanoma removed, and I like to almost put them on display.  they look awful.  But I have issues with my body hair, varicose veins, and my lopsided-ness (not quite the guy from Goonies).  I need to be satisfied with how i am.  Funny, the stuff that bothers me doesn't bother my wife, and that is really the only person that matters at this point.
6. I like stupid movies.  I watched RoboCop the other day.  I liked it.  I recorded Rollerball with LLCoolJ a few weeks ago when the movie channels had a free weekend.  I can't help it.
7. I still look like a kid.  I am 36 years old, and I still look like I just got out of high-school.  Maybe it is a generational thing, or maybe it is me.  I don't know.  I looked yesterday in the reflective walls of an elevator at me and another person.  We both had khaki pants and a golf shirt on, but his fit better on him, it was tucked in, his hair was combed, and he had dress shoes on.  Mine was wrinkled, a little big, untucked, I had a long sleeve t-shirt on underneath (sun protection cause of melanoma), and cross-trainers on with white sports socks.  It didn't help that I was sporting my computer in a back-pack. Hair was clean, but completely messy.- for some reason I can't have styled hair for more than 10 minutes...  Anyway, I looked like a kid.
8. I very rarely take the lead on things, or feel confident that I know as much or more than others.  It is hard to convince me that I should be the one to take charge, cause I feel like there are likely more people out there who know more about something than I do.  I would very much like to coach people doing triathlons, but I can't see how i can get the knowledge enough to be able to coach them, even though the rational portion of my brain says I pretty much know what they would need to know.
9. I still love being in the same place as my wife.  I feel better when we are in the same room, and that is just a feeling of contentment that I am addicted to.
10.  I am scared of funerals.  My grandpa passed away this week and I am kinda bummed.  I haven't gone to any funerals ever.  From Jens in high school, to Dan who committed suicide a couple years ago, to my grandma on my dad's side last year, to grandpa on my mom's side this year.  Just haven't been able to do it.

Big Brick

Yesterday was big brick day. Plan was 50/6. Ended up being 60/60min. I am not sure how far I went. Google maps doesn't have the road I ran on, so I ran 30 minutes out, and 30 minutes back. Exactly a straight split, which is weird. Legs felt like 1000 lbs on the run.
First 40 of the bike, my heart rate stayed at 120. I kept an average of 18+ mph. As the wind picked up, one way got slower, and the other way got faster. At 40 miles on the bike, my hr started to increase. 130's for 40-50 miles, and 140's for 50-60. I am thinking this is cardio creep that I have to keep under control. Most likely I had to take in more water during the first 40. I went through 3 24 oz bottles during that time, and I had a PB&H at about 35-40 miles in. That could be a factor, where it COULD be that cardio creep was a result of solid food on the bike. Hypothesis #2 would be that rather than cardio creep being caused by not enough fluid in the first half,it could be that digestion of solid food pulled water into digestion rather than used for blood pumping and keeping cool. I am going to have to change one thing for next time, so if i am able to get some liquid energy for next week then i will remove solid food for the bike and see how the cardio goes. If not, then I will add a bottle and force myself to drink it in the first 15.
Run, as i mentioned was heavy. I didn't feel quite right until 30 minutes in, which is not so good, and it was mostly muscular. Possibly I need to prime the potassium pump, and get more electrolytes in at the end of the bike. couple that with more fluid and I should be better. I also need to plan a pee break in T2. This time, pee break was about 20 minutes in, and as I was walking out of the ditch, I saw a REALLY BIG GATOR. He was really big because he was about 15 yards from where I was peeing and I was still walking out of the ditch when I saw him. At that point, he looked to be 10 feet long... but on the return trip I figured he was more like 6. Adrenaline added some height to him. I would have laid down next to him to measure, but eh...not so much...
So, before my race, I need at least two more huge bricks like this one, and I likely need a couple more which are about half of this one that I can do during the week. This way I can get my nutrition down, work on my endurance, and work on my transition running. Then after the race, I can work on my speed and more on form for my next A race in October.