Technology Sucks!!

What do you do when you spend anywhere from 5 to 10 hours each week working out alone. You buy an MP3 player....of course.

So, I bought one of these devices, a Sandisk Sansa Clip. It was great. I wore it in the weight room and on runs. And now the piece of shit won't communicate properly with my PC. I've had this thing for about 3 weeks.

Good thing I bought the extended warranty. Why whould I do that?? Because my palm pilot that has a one year warranty has broken 3 times....never making it over a year before it just quits working. So, I've decided to buy warranties with these piece of shit devices. Now, if I can just find the receipt to the damn thing........

Let me tell you, I was happy today when I was standing outside in the brisk 40 degree air messing with cheap ass thing and I couldn't get it to work. So, off I went on a 50 minute run with nothing but the sound of crunching leaves and exhaust pipes (and me swearing at a little plastic shitty MP3 player). F*$%ing technology!!!!!

SALE!!!!!

I'm off to Performance Bike for buy one, get one nutrition.....and then 20% off my entire order. But, the sale ends at 9:00 a.m. I guess that makes me a crazed early morning thanksgiving weekend shopper.

I'm hoping they have some windblock booties for my ride this afternoon. I'm sure they'll have some but the question is if they will fit my big feet!! For those of us that have larger than a size 12 (or maybe 13) finding footwear is not always an easy task.

The weatherman says nice riding weather today. Dry. Sunny. High of 41 degrees. Amaterasu is sporting some new (to me) aerobars and wants to hit the town....and the country. But first, it's shopping and the rec center pool for a few laps. It should be interesting to step on the scale after the last couple of days. I'm betting it says 194, still 8 or 9 lbs. above my mid-summer weight. What does triathlon do to a man?? Makes them weight conscious and gets them to shave their legs???? What kind of sport is this, anyways??

Thanks

I've eaten breakfast, and will be getting on my way shortly to the home run for the homeless 4 miler here in downtown Akron. Before I go, I thought I'd stop here and wish a happy holiday to you. In the spirit of thanksgiving, here are a couple of thoughts on what I'm thankful for.

Yes of course, I'm thankful for all of the things we all take for granted all too often....family, friends, my puppy, and the abundant wealth of living in America. I'm thankful I've found endurance sports, and I'm thankful for what the sport has given to me.

I suppose you could say I found triathlon by chance. Basically what happened was that I'd known Treetop for years; I met J; introduced Treetop to J; they got married; J's father started running marathons; Treetop and J started running and invited me to join their Akron Mary relay team. Then, they asked me to join them for the home run for the homeless 4 miler....this was 3 years ago.

That thanksgiving we ran in a blizzard. It was cold, very windy, and snowing like CRAZY. My beard was freezing around my face in a hurry. I was hooked....

Fast forward through a few road races the following summer where I met a couple folks involved in triathlon and here I am.

Here I am with plans to train for my second half-iron distance event next summer and with thoughts of IM Louisville or IM Moo in the back of my head for the summer of '09. All of the training has brought many good things to my life. I have improved my health. My outlook on life has changed.

I set goals. Long term goals. Short term goals. Athletic goals. Career goals. Personal goals. Goals that make my life more fulfilling by the act of pursuing them. I've begun to think of my life as always moving towards something great, as opposed to just moving. I used to think of life like a timeline. I was always moving forward, at a steady pace...slow and steady...day after day.

I now think of life like a mountain, and with each step I keep moving closer to that breathtaking vista. Along the trek to the top of the mountain the clouds, sun, trees, and trail allow for an occasional view, a moment of beauty and enjoyment.....but no view will be like the one at the summit. Thank you friends of endurance sport, and friends of life for pointing out this path. I'm on my way.....

Tonite at Ten...

Have you guys seen the Miller lite commercial where the newscasters fly through their broadcast and then head across the street to the bar. This post is going to be something like that, with a little more detail. If my life was newsworthy, here's what the newscasters would be saying...

I did a little running over the last week or so. 4 to 5 milers at a nice easy pace and I'm having not ITB pain, but still a little stiffness. It seems to be getting better so I'm going to plan on running a couple of days a week until the pain disapears and then I'll increase my weekly mileage. Thinking 'bout the pigskin classic on Saturday....

Sunday I got bit by a dog. On my lower lip. It is healing. It did not get infected, so I am happy. Bitch!!!

Sunday is the beginning of my tri swimming clinic (man, do I need that) so I hit the pool today for the first time in a couple of weeks. 2300 metres. I did a 500M and 1000M time trial. Not balls out, but hard. 500M = 9 min. 1000M = 18 min. give or take a few seconds on each. Haven't lost too much swimming fitness. Cool.

But I have gained 10 lbs. since the Greater Cleveland Tri in mid-August.

It will come off.

Went climbing for the first time in about a year on Monday. After a half hour of bouldering and I couldn't grab onto anything. It took me 15 minutes before I felt like I'd bouldered before. Then, my forearms were cooked. I'd like to keep climbing at least once a week over the winter.

Started some weight training. Ouch! Whilst swimming today, CSU's swim coach, who recognizes me as the slow swimming triathlete he's been seeing at the pool many an afternoon, asked me if I hurt my back or something....told me "you look a little stiff, like you're not walking like normal." Ok, so the weight room has me walking like a duck.

Monday I did my graded excercise test. Not exactly a VO2 max test, because Akron U doesn't have all the equipment. My VO2 max was estimated from the data colected, like my heart rate, blood pressure, etc.

The test went something like this...got hooked up to a shit ton of EKG's and started walking on the treadmill. Every 3 minutes the treadmill spead up and increased the slope. After 15 minutes I was @ an 18% grade or something, around 7 m.p.h. and I wasn't sure if my calves were on fire or if I was going to throw up on Julia, so I stopped. Estimated VO2 max is 58.4 ml/kg/min. I went here and estimated my VO2 max from my 5K PR last summer at 54.04.

C.C. wins the Cy Young....cool.

Tune in next time when......................






I think of something witty to write about.

A Little Data is Forthcoming

Monday I'll be taking a free VO2 max test.

Thanks J!!!

The only downfall is that this hairy triathlete has to shave his chest for the test....and I'm not exactly looking forward to that.

Red Flannel Metric Century

I woke this morning just in the nick of time to make it out to Oberlin for the Red Flannel Metric Century. This tour is put on by the Lorain Wheelmen and took us through the back roads of Lorain county. Yes, it was chilly....probably about 35 degrees when I set out on the ride. It warmed into the 40's for most of the day and I was relatively comfortable. This is in part due to the fact that I purchased some new tights yesterday to use over the colder months here in Northeast Ohio. They rock. Gore Bikewear Class action tights (chamois free) are highly recommended by me, for whatever that's worth. Yes, they were pretty expensive but my legs were comfortable all day. Even the chilly morning air wasn't leaking through to my thighs.

Most of the Red Flannel ride is on back country roads with almost no traffic. The course was very well marked. Other than a few small climbs the terrain was relatively flat. But, as the day progressed the winds picked up a bit, as one might expect. There were plenty of cookies, made from scratch, and other tasty indulgences to be had along the course. At the rest stops the volunteers served up homemade chilli, black bean soup, and warm apple cider. My stomach wasn't so happy with chilli (and a little Tabasco sauce) in the middle of a 100K, but not much would have tasted better (or been more seasonally appropriate).

As opposed to having a rolling start, most riders set off right around 9:00 a.m. so even through there was only about 250 cyclists the roads were fairly crowded with folks to ride with. One of my companions through these country roads snapped a few pics that I will post after they are e-mailed to me. I, unfortunately, left my camera in the car.....with my cue sheet, map, and chapstick.

This morning, I had my first experience of passing a rig that was traveling in the opposite direction on a 2 lane highway. The truck blew so much cold wind in my face I thought I might start rolling backwards. My chest and jacket served as a sail and I slowed almost 5 miles per hour in about one pedal stroke.

About 35 or 40 miles into the ride I was having a heck of a time buffering the lactate that was building up in my legs. After the Fall 'N' Leaf ride I took 2 weeks completely off (but worked really heard to catch up on my beer drinking), which may have been the cause. I also am wondering if the cold played much of a role. With all the climbing at the Fall 'N' Leaf I felt much stronger than I did today. My other thought is that the headwinds were tough on me, as I see many more hills than strong winds around the Cuyahoga Valley.

After the ride I stopped at the Black River Cafe in downtown Oberlin and the food was awesome!!! Organic coffee. Fresh Vegan pancakes with bananas and maple syrup from good 'ole Ohio maple trees. I had a short stack (2 pancakes) and these things were so filling!! My server told me she's never seen anyone finish a full stack of 3 cakes...which I could have done.....if I didn't also order home fries; which came with green and red peppers and onions. I was stuffed and my tab was 8 bucks!! The atmosphere in this place was great. It was a small room that was alive with chatting voices, sounding more like a sports bar on a Sunday afternoon than a restaurant. The folky rock playing from the radio in the kitchen could be heard over about one fourth of the room as could the clanking of dishes.

The floor was wood. The tables were wood. The chairs were wood. The walls were half wood and I sat at a wood bar that was opposite the windows that looked out onto the street. I picked up a new book at the bookstore across the street so I'd have something to read whilst eating.

It was a great ending to this years cycling season. Now I'm off to get some work done on my research of the feasibility of wind power as an energy source in Ohio. The good professor requires us to collect 40 sources, which.....might......take.........all..........night............

The possiblity of completing 832 IM's over a lifetime....

There was a new book recently published by Aubrey de Grey that questions the concept of aging as we know it. In a nutshell, here is what he is studying.....

Aging occurs as we lose cellular health, or the cells of our body are no longer able to reproduce new cells that work as efficiently as the old ones. There are 7 main factors, according to de Grey, that contribute to cellular health. In laymen's terms, one major factor is that there is "gunk" that accumulates in our cells over time which disrupt their ability to function optimally. So, I guess you could say the "gunk" eventually kills us. However, outside of our bodies there are known organisms that feed off of this "gunk." So, if you were to go to a cemetery the gunk is no more, because these organisms have feasted on it and eaten it all up (kinda like myself with a pint of ice cream). So, in order to live many, many, many years all we have to figure out how to do is introduce this organism into our living body to feast on this gunk.....and then we can live for say.....1000 years.

Ok, where do I sign up???

The Washington Post published an article about de Grey and his book "ENDING AGING" yesterday that you can link to here.