Finished

Here's my finish line photo from today's Honu half ironman. I think I look a little dehydrated.

Island Magic

I am hoping the magical powers of the islands will speed my recovery. That along with the hand full of cold meds I'm popping every few hours. At any rate, it is fantastic to be back and I am really looking forward to the race tomorrow, feeling crappy or not.

That's Sick

Ellen has been sick the past week and I really thought I may have avoided the dreaded plague but this morning I awoke with a scratchy throat. So tomorrow I'm leaving for the Big Island and I am going to be "that guy" who is sitting on the plane coughing on everybody. I am preparing myself for the sink eye.

Bad Ticker

I was shocked when Cook called yesterday to inform me Nick "the Wad" Boyer suffered a heart attack the other day. Fortunately he is OK. Nick had just finished a workout at his gym when his arms went numb. He told the the staff to call 911 and one coronary stint and an Rx of Plavix later he seems to be on the mend. Nick is a lucky guy. Next week he was off to Africa for a vacation. If he had is heart attack there, well he probably would have been sh*t out of luck. The two things I remember most about the Wad was his claims of athletic prowess (he once bet Cook he could leg press 1,100 lbs) and for passing out on a park bench after drinking all night before the Keauhou-Kona Triathlon.

Row, row, row your boat

Adventurer Roz Savage left San Francisco this morning bidding to be the first woman to ROW solo across the Pacific. Her trip is planned to take 3 years and her first stop will be Hawaii. You can follow her progress on her website. I can hardly imagine the grueling hardship she will endure spending month after month on the open ocean. I wonder how many times she will sing "100 bottles of beer on the wall." Like Roz, I too will be traveling to Hawaii this week for the Hono Half Ironman. I will suffer the grueling hardship of traveling on United Airlines.

The Sea Was Angry

Well, not really too bad. Today was our annual battle- SB Tri Club vs. UCSB Triathlon Team. We met out at East Beach for a little swim-run competition. The Gauchos whooped us pretty badly. Ahh, to be 20 and fast again. I swam for our team, and as I churned away in the cold, choppy water, I couldn't help but think of one of my favorite Seinfeld moments.

Nice Save

I don't know if you are aware my buddy Fred Maggiore rides cycles, both motor and pedal power. I caught this video of Fred. Looks like Tuesday night track workouts are paying off. Nice save!

http://view.break.com/505730 - Watch more free videos

Tri Geek or Nerd?

Are you a Tri Geek or Nerd?
1. A Geek wears his body marking number days after the race. A Nerd knows there were exactly 753 finishers, and he finished 9th out of 93 in his age group.
2. A Geek prefers to drink from a water bottle, even at dinner time. A Nerd painstakingly monitors his fluid intake, making sure his urine is pale yellow at all times.
3. A Geek uses his race wheels on group rides. A Nerd knows his wheels are 5% more aerodynamic than a 32 spoke wheel.
4. A Geek fantasizes he is Lance Armstrong, the yellow jersey king of the bike path. A nerd knows Lance Armstrong can hold 450 watts over an one hour time trial.

I think I am a Geek/Nerd hybrid, slightly more nerd. 67.3% to 32.7% to be exact.

A Relaxing Swim

If you think the swim at Nite Moves can get pretty crazy, take a look at the recent 2008 Open Water World Championships. Open water swimming is the newest contact sport for the upcoming Olympics.

Bullseye

Lately while I've been riding I feel like I must have some sort of bullseye painted on my back. I ride solo mostly, and lately random cyclists will come racing past me, legs pumping, taking a quick glance to see if I respond to the chase or am dropped. I never peruse, content with enjoying my ride. Most of the time they ride off into the distance, no doubt satisfied they are the new leader of the Giro de Santa Barbara. Sometimes I will creep back up to them, slowly pass, only to have them once again launch a furious attack. At that point I will purposely find a different route, slightly annoyed. Cook says that's the roadie mentality. I say definitely too much Cyclism Sunday.

Fear of Heights?

I found this video on Jasper Blake's Blog. "The Best Trail Run I've ever Done" I think this belongs in the new Indiana Jones movie.

My New Mug

My running friend, George, made me this mug with a little picture of me running. How cool it that!

My Next New Sport

After my weekly torture session with Mike and Rusty, I was able to spend the rest of the morning on my SUP. Absolutely a great day. Even ran into K. Moore on the water. Now I have found an intriguing new sport and am itching to give it a try.

I love this Place

And now you know why.

The Cube

If you watch this summer's Olympic games you are going to see a lot of this building. It's the 150 million dollar Beijing Aquatic Center, "the Cube". It is patrolled by the Beijing Hospitality Committee. They are a lot like the greeters at WalMart. Except this guys pack guns and have bad attitudes. At WalMart, they just have the attitude.

One Wheel is enough

I have enough problems staying upright on two wheels. This guy only needs one. Tomorrow I'll show you a one legged runner...

Dr. Livingstone, I presume?

I never knew much about that famous phrase. Now I do. Back in the 18 and early 1900's explorers and adventurers were the international superstars of the day. Stanley and Livingstone were about as big as you get. They were two gnarly dudes.

Race within the Race

It pays to be fast. Especially if you are Duncan Thomas. Duncan just told me he received a sponsorship offer from Blue Seventy so he'll be sporting the new swim skin and swimming really fast at the Honu Half in a couple of weeks. You see, Duncan and I have an on going battle of swim splits. What usually happens is I swim like mad and try and hold off Duncan on the bike as long as possible until he sign posts me on his way to some record setting race. At Wildflower, I was victorious at the 1.2mile swim/ 2 mile bike race. I won a bowl of Duncan's wife's, Terry, famous shortbread cookies for that effort. So Duncan receives sponsorships, and I get cookies, and to tell you the truth I think I get the better end of that deal.

Don't be this Guy

This is T Motion's new T- Zero jacket with a handy zipper to make body marking a little easier. OK, I'm sorry, but if you wear this you have reached a new level of geekdom. It will totally go with your Ironman ankle tattoo.

Macca Attacked!

What is awesome about this video is not Macca's surge to victory at this year's 08 Wildflower Triathlon, it's the woman mountain bike sprint finisher trying to run him down while he is celebrating down the finishing line. I think she would have got him if not for a race official pulling her aside. She was really going for it. Also, another moment of awesomeness is you can see my silver truck parked on the side of the road at minute 3:15.

Mr. Wizard

This just goes to show you how screwed up the State of Florida is: A teacher preformed a magic trick for his class then was later fired for practicing wizardry. After reading this I had to go for a long run. People are idiots.

Vittoria Pit Stop

I got this tip from cagey veteran Duncan Thomas. Vittoria Pit Stop seals punctures and inflates all in one step, eliminating the need to carry a spare tube or sewup during a race. This is great for me since I have found it near impossible to remove a flatted sewup from my race wheel during the heat of competition. Both a time and weight saver. Can't beat that!

Big Cookie Award

I decided to create a new award for Wildflower for those foolish enough to big ring it all the way thru the bike. And the winner is ... Me!

Big Ring Madness

My finely tuned machine was as tuned as I expected when I found I couldn't shift from my little ring to the big ring without getting off the bike and using the old finger shifter. After climbing beach hill at yesterday's Wildflower long course I decided to see if I could big ring it thru the entire bike. There were times I thought I was really doing some damage to myself, but I managed to finish and hobble thru the run. Next time given a choice I think I stick with the little ring.

Ready for Battle

I think I set a record for most accessories attached to a race bike.

Off to Wildflower I Go!

Off to the Wildflower Triathlon tomorrow . Wildflower was my first triathlon in the early 90's. That is when the long course had a whopping 300 entries! Over the years it has grown to be one of the largest triathlons ever. It has lost much of the appeal for me and I have not competed for several years. Duncan Thomas talked me into it this year. I've raced Wildflower when I've been in tremendous shape and have really suffered. Today, not so fit, so I can only surmise it is going to be utterly ghastly. Pray for me.

Eat Well

"You eat like you are on chemotherapy!" That's what Ellen always tells me, probably due to my penchant for pounding down a liquid meal or eating some sort of bar in lieu of eating real food. So in an attempt to improve my diet, I am now under the care of Besty Markle of Sunshine Wellness. I'll let you know how it's going.