Mr. Mom

My buddy Cookie just missed out on the glory taking 2nd place in the Amgen time trial last weekend. Cookie, playing Mr. Mom since the birth of his son, Braedon, shows that pushing a baby jogger can be pretty good cross training.

Day 57 of Ironman- 1 hour bike workout, including "Tabata Sprints" made famous by Chuckie V.

I got the point

This is the exact reason why I always get a bit nervous when they practice the javelin while I'm running a track workout. On the other hand, this video makes me reminisce of the good ol' days playing lawn darts in the backyard with my buds when I was a kid.

Day 55 of Ironman- Masters swim, 40 minute run
Day 56- 50 minute run, core work and shoulder rehab at the gym

On Track

Great mental strength or weakness of mind. I have to wonder what it really takes to train for an ironman race. Training is just a series of repetitive movements done over and over, for hours at a time. And let's face it, even an ironman race itself is pretty boring stuff. The only real excitement comes only when the gun goes off and when you cross the finish line. Last Friday I spent the afternoon running on the track. 8 miles, 32 mind numbing laps of collecting heart rate and pace information all so I can raise my arms in mock victory come June.

Day 51 of Ironman- double bike, AM-1:15 hr, PM- 1:30hr
Day 52- Track workout- 2 mile warmup, 6 miles holding 140 HR, recording mile pace, then 2x 1mile holding best pace, recording HR, 1 mile warm down
Day 53- 4 hour bike, holding Ironman effort
Day 54- 6 hour bike. mostly relaxed

Bad to the Bone

There is an interesting article in the LA Times relating loss of bone mass and density and cyclists. It seems the low impact nature of cycling makes avid cyclists, both amateur and professional, at risk for bone injuries if they don't do any type of cross training. Like everything in life, it is best to mix it up once in a while.

Tour de France veteran Michael Rasmussen doesn't look like he does much cross training.

Day 49 of Ironman- AM: 45 minute run, 30 minutes at 145 HR
PM: Core work and shoulder rehab at the gym, 67 minute secret Chuckie V workout
Day 50- AM: masters swim

Figge's Folly

Well, the true facts are coming out on our friend Jennifer Figge's record breaking Atlantic swim. Apparently, Ms. Figge swam 19 out of the 25 days it took for her boat to make the crossing. She swam as much as 8 hours in one day, but also as little as 21 minutes. The rest of the time she relaxed on the boat. They estimated she swam 200 to 250 miles. On her best day, aided by a strong current, Figge covered 25 miles. Ironically after finishing her swim, Figge's boat sank while leaving Tobago. All were safely rescued so Figge lives to swim another day. 200 miles is still a long way to swim so I guess I do give her some credit for that accomplishment.

Day 48 of Ironman- Masters Swim

Number 80

Today was a special day. Ol' Vince turned 80 and I had the pleasure to spend the afternoon in Santa Maria with my father-in-law. I touched on Vince's expertise on all things medical here and here, but that only gleans the surface of Vince's curiosities. Vince fancies himself as quite the horticulturist, a gardener extraordinaire, the keeper of the Santa Maria Botanic Gardens. His backyard is his domain.Vince hopes for a big harvest from his plum tree. "It just needed a little trimming."

Vince developed a new variety of tomato called "pea tomatoes".

He keeps everything thriving by liberally spreading around his special "compost" which consists of random pieces of vegetable matter, egg shells, and just about anything else he scraps off his dinner plate.

Vince controls weeds by using this old shower door. He moves it around his backyard smothering out those nasty invaders.

These trash cans collect rain water for plant irrigation. During the summer, they serve as mosquito farms. If there is an outbreak of West Nile virus in Santa Maria, you'll know why.


After a hard day, Vince will often sun himself on his deck.
Happy 80th Vince!

Day 46 of Ironman- Brick day- 3.5hr bike, 45min run. First 30 minutes run hard.
Day 47- 75min run, a little sore from yesterday's brick

Stinky Shoe

I've been a little depressed with all the rainy weather when a friend suggested I should try Bikram Yoga. "Oh, I've tried Bikram Yoga..." Then I went off into a bit of a rant. For those who are not familiar, Bikram Yoga is preformed in a super heated room. Yoga in a sauna. The heat makes you nice and loose so you can contort yourself into all those unnatural positions. Except there are 30 other people in the room with you. Sweating, dripping, stinking. Yoga in an old, hot, stinky shoe. There is a nice carpet which absorbs your sweat, along with the sweat from the past 50 classes. Yoga in a petri dish. As the class went off into their crazy yoga breathing, I hallucinated I was back in Nam. POW in solitary, in a black box, baking in the sun. Only a black box would be too nice. I was trapped in that old stinky shoe. This is what John McCain must have endured. But I am no maverick, so I left. Fresh Santa Barbara air never felt so good. If this sounds appealing, you can check it out here.

Day 45 of Ironman- Easy swim, Easy bike. This was the last day of my rest cycle.

Atlantic Swim

Another record setter. 56 year old Jennifer Figge becomes the first women to swim the Atlantic. Figge left the Cape Verde Islands off Africa’s western coast battling 30 foot waves, swam 2,100 miles, reaching a beach in Trinidad in 19 days. 19 DAYS?! I'm sorry Ms Figge but that is impossible. You're telling me you swam 110 miles a day? Did you use some crazy current like the turtles used in Finding Nemo?

Day 44 of Ironman: Easy Swim

The Ecomony Explained

In honor of the newly passed stimulus package I had to break out this classic Calvin and Hobbs.

Day 43 of Ironman- Run 1:15

Apparitions

I have always scoffed when people are amazed when an apparition of the Virgin Mary appears on a piece of toast:Or Jesus appears on a door:

I was always skeptical until I came upon this:

Because everybody knows I worship all things canine. You can read all about it here.

Day 42 of Ironman- Rest day!

Quiz for the Day

A 66 year old man called 911 while at his local Burger King to report:
A) a robbery
B) a medical emergency
C) The restaurant ran out of lemonade
hint: this took place in Florida
Answer HERE

Day 41 of Ironman: Masters Swim

Globe Trotting

Do you remember the days when just running a marathon was good enough? Dean Karnazes ran 50 marathons in 50 consecutive days in 50 states. A few days ago, Irishman Richard Donavan completed seven marathons in five consecutive days on seven continents. Donavan logged a staggering 26,700 air miles zig-zagging the globe in pursuit of his marathon goal, thus establishing an individual world record for the production of green house gasses.

Day 38 of Ironman- Masters Swim, 1 hour bike
Day 39- 4.5 hours computrainer, 45 min run
Day 40- 3.5 hour hike, 1 hour bike

Summer time fun

There is a battle brewing in Santa Barbara. Nite Moves vs. Reef & Run. Nite Moves has been a Wednesday evening Santa Barbara tradition for years. Ocean swim, run or both. Race, have a brew, talk story with your buds. Reef and Run will offer similar events and be held at East Beach on Tuesday nights. Who will reign supreme? We'll find out this summer. The tension between race organizers is already heating up. This is going to be good.

Day 37 of Ironman- Computrainer workout, 1 hour
5-minutes @ 65RPM seated in aero-bars @ 140HR
5-minutes @ 60RPM standing up @ 145HR
5-minutes of seated upright spinning @ 100RPM @ 135HR
3 times thru

Getting Aero

Several people asked me what exact changes I made to my bike set up. When Chuckie first evaluated me he had me hop on the trainer and ride for a while. His initial impression was I was a bit too stretched out. He wanted my elbows at more of a 90 degree bend. I've been suffering over the past few years with the old man lower back ache and Chuckie surmised my position was probably contributing to the problem. Things can change a bit on the road so Chuckie followed me around snapping pictures to comfirm his diagnosis. Chuckie suggested a shorter stem and aerobars I could adjust the pads further back. I settled on the Profile T2+Cobra and the Profile Cobra Wing Base Bar. I changed from a 100mm stem to a 90mm. I also raised my seat around 5mm, and voila!, I went from Quasimodo to having a nice flat, aero back, just like a table top, which comes in very handy for Chuckie since he likes to use it to place his glass of Merlot when we ride around the SYV.

Day 35 of Ironman- AM secret workout, 1:20 minutes of hell, PM core work and shoulder rehab at the gym.
Day 36- 1:30 run with 2x15 second all out sprints.

Old Dog, New tricks

Let's face it, I'm an old dog. I've been competing in triathlons for 20 years now and I admit I can be a little nonplussed when it comes to the sport. That is why I need to shake it up once in a while. I usually go for a gadget; new heart rate monitor, gps, race wheels, you get the idea. This year, Chuckie V has been helping me shake up my cycling. Our first task, evaluate and refine my bike position. With a change of aerobars and stem I went from this:
To this:The goal is to be both as aero and as comfortable as possible. We'll be tweaking things along the way but I think we're 95% there.

Day 29 of Ironman- Double run day- 1 hour am. 30 minutes pm, core work at the gym
Day 30- Masters Swim
Day 31- AM 2 hour run, PM 1.5 hour bike
Day 32- Brick day- 4.5 bike, 30 min run
Day 33- Masters Swim