The Deadly Sport

This just in. Triathlons are deadly. Over twice as deadly as marathons. This latest study shows 15 out of one million participants will die in a triathlon. Usually during the swim. Check out this site to see the odds of other ways to die. It is a dangerous world out there. Better stay at home. Unless you slip and fall in the bathtub.

Day 88 of Ironman- Bike, 4.5 hours followed by a torture session with Erica, the Dominatrix.
Day 89- Long Run, 3 hours, bike, 1.5 hours

Spring has Sprung

Nothing better than a little Santa Barbara springtime. It is definitely a dog's life.

Day 86 of Ironman- core work at the gym, 30 min run
Day 87- Masters swim, 45 min run

My Tired Brain

Do you ever wonder why you feel like crap while exercising after a hard day at work? Is your body just tired or could it be something else? A recent study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology studies the relationship of mental fatigue and exercise endurance. You can read a summary here while I go take a nap.

Day 84 of Ironman- Core work at the gym, 1:50 run, moderate pace
Day 85- Masters swim, Bike- Up to La Cumbre peak, keeping in aerobars a much as possible.

More Hoop Action

This is exactly why white guys should not try to jump.

Day 82 of Ironman- 6.5 hour bike, in the rain, cold, and wind.
Day 83- masters swim

Like a Rolling Cheese

Another crazy sport by those crazy Brits. I talked about Shin Kicking a while back, now here is another one- Cheese Rolling. The winner is the first to chase down a wheel of cheese rolled down a ridiculously steep hill. Breaking your neck is optional. Doesn't the Final Four seem rather boring now?

Day 77 of Ironman- Rest Day!
Day 78- masters swim
Day 79- 50 min run, moderately hard, core work at the gym, 1.5 hr bike
Day 80- masters swim, PM- 1:15 bike including 3x20 minute intervals holding increasing HR
Day 81- 5.5 hour bike, 30 minute run

Hydration

Dehydration is the bane of the endurance athlete. Unfortunately this is my cross to bear. I sweat. Not a little perspiration on the brow. I'm talking crazy sweat. Drenching head to toe kind of sweat. Just ask my running partners what I look like after a workout. With sweating comes dehydration. With dehydration comes cramping. I specialize in the simultaneous hammy and quad cramps. It makes running the marathon in an ironman race quite interesting. I am the Tin Man after a rain storm. Besides logging the miles to prepare for an ironman race, I train myself to drink. Thirsty or not. Cold or hot. So raise your glass with me. Have a drink.

Day 76 of Ironman- masters swim

Just Fix it

This is my fixey. I bought it a few years ago, a novelty to tootle around town. A fixey is a fixed gear bicycle. One gear. No free wheel. No coasting. To go, you spin. To stop, you stop spinning. A true fixey has no brakes, making it quite exciting if you find yourself careening towards on coming traffic. A fixey is not for the faint of heart. This is why I was quite surprised to find a fixey descending the Harris Grade at this weekend's Solvang Century. As I started my decent down this 6%, 2 mile stretch, I noticed a man furiously pumping his legs. As we approached 40 mph, his legs were a blur, an out of control egg beater. My God, I thought, he is on a fixey! I was mesmerized. Will he crash? Will his legs fall off leaving him a just a bloody torso? When we reached the flats, I pulled up beside him. "I salute you Mr. Fixey of the Solvang Century." That was the most impressive athletic feat I've seen in a while.

Day 70 of Ironman-2 hr bike, moderate effort
Day 71- AM, Masters swim
Day 72- run, 1 hour
Day 73- Masters swim
Day 74- Solvang Century, steady effort, followed by a 30 min run
Day 75- Run- 6 miles on track, 145 HR, 2 hour bike

In the Surf

These are not your average surf pictures. If you have a few minutes check out the work of photographer Clark Little. Clark makes his living spending time in the shore pounding surf and comes out with some incredible shots. Isn't the ocean wonderful.

Day 69 of Ironman- Day off, too pooped out!

It's in your genes

100 meter dash or marathoner. Would you DNA test your baby to see which sports they will excel? The test is available for $149 from Boulder based Atlas Sports Genetics. It seems to me this all seems to work out on its own. Isn't that all part of the fun and challenge of growing up? You don't need a DNA test for that. Now, I did have a DNA test preformed on my dog Lilo, but you are going to have to wait to hear the rest of that story.

Day 65 of Ironman- AM- 1:15 hr run, core work at the gym, PM- 1 hour run
Day 66- Masters Swim
Day 67- 4 hr bike
Day 68- brick- 4 hr bike, 1 hr run
I'm beat!

Li Wei

Chinese artist Li Wei does some pretty interesting work. He does not use any computer manipulation of his images. All his shots are accomplished with mirrors, hidden wires, and his athletic skill from being a former gymnast. You can check out his web site HERE.

Day 63 of Ironman- AM- Computrainer workout, 1:15 hr, including:
5 x 10-minute BIG GEAR intervals as such…
6-min @ 135HR @ 60RPM seated aero-bar “grinding”.
3-min @ 140HR @ 60RPM standing up pedaling.
1-min @ 150+HR @ 90-100RPM seated upright
Each 10-minute round is followed 2-minutes of soft-pedaling at 120> HR
PM: Core work at the gym, Masters Swim

Day 64- AM: Masters Swim, PM: Bike, 1hr, including 8x 20 seconds Tabata Sprints

Don't Judge Me

The now defunct Ameriquest Mortgage's tag line was "Don't Judge too quickly. We won't." I find that ironic considering their loose lending practices led to their untimely demise. They did however, make some pretty funny commercials, and everybody knows I like all things funny.

Day 62 of Ironman- AM- Masters swim, PM- 30 minute jog

To the Hills

It was off to the hills today for a quick run up to La Cumbre Peak. Maybe it wasn't so quick. I was out there for almost 5 hours! I followed it up with a short spin on the bike then a visit to Ericka, my massage therapist/dominatrix.

Day 58 of Ironman- AM- 1 hour hard tempo bike, core work at the gym, PM- 1:15 run
Day 59- AM- Masters swim, PM- 30 minute jog
Day 60- AM- 3 hour bike, pretty intense, 2 hr run
Day 61- AM- 5 hour run/hike, 1 hour bike spin

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