Recently in Triathlon Category

Monday, August 16 marked the final game of the Madison Mallards' baseball season, and I was lucky enough to attend it with a few of my best friends. While I only made it to four or five games this year, this one may have been the best of them all - the weather was perfect, the game was good, I had good company, and we sat in the Duck Blind (a seating section that's all inclusive of food and drink).

Here I am with Dan and Tara - we took this picture at around 6:00pm (the game started at 7:00pm). The sun was setting, the temperature was in the low-70s, and there wasn't a hint of humidity to be found - it was so perfect.

Mark (my friend from work) was due to arrive closer to 7:00pm; he was stuck at work and was slightly delayed (traffic didn't help - seemed as though everyone was trying to get out and about on this nice evening). So, with time to spare, we did a little "shopping" - with the final game of the season, the Mallards sell some of the items from the stadium (namely signage and trinkets). I was able to score two small signs for $15 - I figure I'll find a place to put them in the apartment.

They had a bunch of really great other things available - Dan had his eye on a couple of larger signs but we figured it would be difficult to lug the signs around all night, so he passed. We made our way back to the Duck Blind and waited for the game to start. Mark arrived in the meantime, so the gang was all there. Here's what the field looked like from our seats:

And one last picture - the gang's all here, and obviously enjoying themselves:

In other news, I ran another half-marathon today (Saturday, August 21). It was the second annual Madison Mini Marathon; I saw it last year but didn't register in time to race in it (it has sold out both years), so this year I made sure to register early. They limited registration to 4400 runners - apparently my early registration worked as I received bib #132.

I was nervous about this race as my legs have been absolutely trashed lately - no energy, no stamina, and just sore all of the time. I'd tried everything to help with recovery - extra protein, extra carbs, extra stretching, massage, recovery supplements, but none were doing me any good. I did a long run last weekend and hated every second of it, so the thought of pounding out 13.1 miles had me worried - I figured I'd run the race, hope to finish, and not care about how I placed.

As luck/fate would have it, I saw a few of my "fellow teammates" from the Madison-Chicago 200 race - I ran into them about 5 minutes prior to the start and it was great to catch-up with them, even if it was only for 2-3 minutes.

On a side note, I'm always amazed by how inconsiderate so many people are... prior to running into Heidi, Kim, and Anja, I saw a guy trying to start the race... with his DOG. I mean seriously?! You're going to try to run a half-marathon with your dog in tow? Nevermind that the rules clearly state: "no pets allowed on the course" - let's use some common sense, ok?

A race official tried to kindly remind the gentleman that dogs weren't allowed on the course, and the guy threw a fit. He huffed and puffed about it, and then ran off (probably to his car, and I hope he didn't leave the dog in it) while screaming obscenities at the race official... crikey - the more I encounter people, the more I like animals... I wish the race official would've let the dog run the race without the owner. Holy cats (or dogs).

Well, the race started promptly at 7:00am (on Langdon Street, near the Memorial Union) and I took off, along with 4000 other people.

We ran "up" Langdon, around the capitol, down State Street, past the Kohl Center, through the Arboretum, around the UW-Hospital area, and back to the Memorial Union. Surprisingly, I felt pretty good - at about the 12-mile mark my left knee started to feel a little funky, but it wasn't anything unusual, so I picked-up the pace a bit and tried to finish strong.

My time was a semi-disappointing 1:52:38, for an average pace of 8:32/mile. My last half-marathon time was 1:53:something, so while I improved a bit, it wasn't what I had hoped for. Although, given the condition of my legs prior to the race I guess I can't complain too much.

In the end, my time was good for 773 overall - which put me in the top 20% for finishers. I picked-up my finishers medal, grabbed a bottle of water and then made my way home. The place was a zoo - there was a huge party afterward, complete with the customary "post-race beer" that seems to be so standard here in Wisconsin... beer? after a race? at 9:00am? No thanks.

Upon arriving home, I decided to head over to the pool to soak for a bit, with the hope that the cool water would help my legs recover a bit. So, I went to the pool, gently swam for about 20 minutes, and then went home. The pool water wasn't all that cool, so I fired-up an ice bath at home - ran the tub as cold as it would get and then poured a 20-lb bag of ice into the tub.

(for the squeamish, I was still wearing my swimming suit while in the tub - I figured the suit would help insulate me a bit... it didn't, by the way - it was still incredibly cold)

So, all-in-all, not a bad race... here's my customary "race gear" picture - note the hole that I wore in my favorite Smartwool running socks. :-(

I spent the rest of the afternoon resting on the couch, wearing my compression gear and elevating my feet. I think I'm going to head over to the Sun Prairie Corn Fest for a bit - I was supposed to go with Jed but I just found out that he can't make it, so I'll be flying solo. :-(

Don't really have any good, concise stories to share so I'll just do a brain-dump of sorts... we'll start with training, eating, and recovering.

It's no secret that I probably have some type of eating disorder... I love food - looooove food. And I really seem to love the foods that are just awful for me - donuts, cookies, cupcakes, fish fry, fritters, popcorn, and peanut M&Ms all come to mind as some of my favorite "binge" foods. Without exaggerating in the slightest, I could easily eat a dozen donuts in a sitting, or 5-6 huge cookies, or pounds of deep fried fish.

So I force myself to stay away from these foods, but about once a week, the cravings get the most of me, and I go on a massive food bender. I track every single thing that I eat on Livestrong, and after a day of pigging out, it'll be nothing for me to have consumed 7,500 calories. Not real smart, and not real good for me...

I then get angry with myself and vow to stop eating badly, and along with the internal lashing that I dole to myself, I crank-up my training efforts while becoming extremely strict with my diet for the rest of the week. Immediately following my binge day, I'll usually do a massive "brick" workout (60+ miles on the bike, followed by 10+ miles running) with the hope that by spending 5 hours working out I'll undo some of the damage that my pig-out caused.

And that leads to over-training, which leads to me being ridiculously sore, which when combined with the low calorie intake for the rest of the week leads to me wanting to eat more to help with recovery, and thus the cycle repeats itself. I can't give myself time to recover because I know that a binge is just around the corner, and so I'm always in a state of hurt... In an effort to treat the hurt and to aid recovery, I use all sorts of "crutches" - recovery drinks (glutamine/protein/carb blends), compression gear, glucosamine supplements, and so on. Rather than treat the symptoms, I need to address the issue and get back into a more realistic regimen.

I've gone back and looked at my old training and diet logs and discovered that as soon as I started to ramp-up my running (to 8+ miles per day), my binges became more frequent and severe. My theory is that running 50+ miles a week while eating around 800 calories per day for 6-days out of the week must deplete something and cause an imbalance of some sorts (highly technical terms, I know), which leads to my monstrous cravings for really bad food.

Prior to the 50+ mile/weeks, I was able to manage my diet really well. I didn't have such crazy cravings and I was able to be responsible. So, after this season's racing is over (I have a few big-distance races remaining), I'm going to rollback my running to around 4 miles per day.

With any luck, that'll help with the cravings, will cause me to eat more responsibly, will ease my overtraining pains (my back is a wreck, and my knees/hip flexors are always killing me), and should result in an all-around better situation. I'll still try to maintain a 800-1000 calorie/day diet, but by reducing my mileage it should be easier to manage over the long-term.

Granted, I won't be in "half-marathon" form all year round, but I'll definitely be in "easy 10K" form, which will allow me to get back up to a half-marathon with 5-6 weeks of training should the need arise. I'm also going to pack on more biking miles, because biking seems to be a lot easier on the body than the 50+ mile running schedule.

We'll see how it goes.

Changing gears to topic #2...

As I didn't have to work this weekend, I took a trip to some of the local farmers markets, as well as a trip out toward Black Earth for some sweet corn. I stumbled across this family farm that has the absolute best sweet corn I've ever had in my life - it's literally like candy - you can eat it 100% raw and it's still unreal.

I bought 4 ears of this heavenly sweet corn for an unbelievable $1.50. The folks that run the stand are super nice and very knowledgeable - I asked a bunch of dumb questions about the differences between sweet corn and "field corn" and they happily shared their knowledge with me. I also asked how many acres they tend to and how much of it is sweet corn vs. field corn; they pointed to the field 5 yards from where I was standing and said that they usually plant their sweet corn "within" the field corn.

They go "about 9 rows in" and plant "3-4 rows" of sweet corn, which they then harvest completely by hand. They can pick about 100 ears per hour per person, and they pick it each day, early in the morning. The corn that I bought came from this very field just earlier in the morning:

From Black Earth I made my way back to Madison where I hit a few farmer's markets. I scored some Bison tenderloins, some locally grown chicken, dirt-grown tomatoes, organic mushrooms, and some freshly made pretzel rolls. I scoured the markets for some asparagus, but alas there was none to be found. Oh well, I still had the makings for a really nice dinner... but what to have for dessert? How about grilled peaches? I stopped by Brennan's and grabbed a peach and a pint of blueberries (for morning cereal use).

I roasted the mushrooms, along with some Penzey's Spices California Pepper for a flavor boost.

While the mushrooms were roasting, I brought a pot of water to a boil for the sweet corn and also preheated the grill. While those were coming up to temperature, I made a glaze for my peach - I took 1.5 ounces of Appleton Estates 12-year spiced rum, stirred in a tablespoon of brown sugar, and reduced it over medium-high heat for about 10 minutes. I finished it with a touch of local honey and left it to simmer, until I had about 2 tablespoons of liquid left.

I salted and peppered the Bison and threw it on the grill for a total of 6 minutes, which brought it to an otherworldly medium rare (123F). I let the bison rest as I boiled the sweet corn and sliced a tomato. I cut the pretzel roll in half, warmed it in the oven for a few seconds, and was ready to dig-in:

6 ounces of grilled Bison tenderloin = 200 calories
6 ounces of roasted cremini mushrooms = 60 calories
1 large ear of boiled sweet corn w/ butter spray = 180 calories
1 pretzel roll = 190 calories
1 medium tomato with Mrs. Dash salt-free seasoning = 33 calories
Total calories = 663 calories

A little more than I would've liked to have eaten, but I (you guessed it) rode and ran a lot today, so I'll be OK. I washed it all down with a Diet Root Beer from Point Brewery (man, that's some awesome root beer), and then dug into my dessert - a glazed and grilled peach with 1 tablespoon of my brown sugar/rum/honey glaze (total 179 calories):

So, even with my monumental dinner feast, I'm still sitting at 1,278 total calories consumed for the day (Recoverite formula following my workout; cereal + protein drink for lunch; and then this dinner), with 3,812 calories burned.

Changing gears again: I saw the movie Inception with Leonardo DiCaprio, and while it was decent, it was incredibly long. I found myself wishing it was over after about 2 hours. Yes, it's intelligent and really well produced, but it got old after a bit; or at least it did for me. I did get to watch it at one of the best movie theaters ever, the Sundance 608 theater at Hilldale. That place is awesome - reserved seating, always nice, perfect sound, and a more mature crowd.

Shifting again: I bought Apple TV for the apartment. I figured that since I don't have cable, I could justify spending a few bucks on the Apple TV unit and renting a season of Man V. Food in HD - the unit and season rental cost about what 2 months of cable would cost...

The Apple TV unit is pretty neat - it allows you to upload all of your iTunes and MP3 files to it, so it not only plays movies and TV shows, it'll play your music as well. It also has a photo album system for your pictures and a bunch of other things. It's pretty nifty and despite only being 720p resolution, the image it produces is fantastic.

And finally, to bring it all home, I finally finished mounting my TV and soundbar, and I believe the apartment is about 99% set-up. I'm not totally crazy about this arrangement, but it seems to work:

That's it for now. I'm sitting on the couch with the windows open, enjoying the nicer weather (71F, low humuggity), watching a really dumb show on ABC, reading Men's Journal, and crafting this blog entry. I'll catch you later this week.

Greetings and apologies for not having updated the blog in some time - things have been quite busy, between work, training, and weekend activities (which have not included fish frys - sorry again).

I just got back from a quick run down to Chicago, and boy are my feet tired. (insert rim-shot and cymbal crash)

But seriously, I really did run (by foot) to Chicago this weekend! I was invited to participate in the Madison-to-Chicago-200 or "MC200" race by one of my coworkers, Karl. Karl is the Director of our Enterprise Architecture and Security group and an avid runner. He's also a details-oriented-and-loves-an-extreme-challenge type of guy, so he decided to form a relay team to participate in the MC200. AND he's also one of the best people I've ever met - super helpful, very thoughtful, intelligent, funny, and just plain "nice." (He's also leaving our company to start his own venture - I wish him the very best, and I know he'll do great with his new opportunity!)

The MC200 race is a team-based relay event that covers 200+ miles of continuous running over a single 30-hour block of time. Teams are categorized by a variety of methods - there are "ultra groups" that consist of teams with six (6) or fewer total runners, there are "masters groups" that consist of teams that have an minimum age of 50 or older, there are "corporate teams" that consist of teams where all members work for the same company, and finally, there are "mixed groups," which is where our group landed - we had nine (9) men and women of all ages, and we didn't all work for the same company. The maximum number of runners that any team can have is limited to twelve (12).

Our race venture began about 3 months ago when Karl reached out to us on an individual basis to determine if we would be interested in running with him in the MC200. I jumped at the chance and within a week or two, Karl had assembled a small group of runners. We had our first conference call as a group, introduced ourselves, talked about the event, and contemplated some initial strategy and support options.

On paper, the event seems daunting - begin the race at the Sheraton Hotel on John Nolen Drive in Madison, WI and finish the race some 205-miles and 30-hours later at the Monterey Beach Park in Chicago, IL. Things get even more complex and challenging from there... with 36-hand-off points (relay or transition areas), we had to make sure that the appropriate runner was at the correct transition area by a certain time so that the incoming runner could hand-off the "baton" to the outgoing runner; we had to make sure that runners had time to recover, eat, rest, use the bathroom, shower, and so on.

Our vans had to know where to go, when to be there, how long to wait, who to pick-up, who to drop-off, and a whole lot more. We had a crew of nine (9) runners and zero (0) dedicated drivers/crew members/support staff, so that introduced another challenge - as runners, we not only had to worry about the actual running, racing, recovery, eating, resting, and other stuff; we also had to take turns driving and navigating our way to the various transition areas.

Thankfully, Karl is quite literally a genius and master organizer, so he made quick work of the logistics. Within no time, we had spreadsheets with our race segment assignments, van transition schedules, and so on. Karl was able to calculate how long it would take each runner to complete each of their race segments (segments varied in length from 3.10 miles to 8.77 miles); he then assembled a van rotation plan so that runners were in the right place at the right time, and then figured out how long each van could remain "inactive" so that we could grab some rest. It was an impressive effort to say the least, and our race went off without (well nearly) a hitch!!

We were thrown a curve at the last minute when two of our original team members dropped out of the race with less than a week before the start. Talk about a frustrating and scary situation - we were faced with the threat of having to race with only 8 people (our team originally had 10 runners); our miles were going to increase dramatically, as we "lost" about 40-miles worth of "segments" by losing those two runners.

We were fortunate enough to secure a new team member for our team, which took our total to 9 runners; each of us would average approximately 23 miles of running. Our "new" team met via a final conference call on Wednesday night (1.5 days before the race was due to start).

So now that you have some background information, let's dig-in and find out how the race went!

Thursday, June 10, 2010 - 10:00pm - Middleton, WI

Preparation for the event is critical. Training was just one thing to worry about; there were logistical things to consider: changes of clothing, managing dirty clothing, nutrition, sleeping gear, safety equipment, recovery gear, and so on.

I was assigned to run four segments of the race for a total of 24.35 miles. This meant I'd need to plan for changing clothes, re-fueling, and resting at four different opportunities. Here's what I packed for nutritional goodies:

I've got 4 packets of Recoverite (for use after each run), some Clif bars for meals, some Justin's Nut Butter (all natural, no extra ingredients peanut butter), some vitamin supplements, Nuun electrolyte mix, Ibuprofen, and a little "pick-me-up" of GU Chomps, just in case I need a little extra energy. This is what would fuel me for the event - I didn't want to risk eating at a restaurant and being tempted to overeat or eat the wrong things or get sick from eating too much "prepared" food while running.

It turns out that I "over-packed" with food - I brought home 2 packets of Recoverite, 2 packets of peanut butter, all of the Ibuprofin (didn't need it), the GU Chomps, and 3 of the Clif bars. I probably could've ate more while on the trip, but I really didn't feel hungry and I didn't want to overeat.

I also packed 3 sets of running clothes (shorts, wool t-shirt, wool socks), an extra pair of shoes, rain gear, visor, hat, number belt, SPI belt (for holding the team cell phone while running), two water bottles, a gallon of filtered water, a 64-ounce Gatorade G2, sleeping stuff, 2 towels (one for sitting on, one for showering), sunscreen, bug spray, lip balm, sunglasses, iPod, GPS, my watch, my LED headlamp and taillamp, reflective vest, flashlight, and a mesh bag for dirty clothes.

Everything was organized and packed into separate zip-bags; each set of running clothes (shorts, socks, shirt) went into their own bag. Night-time running equipment (headlamp, taillamp, reflective vest, flashlight, extra batteries) went into its own bag. Accessories (number belt, iPod, watch, SPI belt) went into its own bag, and so on. This made it very easy to manage everything - I could dig through my small transition bag and find exactly what I needed without messing up everything else.

I did pack a separate suitcase for my sleeping gear - the pillow, foam bedroll, and blanket were bulky, so I used a carry-on bag to hold those. I also threw-in a set of "post race celebration" clothes, just for safe measure.

After a triple-check of everything, I went to bed at around midnight - I had to be awake and on the road by 8:00am the next morning at the very latest. Oh, did I mention that I carb-loaded on Thursday as well? And not the good carbs - pizza, beer, etc... we had a going away party for the manager of our department, so I joined the festivities and ate waaaay too much pizza. (insert uneasy stomach gurgling reference here)

Friday, June 11, 2010 - 8:30am - Sheraton Hotel, Madison, WI. Total Race Miles: 0.00

Our team, Sole2Soul, assembled at the Sheraton Hotel, signed-in for the event, filed our waivers, showed our safety equipment (for night running purposes), and posed for a quick team photo. Here we are in the lobby of the hotel:

We look so happy and excited - from left to right we are: Karl, Anja, Cindy, Kimberly, Teresa, Becky (in blue), Steve, Heidi, and Katie. Immediately after we took this photo, we made our way to the starting line of the event, where they held a 10-minute informative safety meeting.

The organizers of the event reviewed with us the importance of wearing your reflective vest, headlamp, and LED taillamp when running at night, talked about the transition areas and safety rules, and a few other important details. Common sense stuff, for sure, but it was worth mentioning and making people aware.

There were 200+ teams that entered the event this year, and the start of the race is staggered by your projected finish time - the goal is to get all of the teams to Chicago at around 6:00pm on Saturday night so that the event doesn't drag-on indefinitely, so that transition areas can open/close with some predictability, and most importantly - everyone can celebrate the completion of the event at around the same time.

We projected that we would complete the event in 31 hours and 38 minutes, so that meant our start time was going to be 10:30am. Our team would have to depart Madison in the 10:30am "wave"; the faster your team ran, the later you would start... the Ultra groups (smallest teams with the fastest runners) started as late as 5:30pm on Friday.

With the safety meeting complete, our gear packed-in to the vans, and anxious energy abound, we moseyed our way to the starting line where we posed for one last group photo:

Teresa was our first runner - she was responsible for completing the first 5.24 miles of the race, which would take her from The Sheraton to Olbrich Park, where she would hand-off the baton to Anja. Here's Teresa (in the pink top, closer to camera) getting ready to take off:

With the race officially underway, we got into the van and promptly... drove to Lake Mills - the first of six van transition areas. There are 36 transitions in the race, but at six points along the way, both vans end-up in the same spot at the same time. So, our van ("van #2") of runners (Cindy, Karl, Katie, and me) started the race by "resting" for a good 5 hours.

To get from Madison to Milwaukee, runners followed the Glacial Drumlin bike trail. This trail is closed to motorized traffic, runs nearly parallel with I-94 East, is semi-flat, and stops in numerous little towns along the way, including Lake Mills. Here's the Lake Mills bike depot building, which would serve as the host for the transition area:

The transition areas are pretty interesting - people just hang out, which includes everything from laying around to sleeping to playing card games to eating to stretching to - well, whatever! Here's the group of folks that we spent most of our race hanging around with, since we all started at about the same time:

As you can see, it was fairly sunny, and that meant shade was a valuable commodity. The temperatures hovered into the high 80s, humidity followed suit. As such, a bunch of people had to be treated for heat exhaustion... not a good thing to have happen so early in the race. Thankfully, our team stayed healthy and safe - a tribute to the preparation that we all put into proper training, hydration, and support.

Since I had time to kill, I walked over to my friend's business (Topel's) and hung out with Dan and Tara. Dan and Tara are superheroes - they lent us the use of their conversion van so that we wouldn't have to rent two vans (Karl rented a van for us, but more on that in a bit). THANK YOU, Dan & Tara - you rock the block!

Here I am, leaving Topel's - my segment was due to start in about 30 minutes, so I had to stretch and warm-up.

Just after taking that photo, we received a panicked call from our team - they couldn't find us, and they were already at the transition area, ready and waiting for us! We looked everywhere, but couldn't find them, and that's when we discovered our one and only "glitch" in the plan - we were at the wrong transition area!

We had somehow misinterpreted the transition plan and had jumped too far ahead - our van should've been at the 5th transition area in London, WI - not at the 6th area in Lake Mills. So we hopped in the van and raced over to London, where I met Becky and picked-up the baton. We lost about 20 minutes due to this mistake; I figured I'd have to really "hoof it" to try and make-up some time!

Here I am, leaving London - I'd be in Lake Mills some 5.44 miles and 40-ish minutes later!

My first segment went well - despite the heat, full sun, no-shade, and humidity, I managed an 8:00-mile pace and arrived in Lake Mills, where I handed-off the baton to Cindy. Here I am meeting Cindy and exchanging the baton:

Cindy rocked-it 3.10 miles to Highway Q, where she handed-off the baton to our other vanmate, Katie. Katie ran back-to-back segments; she flew through the Jefferson transition area (3.84 miles from Highway Q), and met Karl at the Helenville Bike Depot. Katie ran her 12.24 miles at a blistering pace; equally blistering was the sun and heat, but she managed a great average speed.

Karl took the baton and set-off at a sprint; we would pass him as we drove the van to the next transition area - he was looking really strong, so we gave him a cheer and then sped over to Sullivan's transition area (5.76 miles away).

Karl was also running back-to-back segments under brutal conditions - high heat and killer humidity; here he is coming in to the Sullivan transition area.

We freshened-up his water supply, wished him well, and jumped back into the van so that we could make it to Dousman, some 5.74 miles away.

Dousman served as the second major transition area - Van #1 with its runners would be waiting for us there and would assume running duties at that point. I realize all of this sounds confusing, but there isn't a better way to explain it - this is a complex and challenging event!

Here's Karl handing off the baton to Teresa, who would start her second segment and run 6.35 miles from Dousman to Wales. As you can see, it was getting dark, and rules dictated that we would have to wear reflective vests, headlamps and taillamps during the period between dusk and dawn. Teresa was all decked-out in her gear and ready to rock:

With our van's segments complete, we took a few minutes to cool down before heading to Carroll College (transition area #14). Our van had just run a total of 32.8 miles; our team had completed 59.28 miles. And, we were quickly recovering our lost time, so things were looking good.

Unfortunately, things weren't smelling good - we'd all run during the heat of the day and a such were sweaty and stinky... Carroll College was the first transition area that offered showers, so we decided to make a quick stop to freshen-up before heading to the Wisconsin State Fairgrounds, which is where we would meet van #1 and begin our second segment of the race. Here we are, about to head off for Carroll College.

While on the way to Carroll College, we decided to stop for a quick bite of food from Perkins. Katie and Cindy had a bowl of chicken noodle soup, Karl ate some breakfast, and I sipped on a Diet Pepsi. Here we are at the table, enjoying a bit of a break and eavesdropping on an unusual conversation between a drunken plumber and his motorcycle-gang-member wife (I love Cindy's cheesy "I'm about to gobble down some soup" pose):

All I can say about the Perkins stop is "interesting." Not because of any of my team members, but because of the folks around us... I could probably write a book with all of the stories we overheard.

As entertaining as Perkins was, we continued on to Carroll College where I chose not to shower, much to the chagrin of my vanmates, I'm sure. The time was nearing 9:30pm, and my next segment of running started at 11:51pm, so I didn't see much value in showering, racing to my starting point, and then getting sweaty all over again. So, I stuck (or is that "stunk") it out while Katie, Cindy, and Karl enjoyed a refreshing shower and change of clothes.

The runners from our team in Van #1 (Teresa, Anja, Kimberly, Heidi, and Becky) FLEW through their segments and actually arrived into transition area #17 ahead of our original schedule. Rather than having lost 20+ minutes, we were now ahead of our projected finish time - another indicator of how dedicated our team was and how great everyone did.

At about 11:40pm, I met Becky, got the baton, and began my second segment - a short 3.43 mile sprint through the streets of Milwaukee, from State Fair Park to Nathan Hill High School. I ran it in about 25 minutes; handed off the baton to Cindy, who would run two segments back-to-back for a total of 13.75 miles (or about two hours).

While Cindy was out running, we back-tracked to Martin Luther High School, where they had hot and cold food, showers, and a rest area. I hadn't showered yet, so Karl happily drove us back to MLHS where I was greeted by some of the best race signage I ever saw:

I'm not one who enjoys a public restroom or a public shower facility, but wow - was this a great stop. I cleaned-up, changed clothes, put my stinky gear into the mesh bag, and then went about finding a place to lay down for a bit. Unfortunately the sleeping area was full, so I had to grab a few minutes worth of rest in the first available spot:

I wasn't the only one who tried to sleep outside - Katie grabbed 15 minutes worth of sleep outside, as did about 200 other folks - the school grounds were literally covered with people plopped about, trying to catch a few winks of sleep between their running segments.

After our brief rest, we headed to Franklin High School, where Katie would take over running duties. She ran her 7.55 mile segment, then handed-off to Karl who would complete our van's second segment with a 6.46 mile stint. If all went according to plan, we would meet Van #1 at transition area #22 in Oak Creek, WI at around 4:15am.

Day One summary:
Hours run - 18:53
Miles covered - 116.46
Segments / Transitions - 21

Saturday, June 12, 2010 - 4:15am - Oak Creek Community Center, Milwaukee, WI

As mentioned, our teams met at transition area #22 at the Oak Creek Community Center in Milwaukee, and things were quite different now. We were tired - none of us had managed to get much (if any) sleep. We were cold - the temperature dropped from 84F at midnight to 61F by 4:00am. The wind had picked-up, a fog was setting in, and it was misting rain. Not a great environment to be dealing with to say the least.

Adding insult to injury, the bathroom situation for an event like this is never good, as it's mostly porta-potties and public restrooms. Factor in a lack of sleep, bare-bones nutrition, lots of hydration, 100+ miles of running, and being awake at 4:30 in the morning, and this is what you get when it's time to use the restroom:

That's Cindy as she prepares to venture out to one of the porta-potties at the Oakbrook stop. Both Katie and Cindy were hilarious - they kept Karl and me in stitches for most of the race. That's probably what made the event extra special - our team was really fun to hang around with, and we all seemed to get along great.

Oh - I should also mention that I spied this little gem while at the Oak Creek Community Center... guess we'll have to add this location to the fish finder list:

With Karl back in the van, we headed to the St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Racine; Van #1's runners would be on the road for a while, and the church offered food and another rest area. We arrived to the church at about 5:00am, cleaned-up a bit, and tried to grab a little bit of sleep.

Sleep wasn't on the menu; I couldn't find any spots to lie down - all of the rooms were packed, and I definitely couldn't sleep outside as it was cold, windy, and misting. So, after searching high and low for a sleeping spot, I worked my way into the corner of a little hallway and did my best to relax for a bit.

I was startled by a phone call at 7:00am - Becky was about 20 minutes from being ready to hand off the baton to me; our runners in Van #1 absolutely cooked through their third segment - they managed to make-up nearly an hour's worth of time! So, now we were almost a full-hour ahead of schedule - holy cats!!

We raced over to transition area #26, the Dr. Beatrice O. Jones School in Kenosha, where I managed to throw on my running shoes, grab my iPod, and stretch for about 2 minutes before Becky came racing in to hand me the baton. At around 7:25am, I hit the road for segment #3, which consisted of 6.71 miles of running on trails and sidewalks. I averaged a flat pace of 8:15 per mile, and handed the baton to Cindy at the Pennoyer Park.

After handing the baton to Cindy, we drove to Southport Beach Park, where we had a little time to relax. Here we are in the van, driving over to the park - you can see I'm a little sweaty...

The girls commented that the van had begun to smell like "a lumberjack and rotten cheese," which I presume isn't a pleasant odor... but it stands to reason that the van would stink; we sat in it for hours on end after having ran for lengthy periods of time, and we also stored all of our stinky clothes in the van - not a good combination. The girls weren't complaining by any means; in fact, I think they were proud to having contributed to the quickly growing state of "van funk."

Without the assistance of Febreze, I did my best to "clear the air," so here I am, stretched-out in the van, using everything imaginable to help air out my stinky gear:

Cindy made quick work of her 4.01-mile segment, so there wasn't much time to relax (or air out the stinky stuff); here's Cindy coming in to the park and handing off the baton to Katie:

Katie ran a brief 3.04-mile segment over to Anderson Park - true to her previous segments, she flew right through it, and in no time was racing down the street to hand-off her baton to Karl. Here she is coming in to the park:

Karl took the baton from Katie and set-off on the final leg of our third running segment. He was scheduled to complete a 7.76-mile run, and according to our projections would arrive into the next major transition area (#31) by around 11:15am. Here's Karl heading out on his run - by this point, he had run a total of 18 miles on zero sleep.

We took the van to the Christ Community Church in Zion, IL, and waited for Karl to arrive. I also took some time to air out the van - here's our rental vehicle doubling as a clothesline:

While we were waiting, challenge #2 presented itself to us: bad weather. There had been threats of rain for most of the morning, but when reports of 45+ mph winds and golf-ball-sized hail came in, the race officials stopped the race.

So, we waited. And waited some more. And kept waiting - waiting for the rain, the wind, the hail, or whatever was supposed to come through and wreck our race. Karl arrived into the transition area where he would've normally handed the baton to Teresa, but we had to "hold" our runners (as did everyone else) until the race was re-opened.

After waiting for nearly an hour, the rain came - here we are in the van, watching it rain...

With the race delayed due to weather, Karl and I went to the Northern Lake YMCA for another round of showers. This shower was even better than the first - I literally felt like a million bucks after leaving the YMCA.

We received word that the race had re-started, and Teresa was underway after having been held-up by the race delay for more than 1.5 hours. This meant that Karl and I had to make our way down to the Northwestern University football stadium (transition area #35), where I would eventually take the baton from Becky and finish the race for our team.

And that's where we hit challenge #3 - our rental van experienced a flat tire on Highway 41. Thankfully, we found a safe area to pull-off the road from. Here we are changing the tire:

And within no time, we were back on the road, heading down to transition area #35. We had to spend about 4 hours waiting at this final transition area - the runners from our team in van #1 needed to cover more than 32 miles. While at transition #35, we met a lot of interesting folks, including "Kate" who handed out some amazing chocolate chip cookies (for free). At around 4:45pm, we received a call that Becky had just left transition area #34 and was on her way to meet me. This meant I had about an hour to get ready for her arrival; here I am grabbing the last few items from my transition bag:

As more teams began to filter-in to the transition area, the mood became a bit more festive. There was music, laughing, some delirious conversation, and some interesting costumes - we spotted these three folks just before I was about to grab the baton from Becky; we snapped a quick photo of me and the group (and yes, they ran like that):

Becky arrived a little earlier than expected - again, the girls in van #1 were crazy fast runners (great job to all of them!!) - here I am grabbing the baton from Becky:

And here I am, heading out on the final segment of our race. The last segment (#36) was 8.77 miles in distance and basically ran down Sheridan Avenue (along Lake Michigan) from Northwestern University to Monterey Beach Park.

I tried to really push it on that last segment, but with all of the traffic lights, I was only able to manage an 8:00-mile pace. I crossed the finish line at about 6:15pm with the team surrounding me - it was such a great feeling. Here we are at the finish line (Katie and Cindy aren't in the photo; they had to head home early due to family obligations):

Despite the 20-minute mix-up on day one, and despite the 1.5-hour weather delay, we arrived at the finish line just a few minutes behind our originally scheduled time of 6:08pm (our finish time was actually 6:14pm, I believe) - an amazing accomplishment to say the least!!!

Together, our team of nine runners covered 205.24 miles in 31 hours 44 minutes. Wow! We literally ran from Madison to Chicago, by way of Milwaukee. It still boggles my mind.

For our accomplishments, we were given finisher medals - here I am with my medal and our well-traveled "baton" (it's actually a wrist strap):

They had free pizza, beverages, music, and entertainment at the post-race party, but with the rain, hunger, and fatigue, we decided to get out of town sooner rather than later. So with that, we cleaned-up the vans, organized our gear, wished each other well, and hit the road. Karl, Katie, and Cindy all lived in Chicago, so that meant that Anja, Becky, Heidi, Kimberly, Teresa, and me took the Topel's van back to Madison at around 7:00pm on Saturday night.

We did stop for some super yummy Gino's East deep-dish, Chicago-style pizza; oh my gosh, did that hit the spot! We arrived back into Madison at about 11:30pm on Saturday - exactly 37 hours after we began our race.

Day two summary:
Hours run - 14
Miles covered - 85.74
Segments / Transitions - 14

Race summary:
Time running: 31 hours, 44 minutes
Miles covered: 205.24
Segments / Transitions: 36
Time spent sleeping: 45 minutes
Number of runners: 9
Number of teams: 203
Our team's overall finish: 94/203

Runner totals:

Anja: 25.08
Becky: 22.15
Cindy: 19.48
Heidi: 25.77
Karl: 25.66
Katie: 22.83
Kimberly: 20.30
Steve: 24.35
Teresa: 19.56

I can't thank Karl enough for organizing this effort, and I can't thank my team members enough for running so hard and for being so fun to race with. I would do this event again in a heartbeat - it was a blast, even if I didn't sleep for more than 45 minutes during the whole weekend. Note to Karl - count me in for next year, and put me down for 30 miles.

Here's Karl and me at the finish line - thanks again, Karl!

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Post-race information
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So, once I got home, I unpacked my stuff, and wow - what a mess. Here are the various laundry piles:

And to give you a better idea of the amount of logistical work that had to take place, here's some of what we used to complete the race (I also included my race t-shirt, number, and finishers medal in the photo):

There are maps, spreadsheets, laminated directions organized by segment, van schedules, and so on...

And finally, I didn't do anything today - no riding, no running, no swimming. I slept from about 1:00am until 9:00am, took a shower, threw on my compression recovery knickers and socks, and went to Bluephies for breakfast (figured I could eat bad today, even though I did eat pizza last night), and it was stellar. Egg white scrambler with mushrooms, tomatoes, and broccoli, with pancakes and toast - yum.

I completed another race this morning - the Madison Half Marathon. I had originally planned to do the full marathon, but my legs have been absolutely "throttled" for the past week or so... There's no power in them, there's no energy - they're just completely trashed and sore all of the time (mostly in the quad area). I have no idea why, although I suspect I've been overtraining with distances and frequency.

Anyway, I decided to "rollback" to the Half rather than the Full in the interest of not injuring myself. So, at 7:20am this morning, I, along with about 5,000 other people, ran in the Madison Half-Marathon. The race was extremely well organized - it was easy to get in and out of, the registration and packet pick-up was excellent, and the water stations, support and staff were all fantastic. Definitely a great race to participate in.

Although, I say that... but it looks like my timing chip may have had an issue? I'm looking for the results online, and my number isn't coming up anywhere... According to my Garmin GPS watch, I did the race in 1:53:34, for an average pace of just around 8:25/mile. If that time is accurate, I would've finished around #90 - #95... not bad, but I really wish I could've run the full marathon. The timing website is getting hammered right now, so I'll go check the results later and update this post accordingly.

Edit: I was able to find my results: the official time was: 1:53:23.0. When I look at the Half Marathon Men's results overall, that would put me at about #90. But, they have me listed as 654 overall, 468 in the Men's group, and #76 in my age group. I'm sort of confused by the results, but I guess they know what they're doing... 654/4600 - not too shabby - puts me in the top 15%. If only my legs hadn't been so trashed!

No real plans for the rest of the afternoon or weekend - as much as it pains me to do so, I'm not going to ride or run tomorrow - I'm going to give my legs a rest with the hope that I can recover a bit.

I was giving my bike a thorough cleaning a few weeks ago, when I discovered what appeared to be another crack in the bottom bracket area of my new bike. As you'll recall, I discovered a crack in my Cervelo frame a few months ago, and thankfully, the fine folks from Cervelo and Cronometro replaced the frame, no questions asked.

I loved the new frame - it featured a few small improvements over my original frame, and I really liked that Cervelo kept the R3's paint scheme the same from 2008 to 2009. I put about 1500 miles on that new frame - the R3 is a super fine bike, for sure.

Anyway, back to the story... I was cleaning the new bike a few weeks ago, and just about died when I saw another crack, in the exact same location as the last time. I called Cronometro, made an appointment for them to look at it, and kept my fingers crossed. Official word came back from Cervelo: "let's replace the frame, just to be safe."

They didn't suspect the crack was structural; it was most likely a crack in the paint, but Cervelo stepped-up and wanted to replace the frame for good measure. I continued to ride the bike while awaiting delivery of the new frame.

Well, it arrived this week, and Cronometro built-up a new bike for me. I love the folks at Cronometro - they're simply awesome. Their service, attention to detail, assistance and patience are second to none. They didn't even charge me for setting-up the new bike, which was a complete shocker - I had no problem paying to have the new bike built, but they waived all fees.

So... here's the new ride - let's hope that I don't ever have to warranty another single part on this bike!

I took it out for a maiden voyage yesterday, and am pleased to report that it rode as expected: completely excellent. Thanks to minimal winds and extremely pleasant weather, I knocked out 60 miles without any trouble - averaged just over 19mph the entire time, hills and all.

I'm not entirely crazy about the new paint scheme, but I'll probably get used to it over time. For some reason, I really liked the all white look of the 2008/9 R3. At least there's enough white left on the 2010 R3 that my seat and bars still match. :-)

I'm sad to report that I don't have a review to share with you this week - I've been on an irresponsible eating binge lately, and so I forced myself to be extra good this week. The problems with attending a fish fry (for me) are many: there's usually a wait, which means we order drinks and cheese curds. Then we eat dinner, which usually includes bread, soup, and far too much food. Then we usually go out somewhere afterward, and that means popcorn, a drink or two, and then I wrap-up the evening with donuts and/or cookies... not a very healthy way to finish a week.

So, I'm going to lay-off the fish frys for a bit and re-focus on my diet. I like Wisconsin, but I also hate it - everything seems to be geared around food/drinking/socializing - it's so easy to lose track of a diet and go overboard... terribly frustrating.

With that in mind, I entered a bike race this weekend and did pretty well - I think I finished second out of about 100 folks or so. It wasn't a "true race" so much as it was a timed "fun ride" for Habitat for Humanity. It was a 50-mile course that was chock full of hills - the race was held down by New Glarus; my time was 2:43:14 - not too bad.

I didn't get any good pictures at the event, save for this rather "interesting" photo of some type of cow that I saw while on the course... After I finished the race, I rode back over to it and took this picture - I'm still trying to figure out what exactly is going on with this little dude:

And here I am, in the truck after the race (you can see my bike in the background) - thankfully the weather was nice (actually, it was too nice - I started the race with my leg warmers on, but had to ditch them after about 30 miles because I was starting to overheat). If I look a little tired, I was - as mentioned, there were a ton of hills... plus I wasn't looking forward to my 14-mile run after the race. :-)

Post-race and post-run I returned home, hopped in the shower, and enjoyed a nice big bowl of Fiber One with blueberries, then cleaned the apartment. Then I got a call from one of my friends from Madison, John, who said he was going to be going out with some other acquaintances and wondered if I'd like to join them. I figured that since I burned about 4,500 calories between riding and running that I could grab a salad or something with the crew... they decided to stop by the Come Back Inn, which actually has a decent grilled chicken salad, so I had that and a soft pretzel and a New Glarus Naked. Here we are at the CBI:

From left-to-right it's: Scott, me, John, and Evan. Evan always takes the craziest pictures - he can get the goofiest look and it's hilarious. We all had a good chuckle when we reviewed the photo. What a goofball.

I went for a 45-mile ride this morning, followed by an 11-mile run... my legs were feeling a bit heavy thanks to yesterday's workout and a somewhat brisk wind (not as bad as in weeks' past, but not enjoyable). Thought about a swim, but I'll save that for the weekdays. Ran some errands, including dropping off my bike at Cronometro - the bottom bracket cracked, again... And now I'm hanging out at the apartment, watching TV and enjoying my compression/recovery tights and socks. These things are so glorious - they really help your muscles recover more quickly. They look unusual to say the least, but man - they work!

Contemplating dinner... thinking about a chicken breast with acorn squash or something like that.

Sorry folks - no fish fry review this week as I had a 20K race first thing on Saturday morning, and I didn't want to be loaded down with a gut full of fish. I did enjoy a nice "carb load" on Friday night, by way of a bison steak, a sweet potato, some grilled asparagus, tomatoes, and a nice huge bowl or two of popcorn.

The race came about with short notice - I discovered it purely by accident on Tuesday of this week and was fortunate enough to secure a spot in the race. The race began at 9:00am on Saturday, with the start and finish lines located at a beautiful park in Monona.

The race course consisted of one lap around Lake Mendota for a total of 20K (or 12.45 miles). About 950 people entered the race; I thought about carrying my camera to snap some pictures along the way, but decided against it as I didn't really feel like lugging a camera around for nearly 13 miles of running.

The weather was nice - mid-60s at the start, sunny, but incredibly windy. And by "incredibly" I mean sustained winds of around 20mph, with gusts in excess of 30mph. There were a couple of times where gusts of wind literally stopped me in my tracks - I nearly fell over and/or came to a complete stop while running. It was brutal at points, for sure.

Wind aside, the race went well, although I need to remind myself to stop lining up near the back of the pack during the start of a race. I spent the first 3-4 miles weaving in and out of people, which was tiring and aggravating. By around mile 5, the herd had thinned and I was able to settle-in to my normal 8-minute mile pace.

Only surprise of the race was a rather unique "aid station" that was set-up around mile 9 or 10... two guys set-up their own table with cups, but rather than filling the cups with Gatorade or water, they had them filled with beer. I started laughing as I approached and saw their sign. I thanked them as I ran by, but declined a "cold one" - there was something about drinking a beer while running that didn't seem too wise.

I finished the race with a time of 1:44:15, which was good for #278. Not too bad, I suppose, especially given my bad choice for a starting position and the strong winds.

Here I am at the finish line, just after completing my race:

The park was really quite cool - it was huge and gorgeous, and it even had a small pond/lake in the middle of it. The race directors arranged for a band to play after the race, and they also had after-race goodies, including pretzels, trail mix, fresh cut fruit, animal crackers, and of course: beer. I just don't understand the fascination of drinking a beer after a race, but as the saying goes, "When in Rome..."

I had about 1/4 of a cup and wished I hadn't. Normally I would enjoy a frosty beverage, especially on a gorgeous sunny day, but like I said - after expending about 2,000 calories worth of energy a beer just doesn't "hit the spot."

I stuck around to watch the band for a bit:

Then I headed back to the apartment and rather stupidly went for a bike ride. Holy cats - that wind was ridiculous on my ride... I almost got blown off the road (literally) so many times that I lost count. Riding with the wind at my back, I averaged 32mph. Riding into the wind, the best I could muster was 8mph! It was absolutely insane!! I called it quits after 20 miles, admitted defeat, and fought my way back to the apartment.

When I got home, I refueled with one of my favorite post-workout meals:

1 cup of Fiber One cereal, .5 cups of Silk, some blueberries, and a strawberry protein shake. 250 delicious, refueling calories.

I joined my friends the Topels for dinner in Delafield - it was great to see them, and we had a tasty dinner at the Delafield Brew Haus.

Today, I lounged around for far too long, and then went for an 80-mile ride - I love riding out here because it's so gorgeous:

After my ride, I went for a 8 mile run, and then cleaned the apartment... nothing too terribly exciting, I'm afraid. Dinner tonight was a bison burger with a sweet potato. I'm counting down the days until Friday - I'll definitely hit a fish fry!

I ran the semi-infamous Crazy Legs Classic race today. It's an 8K (5-mile) race that starts on the Capitol Square and finishes on the 50-yard line of Camp Randall Stadium (home of the Badgers football team). The event attracts about 20,000 people and is more of a party than a race... take for example the pre-race "gathering" - I met some friends (Jed and his wife Jamie) at Genna's Lounge (a bar):

The place was packed at 9:00am with people that were running the race. And everyone was drinking bloody Marys, beers, and even mixed drinks! I was a bit surprised, to say the least. It was great to hang out with Jed and Jamie (I'm spelling her name wrong - apologies!) and some of their friends from Jed's workplace. We socialized for about an hour or so before making our way out to the Capitol Square to line-up for the race.

The race started at 10:00am with the fastest runners leaving in group "A." I was in group "W" - quite a way from the front pack. Next year, I'll request a faster group, because I spent the majority of the race trying to weave my way in and out of people as I passed them. Here we are, "in line" and waiting like cattle to hit the starting gate.

After about 20-25 minutes of standing in line, we were near the starting line. The starting line was really cool - it was filled with Badger players who were high-fiving everyone and wishing them luck. The marching band was there playing music, the cheerleaders were rooting for everyone, and Bucky was wishing everyone well. I didn't get a great picture because we were already starting to move, but you'll get the idea:

The bigger guy (#68) was obviously a lineman for the Badgers frontline... :-)

Once on the road, I tried to get a few photos, but none really turned out too well. We went from the square to Langdon Street, past the Memorial Union, up Observatory Hill, down through the dormitory area, around the hospital, under University Avenue, and then into Camp Randall. Here are a few shots from the race:

That's Langdon Street, near the Memorial Union.

And here's the "back side" of Observatory Hill:

And here's the finish line area. I tried to take a photo at the actual 50-yard line, but my iPhone camera goofed-up and the photo didn't turn out at all. :-(

I finished the race at about the 40-minute mark (update: results were posted - my official time was 40:45 and I finished #3141 out of 20,450). Not a great time by any means (about an 8-minute mile pace), but with 20,000 people to deal with it wasn't a bad race. My hat is definitely off to the Crazy Legs organizers - they know how to run a race. Everything was well organized and easy to follow, and they managed the huge group of people with absolute perfection.

Following the race, there's a big party at Camp Randall, complete with bands, brats, beer, and all sorts of goodies. I stuck around just long enough to take a few photos, including this shot of the spectators:

After snapping a few photos, I ran the course in reverse back up to the Square (people were still running the race, and after hearing "you're going the wrong way!" about 300 times I removed my race number), where I took a stroll through the Farmer's Market.

It was quite nice - not too many people as the weather wasn't great - and I scored some bison steaks from a local farmer, along with some organic tomatoes, all for less than $15. I also got a picture of the capitol with these about-to-bloom tulips:

So, all things considered, not a bad Saturday morning. I ran just under 11 miles, had a decent race, picked-up some bison, and am now relaxing at the apartment. The weather is supposed to be crummy tomorrow as well, so I'll probably be stuck riding the trainer. Argh.

I've had several people contact to ask for more information about my "trainer" and how it works. I guess that I take the idea of it for granted - I just assume that folks know what I'm talking about and how it works. Since trainer season is nearly over (it was 70F this weekend, although incredibly windy - steady wind speeds of 25mph and gusts up to 35mph), it may be time for a little "Trainer 101."

There are two basic "styles" of trainers - stationary and rollers. A roller is quite an animal - there's nothing to stabilize the bike as it essentially sits on "canisters" that roll as you pedal. Here's an example of a typical roller:

Rollers typically don't offer any type of resistance, although you do have to pedal like a madman to stay upright. Lose your concentration for a moment or two and you could tip over. Rollers are also quite large and heavy.

So, rollers are a nice training tool, but for most folks, they aren't incredibly practical. As mentioned earlier, the other type of trainer is a "stationary" trainer - and that's what I have.

A stationary trainer attaches to the rear skewer (or "axle" if you will) of the bike; the tire then rolls against a metal cylinder that's attached to some type of resistance "motor." The motor can offer resistance via a magnet, fluid, or a fan assembly.

Here's what my stationary trainer looks like:

As you can see, the trainer has stabilizing legs that jut out on either side. This provides stability so that the bike won't tip while riding. You can also see that the rear wheel is held in place by two spindles. Here's a close-up of how the spindles attach to the rear skewers:

The spindles are adjustable so as to accommodate bikes of various widths. You adjust the spindles so that the bike doesn't rock or have any lateral movement - you really crank them down.

With the bike secured in the trainer via the skewer/axle/spindles, the next step is to bring the resistance cylinder into contact with the rear wheel. The motor is on a spring-loaded hinge-like device, and by turning a large screw assembly, you can bring the cylinder and motor into contact with the rear tire as shown here:

The goal is to set the tension so that the tire doesn't slip or slide on the cylinder, but at the same time, you don't want so much tension that the tire overheats. There are special trainer tires that resist the higher temperatures that come with trainer use, but they're pricey, and you can't use them on the road.

As I mentioned earlier, there are typically three types of motors: magnetic, fan, and fluid. My trainer uses a fluid/magnetic motor, which consists of a series of magnets that are attached to an impeller that spins inside of a fluid. The fluid helps cool and quiet the motor and also adds resistance.

As I pedal faster, the resistance increases; as I shift up into a higher gear, the resistance increases. So, if I attempt to maintain a 20mph pace in say a high gear, the motor will offer a significant amount of resistance. Believe me when I say that 20mph on the trainer requires some effort.

The beauty of the fluid/magnetic trainer is that it's quiet, offers realistic resistance, spools up nicely (accelerates), and allows for some coasting. Part of the reason for these benefits is thanks to the flywheel, as shown here:

Put it all together, and you get a "treadmill" for the bike. While it's not a perfect solution, it does offer the opportunity for me to ride when the weather might otherwise prevent an outdoors ride (i.e. during the winter or when it's raining too hard). At the very least, it keeps the legs moving.

Here's the whole set-up, complete with a "climbing block" which you can see under the front wheel - it levels the bike when it's in the trainer.

So there you have it. I probably didn't do a super great job of describing how it all works, but you should get a general idea of how it all works. I can't wait for the weather to come around a bit - I'd love to get out on the road and ride "for real" - it's been far too long.

I've been on a terror lately with my eating. For the past two months or so, I've completely trashed my diet - from fish fry to popcorn to fritters, you name it and I've been more or less eating it - in massive quantities. I did try to eat well during my surgery and recovery, but once I was able to start running again I went right back to eating like a glutton.

To prevent significant weight gain from my binge eating, I ramped up my mileages significantly; I'm averaging around 10-miles per day, six days per week with running, and I've been riding the bike a lot more as well.

So, I vowed to completely reset my diet. I spent the better part of this past weekend planning out my meals for the week; I calculated nutritional values, paired meals with supplements, and so on. I'm getting back on track with how I used to eat - a quality breakfast, a reasonable lunch, and a good dinner with a snack thrown into the mix. No more late night runs to the Greenbush Bakery.

What's on the menu? Most breakfasts will be around 210 calories and consist of: .75c Fiber One, .5c Silk Light, .25c blueberries, and a half-scoop of Whey Protein.

Lunches will come-in at around 200 calories: FlatOut wrap, 3oz turkey breast, .25c broccoli slaw, and a teaspoon of salsa.

Afternoon snack will usually include a 6oz container of Siggi's Skyr yogurt and an apple, which will be good for 180 calories.

Dinner will include grilled chicken or pork tenderloin, acorn squash or sweet potato, and a roasted veggie (mushrooms, asparagus, broccoli) - calories will be right around 350 - 400. If the mood strikes, I'll make a breakfast burrito (egg whites, pico de gallo, and a wrap).

Here's what tonight's dinner looked like:

That's half of an acorn squash which I roasted face down for a nice char, 6oz of grilled pork tenderloin, 8 asparagus spears (roasted), and a small tomato that's been sliced. Nutritional values: 371 calories, 5g fat, 42g carbs (2g sugars), 11g fiber, 37g protein.

And speaking of eating healthy... I bought a monster of a blender this weekend - a VitaMix 5200. I first learned of this beast about a year ago, when I ran into Michael Lovato, a world class professional triathlete who has won 2 Ironman races and finished in the top 10 numerous times. Michael trains in Austin during the winter months (he normally lives and trains in Boulder, Colorado), and we happened to run into him while at Trigger Point.

Michael was raving about this new blender - a VitaMix 5200, and we were intrigued. I did some research on it, and it is indeed an impressive machine. It features a 2HP motor (your lawnmower probably has a 2.5, 4, or 5HP motor for comparison), an indestructible blender carafe, and can spin at speeds of up to 27,000 rpm.

It has a seven year warranty and is nearly indestructible. It'll boil water if you let it run for 7-8 minutes. It'll blend and cook soups and scrambled eggs, and it doesn't have any type of "heating element" at all - it's all thanks to those incredibly sharp blades turning at a breakneck pace. To quote Michael, "this friggin' thing will blend a brick!"

Alas, as much as I wanted one, I couldn't justify buying it, so I waited. I revisited it several times - researched it online, searched for deals, but never pulled the trigger. So imagine my surprise when I found a VitaMix demo taking place at the local Costco this past weekend.

I watched the demos, saw the price (about 50% off) and bought one. Here's the beast, sitting on my counter:

I actually waited to use it until today; I decided to make a "green monster" smoothie, which consists of: half an apple, half an orange, a slice of pineapple, a few carrots, a lime, a handful of spinach, and a pinch of lemon juice. Top it off with water and ice, and you're good to go. I also added 5g of Glutamine to help aid muscle recovery as I sleep tonight.

The crazy thing about the VitaMix is that you use whole fruits - and by whole, I mean you leave the seeds and skin on the apple (the seeds have fiber and other goodies). You don't core the pineapple - you peel off the rhine and throw the whole slab of pineapple into the blender. For the orange and lime, you peel some of the skin off, but leave a good portion of it on so that you can get the benefit of the oils and nutrients that reside in the pith and skin.

Now... I know what you're thinking: gross! Seeds? Skin? Pith? Ick!!! Well, that's what I thought as well. But the VitaMix is such a beast that it completely liquifies everything, and it does it in a matter of about 20 seconds. Seriously. I simply cut my apple in half and dropped it in the blender - seeds and all.

Here's what my smoothie looked like, pre-blending:

And here it is, mid-blend:

20 seconds later, I was enjoying a delicious smoothie that consisted of 190 calories. I didn't add any sweeteners or anything other than the ingredients listed above; it was delicious. Next time, I'll use a little less spinach and I'll add ice to help cool it down a bit. But for a first effort, it was a win.

Finally, here's a little sample of what it sounds and looks like in action (with some water in the machine). Click on this link to see a quick video of the blender (requires QuickTime to view). Edit: sound isn't working for some reason... I'm not sure why.

If you need a new blender for any reason, or you simply want to have a 2HP beast of a machine that can pulverize any typical household item (including your shoes, I'm sure), give the VitaMix 5200 a shot. It's an animal, for sure!

I finally was able to resume running today! I managed to run 4.25 miles - took about 34 minutes, and holy cow - I'm shocked by how much "capacity" I lost after not being able to run or do much for nine days.

So, my advice to anyone that's working on their own diet/exercise/training programs: never quit. Never stop. Don't take any significant time off. No matter how much you want to talk yourself into "taking a few days off" - don't do it. Unless of course you're nursing an injury or something like that... otherwise, stay at it. Be relentless.

I looked back at my training logs (via my GPS watch), and tried my best to recall all of my running/riding/training activities, and quickly realized that since January of 2008, I've probably only "skipped" two consecutive days of training once or twice. Taking nine days off really put a dent on my capacity; if there were anything I could've done to get back into things earlier, I would've. But based on how I had been feeling just 3-4 days ago, I consider myself extremely fortunate to have been able to run today.

I woke up (via the cats - argh) at 7:00, put on my running gear, took a long stretch (about 25-30 minutes worth), and hit the road. My legs felt sluggish and heavy. I didn't have any feeling of "flow" - every stride felt labored. My breathing was decent, but after about the three mile mark, I started to get a bit of a side/diaphragm ache. I wanted to start walking, but I forced myself to keep going. After the run was finished, I stretched for another 15 minutes or so, and then took a shower.

I'm hoping things will restore themselves in short order, because based on how I felt today, it seems as if I "lost" a solid 6-8 months worth of training effort over a period of 9 days. It's absolutely crazy how fast your body can give-up aerobic capacity... what takes years to gain can literally dissolve over a period of days.

So, I'll say it again: no matter how cold the weather is, or how tired you feel, or how busy you may be, keep at it. A day off can easily turn into two days, and three, then four, and before you know it, you'll have lost much of what you worked so hard to gain. And then it's depressing because it feels like you're "starting over," and so it's even more tempting to quit. Train smart and keep at it.

I'm going to get up early every morning of this week and do 4.5 - 4.75 miles per day; I'll keep the mileage low for a bit, or at least until my legs feel a little more limber. I'd hate to suffer a stress fracture or some kind of dumb injury... At least the weather is supposed to be decent this week - it was actually "hot" today; nearly 40-degrees! I took off my hat and gloves about 3/4 of the way through - I was getting too warm. :-) For comparison, it was 67F in Austin today.

Had some surgery on Friday morning - nothing major - but recovery is the absolute pits. No running, no riding bike, no exercising, no moving around for about 7 - 10 days, per Doctor's orders.

Great. There goes my good cardio and conditioning base that I've built-up. I tried to think back to how long it's been since I've gone more than 2 days without doing any type of workout, and my best recollection says it's been at least 18 - 20 months. I'm hoping I'll be able to do some light jogging by next weekend - even if it's just a mile or two - just so I don't lose everything.

In anticipation of the time off, I worked up to some serious mileage - I'd ran just over 50 miles by Friday morning (since Monday) and rode just over 130 miles (all on the trainer). I probably deserve a little break, but I'm scared to death about losing progress...

So this is where I spent my weekend and most of today:

Sitting on the couch, working on the laptop, getting sick of television, and getting a sore back from not being able to move around much. :-( ARGH - I hate it!!!!

My only form of real entertainment is watching the cats do battle - they've taken to wrestling quite a bit and the results are usually quite hilarious. Shiloh loves to jump nearly straight up from all fours; he'll jump over Mack, on Mack, around Mack, and so on. My iPhone doesn't really catch the action too well, but here they are - stalking each other...

And after they chase each other around for a while, they usually "retire" to the couch with me...

I can't wait until I can start moving around again. The only good thing to come out of this whole deal is that I've effectively "reset" my diet - with the realization that I can't do much activity, I've cleaned-up my eating accordingly. Most days start with a 1/2 cup of Fiber One with 1/2 cup of skim milk and 1/3 cup of blueberries... Lunch is usually a light yogurt with a plum or small apple... Dinner is usually 4 egg whites with 2oz of turkey and some pico de gallo. I'm trying to really keep it light.

So... here's to recovery and the hope that I'll be able to get back on the road by the weekend. And if I have to watch another minute of the Olympics, I'm going to go insane. I've watched 7 movies so far (I love iTunes rentals), but those are getting old as well. At least I was able to work from home today - that helped quite a bit; the day actually went by rather quickly.

Thank goodness my upstairs neighbor is around and making as much (if not more) noise than ever... I swear she's got an elephant breeding farm up there... when I move out, I'm leaving a case of SlimFast and a pair of soft-step slippers for her.

Moving north has had its advantages (fish frys, cheese curds, donuts, etc), but it's also had its fair share of disadvantages (snow, cold, bad drivers, etc). And with last week's blizzard event, I came face-to-face with one of the biggest disadvantages: running in the snow.

I don't mind running when it's cold out, but when mother nature serves a healthy dish of icy and snowy goodness, running becomes not only difficult, but dangerous. As soon as we knew for certain that snow was imminent, I made sure to sneak in a long "final" outdoors run.

The day of the blizzard, I ran indoors on a treadmill (our office has a nice gym available for free), and I was immediately reminded of how much I loathe treadmills. Grinding out six or seven miles on a treadmill is pure torture - it's so boring and dull, even with headphones and a television. After the third mile, I would've given anything to be running outside... but, with 16-18" of snow covering every passable surface, my wishes were unlikely to be realized.

So, I trudged out 3 more days on the dreadful treadmill... in the meantime, I looked for solutions to help me get outdoors to run again - I looked at snow shoes, trail running shoes, slip-on spike systems - you name it, I looked at it. None of the solutions got rave reviews from online sources; fewer fit my shoes (size 13). I was growing desperate...

I had stumbled across an article about using sheet metal screws as replaceable spikes, but was afraid to try it for a number of reasons. After careful consideration, I ventured to the local hardware store and bought a handful of 3/8" long sheet metal screws. I placed 10 screws into each shoe (6 on the front, 4 on the heel) and gingerly stepped into them. I didn't feel anything sharp or pointy, so I donned the rest of the running gear and hit the outdoors.

Success!! The screws worked like magic. They gave me ample traction when the going got rough; they worked best on icy or hard-packed snowy surfaces. On dry sections of sidewalk, they're a bit noisy and you can feel that the shoe isn't completely "normal," but it's not uncomfortable by any means. Winner, winner chicken dinner!!

I've done 5 runs on the current set of screws, and it's looking like I'll have to replace the screws with some fresh ones. Although, to be honest, the sidewalks were about 98% clear today, so I may run without the spikes until the next snow storm hits. Here's what the screws look like after about 45 miles of use:

It's amazing how well that $0.70 solution works, especially when it's compared to other solutions that cost upwards of $40. It's also refreshing to know that when the next snow storm hits that I won't have to spend too much time on the 'ole dreadmill. :-)

We're off to a fish fry tonight, so stay tuned for an update later on!

Has it really been more than two weeks since my last blog entry? Wow, I guess it has been! Time flies when you're busy with things; I apologize for not posting an entry for so long.

So let's get caught up. First things first: I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, and that the turkey was tasty, the stuffing scrumptious, and the pie perfect. Mine was, well, interesting... but more on that at a later date. I need to relax a bit and look at things objectively, but let's just say that I won't be heading north of Madison or over toward Fitchburg for any events of any type in the foreseeable future.

But enough about that. What's been happening? Well, I'll tell you what hasn't been: fish fry. Yep, you heard that right. We've taken a break from gorging ourselves on fish each Friday because it's been setting us up for an entire weekend of bad eating. So, an executive decision was made: we're taking a small hiatus from fish frys.

In other news, many of you may recall that I have a favorite radio show that's hosted right here in Madison and is called "Whatdya' Know with Michael Feldman." I've been to a few live showings and have always wanted to participate in the show, either as a contestant or as a "contributor" by way of a funny story or odd-ball question.

I had my chance to participate two weekends ago, when Michael chose me to play in the Whatdya' Know Quiz. The quiz usually occupies the last 15 minutes of each hour of the show (it's a 2-hour show), and it works by pairing an audience member with someone who calls in via telephone and correctly answers a qualifying question.

Once the "team" is identified, Michael asks up to 5 questions from categories that include: current events, people, places, science, odds-n-ends, and "things you should've learned in school had you been paying attention." The questions are usually quite random and odd, but most folks seem to win (thanks to Michael's guidance toward the correct answers).

Winners take home a "treasure trove" of prizes that are usually as off-the-wall as the questions from the quiz. It's the highlight of the show, so if I was ever to be selected, there was certain to be pressure to perform.

Well, I was selected and I bombed. Michael usually walks around the audience looking for volunteers to play the quiz, and tons of people raise their hands. I raised mine and he immediately walked over to ask my name and where I was from. Ok, no problem. Then he asked for "one good reason why you should play the quiz."

Now... this is where you can shine or bomb. I had dozens of witty replies prepared - everything from, "because it'll make a great blog entry" (thus setting up a segue to a discussion about my blog) to "because I'm not wearing underwear" (thus setting the tone for a wacky dialogue)... I'd practiced my response for years.

But, when the time came, I choked. I mumbled something about the Badgers football score and that by winning the quiz it might motivate the team. Michael looked at me as if I was from another planet, and from there it went downhill.

I tried making a few jokes; poking fun at myself, suggesting a cheesy name for my team, and so on, but it all failed. ARGH - nothing like bombing on a nationally broadcast radio show.

That's me up on stage, playing the quiz. I was paired with a gentleman by the name of "Mac" from Ohio, who was on a crummy cellphone connection in his garage - he was hard to hear. I was also incredibly distracted by Michael's computer screen - it was constantly being updated with information about the telephone lines (via an Excel spreadsheet). And, I could see the answers to each of the quiz questions - Michael held the cards in a way that I could easily read the correct answer...

But, I didn't answer a single question. I felt guilty for being able to see the answers, so I let Mac, Michael, and the audience sort of "fill-in" the blanks. I was a miserable contestant - boring, uninteresting, and a complete downer.

Alas, with the show running out of time, we won the quiz, and my treasure trove included this little bounty of goodies:

The haul included some concentrated cherry juices (tart cherry, cranberry mix, blueberry mix, and one other), the Whatdya Know home game, and an eclectic mix of greeting cards from a fabric museum in Missouri.

Other than that, there's not much exciting news to share... I ran a 10K race on Thanksgiving morning, called "The Berbee Derby." I did pretty well - there were about 5000 runners; I finished 460th, with an average pace of 7:56/mile. Not my best time, but it was only 32F and incredibly windy - I think the steady wind speed was about 18-19mph.

And finally, I ventured out to a "Black Friday" event early this morning... a local sporting goods store had advertised Smartwool socks at 50% off, and since they're some of my favorite socks, I figured I'd grab a few pair.

Came to discover that the "sale" only included "select" styles and sizes from a specific rack... so, after standing in line for more than 30 minutes with six-pair of socks, I was told that none of my selections were on sale. And so continues my luck... :-)

Greetings!

This is the first of three new entries that will be published today; I figured it would be best to create three smaller, more targeted entries than to create one massive entry.

I registered to run a 15K race this weekend, but thanks to a hamstring injury that snuck up on me late last week, I decided to not run the race. I was really looking forward to it - 15K is a nice distance, and the weather was looking like it would be good, but alas, my legs had other ideas.

I've been increasing my run distances over the past few months and now regularly run 7-10 miles each day; the running is going well - no issues to report, no drama, and no trauma. I like to run first thing in the morning because I can get it over with, and it helps the 'ole metabolism stay efficient.

Well, on Thursday of last week, I missed my morning run because the weather was dreadful - pouring rain and barely 30-degrees. So I went at lunch, but thanks to some meetings that went longer than expected, I was short on time. So, I skipped my stretching and went for a run.

About 10 minutes into the run, I felt a "pop" in my hamstring (left leg), followed by an immediate sense of tightness and pain. I limped along for a bit, but had to stop running. I stretched the leg (in hindsight, not a good idea) for a bit, and tried to run again, but nope - no go. So, I walked back to the apartment, took a shower, and went back to work. The funny thing is the leg felt fine while walking, but as soon as I tried to run, it became obvious that something was amiss.

I went online and did some quick reading about hamstring injuries, and the general treatment includes RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation). So, I threw some ice on it, wrapped it in a compression bandage, and took it easy. Anxious, I went for a brief run on Friday - it was still quite painful, but I managed to get 6 miles in.

Didn't run on Saturday, but did ride the bike on the trainer for a good 1.5 hours, then did some introductory Yoga, which helped loosen things up a bit. Sunday morning came around, and I didn't feel totally comfortable with doing a 15K on the leg, so I skipped out.

Upsetting, to say the least. But, the good news is that the RICE technique seems to be working - my leg feels better, and I was actually able to run a good distance today, with just a hint of pain.

So, let this be a lesson to me and to anyone else - always stretch first! I'm not 100% certain that my injury came as a result of not stretching, but it probably didn't help... :-(

First things first - I realize that most of you are getting tired of reading about fish frys and biking and running, so it's time for a brief announcement: the fish fry crew has decided to venture out and start our own website, dedicated strictly to reviewing fish frys and supper clubs. We purchased a new domain name and I'm in the process of putting together the site. It'll be a month or so before things are up and running, but keep your eyes open for the new site - it's called www.wisconsinsupperclubs.com. It's got "place holder" text there now, but as soon as we can figure out how to organize the site, lay it out, and get some Google AdWords running, we'll have it live.

So, with that said, it's time for another fish fry review. :-)

The crew hit The Stamm House in Middleton, and despite looking good on paper, it failed to deliver. In fact, it may have been one of the worst fish frys ever. Why?

Simple - the fish was icky. There's no better way to state it than "icky." It had the most ridiculously strong fishy (and not in a good fishy way) taste; I'm pretty sure that even the worst cafeteria fish would blow away the Stamm House fish. It took a lot of ketchup and a lot of lemon to choke down their fish. Ugh. So disappointing...

It wasn't terribly greasy, and it was breaded quite nicely. But aside from that, it was downright awful. The restaurant itself was pretty cool - lots of history, lots of charm, good service; but that was about all they had to offer.

Didn't do too much on Saturday - went to Johnson Creek and bought a winter jacket (!!!), then went to the Come Back Inn to watch some football, and prepare for my triathlon. ;-)

I did the Devil's Challenge Triathlon today, which is held at Devil's Lake State Park, just outside of Baraboo. The park is beautiful - here's a shot of the lake about an hour before the race started:

The weather was cool at 7:00am - about 50-ish. By race time (8:00am), the temps were in the low 60s, so it wasn't too bad. Here we are, getting ready to hit the water - I think the race started about 30 seconds after this photo was snapped:

For some reason, that photo is just hilarious to me - I look like a 1930's bomber pilot with those goggles on. :-) So, the race went about as I expected - the swim was terrible (go figure), and it was complicated by tons of seaweed and extremely shallow water. Here I am coming out of the water, with my wetsuit already about half-off:

That wetsuit was more trouble than it was worth - the water wasn't too terribly cold (72F) - it really slowed me down in the first transition... it took me over 4.5 minutes to get out of that wetsuit and onto the bike. I don't know how the other guys change so quickly - most folks were done with their swim transition in 2 minutes! Anyway, with the wetsuit off, it was time to head out on the bike:

The bike course was super hilly - just what I like. The first 2 miles of the ride are essentially up a steep hill. I passed dozens and dozens of people on that hill - some people were throwing up, others were crying (men and women alike); it was pretty odd. I'm so glad that I torture myself each weekend with a super hilly 60+ mile practice route. :-)

Finished the bike section pretty easily - here I am coming in from the ride, running my bike back to the transition area:

The bike transition went fairly well, but I'm still quite slow in transition... my T2 time was nearly 3 minutes; for comparison, other guys did it in under a minute. UGH!!!!

I ran well, despite the hilly run course, and finished the run portion (3.1 miles) in just over 23 minutes. I felt really good during the entire run - I could've kept going without any trouble, but time was up and here I am coming across the finish line:

I managed to finish in 1:30:07, which was good enough for 161st place out of 620 people. In my age group, I finished about middle of the pack - 24th out of 46. The transition times literally cost me 5 spots in my age group alone... if I would've had an "average" transition time, I would've finished 19th out of 46. I really need to fix those!

So, that's it for now... oh, almost forgot - celebrated the finish with some breakfast at Mr. Pancake in Wisconsin Dells:

Yum! Time to be good again - cold weather is coming, and that means I'll have to curb the binge eating on the weekends. :-(

Early review - surprise!

Started the weekend by attending special party at my favorite bike store, Cronometro; they had a bit of a customer appreciation/new product line introduction gala, and it sounded interesting, so it was over to Willy Street to check out the party and to check out the Ridley line of bicycles.

Ridley reps were there, which was cool, because Ridley has a great line of "Cyclocross" bikes that have caught my eye. I'd love to get another bike to use for commuting to and from work, riding on trails, and using on the trainer during the winter. I really liked this model, the X-Fire:

Unfortunately, that bike is quite a bit out of my price range. As shown above, that bike runs right about $6,000. Yikes!! Thankfully, there are some that are a bit more affordable, like this interesting Crossbow model, shown here with a fender kit and the latest Ultegra components.

After spending about 30 minutes oggling the new bikes, chatting with folks, and sampling some Belgian beverages (Ridley is based in Belgium), it was time to head out for the fish fry.

The crew decided to hit Toby's Supper Club, which is located just outside of Madison, on Stoughton Road. The place received stellar reviews from several web sites, although some of the folks from work warned us that it might be a bit "local" or "townie."

The place is tiny - hardly bigger than an average living room - and as such, was absolutely PACKED full of people. We arrived at around 7:30pm, and the place was jumping - we could barely find a place to stand while waiting for a table. And while there were obviously a bunch of "locals" there, the crowd was friendly and enjoyable, and thank goodness for that - check out how packed the bar was:

The entire time that we sat at the bar, the bartenders literally flew around, multitasking like crazy. It was nothing for them to be filling two drink orders (mixing several drinks at the same time), while making change for someone at the bar, and taking a new drink order from someone in line. And they never once missed a beat - it was pretty fun to watch them work their magic.

Toby's has a unique ordering system - while seated or standing at the bar, one of the bartenders somehow notifies a waitress that you'd like to order food. Out of nowhere will appear a waitress, who takes your order, and tells you that she'll get you once the table and food are ready. With so many people stacked in the place, we found it hard to believe that this would actually work, but it did.

Our wait was long - about 2.5 hours - but well worth it! While sitting at the bar, we started off with the customary cheese curds, which were solid. Top 3 rank for curds, for sure:

We generally prefer a battered curd to a breaded curd, but the cheese in these curds was so good that it made up for the non-battered-nature. The ranch was also spectacular. Curds = WIN.

And before we knew it (the clock had struck 10:00pm), our table and fish were ready. The table was outfitted with the customary Supper Club fare: a veggie bowl and a bread bowl.

And then came the fish. Toby's offers: Baby Pike, Cod, and Lake Perch. And the prices are more than reasonable - no more than $13 for a plate. Here's the cod:

It was superb. Unbelievably good - easily Top 2 fish. Why so good? Once again, the fish is breaded, which is normally not a point-scorer for us. But, the breading is light, the fish is fried perfectly (not a hint of grease anywhere), and it's served piping hot. The flavor is unreal - the fish is the actual star of the plate; it's not overwhelmed by breading or spices, or anything unusual. Simple = good, and Toby's cod is GREAT.

Here's the combo plate (Lake Perch on the left, Baby Pike on the right):

Just like the Cod, these two offerings were stellar and beyond compare, and for the same reasons as the Cod. Lightly and perfectly breaded, expertly fried, and packed with wonderful, yet delicate fish flavor. Well worth any wait, plain and simple.

And the service was equally fantastic - our server, Rhonda, was great - super fun, helpful, and tolerant of our boisterous crew. Here's me and Rhonda:

We called it a night and left Toby's content, happy, and raving about how incredible the fish was. We'll definitely be back!

Saturday morning came much too early, especially given there was a 54-mile bike race in Fort Atkinson that I had entered. It's called "Ride the Rock" and it benefits the local literacy council (I think). The race started at 8:30am from Jones Park in Fort Atkinson. Here we are leaving as a group to start the race:

The race went horribly. I've discovered that I absolutely hate bike racers - they're some of the most self-centered, inconsiderate, unnecessarily aggressive riders on the planet. I was basically run off the road within the first few miles of the race by the "teams," all of which were trying to jockey for position by literally elbowing and bumping people out of the way... all within the first 3-4 miles of a 54-mile race. Really?

Factor in that the race wasn't a sanctioned event and that it was basically a charity ride, and it's just all the more silly to risk crashing and wrecking your bike, breaking bones, or causing harm to other people. Yet these guys don't apparently care... you'd think they were trying to qualify for the Olympics or something. To heck with that. After I hit the gravel, I let the group get ahead of me, and I rode out the "race" without worry of getting in a wreck.

Unfortunately, the group will always ride faster than a solo rider, by a pace of around 4-5mph. So, within the first lap (18 miles), I had completely lost site of the pack. That was fine by me. Here I am passing through a little town on my second lap:

And here I am at the finish line, giving a solid "thumbs down" to the group. The race was generally well organized, the course was well marked, and the support crews were good, I just wish my "fellow riders" shared some of those qualities.

So, yeah - no more bike races (or more specifically, bike racers) for me. I'll just enjoy my triathlons, where the emphasis is on the individual's effort, and not impacted/driven by mob mentality.

I purchased some new shoes earlier this year (January) from Endurance House in Middleton, and I really enjoyed them. The shoes were Saucony Hurricane X shoes and were my first "real" running shoe. I'm a bit of a "over-pronater," which means my foot wants to roll side-to-side as I run, and it means that I should use a shoe that's designed to provide additional stability to help keep my foot from rolling side-to-side.

I logged 500 miles on the shoes, according to my Garmin GPS watch. I believe that number is low, as I can think of at least 6-7 runs where I didn't use my watch, so I'm guessing it's probably closer to 600 miles. Shoes have a lifespan of about 350-450 miles.

Here are my well-worn Saucony shoes:

So I stopped by Endurance House today to replace my Sauconys. I walked in fully expecting to buy another pair of the Saucony Hurricanes, but in talking with one of the folks there, we decided to take another look at my stride. Turns out my pronation is improving - my mileage is up considerably from January, and I've been focusing on trying to run more "smooth."

They suggested I try a shoe from Finland, from a company called Karhu. I laced them up, hit the treadmill and gave them a shot. Pretty comfy. More padding than the Sauconys, and they felt lighter and a bit more "reactive." Doing a side-by-side comparison with a Saucony on one foot and a Karhu on the other, the difference was obvious - the Karhu "rolls" through the footstrike; the Saucony sort of "flops."

I took them for a quick 1/2-mile run around the block, and liked them. I had a bit of an odd feeling on the top of my foot, but a change of the laces fixed it. So, I bought the Karhus. I'm excited to try them tomorrow - I'm averaging around 7.8-miles on my morning runs, so I'll have a good opportunity to test them out tomorrow.

Here they are - not the prettiest things, but when it comes to shoes, I'll take function over form any day. :-)

Here's to another fun-filled 500+ miles! (For comparison, I've logged just over 1900 miles on my bike this year)

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I can't believe it's Sunday night already - almost time to return back to work... the weekends definitely go by too fast. This weekend was a pretty good one - lots of things happened, so let's get started.

I've decided to enter another triathlon, which means I have to start swimming again. Argh. Biking and running - no problem. I'm regularly biking 70-ish miles at a time, averaging just around 23 mph, and my runs are doing great as well - I just finished a 13-mile run today, at an average of 7.5mph. So, those are fine. But swimming? I hate it!

So, I started taking swimming lessons. I found a great swim instructor who lives in Portage, so I snuck out of work early on Thursday and drove up to see if she could help my horrific swim stroke. We hopped in the lake and she took a look. The initial verdict? She claims I'm not that bad, but I'd disagree. We worked together for about an hour and I learned some great drills, tips, tricks, and exercises from her. It was well worth the drive - she was super knowledgeable and helpful, and I think I'll be making a few more trips before the race.

Friday brought about another fish fry, this time compliments of The Mid-Town Pub. It's located just a few blocks from the apartment, and it got decent reviews from people, so it was worth a try.

They have an odd menu/system - there's all you can eat fish offered from 3:00pm - 7:00pm; otherwise it's a "one plate" dinner. Got there at about 6:00pm and ordered some cheese curds; they weren't anything special - typical "drop n fry" frozen curds that probably come from Sysco. Sad, but I'm becoming a curd snob...

Look familiar? Yeah. They're pretty much the same exact curds as one can find at: The Avenue Bar, The Oakcrest, and Paul's Neighborhood Bar. Decent curds, for sure, but once you've had great curds it's hard to get excited by run-of-the-mill curds.

The fish came out after a lengthy wait, and it was decent. Beer-battered cod with fries. No other side options. Very mild flavor, decent batter. Better than some, but not as good as The Avenue Bar or Jordan's.

Unfortunately the service was so slow that there wasn't much chance to take advantage of the "all you can eat" offer, as it took nearly an hour for the first batch of fish to arrive and another 25+ minutes for the second batch. By then the window for all you could eat fish was closed, and I was bored and aggravated, so it was time to leave.

Saturday morning saw a welcomed change: I got rid of Charter and got AT&T U-Verse. U-Verse is "TV by IP" - everything comes to your home via a fiber optic internet connection. So, my television comes via fiber optic to my phone line, and then into a mini computer/gateway. The gateway then transmits the TV signal to the television. It also broadcasts a wireless internet signal for my laptop (so I get my internet connection via fiber optic - fast!!!), and if I had telephone, it would go through the same device.

The signal quality so far is fantastic, and the services appear to be much better than Charter's. Charter was a disaster from the start, so I was glad to make the switch. It's slightly less expensive as well, so that's a bonus.

With U-Verse installed, I went for a quick bike ride and run, and then hit the road for the Packers vs. Browns pre-season football game. Mark, my friend from work, has season tickets and wasn't able to use these tickets, so it was the perfect opportunity to see a game.

Did some tailgating before the game with Dan and Tara:

Scored a decent parking spot near the stadium for just $20, and traffic was light, so we had time to enjoy some snacks and beverages prior to the game. Our modest tailgate was nothing when compared to some of the other set-ups at Lambeau field... this one was particularly "interesting" -

Once inside the stadium, Dan's alter ego came out:

They had handed out pom-poms but Dan, not having spent time as a cheerleader, obviously didn't know how to properly use the pom-pom. That's ok - I think his interpretation was just fine!

The seats were awesome. We were in the south end zone, in row 60, but, our seats were on the aisle and, they were the very last row in our section, so we had a built-in seatback, thanks to a concrete wall. We also enjoyed a wonderful breeze; the weather was in the low 80's, sunny, and humid, so the breeze was definitely welcomed!

The Packers more or less dominated the Browns (go figure); we saw a touchdown early in the first quarter - it happened in "our" end zone, so that was cool - here's the touchdown (not that you can see much, but it gives you an idea of where the seats were).

We were also seated next to some younger folks; I think they said they were from Utah, but I could be wrong - maybe only one of them was from Utah... They were cool guys, and it was fun to hang out with them during the game. Here's a shot of the rowdy bunch:

With the game well in control of the Packers, we were desperate for some additional entertainment, so when the opportunity to Polka struck, Dan and Tara jumped at the chance:

And after the game ended, they fired-up some "YMCA" by The Village People, so here's Tara and I doing our interpretation of that timeless classic:

The Packers won, 17-0, and rather than sit and fight traffic, we decided to hang out and tailgate for a few hours to allow for the roads to clear. Since it was a night game, that meant we didn't get back to Madison until well near 3:00am... a late night indeed, and as a result, today was quite lazy, aside from going for a 30-minute swim and the 13-mile run (as mentioned earlier).

That's it for now. If you're able to take advantage of it, check out AT&T UVerse - so far, so good. Great picture, great internet signal, a small DVR, flexibility, and decent pricing.

Well food fans, it's been another full week, so let's just jump right in and update you on the weekend's eating results.

Friday night: Hit Jordan's Big Ten Pub to check out their fish fry. There had been numerous write-ups about this place; some great, some good, some mediocre, so there was a bit of hesitation about trying it. Happy to report that the experience was fantastic! A very solid fish fry, complimented by two surprises: the cheese curds and the old fashioneds.

Background info first; they don't accept reservations, and there isn't a host or hostess to be found anywhere. It's strictly first come, first served, and normally that wouldn't be an issue. However, this past weekend Madison played host to The Great Taste of the Midwest, and as part of the festivities, Jordan's was one of the sites that was hosting a few of the microbreweries that were invited to attend the Great Taste event. So, that made for a rather packed establishment - finding a table proved challenging, but we were seated in a booth after about an hour or so.

We ordered the cheese curds, and I'm happy to report that these curds were excellent. Definitely top notch curds - obviously handmade; squeaky yet chewy, and perfectly battered. All of today's photos are from the iPhone, so apologies for the poor quality!

Jordan's has an impressive selection of Friday night fish entrees - there were three kinds of baked fish available, fried cod, fried perch, shrimp, and about a half-dozen sandwich options. I decided to be "good" and ordered the Cajun-grilled Walleye. It came with a salad, which was delish; I chose onion rings for my side. Check out this monster slab of Walleye:

The fish was great. Once again, it wasn't all you could eat, but it was tasty! The onion rings were excellent as well. Thankfully, my dining partners weren't afraid to order the good stuff - the fried cod was every bit as tasty and excellent as the walleye:

And, as mentioned - there were a few Old Fashioneds consumed, including this Old Fashioned Sour:

We learned something new on Friday night - the key to a good Old Fashioned Sour is two-fold... a good sour has seven shakes of bitters, and the fabricator must "muddle" the cherries and sugar prior to adding any liquids. Oh, and you use Squirt as the sour. So, I guess that's a "three-fold" key. Regardless, I'm not a fan of the Old Fashioned, but Jordan's Big Ten Old Fashioned were pretty amazing. I wouldn't hesitate to order one in the future.

Saturday featured bad weather in the morning - heavy rains - that ruined my iPod Shuffle... I tried to sneak out for a run during a brief sunny spot, only to get caught in a massive downpour 15-20 minutes later. Try as I might to protect my iPod, it fell victim to Mother Nature and died. ARGH.

And, as luck would have it, just after my iPod was wrecked by the weather, the sun came out and the weather was gorgeous. 90F and not a cloud in the sky. Go figure. Someone really hates me.

So it was over to the new Thai place to try some of their grub. Egg rolls, steamed dumplings, and chicken Pad Thai. All were excellent! No grease, good flavor, great service, and good value - win, win, win.

Here are the photos (egg rolls, dumplings, Pad Thai):

After downing some Thai food, it was time to hit the highway - picked-up some cheese and some coffee from Beres Brothers (their Highlander Grogg is unreal). Ran a few more errands and then headed over to Paul's Neighborhood Bar to watch the Brewers game. Paul's is near the apartment and is a pretty friendly place with good food, good service, and great prices. They also serve breakfast, which seemed odd - a bar that opens at 6:00am to serve breakfast? Wow. But, who am I to argue or question things...

Started the evening with some cheese curds and deep-fried mushrooms:

And wrapped it up with a cheese burger (add lettuce, tomato and onion) and cajun fries:

So good. There's nothing like good, greasy bar food. Unfortunately, that little event counted for an ungodly amount of calories, so on Sunday morning I hit the road on my new bike frame - yes, the local shop came through and warrantied my beloved Cervelo (although there was a fee for assembly).

I did just over 70 miles (burning 4500 calories), and then finished with a 5-mile run (burning 580 calories). So, by 11:00am on Sunday, I was back to "calorie neutral."

The new bike frame is wonderful - I was quick to love on the Seven, but the Cervelo is really an awesome bike. It's so fast - it accelerates and climbs like a friggin' race car - it really does. And, I believe Cervelo tweaked the ride quality a bit with the '09 version (my replacement frame is a 2009 model, rather than a 2008) - the ride was a bit more smooth than I remembered it, and that was a welcomed surprise. It wasn't nearly as velvety as the Seven, but it wasn't as bone-jarring as the '08 ride.

Upon closer examination of the new frame, it appears as though Cervelo changed the seatpost geometry and diameter, which may explain the smoother ride. Here's the newly reconditioned steed, in all of its glory:

And a close-up of the revised seat post structure - it tapers to a narrower diameter at the top (27.2mm vs 31.7mm) to improve ride quality and (I'm guessing here) improve aerodynamics slightly. The seat stays are still pencil thin - it's ridiculous that they can hold-up while being so thin.

While out on the bike, I stumbled across a farm that was selling fresh sweet corn - they had a picnic table set-up in the front yard, along with a bucket that you put your money into. A dozen ears of corn were $3.50... so, I picked-up a few ears, dropped a few bucks in the bucket and enjoyed some delicious sweet corn. To say that "in season" sweet corn is addictive is an understatement - this stuff is so sweet, so tender, and oh so good. I could very easily eat it every single night - add a very light sweep of butter, a pinch of Kosher salt, and a shake of pepper, and you've got an unbeatable treat.

So there you have it. Jordan's = Win. Ha Long Bay = Win. Paul's = Win. New bike frame = Win. Corn on the cob = Win. The only downside was losing the iPod to the rain... but, I guess you can't win them all. Catch you next week!

So as I mentioned in an earlier entry, my beloved bike has suffered a fatal injury - the bottom bracket cracked, and the bottom bracket is an integral part of the frame. Any problems with the bottom bracket, and it's a "no ride" situation. And, since my bike is carbon fiber, it cannot be repaired - it has to be replaced. There's a chance my frame will be covered under warranty, and I hope it is, because I simply cannot afford to replace the frame - there's no possible way I could beg, borrow, or steal enough money to cover the replacement cost. :-(

Here's what a cracked bottom bracket looks like:

Carbon fiber - so light, but so fragile. It's got me absolutely sick.

The shop that's looking at the frame and working with the manufacturer to get it covered under warranty was kind enough (or should I say evil enough) to lend me a bike to use while mine is out of commission. Normally, I'd be grateful and ecstatic to receive such a generous offer, but the shop lent me a bike that is so awesome, and so much farther out of my league that I'm now genuinely even more upset that I ever had the opportunity to ride such an incredible machine.

The bike is a custom-made Seven Cycles bicycle. These beauties are handmade by true craftsmen; the attention to detail is unbelievable, the ride is indescribable, and the look is absolutely drop-dead sexy. As the bike sits here in the living room, I can't stop looking at it - it's so gorgeous, but the beauty is more than skin deep - there are some serious brains behind this fabulous figure.

Look at that beauty. So elegant - a combination of titanium and carbon fiber - it's truly marvelous. The roads around here, as you're well aware, are barely passable. They literally beat you into submission - the expansion joints feel like canyons, and potholes abound. Stop paying attention for a second and you'll likely be slammed back into reality when your bike pounds into a crater-sized road imperfection. Whenever I'm on my "regular bike," I dread the roads - I can't wait to get out and into the country, where the roads are smooth(er) so that I can focus on riding without worrying that I'll be bounced off my bike or jarred into a crash.

Well, believe it or not, but the loaner bike handles every single road imperfection with absolute aplomb. I put 80-some miles on the bike this weekend, and it made every road feel like a brand new stretch of perfect pavement. I was shocked - I couldn't believe that our crummy roads could feel so nice.

I was able to maintain speed without worrying that I'd hear a "snap" or a "pop" or some other unsettling sound. Seven's engineers are pure geniuses, and I don't pretend to know the first thing about road bike geometry or tuning, but I'm confident that if Bentley built bicycles, they wouldn't be able to hold a candle to Seven's stuff.

It's crazy to think that I'm so excited over a loaner bike that doesn't fit me properly and that is completely out of my price range, but it really has been a "ride changing" experience. If I had a Seven ID8, I wouldn't have to spend hours trying to map "smooth rides" - I could just go out and pile on the miles. It would be glorious.

Look at the attention to detail - not only is their logo perfectly machined into the rear stay, those welds (on titanium no less) are impeccable. I took 100+ photos of the bike - a bike that's not even mine! I won't bore you with them, but wow - this thing is amazing in every respect.

Part of the secret to the ID8's awesome ride is its ingenious integration of carbon fiber in some key areas - namely the seat tube and seat stays. From what I understand, these aren't high stress areas, but they carry a tremendous benefit when it comes to damping and cushioning. Combine the carbon fiber in those areas with a slightly longer chainstay, and it makes for a truly magical ride. I did 70-miles on Sunday alone and for the first time ever, I didn't feel "beat up" after the ride. Yes, my legs were a little tired, as I averaged 20.7 mph on the ride, but the rest of my body was feeling fresh.

Here's a shot of the carbon seat stays:

That's some seriously cool-looking carbon. Here's a shot of it on the seat tube:

It's so slick! The sum of the little details all add-up to one seriously awesome bike. Awesome to the power of incredible. I'm not normally at a loss for words, but this bike has really impressed me - I wish I'd never ridden it, because now I know what a "real" performance bike should feel like.

The ID8 does have one minor kink in its otherwise perfect body - this particular frame doesn't seem to climb or accelerate as well as my current bike does. What does that mean? Well, on my bike, when I really crank on it to accelerate or climb a serious hill, it goes. There's no "softness" or "cush" - it just goes. With the ID8, I found myself struggling a bit with acceleration and climbing steep hills. Part of it could be the gearing (this ID8 demo bike had a terrible gearing configuration), but part of it I suspect is a result of the emphasis on the super smooth ride. It's a minor, minor complaint - barely worth noting - but I couldn't continue to gush. :-)

I'm guessing that if I were to ever be able to obtain a Seven, and it were indeed custom made for me, I'd be able to have them build-in a little better acceleration and climbing responsiveness. Sigh, and that's why life is so cruel. I'll only be able to dream and wonder what it might be like.

Here are some final pictures of this wonderful machine - I'm dreading the minute when the shop calls to either give me bad news (that I have to return the bike) or really bad news (that my frame can't be warrantied). Sigh...

Look at that beefy bottom bracket - no shot it'll ever crack!

And the frontend - so strong, yet so forgiving. The fork absorbs road imperfections without sacrificing handling and agility. The head tube? Forget about it - bulletproof.

Look at those welds - pure magic.

I've never wished more in my life that Santa really did exist! So amazing, and I'm truly envious of anyone that's lucky enough to own one of these magnificent machines. Until you've had a chance to ride one, it's understandable as to why you might not be able to fathom why I'm so giddy about the Seven ID8. It's truly a masterpiece, and my hat is off to everyone at Seven. Keep on doing what you're doing!

Happy Mothers Day!

Oh, and I did another triathlon today. This one was part of the Texas Tri Series - The Pure Sport Rookie Triathlon - in New Braunfels. We sponsor the series (along with several other companies), so I was able to get free entrance to the race, and I was able to sneak in at the last minute, which was nice. As you can see, I was entrant number 944... they allowed approximately 1000 people into the race, so it was a decent-sized event.

New Braunfels is about 30 minutes south from Austin, approximately half-way between Austin and San Antonio. The race started at 8:00am; the transition area closed at 7:40am, and you had to be there by no later than 7:00am; they recommended a full hour before close of transition, so it was up at 4:30am... nice.

Not many pictures to share, sorry... here I am coming out of the water (not dead last in my group, but pretty close!):

My swimming is still so awful. I thought I had done pretty well on the swim, but nope - I pretty much got my butt kicked by everyone else... my swim time was just under 10 minutes (9:35) - 300M... ick. I didn't use my wetsuit because the water temperature was warm (75F), and the water smelled like sewer, so I didn't want to stink up my new suit.

I am proud to say that my transitions have improved tremendously since my last triathlon. I spent a total of 2:35 in the transition area (out of water, run 100 yards to bike area, put on bike shoes, helmet, glasses, run to bike mount area, and start riding), so that was great. Once on the road, I got after it pretty good - it was only an 11-mile ride, so I was able to crank on it. I finished the ride portion in just under 35 minutes, for an average of about 19mph. Back in transition, I spent just under 3 minutes dismounting the bike, running with it to the rack area, changing shoes, taking off my helmet, putting on socks & shoes, and leaving the transition area.

The run segment was a short 2-miles; I finished it in 16 minutes. Here I am coming toward the finish line (behind the open shirt dude - I slowed for the photo):

Total time: 1 hour 6 minutes. Not great by any real means, but I did finish 182 overall (out of about 1000), so that's not too horrible. Especially considering I didn't start swimming again until Monday of this week. :-)

We had a small booth at the event - here are Amy and Richard in our "booth lite":

With the race finished, it was down to San Antonio to grab a bite to eat on the Riverwalk and to see the Alamo. I had been there a few years ago, but figured that since I was so close, it might be nice to stop by.

Had breakfast tacos for lunch - yummy:

And then stopped and saw the Alamo:

Ran into this cute little kitty along the Riverwalk:

And then drove back to Austin. Did some laundry, sat by the pool, and am now contemplating dinner...

Speaking of dinner, we had a farewell dinner for Lina, our graphics artist intern, on Friday. We stopped at Maria's Taco Express for some happy hour fun and delicious tacos. Here's a picture of part of the Trigger Point crew:

From left-to-right: Jessica (marketing/events), Lina (graphic arts), Me, Thomas (east coast sales).

That's about it! Looking forward to a busy week at work, so the blog will probably be a bit slow. Oh, before I go, here's a picture of my neighbor's dog, Zeus - he's the cutest Chihuahua I've ever seen:

I've managed to shed 118 pounds.

The scale shows 167.0 lbs, as of late last week. The highest weight I recall having seen over the past 10 years for myself was 285-ish. I think I may have been as high as 295, but I'm not sure, so I'll just stick with 285 as my official high weight. I was 275-ish when I went on a cruise back in April of 2006. I wore a size 44 - 46 pants, a 3XL t-shirt, and my dress shirts were 18" in the neck. My belts were a 48. I constantly tried to hide in my clothes - I'd buy stuff that was a bit too large, pull on it constantly, stretch it before putting it on, all of those fun gimmicks to try and disguise my body shape.

Here's me in April of 2006:

And here I am today (actually last night), in my new wetsuit. Granted, it sucks in the body a bit, but you can tell a difference (and what an awful picture - ugh!).

Today, I weigh in at between 167 - 171, depending on the time of day. I wear a size 32 pants, a size M or L t-shirt, and my dress shirts are 15 - 15.5" neck size. My chest went from a 48-49 to a 40. My belt is a 34-36.

Everyone asks, "How did you do it? What's your secret?"

There's no real secret, although I have learned a few tricks along the way, and I'll share them here. I'll start with some background on how I got started.

Sometime around October of 2007, I started trying to jog a little. I bought a treadmill, and would walk on it every so often, maybe do a light jog, but it was frustrating - I couldn't really jog for more than a minute or two before becoming completely winded. I gave up after a few weeks.

Then I saw an Ironman triathlon on the TV and figured I'd give jogging another try. I still couldn't jog much, but I was determined to do it. I went online, found a program called "couch to 5k" and tried to follow it as best I could. A few months later, I bought a used bicycle and started riding it. I felt better, but the weight wasn't really dropping off.

I continued to jog and ride my bike. On weeknights, I'd jog my 25-minutes (per the 5k program) on my treadmill. On weekends, I'd take the bike over to the Military Park and ride. I started with 6 miles, and within a few months was up to 50-60 miles. I vowed to do a triathlon before the end of 2008, and set my sights on a few.

In the meantime, I adjusted my diet - I never ate breakfast, I'd have a dry, grilled chicken salad for lunch, and I'd eat a handful of pretzels with peanut butter for dinner. I kept running at night - 3 - 4 times per week. I kept riding on the weekends. Just before my triathlon was scheduled, I went for a few swims. And on August 10, 2008, I did a triathlon. I thought I was in unbelievable shape. My pants fit loose, my shirts were too big - I was a lean, mean, fighting machine. Or was I? Here I am immediately after my race:

UGH! At this point, I was wearing a size 40 pants, and weighed around 225 pounds. I'd lost at least 60 pounds, but crikey - I was still chubby. About a month later, I took a roadtrip to California, and it was there that I discovered a few secrets to weight loss.

I wasn't eating enough. I wasn't eating in the morning. And, I wasn't exercising in the morning. I firmly believe that those three things are the key to successful weight loss. Here's what changed when I was in California...

I went to CA weighing around 212 pounds. While there, I rode my bike every morning (for about 45 minutes), and went for a 15-20 minute jog. I did this immediately upon waking up - I'd roll out of bed, stretch, put on some clothes, and hit the road. An hour later, I'd come back and take a shower.

I'd then grab a light breakfast (cereal with skim milk, an english muffin with an egg and some turkey bacon, or something like that), and I made sure to wait at least 30 minutes after exercising before eating. I'd eat a light lunch (a turkey sub, no cheese; a salad, no dressing; etc), treat myself to a snack in the afternoon (a cookie or a churro), and then eat a normal dinner.

I felt like a pig the entire time that I was in California - I thought for sure I'd gained 10 pounds. But, when I returned home some 10 days later, the scale showed I was 200 pounds. I'd lost 12 pounds while on vacation - how does that happen??

From that point on, I vowed to always exercise in the morning, eat breakfast, and eat reasonably throughout the day. I've continued to follow that routine and it's helped me shed another 30 pounds in just over 4 months. I've plateaued at times - it's not like I've continued to lose weight every day, but I stayed persistent and consistent.

So, in summary - my tips/secrets go like this:

• Exercise in the morning. I was exercising like crazy every night and not realizing any kind of significant benefit/change. As soon as I started jogging in the morning, I dropped weight in big chunks. It stands to reason - you crank up your metabolism for the entire day by doing some activity early on.


• Eat breakfast. You always hear this advice, but it's true. These days, I'll eat a Special K Protein Bar (180 calories), or a bowl of mixed fruit (190 calories), or a bacon egg and cheese muffin (245 calories), or a breakfast taco (egg, pico de gallo, turkey bacon - 190 calories). It's critical - eat in the morning!!


• Eat more food. I thought that by just eating some pretzels at night that I'd drop weight, but it didn't work. I've added more calories to my diet - I now try to average around 1000 calories per day (versus 500-600 back in August of 2008).


• Be persistent. I track my food intake online, over at the Livestrong.com website. I enter in everything that I eat and drink, no matter what. If I eat 4 donuts from Round Rock Donut, I enter in 4 donuts. If I drink a few beers at the taco place, I enter them in. It keeps me honest, and it lets me see where I'm at each day. I enter in my exercise as well, which is rewarding - I can look back and see that I've run almost 150 miles since moving to Austin on March 20 - that's pretty cool.


• Know what you're eating. This is critical. Eating at restaurants every so often is fine, but know what you're eating. Case in point: I can make a chicken fajita taco at my home, and if I make two of them (two tortillas, one chicken breast, bell pepper, onion, tomato, a small scoop of salsa), I consume 300 calories. If I eat two chicken tacos from Taco Bell, it's 420 calories. From Taco Cabana it's 530 calories. And that's without any dressings or sauces... Again - by tracking food via a service like Livestrong.com (which has 550,000+ foods listed), you can really get a handle on things.


• Don't give up, be realistic, and try to enjoy yourself. This one sounds odd, but I'll do my best to describe it... It's hard to lose weight. It's frustrating, especially at the beginning. Be realistic - you're going to eat pizza. You're going to go to Buffalo Wild Wings and eat waaaaay too many wings. Get back on the plan as soon as possible! But at the same time, try to avoid the pitfall of gorging yourself... I'm definitely guilty of binge eating from time to time - I'll be super good all week, and then one night, I'll order a huge hamburger, fries, cheese curds, and have 3 cookies for dessert. That's no good; consistency is the key - just don't be too much of a nazi, or you'll get discouraged.

So there you have it. Not sure if this info is helpful - it's not really revolutionary, but I can tell you that it works. I never took any pills or supplements (other than the occasional protein shake as a replacement meal). I didn't get hypnotized or follow any fad diets. The age old rules of "eat less and do more" stand firm. I just modified them a bit to "eat more in the morning and do more in the morning."

Ultimately, everyone is different, and our bodies all respond to weight loss in different ways. This is just what has worked for me, and your results may vary. I figured I'd share the info since everyone asks me "how I do it" - and now you know... :-) No secrets, no magic, no mirrors, just the old fashioned "do more" approach.

Typical day:

7:15 am = Run for around 35 - 45 minutes
8:00 am = Shower
8:15 am = Drive to work; drink a coffee, eat a Special K bar
12:00 pm = Eat lunch (grilled chicken salad; turkey sub; in a pinch: a protein bar)
5:00pm = Ride bike for an hour (I know; I'd rather ride in the AM, but I like sleeping)
6:15pm = Shower
7:00pm = Eat dinner (grilled pork tenderloin, chicken or fish + roasted vegetables)
9:00pm = Eat a snack (apple, cereal, sugar free Jello pudding, etc)

Quite often, I'm busy at work late into the evening, so it's been more difficult to keep this schedule, but I try. Just take it one day at a time! Oh, and thanks for letting me brag a bit... :-)

Howdy, y'all! Hook 'em Horns (or something like that).

So, you've all e-mailed me, and you've all left me voice mails, and you're all wondering what the heck is going on with me. Thanks for the concern, and apologies for not responding to your inquiries - I'm not ignoring you (well, I'm not ignoring most of you), I've just been super busy. I (drum roll) relocated to Austin, Texas last week, and have been immersed in my new job, the city, and all of that fun stuff.

"W-w-w-w-what?!" Yep, I heard you, and I saw you do that double-take-head-twist-thing that you do when you're confused. That's right, I'm in Austin.

"Where's Austin?"

Easy - it's in central Texas, about 2.5 hours south of Dallas, about an hour north east of San Antonio, and about 2 hours north west of Houston. Refer to this wonderful map that I made:

Cool, eh?

"Why Austin?" Lots of reasons, but most notably I found a great job here and was lucky enough to get offered a position. I've long wanted to live in Austin - there's just something about it - and things "worked out" in just the right order so that I could have that opportunity.

"What's so special about Austin?" Tons of things. But I won't bore you with history and details; you can check out the Wikipedia entry about Austin. Suffice it to say that Austin is a booming area - there are about 1.6 million people in/around the immediate area, the city has a ton of personality, it's very athletic-friendly, and it's not Arkansas. :-) I can actually shop at a store that isn't a Wal-Mart, and I can actually eat at restaurants that aren't chain restaurants. It's so refreshing. But more on that in a bit.

This is going to be another lengthy entry, so please click on the link to read the rest of this entry. Sorry, but we've got a lot of catching up to do!!!

On a whim, and without much (read: none) planning, I decided to do a 20-mile bike race yesterday.

While at work last Friday, I was e-mailing with a friend of mine from Competitive Cyclist, and he asked if I was going to do the "Hell's Kitchen" race. I told him that I wasn't aware of the race, so he sent me some information about it.

I decided to check it out... went back to the house on Friday night, hit the trainer for a bit, and then hoped for the best come Sunday. (Mistake #1)

Sunday morning came far too quickly, and the weather was just slightly better than miserable. It was cold (in the mid 40's), cloudy, foggy, and there was a light mist falling. The race location was about 10 miles south west of Fayetteville, and parking was hard to come by. There were cars lined alongside the road, in fields, and generally scattered everywhere. There were guys riding their bikes on trainers, next to their cars, effectively making the highway a one-lane road.

Found the registration "center" (an old, rundown church), paid my entry fee and bought a license so that I could enter future events. Total cost: $100. Got my number, and headed back to the car to get ready.

I was shocked to learn that the start and finish lines were about 4 miles from each other... why can't any of the race organizers around here coordinate the start/finish line in the same spot??

I went to the bike race in Lincoln last year, and it suffered the same problem - the finish line was a good 2 miles from the start. My 5k race at the Pea Ridge Military Park had the same problem as well - the finish line was a good mile from the starting line. Is it *that* hard/impossible to mate the starting and finish lines? I guess so.

Moved the car to the finish line, threw on my gear, and rode the 4 miles back to the starting line. It actually worked out for the best to do this; the 4 mile ride was a nice way to warm-up and to make sure that all was well with the bike. I found my staging area and waited for the race to start.

The race was scheduled to start at 10:00am, and I'm assuming that it did - I didn't have my watch turned on at the time, but I saw the Category 1 racers take off in a pack, complete with a police escort. After about a 15 minute wait, Category 2 and 3 riders left. After another 15 minute wait, the Category 4 and Masters (40+ age group) took off. And finally, after another 15 minutes, our group was let loose.

And therein was the first problem... our group, Category 5 (novices/beginners) were released at precisely the same time that the Category 1 (pros) were completing their first lap. Category 1 riders had to do four (4) 20-mile laps; Category 5 had to do one (1) 20-mile lap. So, as we hit the first corner of the race course, the Cat 1 riders were merging in and amongst our group.

Well, everyone freaked out, and wouldn't you know it, but there was a bit of a snarl/mess, and some folks went down directly in front of me. I was able to stop without incident, but by the time I got going, the first half of the Cat 5 group was gone. I cranked along, trying to catch up to them, but it was more or less pointless. Mistake #2: starting the race in the mid pack... next time, I'm starting at the front, no matter what.

Here I am on the course:

As you can see, I was all alone... well, not for long.... at about the 5 mile point, I was racing along at a nice clip - about 25mph, when out of no where comes this crazy dog, and he decides he's going to try to t-bone my bike. I swerve, slow down, then speed-up, yell at him, bark - but all for nought. He was intent on chasing me... so, I cranked as fast as I could, trying to lose him. I went around a slight bend, and there were 2 cars coming at me from the opposite direction, and thankfully, the dog decided to chase the cars instead, so he stopped (in the middle of the road), let the cars pass within inches of him, and then chased them. I LOVE - LOVE animals, but that dog isn't long for this planet... and his owner(s) need to be strung up for not taking better care of him... argh.

Ok, so now my legs are completely spanked, I'm rattled, I'm still riding alone, with no one to draft, and, I've got about 15 miles to go. Nice. Good thing there's a monster hill in about 10 miles that I have to contend with. The race is called "Hell's Kitchen" because of the monster hill that in previous years has caused portions of the field to quit when they reach it.

Well, I made it to the hill at about the 42-minute mark, and began the climb. They weren't kidding when they said the hill is pure hell - it really is. I swear it goes straight up, and it's about 1.2 miles long. My watch was yelling at me during most of the climb because my heart rate was too high... I checked the readings later, and it showed my heart rate was 237 bpm (beats per minute) during the climb. Sheesh!!!

With the hill behind me, it was time to motor to the finish line. I could see a few people in front of me, so I worked on catching them. One was a Category 1 rider, and 2 were Category 5 riders. I raced down hills - while they were coasting, I was pedaling as hard as I could (watch showed my top speed as 44.7 mph). My legs were on fire, my nose was stuffy, and my glasses were foggy, but I was going to catch them. And I did...

Here's me at the finish line:

The finish line was also on an uphill stretch, just for good measure, I guess. I finished in about 1 hour flat; not bad for a 20-mile race with a monster hill. I was just happy to finish without incident - I had escaped a wreck, a crazy dog, and the hill from hell. So, all-in-all, it wasn't a bad race. I didn't wait around for the results to be posted, just took off and called it a day. I'm guessing I finished mid-pack at best. Oh well. We'll get 'em next time.

...that I am going to see (well, actually I went and saw it this weekend).

That's right - spent the weekend in Austin, TX and really enjoyed it. To sum up Austin in one sentence, "It's like Madison with a southern accent."

Took off from NW Arkansas at around 4pm on Friday, and the first order of business was to stop at the McKinney, Texas Culver's. Nothing like a good burger, some curds, and some fries at 9:00pm.

That's not really on the diet, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to cheat a bit this weekend. I've been increasing my run distances in preparation for doing a 70.3 (or "half-IronMan" as some refer to it), so consuming a few additional calories wasn't going to hurt too much. ...or so I try to tell myself.

Rolled in to Austin at around midnight, and stayed at a favorite hotel, the Hyatt Place. For those not familiar, the Hyatt Place is a "younger" Hyatt - the rooms feature a 42" LCD television with a media center, free wireless internet, and a big sectional couch with a big leather ottoman. The rates are reasonable to boot, and they've got 24 hour food service - you can stroll down to the lobby at 3:00am and order anything from a Caesar Salad to a Chocolate Chunk cookie with milk. Since they're relatively new, the rooms are fresh, and that's always a bonus.

I went for a run on Saturday morning - it was brisk to say the least - about 45F and extremely windy. The weather channel showed wind gusts of around 35mph; that'll slow you down a bit... after working up a great appetite, it was over to the infamous Magnolia Cafe for some breakfast.

Their slogan is, "Sorry - We're Open" because they're open 24/7, and it seems like they're busy 24/7.... there was about a 30 minute wait at 9:00 in the morning. People were lined-up everywhere, but the Magnolia makes it easy to wait because they've got an agreement with a boutique store next door - when they call your name for a table, the store has a speaker in it so you can shop at the store and still hear them call you for your table. It's a great idea if you ask me. While at the store, I stumbled across a book called "The Fearless Critic" - it reviews the majority of Austin's restaurants, and it's brutally honest. Not terribly accurate in my humble opinion, but brutal.

After spending time at the store, the table was ready and it was time to chow down. With my tummy rumblin', I ordered the breakfast tacos - a toasty flour tortilla filled with scrambled eggs, a little cheese, some Canadian bacon, and some red potatoes. Thanks to some confusion on my part, I only received one taco, but it was just enough to fill me up. To say it was delicious would be doing it a disservice - it was far better than delicious.

While at the cafe, there was this little guy who posed for a picture - one of the great things about Austin is how informal and "down to earth" it is. No one dresses up for anything, and it seems to be perfectly acceptable to bring your dog into most places. Talk about cool.

Breakfast was great, but I was still a tad hungry, so from the Magnolia, it was over to Ken's Dougnuts. Ken's was identified as "the best" doughnut shop by the Fearless Critic book, so it was worth a try.

Looks good, right? Well, don't always judge a book by it's cover. The place had promise - it was small, located in a horrible location, had terrible customer service, yet earned rave reviews... unfortunately, Ken failed to deliver the goods. The doughnuts were greasy and had an "old grease" taste to them. The dough wasn't light and fluffy - it was damp and icky. What a disappointment. :-(

But, recovery was just around the corner - from Ken's, it was off to tour the various triathlon and bike shops in Austin. Austin is extremely tri-friendly thanks to the Barton Springs pool, Town Lake Park, and harboring an "outdoors-friendly" attitude. It doesn't hurt that Lance Armstrong makes his home in Austin, either...

First stop was at the infamous Jack and Adam's Bike Shop on Barton Springs Road. I've read about this place quite a bit online, and have heard a lot about it on the message boards, so it warranted an in person visit. It's a small place for sure, but they seem to carry a lot of great stuff.

From Jack and Adam's, it was over to the Austin Tri Cyclist or "ATC" as folks refer to it. ATC is nothing to look at from the outside - in fact, I drove clear past it without even noticing it. How I missed this place is beyond me:

I really liked the ATC. They had a ton of gear there - more carbon wheels than you could shake a stick at, tons of high end frames, a great selection of clothing and accessories, and a bunch of stuff you wouldn't normally find at any 'ole bike shop. I bought a few shirts and they even threw in a freebie t-shirt just for stopping by. That was pretty cool. While in the store, I watched as a guy spec'd out a new bike - a Cervelo P3C (which is about $4500 for the frame alone) and judging from the components he was looking at, I'm going to say his total bill was going to easily approach $10k.

From ATC, it was back to the downtown area for some bumming around and then I spent some time on the SW side of Austin. With dinner fast approaching, the locals suggested a place called Z Tejas. It's grown from a small house on 6th Street in Austin to a nationwide chain of restaurants.

Once again, "Z" didn't disappoint - the little house looked, well, "little" from the outside, but it was quite expansive on the inside. They even have a "breezeway" that connects the original house to a larger, newer addition that's located next door. After a quick wait, the hostess called with a table. The margaritas were awesome - I'd highly recommend them:

I'd also recommend the queso trio appetizer - wow. It was absolutely fantastic:

And finally, the main course, a seared tuna steak with fresh veggies, was capital I-n-c-r-e-d-i-b-l-e. Oh so good.

The tuna was supposed to come with a mustard/bbq glaze, but I asked for it on the side - I loved how they wrote "Z Tejas" with the mustard in the glaze. :-) The whole dinner experience was fantastic - there wasn't a single thing that could've been any better. The only regret was that dinner was over too fast.

The meal was so good in fact, that the cornbread, which looked amazing, went largely untouched - it wasn't until the end of the meal that I tried a piece of it. And, surprise - it was yummy!

From Z Tejas, it was over to one of the most spectacular grocery stores on the planet - Whole Foods. For those not familiar with this grocery chain, there's no possible way that I can do it any justice by describing it. It's such an experience - they have everything imaginable at the store, from top quality meats and fair trade organic locally grown vegetables to Earth shoes, wine, and gourmet pastries.

The Austin store is the "anchor" store - you can go to cooking classes, eat a 5-star lunch/dinner, and shop for tons of kitchen gadgets at this culinary Mecca. I could only get a blurry shot of it, so apologies for the poor photo:

After a busy day, it was time to hit the rack. Got up fairly early on Sunday morning with the intention of visiting the walking trails, but the weather was still chilly and breakfast sounded a lot more inviting than a walking trail. Back downtown, this time to Jo's Coffee for some grub:

Got there just in time - a crowd assembled and people were waiting for a table immediately after breakfast was ordered. What was ordered?

Migas! Migas are scrambled eggs, with tomatoes, corn tortillas, peppers, and onions. They're served with flour tortillas, black beans (these had cheese as well), and a side of potatoes. Yummy!

As filling as Jo's was, I still had a craving for a good doughnut, so it was time to consult the Fearless Critic. This time, the Critic suggested Mrs. Johnson's Bakery, and I must say, Mrs. Johnson, whoever she is, knows how to make a good doughnut. Ken - pay attention - Mrs. Johnson has got it goin' on.

The place is open from like 9pm through about noon, and I got there at about 11:30, so they threw in 2 free doughnuts. I didn't complain, nor did my fat cells - they said, "Hey, thanks!!"

On the way out of Austin, the Jetta made a quick stop at IKEA - just to browse. IKEA is another one of those awesome stores that "does it right" - their store is well organized, the prices are fantastic, the quality isn't bad, and they've got tons of cool gear.

It wasn't fun to leave Austin - the city was great, and the prospect of an 8 hour drive wasn't real attractive. Especially when you're cruising the open road... with nothing to see or do...

So, to break the monotony of the highway, there was one more stop at:

:-)

That made things a little better. Here I am, cruisin' down the road. Hope you all had a good weekend.

To start thinking about birthday gifts... and since mine is coming up in the not-too-distant-future, I figured I'd throw out a few hints/ideas/suggestions for folks to consider. Don't worry if you duplicate each others' purchases - I'll appreciate your gift(s) no matter what.

I'd like, in no particular order, any one of these gifts:

1. Cycleops Power Tap SL+ Hub (Shimano hub)

This hub is pretty awesome - it measures the amount of power expended during a ride, which is an invaluable training tool. It measures ad saves data about each ride so you can go back and review progress, weak spots, improvements, and so on. During races, it helps you determine when to take it easy and when to get after it. It's the most accurate calorie burning tool available for a bike. Unfortunately it's outrageously expensive...

2. Zipp 808 Cyldesdale Carbon Clincher Wheelset

I've rode next to people who have these wheels and can say this: they sound awesome (they make that "woosh/woosh/wooosh" noise like you'd hear when a Samurai sword is swung through the air), they look cool, and they're definitely fast. Combine these with that Power Tap hub, and look out.

3. Samsung 52" LCD 1080p 120Hz Television

I'm thinking this TV would make a nice edition to the bedroom.

4. Nike Pro Dri-Fit Long Sleeve Top and Shorts (compression)

I snagged some of these while in Joplin this weekend, and I really like them. I think they're even better than the UnderArmour versions - they fit better, and are more comfortable (so far). I like the tops and bottoms - but they have to be the compression version (really tight). Size Large (for top and bottom), in black.

5. DeSoto 400-mile Bib Shorts

I've got 2 pair of bib shorts and they're the best riding shorts I've ever worn. The DeSotos are supposed to be the very best out there - comfortable, long lasting, invaluable. Shorts do make all of the difference when it comes to longer rides. I'll take these in Large, black/black.

6. Osprey Atmos 50 Backpack

I'm a bit "on the fence" about this one... I've been researching backpacks for a while, and I'm torn between the Osprey, The Smart Alec from Tom Bihn, the Rocket Science Rocket bag, or a Zoot Z-Pack bag. I'm sure all are extremely nice and extremely similar - it's just hard to decide which one would be best... I'd like to start riding my bike to and from work, and a good backpack could make all the difference. It'll also double as a triathlon bag, so I'm asking a lot from one bag. Decisions, decisions... surprise me, and I'll be happy! :-)

7. Apple Aperture 2.1

Apple's first attempt with this program was awful, but they turned things around with version 2. It's absolutely amazing; it quickly indexes, organizes, and displays digital images, allows for adjustments (without "damaging" the original file), and generates all sorts of cool things like online galleries, print-ready books, and so on. It's not a true Photoshop replacement, but it's pretty darned close. I've used the trial version for quite a while, but it has since expired. :-(

So there you have it. Five Six Seven great gift ideas for Steveo. I'll probably think of some other ideas; when I do, I'll update this entry. :-)

Edit: Here are some great LOL Cats:

Man, what a relief! The weather has finally taken a turn for the better; after many, many weeks of cold temperatures, snow, ice, and all sorts of other nasty stuff, we seem to have hit a patch of good weather.

So that meant I got to roll the bike off from the trainer and on to some real pavement! I checked my tire pressures, filled up some water bottles, lubed the chain, checked skewer tensions, threw on some biking clothes and hit the trail. The ride was absolutely wonderful. It was so nice to be out and about rather than cranking out miles on the 'ole trainer.

Even though it was gusting heavily (25-30mph gusts) the Pea Ridge trail does a great job of blocking most wind. The trail is nestled in valleys and forges, and you're surrounded by trees for the majority of the loop, so it makes for a great ride and run. I cranked out 36 effortless miles - maybe that trainer isn't so evil! I suppose it also helps that I'm hauling around 30-40 less pounds than I was last year.

I passed several families that were riding their bikes, enjoying the wonderful weather. I came up on a family of 5-6 people: mom, dad, and a bunch of kids. They were all on their bikes, weaving around on the trail, not paying attention to anything behind them, and just more or less meandering... So, I slowed down (it was on a flat section, and I had been cranking at about 24-25 mph) and said, "Hi - sorry - coming up on your left."

The mom, who was in the back of the pack, ordered her kids to move to the right, and they all did. The dad, who was leading the pack, looked over his shoulder and waved me past, so I pedaled on by. As I was passing one of the kids, he goes, "WOW - that is a cool bike! Dad, I want that one!" And the dad goes, "I want it, too!"

I laughed. I like my bike, and it is pretty sexy, but I didn't think anyone "normal" would think anything of it. I gave a quick shout of "Thanks!" back to them, and went on my way. I passed them three more times during my ride - I was averaging just over 18 minutes per lap - and each time, the kid would say something like, "Cool" or "Awesome." I'd always say, "Thank you - your bike isn't too bad either." Or something like that.

I guess my bike is pretty cool, even when it's dirty:

People often ask what the Vroomen.White.Design means - it stands for Gerard Vroomen and Phil White Design - they're the two gentlemen who started Cervelo. They're geniuses, if you ask me - their bikes are so phenomenal.

Anyway... I finished my ride, then hit the trail for a run - I did 4 miles, and even that was enjoyable. The net result of today's workout efforts? Looks like I can pig out tonight!

No, not really. I downloaded an application for my iPhone from Livestrong, and it's an awesome program. It's also totally free - and if you don't have an iPhone, you can simply visit their website, register, and track everything (food, exercise, weight) online.

The awesome thing about the Livestrong application is that it syncs with TheDailyPlate.com, which has more than 500,000 foods and restaurants worth of nutritional information in it, so you can easily track your calories. I've been using it for about a month now, and absolutely love it. It's incredibly easy to use, and it appears to be fairly accurate; I compared my workout calories between the Livestrong application and my Garmin watch, and both were within 5% of each other, so that's decent validation in my book.

To use the Livestrong application/site, you simply enter your age, weight, and "normal" activity level. It then recommends a base calorie rate (mine is 1,482) to achieve a weight loss goal of 1-lb per week. From there, I simply enter in my foods each day (as you can see, I had an egg with egg whites for breakfast (it's actually cut-off - I also had Canadian bacon, an English muffin, and some fruit)), and from there, the application tells me how many calories I have left for each day.

Exercising allows you to eat more - and in my case, I burned quite a few calories on my ride and run, so I have plenty of spare calories that I could eat today. I won't go crazy, though - I did that last night... pizza, donuts, nachos...

Anyway - check out the Livestrong site. It's a great fitness tool.

I woke up nice and early today (around 5:30am) so that I could participate in the Pea Ridge Runner 5k Race. It was a brisk 32F when I woke up, so that didn't help motivate me too much. The bed was much warmer and far more comfortable than my running shoes...

After hemming and hawing about the absurd nature of this early morning racing, I put on several layers of clothing and made my way to the car. I arrived at the park at just about 7:00am, which gave me 30 minutes to register, stretch, and find a place on the starting line.

As you can see, it was still quite chilly at just 13 minutes before the race. Thankfully it was sunny, but it was also quite windy - take a look at the flag in this picture... according to my WeatherBug program, it was 21F with the windchill. Nice.

As soon as I saw a group forming near the starting line, I hopped out of the car and made my way over to them. There were approximately 300 - 325 racers at the park, most of them appeared to be fairly serious runners - spandex was everywhere.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from the race, as the park didn't set-up the course until Friday (yesterday), and no one at the park knew anything about the course when I had inquired last weekend. I assumed it would be some type of simple loop - 1.5 miles out and 1.5 back.

Well, the race wasn't organized too well... the marshals didn't have any type of bullhorn or PA system for communicating with us about the course, so instead they walked around the starting group shouting instructions about the race. Unfortunately, most people were talking, so the marshals had to repeat the instructions at least 10 times. This delayed the start (and kept us in the cold) for a good 15-20 minutes. A loud cannon blast started the race, and next thing I knew, I was off and running.

I had started in the last third of the group. I wasn't sure how fast everyone would run, and I didn't want to be in anyone's way. This was my second biggest mistake... my first mistake being not wearing gloves - my hands froze during the entire race.

I found myself quickly passing people like they were standing still. A check of my Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS watch showed that I was pacing at an 8-minute mile, which is my comfortable running speed. Yet everyone else seemed to be crawling. So, I darted and weaved, and at the first turn I was in the top-third of the group.

The course was designed quite inefficiently... we ran from the main parking lot (pictured above), and headed west for 1.10 miles. Then we turned around and headed west, back toward the parking lot. This meant that there was a lot of traffic to negotiate - as I was making my way back toward the lot, I was having to dodge people who were running both with me and toward me... annoying to say the least.

At the 2.15 mile mark, we headed west/northwest toward one of the more popular landmarks at the military park - unfortunately, it's located quite a ways from the main parking lot... I wasn't quite sure how they'd get us all back to the main lot when the race was over, but I kept chugging away. The packs had thinned quite a bit, and I was now running mostly by myself. I had one guy who was tailing me, but other than that, it was mostly a solo affair.

We made our way past the finish line (yep, you read that correctly), and then turned around in the parking lot of the Elkhorn Tavern (that's the popular landmark), and ran another 500-600 yards back to the finish line. I finished the race (3.54 miles) in 27 minutes and 6 seconds. They haven't posted the results as of yet, but I'm guessing I finished in about 45-60th place overall.

After the race was over, it was still quite chilly, and we were now stuck about a mile from the main parking lot. Everyone was sort of standing around; people were still trying to finish the race, and there were supposed to be shuttle busses to take us back to the main lot, but they wouldn't allow the shuttles onto the course until everyone was done racing.

So, to appease everyone, the race marshals had ice water and ice cold Lipton Tea for us to "enjoy" while we waited for the buses. There was supposed to be breakfast food, but the catering truck was stuck in the main parking lot as well, waiting for the racers to finish. I had heard rumors of a bonfire somewhere, but never could find it.

So, I walked back to my car and left. There was supposed to have been an iPod Touch that was to be raffled off, and you had to be present to win it, but I wasn't going to stand around in 32F weather, drinking ice water, and hoping to win a $500 iPod.

All in all, the race was fun - the course was a bit dopey, but it was a good race. Logistically, it was a nightmare, but this was only their second year for the event, so some flaws are to be expected. I guess I'm now officially done with races for 2008... I'll have to wait until next year to do some triathlons and some more 5Ks.

I really feel like a heel for sharing this stuff, but since the vast majority of my friends have left work, I don't have many people to talk to any more, so I'll just post it on here:

Sorry for the blurry photo - my iPhone doesn't take close-up shots real well. I bought some new jeans last week, and I had to order size 34 (they just came today via UPS - had to order them because the local stores didn't have any 34s with a longer inseam).

I couldn't believe it. Last year about this time, I was excited to be down to a size 40 pants (I was a 44 at my heaviest). So to be able to squeeze into a 34 is amazing - I'm in shock, actually. I don't think I've been a 34 since around 1998. I'm still a good 30-pounds heavier than I was in 1998, so I'm not quite sure how I can fit into these, but they fit pretty well. A few more dropped pounds and they'll be perfect.

In other news, the race is coming up on Saturday, and the weather should be a bit brisk... low of 35, high of 54, and the race is at 7:30am. I've been focusing on running - speed drills, increasing distances, form, and so on. I "test ran" the course last Saturday and finished in just over 24 minutes, which is what I figured I would do.

The odd thing is that I ran again on Sunday and could barely huff out 3.5 miles; I was dying. And then last night was a speed night, so I ran 2 miles at a 7:00/mile pace and was totally fine. It's crazy - I only hope that next Saturday is a "good" day; if I crash, I'll be angry.

Other news: I'm addicted to sushi. I never thought I'd like it, but wow - is it fantastic. My favorites:

Yellow-fin Tuna roll: yummmmmmy!

Sashimi Tuna: so good

When I first tried sushi a few months ago, I hated it. The reason I hated it was because people had suggested that I try the "California Roll" because it wasn't really "sushi." For those not familiar, a California Roll typically has: avocado, crab meat, and cream cheese. Three things that I absolutely detest... So it's no wonder I didn't care for "sushi" at that time...

Then I went back to the sushi place with some people who really knew the ins and outs of sushi, and discovered that I absolutely love "real" sushi. We ordered 8 or 9 different types of rolls, and I liked all of them, save for the "Philly roll" (spicy tuna with cream cheese). Good sushi isn't fishy, it's not slimy, and it's not gross - it's delicious. I love it.

Final odds-n-ends tidbit: I got hooked on John Grisham books. In the past week I've read three of them. Wow! I had no idea they were so good. One of my all time favorite movies is "Runaway Jury," which is a movie that's based on the Grisham book. A few of my friends were talking about "The Partner" so I bought the book and was hooked. I finished it in just over a day - it was that good.

Now I'm reading "The Appeal" and can already tell that I'll blow through it in a day or less. Why didn't I know about these books?? :-) They really help make the workday pass quickly.

Guess that's about it for now...

Oh, and thank goodness today is election day. I hope that America 'gets it right' and elects someone that won't continue to run our country into the ground.

1.20.09: T-minus 77 days and counting. It can't come soon enough.

I woke up this morning and decided to stop at WalMart before trudging into work. I felt like getting a newspaper and a Diet Mt. Dew (I've drastically cut my consumption over the past month or so).

As I was reading the paper, I stumbled across a story about a 5k race (run) that's being hosted at the Pea Ridge Military Park. For those not aware, the Pea Ridge Military Park is where I do the majority of my bike riding and running. I love the place - it's gorgeous, fairly challenging, and relatively quiet. I bought an annual pass this year ($15) and have gone to the park nearly every single weekend to ride and run.

I called the race organizer and discovered that there was still time to register for the event, so I signed-up, and with any luck will get to do one last race before the end of 2008. Granted, it's not a triathlon, but a quick 5k run should be a pretty fun time. Looking at 2007 results, I'll probably finish just outside of the top-10 for my age group... I'm not a fast runner by any means, and the park is pretty hilly, so I'm guessing I'll average an 8:00 mile, which would put me somewhere around the 10-12 spot; and at about the 50% overall spot.

I'll train a little harder this week and we'll see what happens.

And, what recent post would be complete without two pictures from LOLcats?

and, while not technically related to anything about cats, it's funny...

I feel guilty for sharing this with everyone, but I was sort of shocked by it myself. I went to the doctor on Monday for a check-up, and they weighed me as part of the normal routine. I haven't weighed myself since around Christmas time, so I honestly had no idea how much I weighed.

The nurse threw me on the scale, ran the weights, tilted her head, and asked me to step off. She reset everything to zero, then had me step on again. She said, "That's odd - it shows that you're 71 pounds lighter than last time."

71 pounds. Holy crikey. I went from 279lbs in June of 2007 to 208lbs as of yesterday. I was shocked. Shocked that I weighed so much a year ago (I had been running, but not for very long), and shocked that I weighed 208. I feel heavier than that - I would've guessed somewhere around 220. I never really started the triathlon training with the intention of losing a lot of weight - I just wanted to be able to run for more than a few minutes without getting completely winded.

If I had to wager a guess, I'd say that biking has been the best thing for weight loss. I really noticed the pounds starting to drop in April/May of this year, which is about when I hit the 35-40 mile mark on my bike rides. I also notice that I burn the most calories when biking - a typical 50 mile ride will burn about 5,000 calories, and takes about 2.5 hours. A typical 5 mile run burns about 800-900 calories and takes just under an hour. A typical swim session burns about 500 calories and takes about 20 minutes.

Oh, and for those that have asked - here's my "secret" to losing the weight (there's no real secret - it's not much fun):

3x - 4x week = swim (1,000 - 1,200 meters each time; about 20 minutes)
4x - 5x week = run (3 - 5 miles each time; about 25 - 50 minutes)
2x week = bike (40-60 miles each time; about 2 - 3 hours)

Eating: I generally have:

- oatmeal in the morning (1 packet)
- light lunch (Subway turkey sub with lettuce/cucumbers; or a salad, no dressing)
- light dinner (similar to lunch)

I recently gave up soda and have been drinking water, unsweet tea, POM tea (pomegranate flavored tea) and/or Naked juice, but I usually try to limit myself to 3-4 of the juices per week, as they have a fair amount of calories in them. And, for the past 3 weeks or so, I've been trying to eat extra "clean" - a lot of fruit (kiwi, cantaloupe, pineapple, grapes, mango, blueberries) and a lot of water. I think that's helped a ton as well. I've slipped a little this week (enjoyed stuffed peppers and beef stroganoff), but I figure I can cheat a little. :-)

So, enough bragging. Sorry to do it here - just had to share, and "digest" the news by writing about it. I fully expect that within a year or so, I'll be back to being fat... my body seems to love putting on weight... :-D

Edit: Oh, funny little story about the doctor's office... my doctor is a bit of a "Mountain Man" - he looks sort of like Grizzly Adams and is a really straight shooter. Not a big believer in using pills to fix problems and so on.

So, he looks at my chart and goes, "See you've dropped some weight - that's great. What's your secret?" So I told him about the training and he said, "Are you trying to kill yourself?" He chuckled and then said, "No, that's great - I'd like to prescribe your program to some of my larger customers."

We both laughed about it, and then he started asking me computer questions, because they just got a new imaging system and he's not much of a computer guy... picture Grizzly Adams mashing his hands on a keyboard, and it's pretty much a spot-on impression of my doctor.

Just got an e-mail this morning from the CATS race organizer - they've cancelled the event. I'll most likely get credit for next year's race, so that's cool.

I went for a short ride this morning (20 miles) and a short run (3 miles); it was sprinkling a little, and it's never real fun to ride when the roads are wet - water sprays everywhere (but mostly on my butt).

I've got a bit of a dilemma. I have my second triathlon coming up this Sunday, in Conway, AR. But apparently, Conway has an appointment with Ike on Sunday.

So, do I drive down to Conway on Saturday night, prepare for the race, and get drenched from 7:00am - 10:00am, like I did a few weeks ago? Or, do I cancel it? The rain could be extremely heavy; I'm not sure if they'd call/cancel the race, but I have to assume they would if the weather was bad enough.

I don't mind racing in the rain, but it is a pain... everything gets drenched in the transition area (shoes, gloves, towels, bag, etc), and it does slow you down quite a bit, especially on the bike and in the transitions. The only upside is that it's considerably cooler... And I suppose there's a certain "toughness" factor to it. "I raced in a monsoon!"

Guess I'll play it by ear; plan on going, unless preliminary land rainfall reports are horrendous. Thankfully my non-refundable hotel in Conway was only $45 (HoJo!) and the race entry fee wasn't too bad at $75.

If I do miss it, it's basically the last triathlon I could enter for 2008... which means I'll have to plan more races for 2009...

UPDATE: Just got a notification from the race director that Conway is expected to receive "tropical storm force winds in excess of 60mph" starting late Saturday and early Sunday. They aren't calling the race off quite yet, but it's not looking good...

In other news, I made a slight modification to my work desk today... added another monitor, so that now I can monitor e-mail/messenger while watching a movie (or playing a game) on the PlayStation3, and browse the internet (and listen to Sirius) from my dual-screen laptop. Not too shabby.

I watched Glengarry GlenRoss yesterday - it was a pretty decent movie. Lots of great dialogue, and Alec Baldwin's 5 minutes in the movie is amazing.

Spy photo of my most recent swim:

I don't understand why my swimming stinks so badly. I took lifeguard classes, SCUBA dove, and considered myself to be a pretty decent swimmer (back in the day). But, holy cats - I can't swim worth a darn these days...

I joined the Fayetteville Boys & Girls Club yesterday so that I could swim laps on my lunch hour. They have an indoor pool that's open to lap swimmers twice a day (7:30am - 8:30am and 12:00pm - 1:00pm). I just got back from "swimming" 1000 meters - crikey, it was awful.

Guess I'll have to find a swim coach as I can't get my breathing sorted out. I can side-stroke or breaststroke all day long with no problems. But, they're such slow strokes... I need to get better at the front crawl; I can do two lengths of the crawl, but then I'm completely toast. I envy the folks who can do the crawl for 1500 meters without any problems.

I suppose it doesn't help much that I officially hate swimming, and all I can think about while swimming is getting out of the pool. :-)

Surprise!

I did a triathlon this morning. I had registered for it a few weeks ago, but wanted to keep it under my hat; I didn't want anyone to come watch, because I wasn't sure how it was going to go. Fortunately, it went pretty well, all things considered. I didn't win my age group, but I finished 9th out of 17 (only 15 in my group actually finished - two were DNF), with a time of 1:40:xx (I don't remember how many seconds it was). I got edged out by a guy right at the end, otherwise I would've finished 8th... I didn't even know he was behind me - I had tunnel vision and couldn't really hear anything, probably because of adrenaline.

My friend BJ went along to help out (thanks again, Beege - you were a life saver) and to take some pictures. He used a combination of a crummy disposable waterproof camera and my normal camera. The disposable photos are horrible; my plan was to carry it with me throughout the race and snap pictures along the way, but I gave it to BJ at the last minute.

Highlights?

+ Getting kicked about 25 times during the swim - once in the forehead, which caused my head to plunge into the water while I was trying to take a breath... I started choking, and thought I was going to die. I rolled onto my back, coughed water for about a minute, then got back to swimming.

+ Getting passed during the swim by 5 girls... who started five minutes behind my group. My swimming sucks - I need to focus exclusively on improving my swim times.

+ Cutting a 1.5" long gash on the ball of my right foot while exiting the swim portion of the race; there were so many rocks, and it was slippery - I stepped on a rock, slipped, and s-l-i-c-e! That made the bike/run really fun.

+ Being horribly slow in the transition areas. I need to get some tri-specific bike shoes, so I can skip the socks. Putting socks on while you're soaking wet isn't really easy or fun.

+ Passing about 60 people during the bike portion. I flew on that section - my average speed was around 19mph, which I was super happy with. According to the results, I was one of 57 people with a bike time of under 50 minutes. The fastest bike time was 38.xx minutes, and was set by the race winner.

+ Laughing with a 52-year old lady while on the run. She passed by me and said, "tell me again why we do this?" I started laughing - it was pretty funny at the time...

+ The weather; it rained 2.75" between midnight and 7:00am. Our race started at 7:20, and I had to be there by 6:30. So, for a good 45 minutes or so, we got soaked, and so did everything else. My bike got absolutely filthy during the ride... But thankfully it didn't rain much during the race, and just as fortunately the temperature was fantastic - about 75F the entire time.

+ Not dying.

So, without any further ado, here are some photos:

Here's me in the water, getting ready for our start. I was in the 2nd group to leave. There were about 80 people in my group.

Me, swimming (or as some might say, sinking):

I think I had cut my foot about 1 second before this picture was taken...

In the transition area, between the swim and the bike. I was so sloooooow!

Out on the bike - just leaving the transition area:

Finishing the race (man, I need to lose another 25 lbs... hideous!!)

To give you an idea of how much it rained the past few days:

And here we are, leaving the race - I'm all smiles:

And the bike - it got a little dirty:

Race summary:

Swim = 500 meters
Bike = 15.44 miles
Run = 3.25 miles

Time: 1 hour, 40 minutes; 183 out of 274 competitors, 9th in my category

Finished: 9/17 (15 actually finished)

My next race is in Conway, AR on September 14. I plan to swim a TON before that race, and hopefully improve my transition times/speeds. I can't wait to try it again!

Areas to improve:

- Swim time. I did the 500m in 15.xx minutes, which is terrible. I need to get into the 11-12 minute range.

- Transition time. My T1 (swim-to-bike) transition was almost 4 minutes; for comparison, the winner did it in 32 seconds. Socks = the devil.

- Run time. I do a pretty consistent 10-minute mile (6.0 mph) pace. I'd like to bump that up a bit, to like a 9-minute mile or better. Distance doesn't appear to be an issue; I need to speed up a bit.

- Gear. Get some tri-bike shoes (no socks needed) and some zip laces for my running shoes. Everything else appears to be in good shape.

I bit the bullet and bought a new bike. It's a Cervelo R3 - the same model that I demo'd last week and fell in love with. Words can't explain how much better the R3 rides than my Trek; you simply don't feel any road irregularities - bumps, grooves, heaves, expansion cracks, "washboard sections," chip seal, etc - it's all invisible. The bike just glides right over it all without any issue.

That may not seem like a big deal, but when you're riding 60+ miles at a time, you really appreciate that nice smooth ride. :-) It's also appreciated when doing 38-40mph; on the Trek, a good-sized bump at speed would rattle my teeth and scare the life out of me as the bars shook violently. The Cervelo just cruises right over them all.

And, while it provides a very comfortable ride, it's extremely stiff where it counts - in the bottom bracket area. That means that less energy is wasted by the frame and more power is transmitted to the rear wheel.

I took the bike on its maiden voyage last Saturday morning and did 63 effortless miles out at the Pea Ridge park. I could've gone farther, but it was getting hot and I was getting bored. I powered up the hill without any problems, even after 60 miles. It was amazing.

The bike features Shimano Ultegra components (I basically stole these from a bike shop in Chicago who was closing them out; the price was unbelievable), Mavic Kysrium Premium SL wheels (super stiff, relatively light, areo-spoked, and carbon hubs), Deda bars, a FSA stem & seatpost, and a Selle Italia Gel seat. The seat is insanely comfy - it has a pressure relief slot cut in the middle of it, and wow - what a difference that slot makes.

The bike also came with a Funda 3T fork; it's hit or miss as to whether or not a new Cervelo R3 will come with the 3T fork. The 3T is highly desired because it's lighter in weight and more stiff than the Easton that normally comes with it. It's also quite a bit more pricey; I was lucky - mine came with the 3T at no additional charge.

Anyway, I took some pictures of it this evening, just after a rain storm, and just before sundown - so, the lighting is pretty neat. While it's fun to take pictures of it, I can't wait to go out and ride it some more. It's so spectacular.

I need to come up with a name for it; I've been calling it the Storm Trooper because of the contrasting white/black... I chose the white seat, white bar tape, and black wheels - figured they'd compliment the frame nicely (the frame is only available in white). I really like the look of it - at first I wasn't to sure about the white frame, but the more I look at it, the more I love it.

It also doesn't hurt that Cervelo bikes won this year's Tour de France... :-)

And, finally - as if this week couldn't get any better, my iPhone finally came in!

Interestingly enough, it doesn't come with an instruction manual - it's supposed to be intuitive enough to use "as is." I've spent the past few days configuring it and learning the ins-and-outs of it; so far so good.

My only complaint about it is that the "keyboard" is a bit tricky to get used to. My other phone had a wonderful keyboard, but it stunk at everything else, including being a phone. The iPhone has been superb in every respect so far. The internet service on it is phenomenal - I could easily blog from my phone, it's that good.

I've been sick since around April 19; stuffed-up nose, can't breathe, coughing up all sorts of good stuff, and just feeling miserable. At first I thought it was a cold, then I thought it was allergies, then a cold, and now I think it's allergies again - there's no way a cold can hang on for over a month and be resistant to loads and loads of vitamins and cold medicines...

As a result, my running/riding has really taken a beating. Further complicating things is the massive amount of rain we've been having - it rained nearly 5" two nights ago again, so everything floods, and that means no riding/running on my usual trails.

I finally had a chance to get out and ride/run on Saturday and Sunday of this week, but it darn near killed me. It had been two full weeks since my last ride/run, and man, did it show. My heart rate averaged 196 bpm (beats per minute) for more than 40 minutes. That's unreal, and actually sort of dangerous. At my age, my max heart rate should be about 186.

So, what do I do? I need to keep training for my June 22 race... but I went and ran 3.6 miles tonight, and again, my heart rate hit 196 for 14 minutes. It used to sit at around 165, which is perfect for me; I'm comfortable and able to exercise without any trouble. But at 196, it's painful.

In all fairness, I think I'm still fairly sick - I constantly cough up green stuff, and my nose runs like a Derby race horse - all day! You might want to buy stock in Kleenex... I'm going through them like crazy at work.

So, I guess I need to figure out what to do and how to lower my heart rate. There's no way I can do the triathlon with things like they are... I'll die - and I still need to get swimming... ugh!

I found a deal on a new tri bike - it's the end of the year, and there are all sorts of incentives for the 2008 models. This one is available in Kansas City; not sure if I want to spend the cash on it or not, but it would be a sweet ride:

It's a Felt B12 triathlon bike; all carbon fiber, about 16-lbs total weight, and a killer bike. There's one in stock in Kansas City... oh, so tempting. But, I probably should save the money and keep riding my current bike.

My first 5k race is just two short weeks away, and I'm getting nervous about it. Why? Oh, I don't know... perhaps because I've never entered a real race before, and perhaps because I don't run outside very often (and when I do, it's usually only after a really long bike ride).

So tonight I decided to go for a run at the local walking trail. It's a 1.8-mile loop, and my goal was to run two laps in under 35 minutes. I strapped on the Garmin GPS watch along with my iPod, made sure my shoes were tied tight, and hit the trail. After my second lap, I wasn't real winded - I looked at my watch, and I had completed the two laps in just a tad over 32 minutes. 16 minutes per lap? I was impressed!

I decided that since I wasn't winded, nor were my legs sore, that I'd do one more lap. I wasn't fully expecting to finish the complete third lap; I had run quite a bit on Sunday, and figured I would eventually run out of gas, but I was wrong. I finished the third lap, and my time showed a total of 49 minutes. Not bad, old man - not bad at all!

I couldn't believe how easy it actually was. I guess that when you don't ride 40 miles before you start jogging, the jogging goes a little easier. :-) I told Amy that I'm so happy with the bike - I credit it for my quick progress with running. I never would've guessed that I could run 5.4 miles in such quick time and with such easy effort. A year ago, I would've laughed at the idea. Truth be told, I'm actually laughing a bit right now - giddy, almost.

It looks like I'll be in good shape for my 5k. Worries be gone! Now if only the rest of my gut would go away... I really need to stop eating so horribly and focus on losing this last 15-lbs or so...

I *finally* got a chance to try out my new riding shoes today, as the skies cleared up and the flood waters rescinded enough to clear the trails. The good news is that the rain will return on Monday, and will hang around for about 5-6 more days. That's stellar. I can't wait.

I woke up at around 10:00am this morning, ate a bowl of cereal and did a little stretching. I pumped-up the bike tires, filled my water bottles, put on the riding shorts, popped my pre-ride vitamin mix (400IU of D, 50mcg Zinc, 1000mg C, 2 tabs of L-Carnitine, and 4 tabs of an Amino-Acid mix), loaded the bike and headed for the Military Park trail.

It was about 70F when I started my ride at 11:30am, with lots of sun, and a light breeze. Perfect weather. I put on the shoes, cued-up the iPod, and hit the trail. The first thing I noticed was how awesome my new Rudy Project glasses are.

I can't describe what they do or how they do it, but they somehow manage to shade your vision without darkening anything or causing any distortion at all. The view is phenomenal, as is the fit, which I spent some time tweaking late last week. The glasses are weightless and even after wearing them for four hours straight, they left no pressure points and caused zero discomfort. They are truly unbelievable - if you're looking for some incredible sunglasses, look no further than Rudy Project. I'm a believer - they make my Ray Ban Aviators seem like $2 grocery store glasses.

I completed my first lap (6.65 miles) and realized that my feet didn't hurt at all. They felt perfect and fresh. I think I was so wrapped-up in the new glasses that I forgot to pay attention to my feet. So, for the next lap, I tried to determine if my feet were hurting, and the answer was, "Nope!" Miraculous!

I rode 2 more laps, for a total of 26.6 miles, when my stomach started to bother me again. It had been bugging me all day yesterday, and I felt nauseous all night. Next thing I knew, I was throwing up... nice. I stopped, hopped off the bike and threw up. Luckily I still had two full water bottles, so it wasn't too bad. I finished my 5th lap and stopped at the car for a piece of gum.

I rode one more lap for a total of 40.0 miles, hopped off the bike, took off my helmet and shoes, and put on my running shoes. Despite getting sick earlier, I felt really good, so I ran a lap (well, mostly - I walked about .75 miles of it).

4 hours later, I was done, and I felt fantastic. 40 miles on the bike, 5.5 by foot. I fully credit the new riding shoes - they're so much better than my old freebies. Now I really need to get swimming. I'm not terribly worried about the swim, but I can't put it off any longer.

Well, new to me, at least. I found a great deal on a bike - I was at our local Lewis & Clark store (outdoors/sporting goods), and one of the sales people suggested that I check out their (the Lewis & Clark) message board for a used bike - she said they often had some great deals on it.

Well, lowe and behold, I stumbled across two great finds: a bike, and a bike rack for my car!

Here's the bike (and Squid, checking it out):

It's a 60cm Trek 2000 with a carbon fork, Mavic wheels, and Shimano 105 components. An extremely nice guy by the name of Robert was the original owner, and I'm so glad to have met him - he was super friendly and extremely helpful - he even threw in a pair of Nike riding shoes for free! I couldn't believe it.

Amy and I drove down and met Robert and his wife (and their dog), talked bikes for a bit, and then left with the Trek. I'm so happy with it.

My friend BJ (from work) rides bikes, so we went for a quick ride this afternoon - about 8 miles or so. It rides like a dream - very smooth, and very fast. The miles just zipped by. I think I'll enjoy riding it.

Here's a picture of it, without the squid in the picture:

It was 75F today, so it was perfect for riding. :-)

I was a bit of a slug this weekend - didn't really do much of anything, didn't eat very well, and certainly didn't exercise enough. I ran a total of about 45 minutes and I ate McDonalds (ick), Pizza, more Pizza, and Mexican food. Oh, and I also had about 10 sugar cookies. Not exactly stellar diet and nutrition practices.

And to make matters worse, I think I had some of those cookies and some of that pizza while watching the Iron Man Triathlon on TV. There I was, sitting curled up on the couch, stuffing my fat face with pizza while my fat gut protruded obscenely from my shorts and t-shirt, a Diet Rite (oh the irony) in my right hand, 4 dogs begging for pizza, while I watched hundreds of people work their butts off at the Iron Man.

Guilt got the best of me, and I slid my fat body onto the floor to stretch for a bit, but I never did go out and run. I swore I'd wake up early, hit the treadmill, and run for a good hour. But, Sunday morning came along, and I think I mustered the willpower to peel myself out of the rack at around 10:00am. And then I had some more cookies.

After about 4-5 cookies and a few doughnuts (forgot about those until just now), I forced myself to go for a run, but it only lasted about 15 minutes. For some reason, I was sapped. No energy at all. So, after my shower, I went online and started reading about Triathlons.

Iron Man Triathlons are insane. They're a 2.4-mile swim, a 105-mile bike ride, and a 26-mile run. I'm not going to kid myself and say I could do that. I did swim across Rock Lake when I was in High School, and that was about 2-miles, but wow. Combine that with 130+ miles of biking and running? I think not.

Instead, I'm going to do a "Sprint" Triathlon. There's one in Fayetteville, in June of 2008. It consists of a 1000-yard swim (.58 miles), a 26-mile bike ride, and a 4-mile run. I've got the running part just about down. I can go at least 45-minutes on most days. Now I need to add-in the biking and the swimming.

And I've got exactly 202 days to do so. I've found some good websites that have training schedules - most suggest a 20-week preparation for a first "sprint," and I've got about 28 weeks. With Christmas, that extra time will work out well. I'll focus on the running until about the first of the year, and then I'll start biking and running. The swimming will be the last part that I add-in, and I'll probably do that some time in early March. That'll give me 3 full months to work on all three parts before the actual event.

I'm excited. I talked to some friends at work, and I think I've got at least one person that'll do it with me. I came home tonight and ran for a solid 40-minutes, without any problems. I seem to run so much better when I have something to think about. I hate just plodding along listening to audio books or music - I get bored. But when I can think about something, or plan for an event, the time flies by.

I'll update the blog from time-to-time with Triathlon info. Hopefully it'll be news of progression and accomplishment. :-)