Iron Pol

 I've been a member of the USAT for a few years, now.  I initially joined in the summer of 2007, my second year of triathlons.  That was also the year in which the race day insurance fees ($10) would have exceeded the $30 annual fee.  I've maintained my membership for a variety of other reasons.

Obviously, as a participant in the sport, it makes sense to at least be a member of the key governing body.  In addition to staying aware of that governance, there are minor benefits, such as Inside Triathlete, partner discounts, and the afforementioned race day insurance savings.  And then there are the less tangible benefits.

You'll have to stick with me, here, for a moment.

In December, my family got together at a local pizzerria for dinner. As it was snowing heavily, that night, I carried presents and other things to the car ahead of the family.  When my wife got to the car, she started it up with her keys.

I opened my door, realized the car was already running, and threw my keys into my pocket.

Or so I thought.

The next morning, no keys.  My first thought was that the keys must be somewhere in the house as I had managed to drive home the night before.  Then I remembered I had used my wife's keys.  Mine were nowhere to be found.

I went to the pizza place, checked their lost and found, and wandered through the newly plowed parking lot.  I went so far as taking a shovel and digging through the snow piles resulting from that plowing.  No keys.

Fast forward three months to today.  Mrs. Pol just called to let me know she had received a call from the owner of the trophy shop right next to where those snow piles had been until very recently.  He left a message on our machine.  "I don't know if this is the right Tom, but if you lost your car keys, I have them."

I asked my wife how he knew they were my keys.

Then it dawned on me.  I have one thing on my keychain that has my name on it.

My USAT membership card.  Get yours, today!

Reports out of Spain indicate Team Astana rider Lance Armstrong was involved in a multi-rider crash around the 12.5 mile (20km) point of the race.  Holding his arm still and grimacing in pain, he was loaded into an ambulance and taken to a hospital.

Unattributed early reports suggest he may have fractured his collarbone.

Update:  First, a correction.  The crash was about 20km from the finish, not the start.

The latest reports confirm Lance did break his collarbone.  At this point, he is scheduled to fly back to the United States to consult with physicians regarding treatment options.

There are probably a few people still following this blog who remember me in "my other life."  That would be my life as Running Pol.  While Iron Pol is focused primarily on endurance events, particularly triathlon and Ironman, Running Pol split time between politics and running.

When I transitioned to triathlon, I left the political discourse behind.  Well, mostly.  I know I've thrown a few things up here.  In order to minimize the impact of politics on this site, I've decided it's time to allow Running Pol to be reborn from the ashes.

Since this site will remain as my record of training, races, and family matters, a new site has been created.  My new foray into political blogging is called Always Right.  Anyone interested in just how my mind works in that arena, stop by.

And the rest of you will be free of the political rantings on this site.  As always, I appreciate everyone stopping by to check up on me and make sure I'm still able to type.

As a member of the United States Congress, you took an Oath of Office to "support and defend the Constitution" of the United States.  On March 19, 2009 you voted in support of resolutions to levy taxes against employees of AIG who received bonuses in accordance with contracts in force prior to and during the time Congress authorized funds to prevent a financial collapse of the company.

Through your vote, you supported a bill of attainder, legislative action expressly prohibited by Article I, Section IX of the US Constitution.  This bill was generally targeted at individuals in bailed out companies and specifically targeted at AIG employees.  The punitive taxes you support effectively punish AIG employees for receiving funds fully supported by previous legislation for which you voted.  Having failed to fully comprehend the nature of the various bail-out bills enacted, Congress now seeks to cover their tracks by violating the Constitution.

In addition to this egregious violation, this bill seeks to retroactively alter contracts.  This is both chilling and legally questionable.  Congress is succinctly telling the business community that contracts can be rewritten at the whim of the controlling party.

My disagreement with prior votes can be attributed to a difference in ideologies.  This vote cannot be answered as such.  I, too, took an oath to support and defend the Constitution.  That oath did not end when I left the United States Navy, and it was never something to be taken lightly.  I would ask that you return to the Constitution and recall the responsibilities and limitations that exist.

Though quite dumbfounded,

Very Respectfully,

Iron Pol

It's 50F and sunny.  That means the bike came off the trainer, and I headed out.  The kids took their bikes out at the same time.  I did just over 25 miles in 1:25.  It was a pretty laid back ride, meaning I've been seriously shorting my estimates for time spent on the trainer.  I've been using 15 mph for spin rides, and they've been much more challenging than today's ride, outside.  Of course, just being outside probably helped.  A lot!

I took this picture after I got home.  Most of the gear I have on is courtesy of someone else.  The cold weather cycling top and the gloves were Christmas presents from my in-laws, and the tights (that can't be seen) were from a gift certificate I got at the first triathlon I ever entered.  The Tri Fox cycling shorts are mine.

Members of the Fox Cities Triathlon Club have a mantra developed from a comment uttered by one member several years ago.  "There are no finish lines, only new beginnings."  As triathletes, we all know there is nearly always a "next" race.  Even the final race of a season is simply the beginning of the off-season.

I have been archiving files, and came across lots of old pictures from various races.  It made me realize just how long this journey of mine has been, and I thought I'd share some of the "new beginnings" from the past several years.

This is the photo from the finish line of my first marathon in 2004.  If I look beat, it's because this race took a lot out of me.  In addition to being my first attempt at 26.2 miles, I had struggled with hamstring issues after suffering a minor pull about two weeks prior to the race.  My "taper" consisted of 10 days with no running, plus a trip to New York the final days before the event.

Though I rarely use medications for pain, I took an extreme dose of ibuprofen to help ward off any issues from the hamstring.  That held me through about mile 21, at which point I figured I could walk to the finish if I had too.  Obviously, I was pretty proud of succeeding at the distance.

At some point in my marathon training, I started blogging about politics and running.  One of the many friends I made through my original blog was a cancer survivor battling a second bout.  Her medical challenges prevented her from participating in the marathon for which she was training, so I ran the 2005 Chicago Marathon in her honor.

I carried a camera with me, stopping along the way so people could get some pictures.  The shots I got at the finish line were pitiful.  This one of me and the Elvis impersonator is far cooler.

Prior to even completing the Chicago Marathon in 2005, a group of eighth graders challenged me to participate in a triathlon.  They felt that "one more marathon" wasn't really a challenge, while a triathlon would be something new.  I hit the pool, put my mountain bike through the paces, and signed up for the Trinity Triathlon, a local sprint race.

Breaking a cardinal rule of racing, I bought a tri-bike that was unavailable until race day.  With little more than a ride around the parking lot, I took the bike out onto the course.  The price to be paid for that little mistake was running about seven miles of the bike course, barefoot, after breaking the bike's chain.

I was dead last, but finished the race.

After completing my first triathlon in June of 2006, I signed up for two others in short order.  The first was a race with a co-worker, and the second was the Oshkosh Area Triathlon Olympic distance race.  The Oshkosh race was basically a challenge to myself.  The main goal?  Complete the entire swim without breaking freestyle form.  In my first two races, I struggled through the swim, completely freaking out in the first.  The picture shows that I survived what was my longest race at that point.

And yes, I completed the entire swim without breaking freestyle form (sighting and turning aside).

In September of 2006 I participated in my fourth marathon and second Fox Cities Marathon.  I had lost a great deal of weight, learned a lot about running, and become considerably more fit than when I ran my first marathon in 2004.  I returned to the Fox Cities Marathon.  My goal was to cut nearly 45 minutes from my PR and go under four hours.

This picture says it all.

In my fourth marathon, I broke four hours.

Shortly after the 2006 Fox Cities Marathon, a chain of events resulted in my racing the 2007 Spirit of Racine half-Ironman race, my second 70.3 distance race.  This is another event from which I didn't have a good finish line picture, but Iron Wil's husband James treated me like a pro getting some awesome action shots, like this one of me leaving the water.

I appreciate pictures like this, as swim and bike pictures are so incredibly challenging to find.

In September of 2007, I crossed the finish line at Ironman Louisville.  It is one of the proudest (and most tired) "new beginnings" in my endurance race career.  While many consider an Ironman finish the culmination of a long journey, I viewed it as just one more step in an on-going mission.

I truly hope that this is only the first Ironman finish, rather than the last.

In 2008, my focus shifted from ultra distance triathlons to ultramarathons.  After completing marathon number six and half-Ironman number three, I began training for The Fall 50 ultramarathon in October.  Along the way, I completed the Fox Cities Marathon for the third time.  This time, I ran the half-marathon course from the finish to the start prior to the beginning of the race.  This is the finish line of that race, and I think I look alright for having just completed 40 miles.

One month later, I completed that 50-mile race in just under nine hours.  I don't have a picture from that finish, but that's okay.

In the end, it was just one more new beginning.  There are more new beginnings coming in 2009.  With a marathon, half-Ironman, and double marathon in planning, I hope to cross a lot of finish lines, this year.

For anyone who hasn't noticed (and actually cares), I seem to now have accounts with both Facebook and Twitter.  My sister pushed me to actually use my Facebook account, as she was concerned my blog was the only way she knew what was going on in my life.  Of course, my blog details most of what's going on in my life, namely training.

Tonight, there was a news report about second graders using Twitter, and my wife wondered what it was all about.  I signed up so we could see.  Oddly enough, I signed up with the username ironpol.

I never said I was creative...

Steve, of Steve in a Speedo?! Gross is well known for his foot issues.  He is equally well known for posting pictures of his battered feet.  Since I very rarely get blisters, I had to take this opportunity to pay tribute to Steve and his blistered self.

This little beauty snuck up on me, and I'm not entirely sure it didn't start, get worse, and bust open in nearly one fell swoop.  I ran at the YMCA Tuesday morning without any noteable heal pain.  It was, in fact, a very mundane run off a modest swim.

After my workout, the kids wanted to go sledding, so I loaded up the gear and we headed to the hill.  It was during the walks up the hill that I noticed the stabbing pain on the back of my heel.  My first thought was something in the shoe (or perhaps a bunched up sock).  I pulled the boot off right there on the hill and adjusted everything.  That did little to relieve the pain, so I spent a lot of time walking backward up the hill, thinking there was something wrong with my boot.

It wasn't until we got back to the car and I switched to street shoes that I realized the blister was there.  I have the distinct impression it was the result of old socks, my boots, and the uphill walks.  I wore very poor socks to make sure my feet would get cold before the kids' feet.  Normally, I wear much better hiking socks.

I've run marathons with no socks, and don't wear socks in triathlons except for Ironman distance races.  I very rarely get blisters, so this surprised me.

The dry skin on the feet is pretty common, though.  And they're always that ugly.

My plan for the day included a 40 minute run.  I put my running shoes on, and decided it was a bad idea.  I replaced it with a two hour ride on the trainer.  Though the band-aid and the socks I wore to prevent further damage made my shoes pretty tight, I figured it was better to be on the trainer with the option to stop than out on the road if the blister started bothering me.

Luckily, the snow should be melting, soon, and sledding won't be much of an option for the rest of the season.  And if the blister doesn't heal quickly enough, I'll have to break out the super-glue...