First, allow me to apologize to anyone who spent an hour last Saturday listening to a radio broadcast that, in the end, did NOT include the interview of yours' truly. After learning how to record streaming audio, arranging things around the broadcast, and then taping the entire hour, it became apparent that interview will be another day. My wife pointed out that perhaps they recorded two week's worth of tape to account for the holiday weekend.
For the sake of convenience, I will be recording the interview and will post it here. That way, only my time is spent waiting in the event it isn't on THIS week's broadcast.
It's been a great month of training, and I am nearly complete with the mileage for the Evotri Ironman Challenge. I have completed about three times the needed swim yardage, finished 115 miles on the bike with last night's workout, and have about three miles left to run.
I might try to complete a second Ironman in the remaining days of December. This is because I am determined to complete the full B-Fit B-Day challenge. That means 6600 yards swimming, 40 miles biking, and 10 miles running. At that point, I may as well tack on another 70 miles on the bike, and finish the marathon.
I'm trying to figure out a way to get good footage of the event and put together a nice video to kick off 2009. However, I'm better at finishing races than actually documenting them. If I get around to it, I have some pretty neat ideas. We'll see.
In case I don't post in the next couple days, have a great holiday break. Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, or whatever applies best. Whatever that is, enjoy your time with family, take a break from the strict discipline of diet and training, and recharge your batteries for the coming new year.
Thanks to everyone who visits this site, and an extra-big "THANK YOU!" to everyone who visits and comments regularly. I appreciate the support and guidance you provide.
 One of the recurring topics in my experiences as an endurance athlete is the "that guy" situation. As has been stated in the past, I was never really "that guy" growing up. Well, at least not in any really cool sense.
Tuesday, I had a message waiting for me when I got home. I returned the call to the friend and found out that he is working with a local Christian radio station, Q90FM. In particular, he is part of a show called Sports Faith Radio. After a recent interview with a fellow Tri Fox, they had received quite a bit of correspondence regarding endurance faith, sports, training, and youth.
They contacted me as they were looking for someone with experience in all three areas. My friend helped set up the youth triathlon club with the Boys' and Girls' Brigade, and figured I would be able to answer the kinds of questions they and their listeners were asking. So, Wednesday, they contacted me and conducted an interview of about 20 minutes.
We covered a lot of ground, and the show should be broadcast on Saturday. Anyone interested in finding out just how much I sound like a cartoon character can swing by the Q90 website and follow the links to listen to their on-air broadcast. I'll be listening, myself, as it's always hard to judge how well a presentation went without listening to what the audience hears.
But I already know I sound like a cartoon character.
My biggest hope is that I did a good job representing the triathlon community. Outsiders are often unaware that triathlon means everything from a few miles to Ironman. If someone believes they have to travel 140.6 miles to become a triathlete, they are likely to dismiss the sport as insane.
If they realize that triathlon can be approached by taking baby steps, they might make the leap. And who knows, in time, they might become "that guy," too!
 Monster Girl wandered into our bedroom around 5:15 this morning and woke me up. With one little push she managed to give my day a pretty rough start.
When I woke up, I was torn between, "Why did she wake me up so early," and, "Why didn't my alarm go off at 4:30?" She did a pretty good job of splitting the difference between my normal wake-up times. Apparently, she was hungry.
But only so long as her daddy was willing to sit with her and let her watch a t.v. show.
Which I wouldn't. So I didn't.
As an alternative, she picked "sit and sniffle and cry while trying to drink milk." That made me sufficiently nervous that I gave up trying to get back to sleep. When I went to take a shower, she dragged a pillow and blanket into the bathroom.
And promptly fell asleep.
The score as I walked out the door for work? Overslept by 45 minutes. Missed training. Woke up 45 minutes early for a non-workout day. Everyone involved in my sleep being disrupted still sleeping.
In other words, about par for the course.
The good news is that it's another long weekend. Full, but long. We have a birthday party for the kids on Saturday, and Friday will be a day off to help get everything ready. That should give me a good opportunity for a long swim and run in the morning. If things are going smoothly enough, I'll be able to do the same on Saturday.
As for today, I'll have to make the training up on the way home. That will be the second workout this week. At least the first was due to snow.
 And just because a picture of Monster Girl must be balanced with a picture of B-Boy, another from the Oshkosh Area Kids' Triathlon. It's fitting as my son woke me up, today, as well. He was just less thorough. I never saw the alarm clock as he was roaming about.
 Swimming Notes
The Spirit of Racine 70.3 race started more than an hour late this year, due to fog. This picture says it all. And, no, the water in the foreground isn't the swim start. That's a puddle. The lake is just on the other side of the participants. If it weren't for the fog, you would be able to see it.
While that race was started in the fog, the conditions rapidly improved, and we were soon biking and running under clear skies. Lately, my swims seem to be "in a fog," and I'm pushing myself toward clearer skies.
At a recent Tri Fox meeting, I was discussing my recent challenges after the long swim break. I commented about all of my other training and how little benefit that training was providing. His reply...
"Swimming is the only thing that helps swimming."
I guess that's a "good news, bad news" response. Good because there is a lot of swimming on the horizon. Bad because I despise swimming more than running. Where's Mary Poppins when she's needed? If swimming is the medicine, I would take a spoonful or two of sugar.
Blog Notes
In the midst of some extraordinary technical issues at Weebly, my sidebar got hammered. While it showed up on the site, I was unable to make any changes. Their support crew did a good job restoring the sidebar, though there were a few notable changes. Like certain elements being repeated an extra time or twelve.
Rather than worry about it, I pretty much reconstructed the entire sidebar. If you notice something horribly wrong, please let me know. If there's something you think is missing or would be beneficial, tell me that, as well. I tend to limit it to the basics, keeping anything unrelated to the site and teams with whom I race to a minimum, so there might be useful links or tools I'm missing.
Race Notes
A few races are starting to materialize on the horizon. Next year looks to be similar to 2008, with some of the race names changing. Several co-workers are interested in the Green Bay Marathon, so I'll likely join them. Spirit of Racine is out due to scheduling conflicts with a youth camp leadership role, so I'm planning on revisiting the High Cliff Triathlon. I don't know if I can set a 70.3 PR there, but I can try to beat the time from my first attempt.
I'll be coaching kids, again, next summer, and might race the Oshkosh Area Triathlon with them. In the "insane" endurance department, I'm in discussions with the owner of the Fox Valley Running Company to tackle the Fox Cities Marathon as a double. We'll start about 3:30 a.m. and run the course in both directions for a total of 52.4 miles.
That will work out well as other co-workers and friends will be tackling that race as their first marathon. If I can keep up, I'll be able to run with them as the celebrate that accomplishment.
Iron Challenge Notes
Training numbers for the first week of the Evotri Iron Challenge!
Swim - 6850 yards
Bike - 0 miles
Run - 11.82 miles
Obviously, the goal for this week is to find my way to the trainer and watch a few movies. My bike isn't going to pedal itself for 112 miles.
And that about wraps up the news for the week. Have a great week of training and stay safe!
Going into the Fall 50, I knew there would be a certain amount of pain associated with finishing. I just didn't realize the worst of it would come some five weeks after the race.
Beginning with preparations for the Green Bay Marathon, my swimming took a back seat most of the summer. Though I swam during workouts with the youth tri club, and hit the pool a few times, my swim totals for the past several months have been pretty close to zero (something around 130K total yards for the year). With the start of the USAT National Challenge Competition, the Evotri Ironman Challenge, and the off season swim focus, that is changing.
Several of the blogs I read have stories about long absences from the pool and the ease with which people got back into swimming. Apparently, that applies to people who were already good swimmers. Me, not so much. After nearly six months of minimal swimming, it's been an interesting few days.
One thing I have learned is that while aerobic base picked up in the pool translates well to biking and running, the reverse isn't true. My base from training for and completing my first ultramarathons is pretty solid. Somehow, that didn't make my arms and core uber-strong.
Translation? I kind of stink in the pool, right now. Oh well, that's what they make drawing boards for, right? So we can go back to them. Since the December focus of the USAT Challenge is swimming, I'll be working on my 30 swim month.
Week 1 is basic training. I will use 1000-1500 yard swims to remind my body what it feels like to swim long distances. Week 2 will be form drills with the goal of reminding myself that good form does a lot to improve both endurance and pace. Weeks 3 and 4 will be dedicated to practicing skills from the SwimSmooth DVD. Watching highly proficient swimmers has been a huge benefit in the past.
By the end of the month, I will have more yards in December than all of June through November combined. If I really push, I might be able to throw May in there, and swim nearly a third of my current total for the year.
Of all the Christmas gifts I might give myself, getting back into proper swim shape is probably the best I could do.
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