No, this post isn't about some training run that just meandered around the city. It's a post that is going to wander through a lot of different topics. Remember in school how they teach that a story or message should have single topic? Yeah, me neither. This weekend's training took an interesting turn. I was at a youth retreat where we did a lot of winter activities. Some of the training that breaks my "nothing dangerous during marathon training" rule included nightime snow football. Despite that fact it was co-ed, the youth wanted it to be tackle, so there were some good knocks handed out. We also played broom-ball for about 90 minutes. For those in warmer climes, broom-ball is basically hockey without pads. Or rules. I spent much of the game trying to avoid the kids that were trying to check me every possible way, including gang tackles. I also spent 90 minutes doing actual training. One of the youth wanted to ski from camp to a local pizza spot then back. Her reason? Just to say she'd done it. So, for the first time in about 25 years, I strapped on cross country skis. We covered about 4.5 miles and it was a pretty good workout. In other news, because I don't have enough blogs running around, I've started blogging for the Green Bay Marathon. You car read the introductory post here. I guess that means I should officially sign up for the race. When I do, it looks like I'll be running it without one co-worker or another for the first time in three years. Of course, to be fair, last year the co-worker who did the marathon was completely on his own as I was doing the double-marathon thing. Let's see, youth retreat activities, cross country skiing, GB Marathon blogging. That's only three topics. So, let's add in that I'm waiting for my training to be busted up, yet again, by the arrival of the plague. Both kids and now my wife have been knocked down by some horrible illness in the past 10 days. My daughter says I'm the winner because I'm the only one that didn't get sick. She's too young to add the proper word to the end of that sentence. Yet.
No, I didn't die. And I haven't given up on triathlon, blogging, training, or anything else. What I DID do is completely gut and rebuild a bathroom. And to think I thought my co-workers were crazy when they said it would take six to eight weeks. Eight weeks later, I'm nearly done.
Eight weeks spent living in the bathroom made training tough. In fact, it made training, blogging, updating Facebook or Twitter, and just about everything else tough. Well, everything but learning how to solder copper pipes, install tubs, and work with textured paint. THOSE I have down pat.
Unfortunately, the work took a toll on my schedule. Both the Fox Cities Double Marathon and the Fall 50 fell. I'm now planning on rebuilding and ramping my mileage back up. My early goals are to get back to 20 mile weekend runs by January, then drop the mileage down and start training for the Green Bay Marathon in May. There will be no 50-miler, next year. The base goal will be a sub 3:40 marathon. The perfect day goal will be sub 3:30. The "not gonna happen, Superman goal" is to qualify for Boston.
I'll also be getting back into the pool and throwing the bike on the trainer in the basement. And updating my blog for those who have asked to be linked. And catching up with people who have been far busier than I.
In other news, an old friend (from way back in the Running Pol days) is going to tackle another race. I'll dig up her new site and add that link. She's in a far different place than she was five years ago. Aren't we all?
Well, it's here. The High Cliff half-Ironman is tomorrow. It should be interesting.
From an aerobic standpoint, I'm probably as ready as I could ever hope. After marathon turned ultramarathon training, long workouts are not an issue. I should be good to go the distance.
Speed is another issue. Last week's Bellin 10K was completed in a 45:15, well below my target. Of course, after months of distance training, the ONE speed session was obviously insufficient training for a sub-42 race. This weekend will be little different. I am confident of two things. First, I'll finish. Second, I'll finish well behind the leaders, and most likely behind my half-IM PR.
Race day looks to be beautiful, though. Despite my "gloom and doom" predictions of temperatures over 100F, the high is predicted to be around 80F. I should miss that, even if it takes me until 1 p.m. to finish. And it looks to be fairly clear, with little chance of rain.
The good news is that the blister on the bottom of my foot is pretty well healed. Last night, the last of the dead skin came off. That eases my concerns about how my feet will hold up on the run. Since I got a couple small blisters on the toes of my other foot during the Bellin Run, I'll be looking at shoes, socks, and other factors. In 10 years of running thousands of miles, I never had a single blister until the last two races.
Bothersome, to say the least.
Finally, I have a special request to fulfill during the race. Iron Wil has asked that I spit on a particular rocky stretch of the run. The poor footing caused her to slip and fall when she ran this race in 2007. I promised to help her carry on the grudge match.
 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.
It is amazing how quickly things can fill a schedule. At work, I found myself struggling just to get through all of the "must do" projects that came out of the budgeting process. It can be disheartening to look at a day's work, see how much was accomplished, only to realize that none of it was normal workload.
At the same time, I look back at the past week, see all the physical activity in my life, then realize that virtually none of it was endurance sports related.
I spent over an hour designing an obstacle course for kids, then running them through it. I spent an entire day in the woods cutting wood for my house. That wood had to be loaded, unloaded, split and stacked. Over three days, that represented many hours of wielding a chainsaw and/or axe.
All of that work was good for my body. It just won't help much in the swim/bike/run department.
And then, I stop here to vent only to find that my last post was nearly two weeks ago. Luckily, I don't have enough hair left to pull out.
The good news is that I have been putting time in on the trainer. I'm struggling with a cheap cycling computer trying to get it working on the rear wheel so I can get an indication of "mileage." Unfortunately, the receiver seems to stop receiving when speed gets up over about 8 MPH. So, for now, it's just time (and too little time, at that).
Perhaps I need to sign up for another Ironman to focus the efforts. Which generates an interesting line of thought.
Many people ask why endurance athletes seem to find more and crazier ways to push their bodies. Perhaps part of the answer is that it prevents apathy.
After running several half-marathons, the next one started to be a "given." While I might not set a PR at every race, finishing wasn't really a question. Over time, the same thing happened with marathons. Ask me to run a marathon tomorrow and I can. I might not do it in 3:30, but I'll finish.
But a 50-miler, that's not a given. A great deal of very specific training was required to complete that distance. And I wouldn't be comfortable doing another event without a similar plan. The question is, what happens if I complete five or six 50-milers?
The same is true of triathlons. Anything shorter than half-Ironman wouldn't phase me. The biggest challenge at the half-Iron distance is beating PRs. Barring extreme circumstances, I am confident of my ability to finish.
Ironman is another story. I finished one race at that distance, and will face many of the same fears when I sign up for the next one (whatever that is). Everything went pretty well in Louisville in 2007. Would Beach 2 Battleship in 2009 or Wisconsin in 2010 be the same?
New challenges. Perhaps that explains some of the "why" in what we do. Once something has been done again and again, it becomes a given. The next "impossible" challenge arises from past successes.
I really need to find a way to do another Ironman!
Well, I'm outta here for the Labor Day weekend! In more ways than one.
First, we'll be camping at our churches property for the weekend, and that promises to be a great deal of fun. With shorter runs planned, I'll have more time and energy to spend with the kids. And camping is just plain fun.
Second, our phone system died, last night. Don't ask me how. One minute my wife was on the Internet. A short time later, all I could get was a busy signal on the phone. I figured she forgot to disconnect the modem. Little did I know that something had gone totally haywire. There is a dial tone at the network interface box, and dead air in the house.
Something is shorted, somewhere, and I use all "this is broken" opportunities to fix shoddy work done by previous owners. Two of the three phone outlets in the house look like they were installed by a monkey that lacked any semblance of real tools. So, tonight is home improvement night. An M-block, a bunch of phone cable, and a couple new junction boxes should fix the problem.
Until then, we are down to cell phones and no Internet connection. It's a good thing the "former sailor" part of my life was spent as an electrician.
Have a great weekend, and for those of you headed to Louisville, next week, have a great trip and a better race!
 With the way I've been posting, it would be reasonable if someone concluded I was in the final weeks before an Ironman. Reasonable, and wrong. While there is the Spirit of Racine half-Ironman next Sunday, it is the rest of life that has kept me hopping the past few weeks.
But first, about the photo. I am seriously contemplating buying the full size version of this race picture. It was taken at the Trinity sprint race, and is probably the best race picture I've ever seen of myself. I seen to be almost smiling, my form looks decent, and it is free from any "noise" in the background. And for once, the photography company is willing to sell individual pictures for less than $35.
I'm officially in taper for the half-IM, and it couldn't have come at a better time. Between my new role at our church's upcoming (August) Vacation Bible School, volunteering as a leader at a youth camp (next week), and a couple home projects, I've been busy.
Next Saturday, I head to Camp Onaway for a weeklong boys' camp. Given my love of endurance events, I was "volunteered" to run Military Track for the older campers and lead an off-island mountain biking trip. Add to that my role in coordinating the skits, music, and other festivities for a leader run campfire, and I've been busy with preparations. And with the Spirit of Racine race on Sunday, I'll have to leave camp early Saturday and won't get back until mid-afternoon Sunday. A lot of things have to be hammered down before I leave the island.
At church, I am in charge of the "Bible Adventure" segment. We had to build a "city," and I am altering the "out of the box" script just a bit. That requires I somehow build a "time tunnel" that will transport the kids from modern times to ancient Biblical times. Then there's the whole eccentric scientist role to create. But it's for kids. No effort is too small if it helps the kids have a great experience and learn about God.
On the home front, I spent the weekend gathering components for a battery powered back-up sump pump. We had a power outage in the middle of the night Friday. Luckily, B-Boy got scared and woke me up. After getting him back to bed (with a battery powered worklight as a nightlight) and putting Monster Girl in my bed, I checked out the sump. It hadn't overflowed, and I spent the next three hours checking and bailing it every 20 minutes.
We were blessed to have a boy that woke up because the lights went out (or whatever woke him up). I won't rely on that every time, so want to get an emergency system in place. It's one of those "should have done long ago" things that won't get me, again. All that remains at this point is to make the final connection into the discharge pipe and fill and charge the battery.
Who said 10 years of Navy experience and six months learning about submarine electrical systems would never pay off?
And things will likely stay pretty intense until October. While I have yet to sign up, I'm pretty set on the Glacial Trail 50 mile race. Training for that should keep my out of trouble for a few months.
After that? Who knows.
NOTE: This post is unrelated to triathlon and is likely to become a rant on society. My first blog was a fairly successful political blog and that part of my nature is taking over for a bit.
WARNING: This post is likely to contain information we'd rather our kids avoid. While the language will be reasonable, the subject is difficult. If you are a younger reader, please go here for an article about the state of youth triathlon, or talk with your parents before reading this post.
A punk rock group called The Bloodhound Gang made onto the "mainstream" radio stations a few years ago with a song called "Animal Planet." While many people were aghast at the content of the song, it was very tame by Bloodhound Gang standards. Many of their songs couldn't and shouldn't be played over the airwaves unless the station is willing to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.
And right now, one of their songs is the only thing that seems to fit my mood. It's called, "I Hope You Die." An evil thought, I know. Then again, true evil is the source of my current state of mind.
Today, the body of 12-year old Brooke Bennett was found by authorities in Vermont. For those unfamiliar with the case, Brooke vanished on June 25th. While her family believed she had gone to visit a friend's family member in the hospital, it came out that she might have left to meet someone she had met through a social networking site.
As the investigation developed, we learned Brooke's uncle had been arrested on an unrelated sexual assault charge. He is alleged to have recruited a young girl into a "sex ring." Shortly after that, Brooke's former step-father was arrested on obstruction of justice charges related to the case.
At this point, evidence supports that Brooke did indeed make arrangements to meet someone from the social networking site. Unfortunately, evidence also points to the uncle as the creator of the profile Brooke contacted. Other information further links the uncle to Brooke after she left to meet the On-line contact.
There are a great many things I consider evil in this world. I believe the people responsible for the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center represent evil. I believe the terrorists waging war on innocent victims around the world are evil. And I believe anyone who would do what was done to Brooke is pure evil. There is something wrong with them that goes so far beyond any understanding of the human mind that it can only be described as pure, unadulterated evil.
The rational part of my mind urges caution and seeks justice. That part of me knows that both the uncle and the ex-stepfather must be tried in court based on the available evidence. Until that time, they are innocent.
Another part of my mind, the part more tied to my soul, the part that loves all children and wholeheartedly believes that the primary role of all adults is to absolutely protect them from harm, that part of me has an entirely different reaction.
It wants to scream. It wants me to grab my gun and ensure that these monsters never have another opportunity to even THINK about harming another child. It wants to ensure that our world is rid of the evil that did this to Brooke.
That part of my brain cannot be allowed to foster more evil, though. So, it is forced to yield to logic and rational thought. But the whole time it yells, "Have you no SOUL?" And quietly at first, then more and more loudly, it does the one thing it CAN do. It rebels inwardly. It starts to sing a song. A song from The Bloodhound Gang. "I Hope You Die!" And it focuses on a verse that talks about someone winding up in jail. And it hopes that the guilty party, whether Brooke's uncle and ex-stepfather or someone else, can become the focus of the song.
I hope your cellmate thinks he's god, but CNN refers to him as Bowling Bag Ball Bob,
Service time for abuse of a corpse, only this time the victim's a clydesdale horse
Edited portion so bad I won't even type it
I hope he grins like Jack Nicholson, and forces you to play a game called Balls on Chin,
And whatever happens next is all a blur, but you remember "fist" can be a verb,
And when you finally regain consciousness, you're bound and gagged in a wedding dress,
And the prison guard looks the other way, cause he's the guy you flipped the bird the other day.
I hope this helps to EMPHASIZE!
I hope this helps to CLARIFY!
I hope you DIE!
Something has gone horribly wrong with the programming of large groups of people in this country. We have teachers think it's okay to have sex with their students. We have priests who think it's okay to molest altar servers. We have grown men who believe it's okay to take sick fantasies and turn them into reality. They prey upon our daughters and steal their innocence. And sometimes they steal their lives.
It's evil. And it has to stop. Something has to change the direction in which we are headed. We all have different ideas of what that "something" might be. Our children are our most valuable treasure. They should be treated as such. They should not be treated as sexual objects. And they certainly shouldn't be treated as so much garbage to be discarded when they no longer please us.
Justice will be served in this case. The police have too many leads and too much evidence for that not to be the case. But what about other cases? What about the children we aren't even aware are being victimized? What about the children whose very souls are being destroyed by monsters that live in their houses instead of under their beds? How do we, as a country, find justice for them? What changes can be made to protect them?
When I made the shift from afternoon training to morning training, I also made the decision that little, if anything, would interfere with those workouts. The change was made to allow me to train without sacrificing time with my kids. For the most part, I've achieved that goal.
Last night, we ran into one of those few things that I allow to get in the way of training. It is, of course, the same thing that made me shift my schedules around in the first place. Children.
By the time I got home from work, yesterday, I was feeling pretty rough. I had a bit of a fever, wasn't all that hungry, and wanted nothing more than to go to sleep. After taking care of a few "have to" items, I did just that. I was in bed by 6 p.m. and napped until it was time to put the kids to bed. After helping my wife with that, I went back to sleep.
That turned out to be a good thing. About midnight, my daughter started squawking in between coughing fits. She was clearly distressed, and I could hear her breath rattling in her lungs. To top things off, she was so worked up that she didn't "like" anything. We offered her honey to try and sooth her throat, which she refused. We offered her a popsicle to pacify her. Suddenly, she "no like" popsicles. She even rejected orange juice. Perhaps she knew we had put cough syrup in it.
Finally, I just took her into the bathroom, closed the door, and turned the shower on hot. That helped enough to get her playing and laughing, allowing me to get her to drink the juice. She even allowed me to suck some of the "buggies" out of her nose.
Unfortunately, it took another couple hours for her to be comfortable enough to sleep. And if she's not sleeping, daddy's not sleeping. We sat in the recliner. We laid back in the recliner. We made a campsite on the living room floor.
She finally fell asleep around 2:30, and I held out hopes of making my training. When the alarm went off at 4:30, I decided another 90 minutes of sleep might be in order. After waking up, showering, and getting dressed, I went into the living room to find my wife had been rousted to assume my role as "co-camper" with my daughter.
Oddly enough, having to care for my daughter put all thoughts of being sick myself on the back burner. While I may have missed my workout, I feel much better. Tonight, we will take steps to help her make be comfortable through the night BEFORE she goes to bed.
Because Friday is now my "makeup" day for training...
Anyone of my close friends and family can confirm I'm a bit of a computer geek. I'm not an uber-geek who sits around trying to figure out how to reprogram Windows or hack into the federal government. But I do have a networked house complete with a couple of servers and numerous computers. I'm also the first person called when my church, dad, or any of several friends have computer problems. I can't solve every issue, but know who to call when that happens.
When it comes to triathlon, I sit on the fence when it comes to technology. While I have decent equipment, the latest and greatest toys are a good bit beyond what I can afford. Still, I have a decent stopwatch, a heart rate monitor, and a reasonable cycling computer. The true "geek" part shows itself when looking at my training logs. And yes, "logs" truly is plural.
I have one log for my employer's wellness initiative. I log workouts online at Buckeye Outdoors. When I have official training plans, I will use Training Peaks to log sessions. I also have my personal training file in Excel, complete with graphs of current and past years, target and actual distances, and notes about whatever seems important.
To ensure accurate data is entered, I closely track distances and times, along with various other information. Both my stopwatch and my heart rate monitor were selected based on their lap capacity (150 and 100 respectively). In addition to allowing me to track very long workouts, this allows me to complete several workouts without having to worry about whether I've logged the last session.
This has been a very successful process. Until today.
This morning's swim was little different from any other day. Going into the swim, I had 112 laps available on my watch. The rest contained my swim and run workouts from the weekend. I completed a swim including a moderately complicated pyramid from 50 to 200 yards and back. After a few other intervals, I hit the final wall and clicked "Stop." As I hopped out of the pool, I glanced at the watch to verify it was actually stopped (sometimes I miss or forget to hit the button).
What I saw was a fairly odd grouping of numbers across the top of the watch, followed by a time of 12:00 AM, Monday 1/01. Knowing what was coming, I switched to Chrono. Sure enough, it showed 150 available laps.
I sat there dumfounded, knowing I was going to have to try to reconstruct 4700 yards of swimming and a 10.5 mile run. Luckily, I can be a bit obsessed with times and distances DURING workouts, and I was able to make a good guess at the numbers.
So, there were two lessons learned. First, technology is great so long as it is working properly. It can be a real bummer when it dies. Second, paying close attention to your workout during the workout can be a good thing.
I think I'll back up my jump drive to the server, this evening...
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