Kinetic Sprint

I found on Tuesday evening that I won a lottery entry for the Kinetic Sprint at Lake Anna, VA on Sunday April 20th. Since I waiting too long to sign up the race was already full, so the lottery slot was great news. I wanted a decent sprint to see where I was in regard to my fitness (slow and fat) and to have a good training day. Plus Lake Anna is a beautiful area.

Yesterday (Saturday) was a beautiful day for the Half that was part of the Kinetic Race Weekend, but today was dreary. I was up at 0545 to get some coffee and cereal in my system before John and Mira arrived to pick me up. I looked out the window and it was effing pouring down rain. AHHHHHHHHHH. I got on line to look at the weather and guess what? More rain out of the south ALL day. Oh well, it effects everyone the same way.

John and Mira arrive a little early, we get my bike loaded, coffee them up, and hit the road--in the rain. The trip was uneventful as it was wet. We arrive, parked in the mud, and slugged over to the packet pick-up. John and Mira were wearing trashbag ponchos, but I just decided to get wet. It was about 60 degrees and the rain was still falling. I saw no reason to try and stay dry. After packet pick up, I got my transition bag and bike and hiked through the rain to set up my spot.

I got on my wetsuit and headed down to the swim start to warm up. The water temp and the air temp were very similar, so there was no real shock getting in the water. I swam around for 10 minutes or so and then went tooking for friends. Then guess what happened? It stopped raining. WOW!!!! Its not raining and I am getting ready to swim.

My wave went off at 10:12. I make pretty good time to the first turn buoy and I got tied up with the wave in front of me. Or more specifically the stragglers who where holding on to the buoy for dear life. The rest of the swim was pretty uneventful, except for the second turn buoy, where more people were hanging on for dear life. It was not a bad swim, there were just a lot of newbies swimming and cold water does cause people to panic at times. Swim time for the 750 meters was about 17:20, about two minutes slower than I had hoped for.

I ran into T1 got changed and slogged through the mud with my bike to the mount point and guess what? It started to rain again. It rained the entire BIKE ride. The only time it did not rain was when I was swimming. Who says God does not have a sense of humor? It took me a while to get my HR down on the bike, but then that is not unusual for me. It was a nice rolling course which made it interesting, but not impossibly hard. I think I average about 17 mph for the 18 mile course. I came in a little over an hour.

Muddy run through T2, kept on my wet socks and was soon on the run course. I was feeling really good on the run for the first 200 meters then I had to run up a short steep hill. I got myself back under control and continued to a nice steady run through the rain. During the rain, it just poured. It was nice loop course along park roads, through the camp ground, and then a nice 1/4 mile down hill to the finish. I think my run time was about 27 minutes for the 5K run.

This is not an attractive picture, but if gives you an idea of how wet and miserable this race was.

After a little post race chow, it was back in the car for the trip back home. John and Mira stay over where the spousal unit prepared a great feast at the house. I am really stuffed and about ready to go to bed.

Wet Again

It was good to get back in the pool after a week off. Today's work out was a lot of speed of work. The main set was 10 x 50 with 15 second rest, followed by 2 x 100 of active recovery, and finished off with 8 x 25 sprint with 20 second rest. It was hard to get the body moving this morning, but once we hit the main set, I was feeling pretty good. I was happy to be doing 45-50 second 50s (with out flip turns). Another 5 weeks until Columbia.

Tonight is the Tri Club Monthly Board meeting. These are typically entertaining with lots of strong personalities.

Spring is slowly arriving

Sunday morning dawned bright and cool, but still with a hint of spring in the air. My thermometer said 48 degrees, but with no wind and the bright blue sky it felt great. My running buddy and I met up at the normal spot and her first comment was, "This place looks different with all these people here." My response was, "Yeah, and the sun is up too." We typically start our weekday runs at 0530 and are finished by 0630.

I was hoping to push out to 8 miles on Sunday just to see how the body would deal with it. However, Runner J felt like 5 miles would be more than enough for her. So we compromised on 5 (see how flexible I am) and I would do another mile to and from my house equally out to 6 miles. That actually was a lot smarter since I haven't done over 5 miles in a while and how shitty I felt last week.

It was a gorgeous run down by National Airport, along the Potomac, and back into toward the local coffee shop.


View Larger Map

Then later in the day it turned cold and rainy. At least today was very spring like. Spring is ON the way!!

Slow Going

Wow!! I did not realize how hard my hay fever had really hit me. I was able to get in 4.25 mile run on Friday morning. It was about 15 seconds per mile slower than normal and it HURT. However, I did feel much better the rest of the day.

I got out on the bike this morning. I did an what I thought was an easy 20 miles this morning. Based on my time it should have been real easy-- 1:17:22. However, my HR was up over 160. Damn thats not good.

Tomorrow me and my running buddy are going to do an hour or so running. Isn't it sad, when your long run is only an hour? Lets see how I feel tomorrow. Hopefully, everything will start to come back.

Ray was that you I passed at the airport? If it wasn't you have a twin.

Ramblings

This has been a really crappy week overall. I have been suffering from a either a spring cold or some type of allergy. I am betting on an allergy sense I get the same type symptoms every year about this time. Runny nose, sore throat, head that weighs 80lbs and a very blurry view of the world are some of the symptoms. Illness and a slow period of at work right now are not a good combination for me. Why can’t slow periods at work coincide with good health and good weather? Because of this I have not been able to work off my frustration at some of the things going on in the world. So here are some of my random thoughts and ramblings:

The Olympic Torch:
Don’t you find it rather ironic that the people most opposed to the brutality of the Chinese in Tibet are using violence to stop the torch? Did the world just realize that China has been using violence in this region for years? How stupid are these people? Let the Games go on and let these great athletes compete in the smog choked country of China. Then these athletes will go back to their own countries and will be able to tell about their own country how dirty of a place China is. Allowing the Games to go on will make a bigger joke out of China, in the long run, than using violence to snuff out the torch. Dennis Miller had the best idea I have heard. During the opening ceremony all the athletes come out in those Tibetan Monk Robes. Now that would be a sight to see.

Christian Bashers:
Lately, I have been hearing more and more bashing of Christians. (Full disclosure—I consider myself a Christian and at the same time I have issues with organized religion) This morning on my way to work I was listening to an interview about a show airing this weekend called Bible Boot Camp. Apparently, there is a camp in Florida that spends two weeks in the summer preparing teenagers and young adults to serve as missionaries overseas by using boot camp techniques and teaches them how to conduct public works in the developing countries they will soon visit. WOW!!! I see nothing really wrong with this premise. We are pretty soft as a country anyway and these young people are going to do something that’s important to them and help others. The movie maker appeared to be rather shocked that these kids would “suffer” through these two hard weeks to get themselves in shape and better prepare them for their journey. I guess this bothers me because people act the same way about my serving in the military and pushing myself in triathlons. I think we would be better off if people were more selfless and stopped caring about whether Brittnay is wearing panties or not.

The Atlanta Braves:
Can’t they win some games?

50 Items of Wisdom

These 50 things are not exactly just about me. Some are about me and others are bits of wisdom I have learned on the years.

51. I love the state of Texas. Especially the hill country.
52. Austin is one of the greatest party cities around.
53. I was disappointed the first time I saw the Alamo
54. Girls should be kissed
55. and often
56. There is are few things cooler than shooting artillery canons
57. Beer should be dark and cold
58. When single, don’t date a woman who likes married men
59. Trust your buddies when it comes to the people you date
60. Keep your house clean
61. Make your bed
62. Learn to cook
63. Chicks dig it
64. After they wonder if you are gay
65. We all have a vice or two—enjoy them
66. Don’t over indulge in anything
67. Well that’s not always true
68. I love Hemingway—Read the classics after you grow up.
69. Learn about the authors you enjoy
70. Find a creative hobby
71. I have jumped from airplanes
72. Piloted boats
73. Scuba dove
74. Taken up photography
75. Done Triathlons
76. War is not pretty
77. Losing is even worse
78. Some things are worth dying for
79. Some things are not
80. Stand for what you believe
81. Facts are more important than emotions
82. Facts are not personal
83. Emotions are personal
84. Emotions cause you do stupid things and cloud your judgment
85. Differing opinions are valid when the facts are agreed upon
86. Visit as many states as you can
87. Why do Yankees move to the south and then complain its not like the north?
88. Washington DC is NOT the south
89. Tea should be sweet and cold
90. Treat everyone with respect and fairness until they prove they don’t deserve it
91. Every female is a lady and every male is gentleman, until proven otherwise
92. Ladies—ma’am is a sign of respect. Get over your insecurities
93. High School is over. You are not the same person you were then.
94. Most of us are better
95. Some still relive our “glory years”
96. Shoot me if high school is the best years of my life
97. Hug your spouse
98. and your kids
99. and your parents
100. You don’t know how long you will have them