How to ruin a marriage and I don’t mean mine!!

This morning after I was done stretching and doing an ab workout I came across this very interesting article, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703439504576116083514534672.html, and was truly fascinated by it. Initially, I was fascinated by the author’s view point on the Waxmans. My initial though on the article is what is the author’s bias? There appears to be some major gaps in the writing. If he gets up early and works out, so what if she wakes alone. He is the one getting up earlier. Either the author has a bias against endurance athletes or athlete in general (was he the band or a nerd and mocked by the jocks) or was Mr. Waxman really that big of a selfish pig. Then I started reading the reader comments.

I was amazed at how many people think that training for a triathlon, specifically Sprint or Oly, all that crazy. The ones that really stood out to me were the women complaining about their husbands training. What is wrong with someone (male or female) deciding to push themselves and tackling a new challenge? What is wrong with getting off the couch and shedding that belly fat (I know I need to)? As I continued to read the comments I was struck by 1) the number of women (who don’t appear to work out) complaining, 2) the number of men who whined in general (I make the impolite assumption they were just fat and miserable, 3) the number of ladies who praised their husbands for being supportive, and 4) the number of men who complimented their wives/girlfriends for working out and looking good.

Anything in moderation is usually a good thing. Addiction to something, even exercise when it affects your relationships, falls into the Lazy Triathlete’s category of “BAD”. But who decides that it has been become a problem? How much is too much? Seven hours a week? Ten hours? Fifteen? 7-9 hours a week is not really excessive if you do you the math. One hour a day for 4 days a week and then 90 minutes on Saturday and Sunday gives you seven hours of working out. I realize you have prep and travel time which adds another hour or two. However, that appears to me to be a small price to pay to push yourself and accomplish something, make yourself healthier, and to look and feel better.

Please take some time and read the article and let me know what you think.

This afternoon I went for my first run on my training plan. It was suppose to be an easy 30 minute run. Well it was a SLOW one. After riding 30 minutes and swimming 30 minutes the last two days, my legs were rather heavy and the run was slow. But I did about 3 miles in those 30 minutes after work. My resolution is to follow the training plan as best as I can (weekends with Battle Assembly will be difficult) and to work out after work. New house, new habits.

I am back!!!

Wow. It has been a long time since I posted something of substance. The last couple of weeks have been busy and I have had some kind of cold. I hope I am about over it.

Due to having a heavy head, working late, and drinking too much during the week I was a bum. I was able to get in about 2000 yards of swimming on Tuesday. It was rather slow, but it made my shoulder feel better. Its too embarassing to go into detail about how I hurt it. But suffice to say it deals with ice, steps, and leather bottom shoes.

Friday we had more ice, but not nearly as much as was promised by the weatherman (thank God), so on Thursday we made the decision to work from home. I was able to get in a 50 minute ride on Friday between emails, powerpoint presentations, and phone calls. It felt good to be back on bike. Next weekend I am going to be doing the VASA Ride sponsored by the WABA and the Swedish Embassy. I will only be doing the Halv Vasa which is 28 miles. I don't have the legs yet for a comfortable 55 miles.

Today I hit pavement for a nice little 6.2 mile run along the Potomac and Old Town. I decided to keep it fairly short due to the cold I have been battling and not running in two weeks. I feel really good now and I think I am going to go heat up left over Crispy Hot beef.


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What a Busy Week

Wow!! Where did the week go? Talk about some long days this past week. But you know, you feel good when you can look back and see everything you have accomplished. Tuesday was just a very long day at work. I had meeting early and did not get out of there until after 7pm. However, I was able to get in a bike ride, errr trainer ride.

Wednesday start off very hot and humid for Feb. The Wednesday morning St Elmo's run actually grew by one 33.3% We had 3 runners. We did about 5 miles with 3 two minute pick-ups. It was a really good work out. After a full day at work, the DC Tri Club Board met. So I did not get home until almost 11pm.

Thursday was not a good day for swimming. I woke up with the alarm at 0450, sat up in bed and the next thing I knew it was 0625. No swimming for me. A full day at work and then off to the DC Tri Club New Triathlete Program (NTP) happy hour. I did not get home until after 9pm.

Friday was another St Elmos run, but we kept it rather short--maybe 3.5 miles. It was just enough to get the blood flowing.

Today, I did an hour on the trainer and then Donna and I had lunch, hit REI, and then headed down to Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington. They have really fixed it up since the last time I was down there. The new part is totally amazing. I highly recommend it.

This was taken from the back yard over looking the Potomac River. Today was just totally awesome. The weather was great and so sunny. You could not ask for a better day to be outside playing tourist. This actually the resting place of our first president. I did not get a photo of the wreath, but due to a wreath laying, the iron gates were open and you could see very clearning inside.

This is in the visitors center. Its a replica of Washington as a surveryor. The new addition is great. I highly recommend it to anyone visiting town.

Tomorrow Donna is heading out of town early, so I plan on getting an early swim and then running with some friends after lunch. I hope I get it in and it doesn't kill me. Its been a long time since I did two work outs in one day.

Sick of being Sick

I don't know whats up with me. But in the last month I have had some kind of stomach bug that seems to be hanging on. I had a fever and very upset stomach at the beginning of the month and prior to that I would get an upset stomach for a day and it would pass. In the middle of the night Monday I woke up with an upset stomach and was up until after 6am. I worked from home on Tuesday and by this morning I felt fine.

I was unable to swim on Tuesday and I did not run this morning just to be on the safe side. I really hate this. I am going to see a doctor hopefully next week to see he can figure out whats wrong with me. Tomorrow I will head to the pool and hopefully the weather will allow for a good run on Friday.

Good Week So Far

This is been a good week all the way around. Don’t you love good weeks? I have gotten in about 4400yds of swimming and a 4.5 mile run. Tomorrow is the end of the work week and I have a 5 mile run planned. I just hope that is not too cold in the morning to make the run crappy.

Tonight, Donna and I are heading to see the Spirit of the Marathon. I will have a report on it later. It does look like a good movie and I think it will be inspirational. For those who are not able to see it tonight, there is going to be an encore viewing in February.

More to follow.

Workouts

I was able to get in a 15 mile ride on the trainer on Friday morning, an 8 mile run on Satuday, another 14 miles today on the trainer.

Yesterday was a 2 hour 8 mile run with Donna. She is doing the run/walk Galloway method. She is really getting pretty good. She was able to maintain a solid 13 min pace for the first 5 miles and then she started to wear out. Part of the problem is that she has not learned to eat while running yet and her body just runs out of gas. I think after the run yesterday that she has figured out that she has to have a nutritional plan to complete the half.

Today was another 14 miles on the trainer while watching Miami Vice.

I would love to get out and do something, but 22 degrees with windchill of 1 is not to my liking. So I will just stay in and watch some football.

Life can get busy

We all go through stages in our life where we are taxed, or bored, or (fill in the blank). The last couple of years I was on a project at work that bored the living shit out of me. I learned a lot about the fuel and energy industry, and I learned that you can't blame the oil companies for the price of gas. They merely sell it to the highest bidder (so would I). However, the basic aspect of the job was boring. I was kept in that position I was because I was trusted. If I had been the person in charge of the project I would have done the same thing. However, in the last 2 months life has gotten interesting.

I moved to a project that was a little more my speed. It deals more directly with the Army and the type things that I have done in my life. But the best part is that the gentleman I am working with is a great teacher and salesman. I am getting to see a side of the business that I so far I haven't seen. He cares about the success of the people he works with and wants to see them succeed also. It's hard to believe that this almost 300lb man was once a professional soccer player and college coach. However, he attacks every opportunity the way a coach would and I really do appreciate it. I have the leadership skills, the technical knowledge, and now I have a great teacher in the business skills.

In addition to the new project, I have also become an independence coordinator. This additional duty can be time consuming, but it puts me in contact with people that I would not have come in contact with, and it also furthers my career. More money is good right? I can get a new bike.

Now on to this weeks training. It hasn't been too bad nor too good. So far this week I have gotten in 2 trainer sessions for about 28 miles, one 2200 yd swim and about 4 miles of running. Tomorrow, I am running with my wife in her effort to do her first 8 miler. She is doing a half mary program in the Galloway fashion. It will not be a fast 8 miles, but it wil support her and I am proud of the effort she has put into it.

Did I really swim that fast?

I finally got back in the pool after two weeks on dry land. I had planned on swimming two days last week; however for one reason or another the pool was not open during my self imposed morning swim hour.

Our coach is still out with her injury and we had a “sub” whose methodology is very different. We started out with a basic 600 yd warm up broken down in the following:
200 kick
200 swim
200 pull

Next we did down steps totaling 600 yds:
300 yd 30r/i
200 yd 30 r/i
100 yd 30 r/i

We then did sets of 10 x 100. These were broken down into 3 x Slow, Medium, Fast and the final 100 was all out. The purpose of the slow sets was to rest while swimming. It is not that hard to lower your HR after a fast set while swimming easy and slow. The medium set was a moderately fast pace that you could maintain for at least 15 minutes. The three fast sets were as fast as you could hold for 100. Then the last one was an all out sprint. Some how my three fast sets were an average of about 1:46 and then my all out sprint was a 1:43. The really scary part of that is that if I could do a decent flip-turn I could cut another 2-3 seconds off.

Overall I was very pleased with the workout today. However, I am certain I will feel it tomorrow. Lets see how my lungs like running the newly cold.

Today's Workout: Morning Run!!

This mornings run a 6 mile jaunt through Old Towne Alexandria. The last couple of weeks we had only been running 35 minutes and with the Nation’s Tri coming up for me and the Army 10 Miler for Janelle, we decided on a longer run. We ended up running about 55 minutes. Starting at our runs at 0530 it is still dark, but the cooler weather is GREAT. The picture is one of the neighborhood as I was running home!!! Tomorrow back to the pool and then a DC Tri Club Happy Hour.

Today's Workout: Back on the Bike

Fall is in the air here in National Capitol Region. The low last night was about 55 and the high today was around 70. I started my bike ride around 930 and planned on riding for about 90 mins very easy. I biked from my house over to Hains Point and did one long loop and then three short loops and then back home. That totals out a little over 23 miles. I kept it very easy since I haven't ridden in 2 weeks and I just wanted to get my legs moving again.

There is almost something interesting on the Mount Vernon Trail, especially around the Reagan National Airport. The trail is usually very crowded and one has to be very safe. On my way home I ran into a man dragging a cross who had stopped to use the bathroom at one of the porta-johns. He was discussing how to navigate the trail to Mount Vernon and then how to get to Fredricksburg with a Park Ranger--so I did not interrupt. Always something interesting around here.