Are there races on your mind that you wish you could do one day? A race that has that burning desire but yet getting there and doing it is somewhat out of reach?
I do!
Before I "kick the bucket" some races that I want to do are as follows:
Paris Marathon (is this the one ran @ night?)
NYC Marathon (next year you are mine!!!)
Escape from Alcatraz
Kona (no lottery for me. Gotta qualify for this one!)
Ironman Canada
Ironman New Zealand
Ironman Western Australia
Ironman South Africa
Ironman Brasil
Ironman France
...see the trend here folks? An Ironman on each continent
...might have to create Ironman Antartica...wow would that be a cold swim! ;)
I originally wrote this post last Thursday night and set it to autopublish Friday @ 8AM
After I hit the publish button, I actually said to myself "hope you don't get injured and have to change your Friday morning post! What are the chances!"
I totally jinxed myself....
I should go buy a lottery ticket
I feel like a struggling comedian right now. I am totally lacking material for this blog because I am basically on off-season auto-pilot right now: I work out short and easy. And reporting on injuries is depressing.
I LOOOOOOVVVVVVVE comments on this blog :)
I am finding that the posts that get the most # of comments are usually ones that involve beer. Why is that? ;)
why is it that napkins feel so soft on your mouth, but freaking hurt to blow your nose into?
AND why is it that tissue is so soft on your nose, but is freaking rough to wipe your face?
Have you ever heard of SRAM wheels? I thought they just made bicycle components, but look @ the freaking prices of those s60 and s80 wheels?!?! They are almost 50% off of ZIPP! And yet they own ZIPP? Sorry folks, they DONT have dimples ;)
I think the SRAM wheels are prettier than ZIPPS. Just look at these babies!
I finally got professionally fitted on my new road bike that I bought last March. Ouch. No, I am mean literally ouch; it freaking hurt to ride that thing for so long with a bad fit (done by me).
Don't hire me to fit you on a bike.
I barely have ridden that bike this year....this has changed dramatically over the past week! My P2 is up for the winter.
My diet has shed all bread over the past year
I only eat flour tortillas as my source of bread product...
For some reason I want to go gluten free. I have NO idea why! Anti-Inflammatory?
I have stopped drinking milk. I think it breaks my skin out.
Why do restaurants (or people) serve beer in a frosted glass? Do you like Beer-Cubes? Refer to my last post for details on why you should NOT do this. If you are guilty, swiftly smack yourself, please.
Are you a fan of Conan? If you aren't, just watch this:
I think Conan is a comedic genius and NBC should just go F*&@ itself. Sorry NBC, but NOT sorry to Leno, but Conan is going to change late night and is waaaaaaaaay funnier. I do like Jimmy Kimmel.
Finally! I gotta plug our new blog, 201Ironman, again. It is really taking off! I thank you for joining or following if you already have! We are getting a lot of great folks, including a coach and a Kona qualifier who is competing in 2 weeks! If you are doing an Ironman distance (140.6) next year, stop on by and join us! Once joined up, make your "My Story" post and let's get this 140.6 mile part-A started!!!
If you aren't doing an Ironman next year, STILL stop by and become a follower! If you are considering doing the Big Kahuna distance one day, you might learn a lot by following, and I will tell you now, everyone who has joined has been only doing Triathlon since 2007 or sooner. You can do this too!
Thanks everyone for your thoughts on keeping my back stretched out.
Went and saw the Dr today about my back issue. He basically said it was bad luck but was more concerned about the location of the spasm because of how close the muscles that did spasm are to the spine. If the spasms occurred at the base of my back, that would indicate a possible herniated disc = BAD JUJU! Fortunately! The spasm occurred in the mid back range and what I am feeling now is tenderness due to the fact that my back muscles contracted so rapidly.
His prescription? Muscle relaxers!
I am feeling better already just from sitting on my butt all day watching "Wall Street." Might pop a muscle relaxer when I go to bed tonight.
Oh! So back to the title of this post. I was @ the Doctor 10 days ago for my annual checkup and blood work. I saw my results today; he said that my cholesterol was 220. A little high, yes, BUT! If you break that 220 down you get:
95 good
125 bad.
He explained all of this to me with a smile on his face. Yes, over 200 is considered "bad" but with a high GOOD cholesterol number of 95, I am doing wonderfully. He explained that "normal" people have good cholesterol in the range of 40-50 and that raising that number as high as mine can't be done through diet, but only through exercise.
Phew! When I heard 220 I immediately thought to myself, "So much for eating 3 eggs (with yolks) each morning. DOH!" Well now I can eat even MORE eggs if I wanted to. So if you are worried about the cholesterol in eggs, DON'T (as long as you are remaining super active).
See! Swimming, Biking, and or Running is GOOD for you!!!!
So 2 mins into my run this morning, my back suddenly out of the blue spasms, and I come to a dead stop having a hard time breathing. It was like getting wacked in the face! The spasm felt like the two big tenderloin muscles lining each side of the spine just seized up for a split second. That was all. Now as I sit here I can breath fine (just no deep breaths) but sitting is really uncomfortable. My back is in a lot of pain!
Has this ever happened to you? Ever heard of this? Know what to do?
"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." -Benjamin Franklin
Did you know that alcohol is a macronutrient? Carbs are 4 calories per gram; protein is also 4; fat is 9 calories per gram, but alcohol is only 7.
But really, who cares!!! Beer freaking tastes good!
So I am going to end my "What should I brew next? Beer poll." a little early. Seems like IPA took an early lead and has maintained the lead. Can't imagine it's going to change much over the next 5 days. Besides, I haven't ever brewed an IPA before and I am getting bored of brewing belgian beer (for now).
So an IPA it is! Bring on the hops! Will order the supplies ASAP and hopefully will get brewing in a week or two. For those of you who don't know, it is roughly an 8 week process from brewing to drinking.
Oh and here is a PSA on serving beer. DON'T serve beer ice cold. Why? Well, would you eat piping hot food that will burn your tongue? NO! Cause not only will it burn your tongue but mostly you can't taste it. Same thing with ice cold beer. It is so cold that the flavors are all locked up. So the next time you take a bottle of beer out of your fridge, sit it on the counter for 10 mins, then pour. You will have flavor from the first to last sips. Your taste buds will thank you.
So it has been exactly 4 weeks since Timberman and I have settled into the Off Season life. My life has become unstructured and random:
My diet:
4 Cider Donuts at the Orchard this past weekend? I could have and should have eaten more!
EDIT: Kevin @ IronmanByThirty mentioned to me that there is the Le Tour de Donut up in Michigan....aka a 30 mile bike race where for every donut eaten, 3 mins is deducted from your time! No pukie awards allowed or else a greasy DQ. Road trip anyone?!?!?
I am eating at least 1 slice of Apple Pie each day, but mostly I am eating two slices a day. You know, to keep the weight off?
I still eat a ton of fruit
I made some rice, egg, bacon and cheese bars. They were disgustingly bland! #FAIL
Working out:
If you look to the top left of my blog, you can see my daily workout schedule. It has been tough!
My FTP is increasing daily, as is my beer consumption.
I have the dolphin kicking technique down. Kicking on your back is HARD. Did you know you have muscles in your back? ;)
I have had 2 recent runs with ZERO foot pain before, during, or after.
I ran 4 miles yesterday, the most in 3 weeks. #SCORE
I think bad shoes slowed the healing process #THROWNBADSHOESINGARBAGE
On the bike, I am reconning new roads this fall for next year. I am planning on previewing some road this weekend that has like an 8 mile slow downhill. #SWEET!
Other random things: This is a great post about "Open-Water Mixed Martial Arts." YOU have most likely been a participant this year.
Finally, If you are doing an Ironman distance race next year, stop by the new blog 201Ironman and join us! If you tried sending Kevin an email and it got bounced back, try again. He fixed his email link! Thanks to all of you new followers of the site!
Kevin @ IronmanByThirty approached me with a great idea the other day: Start a group blog that features all of us fellow bloggers who are doing an Ironman in 2011, or 201Ironman.
If you are doing an Ironman distance next year, join us!!! There is a great "About" page that has all of the info on joining and posting. The goal for this site is "to allow triathletes to share their experiences, network with others, and even arrange training meetups."
And make sure to become a follower of the site (look to the bottom right).
Major Kudos! to Kevin for building the site and designing the awesome logo and layouts.
There has to be something that drives you? What is it?
I guess because it is the "off season" for me now that I can't help but reflect back on my season. It is inevitable and every day my mind always wanders back to some race that I did because ONE THING always stands out, whether it be the post race food, the atmosphere at the start line, that pace booty you followed for a few miles, or that feeling of "FUCK that was hard!" as you crossed the finish line.
I see doing endurance sports as either of two things. A) Do you do it for showing others your accomplishments? or B)Do you do it for showing yourself your accomplishments?
Which way are you?
I see myself as a very generous person, but deep down I am a very selfish person. I guess I am going to go with B:I do this stuff for myself.
I do it for the bibs. I hang them on my wall at work. They are the reminders of all of the races that I have done and I feel proud that they take up a large amount of my wall space. In some cases, a bib just went 69.1 miles with me. That bib was there with me most of the way. I guess it shared that experience? The bib is usually crumpled, has some Chocolate Gu splattered on it, a few tears here and there and some water stains. By looking at the condition of the bib, you can tell the person who carried it went to battle.
I don't do it for the finishers medal. I don't need some medal to signify to the world that I completed a race. I know that I completed that race! The condition that I am walking around in the day after shows that! Besides, that medal had it easy. It just sat there waiting......uuuuummmmm, LAZY?
AND! That medal looks EXACTLY like the next guy's medal. Nobody else had bib #1955 at Timberman this year.
I guess what I am getting at is that you should revel in your success no matter how you want to display it either to yourself or to the world. You completed that race and nobody can take that away from you!
If I am going to go for 2 posts in one day, might as well make it three, as good things come in threes, right?
Went to the eye Dr. this afternoon for the annual checkup.
The results?
My vision improved!!! My powers of nearsightedness stayed the same, but I no longer have an astigmatism!
This is the first time in 11 years since I started needing glasses/contacts that things stayed the same or improved.
I owe it to my titanium framed glasses :)
And to Shelly @ Vergence Ranges, thank you for pushing me to get Rx Sunglasses. I didn't know they were covered under my insurance! *bangs head against wall for ignorance*
Its a historic non fiction tale during the 1890's of cyclists who bike around the world. This isn't 1990, its 1890. They just came out with the "safety" bicycle, or the standard shape of bicycle we use now. They were just phasing out the "standard" bicycle, or the high wheel.
I SO want to ride one of these!
After a pair succesfully rounds the globe on bicycles, including crossing the treacherous Gobi Desert in China, a young lad goes it alone, but unfortunately dissapears along the way, and a global search occurs to find him. Mind you, the telegraph was the quickest form of communication back then, and even then it took a day or two to get word across the world. This book is both a history lesson, but also includes a first hand account of signifigant events that occured back then. It also gave you an insight on what riding AND racing a bicycle was like back then.
Makes you want to travel back in time with your Cervelo and spank everyone and claim a World record! This is also a time when the car didn't exist and the United States was bicycle CRAZY. YOU were the fastest thing on wheels out on the road!
*begin cheazy infomercial mode* Its better than 7 minute abs! Its better than 6 minute abs! Its even better than 3 minute abs!
Its called 30 second abs!
Thats right! Get your abs ripped in 30 seconds or less!!!
*end cheazy infomercial mode*
Well, it actually is 30 seconds or less, just done about 100 times.....in the pool.
Its called dolphin kicking. Holy WOW does that rip your abs apart! And Holy WOW can you swim REALLY fast doing the dolphin kick!
One of my off season goals in the pool is to learn how to do the dolphin kick. CHECK. COMPLETE.
Dolphin kicking is a really incredible feeling. It's so fluid and graceful.....and it beats the ever living shit out of your abs.
Basically you just need a pair of fins and wiggle your butt up and down until you become a fluid piece of spaghetti in the water. You know you have the technique down when you start to go faster than you can freestyle and you almost smack your face up against the wall (may or may not be a true story)
I found it easiest face down with my arms at my side and dolphin kicked as deep as possible in the water. As I got more comfortable I brought my arms up into a streamlined position and tucked my head and stayed more towards the surface. Kicking on my back was a bit harder and requires a lot more core strength. Its more fun face down, but you will get more of a workout face up.
Then I started to swim normally without the fins and it was sooooo effortless. Basically you are not only working your abs, but you are working your body position in the water. You feel so much lighter in the water after doing a few 100 yard dolphin kick sets.
Then I incorporated it into my freestyle swimming on every pushoff, like what they do @ swim meets. It was cheating!!! I looked back to see how far I got past the flags and it was almost too far! haha!
Here is a good intro video. I HIGHLY recommend trying it out. Working on your core and body position is your foundation and anchor in the water. Without good body position in the water, nothing else matters.
Finally, if you haven't voted yet, look to the top right^> of my blog and VOTE for a beer that I should brew next.
Since the NYC Marathon attempt has been scrubbed and the next race that I am officially paid and signed up for isn't until July 2011, that means it is officially the......*drum roll please*
OFFSEASON!!!!
Which means that it is beer brewing season!!!! :)
If you notice on the right side of my blog, there is the "About Me" section, which says something along the lines of "My Name is Jon, blippity blappity blah blah blah blah....BEER BREWING!!!"
Before my days of triathlon I spent a solid year getting into brewing beer. Triathlon and beer brewing are VERY similar in certain aspects. Heck, drinking beer and triathlon have a lot in common!
Both hobbies require an obscene amount of gear.
You start out with beginner gear
You can upgrade your gear many different times to better and better stuff.
They both require large of amounts of info and it is overwhelming at first
Both require large amounts of maltodextrin.
They have a symbiotic relationship.
I haven't brewed in probably over 6 months. I am feeling a bit rusty and I don't know what to brew!
Do you have any ideas of what to brew?(gonna go pretty generic here...will go more specific later)
Wheat Beer Belgian Beer German Beer American Ale British Beer IPA
I posted a poll on the right side above the "About Me" section.Vote for your favorite kind of beer out of the selection. I'll try to brew up a batch that matches the highest number of votes. Then I will chronicle the brewing process in case some of you are curious about the beer brewing process. Just gonna do an extract for now as the all grain method is pretty complex and takes a LOT more time. And unfortunately I can't lager as that requires an extra refridgerator
I have never eaten or drank more Filet Mignon, Lobster, Chocolate Milk Shakes, Mashed Potatoes, Sweet Tea, and that much expensive wine in a span of 9 days, EVER. WOW!
People think you go to Disney World to ride the rides and get your picture taken with Mickey Mouse.
NOPE!
I learned you go there to EAT.
And EAT we did!
We GORGED ourselves at many fine dining establishments to the point of almost throwing up every day for lunch and dinner. (the weigh in will be tomorrow am....)
And it was GREAT!...I had some of the best food and wine I have ever had.
And now it is time to detox my body, for I have abused it......in a good way :)
But first!.....I am off to eat some greasy Mexican food! ;)
Will try to catch up on everyone's blogs this week....
I did ZERO amounts of working out over the past 9 days, other than walking about 50 miles across all of Disney. Gonna attempt a short run tomorrow AM to test out the foot. I never felt it once.
After I wrote my post yesterday my foot miraculously felt better. Go figure, right?
Last night it felt great.
And this morning it felt great.
So I went for an easy 3 mile run.
It didn't feel so great when I was running and definitely didn't feel great when I stopped.
It still doesn't feel great right now.
Bummer.
Not crying over it. I feel better about yesterday's decision, because I IMMEDIATELY felt the guilt and regret over the decision.
Basically I can't run. Massage helps. But it doesn't cure it.
Fortunately I have an appointment with the Doctor when I return from Vacation, and I will go from there. So NO RUNNING next week!
Not crying over this. Just stating the facts. I have accepted my current fate with the running Gods and I am SO looking forward to getting back onto the bike and into the pool in a few weeks.
I am going computer-less for 9 days starting tomorrow. I am going off the juice here folks! So have some great training and racing and I will catch back up with everyone mid September.
This is NOT a hard thing to write. In fact its a bit of a relief to write this.
The NYC Marathon is just NOT happening this year.
Am I disappointed? YEP!
But let's look at the facts here:
Since Timberman (Aug 22nd), I have ran a total of 12 miles. Due to....
My foot has been hurting for a week.....it still hurts. NOT as bad, but I can still feel it.
My foot/calve is still not 100%
Yesterday's PT session was wonderful and it helped me figure out the cause. Unfortunately the cure is not a 1 shot wonder. This will take time to heal.
Training for a marathon is NOT going to heal it....
How can I train for a marathon if I currently can't run?
I am going on a 9 day vacation to Disney World and Florida starting in 2 days
Running on a Vacation, which the point of the vacation is to relax and have fun, is STUPID
I would need to run a 17 miler this weekend, while on vacation. NOT HAPPENING!
When I return from Vacation, I will have a grand total of 8 weeks LEFT of running before the marathon
8 weeks is NOT enough time to train for a marathon!!! Regardless of how much I have done this season!
Remember I have barely ran in the last 2 weeks? And I will be taking next week off?
Is barely or not running at all for 3 weeks then jumping right into the middle of a marathon program the smartest thing? I THINK NOT!
....I just see a worse injury coming on or aggravating this current injury further.
I did 4 Half Ironman Races this year. Isn't that enough in a year's time?!?!?
If I am going to do a Marathon, I want to do it SMART and do it RIGHT.
What I have listed above, IS NOT training for a marathon SMART or doing it RIGHT.
I want to feel like I did my job 110% in preparation for this marathon. After all, its a freaking MARATHON!!! There is NO loafing or short changing this thing!
Ironman Lake Placid is my #1 Goal next year, and it TRUMPS the NYC Marathon.
Staying healthy for Lake Placid is #1. Training for and running this marathon in my current state and schedule is NOT healthy.
Finally, if I am going to feel guilt and feel rushed for this training cycle for this marathon, then SCREW it!
Sorry NYC, but maybe 2011 will be a better year! (I have the option to defer this year's entry to next year)
And to be honest, my body has enjoyed being a lazy person the last two weeks. It's really making want to get back out onto the road bike and just have fun for the sake of riding my bike. I WANT to continue running, but my body has been through enough this year. I can't mentally do it anymore. Its been a looooooooong season and my body through this latest injury is saying, "JON! Congrats on killing Timberman. You did a great job! Now its MY turn to say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! I am going to be a pain in the ass next year if you don't STOP NOW!"
Its funny how it comes down to being a numbers game in the end. We all know our bodies and when your body is not capable of putting up the numbers it needs to do a distance the way you want to do it, then its not fun playing the game and playing catch up the entire time is just a recipe for disaster!
So I am deciding to stop now and float it this fall. On January 1st, I am starting Ironman Training. On that day, I want to be HUNGRY to do Ironman Training. I think a few more months of rest will make me hungrier.
Well, not to jump to conclusions, but after "The Elbow" beat the shit out of my calve muscles then had me run on the treadmill to look at my running form and had to then ask me, "So, how does your foot feel?" and I responded with, "Oh, wait, my foot? Oh! My foot!.....oh, it doesn't hurt!!!"
I would say that that is a good sign?
The prognosis? My left calve muscles were VERY tight, even though they felt 100% fine. So tight, that they were pulling on where the muscles/tendons/ligaments are attached, which starts from the very bottom of your foot and works its way around the ankle. In fact, I described how the pain started at the very bottom of my foot and followed its way directly along the path of the muscle/tendon/ligament that eventually becomes one of the calve muscles.
Loosen the calve muscle == loosen the pulling on the attachment point == Pain dissolves!!!
So after a 45 min deep tissue massage of the entire foot and calve muscles, I started walking and it felt funny because there was no pain. I had gotten so used to walking with the pain, that walking without pain felt strange.
In fact, I had a Eureka moment when she asked how the stretching of my calves muscles have been going. Well! My right calve muscle has been fine, but my left one is taking a lot more to stretch and hurts a lot more to stretch. Remember how I was complaining that my calve muscles hurt the worst after Timberman? DING DING! WE HAVE A WINNER!!!! My right calve felt worse, but it loosened up. My left calve didn't loosen up as much, and the pain in the foot is the result.
So your pinky toe IS connected to your ear bone? ;)
Now I doubt this one session is going to cure it. But at least a diagnosis is some relief!
No way it can be a stress fracture, right? I mean if it was a stress fracture than I would be feeling it regardless, after all it would be bone that was busted. Right?
So it is great walking around like normal again. Going forward, continue stretching and foam rolling my calve muscles to keep them loose and icing the bottom of my feet is the diet.
