"The Lost Cyclist"

I actually had time to read and finish a book! It was a good one too. I just finished "The Lost Cyclist" by David Herlihy.

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!

A good read!

Want a Killer Abs Workout?

*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.

Happy Swimming!

The Beer Poll. Votes needed!!!

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*

OFF SEASON!!!!

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

DeeeeeeeTooooooxxxxxxx....and catching up....

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.

Yep, It was the right decision

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.

Being realistic: There will always be another Marathon

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.

Thanks for reading!

Fixed! I heart my PT!

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.

Now I gotta get my head back in the game!