For Sale: Aero Cockpit

Trying to purge my tiny apartment of stuff that I don't use or need anymore.

I am Selling an entire aero cockpit ($150), which include:

• Profile Design Carbon Stryke Aerobars
• Shimano DuraAce Bar end shifters, compatible with 9 speed & 8 speed
• Bontrager Race Bullhorn
• Oval Concept Brake levers
• Profile Design F-19 Arm rest kit with bar attachments
• Shipping included!

Everything bought together new and used for 2 seasons.

This is perfect if you have a road bike and you want to upgrade to a pure TT setup. Email me if you are interested or have any Q's!

Beer: The 4th Macronutrient

"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.

To beer!

Let's go with Random this morning

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!

Announcing 201Ironman: Are you doing an Ironman next year? Read if you are...

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.

So Kevin and I are proud to introduce a new blog:

http://201ironman.blogspot.com

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.

Hope to see you join!

What do you do it for?

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!

Score one for the Eye Team!

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*

To good vision!

Sometimes you just want to Dance Dance Dance!

This song has brightened up my day. I hope it brightens up yours!