When I was ready to get CF out of the garage, I looked back there one more time and saw a flash of stripes in the foliage, and decided I'd better get out of dodge.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Lots of Stripes
So I'm about to put my contact lenses in and head to the pool this morning, and I look out in my backyard and see this family of skunks coming onto the lawn from the back flower bed. My guess is they have a nice home under the rotting shed in my white trash neighbor's yard. I had smelled skunk a few days ago, and now I know where the smell came from! They came into my yard and they were just playing, all the while with their tails straight up in the air like flags! I did my best to get decent shots between all the running around they were doing, the lighting and trying not to spook them. They were really cute, but of course, I decided to hold off on venturing out there until they went back to sleep or wherever they went. They were sure cute, and pretty hard to miss against the deep green of the lawn.
When I was ready to get CF out of the garage, I looked back there one more time and saw a flash of stripes in the foliage, and decided I'd better get out of dodge.
When I was ready to get CF out of the garage, I looked back there one more time and saw a flash of stripes in the foliage, and decided I'd better get out of dodge.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
***UPDATED FUCKAGE***
I put a hard link to the 100% Fuckage Post on my sidebar. I just added a new video to it--the last one in the post, but here it is below if you've already seen the rest:
For extra fun, head to the post and play Big Lebowski and Jackie Brown at the same time!
For extra fun, head to the post and play Big Lebowski and Jackie Brown at the same time!
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Not Sure What This is About
First, some food porn.
This is today's lunch, phase 1: lettuce, cherries, portabella mushroom, truffle oil, walnut/pear balsamic glaze and salt
This is after I added some wild sockeye salmon and Illinois tomatoes. Also more salt. I like salt after a good, hard run.
It was tasty. For dinner tonight, I'll be eating bucatini with a sausage and onion sauce, and I think a glass or 2 of wine. I have a big run tomorrow!
And now some nothing:
A NothingCan
A NothingFan
A NothingLan
A NothingPan
You might wonder how my week has been going after Sunday's little festival. Well, I'm here to tell you that my evil plan is working...after pushing myself to the edge the last 3 weeks, I think I've busted through to some really solid fitness. Turns out Sunday was a breakthrough workout. So what I ended up a little hyperthermic--so did other people that day that I talked to, and they didn't go as long or hard as I did.
Monday morning I did an easy swim workout, and yes I was tired, but I didn't feel that bad at all considering. Although the pool felt cold to me, so I knew my thermoregulatory system was a bit off. I was supposed to run, too, but my legs told me to hold off on that noise until Tuesday. But late in the day, I felt like even though my aerobic system was pretty taxed that I could still manage to lift. So I did. For an hour. And I felt fucking strong doing it! I got an awesome (free!) massage Monday night, and had a new student working on me and she was pretty amazed at how much pressure I can take. When she was finished, I asked her if anything besides what I pointed out to her (rhomboids, levator scapulae, subscapularis) seemed particularly bad, and she said no. While she was working on my legs, I knew I was doing well because my quads didn't feel worked over at all.
I slept like a champ Monday night, and woke up Tuesday feeling really, really great. I wondered how I'd be able to ride and then run off the bike. Well, apparently fucking great. I was craving hills, and rather than do any formal interval crap, I did 3 hill repeats at one hill, and then just busted my ass on any other hill I could find. I managed to "find" 1300 feet of climbing in about 1:45 of riding. Not bad! And my watts were awesome--almost to the point where I might think my FT has risen, but I'll hold off on that judgment until next week. And then I ran, and I ran pretty well considering I rode near 40K pace.
Since I'm taking things day by day, the brick got me to wondering to how I'd feel today. I got up (using an alarm clock now, damn--it's not light at 5AM anymore), and felt pretty good, and headed to the pool. Legs felt just fine on the ride over, and I knocked out 3400 meters feeling pretty damn good. It was such a gorgeous morning, and the water was just the perfect temperature, and after about 30 minutes, I had almost the entire pool to myself and man, I just wanted to stay in there, but alas, I had to get home to work.
I decided to load up some calories after swimming--a banana, Endurox, 2 Fig Newtons with another cup of coffee, half of a grilled chicken thigh (I've been craving protein lately), and then right before I suited up to run, a can of Coke. All good. I headed out to run, and the weather was still beautiful--warmer, now--maybe 80 (as opposed to maybe 70 while I was swimming this morning), with an east wind. It felt great to put on the wet swimsuit, which I am sure helped keep me cool for at least a couple of miles. I ended up running 8 miles, and it all felt pretty good, and I managed a decent pace, especially into the headwind. When I got home, I fixed and ate that luscious salad, and I'm already hungry again, which is good.
My legs don't feel too "worked," but the proof will be tomorrow, where I hope to knock out 15 miles in the early morning. If that run goes well, well, then I know for sure I'm really on track, at least as on track as I can be 4 weeks post-Ironman. I'm doing another 3-mile swim on Friday and some riding and maybe a short run, and then I'll ride easy, play in the pool and run a little on Saturday, and cap off the week with a 200K ride on Sunday.
I don't want to jinx myself, but as I said, my evil plan of pushing myself pretty hard seems to be yielding results. Honestly, I feel fucking excellent. There are other physical and mental indicators that tell me I'm feeling awesome that I won't mention here (I don't say everything despite how it may seem). And oh, I added 1/2" to my thighs, you think I've been biking a lot lately??? Again, all good.
No pain--no Nothing
This is today's lunch, phase 1: lettuce, cherries, portabella mushroom, truffle oil, walnut/pear balsamic glaze and salt
This is after I added some wild sockeye salmon and Illinois tomatoes. Also more salt. I like salt after a good, hard run.It was tasty. For dinner tonight, I'll be eating bucatini with a sausage and onion sauce, and I think a glass or 2 of wine. I have a big run tomorrow!
And now some nothing:
A NothingCan
A NothingFan
A NothingLan
A NothingPanYou might wonder how my week has been going after Sunday's little festival. Well, I'm here to tell you that my evil plan is working...after pushing myself to the edge the last 3 weeks, I think I've busted through to some really solid fitness. Turns out Sunday was a breakthrough workout. So what I ended up a little hyperthermic--so did other people that day that I talked to, and they didn't go as long or hard as I did.
Monday morning I did an easy swim workout, and yes I was tired, but I didn't feel that bad at all considering. Although the pool felt cold to me, so I knew my thermoregulatory system was a bit off. I was supposed to run, too, but my legs told me to hold off on that noise until Tuesday. But late in the day, I felt like even though my aerobic system was pretty taxed that I could still manage to lift. So I did. For an hour. And I felt fucking strong doing it! I got an awesome (free!) massage Monday night, and had a new student working on me and she was pretty amazed at how much pressure I can take. When she was finished, I asked her if anything besides what I pointed out to her (rhomboids, levator scapulae, subscapularis) seemed particularly bad, and she said no. While she was working on my legs, I knew I was doing well because my quads didn't feel worked over at all.
I slept like a champ Monday night, and woke up Tuesday feeling really, really great. I wondered how I'd be able to ride and then run off the bike. Well, apparently fucking great. I was craving hills, and rather than do any formal interval crap, I did 3 hill repeats at one hill, and then just busted my ass on any other hill I could find. I managed to "find" 1300 feet of climbing in about 1:45 of riding. Not bad! And my watts were awesome--almost to the point where I might think my FT has risen, but I'll hold off on that judgment until next week. And then I ran, and I ran pretty well considering I rode near 40K pace.
Since I'm taking things day by day, the brick got me to wondering to how I'd feel today. I got up (using an alarm clock now, damn--it's not light at 5AM anymore), and felt pretty good, and headed to the pool. Legs felt just fine on the ride over, and I knocked out 3400 meters feeling pretty damn good. It was such a gorgeous morning, and the water was just the perfect temperature, and after about 30 minutes, I had almost the entire pool to myself and man, I just wanted to stay in there, but alas, I had to get home to work.
I decided to load up some calories after swimming--a banana, Endurox, 2 Fig Newtons with another cup of coffee, half of a grilled chicken thigh (I've been craving protein lately), and then right before I suited up to run, a can of Coke. All good. I headed out to run, and the weather was still beautiful--warmer, now--maybe 80 (as opposed to maybe 70 while I was swimming this morning), with an east wind. It felt great to put on the wet swimsuit, which I am sure helped keep me cool for at least a couple of miles. I ended up running 8 miles, and it all felt pretty good, and I managed a decent pace, especially into the headwind. When I got home, I fixed and ate that luscious salad, and I'm already hungry again, which is good.
My legs don't feel too "worked," but the proof will be tomorrow, where I hope to knock out 15 miles in the early morning. If that run goes well, well, then I know for sure I'm really on track, at least as on track as I can be 4 weeks post-Ironman. I'm doing another 3-mile swim on Friday and some riding and maybe a short run, and then I'll ride easy, play in the pool and run a little on Saturday, and cap off the week with a 200K ride on Sunday.
I don't want to jinx myself, but as I said, my evil plan of pushing myself pretty hard seems to be yielding results. Honestly, I feel fucking excellent. There are other physical and mental indicators that tell me I'm feeling awesome that I won't mention here (I don't say everything despite how it may seem). And oh, I added 1/2" to my thighs, you think I've been biking a lot lately??? Again, all good.
No pain--no Nothing
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
The Mystery of Coke Solved
So as you know, from time to time I drink Coke. Not as an accompaniment to a meal or as a refreshing beverage, but as a training aid. Sugar and caffeine! Before workouts (as pictured above--I'm about to head out for a brick) or during workouts. Even though I'm not completely obsessive about counting calories (although I pretty much know what I'm taking in), I like knowing that I know what's in something before I suck it down (so yes, in fact I do suck at times).
So last week I decided to get the straight dope:
Sent: 8/14/2008 02:12:59 PM
To: coca-cola.support@na.ko.com
Subject: Coca-Cola Web Form
Hi. First of all, I love Coke Classic. I'm a triathlete, and I drink
Coke during my long runs and on many training runs and rides. It used
to be served at most Ironman races, but now they are cheesey and use
some generic cola from Sam's club--I bring my own real Coke.
My question is this: a 12-oz. can shows 140 calories and 39 grams of
carbs. Carbs have 4 calories each, so if you go by the grams, you'd
have 156 calories, which is a not insignificant difference from 140.
I know the calories must be pure sugar--there are no other ingredients
that have caloric value.
So which is it? 140 or 156? It does make a difference to someone like
me who tries to carefully manage my calorie intake during endurance
training and racing!
Thank you.
Thank you for contacting The Coca-Cola Company, Ms. (Crackhead). We
appreciate the opportunity to respond.
When one has a single, pure source of carbohydrates such as HFCS, for
which you know the exact Caloric value (3.66), the FDA allows the use
of
the exact value instead of the standard value of 4 (and it is even
more correct to do so). Thus, 39 grams of carbohydrates x 3.66
Cal/gram =
142 Calories which is then rounded to 140 per FDA NLEA guidelines.
Additionally, the
National Labeling and Education act (NLEA) require that packages with
less
than 16 ounces (i.e., a 12-ounce can) list the serving size as the
entire contents of the container (12 ounces). However, packages
containing
16 ounces or greater of product (i.e. a 16 ounce bottle or a 2 liter
bottle) are required to list the serving size as a reference amount of
8
ounces.
If you have any additional comments, please feel free to contact us
again.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Weekly Workout Totals 08/11/2008-08/17/2008 and Humble Pie
Woke up yesterday and felt pretty good. Plan was to ride 115 miles--the NothingMan course! I took off at 7AM on the nose as planned. It was cool, but I noticed the humidity right away. I had arm warmers on but didn't think I really needed them, but left them on until I got to Fermilab.
OK, lap 1. Feel pretty good, except that breakfast plus the Ultra Fuel wasn't yet through my system, so didn't feel like drinking right away. Wind wasn't too bad. Sun shining brightly. Mind wandering all over the place. Couldn't believe some of the stuff I was thinking about (can't even write it here!). Life is good, legs feel pretty strong.
Lap 2. Ergomo isn't working properly (watts display). Oh--should have done the reset after the IMLP rain festival, I guess. I had thought watts were off last week and even week before--I have a good feel for how hard I'm working, and the watts display was crazy low. Maybe this is why I've felt on the verge of shelled the last few weeks? Nah, that plus that silly IM race has done it. Haven't drank that much yet, but am getting the Infinit calories down. Boy is it humid. And hot. Seeing lots of cyclists today. Leo the dog (Newfoundland) takes off after me at the West Gate, but his master calls him off me. There were 2 other cyclists there--why did Leo pick me? Life is still good, feel pretty strong, wind is picking up.
Lap 3. Have no idea how hard I'm working, but based on speed alone and considering the amount of time I'm spending into the headwind, I must be doing OK. Life is still good. Lots of caffeine in that Infinit--maybe I should have mixed different ratios. Oh well, not feeling hungry, drinking plenty. Why was it I thought I needed to ride 115 miles today? Oh yeah--because next Sunday I'm going to ride 200K! About 8 miles into this lap, I come upon a huge oak tree that just fell onto the road. There's a security guard there, and I ask when it fell, and he said about 10 seconds ago (I had come around a curve). He remarked how lucky he was that it didn't fall on his car, and I'm thinking yeah, I feel pretty lucky, too. Starting to see triathletes on the roads. Figure many of them are doing their last rites either for IM Canada or a shorter ride for IMWI. Me? I'm just a dumbass circling around in here for no particular reason!
Lap 4. Life is not so good. My core temperature seems really elevated. It just hasn't been this warm on the weekend since IMLP and I'm definitely not used to spending this much time in the sun. I am disgusting--drool and sweat all over my face, assorted dead bugs all over my skin. The wind is pretty annoying, but at least it's going the right way so I should have a tailwind home. Think about cutting the ride short. I've never done 5 laps here. But when I finish this one, there is no option but to continue.
Lap 5. Legs don't feel bad but the miles are sure going by slowly now. I am hot and tired. My head is on fire. Feet feel OK, though. Still no clouds in the sky. When I get back to my exit gate, I am so excited to be on my way home. I'm guzzling water, but luckily I don't seem dehydrated (I can tell by tapping on my deltoids--kind of like cake testing).
Thank God the tailwind is here! I'm not looking at speed or anything, just going. The first major stoplight is dead, and I'm the only vehicle going east--will the cars let me pass? I watch the 3 other directions and when I think it's my turn, sure enough, there are a bunch of cars waving me through. That's a nice feeling. About 4 miles later I have to get into some shade, I really feel like I'm overheating. My water is warm, though. I keep going, and when I get to my home town, there's a bike race going on. I haven't looked at the clock all day, so have no idea of my elapsed time, and finally I look and actually I've done pretty well, considering. At a stoplight, I hear someone yelling my name and see a friend. I dismount and since the day is about bikes, I'm getting a lot of people looking at me and mine. Dan asks how far I've gone, and I'm at 112 miles with about 1 more to go. Boy, am I hot. I want to watch the race, but I'm so hot and probably need some more calories, but I watch the last lap of the Cat 1 race and then think about how am I going to get home? I end up riding on sidewalks for a few blocks and get quite a few looks from riders who are on the course warming up for the 100K race. I actually think that once I shower and eat that I'll come back and watch that.
Get home and I'm really not hungry, but I get in the shower to dedisgustify, and of course it's one of the best showers ever, and I put on a robe and grab cold Endurox and begin sipping on that. Lay on the couch and watch some Olympics, and all of a sudden I'm pretty cold. Crap. Go upstairs and put more clothes on, go back downstairs, and I still need the blankets all over me. I must have been in heat exhaustion. I was even shivering. Go upstairs and grab my exercise physiology book and read about it. Yep, that's it. Says to drink cold fluids. I find it interesting that hypothermia and hyperthermia produce the same reaction, only with hyperthermia, the body is all confused and thinks you need to be even warmer. After about 1/2 hour of shivering, my body figures out things are fine, and the blankets come off, and I'm even starting to feel pretty warm. Get tired of Olympics and just want to lay down. Can't fall asleep because of all the caffeine, but laying in bed with a fan blowing right on me feels good. Figure I'll just lay there until I get hungry, because I must need some more calories, right? I think I stayed there about an hour and a half (getting up every 15 minutes to pee and drink more cold water), and then I started feeling hungry. Heated up a burger I'd grilled on Saturday and fixed a nice salad with unpitted cherries! I like fruit in my salad now.
I never did go back to watch the bike race. The thought of being out in the sun just wasn't very appealing. Once again, today when I looked at the wind history for yesterday, yeah, it was bad, so I guess I HTFU'ed a little. I almost phoned a friend while I was out there to ask for some HTFU, because I didn't feel like I was doing the day justice, but at some level I supposed I had. I reviewed my last 3 big rides--#1 was lost and hurting, #2 was windy as hell and cool, and #3 was windy as hell, hot and humid. Maybe I don't suck after all.
I am going to give swimming a go this morning, and no I'm not riding a bike there! Hope everyone had a great weekend!
OK, lap 1. Feel pretty good, except that breakfast plus the Ultra Fuel wasn't yet through my system, so didn't feel like drinking right away. Wind wasn't too bad. Sun shining brightly. Mind wandering all over the place. Couldn't believe some of the stuff I was thinking about (can't even write it here!). Life is good, legs feel pretty strong.
Lap 2. Ergomo isn't working properly (watts display). Oh--should have done the reset after the IMLP rain festival, I guess. I had thought watts were off last week and even week before--I have a good feel for how hard I'm working, and the watts display was crazy low. Maybe this is why I've felt on the verge of shelled the last few weeks? Nah, that plus that silly IM race has done it. Haven't drank that much yet, but am getting the Infinit calories down. Boy is it humid. And hot. Seeing lots of cyclists today. Leo the dog (Newfoundland) takes off after me at the West Gate, but his master calls him off me. There were 2 other cyclists there--why did Leo pick me? Life is still good, feel pretty strong, wind is picking up.
Lap 3. Have no idea how hard I'm working, but based on speed alone and considering the amount of time I'm spending into the headwind, I must be doing OK. Life is still good. Lots of caffeine in that Infinit--maybe I should have mixed different ratios. Oh well, not feeling hungry, drinking plenty. Why was it I thought I needed to ride 115 miles today? Oh yeah--because next Sunday I'm going to ride 200K! About 8 miles into this lap, I come upon a huge oak tree that just fell onto the road. There's a security guard there, and I ask when it fell, and he said about 10 seconds ago (I had come around a curve). He remarked how lucky he was that it didn't fall on his car, and I'm thinking yeah, I feel pretty lucky, too. Starting to see triathletes on the roads. Figure many of them are doing their last rites either for IM Canada or a shorter ride for IMWI. Me? I'm just a dumbass circling around in here for no particular reason!
Lap 4. Life is not so good. My core temperature seems really elevated. It just hasn't been this warm on the weekend since IMLP and I'm definitely not used to spending this much time in the sun. I am disgusting--drool and sweat all over my face, assorted dead bugs all over my skin. The wind is pretty annoying, but at least it's going the right way so I should have a tailwind home. Think about cutting the ride short. I've never done 5 laps here. But when I finish this one, there is no option but to continue.
Lap 5. Legs don't feel bad but the miles are sure going by slowly now. I am hot and tired. My head is on fire. Feet feel OK, though. Still no clouds in the sky. When I get back to my exit gate, I am so excited to be on my way home. I'm guzzling water, but luckily I don't seem dehydrated (I can tell by tapping on my deltoids--kind of like cake testing).
Thank God the tailwind is here! I'm not looking at speed or anything, just going. The first major stoplight is dead, and I'm the only vehicle going east--will the cars let me pass? I watch the 3 other directions and when I think it's my turn, sure enough, there are a bunch of cars waving me through. That's a nice feeling. About 4 miles later I have to get into some shade, I really feel like I'm overheating. My water is warm, though. I keep going, and when I get to my home town, there's a bike race going on. I haven't looked at the clock all day, so have no idea of my elapsed time, and finally I look and actually I've done pretty well, considering. At a stoplight, I hear someone yelling my name and see a friend. I dismount and since the day is about bikes, I'm getting a lot of people looking at me and mine. Dan asks how far I've gone, and I'm at 112 miles with about 1 more to go. Boy, am I hot. I want to watch the race, but I'm so hot and probably need some more calories, but I watch the last lap of the Cat 1 race and then think about how am I going to get home? I end up riding on sidewalks for a few blocks and get quite a few looks from riders who are on the course warming up for the 100K race. I actually think that once I shower and eat that I'll come back and watch that.
Get home and I'm really not hungry, but I get in the shower to dedisgustify, and of course it's one of the best showers ever, and I put on a robe and grab cold Endurox and begin sipping on that. Lay on the couch and watch some Olympics, and all of a sudden I'm pretty cold. Crap. Go upstairs and put more clothes on, go back downstairs, and I still need the blankets all over me. I must have been in heat exhaustion. I was even shivering. Go upstairs and grab my exercise physiology book and read about it. Yep, that's it. Says to drink cold fluids. I find it interesting that hypothermia and hyperthermia produce the same reaction, only with hyperthermia, the body is all confused and thinks you need to be even warmer. After about 1/2 hour of shivering, my body figures out things are fine, and the blankets come off, and I'm even starting to feel pretty warm. Get tired of Olympics and just want to lay down. Can't fall asleep because of all the caffeine, but laying in bed with a fan blowing right on me feels good. Figure I'll just lay there until I get hungry, because I must need some more calories, right? I think I stayed there about an hour and a half (getting up every 15 minutes to pee and drink more cold water), and then I started feeling hungry. Heated up a burger I'd grilled on Saturday and fixed a nice salad with unpitted cherries! I like fruit in my salad now.
I never did go back to watch the bike race. The thought of being out in the sun just wasn't very appealing. Once again, today when I looked at the wind history for yesterday, yeah, it was bad, so I guess I HTFU'ed a little. I almost phoned a friend while I was out there to ask for some HTFU, because I didn't feel like I was doing the day justice, but at some level I supposed I had. I reviewed my last 3 big rides--#1 was lost and hurting, #2 was windy as hell and cool, and #3 was windy as hell, hot and humid. Maybe I don't suck after all.
I am going to give swimming a go this morning, and no I'm not riding a bike there! Hope everyone had a great weekend!
| Weekly Workout Totals | 08/11/2008-08/17/2008 This week's totals are sponsored by HTFU, which I need more of. |
| Swim: | 14075 yards (7.99 miles) in 4.92 hours; 23% of weekly workout time; approx. 1722 calories burned Canadian: 12870.18 meters |
| Bike: | Approx. 185.22 miles in 10.58 hours; 50% of weekly workout time; approx. 4834 calories burned; Total TSS=634 Canadian: 298.08 kilometers |
| Run: | Approx. 28.93 miles in 4.36 hours; 21% of weekly workout time; approx. 1965 calories burned Canadian: 46.56 kilometers |
| Strength: | 1.32 hours; 6% of weekly workout time; approx. 330 calories burned |
| All Sports: | Approx. 222.14 miles in 21.18 hours; approx. 8851 calories burned Canadian: 357.5 kilometers |
| Sleep: | 8.29 hours avg./night |
| Stretching: | 2.52 hours. Massage: 1 hours |
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