changing gyms

I am not one to make major changes on a whim. I usually sit and ponder the pros and cons. I am cursed with the ability to analyze and over-analyze situations.

But for once, there was no need to over-analyze. In fact, this may have been one of the easiest decisions I have ever made while sober.

My thought process:
I need a pool for swimming
My gym has no pool
I am paying $5 every time I use the local community pool
My backyard isn’t big enough for a lap pool
Even if it were, the pool would probably freeze over in the winter time (but it would heated as to avoid this potential problem)
And Shiner would be getting into it all the time so I would be constantly pulling dog hair from the pool filter
And if I had a pool, I would probably have to get a hot tub, too.
And if I had a hot tub, I would have to install an entertainment system complete with a 46” flat-screen TV so all my friends and I would be able to watch our favorite sporting events from the hot tub.
And if I were to have more people, I would probable break down and by a kegerator for the house.
With a kegerator comes the poker parties meaning I would have to invest in a poker-specific table.
And the foosball table, pool table and air hockey table that would turn my spare bedroom and garage into game rooms.
Leaving my guests with no place to stay
I would outgrow my house and have to move, but it would be impossible to take the pool and hot tub with me, so I would be stuck with all this useless crap that I bought specifically to put a lap pool in my back yard.
Therefore, I decided it would be cheaper to change gyms.

Like I said, easy decision.

I am switching to 24-hour fitness because 1)they have pools and 2) there are three locations within 5 miles of my house (2 of which have pools). But it is hard because I really liked the convenience of my old gym and the fact that it was never terribly crowded. But that is just the price I have to pay in order to become a world-class triathlete.

Speaking of which. Here is an actual conversation I had with one of the trainers at 24-hour while touring the facility last night:
him: so, you are going to do a triathlon?
me: yep.
him: sprint distance?
me: nope.
him: Olympic?
me: nope, I am going to just start with an Ironman and see how it goes.
him: (big pause)
him (again): So are competing to win?
me: wha wha what?!?!? huh? no, I am just hoping not to die

Good god, was he serious. Did he think I was actually thinking I was thinking about winning an Ironman on my first try?

I was warned they don’t have the best and brightest trainers at 24-hour.

They may be right.

Confidence Building

The past couple of weeks I have had some doubts with this whole triathlon ordeal. It had nothing to do with desire. It isn’t even knowing that training is going to gradually take over most of my spare time (spare time? what’s spare time?). I wasn’t intimidated by the swim. The running, well, I am slow but consistent.

What has been weighing on me is the bike. I have never ridden long distances on the bike. Sure, I don’t doubt my ability to ride. I have been, however, concerned with being able to keep up the necessary pace for the longer bike rides. I started out hoping to average 19-20 mph for the bike portion of the triathlon (wishful thinking). Koach Karl says we should average better than 15 mph.

After riding the bike regularly for the past several weeks, I have been averaging just over 15 mph over 15 – 30 miles of riding. This had frustrated me. Not a lot. I am averaging faster than KK says I need to be, but nowhere near the 19-20 mph I had optimistically hoped for.

So Sunday morning, my tri team got together for a group training session. We were doing a double-brick. 20 miles riding followed by 2 miles running. We then got back on the bike and repeated the entire process - 20 more miles on the bike and 2 more running.

I was a little nervous going into training.

So to ease the anxiety, I didn’t get to bed until after 3 am Saturday night/Sunday morning.

I showed up to training tired, on just 3 hours sleep – but hey, at least I didn’t have a hangover.

I got on the bile and rode. Because I am, by nature, an overachiever (or is it a poor listener who has problems following directions), I rode further than I was told to, but still managed to average 16.8 mph. I was quite pleased.

The run was ok. I was tired and had to poop, but kept going anyway.

And then I got back on my bike.

And started riding.

And about the time I got on the 2-laned road without any shoulder to pull off onto and numerous small hills requiring moderate pedaling effort, my right quad locked up.

I may have dropped a couple of f-bombs.

But being an expert on cramps, I can assure you that a cramp in a quad muscle is nowhere near as painful as a calf cramp. So I kept pedaling. The cramp worked itself out. I started feeling good.
Not just kind of good. But really good.
I was pedaling strong with a solid, steady cadence.

I was going fast.

I felt like a real bicyclist!

At one point, I was up over an 18 mph average and would have cleared 17.5 mph average for the entire ride had the wind not picked up and our last 5 miles were more-or-less in a fairly brisk headwind. I still finished the second leg at a 17 mph average.

That’s 0.2 mph faster than my first leg and that is exciting.

Like the first run, the second run wasn’t the best. It was an anticlimactic finish to an otherwise good training session. My quads weren’t that happy about running, though, and threw in a couple of brief cramp sessions on the back mile. And I should have probably run faster as I averaged no better than 12 – 13 minute miles on the run. But that didn’t bug me much. There will be other opportunities to run. I know I can run the 26 miles.

And I am now much more confident I can ride the 112 miles.

Oh, and the reason I didn’t get much sleep on Saturday night was because I went to see a real, live roller derby for the first time in my life. All I can say is wow. I was wound up for hours after in was over. That Snot Rocker is one hell of a skater.

Left Brain vs Right Brain - the swim lesson

Some people are right brained. This group of people is more creative and imaginative. The daydreamers, if you will. Most people have a dominant left brain and follow a more logical and rational train of thought. Everyone has some right brain and left brain tendencies and the combination of the two makes us what we are today.

Also, it is known that the left brain controls most movements on the right side of the body and the right brain controls your left side.

So I sit here today, trying to find a left brained (logical) explanation to what happened in the pool this morning and it just isn’t working. So I am turning to my more creative half. But it, too is puzzled.

There has to be some sort of explanation to what Koach Karl saw during my 5AM swim lesson.

But I don’t know what it is.

So I will explain it the best I can.

One half of my brain wasn’t communicating to the other half of my brain what it was doing. On half of my body had great form. The other half, not so much . I blame it all on my left brain (it is the more stubborn half, you know)

I started off swimming a lap. KK said it looked good for the most part. I had a decent stroke and was doing a decent job kicking. I was relatively aerodynamic (flat back) in the pool.

One little problem though, I had good rotation to my left side but not my right side. (come on, left brain, get with the program).

So I swim a little more. I get the rotation thing down, but now, my left side stroke (controlled by my right brain) is looking good. You know, elbow up, reach, pull. But my right, just wind-milling its way through the water (flop flop flop flop). For whatever reason, my left brain was convinced that this windmill stroke was the most logical way to swim. It wanted nothing to do with the right brain’s theory that a more deliberate, almost artistic stroke was better.

Fortunately, KK agreed with my right brain so, being in the minority, the left brain gave into the pressure and is now following the more energy efficient, elbow up, reach, pull stroke my right brain was supporting all along.

So once I got the right and left side of my head in sync, everything when much better.
Of course, as I sit here writing this, my left brain is trying to get back at my right brain for showing it up this morning. The left side is telling me to get a Smoothie King smoothie and chug it. You see, the left brain is aware that scientific studies have demonstrated that the right half of your brain is more sensitive to brain freeze than the left side.

And a Smoothie sounds good.

Let’s just hope the right side thaws out before my open water swim tomorrow night.




p.s. People have often asked me what the hell goes on between my ears. If only I had a dollar for every time someone asked me “What were you thinking?”. Well, this was a free glimpse into the inner workings of my brain.

For whatever reason, I am convinced my left brain and right brain are jealous of the other half. Each side thinks I favor the other side. But in reality, I love both halves the equally.

And during the roughly 20% of the time when I actually use my brain to make a decision, I pull from both my logical and creative sides before acting. And usually make the right decision.

It is the ~80% of the time I don’t think before acting that concerns me.

Ooops

Someone didn't make it to the pool tonight for the much anticipated IM competition.

But it wasn't my fault, really.

When driving back from Tulsa this morning, my brakes started making some annoying scraping sounds. They weren't the sort of squeaking sounds that indicate that maybe it is time to replace the brakes at my convenience, it was the scraping sound that was saying at any time I may be at risk of not stopping if I don't replace my brakes soon.

So I spent the better part of the afternoon getting my brake pads replaces.

The good news is that my car will stop on demand for the next 40,000 miles.

The bad news is that I missed my chance to swim the IM.

I now know that my company will lose Corporate Challenge by 1 point.

And it will be my fault.

I can live with that.

But last night, I got to ride my bike down the river parks trails in Tulsa and it was great. I rode on flat ground and absolutely flew down the trails. More than once I was pedaling on leval ground and moving at 20+ mph. It felt great. I was passing other bikers . It wasn't windy and wasn't hilly.

But it was hot.

97 degrees with about 90% humidity.

Why it is so humid in Oklahoma is beyond me.

On the bike, the elements weren't really noticable.

But the second I got off the bike and started running, WOW! It really was hot. I was dripping in sweat. My pores were totally open. But I ran anyway

I got 2 miles in before calling it quits.

But I didn't quit because I was tired.

I quit because I was going to my grandparents house for dinner. And what a dinner it was. Somehow, I don't think that my grandfather got the memo that I am now eating healthy because the menu looked like this:

Pork Chops
Fried Potatoes
Biscuits and gravy
Black-eyed peas
Corn
Cole slaw

Not exactly foods that make it to my training table on a regular basis

But last night, there they were. And I ate like I hadn't seen solid foods in weeks.

Tomorrow, I get to run an extra 3 miles.

Competitive Swimming

Anyone looking for an entertainment option for Tuesday night, you may be in business. You just have to drive out to the Lawrence Indoor Aquatic Center.

Because

Apparently, I have been talked into swimming the 100 yard IM for corporate challenge. I had planned on doing the 200 yard freestyle, but that is tonight and my unplanned trip to Tulsa screwed that up.

So now I get to do the IM.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Individual Medley, in entails swimming one length of the pool with the butterfly, one length backstroke, one breast stroke and one freestyle.

No problem.

Right…..

What is sad is that the stroke that scares me the most is not the butterfly – that was my favorite stroke back when I was a swimmer for the Burning Tree Barracudas as a kid.

The back stroke is what I am afraid of. Do you know how many times I rammed my head into the wall swimming the backstroke as a kid. Well, it was more than once. I can tell you that much. And while I can’t really say that it caused long term brain damage, I can assure you it has left me scarred psychologically.

Because ramming your head into a cement wall hurts. No matter how fast you swim. And if you take the time to look for the wall while swimming, you are costing your time.

And that brings up the other point.

I have never finished dead last at anything where the results are posted for the world to see (the internet). There is always some poor chap that is slower than me – sometimes I wonder how this is possible. But that could change. My freestyle is pretty strong right now, but the other strokes, not so much. All the times from last year in my age group came in at under 2 minutes. The odds of me coming in under 2 minutes are unlikely at best.

So my name could be posted at the bottom.

Great.

Something else to humiliate me.

But wait.

Because only the fittest of the fit swimmers even attempt to do the IM, there are not a lot of swimmers that compete. In fact, in the past 2 years, only one person in my division AND age group has competed in the IM.

There are only two of us signed up from my age group/division this year. And because KCCC scores everything based on division, guess who will be coming in no less than 2nd place.

That’s right!

And even better, if the other guy doesn’t show up, guess who will automatically be getting first place in his division.

That’s right!

But would I, of all people, brag about winning my division if, in reality, I know I finished in last place overall?

You bet your ass I would!

Come back Wednesday for results.

Corporate Challenge

The company I work for is competing for the second straight year in the Kansas City Corporate Challenge and it has really been tough on me this year. But not because I am busy competing in too many events (like I did last year), but because I have not been able to compete in any events.

My San Diego trip kept me from competing in all of the track events, soccer and softball. The 5 K was on the same morning as my 20 mile training run. Volleyball was the same night as my baseball bash where me and 50 of my friends went to Kauffman Stadium for a Royals-Cardinals game. It has been a real downer telling my co-workers time and time again that I wouldn't be able to help out.

Finally, Saturday morning, I was able to get out there and represent my company. I played flag football. I spent most of my time at wide reciever (but did play QB for a couple of plays). We wound up playing four games, losing in the semi-finals, finishing in 3rd place.

This morning, I hurt. It wasn't the same kind of pain as the post-marathon pain. The pain was much more joint related. Knees, ankles, shoulders (I hit the ground hard a couple of times, one time getting kneed in the head while falling by the guy chasing me). This is even after taping both ankles and putting on my IT band brace after the first game. But the pain this morning was definitely worth it. It was fun.

Not every day fun, mind you. But the sort of fun you want to do once every so often. It was a great deviation from triathlon training.

Which starts again, tomorrow.

And I am looking forward to it because I will be biking one of my favorite trails in Tulsa (where I grew up). This is the trail system that I used to bike with my grandfather and cousins growing up. We would bike the trails on Sunday morning and then go back to my grandparents house for breakfast. Since I have to go to Tulsa for business on Monday, I figured I would take my bike down and get in a 20 mile bike ride-three mile run on some of my old stomping grounds.

Oh, and I get my much anticipated swimming lesson with Koach Karl on Wednesday morning. This should be entertaining!

Biking to work

This idea seems so perfect in principle. I live about 12 miles from work. My training schedule says I need to bike at least 20 miles three times a week. This would definitely help me cover the necessary distances and would, in the end, save me time because I wouldn’t have to drive anywhere to begin my ride. An added plus is the ~$5 that I would save daily by not driving.

But there are some drawbacks. I would have to get up a little earlier in order to cover the distances. It would probably take me a little under an hour to get to work in the morning. This really isn’t a problem.

I would also have to plan ahead. I would need a change of clothes at work. I would also need to make sure I either had lunch plans or a lunch at work. And there is the shower dilemma since we don’t have showers at work. I am hoping a little extra deodorant will help keep the smells down. Plus, you don’t really sweat as much on a bike because of the constant breeze in your face. And there is always the weather wild card.

But my real issue with doing this is safety and dealing with traffic. Finding a way to get from the heart of Johnson County, KS (72nd and Metcalf) to 119th and I-35 while avoiding high-traffic will be tough. Once they get the Indian Creek trails re-opened (in 2007) and the 127th street overpass to I-35, this won’t be nearly as difficult as I can make almost the entire route on designated biking/jogging trails. But both those are a long ways from happening. And I want to start doing this next week.

My morning ride isn’t nearly the concern as my afternoon ride because traffic is lighter. And I do have a couple of different routes that take me mainly on lesser traveled, relatively wide 2-lane roads. And I am out on those roads riding in the evenings anyway, so why not just bike to work.

It’ll be fun!
Right?

Changes

"It's not that some people have willpower and some don't. It's that some people are ready to change and others are not. "- James Gordon

"It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power." - Allen Cohen

The important thing is this: To be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become. - Charles DuBois

Cut the "im" out of impossible, leading that dynamic word standing out free and clear-possible. -Norman Vincent Peale

I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso

There's only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self. - Aldous Huxley

It is really hard to put into words what is going through my mind lately, but the wheels are definitely turning. And it can mostly be attributed to a couple of changes that are going on around me.

First and foremost, the transition from marathon runner to ironman triathlete. Now that the San Diego marathon is in behind me (and what a great time it was), I get to focus my training on IRONMAN. Talk about shifting gears (that was a bike joke, so laugh).

So here is the problem. I totally understand MARATHON. MARATHON and I are good friends. I like MARATHON. MARATHON likes me. We get along. I am not the fastest runner. Nor do I have the best running form. MARATHON is comfortable. I understand MARATHON training. MARATHON is embedded in my daily routine.

But now, instead of my normal 6 mile run on a Tuesday afternoon. It is a 30 mile bike ride followed immediately by a 3 mile run (completed successfully in just under 15o minutes, by the way)

And this is just one day. There are going to be days where getting my training may seem impossible. And will take hours.

I am feeling a little overwhelmed.

But to be successful in this endeavor will require commitment, dedication, willpower and sacrifice.

Kind of like the other change in my life.

Because it just so happens that sort of met a girl in San Diego.

Amazingly enough, she lives in KC.

And we have seen each other twice since getting back from San Diego last Thursday.

Even more amazing, we are going to see each other again. Not that it can be considered a relationship, yet. But it appears to be headed that way (assuming I don't screw something up - always a possibility)

While I can't predict the outcome of IRONMAN and won't even venture to guess the future of this relationship, I do know that the possible combination of these two new endeavors in addition to everything I am hoping to accomplish this summer will make for an exciting summer.

I am committed.

I am dedicated.

I have the willpower.

I will make the sacrifice.

But most of all, even though I am a little overwhelmed right now, I am totally looking forward to the challenges that lay ahead.

gotta love returning to work

Nothing like being gone for a week just to find out that your company's e-mail system is working marginally at best AND there is a possibility that e-mails you sent never made it to their destinations and e-mails people sent you may or may not have been delivered and are floating around somewhere in server hell just looking for the appropriate path to my inbox.

And to make it even better, IT doesn't know when they will have it back up and running at full speed nor when I will have my e-mail access back on my home computer. So if you haven't heard from me, that is probably why.

Woo-friggin-hoo!

But, yes, me and my animated personality were definitely missed around the lab while I was gone. Isn't that all that really matters?

Can I go back to SD now?

I'm finally home

What a week.

Too much for one post, that's for sure

Many stories.

And to top off the vacation was a return trip that took 2o hours and an unplanned night in Phoenix because the stupid people at SW wouldn't let us switch to from a connecting flight to a direct flight even though there was space on the direct flight AND they knew our flight into Phoenix from SD was delayed.

But such is life.

As for the run, I didn't quite make the 5 hour goal. I hit the 21 mile marker in under 4 hours so all I had to do was run 12 minute miles the rest of the way to hit that mark. But for some reason, on the streets of SD last Sunday, that 5 hour mark didn't seem important any more. Instead, I just wanted to have fun. And that is what I did. I walked for a while with some of my KC team mates. I talked to people along the way. I laughed. I joked. I got passed by a man wearing a speedo and sombraro and nothing else. Good times.

I crossed the finish line in 5:05:04. And that was good enough for me. I shaved 15+ minutes off my PR (set at Disney in January) and ran almost 20 minutes faster than OKC 5 weeks ago.

Pictures and stories from the streets (and yes, bars) of SD to come.

It's just good to be home!