Beer, Boots and Laughs

Well the "Ironman Zurich Training Commencement" party on Saturday night was great. We met at our house for wine and appetizers then headed over to Gasthof Zur Gemutlichkeit (trying saying that 10 times). Trimama and I rode with Iron Jenny in her tri equipped SUV...Holy crap that thing drives itself! GPS, backing up camera, heated everything...way fun and we were'nt even at the resturant yet!

Here's a little snap shot of the evening, IronJenny will have more pics from her side of the carnage! :)




Later I need to discuss training/making a living/dang I need to be super organized!

Tac out

Ziggy Zaggy, Ziggy Zaggy Oui Oui Oui!!!

The local Tri club is getting together, to have a 'Beginning of training for Ironman Zurich!" party tonight....oh boy. Trimama and I were going to go on this Switzerland adventure in June, until we realized the time and especially money committment involved. So this is our way of supporting our local tri homies. Were going here tonight.
Should be interesting being that the video camera will be rolling and Iron Jenny will be present. I hear were passing around a large glass boot filled with beer. If you put on the table you have to drink twice....aaah, oh boy.

Stay tuned, have pics and stuff soon. And yes I realize it's a German restaurant, but hey, it's in the same general area as the Ironman...sorta.

Tac out... but not under the table.

Donuts, Wii, hair loss and random training thoughts.

First, thank you for your kind comments regarding my heart issues and the Ironman Video. I really appreciated your thoughts prayers and enjoyment of the video!

Last Saturday morning I went out on my traditional run for family donuts. I'm not sure how long this tradition has been going, but the fine art of finding tasty donuts is serious business. If for any reason I entertain the idea of not jumping in the frezzing car to pick them up, great mournig commences followed by weeping and nashing of teeth. So donut morning can not be avoided. I don't really mind though. It's one of our traditions that keeps me connected to the kids. So much of the week seems to be like 6 individuals moving through their routines and Saturday morning donuts/cartoon's is a time I always look forward to.

A new family tradition has become this-



Wiiiiiii! Pathetically fun. The best part of this game is that Chopper can roll a virtual bowling ball along side Hypen-Girl and myself and were all having a great time. So if you can get one, I recommend! We did'nt discuss the benefits of Wii at our parenting church group on Sunday night, but I'm sure there is a theological basis for family edification by way of Nintendo.

So about 10 years ago my hair started becoming so thin that I did the Telly Savlas thing of course I was in denial that It would continue to thin, but the ghost of Kojack was coming...and he wanted something!





So imagine what I'm thinking when I wake up last Saturday to this sight.


Picture does'nt do it justice. He looked like he had soaked both hands in water then used metal forks to clean lint out of an old outlet! It was unbelievable. It was also depressing. My gosh son, you have sooo much hair. Well enjoy it for now boy, because the ghost of Telly may some day come to the door and he'll want all of those folicals!

I am so cold. Training has been going well, but man am I cold. I find that each year I begin to really ramp up training I loose that nice warm blanket of fat around me and start to need multiple layers of clothes just to maintain my warmth. Anyone else find this to be true regarding winter training?

Beginner Triathlete is more like Seasoned Triathlete. What a training plan. Last week I ran 18 miles, swam 5000 yards and biked for 6 hours on a trainer!! This week calls for about 6 hours on the trainer, 5 hours of runing and 4000 more yards. I'm cutting short most of my runs due to knee issues and limiting swimming to twice a week only.

I can grow to hate swimming. Last year we had a divorce about mid season. We came back together just this past month and seem to be reconciling o.k. I just find swimming to be long and sorta boring. I need underwater headphones/ipod. Where's Steve Jobs when I need him!!! Well I'll figure it out. Hope all your winter training is going well.

Take care,
Tac out

Ironman Florida-Part 2

I was able to get the rest of the video into part two. If you have not seen part one It's the post below this one.

Turn it Up!

Ironman Florida-Part 1

YouTube only allows certain megabyte and time sized files so I have split this into 3 parts.

Question?

I was talking to Trimama the other night about which workouts seem the toughest. I'm realizing that I base toughness not on the actual rigorous nature of the workout, but on the inconvience of scheduling the working out. It's harder for me to get over to the YMCA and jump in the pool then to just go downstairs and get on my trainer, even though some of my trainer workouts are much harder then my pool laps. Just curious what training workouts you find to be the most difficult and why?

Let see what I'm up to this week.

Monday 2000 yard swim, 30 minute run, 20 minute weights/core
Tuesday 45 min. spin
Wednesday 1 1/2 hour spin
Thursday 3100 yard swim (gulp)
Friday- off (thank goodness)
Saturday- hour run, weights/core

Ironman video out soon?!

more !
less ?

Tac out

IMFL video done and my IT band didnt Blow up

First this...



Commodore coming out of the water. Preatty cool eh? I was peeling wet suits so I yanked out the camera when I saw him coming (sorry to those other athletes I missed while filming :})

This video is part of a much larger Tri Geek Ironman Florida video the I finally finished this week. Should have the rest of it up in a few days.

I was watching an Xterra race yesterday on ABC. Preatty cool, Mad Mel finished first as usual. As I watched them pound out the trail run I just looked at Trimama and said "at that point both IT bands blow out of the side of my leg and gush blood like a Quentin Terrantino movie!" Needless to say,I have still been having some issues with my knees when running, but this week was different.

Tuesday 1400 yard swim, 40 minute run, no problems
Wednesday 2.5 hour spin on the bike, long but good.
Thursday 3100 yard swim with speed work. Felt great.
Saturday 1 HOUR 45 MINUTE RUN!!! On treadmill, no knee problems...Yea!

So that was a very encouraging week. I cannot lie, Wildflower cometh and the gulp you just heard means I need to get serious on sticking to my training plan!

Have a good week from your occasional poster :(

Tac out

Holy cow...4 workouts in one week

It's almost like I'm training for endurance events.

3000 yard swim yesterday, with speed intervals. Oh that felt great!

1 hr run today. Supposed to be 1 3/4 hr, but we got company tonight so less running now, more on the weekend.

Trimama's penalty box. I love it. Although if you find me in it, it's all untrue.

Have a great weekend!

Tac out

Training Begins

Yes sir I officially started my wildflower/Ironman Florida today.

1 hr bike
20 min strength train.

It felt nice to get on the bike again. Especially since the doctor said that my A Fib is not going to be serious and I can live and train as usual. Thank you for all of your kind words, thoughts and prayers. They mean a ton, this was a weird and scary time around here.

Speaking of scary. In one of my posts I talked about how Trimama was almost about to pull her resume out she was so nervous. So I'm reading her blog today and discover I had no idea what she thought resume meant!!

Trimama-"I can put the dating resume away..."

What!!??? Nice. I meant work resume, she went strait to hot guy market in case hubby slumps over resume.

I had no idea

tac out

Jump in the frozen lake? No I have a heart condition

Well I do. Yeah, sometimes life gives you the right excuse at the perfect time. I am so not about jumping into a frozen lake with 400 of my best friends. Trimama says she did it last year to prepare herself for the mental testing of Ironman. I think my training (based on doc's approval) will have lots of testing, so frozen lakes can wait.

I see the cardiologist tomorrow, hopefully I get good news and can begin my training for Wildflower the day after. I'm going to get more regular in posting (no that's not a new years resolution) because I want to track my training and follow my fellow flower heads.

Man I've been tired lately! I've been debating going off caffeine for quite some time, and this whole atrial fib thing has caused me to eliminate all caffeine and most alcohol for awhile.

Saturday-Blinding, I mean excruciating headache and slept for almost 2 hours during the day

Sunday-no headache just slept 3.5 hours during the day!!!

Monday-still no headache 2.5 hour nap (just got up)

It is amazing how badly addicted I was the this stuff. My body is clearly needing all of this rest. In fact I've never felt so relaxed and restful.

I learned a ton of info stuff over at how stuff works.com about how caffeine effects the body. Check it out.

Well off to see freinds for a new years day party, after which I'll probably need 14 hours of sleep!

Tac out