Sunday, February 25, 2007

It snowing...Alot...I wanna bike outside

Woke up to this....



The tribe took to the snow with great delight. Arie, our shepooch was not all that excited...


But Chopper was...


Got these in the mail last week...

Which seems like the cruelest joke I can think of considering the conditions. I wonder if zipps can handle mountain bike tires?

Although apparently just taking possession of them put me in Trimama's Penalty Box. Hey, I'll take carbon and the ball and chain any day :) Now Trimama, make sure you keep posting over there at flash point, I don't wanna half to give em back!

Big training week last week which seems to be tweeking my heart fibrilation issues. I'm going to start a medication this week that hopefully will tame things down a little. Not going to lie, it tends to mentally take me off my game when this acts up. Oh well, just another challenge to take on, right?

Speaking of challenges, the Janus Charity Challenge is off to a GREAT start. My deepest appreciation to all of you who have made contributions! If you would like more info check out my link in the sidebar.

Oh and of course if you did'nt notice my new header....I'M A FREAKIN SUPERHERO!!!! ...WHATA YA ALL THINK???? MAKES ME HAPPY :) More later....

Tac out

Saturday, February 17, 2007

In Honor of Jon

First I wanted to mention my new favorite blog. Tri-Dummy. How do you come up with a name concept so simple, yet so good (almost like the cowbell, no?) He’s a funny writer who is willing to encourage and teach newbie’s the ropes of triathlon and smart enough to figure out that IMOO 07 is THE Ironman to do! I’m not picking out curtains to move in, I just think he’s worth checking out.

As I write the following, I’m realizing that I’m still not done working through this, so if over-share is occurring, I apologize. Just scroll to the conclusion because it’s important.

The date is October 24, 2004 I’m downstairs in my office preparing for the days tasks. I employee three guys at the time and am running two different sites. I’m going to place Jon at a new job in Edina to prime all the new drywall. Strangely, I haven’t heard from him over the weekend. He’s usually prompt regarding checking in on Sunday nights. I’ve known Jon and his parents for many years. We’ve gone to the same church Jon even played Jesus in a youth Easter play that my wife had directed. I know he’s been struggling over this past summer with major insomnia, so maybe he’s having another bout.
I decide to call my other employee to figure out where he is.
“Hello”
“Cody, Brian here, I was wondering if you heard from Jon?”
pause
“You don’t know?”
“Know what?”
pause
“you need to sit down Brian”
“I am” Impatiently now, “what’s going on?”
“Brian, last night Jon killed himself in his parents basement.”

Jon’s dad found a scene of horror that is unimaginable to most of us. No details, other then to say that he told me after the funeral that he repeatedly wakes up in the middle of the night with a vision of what he saw when he kicked down the bedroom door his son had locked.

I can see Jon in my minds eye: Strong 22 year old, big 6’4 frame, smiling face, fading bleached highlites. He enjoyed a good laugh, loved the Twins, playing good music….and God.

He suffered from severe depression. Suicide is an act of last desperation. Those who commit suicide truly believe that it is the only thing that will stop the pain in their heads. I later became aware that Jon had attempted suicide before, his parents valiantly helped him fight it, but in the end, the battle was lost. Sadly Jon’s story is not isolated. Tri-dummy’s friend just committed suicide, other people I know struggle with suicidal thoughts because of severe trauma in their lives.

But there is help and hope.

I’ve been trying to figure out why I’m racing the Wisconsin Ironman. Peer pressure because all our local tri club are Iron freaks!? The simple personal challenge? Trimama makes me? Probably it’s a little of all the above. Yet I sense a pull, psychological, spiritual or both, a very strong pull to train for and complete this grueling race. I’m now realizing that another part of that pull is joining the Janus Charity Challenge.

The Help

God willing I will cross that Madison finish line and I’m going to do so raising money for a very good organization called SAVE.

From their website...

The #1 cause of suicide is untreated depression. SAVE is committed to the education of the general public about the depressive brain diseases (such as clinical depression and bipolar illness) that can result in suicide if left untreated medically and psychologically. By educating the general public about such brain diseases, SAVE strives to remove the stigma associated with these diseases. SAVE’s prevention and education programs are designed to:

-Increase knowledge about depression and suicide prevention.
-Increase knowledge about symptoms of depression and the warning signs of suicidal thinking and behavior.
-Increase the confidence and competence of participants to make interventions and referrals.
-Increase understanding and the use of intervention skills that can help avert the tragedy of suicide.
-Increase knowledge about community resources, how to access and use them.

Here’s an example of their ad campaign:




I’m going to partner with SAVE, one training mile at a time, one Iron-mile at a time. You can join with me by going to my Jannus Charity Page and pledging any amount. If you could pledge $.10 a mile of my Ironman that would total $14.60! $1 a mile would be $140.60!! Any pledge will help save lives for those who struggle with depression and suicide. If you can’t pledge right now, please pray that I would be able to reach and surpass my goal of $3500 for SAVE.

I am helping SAVE in honor of Jon and his family, to be one small voice of support for them and their burden.


Finally, There is Hope…

An old king once said,

Save me, O God,
For the waters have come
Up to my neck.
I sink in the miry depths,
Where there is no foothold.
I have come into the deep
Waters;
The floods engulf me.
I am worn out calling for help;
My throat is parched.
My eyes fail,
Looking for my God.

An old prophet once said,

Surely he took up our infirmities
And carried our sorrows,
Yet we considered him
Stricken by God,
Smitten by Him, and
Afflicted.
But he was pierced for our
Transgressions,
He was crushed for our
Iniquities;
The punishment that
Brought us peace was
Upon him,
And by His wounds we are healed.

Another King and Prophet once declared,

Now the dwelling of God is with men,
And he will live with them.
They will be his people,
And God himself will be with them
And be their God.

He will wipe every tear
From their eyes. There will be no more death
Or mourning or crying or pain,
For the old order of things has
Passed away.

Please feel free to email me or Trimama with any questions or comments regarding this post, we would love to hear from you!

Again, any amount you could give would be appreciated!

Janus Charity Page


Taconite Boy

Yea!!!! I'm sick



I don't know who this kid is, but I sure can relate. I OFFICIALLY FEEL LIKE CRAP. Started feeling something on Monday. After my 1.5 hour brick workout on Tuesday I felt horrible. Sure enough, by Wednesday it was comin on. Thats the thing about working as paint contractor, and being one of the essential 'crew' members. I need to be on site all the time and could not just take a day off. So the workouts stopped and I worked half days the latter part of the week. Ugh. I do think the break in training is good for my body, since I've been hard at it for about 5-6 weeks now.

Trimama had an estrogen party here last night. So poor old me and my sick body had to take the three younger kids out to grandma's so she could have her 'girl' time. When asked what they were doing by my parents, I of course responded that I have know idea, in fact I don't even know why I had to leave. This ambivalent answer thereby preserves my man card points.

I know alot of people who are sick right now. This cold thing is really going around. Bolder was mentioning that he was really sick lately and that his coach encourages a 3 days feeling 100% rule. I don't know. That means that I probably would not work out again until next Wednesday??? Seems a bit long to me. What do you in blog land think?

Tac (cough, cough, blow nose) Out

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

For my love

I compiled this poem ironically prior to my love's mention of the lovers embrace found here.

These selections are from Love Poems from God.

How long can the moth flirt
Near the mouth of the flame before their lips touch
And the moth’s soul
Becomes like
A sun

And does the moth then die? No.
In serving God one is transformed into Him

What lovers would return to us,
What lovers would not unite beyond belief and annihilate
Their separation forever if they
Had the power
To do so?

That power our Lord has. How long do you think
You can just flirt with Him before you
Dissolve in ecstasy?

Existence spins on His potter’s wheel;
All is being shaped into the divine

What lovers would
Not want to die
Embraced?

Meister Eckhart (1260-1328), mystic and priest


Also for my love,


His lips upon the veil

He has never left you.

It is just
That your soul is so vast
That just like

the earth in its innocence,
it may think,

“I do not feel my lover’s warmth
against my face right now”

but look dear,
is not the sun reaching down its arms
and always holding a continent
in its light?

God cannot leave us.
It is just that our soul is so vast,

We do not always feel His lips
upon the
veil

St. Catherine of Sienna (1347-1380) Dominican nun

I love you.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Tri Whining

I love tri-whining. It feels so good. You may have heard this from me before,

"Sheesh, what a training plan, I think I did 12 hours of training this week and.....blah blah blah"
I'm realizing that the tri-complaint is bit like saying to your buddy,

"Dude, I am starving...I can't belive how hungry I am right now."

As if your looking to your friend for great sympathy because YOU CHOOSE OR FORGOT TO EAT SOMETHING! I probably should stop the tri-whine since I CHOOSE TO TRAIN FOR A FREAKING IRONMAN. I mean no one's forcing me to train like a madman here, mostly self-imposed! Mostly? Well I say that because of an upcoming post about other influences that are moving my path towards Madison. Therefore I will hereby try to refrain (unless I need lots of blog-sympathy) from the dreaded tri-whine. Just for the record, the only thing worse the the tri-whine, is the one up tri-whine,

"Oh you should be grateful you only have 12 hours, my coach has me at 17 hours this week."

This statement combines one-upinism with a dash of tri-whinism....bad form.

Did my V02 max today. I was a little nervous as to how much it was going to hurt, but it was'nt that bad. At this time I really don't get the numbers other then where my zones fall. It's funny, I intuitively was aware of my zones, but this test confirmed it. Worked out with Trimama on Sunday, she wanted my 'expert' advice on how her flip turns looked. I told her they were not so good and got to watch her in her bikini practice over and over....TMI sorry. Actually her first one was in good form, she just needs to overcome the breaking her neck in the shallow end fear thingy and she'll be just fine. :)

Speaking of Trimama, first question after my test today,

"How many levels did you get to?"

"I don't know 10, I think"

"Oh, I made it to 12"

(whistle sound) Trimama! High sticking, 10 minutes in your own penalty box for one-upinism.

Tac out

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Crazy Spinning and Good Friends

I have a little video of the crazy antics on Super Bowl Sunday for ya.....



Cow bell....You can never have enough.

Up coming posts. New friends I'm digging on the blogsphere (Tri-Dummy, Greyhound ect.) and deep thoughts on 'tri-complaining'

Tac out

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Got this today!!




Yeah...If you look really carefully you'll see it says IN TRAINING FOR IRONMAN WISCONSIN!!!!!!

Just in case you missed it.

tac out

Friday, February 02, 2007

Seriously loving my smartphone

Reduce, relax, recover. That's the sub heading to my massage therapists business card. Very well said. I ended up taking about 4 months off last year from all serious training, spend alot of time relaxing and recovered with lots of massages and proper rest ect. Fast forward 5 weeks into my training and I just ran 2.5 hrs on the treadmill last night and feel great! My legs are much stronger and my recovery times after work outs have really improved. I suppose the fact that I stretch is a good idea. My first year in triathlon I rarely stretched because it seemed such a hassel, but when the hours of training started to build, lots of injuries started occuring. So these past weeks have been quite encouraging. Like Iron Kahuna and his calf injury, I still need to be very careful in what type and frequency of runs that I do. So lots of treadmilling for now and few hills. Probably get serious about outside running in March.

Speaking of getting serious. I have really needed to crack down on my time managment. I thankfully have had one of these...




I love this phone. Trimama frequently hears me declare out loud "Did I ever tell you I love this phone?" The reason for great affections is that as a paint finishing company owner, I rarely am near my home office. 98% of my time is in the field. So I need a device that multitasks like a computer, but sits on my (extremely buff) hip. Oh and if your wondering, yes I want an Apple iphone. Remember...I drank the Steve Jobs koolaide, in fact I sadly relate to the audience in this Mad TV bit....



I gotta check product specs to make sure the eternal life thing is really there though.....

The treo will have to do for now...sniff sniff.

Sorry little blurry where was I...Oh I have had a smartphone for years, but never used it to the full potential. Well, that has changed. Iron training will do that. I've now inputed my entire training plan into the phone and am using the calender feature far more to plan both my family time, work time and training time. It's been really good. I occasionaly used my to do list, but now am totally dependent on it. Training adds so much mentally to each day that I can't rely on memory anymore for the business/family responsibilities. I feel more in control of my time management then I ever have in the last 15 years of owning a business. It's funny that God would put triathlon in my life to make me a more organized business man. I love a creative creator!

Speaking of creative. Steve Gunther is hosting a Superbowl party and wants our local tri club to do a spin on a frozen lake just before the game. This is the forcast....



(hand on chest)...uh those heart murmors are acting up again...I better guard the hot tub today, you know, bad ticker and all...

Tac out