Yay! Fixed!

I'm almost fully back in action! Dell provided, believe it or not, in-home repair of my new laptop -- even here in our remote little village! Very cool! So that's fixed, and I just have to go buy a new wireless router to replace the lightning-fried one to get it back in action at home. I'd like to get it a cellular modem but as far as I can tell that's about $100 plus $60/month subscription, which is a little too rich for me, not subsidized by a workplace or anything.

We've also transferred my big old more powerful desktop over to this house and that's up and running (which I'm using now). Our last thing to do is to get the old desktop examined by a computer guy and get it certified fried for the insurance, and hopefully recover the hard disk from it.

Technology. Gotta love it.

Yeah, and I also ran 5K today with my cold, and was surprised that I was still doing 11-minute miles. I'll take it. But I was beat the rest of the day.

Oh great.

In local news, there is an item in today's paper that says Michael Jackson is in town and looking to buy some property around here. Wonderful. Just what we need, an unconvicted alleged sex offender in the area. And more helicopters and security entourages and people on shopping sprees with bad credit. At least I can be fairly confident he won't bother my girls, they're probably not his type. Hard to imagine that he's just about one year younger than me.

The cold is still here. I may go for a test-run today, but I'm coughing a lot. It might be a test walk.

Hoping to get the broken laptop fixed today. Of course, my wifi router also got fried in the lightning attack so we can't use that. . . .

I got nothin'

Slow week. Home again with sick kids (one week at Y camp can mean only one thing: let's discover a new virus!!!) and no babysitter this week. Which means no workouts for Nancy Toby. Which means my stomach is blobbing out of my shorts again. My husband is arriving tonight, so I'm just hoping tomorrow will dawn bright and sunny (in contrast to the lousy forecast of 30% chance of rain) so that I can go to morning lap swim and maybe even a bike ride.

I have a 12km-73km-8km duathlon next weekend and every time I think about it those distances are getting longer and longer and longer in my mind.

And come to think of it, I have a scratchy throat and a cough too. . . .

Barking up the wrong friggin' tree

These emails would crack me up if they weren't so frequent:

"God Is The ultimate Giver! Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, I am former Mrs.Clara Williams, now Mrs.Grace Williams, A widow to the Late Mohammed Williams, I am 73 years old, I am now a new Christian convert,suffering from long time cancer of the breast. From all indications my condition is really deteriorating and it's quite obvious that I won't live more than four to Seven months according to my doctors. This is because the cancer stage has gotten to a very bad stage."

It goes on at great length. Uh yeah. I'll wire you my bank account number, right away.

Supplements

Do you take dietary supplements? Do you think they're safe and effective?

Yes, in case you're wondering, that includes sports gels, salt capsules, whey protein, Airborne, herbal remedies, etc.

I implore you to read this.

Catherine is sick

How do I know? She actually asked to go to her room for some "quiet time" today. That never happens. Then she conked out for a couple of hours.

In other ongoing stories, she has a peculiar fascination with thunderstorms. "I'm skeered of funder." She talks about how it broke the computer. But then she was punching the buttons on our little weather station in the living room, attempting to make "clouds and funder" arrive by remote electronic control.

2007 Eagleman Half Ironman

I've procrastinated two weeks now on writing a report, but I want to get down a few words about the 2007 Eagleman Half Ironman just for my own reference next year.

Note: In my third trip around this course I don't mention much about the course itself - more details are in my reports from two previous years.

Weather on race day was perfection:
Mean Temperature 68 °F / 20 °C
Max Temperature 75 °F / 24 °C
Min Temperature 62 °F / 17 °C
Average Humidity 71%
Maximum Humidity 88%
Minimum Humidity 53%
Wind Speed 5 mph / 9 km/h
Max Wind Speed 12 mph / 18 km/h

Swim: 1.2 miles in 48:50 (386th woman) 2:18/100 yards pace

I was in the 2nd-to-last wave starting at 8:08. That was too late, especially since it meant I was nearly all alone on the course during the run leg with dispirited walking stragglers such as myself. Next year I need to remember to enter as an age grouper and start at 6:50AM and have folks with energy around me the whole race.

I wore the sleeveless wetsuit and don't recall even thinking about the temperature of the water, so that must have been about right. However, I made the mistake of wearing a sleeveless jersey under it and that chafed me badly. Next time spend the 30 seconds in T1 to put on a dry jersey.

I was surprised by how choppy the water was on such a calm day and the strength of the current sweeping me off course on the outbound leg. It seemed like a long swim to me and I had difficulty swimming straight. I had made the overconfident mistake again of not carefully scoping out the currents and the course layout before the swim. I got bumped and jostled by other swimmers more than any race I recall, especially when I was overtaken by the relayers in the wave behind us. It just seemed like a very long, tedious time in the water. I was very happily surprised to see a PR swim time when I stumbled up the ramp.

T2: 7:13 (396th woman)

I measured the transition run at about 0.31 miles, which means it should take me nearly 4 minutes just to jog it. My division also had one of the longest transitions-with-bikes of anyone this year with a new rack layout. My question isn't why is my transition so slow, it's how the heck is everyone else so danged fast in T1? Okay, maybe I shouldn't have taken time to say hi to Carrie Apple and ask how Jude did in the Chesapeake Bay swim. . . .

Bike: 56 miles in 3:24:55 (375th woman) 16.4 mph

This was my best bike leg of all time, I think. I felt quite good the whole way, supplemented by 4 Lemon GUs and a lot of water and salt. I paced myself exclusively by heart rate and tried to hold it between 145 and 150. I lost concentration a couple of times and found it drifted down to 142-143, and when I felt good it crept up to 153-155 a few times, but mostly I held it steady and kept my focus. That worked well and for the first time I still felt strong on that long homeward leg on Egypt Road when we had a headwind. One or two other riders even remarked then that I was riding strong. Toward the end I was able to pick up the pace to take advantage of occasional tailwinds. The final speed numbers aren't tremendous, but I felt great about having my most steady, consistent ride to date - which was a lovely surprise considering my light mileage this year.

T2: 3:58 (260th woman)

This transition was about 0.24 miles in length. I was relatively faster but I still did things the same old way I always do them, I think. Rack the bike, change shoes, grab the visor and go.

Run: 13.1 miles in 2:43:33 (368th woman) 12:30 min/mile pace

I trotted out of T2 and felt reasonably solid - get my runner-legs working again and put in a comfortable first mile. I thought I had fueled carefully on the bike leg, and reinforced it with another gel at the first run aid station. Then I just maintained a jog through the first half, just walking through aid stations to get enough hydration and salt. I hit the turnaround at about 1:15-1:17 or so, don't recall exactly.

All of a sudden I was thinking it was a long, long way back to the finish line. I kept trying to hydrate and take on energy and salt, but I was suddenly feeling quite fatigued. I was right on a pace to finish under 7 hours, which would have been a nice achievement for me. However, the lights went out quite suddenly between miles 9 and 10. Maybe I had started drinking the Coke too soon? I just ran out of gas and started needing to walk a significant amount. Naturally that burned up a lot of time and I trudged slowly back to the finish line about 10 minutes later than I had hoped most of the day. Good thing I wasn't racing age group, because 4 or 5 women in my age group strolled past me in those final 3 miles and I could only watch them go by. It took me a while to bounce back from that depressed feeling of a low-energy bonk.

Total: 7:08:27.60
3/4 Athenas 40+
377/400 women
1480th overall/1530 finishers

It was still a big PR for me for the Half Ironman distance by about 22 minutes.

However, about 15 minutes of that PR improvement was simply from avoiding flat tires during the bike leg that I experienced in my two half Ironman races in 2006!! So I can only really get credited for bringing down my time fitness-wise by about 7 minutes - a little in the swim, but mostly in the bike leg.

But a PR is a PR, I'll take it! It was also fun to be on the course with so many folks I know now - Holly, Jonah, Chuck, Michele, all the great Cambridge Multi-Sport gang - always full of good cheer!

Congratulations Ironman Chuck!

Here are the final numbers for my training buddy Chuck's IRONMAN day.

NAME IRON CHUCK
BIB NUMBER 816
AGE 36
STATE/COUNTRY MD USA

SWIM BIKE RUN OVERALL POSITION
1:25:02 6:06:43 4:51:32 12:39:07 842

RACE LEG DISTANCE PACE POSITION
TOTAL SWIM 2.4 mi. (1:25:02) 2:14/100m 1224
FIRST BIKE SEGMENT: 34 mi 34 mi. (1:47:57) 18.90 mph
SECOND BIKE SEGMENT: 90 mi 56 mi. (3:03:41) 18.29 mph
FINAL BIKE SEGMENT: 112 mi 22 mi. (1:15:05) 17.58 mph
TOTAL BIKE: 112 mi 112 mi. (6:06:43) 18.32 mph 737
TOTAL RUN 26.2 mi. (4:51:32) 11:07/mile 842

TRANSITION TIME
T1: SWIM-TO-BIKE 8:57
T2: BIKE-TO-RUN 6:53

He passed an incredible 437 people on the bike, and then had an AMAZING run - especially considering at Marine Corps Marathon last fall he ran 4:50:09 at a standalone marathon! 114.4 miles in his legs before that for the day yesterday only slowed him down 1 minute 21 seconds!?!? Now THAT is an IRONMAN!!!

Congratulations to all the other finishers as well!! And thanks to my training buddy Dave who unfortunately wasn't able to compete, but instead was on site all day keeping me updated via Blackberry messages. I appreciate it and it was fun to feel like I was part of the action!

Watching Ironman

I'm spending an unhealthy day sitting on my butt at the computer and watching Ironman coverage. I did run 4 miles earlier today, though, in just under 44 minutes.

My training buddy Dave wisely decided to sit out the race today, since sadly his knee was still significantly damaged from his bike crash three weeks ago. No, of course the Ironman folks wouldn't allow him to transfer his registration to Ironman Lake Placid and allow his knee some additional healing time, so he's out his entire entry fee. He's spectating today in Coeur d'Alene and sending me updates on his Blackberry. My other training buddy Chuck is going strong on the course and will soon cross that finish line! Go Chuck go!

In other unrelated news, I just saw an ad - now Ziploc is making bags for steaming vegetables, like the ones veggies sometimes come in in the supermarket. Cool! I don't think they're available in stores yet, though. See http://www.ziplocsteamerbags.com

My paces

This is one of those training note-to-self posts. Move along, please.

Training and racing paces at my fifty-year benchmark:

Swimming:
Typical training pace: 11:15 - 12:00 per 500 yards or 2:15 - 2:24 per 100 yards
Best recent race pace: 34:07 for 1500m or 2:04 per 100 yards

Cycling:
Typical training pace: 15.5 - 16.0 mph average for ~30 miles
Best recent race pace: 3:25 for 56 miles or 16.40 mph

Running:
Typical training pace: 11:00 - 11:30 min/mile for 3 to 5 miles
Best recent race pace: 2:19 for 13.1 miles or 10:38 min/mile

The real challenge for me will be to be faster and fitter when I move up into the NEXT age group in five years, compared to now.

Happy birthday to me!

Thanks for the happy birthday wishes, everyone!

I had a great 50th birthday (despite already breaking my birthday present)! The weather was gorgeous and I got in a lovely 52 km (32.3 miles) on my bike (~16 mph pace) and then ran 5 km (3.1 miles) around my neighborhood in a comfortable 34 minutes. Yeah, I would have swum a token 500 yards too, but didn't have time. Maybe tomorrow. Chose to go out to dinner instead and had a lovely piece of grilled tuna followed by cheesecake, along with a robust zinfandel. Yum!

The very best part was having my 4-year-old daughter Catherine sing happy birthday to me in the restaurant all by herself for the very first time. And she even got all the lines right! Elisabeth can't really sing yet, but she gave me a nice kiss that was just as sweet.

Looking forward to following some great Ironman coverage tomorrow and maybe even some streaming video at http://www.ironmanlive.com/ if they don't manage to muck it up like usual. Good luck, everyone!!

Fifty!

Today is my FIFTIETH BIRTHDAY. I'm thinking that's a half century - I've still got at least another half century to ride, right?? We're just getting warmed up!!! If the halfway point of a marathon is the twenty mile mark, what is the halfway point of a lifetime? Nobody knows. . . .

My plan today is to have a fun day and ride 50km and run 5km. That's enough for an elderly person, right??

I broke it

I did it.

I just killed my second computer within a week.

*sob*

Lightning strike through the coaxial cable data line got the first one.

The brand spankin' new Dell laptop (3 days old) got cardiac arrest today from unknown causes and won't boot, needs to be booted straight back to the vendor. Sigh. It was so pretty, too. Do I have the Golden Touch or what!?

I'm down to one old laptop with a cracked screen, working off a separate monitor. But the good news is that the techie guy came and fixed my cable (plus eliminated a splitter in the attic I didn't even know about) so I'm back in Good Signal Land today.

I swam a leisurely 1500 yards in the pool during camp. Actually I dunno if it was fast or slow or what, since all my workout records are residing in the crashed hard drive. I did 500 yards in 11:14 and did one 50 at 1:00. I know I've swum faster occasionally, but a 500 under 11:00 and a lap under a minute is smokin' fast for me. But I don't like not having all my data. I loves me my data.

It's started

Today was the 4th day of day camp at the local YMCA.

Catherine loves it. Plus suddenly with a flotation vest on, she's learned to dog paddle like a little golden retriever.

Elisabeth is not so sure about it -- she's a bit overwhelmed by the large numbers of fairly loud kids. Every time the girls go somewhere around large groups of loose cannon kids, a couple of girls 2 or 3 years older want to adopt Catherine and Elisabeth as their special little twin pets, it seems. Elisabeth doesn't wish to be adopted out, doesn't want to be tickled or cajoled, and especially doesn't want to be picked up by strange kids.

Then today one of the little boys in their group told Catherine, "You look very pretty today."

It didn't seem like it really turned her head, but still. . . .

IMCDA on Sunday

I've got my fingers and toes crossed for a good day on Sunday for Chuck (#816) and Dave, our bike accident victim (#1253) for their Ironman race in Coeur d'Alene! They arrived on site yesterday and got in a swim today. It still sounds like it's touch-and-go for Dave being able to do the bike leg, with his knee still stiff and swollen, but fortunately he found some medical attention on site, and if anyone can gut their way through it, HE CAN!

GO GO GO!

Some cell-phone shots of the IronmanCDA venue, courtesy of Chuck and his handy camera-phone:





HERE are more photos from Chuck of Coeur d'Alene and vicinity.

Aargh!!!

Still having endless computer problems. Managed to break the modem again last night so today I have to drive 50 miles round-trip to exchange it.

But! I have a new laptop now, birthday gift from my husband. It's beautiful, a Dell Inspiron E1505. I love it. I hope not to break it very quickly. . . .

I have to, have to get everything running right for this weekend so I can watch Dave and Chuck become Ironmen at Coeur d'Alene!!

I'm sick of hearing about the so-called Obesity Epidemic

Here's today's money quote from one of my favorite blogs, which should be required reading for everyone buying all the hype about obesity in America:

"We know that the body of evidence, as even acknowledged by an expert review conducted by the National Institutes of Health, shows that weight gain with age or stable weights even if fat, for both men and women has the lowest death rates; while dieting, weight loss or fluctuating weights (yo-yoing), significantly increases the risk of actual death, cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes and cancers."

Be careful out there, folks!

It's starting to get hot here in the middle Atlantic seaboard. Today the babysitter arrived at 2PM (after lunch) and I need some heat acclimatization, so that meant I was running in 94*F or hotter heat index.

I was extra careful - I only went out for a 5K jog, and even walked 1/10 mile in every half mile when I drank out of the water bottle I carried.

When I got back inside I was 2.8 pounds lighter than I was first thing this morning. That's equivalent to 43 fluid ounces lost. Even while drinking frequently.

Who said I don't sweat much for a fat girl!!???

Now that's heat stress!!!

Attention fall marathon runners!

Marathon training begins TODAY for fall marathons!!

Here's a 20-week plan that I plan to follow for a lot of my training:
http://www.annapolisstriders.org/Marathontrngsked.htm

I probably will slack off at least 2 of those weeks (like the weeks in there that I have 2 Olympic-distance triathlons scheduled), so I'm considering it an extended 18-week plan. :-) Also, since I'll be doing a fair amount of cycling and swimming, on many weeks I'll probably only do the long run and 1 to 2 midweek runs. Yes, including the track work!

Lots of good plans out there on the interwebs, this is just one that happens to sync up with Marine Corps Marathon.

That's the one I'm tackling again this fall!! I finished it in 2001 in 6:16 chip time, if I recall correctly, and in 2007 I'd like to see if I could get a time that starts with a 4. Or at least a low 5:xx.

How 'bout you??

Eagleman pics are up!

I seem to be smiling a lot more than I recall! Here's the link for all of mine.

No, I haven't written a race report yet. Go read Triathlonmom's and Holly's, they're great, and I'm sure much better reading than anything that I will write at this late date!!

Today's painting

OK, I'm WAY out of practice -- it was my first painting venture in over five years. But it's fun to get absorbed in the process, almost regardless of the results.

There were about 20 people "painting the town" today. Most of the others had the good sense to pick a simpler scene and use a smaller canvas! Mine was 16" x 20". We had a total of 7 hours to complete our work, but I only can concentrate on painting for about 3 hours, so that's as long as I painted.

The scene (about a block and a half from my front door):

Here is my artistic interpretation, in oils:

Now I'm ready to paint it again tomorrow and fix the things I don't like about the first attempt. (I'd really like more intensity and drama in the sky and water, and the fence is cartoonishly rendered.) But this is what it is, and it will be on display at the St. Michaels Library for the month of July along with the other artworks from Painting the Town.

I'm painting the town tomorrow

No, no alcohol will be involved, and neither will any triathlon training!

It's a one-day plein air art festival "wherein all members of the community, residents and guests, are invited to paint and draw any subject that depicts and celebrates the Town of St. Michaels." It gets followed up with a show at the town library in two weeks.

I'll take photos too if I remember! It should be fun. I used to do a lot of painting, but haven't been able to do much for about the last five years - like about the time I got pregnant and couldn't be around lead paint and turpentine!

WTF Blogger?

My posts are not showing up.

What's going on??

Eagleman thoughts

I'm still online with some difficulty with an old broken laptop, after running around yesterday and exchanging the fried cable modem.

I'm worried that I may have lost my workout logs again! Along with my Fitday nutritional records, and lots and lots of photos. That's one good reason why I like keeping this blog, to save my favorite photos in a separate place!

I guess my Eagleman report will come out in bits and pieces, because it's too difficult to type all at once on this crummy laptop. Thoughts that stand out:

Holly and Triathlonmom (sorry no links to your blogs, too hard to do right now) just plain rock. I was delighted to be out there on the same course as them, and it gave me a boost each time I saw them. Plus, of course, my wonderful CMS clubmates and all the great folks from MidMDTri!!

I saw an incredible number of animals that day!! I loved it!! A fox first thing leaving my house, a little gray cat that ran across my path in the morning twilight (yes, gray and not black, I looked carefully), a deer that stood 5 feet from my bike in the ditch on the roadside, several ospreys carrying fish back to their babies in the nest, a turkey mom and turkey babies (chicks? turkeylets? what are they called?), lots of sassy blue jays, and fortunately few aggressive dogs.

I somehow never got terribly psyched up for this race. I didn't train specifically for it - while my running several half marathon races was good preparation and my swimming was adequately maintained through the winter, I didn't have any long rides over 36 miles. They would have helped, no doubt, especially to give me extra pep during the run leg. I was hoping that my regular training routine would get me around the course, and it did, but not in the manner that I would like. I know that I can do better, much better; but still I'm reasonably satisfied with my fourth half Ironman triathlon. Hey, it IS half a freakin' Ironman, after all!!!

Surge protectors

YES I HAVE HEARD OF THEM.

I'm back, sort of. Using an old broken laptop.

We had heavy-duty surge protectors/UPS on both the computer and the DVD/VCR player.

The surge came through the data cable and the TV cable, not the power supply. Even if sudden lightning storms were typical around here (and they're very rare - this was the FIRST loud lightning strike that I heard in this particular storm) I didn't have those surge protected and I probably wouldn't have disconnected them even if I had remembered in time.

And if you know of an affordable home surge protector that can protect data lines and TV cables from a direct nearby lightning strike (the kind that rattles your windows and that you can feel in your eardrums), I'm definitely listening, because I don't want to lose another computer!!

ARRRGH! My computer is dead!

Last night my computer took a direct hit by lightning!! Usually we don't have lightning storms around here, but they made an exception just to kill my computer! And DVD player! It must have come through the cable connection because all the electrical connections were well surge-guarded. They tell me it's fairly rare to have a power surge like that through a data line. Well, apparently it's not rare enough!!

So it's possible that I may have lost all my email addresses, too! AARGH!! So if you're one of my email correspondents, send me an email and I'll save it and re-record the email addresses again when I'm up and running again.

Which I hope will be SOON because I'm suffering severe Internet withdrawal!

Needless to say, it's going to be a long wait for that Eagleman race report. *sob*

--- Nancy, signing in from an Easton public library terminal

Report still under construction

But here's a good article about the 2007 Eagleman 70.3 elite athletes.

And here's a GPS map of the combined bike and run course from race day (no, not by me, I didn't wear my Garmin - and I'm not that fast).

I may not be able to get my race report completed for a few days - I've got some running around and appointments to get to before my girls start YMCA day camp next week. Sorry! Thanks for stopping by, anyway!

Washing shoes

You may be happy to hear that I successfully washed my expensive Sidi cycling shoes in the washing machine just now. Cleats and all. Along with my running shoes. Just put it on cold and large load and let 'er rip. They're air-drying now. I didn't have any leather oil on hand, so I gave them a wipe with a little baby oil post-wash.

But they still stink a little. But not nearly as bad as they did at the end of the day yesterday. Pee-YOU!

Home from Eagleman!

PERFECT weather for a perfectly-managed race!

PR swim, PR bike, but I kind of crumpled for the last 4 miles of the run (but it ended up only 1 1/2 minutes slower than last year's run), and so missed breaking 7 hours. However, all told it still adds up to about a 22-minute half-ironman PR!

Dave, this one's for you. Thanks for a year of your great training support! We missed you and wished that you had been able to be there!

NAME NANCY TOBY
BIB NUMBER 2033
AGE 49
STATE/COUNTRY SAINT MICHAELS MD USA
SWIM BIKE RUN OVERALL POSITION 48:49 3:24:54 2:43:33 7:08:27 1459
RACE LEG DISTANCE PACE POSITION
TOTAL SWIM 1.2 mi. (48:49) 2:34/100m 1533
TOTAL BIKE 56 mi. (3:24:54) 16.40 mph 1605
TOTAL RUN 13.1 mi. (2:43:33) 12:29/mile 1459
TRANSITION TIME
T1: SWIM-TO-BIKE 7:13
T2: BIKE-TO-RUN 3:58
PENALTY TIME TOTAL PENALTIES --:--

Details to follow in time. . . .

Good morning Eagleman!

Eagleman half Ironman coverage is up and running at
http://www.ironmanlive.com/events/ironman70.3/eagleman70.3?show=all&y=2007

So if you can't be there with us in person, see you on the web!

My start isn't until 8:08 EDT, so it's going to be a long day! Fortunately the Race Gods have been very cooperative with the weather this year (unlike the last 2!) so we've got very light winds (4-6 mph) and a projected high of 76*F. The water was comfortably warm yesterday, too, so I'm going with the sleeveless wetsuit.

I hope to cross the finish line between 7 hours/3:08PM (great race) and 8 hours/4:08PM (not great race).

Bring it on! Good luck to everyone and thank you, volunteers!

Back from Eagleman check-in

The wind was howling and screaming, but everything else is looking great for tomorrow!

Saw our accident victim Dave on the way there - he's looking pretty good despite some swelling remaining in his knee, but aside from some stiffness that will take a while to work out, I'm quite hopeful that he will make it to his Ironman finish line in two weeks!! I left him my bike trainer to use as soon as the knee permits.

In Cambridge I saw Chip, Chuck, Michele (who is going to race a demo bike tomorrow! Is that crazy, or what!!), Sandy, had the pleasure of meeting Triathlonmom (who I think is in my wave, see you tomorrow!) and I think I saw Carrie (whose husband Jude is doing the 4.4-mile Bay Swim tomorrow) riding a bike through town sporting the CMS colors. Talked to Holly who was still on her way driving there. It sure makes it more fun, knowing more people there in my third consecutive year doing the race.

The transition is all different this year, I'm not qute sure where I'll be going, but since I'm starting in the next-to-last wave I'll be one of the last ones going through both T1 and T2 I can just follow along behind the others. If anyone is in sight, that is!!

The water was SUPER-warm. Perfect temperature. I'm debating between the long sleeves or the sleeveless wetsuit, but I think I'll err on the side of extra flotation.

GOOD LUCK tomorrow, everyone!! And thank you, volunteers!!

Race-day forecast still looks excellent - 68*F to 71*F and 6-7 mph winds during the race. BELIEVE!!

Rest in peace, Terence

I just got the very sad news that our friend and fellow triathlete Terence in Malaysia passed away.

Details are here: http://carboman.blogspot.com/2007/06/rest-in-peace-terence.html

I'm thinking of you now with a big gold medal around your neck, Terence. Congratulations on running a great race and inspiring a lot of people along your way.

Man of the Year

I wish to submit my nomination for Superior Court Judge Michael T. Sauer for Man of the Year. Although some have suggested President of the Entire Universe, which would be appropriate too.

And I really wish there was a good English word which was the equivalent of Schadenfreude.

Are you superstitious?

Are you superstitious? Do you have any bizarre pre-race rituals?

I just clean my bike. You have to respect the bike. A clean bike is a happy bike. A happy bike is a fast bike.


And oh yeah, I usually freshly color my hair. Because, as we all know, red is fast. (Brown and gray is not fast.) And I really don't want to look like I belong 2 or 3 age groups above where I am, thankyouverymuch.

Snarky

Is feeling snarky part of the tapering process?

I swam today at the Y. Big deal. I couldn't swim in the cool pool because the Special Olympians were in there doing a practice or something. So I had to swim in the warm pool. Where a father swimming with his two kids and some bizarre lady who seemed disoriented and insisted on walking back and forth in my lane. Now I know I can always use practice sighting and all that, and I try to keep an even keel, but it was still distracting me and pissing me off. Like I really want to have to sight ahead every 5 strokes during my workout to make sure I'm not going to run into some kid right in front of their father.

1200 yards only including a "fast" 500 yards just to convince myself that I hadn't forgotten how to swim.

Which is slightly more than half of what I have to swim on Sunday, before cycling 56 miles and running 13.1 miles. I sure hope we have the 0 to 4 mph winds that are forecast. Except during the run leg when we will be likened to fried eggs on the breezeless baking pavement.

So I've been taking out my frustration by leaving snarky comments throughout the blogosphere. If you were the recipient of one of them - HELP SOMEONE STOLE MY PASSWORDS IT WASN'T ME

---

And oh yeah, did I mention, my computer chair broke today, and my kid made a slurry of my bath salts in the sink, and then flushed a whole new bottle of generic Claritin down the toilet?

Dave update

Briefly, since I've had some inquiries about our accident victim: Dave is still at home on crutches, resting and recuperating (and going a little nuts, probably). But today he got out of the house for the first time, on a trip to the doc, and got some prescription anti-inflammatories. I believe that he will make it to his Ironman finish line in Coeur d'Alene as long as his knee didn't have any major ligament damage, which can't really be told yet until he can exercise it. He's a very determined, goal-oriented guy, and so if anyone can get past this, he can!! As soon as those stitches come out, he's going to be in the pool swimming and water-running and on the bike trainer too, no doubt!

Eagleman forecast

Looking pretty good for Sunday! Coolest day in a 6-day span. It's supposed to be 94*F on Friday, so I'll just spend some time outdoors in the hottest part of the day, and use it for heat acclimatization, and try not to freak out!

Sunday - 10 Jun 2007
Mostly Sunny
High 82°
Low 63°
Plenty of sun. Highs in the low 80s and lows in the low 60s.
Sunrise: 5:40 am
Sunset: 8:28 pm
NE Wind Direction: NE (42°)
Speed: 7 Mph (11Km, 6Kts)

www.wunderground.com says 65*F-78*F during the race and only 3-5 mph winds!!! Woot!

Summer fun

Trying to keep the girls busy and tired to keep them out of trouble!

We found Crabby Crab at a park next to a small zoo a ways south of here!

We saw a lovely plump jaguar that the girls were sure belonged to Diego.

First day of summer vacation

School is done for the year for Elisabeth as of yesterday afternoon! She's a preschool graduate! So both of the girls are going stir crazy already.

So far today they've:

• Woken me up at 6AM
• Squabbled about 18 times
• Peed in their Big Girl Panties 3 times
• Torn their lunch sandwiches apart and thrown everything but the meat on the floor
• Thrown blocks at each other
• Insisted on putting on their old Hallowe'en costumes
• Played in the bathroom sink and got aforementioned Hallowe'en costumes soaking wet
• Poured half a bottle of mouthwash (with a "childproof cap") down the drain
• Wrote in marker all over the bedroom walls
  
• Driven Mommy nuts

Good thing the babysitter is arriving in a few minutes and I can go run.

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Update: The run worked! Well, it worked to give me a sanity break for an hour and get my perspective and patience refreshed a bit. Didn't do a thing for their behavior. Tonight the main problem was the girls insisting on working the crank on our new patio umbrella. Up and down, up and down. Finally I had to fasten it down in one position with a computer tie.

Another bike pic

Here's another pic from last weekend's practice triathlon, looking like a linebacker on wheels. That's probably what I'll wear for Eagleman next weekend too - if you're out there and spot me on course yell hi! (Unfortunately our local CMS club jerseys are either too hot or chafe me, so I don't wear them for long races any more).

Swim leg fake-outs

I just realized that I'm going to be WAY confused during the Eagleman swim.

The first women's wave has hot pink swim caps, then neon orange caps, and the next wave has bright yellow caps.

Then my wave.

So while swimming, it's going to be murder to try to spot the orange and yellow buoys and distinguish from the swim caps. And the guys on the kayaks in yellow coats.

Fortunately when you go out, there's a sailboat to spot towards, that you circle around.
On the way back, there's a huge telephone tower to sight, that's the best tall landmark, I think....

Just be ready for it!! Forewarned is forearmed! We won't be fooled again, no no no!

We're in danger

If we go to any of the nearby big cities, that is.

Three of the top ten MOST DANGEROUS American cities over 500,000 population are within 120 miles of here.

There's a good reason why we stay out here on the Eastern Shore in small town USA!

In better news, Our tiny local high school (a block away, where I often run on their track) just made the ranking of #1187 in the top 1300 high schools in the country. They must be doing something right!

Dave crashes!

I let Michele borrow my training buddies and THIS is how they end up!! They don't call her Black Widow for nothing!!*

Here is Chuck's account of Dave's crash yesterday:

"I think he's going to be OK as long he gives himself time to heal up! It was a crazy wreck....very lucky to be alive!

On a descent miscalculated a turn........too wide, over an embankment and dropped 8-10 feet into a stream. A tree had fallen across the stream and pretty much went face first into that.......I was behind Dave and saw it all happen in slow motion........I was scared to death to look down! Had there been rocks, like most places around there, it would've been so much worse!

The worst part for him I think was the fact that after riding 5-1/2 hours (we were at mile 71 of a 74 mile ride) he was then stripped down to a stretcher and he cramped up so bad......then was not able to eat anything for 4-5 hours.......he was super weak in the hospital but once he got some food in him things started to come around!"

I think this last one should be entitled, "Why real roadies shave their legs".

Looking at that sheet by Dave's leg, now I understand why the mountain climber's jersey has this design!
Best wishes from all of us on a very speedy recovery, Dave! You've got 22 days from your crash to heal for Ironman Coeur d'Alene. You're going to feel pretty awful for a couple of days, but keep your spirits high and YOU CAN DO IT! Your training is already deposited in the Bank of Ironman. Rest and recover now! Consider this an enforced taper so that you won't overdo it (not that you ever overdo it!) in the time right before your Ironman.

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*To give Michele full credit, Chuck said later:

"At least Michele didn't leave us on the side of the road. ;-) Michele was a true champion, she really took control of the situation and made sure Dave was able to stay as calm and comfortable as possible!!!"

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PS: In answer to the most frequent question, Chuck took Dave's crashed bike in to the bike shop and it checks out fine!! Good thing, bikes don't heal!

Beautiful June day

The best month of the whole year! I'm still bouncing back from this nasty cold, so I slept in and only got in a 30-mile ride on the bike today instead of the metric century that I had hoped to do. I got in two whole laps in the pool, however, when we took the girls over in the afternoon. I think we're going to be spending a lot of time this summer playing at the pool - they love it!



Just got some bad news that my training buddy David crashed on his bike today, a short three weeks out from his Ironman at Coeur d'Alene. He had a trip to the emergency room plus 28 stitches, but fortunately nothing was broken. He's in good shape, and he's got plenty of training hours deposited in the Bank of Ironman already, right where it should be. I'm hoping that this will enforce some rest before his race instead of training too hard too soon before the race!

The birthday girls

My camera's exposures were all messed up today, but here are a few of my big four-year-old girls.

Happy happy birthday!

It's a happy and exciting day! Today my girls Catherine and Elisabeth are FOUR YEARS OLD! I'm sure I'll have lots of photos to post later on.