Toilets and Training

It's been two weeks since my last post..what kind of trouble could I have gotten into?  For starters the inlaws came into town on Thursday.  They are the type that enjoy doing projects etc. around our house.  I thus decided to get a step a head of them and redo my office/spare bedroom/ doll house room.  I went to Walmart and purchased a dazzling yellow for the room.  I started painting and got through a can of paint in nothing flat..I then laid the drop cloth down in the next area picked up the new can of paint and began shaking it...which of course slipped out of my hands..flew across the room and opened up all over the carpet. ( I told my wife I accidentally kicked it over and that the guy at Walmart must not have put the cover on)

Being the intelligent guy I am I then decided it is better to not waste the paint and thus use the roller to pick up the paint and put it on the wall.

This actually works pretty well.  Then my daughter walks in the room as I am rolling the paint off the carpet..looks at me..and says, "Dad, if you are going to paint the carpet you should use a different color than on the walls."

Suprisingly enough I was able to get the vast majority of the paint off of the carpet. I got a watering can..put hot water in it..poured it on the carpet and then used the wet vac to suck it up.  Unfortuantely my wife came home and saw me going from the bathroom to the office with the watering can and repeat the process. She didn't say anything but there was definitely a look.  The room does look awesome ow..and my desk has found a new spot.

Triathlon News. I got a text from my training partner at 6 a.m. the other day to tell me that my picture was being used in an ad for a triathlon.  What the hell?  I got my Racing Underground event guide and boom..there I am.. Obviously, the race is using my picture to show that anyone can do a triathlon.  You can see I am representing for abekat anarchy.

Have to admit..I'm damn good looking though.I also promised Doreen I wouldn't tell anyone where she was when she saw the ad..so I won't..but I thought only guys did their reading there.

As far as training it has been getting more consistent. I haven't gone on a ride longer than 2 hours yet this year..so when Doreen said ..hey lets do 3.5 hours and climbing..I thought.."get bent"..then my sadistic coach challenged me and therefore I set off this morning with my bike and a smile on my face.

Cool glasses..Badger Red..not Texas Orange..Just saying.  So I meet Doreen in Morrison and we begin our ride.  Ok it isn't a big smile..and the smile that is there isn't because I'm going riding..

Doreen went ahead of me on lookout..since the laws of physics would dictate that 100 lbs moves faster up a slope than 200 lbs.  As I got to the pulloff parking lot I noticed my heart rate had been averaging 160 bpm.  wth?  I didn't even have bacon covered cheese this morning.  I contemplated turning around and just coasting all the way home when Doreen came back down to make sure I finished the climb...Thanks hon. 

We did the rest of the climb and I was finally able to use my mass to my advantage getting up to 45 mph coming down the backside of Lookout. 

We finished our ride by doing a lap at Bear Creek Lake Park. Where a miracle happened. I actually had to use the restroom.  As anyone familair with my blog knows..I do not keep hydrated.Usually on a 3 hour ride I do not urinate and usually lose about 7 pounds no matter how much I drink.  So I was stoked.I went into the outhouse..looked down and yep..I was hydrated..YEAH!! and then I saw the sunglasses I had put on top of my helmet drop into the disgusting mess below...as I hydrated them.  It was a bittersweet moment to say the least.  I thought about trying to get them out for about two seconds and decided to let them rest where they lay.

Final resting place of my cool red sunglasses

The ride, while not a complete success was good on a couple of levels.. I got in about 3000 feet in climbing..and I actually kept hydrated.  For those who are keeping track I used 48 ounces of OSMO in my bottles and 70 ounces of H2O in my Nathan pack.  It was 55 degrees or so..but of course I was sweating like a pig form the second we started pedaling.

When I got home I went to my "office" .  I decided to catch up with my words with friends games and then text coach about the ride.  My quads were killing me.  And apparently I was on the throne a little too long since when I went to get up my feet had fallen asleep and I actually fell forward hitting my head on the wall in front of me.   And I couldn't get up because my freaking feet were still completely asleep..I hate that feeling.  Yeah..if you play words with friends with me you pretty much know the schedule I am on.

Nutrition went well this week.  Down 6 pounds and getting back into fighting shape.  Of course the frst day the inlaws arrived they brought kringle from Wisconsin, bought donuts, made 2 dozen cookies and I think there is a coffee cake.  We will see how the nutrtion holds for this week.

Take care everyone. 

Thank you DST.

Well Spring is almost here..and Daylight Savings Time (hereinafter referred to as "DST")  has started.  I think DST may have saved my training.  I have found it very hard to fit training in this year.  I am in charge of getting my daughter off to school and thus any morning training is nonexistent.  The chances of me getting out of bed to train in the mornings is zero with or without kid duty..but at least I have an excuse. I get off work somewhere between 5 and 6 and when I get home it's family time and dinner.  My wife and daughter are in bed early..like 8 o'clockish since my wife works extremely early in the mornings.  Thus getting on  the trainer or treadmill at 8:00 at night really isn't an option.  There is a rec center near me but it closes at 9 and the closest Ballys is 25 minutes away..therefore even if I left at 8:00 I probably would not be coming home until 10 or later.

DST has helped with all of these issues. Since it is lighter later the whole family has had time to go out after work and get some runs or bikes in.  My daughter is keeping pace with us on her bike when we run or hike.  Even if the family can't work out I have found it much easier to get out for a later run or bike ride.

Needless to say my training is getting more consistent and I am getting more fit. I can tell because I am sore.  When I am training like I should I am always sore..not injury hurting..but that soreness you feel when you have worked hard. 

My wife also continues to work out and has made the Rev 3 Maine half her goal for the season. She has only completed a sprint before and is coming off of knee surgery but she is already much more consistent in her training and is easily out running me.  I am very excited that she has taken to the sport. Unfortunately she does not enjoy the shopping for tri and bike gear or even checking out the new training articles or books..to me that is 75% of the fun.  I am trying to get her to train with a heart rate monitor but she refuses to listen to me..hopefully someone else can convince her of the benefits.  We went running on Saturday and she did great leaving me in the dust.

Smiling after run and holding UW Badger gloves..Go Badgers

Another positive indicator in my training is that I got out for a ride today with my buddies Doreen and Angela. We did a 1.5 hour ride on a fairly flat course, keeping the heart rates low. The group training is always beneficial for me..it was about 45 degrees and windy but by the end of the ride I was ready to take my jacket off I was sweating so much. The girls disagreed with me still trying to tell me it was cold.

Angela and Doreen acting like it is 20 below

Doreen with her new riding kit..it was easy to spot her

I'm trying to figure out why anyone needs two pairs of gloves on

Happy to see me..but who wouldn't be..

So it has been a good weekend and good week in training and I am looking forward to stringing even more weeks together.

I did try two new products this week. The first were my new running shoes. The Scott MK4s.

Obviously the shoes are cool because they have my name on them as well as the fact that they are Badger red.  They actually feel and run great also.  The fit is good and they seemed to be made for a midfoot striker. No matter how hard I try I will never be a forefoot striker and thus the shoes are made for me.  I have only had them out for two short runs but so far so good.  The only negative I can see are the shoe laces..much like the laces on the Scott trail shoes I have, they keep coming untied.  Even though Scott's promotion of the shoes states the laces are made specially to keep from untying...a swing and a miss.  So I just double knot them and I am on my way.  If you are interested in the Scott shoes you can pick them up at Kompetitive Edge either at the store or online.

The other product I tried on my bike ride was the OSMO active hydration.  I tried the black raspberry which is one of their new flavors.  I cannot really tell you how well it worked at hydrating since my ride was only an hour and a half..but the taste is very weak.  It is barely there, much like the Skratch products.  To me this is a good thing. It tastes like I am drinking a lightly flavored water instead of a heavily sugared drink like gatorade or power bar endurance.  I used Skratch last year and it worked well..the OSMO is getting even better reviews so I'll try it the next few weeks and see if it helps with the hydration issues I have.

I also have to give a shout out to my friend Casey.  I met Casey last year at Rev 3 Maine. Casey was not a triathlete or runner but was married to one and waiting for her to finish. We discussed a lot of things at the race including our mutual hatred for triathletes who can only discuss things related to triathlon and who were socially inept.   We also discussed the lycra that I was wearing since I had just got done racing and I explained to him it was a necessary evil to wear during races but I tried not to strut around in tights. I believe his answer to me was something that amounted to ..there is no f'in way I'd wear them.

Below is a picture of Casey from today and 50 lbs lighter then he was in August.

Really dude??  I mean I understand that us bald guys are sexy and all but this is how he was dressed to go to church.  Also..according to his wife he spends more time in front of the mirror than she does..which if you knew his wife this would be an impossibility.   Ok..maybe he was not going to church in the picture but a 5k which he PR'd.  Congrats!!  Keep up the good work.  And I feel sorry for Jen Small since she has two bald guys with incredible egos that she has to deal with.  At least she can just ignore my emails and texts...she has to live with this guy. lol

I'm ready to be done with the gym..

I can't wait for the weather to be warmer and the sun to be out longer.  These trips to the gym are becoming unbearable.  Friday night I had to do a run fitness test.  I ended up leaving work late and it was too dark to run outside. Also, because I dropped a colleague off I had to go to a different Ballys then i usually go to.  I figured Friday night would at least be slow..I was wrong..the place was packed.   I entered the front doors and had a decision to make..the stairs or the elevator to get to the second floor gym..yes of course I took the stairs.  But there was a group of four women who waited for the elevator..and I ended up seeing them later in the gym..on the stair climbers...WTH?

This new Ballys did provide me with cultural learning experiences.  Since I was the only one speaking English in the crowded locker room I was able to pick up some new phrases. Unfortunately I did not learn.."do not use the hand soap" which I could have used later on.  I also spoke to the nice gentleman next to me on the treadmill who I asked about his tattoos. Apparently he was an ex gang member and was able to school me on some of the abbreviations being used in the Denver area by the various gangs.  You never know when this knowledge will come in handy.  I used to be down with this knowledge in Racine and Milwaukee but of course there are different gangs out here.

So I did the fit test on the treadmill..my test was more of the unfit variety.  The idea is to run at my MAF (maximum aerobic fitness) heart rate for 3 miles and to record the time it takes to run each of those miles. My MAF is 135..thus the idea was to stay at that heart rate for the entire three miles.

How to calculate YOUR Maf heart-rate:

180 minus your age……..then: (fall into ONE category, only)

-subtract 10bpm if you’ve had a major illness in the past year

-subtract 5bpm id you’re inactive

-add 0 if exercise for up to a year w/ no illness

-add 5bpm for training for 1-3 years and making measured progress

-add 5 to 10bpm if you’ve been training and racing very competitively in your age-group.

In theory each of the miles run will get progressively slower.  My hideously slow MAF test was
Mile 1 - 14:38
Mile 2 - 15:28
Mile 3-  15:47

I actually had to walk numerous times to get the heart rate down but I was able to keep the heart rate at an average of 136.  To say that I was disappointed with the test is an understatement.  Now I regularly run much faster (hey..everything is relative) than this..and I thought I had been doing the majority of my training in the 130 - 135 bpm range.  However I went back and checked my logs and I have recently been running in the 145 range which is a lot higher than last year.

The purpose of the fit test is to take it periodically and hopefully see improvement..and in my case huge improvement.  I think that this test was an abnormality so we will take one again sooner than later.  It was crazy hot and I had been feeling a little sick the couple of days before the test so I am hoping that had something to do with it.  

I have used this fit test the last couple of years for both biking and running and find it incredibly useful as far as determining how fit I have become.  I would suggest that everyone do the test and follow up every 3 to 4 weeks.  My bike fit test is scheduled for this weekend.

Saturday I went to my usual Ballys and unfortunately everyone in the locker room was speaking English.  I had to listen to the two guys in their 50s talk about the van the one guy owned.  Now the guy who owned the van had a mustache and a mullet..so this was no surprise.  He was proud of the fact that all he ever owned was vans and that they all had beds in them...I'll save you the details but needless to say I tried to change as quickly as possible.  The creepiest thing about the whole conversation was the hero worship the other guy had for the van man. Well that and the advice he gave van man to take his vehicle to the car wash to pick up the women...I don't even want to know..


As I hurried out of the locker room to wait for my daughter and wife I slipped on the floor and fell right on my rear.  Now I was wearing gym shoes (aka running shoes) so I thought this was strange to slip but blamed it on my natural lack of balance.  As I waited, I saw one of the managers also slip on the floor..although he did catch himself before hitting the ground.  So I had to ask.  What is the deal with your floors?  He told me.."well we decided to go in house with our cleaning..and the guy we hired doesn't speak English..so we think he is using the hand soap to wash the floors with."  Umm..so how long has this been going on? "well about two months..we did put mats down though"  Did you know you have Spanish speaking employees at your other Ballys location that may be able to talk to the guy?  "Yeah..but I think the mats will do the trick"  I had no idea what to say after that..and then I see the cleaning guy with his mop and bucket..during the Saturday rush..starting on the floors.  I'm no attorney..well maybe I am..but I think there may be a lawsuit in the near future.  Oh..and this is interesting .. as we left the facility I saw someone's shorts and bra laying outside the entrance..HA! I am not the only one!


Sunday I got to spend time riding with my favorite training partner..my daughter.  She just got a new "used" bike and was learning to use the brakes and gearing.

And the family has decided to do a race together. The Maple Grove Half Marathon.  Place your bets now on who is going to finish with a faster time..me or the wife..We have about 9 weeks to train and it should be a blast. My brother's new coffee shop will be one of the main sponsors...so if you are ever in Maple Grove, MN be sure to stop by the Daily Dose Cafe.  They have great coffee and drinks as well as sandwiches, salads and baked goods.

Take care and have a great week.