Fun Friday

Katie is in San Francisco with her friend Christine until Sunday so I took today off to watch the kids.

I did my usual wake up at 1:00 AM but I since I was alone I could turn on the tv in the bedroom instead of having to go downstairs.  I fell right back asleep.  At 2:00 Ken came in the room and woke me up to ask what I was watching.  I sent him back to bed and turned off the TV.

Ken woke me up at 4:00 by kicking me in the ribs in HIS sleep.  I don't know how he sneaks into my room without me hearing him.

We all had a good breakfast and then I rushed Paige to school thinking I was late.  I got really worried when I saw that there really weren't a lot of people in the parking lot but it turned out we were 20 minutes early!  The wouldn't let her into her classroom so we stood outside and I took this picture.

Ken and I had a fun morning.  I ran 6 miles on the treadmill while he and I watched Star Wars.  Then we ate lunch and went to the park.  I was going to swim but the day care at the gym ended at 12:00 and doesn't start again until 4:00 pm.

I think I'm going to go get my bike trainer and put it upstairs with the eliptical and the treadmill.

From Lance Armstrong's New Book

I was reading Lance's new book Comback 2.0:  Up Close and Personal.  It's really just a big picture book but I did enjoy this caption.

For the slower members of the audience the part I like is that he'd like to do the IM World Championship someday. 

A couple years ago I finally got over trying to tell everybody I met that I did Ironman.  I am a shameless self promoter but heck, if they can't read my license plate I don't feel the need to bring people up to speed.  Anyway back when I used to tell everyone I met that I did Ironman they would almost always ask, "Oh, that race in Hawaii?"  The race in Kona was the first Ironman, it was started back in the 70's by a bunch of Navy Seal types that were trying to decide who were the fittest athletes.  Nowadays Ironman, which is a trademarked name, and ironman length races are held in hundreds of places in many, many countries all over the world.  All have different characteristics; Canada is hilly, Arizona is hot, Florida is flat and fast, etc. but they are all the same length.  Kona is the most well known and the most mythic.

If you do very well, and by very well I mean finish within the top 3 - 5 of your age group you are allowed to race in Kona.  There are also a very limited number of entrants that get in via a lottery and some who get in because of a personal story or compelling reason.

Not really something I've ever been interested in.  I don't really feel like totally screwing up a vacation in Hawaii by killing myself for 13 hours.

We went to Maui on our honneymoon in 2000.  We did one of those bike rides down the volcano.  Go to http://www.bikemaui.com/ for more details but I said back then that what I would really like to do is ride up it.  http://cycletothesun.net/. 

Someday.

Getting ready to start again.

I am pretty much completely healed.  I still have a touch of pain but it feels more like it's on the surface as opposed to inside where the hernia was repaired.  It feels like the nerve endings are just starting to come back to life.

I'll probably start with a short run on the treadmill tomorrow.  Maybe a swim this afternoon.  Darn cold and they are expecting rain so riding might be out for one more week.

My weight has me concerned.  Ever since Novembember it has fluctuated daily up and down with a general trend towards "up" but the last few days there has been no "down" at all.  I'm 6 pounds heavier than I was a week ago I think.  I track my weight daily on myfatsecret.com and they allow people to track everything they eat as well.  They have a really nice android app called "calorie counter" which synchs with the website.  It's very difficult to track what you eat but I might give it a shot.

Yesterday for lunch I had two double cheeseburgers from McDonald's.  They are nice enough now to actually print the nutritional info on the wrappers.  After I ate them I noticed that a double has 440 calories.  I swear I would have guessed 1/2 that.  Today I had a bowl of Special K with skim milk.  I measured everything and it turns out that I eat two servings and not one.

PF Changs Marathon and 1/2 Marathon

Congratulations to Doug, my brother Keith, and his wife Vicki!  Keith and Vicki ran the 1/2 and Doug did the full.

I've been running with Keith on weekends and he's been kind of trining out at the end of each run and we've been running around a 12 min/mile pace.  I told him he would do better in the race and he did posting a 10:34 paced 2:18:26.  Vicki also outdid her training times with a 2:33:13.

Doug ran the first half in 1:43, a couple minutes faster than his time 5 years ago.  Back in 2004 he ran the second half 20 minutes slower and finished with a 3:45.  This year he held his pace and crossed the finish line at 3:27:18 qualifying for the Boston Marathon!

Recuperating

I am recovering nicely from my surgery.  More about that later.  I just heard this though and wanted to put it out there.

If you want to be faster on the bike, ride more and ride faster
If you want to be a faster runner, run more and run faster
If you want to be a faster swimmer - take lessons.