Be Proud of What You Do

Well.  This might be a little off.  But, it may be right on too.  You can be the judge.  In the end, I don't care.  Your, gentle reader, opinion matters little to me.  Some people's opinions matter more than others.  That is just the way it is.  That is the honest truth.  With that out of the way, on with the blog.

 

The following may have something to do with athletic endeavors, which is why it is here.  But, I am afraid that its ideas are much farther reaching than that.

 

On Tuesday night, last (I just love writing like that), my lovely and loving wife asked me, "Don't you ever get tired of being exceptional at everything?"  I, of course, said, "No."  I have found simple, one word answers the easiest and the most communicative.

 

The thing is, I said it as just a quick response.  Or so I thought.  But, the more I thought on it (you see, my iPod took a dump and I was forced to run with my own thoughts - THE HORROR!) the more I realized that I actually meant it.

 

What she was referring to at the time is not of consequence.  What is, is that I am proud of the things I have done (and do) well in my life.  I know that it is popular, and socially expected, to be ultra humble about most things and that putting one's self above society is not in vogue.  You know what?  Forget that!  Let's start celebrating the things we do well.  I am going to come out and say that it is OK to succeed.  It is OK to do something well.  It is also OK to do something better than someone else.  It happens.  That's a fact.

 

Somewhere in the not so distant past we stopped, or were told to stop, celebrating individual accomplishments.  Why?  I can guess.  But, I think that is my big question.  Where, and when, did the individual's accomplishment get vilified?  I know that is too deep of a question for most.  But, the next time you are without your iPod, give it a think.  Or, maybe throw away your iPod and just think about it.  This might just be that important.

 

Now, for the time being, be proud of what you have done.  Did you set a new PR?  Good for you.  Did you get yourself out of bed to train (on a treadmill or bike trainer even) when it was easier to push the snooze button and listen to the pitter pad of the rain?  Even better for you. 

 

Just because the rest of society puts no value in those things does not mean they have no value.  Heck, I would even argue, that because they do put no value upon those things is exactly why they have great value.

 

Summary:  Get out there and do what you want to.  Do what makes you happy.  Set a goal, believe in that goal, and work to achieve it.  No matter what others say or think of the goal, it is yours to have.  Remember it is you that places value on the things you do.  Do the things that have value to you (Not like the dishes.  Those have to be done so you don't live in a pig sty).  And, do them well.  You will be rewarded.  This I am sure of.

 

Don't apologize for your accomplishments, whatever they may be, and do not apologize for the rewards that your accomplishments reap.

A Pair of Dueces the Tri-ing for Children Tri

Again, sorry for not posting recently and for not returning any e-mails. I guess I've just been letting the real world get in the way of my play. I'll try to stop that in the future. We'll see how that works for me. I will get a few e-mails out tomorrow, but some will have to wait until Thursday evening. Sorry again.

Anyhow, here comes my Tri-ing for Children race report:

First off, how did I wind up doing this race that I was not planning on doing? Well, my wife, Julie, had planned on doing this race since the beginning of the year. I was going to bring the kids and cheer her on. A couple of weeks ago, my cousin volunteered to watch the monsters, err kids, get up really stupidly early in the morning, and allow me to race with Julie. So, onto the race calendar it went.

The morning came around bright and clear. I walked into transition with no real expectations other than to push myself past my comfort zone. I left the heart rate monitor, bike computer, and spare tubes at home. I was just going to go all in and see what the cards had in store. I was going off in wave eight which is not where I usually would want to start, but I had no expectations.

Prerace I saw a bunch of the local fast guys and figured, because they are real athletes, that they would be doing the Olympic distance race. That might just leave us mere mortals to race the sprint distance. As a side note, I saw Scott Bowe's new Trek Speed Concept that he got from Emery's. And, I have some serious bike envy going on. They have one just like his in my size at the shop now. Maybe Santa will find me on his nice list this year. A guy can dream you know.

The swim started and, like I usually don't do, I went out hard. I made no attempt to find anyone's feet. I just swam hard for the first buoy. That actually seemed to work. At the first buoy someone passed me, but for the rest of the swim I was just weaving though the previous wave's members. Whilst I was a weaving one of my competitors shucked when I thought they were going to jive. The result was a right goggle without a rubber gasket. Rather than fight trying to fix it in the water, I just did the last bit of the swim like Popeye. Note to self: sighting with one eye is harder than Popeye makes it look. Sorry to the lifeguard who asked if I needed a floaty thing after getting knocked in the face. I think I just backstroked over her. I really should have said, "No thank you." I don't really know because she approached from my, then, blind side. And, as soon as I felt I was alone in the water, I went back to freestyle.

Sidebar (OJ trial flashback): The guy (Paul) at Sable Water Optics is setting me up with new gaskets for my goggles. If you have not tried these goggles, you are missing it. I have been using this particular pair of 101's for more than three years. They are just the clearest goggles out there. And, as I just learned, their customer service is more than excellent. You can get them right over at Emery's (surprise, surprise). If you don't like them, I'll buy them from you. Really, they are that good. I have two pairs and Julie has a pair too.

T1 was a little slow. My helmet just did not want to go on, but on it went and off I went for a bike ride.

On the bike I usually wait to get my breathing under control before hitting it. This time I just went right from the mount line. Other than the larger than usual volume of snot on my face (haven't seen the pics yet, but they will be good) from the summer cold I seem to have found, I would say it only took another minute to a minute-and-a-half to get my heart rate down to biking levels. I proceeded to pass a lot of people on the bike. I thought I could see the guy in a blue tri top that passed me in the water, but I could not catch him. Overall, the bike was pretty good. The course is not as flat as some would have you believe, and the wind was definitely more than I would have expected standing on the beach. Anyhow, no one passed me on the bike and I only wondered what way to go once while on the course. I only had cadence information while I was riding. No clock, no speed, no average speed. I have to say it is nice to not have a computer sometimes.

T2 went well. Nothing to report other than running is my favorite thing to do, but is not what I do the best. I had run two miles on Saturday morning at 6:36min/mile pace. So, I had an idea what I wanted to feel like while running. The question remained whether I could do it for three miles.

I got on the run course and promised myself to not look at the Garmin until it told me I was at mile number one. I did that and was happy to see it saying that I was going at about a 6:30 pace. By then I was out on the nice flat and fast road. Other than being a little on the warm side, I felt pretty good going the speed I was. One nineteen-year-old passed me on the run, other than that I was just out there on my own. There were a lot of others on the road, but either I was passing them easily or they were going in the other direction. Before I knew it, the finish line was there. Who would have thought that running faster got it over with sooner? That must be science or something.

Swim came in at 6:29, T1 1:04, Bike at 38:14, T2 1:01, and the run at 20:04. Not too bad for an old guy. 2nd overall and 2nd in my age group. Unfortunately, the other old guy that beat me, beat me by 4 minutes. Translation: I need to go a mile-per-hour faster on the bike and a whole minute per mile faster on the run. Not bad goals to set for one's self. Again, we'll see.

After the race I was able to go cheer Julie on as she got off the bike and through her run. I have to say, as much as I liked racing, seeing Julie do her thing was a lot of fun. Cheering on all the triathletes that I don't know was really fun. I hope all those (other than the one crabby guy with some fracture excuse) that I convinced to stop walking and resume running were able to set PR's.

After Julie finished we had a nice lunch with the guy who beat me (maybe crushed my dreams is a better phrase, but he may have set a few dreams too) and his friends and family. Heck, maybe he'll let me tag along on some of his training so I can grow up to be as fast as he is. It turns out we have some mutual friends and our wives actually know each other. We'll see (that seems to be a motif).

While hanging out waiting for the awards (which were so big they don't fit on the shelf dedicated for such things) many new friends were made.

Overall, Julie and I had a great time. If anyone accidentally took a pair of 11.5 neon yellow Nike Lunar Racers, drop me an e-mail. They are mine.

Superweek Final Update

After 17 days of glorious racing in Northern Illinois and Southeast Wisconsin, we now have to go back to normal civilian life. Many congrats to Brent Emery winning the Masters 35+ 1/2/3 overall award. If you missed the action this year, be sure to be there next year as the Emery guys will continue to bring the firepower to the course.

Superweek - Kenosha Race Report

First off, I would like to say that I hope all of you and your friends and families stayed safe during the storms that rolled through last night. We were fortunate enough to not have any flooding here at my house. Hallelujah!

Ok, on to the report! This morning, knowing that it was going to be storming/raining all race, I woke up and began prepping my Jamis. It has been a very sturdy and trusty stead; however, he does not get much time to play outdoors with the Cervelo living the in the stall next door. You may be asking, "why would you ever ride the Jamis when you have the Cervelo". That is a rather simple answer. When conditions are gross and potentially treacherous, I choose the Jamis. It is not safer than the Cervelo, but it is a lot cheaper than the Cervelo, incase the worst should happen.

Once I got to the course, the rain was still coming down fairly solid as I walked to check-in. Then, I got back to my car to pin up my numbers and set up my trainer. Thankfully, I left my jersey in the car and kept my jacket on to try to stay warm while warming up. After about 20 minutes of riding on my trainer, I packed things up, slipped on my jersey, ate some food, and headed to the course to finish my warm up. While riding around the course before the race, I was able to see how the corners were going to be with all the rain and wetness. Turn 2 was definitely the most dangerous, but luckily, there was not much paint on the roads to increase the slipperiness.

Due to the inclement conditions, only 22 riders lined up for the start of the Cat 4/5 race. The race also started slower than normal while everyone was working out the nerves and testing the corners at speed. After a few laps of the race, I was slowed in Turn 2 by a guy in front of me not knowing how to corner well. This caused enough of a gap that a few riders slipped off the front. Without taking too many chances on the turns, the chase group worked well together to try to latch back on. The weather was not helping our case, since the conditions favored a breakaway over a group. The spray and corners were making it difficult to work well together in a pack. With a few laps to go, the pack reformed, and I was split off again by following a guy who did not know how to corner in Turn 2. I was about out of gas, so I eventually conceded and rode the rest of the way solo.

Now for the results, I ended up 16, so one position out of the money. Oh well. My legs have not felt that good during a race in a while. I am looking forward to my races in August and see what firepower I can bring to them. Brent also did great. He has tightened his grip on his overall lead for the Masters 35+ 1/2/3 and took third in today's race by winning the bunch sprint.

Chris has a tri this coming Sunday out in Eagle, WI, so be sure to send some "Dream Crushing" vibes his way. Brent also has two more races in Superweek before he can claim the winner's jersey for Masters 35+ 1/2/3! Happy riding!

Superweek Update

We are currently on Day 7 of the 16 day stage race known as Superweek. Currently, Brent is tearing things up in the Masters 35+ category. He is ranked 2nd overall in the 35+ and winning the 50+ category! Congrats to him and keep up the good work!

For any of you interested in joining us for some riding or racing, please drop and email or swing by the shop for more details!

Pewaukee Triathlon Race Report

Well, the Pewaukee Triathlon was this past Sunday. It is a good sided race that brings a fairly competitive field.

I've been crazy busy with work and at home, so I apologize that this comes a little late and that I have not responded to any one's e-mails for a bit. I will get to them over the next couple of days.

Back to the race.

I picked up my packet on Friday evening to find out two things. One, I was going to be in the second wave (this did not make me happy initially). And, two, the race was to start at 6:30am.

Now, the wave thing I had no control of, and it was not worth complaining about. I had asked to be in the first wave, and thought that was going to be the case. But, it really isn't that big of a deal and the last thing a race director needed two days before the race was me asking questions about a wave assignment. I just don't like swimming over people who mistakenly find themselves in the first wave.

The 6:30am thing did shock me. A half of an hour earlier is not much, but when you have to wrangle two three-year-olds, a seven-year-old, and (most importantly) a grumpy (age omitted for my personal safety) spouse at 4:30am so that Daddy can go do his race, things can get a little grumpy very quickly. So, after a little (very little) deliberation it was decided that I would go solo to this race. I would miss looking for them all, but not having to deal with family stuff would be nice too.

The day dawned bright and clear. The house slept as I left, and the only people on the roads all had bikes with them. I got to the race with plenty of time to get transition set up, body marked, and a little BSing with other OCD athletes. It was great to see some of the Emery's folks from Menomonee Falls that I usually only get to see at Pewaukee and during the winter. The iPod randomly selected the Dead Kennedys and I agreed with its choice. I was also able to speak with a tri-newbie, Kait, about what to expect.

Side note: Kait did well and is now very much hooked on her new to her road bike that Brent and Steve set he up on. Thanks, guys.

Just before the race started I was able to "warm-up" the lower half of my wetsuit. This was to insure the lightest possible race weight and to prevent lower body injury. That is my story and I am sticking with it.

The swim was uneventful. I was into the first wave's people within the first 100m, or so. There were a lot of people going off course, to the inside of the square course, but I was able to not follow them and just went on by. I swam the outside for the rest of the swim as there were too many people to go around and I was unable to find any feet not going slowly. I think I was one of the first people in my wave out of the water due to the number of bikes still on the rack. Had a good 43 second transition and onto the bike I went.

Now, Pewaukee sits in a valley (duh, there is a lake there) so to get out of town you have to go up some hills. As I was going up the first set of hills, I noted that I was now well into the first wave. I tried to settle into my own pace. At first it was crowded and there was a lot of back an forth amongst about five of us. Once that got sorted out, I was able to go at the pace I wanted to. I was feeling pretty good. I had gone with only a 20oz bottle (with about 12oz of Gatorade in it) between my aero bars. In hind sight, a full bottle would have been better. I was out of fluids at about mile 11 or 12 and would have liked a last drink before starting the run.

Transition two went into the books at 47 seconds. Coming through the crowd after T2 I was putting on my watch and clipping my race belt. The crowd was cheering and my feet just went with it. I was able to get right into a sub-seven minute mile pace right away. I figured that I would just go with the flow and see where it got me. Well, it got me to the finish line without having to slow. I'll take that.

Overall, I was 22nd and 5th in my age group. I'll take a 23.5mph bike ride and a sub-seven minute mile run pace any day. It sure beats being dead. And, let's face it, there are those that would like to, but are unable to do a triathlon. Thirty seconds here and a minute there are nice goals. But, maybe a moment or two to reflect upon how blessed we are to just be able to do this silly (it is a little, and you know it) sport.

For the next few weeks, I'm going to do a little extra running. Let's see where that gets me.

As always, shoot me an e-mail if you want to meet up for a ride or run in the morning. Bally's pool is closed this week, so if you want to do an open water swim somewhere, I'd be up for that too.

What a wild ride!

Back home again in Indiana to help shoot a wedding with a buddy of mine. It was a blast. We were running around the Indianapolis Zoo and White River Gardens taking photos of a lovely couple. Afterwards, I hustled home to grab some rest before jumping on my bike in the morning.

Today's ride, initially, did not seem much different than any other ride I've completed this year; however, it slowly turned into one of the more wild rides I've ever had. First off, my legs were not really responding normally. While this is probably due to the combination of running around the wedding, pushing my legs hard in prep for Superweek, and continuing to cut weight to get back down to race weight, it was a little frustrating that my legs were not listening. Oh well. My friend, who was planning on riding with me initially, backed out due to not feeling well, so I was suffering on my own. Or so I thought.

A few miles into my ride, I was ticking over the miles when I got passed by a group of 5 cyclists heading my way. Instinctively, I jumped onto the back and rode with them for a while. The two I met, John and Clayton, were quite nice and encouraged me to join them for the rest of their ride; however, I did not have the nutrition or the legs to ride down to Martinsville and back, a ride totally between 70-80. I found that most of this group was training for the RAIN ride. As I was just shooting for a ride of about 40-50 miles, this was a little longer than I really desired. When my turn came, I said goodbye and peeled off to continue riding solo through the cornfields of Indiana.

The temperatures were starting to climb and my energy was starting to get zapped. I knew that I needed to continue pressing on, because I had quite a ways to go. I climbed the two moderate climbs (the only real climbs on this route or in the area, for that matter). At the summit of the second climb, I encountered my first unexpected challenge of the day: gravel. Mind you, I rode basically this same route this past Monday when I was in town with Kari and her family; however, there was no gravel on this section of road then. Since Monday, there was a thin layer of gravel on a 1/4 to 1/2 mile section of road. I was thankful that I got off the road without too many issues.

I would like to title this next bit: man I'm tired, oh crap, there's a dog in the middle of the road. On this route, there are quite a few sections where we have dogs chase us; however, I successfully made it through all of those sections without a single four-legged critter taking chase. This next part, I was not so lucky. As I'm climbing a little bump, I noticed a very athletic looking black labrador retriever standing in the middle of the road. I also noticed that his owner was sitting in a truck getting ready to pull out of his driveway. I slow down to approach the dog to see what he's going to do. As I get closer and closer, the dog doesn't bug. I'm thinking, "Great! This might just be my day! Here's a dog that doesn't seem interested in chasing me! Woot!". I slowly start making my way around, in the ditch and grass to provide ample room to not piss off the dog. The next thing I know, he starts charging me and I'm in the grass. I accelerate through the turn; however, I'm accelerating so fast that I end up slightly off the road on the other side of the street. Watching the dog get up to speed, I start cranking it up as high as I get it. I look at my speedometer and notice 27 mph, and I start thinking, "Ok, this should be a little above his top speed". I glance back, and he's just a few feet behind me. Crap! I keep hammering the pedals for another 1/2 mile or so before he finally gives up and turns home. If only it would've been a little or fat dog, but no, I ended up with the athletic dog. The small amount of reserves I did have are now gone and my heart is racing. I took a second to thank God for making me a sprinter and helping get me away from the teeth!

Ok, so at this point, I really want to be off my bike, not have to ride for another 15-20 miles to get home. I continue trucking along and decide to take a more direct route home. Upon coming up to a stop light, I see the sign "Road Closed Ahead". During my short life on this planet, I've learned that this sign usually does not mean that the road is closed, but that they are working on it and would prefer not to have large amounts of vehicular traffic coming through. I've also learned that cyclists can usually sneak through most, if not all, road closed sections by walking or riding off road for a few seconds. I'm beat and do not want to take the detour, so I take my chances on going through the road closed section. Wouldn't it be that the one road that really is out is the one in front of me when I'm thoroughly gassed. Not only that, but the guys are actually working, thus making it entirely too unsafe for me to try to sneak through. I survey the situation and see a parking lot to my left and another parking lot that connects to a cross street that may be helpful for getting me out of there. The only challenge is that the two parking lots are not connected, but they have a decent amount of grass and geese between them. I'm too tired to turn around, so I hammer off into the grass, avoid the geese, and get into the other parking lot. I find myself at an entrance to a subdivision on the other side and ask a nice older couple for directions back to the road I want to be on. Success!

A few miles from home, I was completely out of fluids. I also had to direct traffic to pull up closer to me. I had some people who were jerks and tried to run me off the road and others who gave so much distance that we didn't trigger the traffic lights. Anyways, I'm sure you can tell that I made it. I was very happy to be off my bike, done with this crazy ride and get some fluids. Good luck to Chris during Pewaukee tomorrow!

Here's the data for those of you interested: Waverly Route

Getting back in the swing of things

This past week, I recorded the most mileage I have ever done during a training week, 204 miles on my bike. There were times where my legs were not happy with me, but I was surprised at how well they handled the work I was asking of them. One of the best parts of last week was that Kari was with me for a good chunk of those miles. It is definitely a lot of fun to be able to share a passion with your special someone, other than during times when said special someone is bonking hardcore! All in all, she had a great week of riding. She rode for around 140 miles and averaged a little above 18 for the week. Needless to say, I was very proud as this was one of the tougher weeks she had ever done, but she happily (for the most part) rode my wheels. All of those miles took us through some of the farmlands of Wisconsin, the hills of southern Indiana, and the city streets throughout southeast Wisconsin and Bloomington, IN. I know I am very excited for her to move up here and allow us to spend more time riding our bikes and exploring the world together.

Ok, enough with the sappy, boyfriend talk. It was a great week of riding! If you have not creased the 200 mile mark for a week, I recommend it. You will find lots of hidden gems and share many stories with friends (or yourself, if you ride alone) throughout the miles. Is there really anything better than spending more than 10 hours riding your bike through nature?

Finally for those of you who are curious, Superweek is upon us. Starting this Thursday, July 9th, and rolling through July 25th, there will be bike races throughout northern Illinois and southeastern Wisconsin. Come join the Emery guys at some of these races (both as a spectator and participant)!