And We're Back

It seems like there's almost no time to stop and catch my breath over the weekends. That isn't really true but it feels like it. From the end of work on Friday when Nande and I headed out to Hidden Beach to try out my new triathlon wetsuit to the beach party on Saturday night with the whole family and a whole bunch of friends to yesterday's much lower key outing with just me and the boys.

Add in lots of sports fun, the Giants winning in torturous style last night, the KJ Noons/Nick Diaz fight on Saturday, all of the football action yesterday and last night and it feels like getting back to work is also a good time to catch my breath and start thinking about next weekend.

Some other highlights: We got to see four double up skydivers land on the beach right in front of us and with an awesomely dramatic flared sunset behind them to boot. On Friday night when I went out for a swim, a seal popped up literally no more than six feet away from me in the shallow surf, scared the crap out of me (and him or her). I also saw my first ever green flash though I'm not so sure now that I've read the Wiki page.

And, if the Jets win tonight then I win our local football pool which would be a nice wrap. Actually, I'd happily trade winning the football pool for a Giants win to finish out the NLDS and move on to the National League Championship Series against the Phillies!

But now its back to the grindstone, too much to do, not enough hours to get it done in and too many people waiting impatiently for stuff to work again. Which inevitably means that someone is gonna get their head chewed off for getting all up in my bizness. And then I'll feel like a jerk for a little while again, it is the cycle of life or something.

And Sullivan got a replacement bicycle this weekend too. His last bike was accidentally left behind during a trip to the dog park but it was almost too small for him so he was going to need a new bike before too long. But it would have been nice to defer some of the cost of the new bike by selling the old bike. Either way, we're mobile again and Sully has taken to his new bike with a vengeance! He's faster than before but with no increase in control and I know its just a matter of time before he takes a good digger (he has a tendency to not keep his handlebars straight).

It was a good weekend, a little too short as always but we had a good time anyway. I think I need to get a look at the calendar and figure out when the next long weekend is and start planning a caper for then.

Refocusing Motivation

In the last week and a half since the triathlon I've gone on precisely one reasonably good bike ride and one very, very short other bike ride. I've also put a little bit of weight back on since the race, nothing too significant especially since my weight can fluctuate by as much as 8 or 10 pounds in a single day. But enough weight has creeped back on me to make me realize that its time to put another event on the calendar to train for.

I've found that I workout much more consistently and for longer periods when I know that I've got an event coming up that I need to be proper shape for. I do not ever want to be standing on the starting line wishing I'd done more to train for the race that's about to start.

And I'm going to be using that knowledge to create another dynamic training situation. I'm making use of The American Triathlon Calendar to find some cool races coming up. I'd like to do some of the Santa Cruz sprint triathlons but I'm a little leery of the ocean swim leg of the race. That ocean water is really, really butt ass cold and knowing how hard it was to paddle through the lake at San Antonio makes the ocean swim even that much more daunting. But we'll see what comes up.

Sports Wrap

This was a pretty good weekend for sporting activities. With the Sharks pushing hard to make it past the second round of the NHL playoffs, the Giants going into the weekend with a series sweep and the fourth winning series in a row and a rather stacked UFC 113 card, this was a good weekend to slug out and make sweet love to the television remote.

If only those pesky kids didn't keep wanting stuff...

Between my wife's Saturday appointments and Sunday being both Mother's Day and Sullivan's fourth birthday, there wasn't a whole ton of time for me to do me stuff. Not that I'm really complaining too much. Well, maybe a little.

The Giants nearly got swept by the Mets after losing the first two games but they pulled out the win yesterday even though Tim Lincecum didn't get the win like he totally deserved. Just like his last start but that's baseball, sometimes you do everything right and you still don't get the win.

I didn't get to watch any of the Sharks games because we don't have the cable anymore but I followed them online and did log in to catch a few minutes of live action every so often. After the 7-1 drubbing the game before, the Sharks re-established themselves and took care of business against the Red Wings.

But the main event of the weekend was UFC 113 featuring some big match ups. The fight between Koscheck and Paul Daley was billed to be a barn burning slug fest. The rematch between Lyoto Machida and Shogun was also looking solid. I'd not given Kos much of a chance in his fight having seen Daley walk through his last couple of fights. But Kos had a great game plan and applied it perfectly. A striker clearly has the advantage when the fight is on the feet but he is at a clear disadvantage when put on his back. And all I could think of when Daley was on his back was Houston Alexander who is damned scary on his feet, he throws wicked hands and has truly devastating knees. But when he's on his back he's like a turtle. And once the fighters figured that out, he was done. We'll see if Daley can reload his game and overcome this loss. But apparently he won't ever fight in the UFC again because of his classless antics after the fight was over. Cheap shots and sucker punches are never, ever a way to endear yourself to fans or Dana White.

And Kimbo Slice fought again in the UFC. He also lost again in the UFC and looks like he's not going to get another chance to fight for the UFC. I give Kimbo lots of props for his heart and effort but he's never going to be even a middle of the road mixed martial artist. He's a decent backyard brawler but he will get his ass handed to him every time by a dedicated mixed martial artist.

And, as always, Tom Lawlor spiced everything up with his antics, humor and sweet, sweet mustache. Shame he wasn't able to capitalize and get the W as well. He had been working Doerkson but got caught and then got choked out. Oops. He's still a fan favorite but he needs to get some wins rolling! And I'd like to see the Marcus Davis versus Jonathan Goulet fight sometime.

And let's not forget or overlook Dallas Braden's perfect game yesterday against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (one of the hottest teams in all of baseball right now). This is the guy who got national interest when he yelled down A-Rod for walking over his pitcher's mound on the way back to the dug out a couple of weeks ago. A-Rod was headed back to his dugout after getting thrown out at 3rd and thought it would be a good idea to walk over the top of the pitcher's mound. Only Braden didn't think so and started to shout at him to get the hell off his mound. And many people thought Braden was finding something to get pissed about. Maybe he was but I think he had a good point. The pitcher's mound is his office, he had it set up the way he wanted, A-Rod had absolutely no business or need to go walking through his office. That was just lame and yet another sign that A-Rod's a self-absorbed douchebag.

On the personal exercise front I still find myself lost in the post triathlon malaise. My legs feel tired, my brain feels tired and I know I need to get some exercise but I just can't see to pull the trigger and make it happen. I think I may need to find another race to focus on to start training for in order to kick the jams back out and get back on the training track.

I'm hoping that we are able to get back on a regular-esque schedule this week. I think we all need to re-settle down and get back to something more resembling a routine. It'd be helpful for me, that's for sure.

Training Notes

Tuesday marked my last hard workout before this weekend's triathlon. I'll get a light workout in today and then almost nothing at all on Friday. With some luck, planning and proper nutrition (and hydration!) I'll be hitting my powerzone just as the race starts.

Yesterday's swim was an interesting one as it was my first time ever trying to swim any distance in a spring wetsuit (short sleeves and short legs). The bouyancy was nice and there was little restriction on my arms to propel myself. And it was really helpful to practice a few transitions to get some idea of how to get out of the wetsuit as quickly as possible.

I spent most of my swim workout doing mental calculations to figure out just how many laps in a 25 yard pool equals a quarter mile. After a few misteps in my calculations I did eventually come to just under 18 laps equaling a quarter mile which was a little less than my guesstimate and works out well for me.

I also worked hard to go non-stop and to not use the walls of the pool to push off of since there will be no break time or walls in the lake this weekend.

From the pool I headed into the gym to get leg #2 of the triathlon knocked out with a bike ride on the Expresso bikes. I'm starting to find that they are less comfortable than they could be and they really, really need to have some air flowing across me or I literally pour sweat.

T-Minus Five Days and Counting

I can never remember, when you're counting something down, do you include today and the day of the event? If today is Monday and the event is Saturday then does that make it five days or six? I could make cogent arguments either way but the underlying reality is that come Saturday morning at 9:45 or so, I will be on or near the starting line for the Avia Wildflower Mountain Bike Triathlon.

Which means this is the last week to get some reasonably decent workouts in, add a little extra cardio to the tank, work on transitions and get our gear sorted out and then packed into the truck. We will be camping out at the triathlon along with 20,000 other triathletes and their support teams/families which will also be a new experience as the boys have not really done any camping save for sleeping in the tent in the backyard.

I don't feel completely ready for the race especially since my training has taken a hit in the last week since the Sea Otter Classic where I bonked very hard. My legs have felt quite leaden lately but I'm doing my best to spin the deadness out of them. I've been putting in the time when I can and will race as best I can. I'm going to be approaching the race differently than the mountain bike race last week. I will be pacing myself better, holding energy in reserve, prepping better the day before and starting the race with a clearer race plan.

And my main focus of the entire thing is to have fun, spend some quality time with my family and to not take everything so seriously. I know I'm not going to win so I'm going to try and have a good time.

I still need to put together my checklist of gear, camping and other stuff. This is going to be a busy and fast week and I'm sure there will be much stress in the process too. Hopefully it will all end up in an awesome time for all of us. And maybe I'll get some cool photos as well.

But really, I just want it to be a fun weekend.

Off the Track

My training schedule went a little bit sideways this weekend. Our schedule could have accommodated some workouts but I wasn't feeling it and decided to let it slide. Not to say that I did nothing but I definitely did not hit the weights or the bikes or the treadmill or the pool. I did swing a whip and take down a whole ton of weeds which did get me sore.

But today is officially the get back on track day. It is supposed to be a rest day according to my schedule but I don't see another rest day. I see a good hard sweat in my future.

And just under three weeks until my first mountain bike race ever at the Sea Otter Classic! That should prove interesting. I'm trying to approach it more from an educational experience and trying not to worry about where I place but I also expect that my competitive juices will kick in once the race has started. I'm looking to have some fun, do decently well on the race and not be last.

A little sliding is acceptable but anything more than a day or two could be bad for my training and I've come too far to let anything derail me now.

Advantage: Gringo

I reported to the WorkForce office in Watsonville yesterday morning for my don't-show-up-late 9 am job training appointment. I made it in with several minutes to spare and then found out that the don't-show-up-late part was more a guideline than a hard and fast rule.

But that was fine by me. I got to sit and play my Clie for a few minutes but I do wish I'd brought my coffee. Especially when the receptionist told me the training usually went to 11:30.

When they brought us into the training room, a woman in the corner broke us out into Spanish speaking and English speaking groups. The Spanish speakers stayed in the room we were in and the gringoes followed her into the room next door. Oh sorry, did I say gringoes plural? I meant me. I was the only English speaker there.

Which meant that I was going to get some free, state-required job training and information. And some of it is useful info for someone like me, I'm not a noob to the job market, I have a college degree, I have business experience. I'm not the typical unemployed person in this town and the lady I was working with understood very quickly that I am on top of the process, know all about the web aspect of job searching and, instead of two and a half hours, I was done in under 45 minutes.

Which is how I got to go riding yesterday.