What I've Learned

Training will teach you a lot about yourself and the oddities that it will cause to your body.

Here's what I've learned:

1. Get used to the smell of chlorine. Somehow chlorine can penetrate your sweat ducts and if you swim on Wednesday you will smell like it when you run on Thursday
2. 27 degrees is cold enough that on a 1:45 run condensation will freeze on your beard.
   
   
3. Make friends with the wind and cold (you'll give up before they do)
   
4. You can have a good conversation with a dog on a 2 hour run
5. Get comfortable in spandex
6. There is nothing that will keep your feet warm during a 3 hour ride when the temperature is in the 20's. Just deal with it and hope that you don't have a run after wards
   
7. Continuation from above...Frozen toes on a run are very painful as they warm back up
   
8. I can eat a lot and often
9. I lose about a pound an hour of sweat during a moderately warm day
10. Permanent marker makes for an adequate sunblock (note the #30 on the back of the calf)
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11. And the number 1 thing that I learned from training is that the human body is capable of much more than we give it credit for.

The Numbers Are In

During my training for the last 5 months I have kept a log of my total time, mileage and calories burned. Now that we're all done it's time to tally everything up and see what we get.

The totals below do include race day mileage.

Swim
103,403 yards
58.75 miles (That's enough to swim the length of the Straights of Dover in the English Channel almost three times)
35:25:31

Bike
1,441.29 miles (That's almost enough the ride the width of Texas twice)
86:45:12

Run
327.14 miles (I could have run from my house in Lewisville to the race start in Galveston)
48:39:36

Calories Burned
127,962
36.56 pounds (That's a little over the weight of an average 2 year old)

Total Time
171:17:19 (That's working out, non-stop for a little over a week, this number is not as dramatic as I hoped it would be)

Total Mileage
1,827.18

If you want another aspect to the race Kati has posted her race recap here.

Lone Star Half Iron Race Recap

Well, we did it! Sunday was the race that we have been working towards for the last 5 months. You can read the entire race recap below. Keep in mind that this was a 6 hour race so the recap might get a little lengthy.

The maps for each discipline can be found here.

Swim
1.2 miles
38:28

The water temperature was supposedly 67 degrees, at least that's what I overheard while I was waiting to get in. It was chilly but not as chilly as the lakes up in Dallas where we were swimming in 59-61 degree water for practice, that temperature will take your breath away literally.

This swim had a couple of firsts for me, 1. this was the first time that I had swam in salt water, whether for practice or a race and 2. this was the first time that I have started in a group of more then 50 people per wave. The swim is the most frightening thing for me, it's one of the only aspects of race day that you can't practice, although some may try. I'm not afraid of the swim itself, I'm afraid of the start. Imagine 100 people crowding a 30 foot wide swim start chute, by the way this race was a tread water swim start, waiting for the gun to go off. Once that gun goes off everyone is vying for position. You're getting punch, kicked and half drowned by people that you have never met and will never see again, although a few of them you would like to find in a dark alley afterwards. Luckily the melee didn't last as long as normal and I found my line in a couple of minutes. My goal time for the swim was 35:00 minutes but there is a lot to be said for a race day swim in unfamiliar waters. The time seemed to last forever but after the last turn there was only about a quarter mile left to the swim exit which was good motivation.

I recently told Kati that I am almost as happy getting out of the water as I am crossing the finish line. That statement stood true for this swim as well.

Bike
56 miles
2:47:18
20.1 mph average speed

The bike leg had a total of 33 feet of elevation gain over the 56 miles, in other words it was as flat as a board. Leading up to this race that was an exciting aspect, no hills to fight up like we had been doing in training. As I soon learned, flat terrain brings it's own set of problems along with it. Over the past five months I have learned that hills are at least fair for the most part, if you have an ascent, more than likely you are going to have a descent as well but with flat terrain you are constantly having to pedal with no real rests to speak of and soon your hamstrings are starting to talk to you, they aren't using their inside voice and if you could you would wash their mouth out with soap.

We paralleled the coast the entire time, as if you have a choice when you are riding on Galveston Island. The wind stayed down for the most part until the end and even then it was from the north so it was a crosswind instead of a headwind.

The course itself led to fast speeds, partially due to the flatness but also because there were no turns. Once you got out of Moody Gardens you rode for about 24 miles in a straight line, took a U-turn at the end of the island, rode back 4 miles, took another U-turn to head back to the end of the island, when you reached the end you took another U-turn and headed home. Due to the lack of wind and turns I was able to stay in the aero position for about 50 of the 56 miles, which does lead to lower back discomfort, I found.

Stretching was a necessity on this ride. If there were hills then you could have stood up on the pedals occasionally to give your legs and back a little stretch but not on this ride. As much as you hated to coast for a little while to you had to stand up to stretch out your back, legs and neck every once in a while just to give them a break from this stooped over position.

Riding into T2 was fantastic, to know that not only were two legs of the race done but knowing that the longest leg was over was a great feeling. I was one step (OK, a lot of steps) away from the finish line.

If you really have a lot of time to spare you can watch a video of the entire bike course tour here. In video #2 about 5:00 in you will see the only thing that really became daunting on this course and that was the long straight roads where you could see the telephone poles getting smaller as you looked into the horizon and knowing that's where you were going.

Run
13.1 miles
2:09:32
9:53 min/mi

This is when the wind really came into play, luckily there were so many turns that you weren't heading into the wind for long. When I got back to the hotel after the race I checked the wind speeds to find out that they were reporting 27mph winds that afternoon.

The run route was four loops around Moody Gardens, which had it's pros and cons. It broke the half marathon into smaller segments that were easier to mentally handle but it got really old seeing the same sights over and over again. The other benefit was that I got to see Kati twice on the run which is always good for a pick me up.

My intention during training was to run an 8:30 minute mile. I soon realized that this was not going to be possible and became fast friends with 9:30 minute miles. I probably went too fast on the bike but also the flat course had done my hamstrings in. Early on my nutrition plan went right out the window as well. The plan was to have two GU's in a gel flask that would be mixed with a couple ounces of water attached to my race belt. I took sips from the flask at mile one and two but on the second sip I didn't get the nozzle closed all the way resulting in the entire thing emptying onto the ground, unbeknownst to me. So there I was with 11 miles left to run and no nutrition that I had been using during training and as well all know you never try anything new on race day since you don't know how your body is going to handle it. I started running through all my options (get it running through?) and realized that I still had two Clif Blocs in my tri top pocket. These are only worth about 30 calories each and I hadn't eaten them while running since the beginning of training so I wasn't sure if they were going to sit well in my stomach or not. I took the chance and bit them in half and took half about every 15 minutes, they are already small in the first place, a little bigger the a game dice. That worked fairly decently for a while but I was soon felt the nutrition crash coming again and needed more calories and had nothing left on me so I resorted to the race provided nutrition and started having to slam Twizzlers and defizzed Pepsi on the final couple of miles. Surprisingly this didn't cause any problems.

At the end, finally being able to run on the left side of the sign that said "next lap right, finish left" was one of the happiest moments of my life and I can honestly say that finishing this race, I was much happier than any swim leg that I had ever done. A mixture of exhaustion and joy can only lead to tears as I accepted my finishers medal, hugged our coach and headed for the food tent.

Final Time
Swim: 38:28
T1: 5:31
Bike: 2:47:18
T2: 4:13
Run: 2:09:32
Total: 5:45:05

It's Finally Here!

Well, this weekend is it, the race that we have been working up to for 5 months is finally here. I'm of course talking about the Lone Star Triathlon Festival Half Ironman. That's 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and a 13.1 mile run, woof! If you're interested you can check up on us occasionally to see where we are on the course at Run-Far.com. I'm not exactly sure how the website will work on race day so get your more technology savvy kids to figure it out. Our bib numbers are posted below to the left of our names so you can look us up. Supposedly there will also be a webcam live feed starting up towards the end of the week here.

Here are our starting wave times and bib numbers:
41 Patrick - 8:15
609 Kati - 8:39
333 Fred - 8:27

Tetris HD

Have a lot of time on your hands? Love Tetris? Try Tetris HD and you will never want to play again. Tetris HD is simply a huge resolution, widescreen version of the game where even getting one line is an accomplishment. From what I've read it takes about 15 minutes to complete one line.

Have at it.

Here's a couple of screenshots: one, two, three

Eat It Up

Kati and I were watching a new show on Food network called Food Detective. On the episode that we watched they were trying to figure out how to keep ice cream from falling off the cone while eating it. They threw out a stat of how much ice cream the average American eats in a year. The number that they gave was 15 quarts a year or 3.75 gallons. I thought that this number was kind of low so I did a little research this morning and found a variety of numbers from 25 pints (3.13 gallons) to 23.2 quarts (5.8 gallons). For today's purposes I will go with the higher number of 5.8 gallons a year. From this I started thinking about how much ice cream I must consume on an annual basis and how this compares to the national average.

I eat a 1.75 quart container a week at least. I'm not including in these figures the bowl I eat at my parents house at Sunday dinner each week, when we splurge and go to Baskin Robbins on a Saturday night after a hard days workout or when I have to go to the store on Wednesday night because I am out. If you figure I eat 1.75 quarts a week (0.4375 gallons), that's 91 quarts a year (22.75 gallons). Even using the highest number that I found, that's 3.9 times the national average of ice cream consumption.

Now let's talk calories. The brand that I prefer is the Kroger's Mint Chocolate Chip. There are 14 serving in this container (they say that one serving is a half cup, Ha!) at 160 calories per serving making it 2,240 calories per container. Meaning that I consume 116,480 calories per year just in ice cream. But, to make things fair I am also taking in 1,456 grams of protein and 13,832 grams of carbohydrates at the same time.

I figure that I will have to slow down my consumption when training is over because at the current rate I am burning nearly 9,000 a week just in workouts.

Trash Day

Sorry for the lack of posts as of late but we have been having some great success over at The Muse in Music lately so I have been putting a lot time into posting there. So if you haven't checked the site out please do.

All that aside. One of these days I want to meet the person that empties my trash can at work just so I can show him/her that I don't weigh 800 pounds. By the end of each week my trash can is over flowing with food packages, rinds, pits and other miscellaneous junk. I can't help it, really, with all this training I end up snacking on something most of the day and this produces a lot of wrappers and what not. And, since I recycle all the paper that comes across my desk there's not a shred of paper to break up the sea of Chips Ahoy wrappers (soft batch of course) and apple sauce cups.

Public Service Announcement

I learned this morning, from one of our neighbors, that our old neighbors from the other side of our house had their 10 month old baby die after it choked to death on a piece hot dog. They called 911 but the ambulance didn't show up soon enough so they made their way to the ER and didn't make it in time.

I'm not going to go into whether I think a 10 month old should be eating hot dog's, that's beside the point at this time, but rather stress to everyone, including myself, to get certified in infant first aid. There are so many things that are too different between adult first aid and infant first aid that you can't rely on the one to get you out of a potential deadly situation with the other. Check the Red Cross website to find your local chapter and their calender of instruction classes. The classes are generally long and not free but I guarantee you that my neighbors would give anything to have paid that $90 fee to save their child's life.

This was their first and obviously only child.

What I've Done

I stole this from my cousins blog and thought that I would share the experiences that I have had. Luckily I still have a lot of life left to accomplish everything else.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars. -If you have never done this it is a must.
3. Played in a band. - even recorded a CD, probably couldn't find it if I wanted to though
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo - this one is a yes if this includes playing a solo show at a coffee shop
11. Bungee jumped - a couple of times
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning - Oh Good times
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort. - Hello...Texas and all
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon - have a half marathon this weekend in preparation for this
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice - It was way to cold when we were there to think about getting on the water
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Gone without food or water for 24 hours or longer
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business - technically it was just a DBA
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Stayed up for 24 hours with NO sleep at all
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma - you don't want to see me around needles
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy - saved a favorite childhood book
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar - so yummy!
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Changed a lightbulb
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Mowed the lawn
84. Had your picture in the newspaper - just for a wedding announcement
85. Read the entire Bible - Oh that pesky Old Testament
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous - famous is in the eyes of the beholder
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person - very anti-climactic
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

Super Bowl Ads

Coming in a distant second, for reasons to watch the Super Bowl, are the ads. Originally the NFL was a little worried that they would be unable to get all the air time sold but it appears that they just made it. Here is a link to what Fox Sports considers to be the Top 10 best and worst of the night.

I agree with all the commercials that they put on the top ten best except for the Careerbuilders.com ad and the Hulu.com ad with Alec Baldwin. The Careerbuilder.com ad was like a horrible version of the twelve days of Christmas and Alec Baldwin is just a untalented hack.

The one thing that I have never understood was why a company would pay millions of dollars for a 30 second spot just to show the same commercial that they play every other day of the week; Nextel and Heineken pulled this brilliant maneuver this year.