Road to Ironman

I'm not training. I'm not sure I'll be keeping this blog up for long. My other blog has been seeing more action, so keep up with that one.

And another chapter of American exploitive history closes with little fanfare. Now let's get some whores! I mean, let us frequent the tittie bars! Er, eh... never mind.

I think the smartest thing I did at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort was to take a lesson. I felt I was ready to move on to the next level and knew there were some things that I was consistently doing wrong. For my sake and anyone who'll find this useful, I'm going to share the main points of my lesson.

1. Relax! The shoulders and upper body should be relaxed and not tense. This will make everything that follows much easier.
2. Balanced Stance. Bent at the knees, weight equally distributed over the center of the board, and upper body relaxed.
3. Watch Where You're Going. Look over the nose of your board, not down the mountain. Doing this helps with control and balance. It also helps with confidence on the steeps.
4. Control Your Board! Turn with your feet, not with your arms. Many people are out of control out there. The only way they know how to turn is by swinging their arms around to skid the tail of the board around in turns. In essence, the board determines where it wants to go and they are along for the ride. You should know how to ride in control and use the edges to turn.

• Step 1. To stop flailing into turns put your arms into a natural position, where you will not have to move them. Place the back of your rear hand on the back of your waist above your butt cheek. Place your front hand on your front upper thigh. If you tend to really open up, you can exaggerate this so your front hand crosses your body as if you were going to bow.
• Step 2. Initiate turns with your front toes. Your board is flexible. If you ride in a balanced stance the movement of your toes will affect the length of the cutout of your board, and therefore the direction you're going. Try this on the flats.
  For front side turns, initiate the turn with your knee (toes - ankle - knee) and look across your board to where you want to turn. Follow through and complete your turn.
  For backside turns, lower your center of gravity by sitting or squatting into the turn as if you were getting on a chair-lift. Look over the nose of your board and really follow through to keep your edge.
  

Other Tips...

• If you find yourself sketching out look up and in the direction you're going. Complete your turns to hold your edge. This is important on steeps and ice.
• When carving while facing up the mountain, push your hips forward and lean into the turn. Conversely, you can squat lower into your opposite turns.
• Ride with your weight forward. Really lean on the front outside edge of your foot and binding.
• Confidence. It's not as steep as you think it is. Build confidence by learning the lay of the land. Find a run that you enjoy and master it.
• You will not catch an edge on steeps as you do on flats. The angle of your board is too great. You'll more likely fall from sketching out or getting air unexpectedly.
• On bumps, feel each knee moving independently to keep your edge in contact with the ground. Keep your balance and stay on your board. Don't bail.
• Jumps. Take off balanced to help you land balanced. Start small. Squat and execute a balanced take off.

That's all you need to go out and get gnar dude! Go shred. Get sick!

Labels: snowboarding

It's not that far to LA from Jackson Hole but there is no direct flight. That's a bummer. I spent roughly 14 hours traveling because of delays and cancelations. I was so tired and sore, but I realy didn't care. That's 14 hours of traveling, with 2.5 hours in the air. The rest of that is spent sitting around the airport reading, eating, drinking, listening to music, charging my laptop, and hoping that my luggage would arrive with me in LA. I'm glad to be home, but I miss the mountain already. I had plenty of time to think and have come to the conclusion that LA may not be the place for me. I'll expain more later.

I had an amazing time. It was great to see all my friends. My boarding ability made a quantum leap in both form and confidence. There's nothing steeper than Jackson Hole in North America. It's great and my new favorite mountain. I could go on and on and bore you with photos and trail maps. Ask.

Back to life. Back to reality. Time to do some laundry, clean up and get ready for work. It was a great week.

Labels: Jackson Hole, vacation

Holy cripes! I've had a couple of amazing days here at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. All this rock is incredibly intimidating. It's steep and massive. The past few days (Mon & Tue) have been warm(er) and sunny. I've gotten a crazy goggle tan. The prime time for snow conditions were been between 10 AM and 2 PM. After that the lower slopes were thawing a bit and I was worried the next day would be too icy. Wed was finally overcast and the good conditions lasted all afternoon. And today our prayers were answered with snow.

It snowed all day making for some great powder riding in spots. My riding has taken a quantum leap forward and my confidence on steep terrain is high. Today Steve took me on a few "tree" runs as we made fresh tracks in the powder. There were points when the cloud cover in certain valleys was so dense if you didn't know your way around it would not have been fun. You could not see more than 10 meters in front of you, and when you're moving with some speed that's just crazy. Then you'd get on a lift and be in the clear, looking down on the fog. It was a crazy weather day. The top of the mountain was cold and windy. Toward the end of the day mostly sleet and not snow fell. The lower slopes were again getting mushy as the afternoon sun made it's appearance after the lifts closed (4 PM).

Labels: Jackson Hole, snowboarding, vacation

I took a lesson today here at Jackson Hole. I learned a ton. I'm so wiped out. Love this place.

Labels: Jackson Hole, snowboarding, vacation

Words will not really do this justice. I'm finally seeing the Teetons for myself and I must say, damn. I'm going to be taking a ton of pics this week. I'm so psyched to be boarding here. It's just AMAZING. I'm so happy to be spending time with all my boys from Chi. It's going to be a great week and this place is just unreal. Wish you were here.



I've never de-planed onto a tarmac before. It's weird. Smallest airport I've ever been to. Also the only airport in the US within a national forest. This is probably one of the smallest towns I've ever been in... City folk.

Labels: Jackson Hole, vacation

Utah.

Yeah. Don't know much about it. Kind of scared of it from just spending a few hours in Salt Lake City airport. Mainly because of the inbred looking white folks and this fine selection of books in the SLC airport book store. (click for detail)

That is a section of LDS reading for your traveling pleasure. Holy cripes of Ladder Day Saints.

But Utah... damn your natural beauty. Even from an airport you've piqued my interest. I'll be back.

Labels: utah, vacation

Totally dawsome. Found this in the engadget.com photo contest.

Here's a nice photo stitch from last week at Heavenly. Click for detail.

Labels: Heavenly, snowboarding, vacation

Here's a nice pic of a deep bruise I earned on my last vacation. (Like my hairy legs? You can tell it's not Triathlon season, although I've never been a big fan of manscaping.) I had a few nice days to snowboard at Heavenly in South Lake Tahoe as a warm up for my trip next week to Jackson, WY.

I'm really glad that I got a nice warm up for Jackson Hole. It had been a while since I had a few days of boarding back to back. For as little natural snow as Tahoe has had to this point the resort did a good job of making snow and grooming what was there.

Snowboarding in California is always an awesome experience with bright sun shine making even cold days and poor snow conditions much more tolerable. Add to that breath taking views of Lake Tahoe itself... it is so choice. I feel truly blessed and privileged to be able to enjoy such amazing outdoor adventures. For roughly 12 years starting around the age of 11 I went camping on average five or six times a year due to my involvement with Boy Scouts & Sea Explorers. Sometimes I forget how much I love the experiences of being outdoors. Being self reliant, the sense of stewardship over land/water, adapting to conditions, planning ahead, enjoying the moment, observing nature, leaving no trace, feeling the weather, the cold, the sun, the rain, and coming home. Long bike rides, triathlon, sailing, camping... will definitely be seeing more of you soon.

Labels: snowboarding, vacation

My training has taken a hit. The month of December has not been kind. My birthday, company holiday party, Christmas, New Years.... There are many reasons to be too busy, too stressed or too distracted from training goals. I let missed workouts get to me. I feel deflated and derailed. My eating gets worse while my running shoes sit unused and my pool visits become less frequent. I feel the fitness leaving my body so quickly. The downward spiral starts and it's hard to fight.

When I started training I weighed 189. After a year off then four weeks of training I got sick over the Thanksgiving weekend and registered my lowest weight of 179. Since that point my training has been sporadic. I know that the progress I made has stalled. I coasted for a few weeks. Now I'm going in reverse. On the positive side, my 100M swim has never been faster.

Now as I commit to making all my workouts, I fight my perception. I feel fat and slow. My motivation comes and goes. I know there are changes I must make to be successful.

But is it really as bad as I think?

I weighed myself this morning and I'm at 180. I'm not going to complain. I'm not starting over completely. I have the power to continue and be successful. It's just one step at a time. Day by day. A cinch by the inch, hard by the yard. I will get out of my head and onto the road and into the pool. Fuck the HR monitor and stop watch. Just get out and have some fun. That's my goal and that's how I'm fighting my negative perception.

Labels: motivation, training

I'm trying something new this year and following an on-line training program. No coach, just me and a training program designed by Joe Friel served up to me via TrainingPeaks.com. It has been working out well, but I've been a bit derailed by holidays and various personal stresses and obligations. You can view my progress by clicking the link.

I'm digging the user interface, although it can be a drag to keep my logging up to date. It's cool that I can upload my Polar (625X) workout files and fill in most of the detail.

I've purchased two plans to get me ready for my season. The first is a HIM (Half Ironman) base builder and the second is a HIM race prep plan. My race prep plan starts 1/15/07 and leads me directly into my first race of the season, 3/31/07 in Oceanside, CA. (This race is now officially called Ironman 70.3 California, because 70.3 sounds better than Half... FYI, 70.3 are the total miles raced in a Half Ironman, which just happens to be half of 140.6 or the total miles raced in an Ironman. Weird how that works.)

i have a habit of getting into musical sounds, eras, etc, after they're defunct or passe. my current target is the punk-pop band, blink-182, which i first heard two years ago when my friend stv laid the mp3s of Enema of the State on me. i found myself listening to that album more and more, so i finally decided to do a little research and found the band to be a good target for my obsessive style research.

i read how enema of the state was a cross over from their punk-rock core because it was recorded digitally and has a really clean sound. i have to admit, this is part of the reason i like it so much. i also read that their last, untitled album, was far more mature and developed. this lead to claims that blink sounded like the police or even U2, although the band says they took cues from the cure (Robert Smith does guest vocals late in the album.)

so is it bad of me that i actually don't like this album so much upon my first two listens? i mean, i like it, but where's the quirky, good-time lyrics and just-for-fun approach to music that attracted me in the first place?

SIGH

i know. bands can do no right, they can't grow.... the good news is, there are plenty of other albums in the blink catalogue that probably follow the formula i'm interested in. no wonder the group broke up. if all the blink fans were like me and resisted the band's new sounds, what fun would it be? as an artist there is no worse hell than to make the same music year after year.

but i'm not going to apologize for my taste. i'm sure had i been there on the ground, growing up with the music while the band was rocking, i'd want them to transform as well. looking back at what i've heard so far, i want a slice of the energy that the early albums capture. that's all. it's not wrong for me to enjoy and seek out a specific moment in a band's career. i do it to jazz players all the time.

it's been a long time, i shouldn't have left you
without a strong rhyme to step to
think of how many weak shows you slept through
time's up, i'm sorry i kept you
thinking of this, you keep repeating you miss
the rhyme from the microphone soloist
so you sit by the radio, hand on the dial,
soon as you hear it, PUMP UP THE VOLUME

-i know you got soul; eric b & rakim



I know it's been forever. And a lot has changed. I'll give you an update here and fill in the details as I go. Got married; left my job; moved from Chicago to Marina del Rey, CA (West Side of LA) with the wife and pug; thought about becoming a personal trainer/coach; found a database developer job walking distance from my current apartment; stopped training, dropped out of IMCdA 2006 and took it hard; gained weight and found it harder (mental block) to get my training re-started; did some yoga and am finding my groove.

That's it for now. There’s more to come. Questions? Who reads this anyway? Announce yourself, I command you.

Here's the list of races I'm planning on doing. This list will grow.


-03/18/06 Ironman 70.3 California
-06/25/06 Ironman Couer d'Alene (My First Full Ironman)

Still working on the rest... I'll update later

Sorry for the long delay in posting. Not much has been going on workout wise, and then I had a death in the family which required me to go to Puerto Rico for a week. I realize that the diminished daylight hours leave me with little motivation. The cold also does a number on my desire to workout. While I was in Puerto Rico I ran 3 times and went body surfing once with a little bit of swimming thrown in. It was HOT and humid, but I still managed to get out and run. In fact, I looked forward to it. I think I'll have to move closer to the equator for more sun and milder temps.

I have officially started the '06 campaign today. I've been "off season" since the Marathon (10/9/05) and only had a couple swim, bike, and run sessions in that month. Weekly Pilates and Gyrotonic sessions have been my only regular activities.

I'm officially weighing in at 180lbs, which is about 20lbs over my goal race weight for Ironman CdA in June (29 weeks away.) A healthy rate of weight loss is 1 to 2 pounds a week. I'm aiming for 1 pound a week, leaving me at least 9 weeks to train at my goal race weight. I'm comfortable with this goal. It leaves me with 9 solid weeks to train at my goal weight and concentrate on other more important factors.

Right now my season is roughly planned and needs to be firmed up. IMCdA is my peak goal, but because it is early season, I'll probably be able to work up a 2nd peak later in August. It's unlikely that I'll qualify for Kona with my 1st IM, so there's no need to worry about that. I'll post the rest of my goals when they are more defined. Here is a list of my season phases as I see them right now.

11/28/05 Transition Period
12/19/05 Preparation Period
01/16/06 Base 1
02/13/06 Base 2
03/13/06 Base 3 -- Ralph's California 1/2 IM
04/10/06 Build 1
05/08/06 Build 2
06/05/06 Peak
06/19/06 Race -- Ironman Coeur d'Alene
06/26/06 Transition
07/24/06 Base 3
08/07/06 Build 1
08/28/06 Build 2
09/18/06 Peak
10/02/06 Race -- ???

For now, it's back to the gym at least once a day for at least 30min and working on my schedule and race plan for the year. I'm also starting a new workout and food log.

Right now it's about developing a rhythm. I'll keep filling in the details so stay tuned.

I'm finally starting to workout again after my marathon and triathlon season. This week had a few good workouts. Tuesday was a 45 minute tread mill session that I needed badly. I felt really great afterward and realized that I'd been using food (chocolate and sugar) to get my highs. Since then my diet has gotten under control.

I Halloween candy is deadly. I have no control over my desire for chocolate. When there is any in the house it's a bad time for me. Fitness tends to be a spiral, either good or bad. When I work out I eat well, I get rest, and I feel great. When I stop working out I eat poorly, feel restless, and get down on myself.

Yesterday I got back on the bike and enjoyed a long ride. 50 miles with Mountain Man Mike. He just recently got interested in biking and started riding to work. He's become more interested in doing long distance, so he asked if I was down for a ride. Shamefully, my last ride was the Chicago triathlon.

We got lucky and had beautiful weather. The leaves were falling and the Northbranch Trail was fairly empty. We took it easy and rode up to Highland Park. I was starting to feel my legs on the way back, but worst of all was the pain in my ass. I must have lost the "ass callus" that I'd built up during the year. Today I'm mostly just saddle sore, but grateful for the ride. Big up to MM Mike for getting back on the road.

Here's a great Cliff Bar commercial explaining the brutal reality of triathlon swim starts. You can check out more about Wes Hobson on his site.

I've been eating like shit for the past week. Taking a week off of training to recover from the marathon has been compounded by the arrival of Halloween candy in the house. I've done some damage in a short amount of time and my sweet tooth is in high gear. I have absolutely no control over my cravings and binging.

I know it's my fault. I knew it was a bad idea. All the "fun size" bags of candy where on sale and I figured I'd stock up. Four bags of candy should be enough. Hell, last year, I can't remember a single kid coming to my door. I was in trouble as I soon tore through a bag of Baby Ruths. I've always considered myself more a Snickers man. In my youth I always wound up with Butterfingers by default as my brother, mother and father would always prefer the Baby Ruths. I now see the power of the Baby Ruth. I would freeze a handful at a time and eat them throughout the night.

I still like Snickers but there's something dis-satisfying about them. Is it just me or has the snack size turned into bite size? I think this is why I'm falling out of love with the Snickers. When I was a kid a night of "Trick-or-Treating" yielded mini candy bars that resembled, of all things, candy bars. I mean, two or three of these things would equal a full size bar. The height and thickness were the same and so the proportions where the same, thus maintaining the Snickers candy bar experience. These days you can get candy bars in any size you please, and herein lies the problem. While a bag of bite size squares may say Snickers, just as the "fun size" bags, the "miniature" bags, and full size bars do, the micro versions do not have the correct proportions to give you a satisfying Snickers experience. Not enough caramel and peanuts? Too much chocolate and nougat throwing off the balance? Long story short, I'm sour on the mini-forms of snickers. F those goddamn marketers for ruining my experience. This is why I don't eat candy bars... anymore.

But I've just been binging like Tara Reid in a Tequila factory. I mean, one bag of Baby Ruths destroyed. And for all my bitching about the mini Snickers, I've put a healthy dent into that bag. Not to mention the bags of Butterfingers and Kit Kats. I was feeling so bad about tearing through the Baby Ruths that I actually got a replacement bag of Twix. (I would have gotten another bag of Baby Ruths, but they were sold out.)

And now I've discovered, that I much prefer Twix to Kit Kats. I used to think I loved Kit Kats. I used to delight in eating the chocolate and leaving the waffers, then eating each waffer layer one by one. What can I say? Tastes change. Twix has a nice cookie cruch and even in the mini size retains the correct proportions to the original bar.

But there's a problem here. I sort of gave up candy bars along with ice cream, fast food, and carbonated beverages. The truth is, abstinence is the only hope for me. I have no control over these forces in my life. And if you want to look at the harm all of these things do, not just to me, but around the world, it wouldn't be hard to start making a list. I'm going to enjoy this little sugar jag while I can, because when it's over, it'll be a long time before I give myself slack like this again.

I could tell stories about my eating. It's probably disordered a bit. The fact that I can hide it well tells me so. I have no control over sweets like chocolate and ice cream. When I used to eat fast food I could do some damage. I can't go back to living like that. I've moved on and I know that moments like this are just a reminder as to why I'm moving in the right direction. But like most addicts I keep secrets. And in the interest of ridding myself of my demons and fighting my worst enemy, I thought I'd share. I'm not going to beat myself up over this, but I need to stop. I will stop. No one is perfect, not even me.