Ironman Wisconsin 2014

December 28, 2012

On 9/7/14, I will be an Ironman!  No, I won’t be like Robert Downey Jr. in a metal suit.  I mean I will have completed my first Ironman distance triathlon.  It will be a 2.4 mile swim, followed by a 112 mile bike ride, then followed by a full marathon, 26.2 miles.  I will have to complete all of this in 17 hours or less.  From 7AM to midnight, all in one day.  Am I crazy for doing this?  Probably.  But you’re going to have an impossibly challenging experience trying to talk me out of it.

I bought my one and only adult bike (her name is Jessica by the way – no particular reason for that though) back in 2008 after I finished an actuarial exam.  I was living in Omaha and I even found a small biking club that I could ride with on Sunday mornings.  I put in about 1700 miles that first season.  Over the winter of 2008 / 2009 I decided that I wanted a bigger challenge.  I had been a decent swimmer as a kid.  I was on a swim team for one summer in elementary school, but my inability to dive / fear of diving kept me from doing well.  I was also on my high school cross country team, 4 year varsity runner, and always the number 1 or number 2 runner my senior year, just barely missing a chance to go to state.  So I had all three sports before and I had the desire to become a triathlete.

The more I learned about the sport the more I liked it.

• It’s an individual sport which means I am not dependent upon the actions of somebody else.  Whatever effort I put into it is what I get out of it.  
• Triathletes get a total body workout because of all of the different actions involved.  All three sports will work the heart and lungs.  Swimming focuses on the upper body primarily, but everywhere gets secondary benefits.  Biking focuses on the legs primarily, but the triceps and biceps, along with the core, are good secondary benefits.  Running helps the legs primarily, and it gets the abs as well depending on your form, but not much for the arms. 

• If you get tired of one sport for a while, you can just ignore it for a couple of days and work on the other two.

• Triathlons, unlike many other sports, can be as competitive or anticompetitive as you want them to be.  If you are one of those who are really good and can actually get near the podium, good for you, go ahead and be concerned with your placement against everyone else.  This sport can easily lead to comparing yourself to others.  There are many of us, like me, who are middle of the pack competitors.  The challenge is usually to push ourselves to our limits, to set a new personal best, to finish a lengthy course we had never done before.  Although there are other competitors out there on the course, I’ll use them for motivation, not comparison purposes.  (Staggered starts also means that the person you just passed / got passed by might not be at the same point time wise anyway)  I’ll look at my placement after the results are published just for the amusement, but usually it doesn’t mean anything to me.  I will do things like picking out somebody a ways ahead of me on the bike, and saying ooh, I want to push myself over the next mile to pass this person.  The fact that I just moved from 386th place to 385th place out of 800 really doesn’t mean much.  It’s more that I’m trying to give my best effort.

• Triathletes are some of the friendliest sports competitors out there.  Fellow triathletes are always giving you kind words or motivation as you pass them.  They are struggling with the same course and weather conditions as you are and know what you are going through.  It’s also evident when you are in the transition areas before and after the race.  I once forgot to bring my swim goggles with me to a race.  I was just saying something to myself something like, “Aw crap” and the guy who had his bike parked next to mine instantly offered to let me borrow his second pair during the race. 

• There are a number of good resources out there on the web.  I recommend beginnertriathlete.com.  There you can keep track of your workouts in many different ways and there are useful forums where you can get all of your questions answered.  

Contrary to popular belief, there is more to the sport of triathlon than just the Ironman.  Ironman is just well known by the public because of the NBC show covering the race in Hawaii.  I do watch the coverage every year.  The coverage of the pros is interesting and I watch every second of it.  As impressed as I am with the pro coverage, it doesn't hold a candle to the amateur coverage.  With the amateurs, we see their struggles and triumphs.  We see the ones who are struggling mightily but still will their way to completion.  We see the 80 year old men who fall down twice while just walking the marathon, but still refuse to quit.  We also see the ones who finish 10 minutes after the 17 hour cutoff, and therefore are officially listed as a DNF, but they don't care because they gave their all that day.  We see the party atmosphere at the finish line all the way through midnight.  Many of the athletes who had completed their race in 12 hours, in the daylight, after taking a couple hours to lie down, come back for the last few hours to cheer on their fellow triathletes.  I can almost guarantee that by the time the show is wrapping up, and we are shown the last few people, wondering if they will make the cutoff, I will have a tear in my eye.  It is the only time all year, with the possible exception of a funeral, where this will happen.  I say almost every year because this year's coverage was rather bland.  Not every year can be perfect.

Don't be afraid!  The vast majority of triathlons are much shorter than an Ironman.  Most of the races I do are at a level called a "Sprint" or "Olympic" distance.  The actual distance of a sprint triathlon varies wildly by course, but is somewhere in the neighborhood of a 1/4 mi., swim, 12 mi. bike, and a 5K run.  I only do these if they are local.  It's not worth a drive across the state for something this short.  The olympic race is fairly standard everywhere, a 1.5K swim, a 40K bike ride, and a 10K run.  It's the length I race most often.  For these I am willing to drive a ways.

I once did a half-Ironman.  Distances are exactly half that of a full Ironman: 1.2 mi. swim, 56 mi. bike, 13.1 mi. run.  The problem was that it was on a 95 degree day with 95% humidity, and on a course that offered no shade anywhere.  That was a suffer fest for me.  I am very heat sensitive.  Cold doesn't bother me nearly as much as others.  I guess I am part cold-blooded.  I'll get in two more half-Ironman races before the full Ironman.

Ironman Wisconsin is so popular that people have to register in waves and a year in advance.  The day after the race is when it all begins.  The current year competitors get first shot at entry to the next year's race.  After that, anyone who volunteered at the race gets to sign up.  Not a lot of spots remain after this step.  This small amount, maybe a couple hundred at most - out of the 3000 slots or so - become available for online registration.  It sells out in just minutes.  I will be volunteering at IMoo -- its unofficial name -- in 2013 just to guarantee myself a spot in 2014.  A high school classmate of mine did IMoo a couple years ago.  He says he'll never do an Ironman again, but at least he can say he did it once.  I want to be able to say that I did it, too.

Ironman is one of those things where once I sign up, I will dedicate a ton of time to prepare for it.  On race day, nothing will stop me from completing the race.  It might take me 15 or 16 hours out of the 17 allowed, but I will get it done.  You get 2.5 hours to get the swim done.  If I train like I need to, that shouldn't be an issue.  Worst case it should be 2 hours.  Then will be my favorite leg, the 112 mile bike ride.  Considering that you get 10.5 hours combined to get the first two legs done, I should have lots of time left.  I figure it will take me 6.5 hours or so, including stops, ensuring that I would be on to the run with about 9 hours elapsed, including two transition times.  I would then need to get the entire marathon done within the remaining 8 hours.  I could do that right?  That means I would get 18:19 per mile assuming that I don't stop.  Okay, I probably would stop a lot by this point in the race.  So, let's say I need to average 16:30 per mile.  I think I could almost walk that fast.  It wouldn't be a lazy walk, but a motivated walk.  A lot of people do end up having to walk a large portion of the marathon, there's no shame in it.  My plan will get a lot more refined as I ramp up my training more, and the time gets closer.

If you want to ask any questions go right ahead.  I'd love to get another person interested in triathlons.  I can certainly try to point you in the right direction and to some good resources.

Costco problem

December 27, 2012
 
I think I have a problem.  Not that this is my only problem, or even in the top ten of my most pressing problems.  I think I have a shopping problem.  At Costco.  Normally I hate / loathe / despise shopping (am I being too critical here? OK, I just don't like doing it).  But lately, I have actually been enjoying it.  My dad had been recommending for probably years that I get either a Sam's Club or a Costco membership.  I am not sure why he was particularly enamored with this suggestion.  The closest warehouse club is an hour and a half drive away from his house in Burlington.

The thing with these warehouse stores is that you have to buy in bulk.  They make their business model such that they typically only have one or two choices available of a particular product.  They then purchase so much of this one brand from a single company that they get a huge discount.  The savings get mostly passed on to the consumer.  So, I get nice low per unit costs, but in return I have to buy a huge amount.  I've been using the savings in two ways.  First, do as the prices suggest and buy a huge amount of regular quality stuff at lower prices than I would see at Target, Hy-Vee, etc.  This is what I usually do.  For example, I got a 50 pound bag of Scooby's dog food for only about two dollars more than I usually pay for a 40 pound bag elsewhere.  -- Benefit to having a small dog is this will last for months -- Another time I needed envelopes.  A 100 count box probably would have worked, but Costco was offering a 500 count box for about the same price as I estimated I could find for a 300 count box.  I think I am now fully stocked with envelopes for the next decade.  Do you need any of my envelopes?

Second, I can use the lower unit prices to usher in better quality items.  I got this awesome set of 12 tortilla-crusted tilapia filets for about the same price as it would take to buy regular fish at Hy-Vee.  This is the kind of high quality food I am not used to purchasing as a bachelor, living alone, who does not have a very refined palate or taste buds, and also is not a good cook.  I can follow directions on a box or recipe card, but that's about it.

I got my Costco membership card in the middle of November.  I have been there 6 times already in the month and a half that has elapsed.  I even wanted to go out to Costco yesterday as soon as I dropped Scooby off and unloaded the car after a 3 hour drive from my parents’ house.  The membership fee was probably the biggest obstacle that kept me from signing up for the longest time.  You mean you want me to pay $55 a year just for the privilege of being able to shop in your store?  Really?  Only once have I spent an amount significantly less than $100.  I estimate I have already saved enough to pay back the membership fee already.  The rest of the year will just be savings.  

I'm sure many of you have heard the adage not to go grocery shopping when you are hungry.  That adage should be bent when it comes to Costco.  There are so many food demonstrations that you can get half a meal if you just make sure to hit them all.  I've had wild Alaskan salmon, frozen Greek yogurt, the tortilla-crusted tilapia mentioned earlier - it inspired me to buy the box, all sorts of strange cheeses I had heard of but never tried before (I don't think I'll ever try gruyere again, that was terrible), bacon wrapped little smokies, and much more.  I never go to a food station twice because that would be greedy and against the spirit of the demonstration.  I do, however, make sure to hit all of the stations that interest me.  I feel a little guilty when I go to a station with no intention of purchasing the product, but eat the food anyway.  Sometimes my willpower doesn't hold out long enough though and I'll end up getting the item.  Darn!  I can't even avoid the consumerism of free samples.

Thanks for reading about my new obsession.  Next time I promise to write about triathlons and my big plans.  I might even start typing it up now.  See you later.

It's Scooby!

December 20, 2012

Here's a picture of my dog Scooby.

Scooby has been with me for almost four years now.  He is a mutt, but I don’t mind at all.  He is 3/4 Cavalier King Charles and 1/4 Chinese Crested.  Yep, as handsome as he is, a quarter of him is the breed that continually wins the ugliest dog in the world contest.  He is 24 pounds, which is also strange.  Most Cavaliers only get to about 21 pounds at most and Chinese Cresteds are Chihuahua sized I believe.

Scooby was and is my first dog.  I only plan on having Cavalier King Charles’s in the future.  The best living situation I had during college was when I moved away from the dorms and into a condo a long ways away from campus.    I lived there with my roommate and her Cavalier for three semesters.  My roommate insisted that she would never have any other type of dog.  I adopted her philosophy. They are super friendly, almost never bark, and are always loyal companions.  They don’t bite and also don’t eat you out of house and home.  I don’t feel the need to have a massive beast.

When I was on my own, and in an apartment that allowed dogs, I started looking for my own Cavalier.  I wanted a rescue dog for two reasons.  First, I thought it would be great to give a needy dog a home.  Second, I didn’t want to pay the $1,000 to $1,500 that purebred Cavalier puppies sell for.  I was searching through a good website that puts you in contact with available adoptees.  Unfortunately, the first place was a bust.  I had driven all the way from Omaha to Southern Wisconsin for the chance to take a look at an available Cavalier.  I think the shelter was trying to pull a switcheroo.   There was no Cavalier, but there was my second choice of breeds, a beagle.  I was angry at them and didn’t adopt any dog from them.  Maybe if they could’ve explained away why there was no Cavalier when they clearly said they had one just the day before I would have understood.  It was a good thing that I had paired the trip with an extended family reunion, otherwise that would have been a long wasted trip.

My second trip went much smoother.  I saw a picture of Scooby and knew he would be great for me.  He had long hair like Cavaliers are prone to have.  He also has the cutest under bite you’ll ever see on a dog.  I was certain I would adopt him once I showed up.  The strange thing was that the person who was holding Scooby was wearing blue surgical gloves.  I thought nothing of it at the time.  So, this time I drove all the way down to the Ozarks from Omaha.  This place was much better run that the first one.  Unfortunately for everyone else, they had not had much luck in getting Scooby adopted.  He was mangy and needed a lot of hair care.  That was the reason for the blue gloves.  They decided that it was kinda hopeless to get him adopted like that, so they shaved him down the day before I got there.  They give Scooby and me some socialization time in an outside pen.  I was waiting in the pen when they brought him out to me.  Once there and they took him off the leash, the first thing he did was stand on his hind legs and put his front paws half way up my thighs.  It was like a message that said, “Rescue me, please”.  Of course, right after that he decided that it was a good time to take a dump.

During the adoption process it wasn’t clear exactly how old Scooby was.  Most of the paperwork said three years but there was one item that said five years.  Nothing said an actual day or a month.  So, I’ve assigned Scooby 1/1/06 as his birthday.  It does make it easy to remember though.  Only a few more days until Scooby turns 7!

Movie Likes and Dislikes

December 20, 2012

What kind of a blog could this be without a post where I mention my likes and dislikes of movies?  So, here is my first attempt.  I’m sure I’ll have several rounds of this in the future.

I like movies that make me think.  The best movies I own are ones that are out of the ordinary.  They need to have something different from the usual, but still be close enough to make their interactions with the world believable.  A good way to stand out is to have a strong, independently thinking, intelligent leading lady.  It is rare to get that in most movies.  Take Juno for example.  In many ways it is a prototypical modern dramedy - pulling both from drama and comedy.  If this was just a normal teenager getting pregnant movie it would have fallen flat on its face.  The combination of the writer and Ellen Page makes the witticism and sarcastic nature of the character work very well.  This movie couldn't have been made with somebody like a younger version of Cameron Diaz.  Cameron just can't be believable as an intelligent woman.

I am also a great fan of complicated plots that do not necessarily have to be non-linear, but could be.  Dot the i is a good example that you must watch.  I won't go into detail on this movie because that would ruin it.  Even though I know all of the plot twists, I still find it eminently enjoyable to watch.  I am not a fan of M. Night Shyamalan movies though.  I never got into the suspense / horror / supernatural powers genres, they require too much suspension of disbelief.

Now - a word about Michael Bay.  I’m sure you’ve heard this before.  Almost everything he makes is categorized by a massive special effects budget, like Transformers.  That might make them partly watchable for the first time despite the lame plot.  However, once you have seen the technological advancements and massive amounts of green screen footage the first time, there isn't much to gain with a second viewing.

By now, you've got to be saying, "Todd, isn't it true, though, that you own all of the James Bond films except Diamonds are Forever and Never Say Never Again?  First, yes, that is true.  Second, I'm working on finding the missing films.  Third, I'm on a roll here.  Please don't interrupt by pointing out my contradictions.  I know that there aren't a ton of plot twists in a Bond film, and some of them use a lot of green screen.  However, my choice of the best Bond films in the series is consistent.  I believe the greatest thing to get the Bond films back on track was the Jason Bourne trilogy.  The producers really had to change their focus with the latest three films.  I am one of those who are firmly on the Daniel-Craig-is-the-best-Bond-actor bandwagon.  He just brings so much sincerity to the role.  Bond was  forced to go back to telling a good story, instead of having Q Branch come up with a cloaking mechanism for a sports car that adds spikes to the tires while driving around in a collapsing ice palace (Die Another Day).  Pierce Brosnan's acting was the worst portrayal of Bond.  He and the writers used almost every cliché they could possibly find.  So, the all-important ordering: Craig > Connery > Moore >>> Lazenby > Dalton >>> Brosnan.

As I have been typing this up, I’ve had Dave playing.  It’s the comedy where Kevin Kline’s character impersonates the president after the real president has a stroke.  It still has parts that make me laugh.  Even though most of the movies I own are dramas, I do have some comedies.