A couple Sunday ago was my last scheduled triathlon of the summer. I may do one or two more, but as of right now, I have not committed to anything.
Sunday’s tri was not like any of the other ones I have done before. Instead of a road bike course, this was off road for mountain bikes. Instead of running on roads and other paved surfaces, I was trail running, more cross-country style.
Saturday Alexis, Ace and I headed out to the lake where the race was to be held to get in some open water swim practice and see what I would be up against the next day. The open water swim practice went well and I felt really prepared for the race the next day.
Sunday morning didn’t start quite like I wanted it to. I planned on getting up around 3:30, getting ready, having coffee and then leaving the house around 5:15. But I forgot to turn on my alarm and at about 4:30 I just happened to wake up. I was an hour behind schedule.
Despite the late start, we made it to the park with a little time to prepare for the race. This tri was a ¼ mile swim, 12 mile trail bike, and a 5k cross country style run. I asked Alexis to time me and let me know what my times were as I entered the transition area after each part. Just before the swim started she told me that one of the race officials said that fast riders would finish the bike portion in about an hour and the slow riders would take two hours. This was great info. I had been planning on taking about 50 minutes. I adjusted my plan in my head accordingly.
The swim was an Ironman type start. Meaning that everyone in your wave runs into the water at once and fights for position, kicks, grabs, and does whatever one needs to do to separate from the pack. The key is to stay away from the slow, non-confident swimmers. They are dangerous. They get in the way, they flail, and they stop for no apparent reason. Unless you are an elite swimmer, the middle is the best place to be. The elite swimmers swim away quickly and the slow swimmers are behind you. Middle of the pack is usually pretty safe since the skill levels are about even.
However, if you are in the middle you will more than likely catch up with the heat that went before yours. This is bad, now the slow swimmers from the previous heat are in full survival mode. They are out of gas (with 100 yards to go) and they will hold onto anything that their flailing limbs can get a hold of. This includes faster swimmers who have caught them, buoys, boats and pelicans.
After making it out of the water it was time to transition to the bike. Many racers overlook the transitions. But you can waste a lot of time in transition. I do not waste time, this is not the time to catch your breath. This is the time to quickly get out of the transition area. Here’s how the transition goes: Once you get to your bike, put on your cycling shoes, put on your glasses, buckle your helmet, take your bike of the rack and get the hell out of the transition area. Notice there is no mention of dry off, have some water, get the water out of your ear. That wastes time.
Thanks to Alexis’ advice I was prepares for a long slow ride. And that’s what I got. Usually on my road bike I average around 20 mph, on the mountain bike I was at about 12 mph. The tough part about mountain biking is that it is not a smooth motion like on a road bike. Its very jarring. You have to hold onto your bars with white knuckles or else be thrown to the ground. Some parts of the trail were sand. Sand is the nemesis of your tires. Sand is very good at grabbing your front or rear tire and not letting go. This means a fall for you. Which I did. But only once. There is a good side to sand; it is very soft to land on. It may have been my most comfortable fall ever.
While I was blazing through the transition after the bike, Alexis told me about how long I had spent on the bike. I had done well. Now all I needed to do was run 3.1 miles on the same trail I just got off of. I was covered in dirt and mud from the dust and from the fall I took, but I looked like a bad-ass. The run was an out-and-back run, meaning I was able to keep track of how many people were on their way back in, and then gauge about how many people were in front of me; and there weren’t many. I managed to pass two of the guys in my age group on the run. Everyone has their age written in thick, black permanent marker on the back of their right calf. Things were going well, no one was passing me, I was doing the passing!
But then disaster…my belly decided it needed to throw up. I had to stop, grab a tree and hurl. I didn’t have much to hurl though, just a little water and some bile. But two people did pass me while I was doing this, however they were not from my age group so I didn’t mind. After a brief time-out, I was back to running. I didn’t have far to go, but I felt much better.
I crossed the finish line and was greeted by Alexis. She is always a sight for sore eyes and always has a cup of water waiting for me at the finish line.
Unofficial results are posted about every 15 minutes after a few racers make it back in. When I finished I noticed that there were not too many people who had finished. After a little while, they posted the first batch of results. I had finished 29th! Alexis asked me how I did in my age group, but I didn’t check. She went to check and as it turns out, I finished 2nd among 25-29 year olds! Not too bad, there’s nothing wrong with silver!
It wasn’t my fastest race, and maybe since it was off road aspect made it my most challenging race.
Here are my times:
400M Swim: 8:37
T1 (this is how long it took me to switch from swim to bike, this was fastest for my age group): 1:35
20K Bike: 1:01:17, 12.1 MPH Avg.
T2 (this is how long it took to go from bike to run): .42
5k Run: 23:47, 7:37/mile
For a total time of 1:36.00
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
July 2009
2009 is half way over. It seemed to have just flown by. If I had to give this year a grade, I would probably go with a B+ or and A-. Its been pretty good so far.
I noticed that the last blog was pretty old and the ones before that seemed to be about the same damn thing over and over; so how about a real update?
Alexis is off for the summer and she has started several painting projects. Including painting our upstairs guest bedroom furniture and the room up there as well. I don’t know when she will have the room finished, but the furniture looks pretty good. She is, for the most part, having a nice, relaxing summer and spending lots of time out by our pool with her friends.
I am absolutely swamped at work. The higher oil prices have people excited around the office and money for projects has loosened up. I’m sure you don’t care for the higher oil prices, but it’s job security for me. I have been up to North Dakota for business once last month and it looks like I will head back up there probably twice more this month. ND in the summer is much better than ND in the winter!
August 23rd Alexis and I are running in a half marathon. It’s like a marathon, but half as long; only 13.1 miles. Training is going…ok I guess, we both could be doing more. But its just running, in the heat, far…what do we need to train for?
As some of you may be aware, we have had a house guest, aka a roommate since about March. Waffles (that’s the guy’s name) is a good friend of ours and was a quasi victim of the poor economy…
Well he has been with us for a while now and all parties involved have decided that it is time for him to make other living arrangements. We are all on great terms, but it is time for him to move on, literally. Alexis and I are thrilled that we had the space and were able to help him when he needed it. Maybe one day he will thank us in the form of a Corvette or something really awesome along those lines.
Ace and Steve still dogs. Steve has grown into regular bulldog, and he weighs about 60 pounds. He is solid. Ace has his moments too.
Speaking of pounds. Check out the fat guy in this picture:
That’s me a year and a half ago. I didn’t miss many meals. I weighed about 230ish.
Now check out this guy:
That’s me at about 185. Much smaller. I weigh less now than I did as a sophomore in high school! I have defined muscles again in my chest, arms, abs, and legs!
When I tell people I have lost about 45 pounds since January of ’08 they always ask me how I did it. Are you thinking the same thing? I’ll tell you.
I eat less, and I exercise all the time. Sure I have my moments when I can eat a whole pizza or a small cow. But mostly I eat sandwiches for lunch, and Alexis and I have really changed how we prepare meals in the evening. We cook smaller, healthier portions. Also, instead of going out to eat at lunch with my co-workers, I hit the gym. Everyday. For example, yesterday I ran 4 miles at lunch and had a turkey sandwich at my desk afterwards. And that is pretty typical. Training for all those triathlons didn’t hurt either. It’s also not unusual for me to cycle, run or swim in the evenings too. I probably do ‘two-a-days’ about 2-3 days per week.
We don’t have any major trips or vacations planned for the summer. Usually a weekend getaway is enough to recharge our batteries. Hopefully one of those getaways will take us to your neck of the woods. Hope you enjoyed the update!
I noticed that the last blog was pretty old and the ones before that seemed to be about the same damn thing over and over; so how about a real update?
Alexis is off for the summer and she has started several painting projects. Including painting our upstairs guest bedroom furniture and the room up there as well. I don’t know when she will have the room finished, but the furniture looks pretty good. She is, for the most part, having a nice, relaxing summer and spending lots of time out by our pool with her friends.
I am absolutely swamped at work. The higher oil prices have people excited around the office and money for projects has loosened up. I’m sure you don’t care for the higher oil prices, but it’s job security for me. I have been up to North Dakota for business once last month and it looks like I will head back up there probably twice more this month. ND in the summer is much better than ND in the winter!
August 23rd Alexis and I are running in a half marathon. It’s like a marathon, but half as long; only 13.1 miles. Training is going…ok I guess, we both could be doing more. But its just running, in the heat, far…what do we need to train for?
As some of you may be aware, we have had a house guest, aka a roommate since about March. Waffles (that’s the guy’s name) is a good friend of ours and was a quasi victim of the poor economy…
Well he has been with us for a while now and all parties involved have decided that it is time for him to make other living arrangements. We are all on great terms, but it is time for him to move on, literally. Alexis and I are thrilled that we had the space and were able to help him when he needed it. Maybe one day he will thank us in the form of a Corvette or something really awesome along those lines.
Ace and Steve still dogs. Steve has grown into regular bulldog, and he weighs about 60 pounds. He is solid. Ace has his moments too.
Speaking of pounds. Check out the fat guy in this picture:
That’s me a year and a half ago. I didn’t miss many meals. I weighed about 230ish.
Now check out this guy:
That’s me at about 185. Much smaller. I weigh less now than I did as a sophomore in high school! I have defined muscles again in my chest, arms, abs, and legs!
When I tell people I have lost about 45 pounds since January of ’08 they always ask me how I did it. Are you thinking the same thing? I’ll tell you.
I eat less, and I exercise all the time. Sure I have my moments when I can eat a whole pizza or a small cow. But mostly I eat sandwiches for lunch, and Alexis and I have really changed how we prepare meals in the evening. We cook smaller, healthier portions. Also, instead of going out to eat at lunch with my co-workers, I hit the gym. Everyday. For example, yesterday I ran 4 miles at lunch and had a turkey sandwich at my desk afterwards. And that is pretty typical. Training for all those triathlons didn’t hurt either. It’s also not unusual for me to cycle, run or swim in the evenings too. I probably do ‘two-a-days’ about 2-3 days per week.
We don’t have any major trips or vacations planned for the summer. Usually a weekend getaway is enough to recharge our batteries. Hopefully one of those getaways will take us to your neck of the woods. Hope you enjoyed the update!
Friday, March 13, 2009
Triathlon Season Update
The second race of the season is in the books. Two weekends ago Alexis and I ventured down to Houston for the Take a Hike Ike! Triathlon. As it turned out, we went to Houston for one of their coldest weekends of the winter. This tri was supposed to be a 500 meter swim in Lake Houston, an 11 mile bike and a 5k run. I was advised earlier in the week that the water would be cold so I rented a wet suit.
On Saturday, Sonny, my dad, and I piled in the car and set out to find the race course and pick up the race packet. When we finally got to the park where the race was too be held, we were greeted with temperatures in the 40s and 20 mph winds. The lake was very choppy. you could be safe to say that the lake had 2-3 foot swells. These conditions were a far cry from the 85 degree pool at Gold’s Gym where I had been training.
Alexis and I woke up early on Sunday to head out to the lake. The weather was cold and I was less than excited to be racing that morning. But we drove all the way from Dallas and a few people were taking time out of their day to come and watch. I had to go.
We arrived to more of the same, temps in the 30s, 20mph winds and a very choppy lake. As I was at one of the pavilions finishing up my registration, one of the race officials came by and said that the swim portion of the race was cancelled due to unsafe (and cold) conditions. This was great news. Instead of the swim they inserted another 5k run. This meant I had to run 6.2 miles that morning. I had never run that far before, I had only done about 5 miles, and that was not recently. But I was too excited about not having to swim to care about how far I had to run.
Shortly before the race began, my parents arrived and then right before the race began Alexis’ parents arrived. I spent very little time stretching and warming up. There was no point, it was too cold.
They decided to start everyone at one time instead of in waves like they had originally planned for in the swim. So everyone lined up and started in one giant pack. But that was not the case for very long. After a mile or two, it started to thin out as people slowed down and paced themselves. The first 5k I finished in about 26 minutes. After a quick transition I was off to the cycling portion. I had the wind at my back and it felt good to be off of my feet. The ride was very scenic and wooded. But it went by quick since it was only 11 miles. Then it was back to the run. By this time, my legs were pretty heavy. By the way, it was still very cold. My pace was a little slower, but not by much, the second 5k took about 27 minutes.
Overall I finished 43rd out of 156. For my age group I finished 6th out of 12. I feel like I did a pretty good job, and I am glad that they changed it to run, bike, run.
The next event is a ride with my company cycling club up in Sulphur Springs on the 21st. Then a fun run the next weekend, I am actually considering the 10K, not the 5k! And the weekend after that it is off to Galveston for another tri.
On Saturday, Sonny, my dad, and I piled in the car and set out to find the race course and pick up the race packet. When we finally got to the park where the race was too be held, we were greeted with temperatures in the 40s and 20 mph winds. The lake was very choppy. you could be safe to say that the lake had 2-3 foot swells. These conditions were a far cry from the 85 degree pool at Gold’s Gym where I had been training.
Alexis and I woke up early on Sunday to head out to the lake. The weather was cold and I was less than excited to be racing that morning. But we drove all the way from Dallas and a few people were taking time out of their day to come and watch. I had to go.
We arrived to more of the same, temps in the 30s, 20mph winds and a very choppy lake. As I was at one of the pavilions finishing up my registration, one of the race officials came by and said that the swim portion of the race was cancelled due to unsafe (and cold) conditions. This was great news. Instead of the swim they inserted another 5k run. This meant I had to run 6.2 miles that morning. I had never run that far before, I had only done about 5 miles, and that was not recently. But I was too excited about not having to swim to care about how far I had to run.
Shortly before the race began, my parents arrived and then right before the race began Alexis’ parents arrived. I spent very little time stretching and warming up. There was no point, it was too cold.
They decided to start everyone at one time instead of in waves like they had originally planned for in the swim. So everyone lined up and started in one giant pack. But that was not the case for very long. After a mile or two, it started to thin out as people slowed down and paced themselves. The first 5k I finished in about 26 minutes. After a quick transition I was off to the cycling portion. I had the wind at my back and it felt good to be off of my feet. The ride was very scenic and wooded. But it went by quick since it was only 11 miles. Then it was back to the run. By this time, my legs were pretty heavy. By the way, it was still very cold. My pace was a little slower, but not by much, the second 5k took about 27 minutes.
Overall I finished 43rd out of 156. For my age group I finished 6th out of 12. I feel like I did a pretty good job, and I am glad that they changed it to run, bike, run.
The next event is a ride with my company cycling club up in Sulphur Springs on the 21st. Then a fun run the next weekend, I am actually considering the 10K, not the 5k! And the weekend after that it is off to Galveston for another tri.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Heading Down to Houston
Today Alexis and I are loading up the hounds and heading down to Houston for my first triathlon of the season. I am taking a half day off to pack up, get in one last run, and make sure we take everything we need for the race on Sunday.
Yesterday, I rented a wet suit. I had never tried one on before so it was a new experience. When I got home, I put it back on to show Alexis, and I wore it for about ten minutes. That ten minute span was enough for me to sweat in it a little and it was tough tough tough to get off. It will be interesting to see how it comes off after swimming 500 meters on Sunday.
My plan for today is to leave work at lunch time, pack the car, then run a couple (2-3) miles, then double check what I packed and make sure I have everything I need for the race.
Talk to you after the race!
Yesterday, I rented a wet suit. I had never tried one on before so it was a new experience. When I got home, I put it back on to show Alexis, and I wore it for about ten minutes. That ten minute span was enough for me to sweat in it a little and it was tough tough tough to get off. It will be interesting to see how it comes off after swimming 500 meters on Sunday.
My plan for today is to leave work at lunch time, pack the car, then run a couple (2-3) miles, then double check what I packed and make sure I have everything I need for the race.
Talk to you after the race!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Run, Bike, Run
My first race of the season has come and gone. Here is a rundown of what happened.
My day started bright and early around 5 am. We needed to leave around 6:15 to get to the race with plenty of time to spare. Our thermometer said the air temperature was 35 degrees. That is about 35 degrees colder than I like to ride in. Oh well, I was committed; I pleaded with Alexis but she would not let me back out due to the cold..
Alexis and I loaded up and headed north of Fort Worth to Texas Motor Speedway (TMS).
For those of you who are not familiar with TMS it is our local NASCAR track. It holds over 100,000+ fans and hosts two NASCAR races per year. The track is about 2.5 miles around.
We arrived and we were instructed to go through a tunnel that lead to the infield of the track, this was very cool. When we emerged from the tunnel the super structure of TMS greeted us. It was very impressive. After getting our bearings we parked and headed over to the transition area (the area where the racers go when they transition from one leg of the race to another). The current temp was still in the 30’s. Very cold. Alexis and I were both dressed in layers, but my layers were only temporary. I only had a cotton t-shirt under my racing jersey and nothing over or under my cycling shorts. I was thinking that I would be very cold.
I tried to do some light stretching and some light jogging to warm up, but what I really needed to warm-up was the shot of adrenalin that comes from the starting gun.
My heat was first, men 19-39. We had to listen to a pre-race meeting and some final course instructions, I should have been stretching and getting ready. As soon as the meeting was over we were told to line up for the start. I quickly went to my spot in the transition area to take off my warm-up clothes, that’s when the gun sounded. Oops! I wasn’t close to the starting line. I threw off the rest of my warm-ups and ran to catch up. I am sure I looked stupid.
With the race underway, I started to pass some of the slower runners. The cold was not bothering me at all. We had to do two loops around a track inside of the main NASCAR track. Each loop was about 1 mile. When my two laps were finished and I was running into the transition area, I saw the official time was just over 15 minutes. I had just run two miles at about a 7:40 pace, very strong for me.
In the transition area, I took off my running shoes and beanie. I put on my cycling shoes and helmet and I was out of the transition area in a minute, thirty. The cycling portion was about 16 miles. There is a loop around the outside of TMS called Victory Circle, we had to do it three times. I started out at about 21 mph for about 3 miles, then I realized I needed to slow down so I would have something left at the end. I tried to keep my speed around 18 mph. That was fast enough, but I wasn’t over-working myself. After about 3 miles, I cooled down from the two miles I had just run. That’s when the cold started to set in. By the end of the bike portion, my fingers were numb and I could not feel my toes either. As I approached the transition area at the end of the bike portion I saw Alexis run to the front of the group of spectators. She cheered and snapped some pictures of me as I rode by.
I entered the transition area, I was cold, tired and still had to run two more miles. My numb toes made the first ¾ of a mile difficult. I felt like I was barely moving, but no one was passing me, so I could not have been doing that bad. This two miles seemed longer than the first two. I was getting tired. But with about a half mile to go, I decided I would pass a couple of guys who seemed to be out of gas. I kicked into a higher gear to finish the race. I was not about 75 yards from the finish line and I could see the official time, I was at about an hour and twenty five minutes. When I saw that I was relieved, my goal was to finish in less than an hour and a half. And I did.
My second two miles were faster than my first two at about 7.30 per mile. I averaged 18.4 mph on the bike. I came in 147 overall and 7 in my class (out of 17). Including men, women and children there were 350 racers, so I finished in the top half. My official time was 1 hour, twenty five minutes and some seconds. I barely beat the entire field average.
This was a good warm-up for my first triathlon of the season this coming weekend. Recent readings of the lake temperature have been around 60 degrees. This week’s tri will be a 500 meter swim, 11 mile bike and 5k run.
My day started bright and early around 5 am. We needed to leave around 6:15 to get to the race with plenty of time to spare. Our thermometer said the air temperature was 35 degrees. That is about 35 degrees colder than I like to ride in. Oh well, I was committed; I pleaded with Alexis but she would not let me back out due to the cold..
Alexis and I loaded up and headed north of Fort Worth to Texas Motor Speedway (TMS).
For those of you who are not familiar with TMS it is our local NASCAR track. It holds over 100,000+ fans and hosts two NASCAR races per year. The track is about 2.5 miles around.
We arrived and we were instructed to go through a tunnel that lead to the infield of the track, this was very cool. When we emerged from the tunnel the super structure of TMS greeted us. It was very impressive. After getting our bearings we parked and headed over to the transition area (the area where the racers go when they transition from one leg of the race to another). The current temp was still in the 30’s. Very cold. Alexis and I were both dressed in layers, but my layers were only temporary. I only had a cotton t-shirt under my racing jersey and nothing over or under my cycling shorts. I was thinking that I would be very cold.
I tried to do some light stretching and some light jogging to warm up, but what I really needed to warm-up was the shot of adrenalin that comes from the starting gun.
My heat was first, men 19-39. We had to listen to a pre-race meeting and some final course instructions, I should have been stretching and getting ready. As soon as the meeting was over we were told to line up for the start. I quickly went to my spot in the transition area to take off my warm-up clothes, that’s when the gun sounded. Oops! I wasn’t close to the starting line. I threw off the rest of my warm-ups and ran to catch up. I am sure I looked stupid.
With the race underway, I started to pass some of the slower runners. The cold was not bothering me at all. We had to do two loops around a track inside of the main NASCAR track. Each loop was about 1 mile. When my two laps were finished and I was running into the transition area, I saw the official time was just over 15 minutes. I had just run two miles at about a 7:40 pace, very strong for me.
In the transition area, I took off my running shoes and beanie. I put on my cycling shoes and helmet and I was out of the transition area in a minute, thirty. The cycling portion was about 16 miles. There is a loop around the outside of TMS called Victory Circle, we had to do it three times. I started out at about 21 mph for about 3 miles, then I realized I needed to slow down so I would have something left at the end. I tried to keep my speed around 18 mph. That was fast enough, but I wasn’t over-working myself. After about 3 miles, I cooled down from the two miles I had just run. That’s when the cold started to set in. By the end of the bike portion, my fingers were numb and I could not feel my toes either. As I approached the transition area at the end of the bike portion I saw Alexis run to the front of the group of spectators. She cheered and snapped some pictures of me as I rode by.
I entered the transition area, I was cold, tired and still had to run two more miles. My numb toes made the first ¾ of a mile difficult. I felt like I was barely moving, but no one was passing me, so I could not have been doing that bad. This two miles seemed longer than the first two. I was getting tired. But with about a half mile to go, I decided I would pass a couple of guys who seemed to be out of gas. I kicked into a higher gear to finish the race. I was not about 75 yards from the finish line and I could see the official time, I was at about an hour and twenty five minutes. When I saw that I was relieved, my goal was to finish in less than an hour and a half. And I did.
My second two miles were faster than my first two at about 7.30 per mile. I averaged 18.4 mph on the bike. I came in 147 overall and 7 in my class (out of 17). Including men, women and children there were 350 racers, so I finished in the top half. My official time was 1 hour, twenty five minutes and some seconds. I barely beat the entire field average.
This was a good warm-up for my first triathlon of the season this coming weekend. Recent readings of the lake temperature have been around 60 degrees. This week’s tri will be a 500 meter swim, 11 mile bike and 5k run.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Run, Bike, Swim
Swim, Bike, Run. Sounds easy enough. Especially when you do each one by itself. Who doesn’t enjoy piddling around in the pool (swim)? And everyone enjoys a nice ride around the block on their bike (bike). And who doesn’t like chase their dog at the park (run)? Like I said, when each is done separately, it’s relatively easy and paints a picture of a sunny weekend afternoon.
But what if all three are put together and not done in leisurely activities as described above? Then you have a triathlon! By this I mean swim a quarter mile, ride for 15 miles and then run about 3 miles.
I’ve done this before, and so has Diana and Daryl for that matter, but I was in college at the time. Things have changed since then. But Late 2008 I decided that triathlons were something that I wanted to get into again so I started running, biking and swimming.
Rewind to about this same time last year. I was at the doctor’s office for a cold or something and I weighed about 235. Not great. Over the course of the year I lost about 25-30 pounds of that. When I decided to start training I was between 205 and 210. Much better. This year alone, I have gotten down to somewhere between 205 and 200. When I finished college I was at about 205.
Training for me is almost an everyday occurrence. 4 days a week I go to the gym at lunch to work out or run. The remaining day I attend a Bible study, otherwise I would go 5 days per week. Most weekday evenings I will run again, take a spin class, swim, or go for a ride. I would say 3 days a week I do two-a-days and about 6 days a week I work out at least once.
When February rolled around, I decided to cut way back on the two vices that were holding me back. Pizza and beer. Why February? Because on March 1 I will be doing my first tri of the season down in Houston. I wanted to make sure I gave myself the best chance I could to get into even better shape. In fact, next weekend (Feb 22) I am doing a duathlon at Texas Motor Speedway which is a run, bike, run. Run 2, ride 15, run 2 more. That should pretty much have me ready for the tri the following weekend. The weekend after the tri, I will run a 4.5 mile leg of an 18 mile relay with a group from work. Then April 4 it is back to triathlons for another one at Moody Gardens in Galveston.
I will keep you posted on my progress as I prepare for the events. On Friday I will post a quick update of my activities for the week in preparation for this weekend's big race.
But what if all three are put together and not done in leisurely activities as described above? Then you have a triathlon! By this I mean swim a quarter mile, ride for 15 miles and then run about 3 miles.
I’ve done this before, and so has Diana and Daryl for that matter, but I was in college at the time. Things have changed since then. But Late 2008 I decided that triathlons were something that I wanted to get into again so I started running, biking and swimming.
Rewind to about this same time last year. I was at the doctor’s office for a cold or something and I weighed about 235. Not great. Over the course of the year I lost about 25-30 pounds of that. When I decided to start training I was between 205 and 210. Much better. This year alone, I have gotten down to somewhere between 205 and 200. When I finished college I was at about 205.
Training for me is almost an everyday occurrence. 4 days a week I go to the gym at lunch to work out or run. The remaining day I attend a Bible study, otherwise I would go 5 days per week. Most weekday evenings I will run again, take a spin class, swim, or go for a ride. I would say 3 days a week I do two-a-days and about 6 days a week I work out at least once.
When February rolled around, I decided to cut way back on the two vices that were holding me back. Pizza and beer. Why February? Because on March 1 I will be doing my first tri of the season down in Houston. I wanted to make sure I gave myself the best chance I could to get into even better shape. In fact, next weekend (Feb 22) I am doing a duathlon at Texas Motor Speedway which is a run, bike, run. Run 2, ride 15, run 2 more. That should pretty much have me ready for the tri the following weekend. The weekend after the tri, I will run a 4.5 mile leg of an 18 mile relay with a group from work. Then April 4 it is back to triathlons for another one at Moody Gardens in Galveston.
I will keep you posted on my progress as I prepare for the events. On Friday I will post a quick update of my activities for the week in preparation for this weekend's big race.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Brett Joins the Blue Angels
One thing I am always willing to do is to learn how to do something new. Whether it is how to play guitar, how to install things around the house or even something useless like how to play Rock Band, I am always up to learn something new. Because let’s face it, there is a lot that I don’t know. I don’t even know what I don’t know. You know?
In an effort to continue to learn new stuff I have set my sites on mastering the skies. I have started taking flying lessons. Alexis made reference to this endeavor in her Super Bowl blog. So here is the story of my first flight with an instructor.
There is a small, mostly corporate, airport near out house. Lear jets for corporate big-wigs fly in and out of this airport (Addison) as well as weekend warriors and small plane owners. For a small airport, it is one of the busiest in the country. Alexis and I always hear small aircraft buzzing around overhead.
I got there early Sunday morning, around 7 am. This was to be my first flight in a Cessna 172. The main purpose of this flight was not necessarily to teach, but to get the student hooked so the flight school could suck you in and keep taking your money. I’m guessing by the looks of their large and new fleet of planes that they were good at getting you hooked. The flight plan for the day was simple; I was to do all of the flying. That may not sound too bad if you have lots of experience flying, but my flying experience is limited to seat backs and tray tables in their upright and locked positions.
The instructor readied the plane to taxiing and we climbed in. You are wondering if I am going to tell you about his instructions or lessons before we got in, well there were pretty much none. We get in and he stats the propeller. Then he tells me it is my job to taxi out to the run way, but he would talk to the tower for us. He tells me not to touch the yoke (steering wheel) but to use the pedals on the floor to steer the plane, so I do. As we approach the runway he gives me some last minute advice on how quickly to climb and at what speed to pull back on the yoke to lift us off. With no time to argue, or tell him he was an idiot for letting someone he just met fly, we started to build speed and charge down the runway. Once we hit 55 knots, I started to pull up; and then started to fly!!! We took off and headed east.
We had to stay below a certain altitude due to DFW airport being about 20 miles away. We climbed to 2000 feet. Everything looked familiar so at least I would have known what I was crashing into. But there was no crashing to be done today. As we flew he then took the time to explain what the instruments were that were in front of me; how to use them and what they did. Good things to know. We climbed to about 3000 feet and we were then out of DFW’s range so we were free to do whatever. We flew over some local lakes and continued to climb. We got up to about 5000 feet, which I did all by myself, he was just sitting in the seat next to me. It was very nice and much easier than I thought it would be.
In an effort to continue to learn new stuff I have set my sites on mastering the skies. I have started taking flying lessons. Alexis made reference to this endeavor in her Super Bowl blog. So here is the story of my first flight with an instructor.
There is a small, mostly corporate, airport near out house. Lear jets for corporate big-wigs fly in and out of this airport (Addison) as well as weekend warriors and small plane owners. For a small airport, it is one of the busiest in the country. Alexis and I always hear small aircraft buzzing around overhead.
I got there early Sunday morning, around 7 am. This was to be my first flight in a Cessna 172. The main purpose of this flight was not necessarily to teach, but to get the student hooked so the flight school could suck you in and keep taking your money. I’m guessing by the looks of their large and new fleet of planes that they were good at getting you hooked. The flight plan for the day was simple; I was to do all of the flying. That may not sound too bad if you have lots of experience flying, but my flying experience is limited to seat backs and tray tables in their upright and locked positions.
The instructor readied the plane to taxiing and we climbed in. You are wondering if I am going to tell you about his instructions or lessons before we got in, well there were pretty much none. We get in and he stats the propeller. Then he tells me it is my job to taxi out to the run way, but he would talk to the tower for us. He tells me not to touch the yoke (steering wheel) but to use the pedals on the floor to steer the plane, so I do. As we approach the runway he gives me some last minute advice on how quickly to climb and at what speed to pull back on the yoke to lift us off. With no time to argue, or tell him he was an idiot for letting someone he just met fly, we started to build speed and charge down the runway. Once we hit 55 knots, I started to pull up; and then started to fly!!! We took off and headed east.
We had to stay below a certain altitude due to DFW airport being about 20 miles away. We climbed to 2000 feet. Everything looked familiar so at least I would have known what I was crashing into. But there was no crashing to be done today. As we flew he then took the time to explain what the instruments were that were in front of me; how to use them and what they did. Good things to know. We climbed to about 3000 feet and we were then out of DFW’s range so we were free to do whatever. We flew over some local lakes and continued to climb. We got up to about 5000 feet, which I did all by myself, he was just sitting in the seat next to me. It was very nice and much easier than I thought it would be.
The flying part seemed to be easy. The instructor suggested we try gliding. I didn’t really know what he meant until he idled the plane, which basically shut off the propeller and we started to glide. Gliding seems like a peaceful and relaxing task. No. Not for rookies. It’s terrifying. With the propeller not propelling the plane anymore we start fall. He is relaxed in his delivery of instructions, but there was quite a bit of urgency in my execution of his instructions. The feeling of a freefall in an airplane is not that pleasant. However, with his calm instructions I was able to make the plane glide, instead of fall. We were even able to climb and descend as we wanted to. While I was able to control the plane, I was still terrified and not at ease until he got the propeller cranked up again. I guess the scariest part was not knowing how to get the propeller going again incase he suddenly died. Gliding and landing on my first flight were definitely not things I could master in case of such an emergency. But I got through that unscathed and I deffinately learned from it.
After the gliding we continued to fly. We climbed back up and had a smooth uneventful return to Addison.
For the landing, he gave me instructions on where to go and how to approach the runway. I did all of the descent into the airport. Under power, descending is not bad at all. I lined up the plane for our final descent and got us to about 100 feet above the ground. Then, in the interest of both our lives, he took over and landed to plane smoothly; thanks of course, to my magnificent approach.
It was a great flight and it is something that I will for sure pursue, hopefully! A pilots license can take over a year to get, or as little as 6 months. I will probably be closer to a year since I can’t fly all the time (it’s expensive). It will take a while, but as long as I keep it on my mind, keep up with the studying, and do well when I actually do fly it is something that I will be able to do for years to come.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Super Bowl
First of all, congratulations to the Steelers!!
Brett started the day off by flying a plane...he can tell you about the experience later. I baked a dark chocolate fudge cake, hid it in the laundry room to cool and went to run some errands. Brett was gone for 20 minutes and came back inside to this...
Brett started the day off by flying a plane...he can tell you about the experience later. I baked a dark chocolate fudge cake, hid it in the laundry room to cool and went to run some errands. Brett was gone for 20 minutes and came back inside to this...
Yes, that is a half eaten cake courtesy of Ace. When he called and told me the news, I thought he was joking. Here is a description of the cake, "The irresistible chocolate aroma permeates throughout the house." Ace proved that it was indeed irresistible. I ended up making another cake and watching Ace very closely. Brett made chili and something called bacon explosion. I call it heart attack in a roll. We had 7-layer dip, Chris-kabobs, salsa, deviled eggs, puppy chow, sopapilla cheesecake, cake balls and my football field cake. Everything was amazingly delicious!!
Here is everyone watching the 3D halftime show.
Just having fun!
Meagan playing pool upstairs.
Josh playing darts. I hope he didn't miss the target!
Meagan and Emily
Casey and James
Saturday, January 31, 2009
PICTURES!!
We finally have pictures of our house!! They are pictures we took during Christmas, so realize that we do not have the same decorations.
This is the front of our house. We have taken off the white glass door and painted the door the same color as our fireplace. We will be landscaping this spring!
This is our backyard. There is a covered area with two fans and we added the lights
around the top. The window leads to the kitchen. Beyond the patio is grass. As you can
see towards the bottom, there is a hot tub and pool.
There are more pictures in picasa. We just got new carpet upstairs...to go with our pool table.
Click on the link to the right!!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
W
Time to stop down from getting you caught up and let you in on something that just happened.
Usually at lunch I go to the gym for a nice mid-day work out followed by a quick sandwich at my desk when I return. Today was going to be different. I had a Bible study that I was going to join in instead so I brought no work out clothes. The guy who was supposed to come in and lead the Bible study canceled. So I was left to my own devices for lunch. Luckily one of my co-workers came by and asked me if I wanted to have lunch upstairs. I agreed and at 11:30 we made our way up to the company cafeteria.
We got our food and sat down at a table. About 15 minutes of uneventful lunch went by. Then a commotion began behind me where you enter the cafeteria. I turned around and there was Laura Bush. Then after further gazing into the crowd of co-workers I saw George W. Bush!
Now, all political opinions aside, if you ever have the chance to see the President in person, let alone speak to him and shake his hand, just about any red blooded American would jump at the opportunity. Red blooded American = Brett
He made his way into the common eating area, stopping at each table to shake each lunch-goer’s hand and greet him or her with a brief word. It was pretty cool to see him do that for everyone. Then he headed over to me and my co-worker. He shook our hands and we introduced ourselves.
Greeting everyone in the room seemed like second nature to him. There was nothing awkward about him at all. As he made his rounds more and more employees kept showing up as they became aware that he was here. He gladly greeted each of them as well.
It was a very cool experience. An experience that probably will not present itself too often in my life, so I was glad I was able to meet him.
Usually at lunch I go to the gym for a nice mid-day work out followed by a quick sandwich at my desk when I return. Today was going to be different. I had a Bible study that I was going to join in instead so I brought no work out clothes. The guy who was supposed to come in and lead the Bible study canceled. So I was left to my own devices for lunch. Luckily one of my co-workers came by and asked me if I wanted to have lunch upstairs. I agreed and at 11:30 we made our way up to the company cafeteria.
We got our food and sat down at a table. About 15 minutes of uneventful lunch went by. Then a commotion began behind me where you enter the cafeteria. I turned around and there was Laura Bush. Then after further gazing into the crowd of co-workers I saw George W. Bush!
Now, all political opinions aside, if you ever have the chance to see the President in person, let alone speak to him and shake his hand, just about any red blooded American would jump at the opportunity. Red blooded American = Brett
He made his way into the common eating area, stopping at each table to shake each lunch-goer’s hand and greet him or her with a brief word. It was pretty cool to see him do that for everyone. Then he headed over to me and my co-worker. He shook our hands and we introduced ourselves.
Greeting everyone in the room seemed like second nature to him. There was nothing awkward about him at all. As he made his rounds more and more employees kept showing up as they became aware that he was here. He gladly greeted each of them as well.
It was a very cool experience. An experience that probably will not present itself too often in my life, so I was glad I was able to meet him.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Keeping the Momentum Going!
Now that there is blood flowing through this blog again let’s keep it flowing with another update. One thing that you might want more of is pictures. We have them, but I don’t know if we can get them posted. The computer we do that from is suffering from a nasty virus and I don’t think Alexis’ school laptop is set up for us to do picture stuff. Why don’t I use the computer I am on now to upload the pictures you ask? Because I am at work. Time well spent.
The reason I bring up pictures is because I am going to chat about our new house. The pictures would be very useful in a before and after context. But instead you will have to use your imagination in concert with my description.
A little background info. Alexis and I had been looking to buy a house around this time last year, but since I had been self-employed I needed to have two years of that history, which would be around now. But when I was hired in August we went into high gear for finding a house. We were ahead of the game in that we already knew what part of town and even what neighborhood we wanted to live in so we were quickly able to narrow our search and get serious. We looked at several houses. Two of which we really liked and went so far as to make offers on them. But we were a day too late in both cases. This taught us to move faster. We knew what we wanted and how much we could afford, so if we liked something we knew we could respond quickly.
Quickly. One weekend, during our house hunting, Alexis had to go out of town. I had one house that we were supposed to look at, so I went solo. I loved it. It was everything we wanted; updated, well kept, pool, hot tub, sprinkler system, game room, the whole nine. Only problem was Alexis had not seen it. Another problem was that I thought the house was priced really low for what we were getting. We had to act quickly, I did not want to be a day late on this house. So I made an offer that day. Ballsy I know…
The whole time I was in contact with Alexis, so she knew what I was doing, but she had not seen it for herself. I started with a low-ball offer. It was rejected. I considered that the house was priced to sell, and certainly would in this neighborhood, so I met their asking price. By the time they accepted our offer, Alexis had returned and had a chance to tour the house, she liked it too. My gamble paid off; luckily.
It was a fun time during the whole process. The house was vacant so we could go whenever we wanted. We were present for the inspection, and besides a dirty pool, the inspector only found small things; nothing major. A relief for both of us.
In the days approaching our closing and move in date, we brainstormed about all of the things that we wanted to do. Painting, carpet, landscaping, furnishing the game room, and generally making the house our own.
As for acting fast, we learned during the days leading up to close, that if things fell through, the sellers had a back-up offer in hand and had received a couple other offers on the house. Who knows, if we had not acted as quickly as we did, we probably would not have gotten the house.
The description will be posted later...
The reason I bring up pictures is because I am going to chat about our new house. The pictures would be very useful in a before and after context. But instead you will have to use your imagination in concert with my description.
A little background info. Alexis and I had been looking to buy a house around this time last year, but since I had been self-employed I needed to have two years of that history, which would be around now. But when I was hired in August we went into high gear for finding a house. We were ahead of the game in that we already knew what part of town and even what neighborhood we wanted to live in so we were quickly able to narrow our search and get serious. We looked at several houses. Two of which we really liked and went so far as to make offers on them. But we were a day too late in both cases. This taught us to move faster. We knew what we wanted and how much we could afford, so if we liked something we knew we could respond quickly.
Quickly. One weekend, during our house hunting, Alexis had to go out of town. I had one house that we were supposed to look at, so I went solo. I loved it. It was everything we wanted; updated, well kept, pool, hot tub, sprinkler system, game room, the whole nine. Only problem was Alexis had not seen it. Another problem was that I thought the house was priced really low for what we were getting. We had to act quickly, I did not want to be a day late on this house. So I made an offer that day. Ballsy I know…
The whole time I was in contact with Alexis, so she knew what I was doing, but she had not seen it for herself. I started with a low-ball offer. It was rejected. I considered that the house was priced to sell, and certainly would in this neighborhood, so I met their asking price. By the time they accepted our offer, Alexis had returned and had a chance to tour the house, she liked it too. My gamble paid off; luckily.
It was a fun time during the whole process. The house was vacant so we could go whenever we wanted. We were present for the inspection, and besides a dirty pool, the inspector only found small things; nothing major. A relief for both of us.
In the days approaching our closing and move in date, we brainstormed about all of the things that we wanted to do. Painting, carpet, landscaping, furnishing the game room, and generally making the house our own.
As for acting fast, we learned during the days leading up to close, that if things fell through, the sellers had a back-up offer in hand and had received a couple other offers on the house. Who knows, if we had not acted as quickly as we did, we probably would not have gotten the house.
The description will be posted later...
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
It Has Been a While!!
May 5, 2008 was the last time that I put up a blog. After reading it recently I realized how half-ass it was so I thought for 2009, I would try and redeem myself as a novice blogger. I suppose that I lost interest in this for a while, or maybe I got really busy, or maybe I just forgot to keep it up. To tell the truth, it is probably a combination of all of those things. Maybe Alexis and I are just not that interesting…no, that’s not it!
Also, when I recently looked at my blog, I saw that I had been tagged by Jessie, which I will get to, but probably not today. So Jessie, I will respond to your tag, soon.
Let’s get you caught up with our world.
Alexis completed her first full year as a kindergarten teacher at Northwood Hills Elementary. She liked it so much that she decided now would not be a good time to retire and that she should keep teaching. This year’s class does not seem to be as well behaved as last year’s class. I think this year’s class is 20 boys and 2 girls. OK I am exaggerating, but not by much. The boys tend to group together and act like 5 year olds.
She has a repeat from her class last year, who was not ready for Kindergarten so he was sent down to pre-K. Evidently is grandmother did not wish hard enough for him to get smart (she once told Alexis that for her other grandson, she wished and wished and wished that he would become well behaved, and he did. She thought she would wish and wish and wish for Alexis’ current student to get smart.) Thus far the grandmother’s plan has not worked. Who knows, the Smart Fairy could still make a visit.
*The previous paragraph was not written or approved by Alexis*
Alexis is also not working the long hours that she did her first year and even the first part of this second year. It’s pretty nice, she leaves after me and gets home before me.
As for my job, it has changed a little. I was a contractor at an oil company based in Dallas run by some guy named Ray, and in August I was hired as a full time Landman. Finally, after over a year of being “self employed” I had benefits, company paid health insurance, 401(k), opportunities for raises and bonuses and promotions. All the things some people might take for granted if you work in a corporate setting. I have been responsible for land activities in North Dakota where our target formation is the Bakken Shale. Things were really great at $140 oil, but things aren’t as great at $40 oil. But all things aside, it’s nice to have some job security for once.
The only complaint I have is that our dress code is formal business attire. That means suits, jackets, and ties. What is this, the ‘20s? Oh well, I still sport the crazy hair though!
There are many more things to cover including Ace and Steve, our new house, Texas Tech football, and other current endeavors. But for now, I have neglected my job for long enough. I need to get back to work and try to figure out how to get the price of oil back up!
Also, when I recently looked at my blog, I saw that I had been tagged by Jessie, which I will get to, but probably not today. So Jessie, I will respond to your tag, soon.
Let’s get you caught up with our world.
Alexis completed her first full year as a kindergarten teacher at Northwood Hills Elementary. She liked it so much that she decided now would not be a good time to retire and that she should keep teaching. This year’s class does not seem to be as well behaved as last year’s class. I think this year’s class is 20 boys and 2 girls. OK I am exaggerating, but not by much. The boys tend to group together and act like 5 year olds.
She has a repeat from her class last year, who was not ready for Kindergarten so he was sent down to pre-K. Evidently is grandmother did not wish hard enough for him to get smart (she once told Alexis that for her other grandson, she wished and wished and wished that he would become well behaved, and he did. She thought she would wish and wish and wish for Alexis’ current student to get smart.) Thus far the grandmother’s plan has not worked. Who knows, the Smart Fairy could still make a visit.
*The previous paragraph was not written or approved by Alexis*
Alexis is also not working the long hours that she did her first year and even the first part of this second year. It’s pretty nice, she leaves after me and gets home before me.
As for my job, it has changed a little. I was a contractor at an oil company based in Dallas run by some guy named Ray, and in August I was hired as a full time Landman. Finally, after over a year of being “self employed” I had benefits, company paid health insurance, 401(k), opportunities for raises and bonuses and promotions. All the things some people might take for granted if you work in a corporate setting. I have been responsible for land activities in North Dakota where our target formation is the Bakken Shale. Things were really great at $140 oil, but things aren’t as great at $40 oil. But all things aside, it’s nice to have some job security for once.
The only complaint I have is that our dress code is formal business attire. That means suits, jackets, and ties. What is this, the ‘20s? Oh well, I still sport the crazy hair though!
There are many more things to cover including Ace and Steve, our new house, Texas Tech football, and other current endeavors. But for now, I have neglected my job for long enough. I need to get back to work and try to figure out how to get the price of oil back up!
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