A slight lull in the action....

Loyal Readers:

We apologize for the lack of posts over the course of the last two weeks. We've been distracted by the Olympics, particularly the curling and the nordic combined.

On the curling front, was anyone else amazed by Canada's Kevin Martin aka K-Mart/The Old Bear? We found him to be a magician on the ice and gained a new appreciation for the sport. Now we need curling to take off in the USA!

And how about the American nordic combined athletes, especially Johnny Spillane and Bill Demong? It was certainly inspirational to see American athletes excel in a discipline previously dominated by other countries.
 
The only bit of disappointment stems from the ice hockey losses to the Canadians. Contestant #2 is a native Buffalonian, so today's loss in the men's hockey finale was tough to swallow as Team USA's goalie was the superb Olympic MVP Ryan Miller. Ryan, along with Buffalonians Patrick Kane and Brooks Orpik, made Buffalo proud during these Games. And in the grand scheme of things, a silver medal isn't too bad.

Contestant #2 also gives a shout out to bobsledder and Olympic gold medalist Steve Mesler, yet another Buffalo-born athlete.

We hope you all enjoyed the Games as much as we did and we'll attempt to resume our normal posting routine.

Thanks for reading.

Not-so-Fairweather (Gym) Patriots - Observances from the NY Times

 I saw this article while I was browsing the NY Times today in search of real news.  It talks about how frustrated people get when all those people trying to make good on their New Year's work out resolution.  The whole point, as I interpret these folks, is that too many people do nothing at the gym but listen to iPods, talk on cell phones and hoard their favorite dumbbells.  And, not only that, they come and clog the gym during January and February with unrealistic visions of bikini bods dancing in their heads.

First, I think if people get to the gym, even if it's for a couple of months, give them credit.  Tens of millions don't get off their couch every year.  Also,  as a person who takes a bit of hiatus after the tri season, I showed up in January to begin training for races in the spring.  Since I'm not an Ironman-in-training, I think taking a couple of months off  from October-December gives me some free time, which I look forward to.

Second, I don't use an iPod in training since most tris don't allow them during the race, but  it's hard to occupy time on a treadmill or a stationary bike without sweet, sweet Barry Manilow.   I definitely think it's fine to listen to whatever to get you moving, as long as I can't hear it.

I agree with the position of the authors on the whole commandeering equipment thing.   Look, if your not using it, then don't claim it.  I also can't understand why people have their favorite bike, treadmill, or "place" in the gym...my view is that we're all adults, so just deal if someone gets on that 20 year old Lifecycle.

I guess the gym I go to is huge, and when I go I'm focused on getting it done, not on what others are doing to waste their time or use it fruitfully.

Do these traits described in the NYT articles happen frequently, maybe I'm just not aware?

Thanks for reading.

Get Outta My Lane! - Etiquette in the Pool

I had an interesting experience this during a morning swim at our local YMCA. I am fortunate enough to have President's Day off from work, so I took my time getting to the pool today. Arriving at about 11 am, I knew in advance that only 2 of the 4 lanes would be reserved for lap swim. I don't mind sharing a lane at all (as long as no one slams into me) and I find that most people think the same way.

The pool was really busy today, probably because of the holiday. I had to wait a few minutes to get in the pool because both lanes already had 3 people in them. No big deal in my mind.

I got in a lane with a two very different swimmers - one woman who doing breast stroke pretty leisurely while her husband and kids played in the recreational swim area (she's ID'd as breast stroker in this post) and another woman who was a good swimmer and clearly swam quite often during the week (ID'd as superior female swimmer from here on out). I would put myself in between these 2 in terms of ability.

The three of us seemed to be managing our circle swim quite well until a fourth person, a male swimmer, jumped into the lane with us. It definitely became a bit of rush hour and the superior female swimmer was clearly not happy that there were 3 other swimmers in the lane who were serving as barriers to the completion of her workout.  The male swimmer was staying out of everyone's way because he was a very fast swimmer. At one point, female superior swimmer asked if she could go ahead of me on a lap and I said fine, but she then proceeded to literally swim into the breast stroker.

Fortunately, the breast stroker and superior female swimmer ended up finishing their workouts shortly thereafter and the male swimmer and I were able to split the lane ourselves for the remainder of my workout.

Now I recognize that swimming is my weakest tri leg, which means I'm slower than many swimmers, and I have the added perk of being 7.5 moths pregnant. At this point I'm dragging 20 extra pounds through the water, so I am probably swimming slower than I had pre-pregnancy. But I don't got to the pool to break any world records; I was looking for a low impact, but high quality workout (which I talked about in my previous post about prenatal fitness).

My attitude is, if you're a faster swimmer than others in the lane, either figure out a way to pass them or discuss with them how you want to share the lane. It's no big deal and it's par for the course when you participate in a sport that is friendly to all ages and abilities, and you definitely get a wide range of swimmers at the Y. If you only want to be around fast swimmers, then join a swim club or a pool with more lanes. We were all doing our best to stay out of the way so we could all enjoy a swim.

I'm interested in others' perspectives on this issue. Thanks, as always, for reading.

NBC, the Olympics, and "Live" sports

I've been watching the Olympics on NBC today and I've noticed that they're airing the sports about 30 minutes behind "live".  The specific event I'm talking about is the men's moguls.   They even posted the results on their facebook fan page before they aired it.  I find this (not airing the event live) totally annoying, and I hope NBC fixes this.  I'm an east coastie, only 3 time zones away from the games.  There is no reason they can't air it live on one of their 4-5 networks, if they want to show the sport on TV.   I get if they don't want to show some sports, but if they choose to show it, then show it LIVE! 

 The world can follow the results online, and most of the world can follow these sports live on television stations in their countries.  Why can't the US media allow its viewers to do the same?  I think there are $785 million (US) reasons why.

In a way, I think it's a tribute to the fact that NBC lost money on these Olympics.  I  think most Americans don't understand this broadcast model and are frustrated by it.  Unfortunately, it's become a habit of US media since the late 1980s. I can't wait for the day the United States television networks choose to air Olympic events live, regardless of the time zone.

2010 Events

I'm still deciding on which events to do, but here are the one's I'm looking at.  Some are huge events, others are smaller.  If any reader has done any of these, please let me know which ones are nicer.  I'm planning on doing 5-7 events.  It depends on schedules and baby demands, of course.

The following events:

June 5th 2010 - Harrisburg PA (2 Hrs)
http://multisportmaniacs.org/id1.html

June 5th Luray VA
http://www.setupevents.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=event_detail&eventID=1490

Jun 12 Hampton VA
http://www.setupevents.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=event_detail&eventID=1450

June 26 - Philadelphia
http://www.phillytri.com/eventinfo/sprint

July 3 Buffalo Triathlon
http://score-this.com/atriinbuff/atriinthebuff.html

July 10 Colonial Beach, va
http://www.ymcaracing.com/Colonial_Beach_Tri_s.html

AUG 7 Mayo Lake Triathlon
http://fsseries.com/index.php?action=event&event_id=43

September 2009
Crystal Beach Triathlon (VA) (target for my Wife's first Tri back from Pregnancy)

September 12 National Triathlon - Relay (Swim - me, Bike - Father-in-Law, run - wife)

October - Osprey Triathlon (MD)


Thanks for reading.

New Logo and snow training photo.

As you can tell from the header, my wife and I have a new logo, complete with pregnant person :)  It'll change once a newborn enters the family, but we thought it would be neat to have something.  I designed the logo using PowerPoint.  We're thinking about opening up a free CafePress store with some triathlon graphics and witty sayings for those competitors with children.  If we do we'll put up a link.

My wife and I live in the DC Metro area, and due to all the snow, our training has been restricted to a walk around the block.  Of course, I've gotten a pretty good workout shoveling snow.  But my wife has been hard at work on the bike.  Here's some evidence:

Thanks for reading!

Training for Two (while pregnant)

Contestant #2 here. As a preface, I will disclose that I've had a relatively easy (knock on wood) pregnancy that has allowed me to stay active. Please consult your medical team before undertaking any fitness routine during pregnancy.

I've always been an extremely active and fit person, so when I found out we were expecting, I knew I'd have to adjust both my expectations and my actual fitness routine. Pre-pregnancy I was working out 5-6 days per week, but I've reduced that to 3-4 days per week, depending on how I feel. My goal for my pregnancy has been to stay active and do what I can for as long as I can, adjusting my regimen as I've gotten bigger.

When we competed in our first triathlon last summer, I was pregnant at the time and I didn't know it. The major upside is that I had the spent the summer getting into some of the best shape of my life, which has clearly served me well during my pregnancy.

In the first trimester, fortunately I avoided the dreaded morning sickeness, but I faced extreme fatigue - like I had hit a brick wall, particularly at night. I tend to be a morning exerciser anyway, which was great because I found myself low in energy at the end of a work day. During this time, I continued with my normal workout schedule as best I could, but I immediately began to cut back my intensity and the number of days I worked out. In addition, I began to monitor my heart rate more closely so that I didn't over-exert myself. Most websites and books tell you to stay around 140 beats a minute. In the beginning I found that to be a challenge since I was used to pushing myself in my workouts.

From a triathlon perspective, I opted to not participate in anymore races, mainly because I was a bit uneasy about being on the bike. Don't get me wrong, I've read about women participating in races while pregnant, so it can be done, but that's a personal decision. However, swimming and running caused no problems.

Once my second trimester came around, my energy returned. I felt really good during this time. Of course I also had an ever expanding belly. Over Thanksgiving, when I was around 20 weeks, I worked out with a trainer who is certified in prenatal fitness. She gave me a great weight lifting routine that is easily modifiable as you get bigger. I still wanted to weight lift 2 days a week in order to keep my strength and bone density up. I stopped running and started walking instead, mostly because I began to feel pressure from the extra weight. I am also quite fortunate in that the instructor of the sports conditioning class I take was willing to work with me and find alternatives so I can still attend class. The biggest thing I had to modify starting this trimester was my ab work. Instead of doing full sit ups and planks, I adopted a modified style for both.

Now I'm just into my third trimester. The best thing about triathlon training is that it introduced me to distance swimming, which is a great prenatal exercise. Believe me, as I write I'm 29 weeks along and a half hour of buoyancy goes a long way! I truly appreciate how easy it is on the body, but still yields a satisfying workout. I'm also still walking, using the arc machine, riding the stationary bike, and lifting weights. I'm hoping to take some pre-natal yoga classes soon that will help me with labor.

The reality of being pregnant is that your body lets you know, very early on, that change is necessary. I think this is a blessing for those women who can't fathom taking off more than 1 day a week from their fitness routine. It forces you to listen, very closely, to what your body is telling you. And once our baby is born, this will serve me well as I recover.

The Uber Single Sport Athlete vs. The Triathlete

I work in a very large office building with a world-class gym.  Unlike a lot of gyms, this workout place is frequented by very fit people and very few workout beginners.   Watching people pushing 6 minute miles on the treadmill for an hour, or bench-pressing 400 lbs or doing 1000 sit-ups with a 15 lb medicine ball does not help me focus on training.  I don't feel intimidated, but I feel like do feel like a weakling sometimes.

I do think there is a silver lining however, as triathletes (even recreational ones), I think we all have one up on most of these uber-fit individuals.  I notice that 99% of these fanatical lifters, runners, or aerobics lovers definitely do not train in the other tri-sports.  That makes me feel pretty good.

All triathletes go outside their comfort zones every week in practice and racing whether it's in a sport we're not the best at or challenging ourselves at long distances (for all you Iron-people and Iron-people in training).  I have found this mindset absent athletes who just do just running races, swimming, or cycling.  The more I participate in "triathletism" the more I believe that triathletes don't take comfort zones for granted.

Thanks for reading.

Mental Running Block and More Cool Tri-Tech

Week Two of training is going fine, working mostly on cross-training (rowing) and running, last week it was running and biking. My wife (the poster of the previous blog on Cross-training) will post on pregnancy and training this week.  I might start swimming, but the cold weather blocks my swimming mindset.

As readers will find out I (the husband of the two of Tris), really have trouble enjoying the run portion of the triathlon and loathe it during training.  It's a mental thing, I'm sure, but maybe some reader can help me out on this.  What am I supposed to be thinking about when I'm running to pass time on a treadmill...I don't listen to an iPod since it's not allowed on most races.  I find getting to 20-30 minutes completely agonizing, it's marginally better if I run outside.  I have a lot of room for improvement.

On to the Tech:

(Used with Permission of Yankz!)

Yankz! TriathlonBAGs:  I asked for one of these last year, and it is the best all-around tri-bag I've found period.  They are designed to stand up for easy access at the transition.  I got the Apollo Size ($70.00), which I liked because of it's got every feature I need in a compact size.   My wife liked the design so much she wanted one of her own! They come in four styles , the other models are Zeus ($150) and T2 ($120) both of these models offer more features than the Apollo (like separate wetbag and laptop case).  These were equally cool, but I like to minimize my stuff at the transition to cut down on time and confusion.   The traditional ($95) is their original design.   Definitely check these out, make sure you click on the picture of the bags to get the 360 view!

Speedo Vanquisher Goggle:  I became a fan of these goggles last season.  For swimming these mirrored smoke-colored goggles keep out the sun and did very well in the cloudier races as well.  The seal is great and the adjustment is all that a swimmer needs.  My indoor swimming goggles are the Speedo Sprint, which I have used for over 20 years.  I like the clear variety in the Sprints because it offers the best field of vision, and the foam eye seal is soft on the sockets.  Both varieties have silicone straps.