Guest Tree Trimming

So not only was I trimming my trees, so was my neighbor. Went to go mow my lawn this afternoon and noticed some limbs were missing and discovered that my friendly neighbor decided all of my tree limbs hanging over my fence needed to go. So, he cut them down and didn't even talk to me about it.

A storm we had 2 weeks ago broke some limbs higher up, causing them to lay on lower limbs and push them down. Had my neighbor had common courtesy to talk to me first, he would have found out I had someone called to come over to look at the limbs and give me an estimate to trim the trees.

With neighbors like that, who needs enemies??

How Morning Workouts Play Out

4:30am - alarm goes off, hit snooze.
4:39am - alarm goes off, hit snooze.
4:45am - look at alarm and think "I need to get moving"
4:47am - get out of bed, turn off alarm to stop waking up the wife, dressed, eat, gear, on the road by 5am.

Mile 1 - inner monologue, "why am I up this early, it's kind of cool on the bike and I'm kinda cold, it would be nice to be back in bed..."
Mile 5 - inner monologue, "I wish they would fix the street lights that don't work" - I have a helmet light, but any light helps.
Mile 8 - STUPID TRAIN TRACKS and TWO trains at once taking 10 minutes... really, at 5:45am!?
Mile 15.5 - inner monologue, "that took longer than I wanted and sunrise is getting later and later. Dang it, daylight training hours are dwindling!"

Run Start - bike took longer than I wanted, shorten 4 mile run to 2 and do it fast!
2 miles, 13:30 later, done with the run.

Getting ready for work - I wish I could stop SWEATING! It's not cost effective to set the house temp to 65 degrees (although I did do 70 one day and forgot to change it back to 75 before going to work, oops).

So that was this morning in a nutshell. On a side note I FINALLY got around to checking out the Garmin connect web site for my 301xt and HOLY COW that has a lot of info! Scary how is has the map and it makes your info public until you change the settings. Your competition could cyber stalk you and find out how your training is going to try and out do you! Conspiracy. Also didn't realize when you transfer data, it takes it completely off the garmin device. No big deal, but just didn't realize. AND, I updated the software and that is a total reset of the 301xt. Had to enter all my settings in again. Got a distance notice at every mile for the bike ride... um ya, need to change that.

Alright, I'll leave you with the latest EXAMINER STORY about a kiddo triathlon here in KC. I think my daughter is a little too young this year, but by next year WATCH OUT!

It's 5:30!? Crap, missed the workout...

So somehow I hit snooze for an hour and didn't notice it got to 5:30am when I finally came too. So, missed my time to get a workout in this morning. I was debating to take this morning or tomorrow morning off, so that decision has been made. No biggie. Just have to get my rear out of bed on time tomorrow morning. What's that saying, 3 weeks to develop a habit and 3 days to break it?

But overall, listen real carefully.... hear that? Crickets chirping! Ya, knock on wood it's been a rather quiet week at the home front. No hospitals, no emergencies, no termites, no storms to kill trees, no injured dogs... an actual "normal" week! Love it. Keep em coming!

I'm trying to up the training volume for Branson prep and hoping to break the 10 hour mark for this week. If I keep sleeping through workouts... may not happen. BUT, I have increased volume for the workouts I have made thus far. Just need a swim today over lunch and a BRIK tomorrow morning to keep me on track and then a nice long ride and run this weekend.

I'm aiming to have a little contest soon. Nothing too extensive but some socks from a previous contest went unclaimed so I have material for a new contest! Also to come is a look at some new swimming paddles and a swim buoy I got through "bonus bucks" I get through my health care provider for a healthy lifestyle. Amazon gift cards are sweet!

In the absence of an exciting race report or emergency on the home front, check out my latest Examiner articles about the local events here in KC.

WIN FOR KC TRIATHLON

EVENTS FOR WEEKEND OF 7/31/10

Big Ole Training Weekend

No races this weekend. I kind of wanted to run the Prairie Punisher Duathlon (EXAMINER RACE RECAP ARTICLE HERE) Saturday but time and budgets constraints nixed that. I've run it twice in the past and it's a pretty good event and "close" to my house.

So, I took out the tri bike for a 40 (and 2 flats) on Saturday, 8 mile run on Sunday and PENGUIN PADDLE Sunday.

12 miles was 5 before flat 1 and 30ish miles was 10 miles after flat 2.



It was a training block weekend. Felt good even though it was hot, humid and sticky out there. Below are last week's stats and a random picture from last week driving around town.

Articles & Trees

Check out my latest EXAMINER ARTICLE about getting some speed on the bike without modifying your training routine. Good stuff? Anything anyone out there would like me to write about?

So, here's a few shots of my real endurance event Sunday, cutting down tree limbs. After running my sprint tri, I came home and realized the tree in the back yard was hanging way lower than usual in spots. Ya, not only did our severe storm last Friday snap some branches on top, it snapped some lower limbs, too. I had to cut them off to save the fence and our garden.

Enter the hacksaw purchase and 4 hours of blood, sweat and tears.

I still have to have a pro come in and get the top branches, but we are ok for now minus some shade.

Challenge Update - 7/22/10

So, a while ago I posted about the CHALLENGE. The challenge was to donate a portion of the revenue I generate from my affiliate programs.

Below is a shot of where I'm at.



As you can see it's not exactly flying off the handle, but I'm around $5.50 to donate to a CHARITY listed with the CHALLENGE.

Just an update, emergency situation is over.

=)

Also, check out my latest EXAMINER ARTICLE about the latest change in the yellow jersey for the Tour de France.

The Termites - The Enemy!

Thought I'd update everyone (all 10's of you) =) on the termite situation. The "Sitch" as I call it. Bad Jersey Shore reference. Train wreck of a show...

Anyway, bugs. We had the good people at Orkin come on out last week and apply some treatment. That included drilling holes in the garage floor around the perimeter, drill holes on the driveway, stoop and patio in the back, trench up dirt around the edge of the house, drill holes in the drywall in the garage, and drill holes in the siding to inject foam into the walls. Foam went below the garage floor (where we found mud tubes as they tried to climb the walls), below the front stoop, and into the walls. Chemical went into the trench around the house and they sprayed under the entry way where they were munching on the wood.

Some people are all like "I wouldn't talk about that being done to your house...". Well, as I learned once you have the treatment done, the treating company is legally obligated to report it to the state in Kansas. So, if you ever go to sell your house or have it appraised or what not, it's there. No point in really hiding it. But, at least it's treated and we caught it early.

All told it was about 4.5 hours for the guy in the heat and humidity. I worked on the basement in the AC... he worked outside and sweated it out.

But we paid enough to earn his sweat.

We have a year warranty and after that we can renew it each year but they claim that they have houses that 20 years after treatment, there are no new infestations. Lets keep our fingers crossed!

Enjoy the pictures below...

MIDWEST MAYHEM TRIATHLON RACE REPORT – 7/18/10

Last Sunday was the Midwest Mayhem triathlon at Lone Star Lake just outside of Lawrence, KS. I chose to run the short course as I wanted to test my speediness and I wasn’t a fan of the heat and humidity that was forecasted – 500 yard swim, 11.4 mile bike, 3.1 mile run.

Also check out my EXAMINER ARTICLE.

Setup:
Forecast of mid to high 90's, sun, humidity and some scattered thunderstorms. Heat index was forecasted around 110 degrees… ya, 110!
500 yard swim, 11.4 mile bike, 3.1 mile run

Pre Race:
Due to the tri being out south of Lawrence, I was out of the house by 4:40am. Emily and Kiddo opted not to go since Emily was on call for work and it was way too early to drag a 2 year old out. Ate the trusty oatmeal, orange juice, 1 slice bread with PB for breakfast. Got some Gatorade prime to use for this race!

Arrival:
Parking was provided at nearby campsite roads and large parking area. Some cars had to park on road side but no walk was more than 0.5 miles (unless someone missed the 7am closing of the park road). Lone Star Lake Park was closed off at 7am to allow for a closed bike and run portion as advertised. Attendants directing athletes to parking were plentiful and no major snafus were reported.

Transition entrances and exits were marked with signs on the ground and denoted by the timing mats. Bike racks were low profile wooden slotted racks that racers must place the rear wheel in. Overall the racks served the purpose, but more often than not athletes would not adhere to alternating facing bikes different directions allowing for each space to be correctly used. If not followed, then the handlebars become entangled and could result in a bike on the ground or lost time in transition.

Pre Race Port-a-potty:
One location of 7 to 8 port-a-potties at the end of transition. Towards heat 1 start, the line was growing long, but it was nothing out of the ordinary for a multisport event.

Warm Up:
The swim course opened up at 6:30 and closed at 7am. Even while heats started, athletes could warm up in a small swimming area surrounded by a walking dock. That’s always nice to have water access while you wait 20 minutes for your heat to start.

SWIM!!!:
The swim course was an out, back past the start and hang a left for short course while the long course went past the left turn and covered additional yardage before turning a u-turn to T1 and joining the short course swimmers. I decided to go a little harder than usual on the swim. I figured since this was a sprint, I could expend more energy on the swim and be ok for the rest of the race. I stuck my nose on the start line and decided to take my chances with the main mob and getting kicked, punched and swam over. In actuality, it wasn’t too bad. I kept my line and really didn’t gain or lose any position and stayed in the back of top of the pack.

BIKE!!:
The hills surrounding Lone Star Lake are formidable. They cover some of the same stretches as Ironman Kansas. Going out I had a little headwind that didn’t allow me to get the speed I wanted. I was somewhat annoyed but everyone else was suffering with that wind as well. Coming back was sweet! I think I hit 30 mph for 3 miles straight. I also decided to give it more than usual knowing I “only” had to run 3 miles. Hammered the uphills and balls out on the downhill.

RUN!:
The run consisted of following the park entrance back to the dam and back for the short course. This is where the all out effort caught up with me and mixed with the now beating sun and rising humidity. I averaged 8 min/mile which I was hoping for a lot better but a side stitch slowed me up from 0.5 miles to about 2.5 mile mark. I had to stop at two aid stations to douse with water and get a sip for the stomach cramp. IT WAS HOT OUT THERE! I feel for the long course people. 6 miles in that would have SUCKED.

FINISH!!!:
The last 0.75 miles I passed a guy in my age group and tried my best to keep him behind me. With 0.25 to go I kicked it into high gear and sprinted down the big hill to the finish. I was pretty happy with the effort but that cramping cost me some time on the run.

Results:
http://www.theracershub.com/results_view.php?id=960&result_type=file
Swim : 10:30
T1 : 1:33
Bike : 35:44
T2 : 1:13
Run : 24:54
Total : 01:13:53
Overall : 14/192
Age group : 3/21 – top 3 in age group! Sweet. (note – 2 peeps in my age group were top 5 so that took them out of our age group. This event only gives award for top 5 in each gender – but hey, it still lists me as 3rd so I’m going with it!)

Results One Step Further:
Ok, I’ve raced this sprint tri before:



So we can see improvement each year which is good to know I’m not getting worse with age! I’m pretty stoked about dumping 4:21 off the swim! Looks like upping to swimming around 10,000 yards a week is paying off. I am a bit disappointed that the bike average basically stayed the same. Bike is my favorite part but I’m going to claim that the headwind on the way out killed me. The run… oy. I was pumped this year to be in good running for setting PR’s on run races… but I think the combo of heat and humidity mixed with going 110% for the swim and bike (not saving much for the run) might have affected the run time. But, overall shaving off 4 minutes and top 3 in age group isn’t too shabby. Where’s my sponsor offers????? =)

My Take:
Cycle City is the main sponsor for the event with Bill Marshall (formerly KLM marketing solutions) organizing. This year they moved the transition back to avoid a downhill T2 entrance, stepped up with the goodie bags – more stuff and cool stuff, split printer to get results asap, moved up short course starts to avoid the heat, more course people, good aid station manpower. This was a marked improvement from 2009. I feel BM and crew stepped up and improved the race experience. I hope they keep it up for Meltdown and Jackson County.

Post Race:
The usual grub and drinks were at the end. There was a plentiful supply of Gatorade, water, bananas, bagels and pop. Organizers did provide two ports for athletes to type in their bib number and it would print off their results. That was something new for the Midwest Triathlon series. That was pretty sweet to see your splits right after the race.

Photos:
Pre-race EARLY morning


Goodie Bag


I just wanted to share this one of the inappropriate unzipping of the tri suit and the look of pain on my face… man I need a haircut.


More photos on EXAMINER ARTICLE .

More 2010 Shawnee Mission Triathlon Review

Check out my EXAMINER article on the Shawnee Mission Park Triathlon. Plenty of pictures to check out taken by Dick Ross & company at www.SeeKCRun.com, so they are actually good quality compared to mine. =)

Where did the week go??

BAM it's Friday! Where did they week go? Oh ya, Albuquerque, NM. Went there for work Monday through Wednesday. That makes time fly by when you are traveling, especially when it's NOT a non-stop flight!

Thursday was full of basement work and the good ole Orkin guy. The house was hosed down outside and in and any termite within 10 yards of the house is hopefully dead! Pictures of that coming soon.

In my mad dash I forgot to get my packet for Midwest Mayhem triathlon this Sunday! Now I get to drive all the way to Lawrence tomorrow to get it. Maybe I'll work it into a lunch trip (30 minute drive from my house).

It was hard to find time for training with the travel this week. I jammed in a long run Monday morning and a swim over lunch. Luckily the hotel re-vamped their workout room and they have two, COUNT THEM TWO, treadmills. Got a nice hill workout in and worked on some abs. That got me to yesterday where I got a decent ride in and just could not pull myself out of bed this morning for a BRIK workout. I'm not too concerned as I want to make this weekend an A race so missing a Friday workout before the race isn't that big of a deal.

What is a big deal is the forecast! SCATTERED SHOWER chance Sunday... really??? CMON MAN!



On another note, check out my latest Examiner article.
EXAMINER PENGUIN PADDLE

I'll leave you with the copy of my Daily mile rant about "swimmers" at the pool I go to...
People at the pool are hacking me off.
1. If there are already 2 people in the lane, DO NOT SQUEEZE YOUR ASS in with us and especially when you DO NOT ASK.
2. I don't care how long you do it, but shifting your weight while standing in place in the water IS NOT A WORKOUT! GET OUT OF THE POOL when people are waiting TO SWIM LAPS!
3. Floating from one end of the pool to the other on the kickboard IS NOT A WORKOUT! GET OUT OF THE POOL when people are waiting TO SWIM LAPS!
4. SLOWLY walking from one end of the pool to the other IS NOT A WORKOUT! GET OUT OF THE POOL when people are waiting TO SWIM LAPS!
5. If you are spending 90% of your time standing around in the pool talking to your friends because you have nothing better to do, GET OUT OF THE POOL when people are waiting TO SWIM LAPS!

Sorry, but c'mon people!

Shawnee Mission Triathlon Race Report - 7/11/10

July 11, 2010, came and went providing me with the 26th annual Shawnee Mission Park Triathlon in Shawnee, Kansas. I chose the long course to go along with the Triple Crown points series that the KC Tri and JCPRD put together – 0.62 mile (1000 yard) swim, 18 mile bike, 4 mile run. Basically it’s the same course as the Kansas City Corporate Challenge Triathlon but different run course.

Setup:
Forecast of mid to high 80's, sun, and some PM thunderstorms.
0.62 mile swim, 18 mile bike, 4 mile run



Pre Race:
Packed up the night before and was able to sleep in a little later due to the squirt and Emily staying home for this race. Emily wasn’t doing so hot with morning (afternoon, evening, night….) sickness. She needed the extra sleep so she was excused for this one. =) Ate the trusty oatmeal, orange juice, 1 slice bread with PB for breakfast. I looked a little for the Gatorade prime the day before but couldn’t easily find it so I went with GU Roctane to prime for the swim.

Arrival:
Transition is assigned, so there was no need to be in a huge hurry for a spot, however, they parked us in the theatre in the park and it was a nice 20 to 25 minute walk to transition. After the IM KS flat tire, I wasn’t about to ride the bike down and risk a flat again! I decided to get there with plenty of time and take it all in (and also to take some photos for my Examiner articles). Shawnee Mission Park is about 5 miles from my house, so leaving at 4:55am got me there and in the third row of cars on the pavement! In retrospect this wasn’t the place to park – more on that later. It was a hike for sure down to transition and it was a tense moment when a skunk made a mad dash across the service road.

Pre Race Port-a-potty:
Getting there as early as I did, the port-a-potty issue wasn’t an issue. No lines for the first visit and I only waited 5 minutes the second go-round. They provided two groups of port-a-potties with about 6 to 7 each and for the most part, that seemed to serve the crowd. After 26 years, I guess they know the demand and they limit the field to 700 so it’s pretty much and exact science by now.

Warm Up:
A nice part of this swim start is swimming from the boat ramp to the start at the swim beach. It’s maybe 100 to 150 yards and away from the main course so you can warm up while other heats are starting the race. Bummer of it was the air temps had been low lately but the water was 86. No wetsuits allowed. Warm up swim meant shivering in the cold (low 70’s) air before the start.

SWIM!!!:
This is the first time swimming the SMP Tri on any level. I really don’t have anything to compare it to for the long course (KCCC and the SMP Tri short course would be the same). It felt good but I felt like I was at a 10k or something where the 10 minute mile people start with the 7 minute mile people causing all sorts of problems. I’m not the fastest swimmer but I was catching people that could not swim straight lines so I spent too much energy weaving and trying not to be kicked coming up on people.

BIKE!!:
NO FLAT TIRE TO START THE BIKE! Woo hoo! Felt good. The bike adjustments I made to the tri bike seemed to make me more efficient on the ride but I’m more down on the bars causing me to have to use more neck muscles to lift up to look ahead. No big issue, just need to get more time in and get the neck strengthened up. I had no real issues with the course as I ride out there all of the time so I knew what to expect.

RUN!:
So this is where THIS triathlon falls apart… weather.com didn’t get it right and storms moved in early and around 8:30am the course was shut down. Race was over due to lightening and approaching severe weather. Luckily I got the whole ride in, but no run. Some lucky long course guys got out in time but the race was closed up when they finished. So, I didn’t have a chance to test my fortitude on the run since SMP is pretty hilly. I would like to think I’d average 6:30 minute miles… in my dreams.

FINISH!!!:
Seeing that there was no run leg, I was done after the bike. I felt solid and ready to run the 4 miles, but Mother Nature wasn’t going to let me get to that part.

RESULTS:
Onlineraceresults.com listed the race, but no data. I guess they aren’t going to even throw up the splits of the portions of the race everyone completed. The long course people could have at least competed for an Aquathlon…
My trusty garmin 310xt listed the swim at 21:51, T1 at 1:40 and the bike leg at 53:15.
That works out to 2.2 min/100 yard swim pace and 20.2 mph average for the bike leg.

RESULTS ONE STEP FURTHER:
Since this was the first year for the SMP Tri for me, I don’t have much to compare to. I’m not exactly excited about the 2.2 min/100 yard swim pace but I was sufficiently satisfied with the 20.2 mph average. This was better than the KCCC Tri over the same course averaging 19.8 mph - but that was only two laps. The bike average would have been more telling if I had the run to look at. If I could get 7 min/mile or better pace, I would have been happy. 7:30 min/mile would have been ok.

MY TAKE:
The JCPRD did a great job, and they should have after 26 years of practice. The course has been paved in certain places for a nice smooth ride but they could use some new surface at the Dam Hill and a few other spots. Just nit picking. It’s a great course, the temperatures were perfect but Mother Nature struck for year 2 in a row. The organization was great. You knew where you had to be and the transition was marked great for entrances and exits. I have to admit the Tri Tats they gave out for markings worked great and looked sharp. Goodie bags were superb. The event dry fit shirt was well designed and dark blue, which is a nice change from the usual gray or white from other events.

POST RACE:
Since we got squashed early, I had enough time to jet home, clean up and get some churchin’ in. Problem with the getaway was where I parked I was the furthest from the exit of the park. Thanks to EVERYONE being done at the same time, there was a monster traffic jam getting out of that place. Being early didn't pay off for the exit!

That’s a rarity during Tri season to get church in on Sunday morning. Maybe it was divine intervention so I’d go to church???

PHOTOS:
Pre-race EARLY morning


Tri Tats


Goodie Bag


Race Over Early


More photos on Examiner Article .

Need Something to do in KC this weekend?

So if you're crazy, you've signed up for the Pyscho Psummer trail run or if you're mildly insane, you've signed up for the Shawnee Mission Park Triathlon.



Personally, I'm in for SMP this Sunday. Time to test out the fitness since the last flame out at IM KS with the flat tire. I haven't raced since the end of May and I'M READY!!

Check out my little write up on Examiner.com for the two events and stay tuned for a race report! Let's hope it's about a great event on a great day!

They let me post!!

It's official, I'm on Examiner.com!

Check out my first article and spread the word!

Endurance 101

Next article will be an interesting tidbit about the Tour de France.

How did I slip by?

So somehow I got myself hooked up with Examiner.com to write about KC area endurance athletics...

I feel pretty confident that I'm qualified in the endurance arena, however, writing isn't always my strongest suit. If I've got some mountain dew or Starbucks on board... I'm Rembrandt with a key board. So, keep the caffeine rolling!

Stay tuned as I get the process moving and hopefully post my first article asap!

Ah what to write about... any ideas out there for the first article?

Perhaps some advice on what equipment to bring on the bike to fix a flat properly?? I know all about that, now.

How to keep your house from being eaten alive by termites? Oh wait, not endurance.

How to keeps ones' sanity working 45+ hours a week with a family and training like I do?? Well, since I'm barely keeping my sanity, maybe not the best option.

Any suggestions?

No more! Stop!!!!

Weekend #2 of basement finish work...

Dad came up for the weekend of the 4th to help wrap up the basement. He came in Thursday night to get a jump on the work while I went to work Friday morning and took the afternoon off to come back and "help". I say "help", because I'm not much of a carpenter but I mess up what I can. =)

Progress was moving right along until we came into the following road blocks:
1. Water leak problem around the front door.
2. TERMITES!! F***ing little bastards!! They found the water leak which made for easy eating and set up shop around my front door. Sorry for the cursing but that's just frustrating.
3. Emily went in for hospital stay #2 for the week.

So, #1, I guess the contractor that built my house decided the bottom of the decorative windows on the sides of my door didn't need caulking and after 9 years (ya, I never really noticed any problems until I poked my fingers through the floor by the door) the floor around the door had starting rotting in the first inch or so. Combine that with problem #2 and the floor underlay was ate up about a foot out from the door and on each side. They had started into the plywood and made some good progress. Below is the picture of the plywood we cut out and the front door where we ripped up linoleum and replaced plywood.



So, we have had some inspections and they determined they are pretty much all the way around the house looking for places to get in. They are probably in more places but haven't had as much luck with the wood since the front door was getting water and rotting. If they have caused more damage, I don't want to know until I fall through the floor.

As far as #3 goes, Emily was having issues with last week's visit, still. We went in for consistent contractions (not good at 28 weeks) and they pretty much didn't do anything to find the cause, they just treated and monitored. After 8 hours the contractions were less intense and they let us go home to sit around. Hospitals... arg! They had nothing for us as far as answers, but gave her a script for some meds to help out.

So... with all of that we squeezed in some basement work, BBQ Sunday, tame fireworks (smoke bombs, snakes and sparklers), and a little training early in the morning. I did manage to find some time for tri bike adjustments. As I find myself more comfortable on the bike I notice from my race pictures it looks like I'm sitting in a road bike stance and not getting down to be aerodynamic. So, moved some spacers and flipped the stem for the handlebars and moved the back seat forward. I took it for a 34 mile ride Saturday and it was a good adjustment, just need to get the shoulders used to the new position being a little more forward. Stay tuned for updates on how it treats me race day and hopefully I'm not like "I look like that on my bike!? What a waste of aerodynamics..."!


See below of the basement progress. It's pretty much to the point I can wrap it up on my own when I can find the time. Just need to finish the up high work and find a good sale on carpet and installation.

Hope everyone had a good 4th and enjoy the weekly training log.

Sneak peak of next week is termite extermination updates and Shawnee Mission Park Triathlon.