The evo has landed

So finally, after much ballyhoo and whatallhaveya, I got a Sprint Evo after getting on three different stores wait lists. Indeed, it is a cool phone and can do dang near anything. BUT, like early adopters have been screaming on the interwebs, it does have a lackluster battery life. It probably has an average battery, but with all the different radios, there is no way it's going to last that long. I'd give it 4.5/5 stars for now.

I have 12 days til my next tri. My swimming has not progressed as much as I had hoped, but I'll still survive. Just have to keep my head down and pound out the yards. My running has been going well, and I'm starting to dip below 10 minute/miles. That's a very pedestrian pace, but it's a pretty good clip for me. I'm anxious to keep putting on the miles and quickening that pace as well as increasing run distances.

13 days until cyclocross training begins...hehe.

So long and thanks for all the fish

I feel it is my sovereign duty to post something of great meaning today. I'm not sure why, maybe it has to do with the fact that most of my posts have either been videos or about triathlons. Oddly enough, I don't think I've posted a video about a triathlon. And why is it that half the time I type "triathlon", it comes out "triathlong"? Must be something subliminal going on there.

We've been landscaping (mainly Penny) and it is finally starting to come together, although there are still a few plants to buy and plant, and a buttload of mulch. I'll be quite happy when this is all done, as it is quite an eyesore to me and I don't like having that big of a project hanging out over my head. Although you wouldn't know that by how slowly I'm putting in the backup sump pump. Hopefully it'll stay dry enough this weekend so I can get that done.

And speaking of this weekend, it seems that it is getting all stacked up, and there won't be much rest for the weary. At least I'll get in a nice long ride on Sunday morning. It's always good to start the day with a 3,000+ caloric deficit.

Well, that's all I really have. The coffee isn't working that well yet. Hopefully greatness will floweth later today like Indian Creek.

Congrats, Grandma!

Mundane Monday

This is turning out to be a pretty miserable month as far as weather goes. If it's not raining, it's 90+ degrees and unbearable, or at least it seems that way. I'm wondering if the SMP lake will be boiling for our tri swim next month. Hmm.

Speaking of swimming, I start swim lessons tomorrow night. I'm pretty excited, really, since my swimming sucks so badly. I'm hoping I can do the 500m swim in less than 15 minutes, which would be a wild improvement over my last barely-above-water attempt at Longview last month. Three cheers for improvement! I did scoop up some nice goggles, and it's so refreshing not to have to take my goggles off after every 50 so my eye sockets can regain blood flow.

Gotta run tonight, keep pounding the pavement and see if I can shave 1 min/mile off of my KC Tri time. Really shouldn't be that hard, but we'll see. I had a pretty anemic 30 mile ride on Sunday. I just didn't have any legs, and probably should be following a plan for this next tri. Then it's time for 'cross training, yippee!

I'm not sure why I'm so excited, but there are lots of weeks painful and vomit-inducing hill sprints and remount practice coming up. I figure it's better to be in pain in training than during the race. Not that a cyclocross race could be a pleasant experience!

No vids this time

32 days and 8 hours til my next tri. This one will be out at Shawnee Mission Park, and I hear it's a hilly beast. Which is great, cuz I burn about 100 calories a step hauling all this man flesh up steep inclines. Ug. I can't get shredded like wheat by staying at home though and laughing maniacally on the trainer while watching Seinfeld videos. I finally hooked up the garmin while I was on the trainer and my heart didn't flutter out of zone 1 except when I squeezed out a little cheek music.

That was so funny I cracked a smile at my own writing.

Last weekend I went to the Kansas 70.3 Ironman (half-ironman). I got serious goosebumps just walking up to the course. Triathletes are some badass people. Maybe I'll consider myself one if I do a little better in this next race and turn in something faster than a 4:00 100yd swim time. That's just nasty.

Anyway, back to 70.3. For all of you who aren't familiar with Tri's, there are pretty much 4 distances. Sprint (what I do), International/Olympic, Half IM and Full IM. A sprint is something around a 500 yd swim, a 10 mile bike, and a 3 mile run. An international is 1500yd, 40k bike, and 10k run. IM is 2.4mi swim, 112mi bike, and 26.2 marathon. Fo realz. Half-IM is half an Ironman. I went there to pretty much see the pros and soak in the sights. My hero (and thousands of triathletes' hero), Chrissie Wellington, was there to pound the Earth into submission. I don't think I've met anyone as nice as her, professional athlete or not. She CRUSHED the women's field, and took 10th overall (chicking some 900+ dudes), and then stopped after finishing to talk to the spectators/fans for quite awhile. After all, local tri wundergirl Pip Taylor finished almost 17 minutes down on Chrissie, so C-Dub had some time to kill. Chrissie met a lot of kids who's Daddies were still out suffering in their pain caves and she really had nice conversations with them, asking if they were enjoying the race, and how their Dad's were doing, etc. This wasn't a sign a shirt or pose for a pic and walk away. My jaw was pretty much on the floor watching all this unfold in front of me.

So, obviously, I took lots of pics, and had to take a pic of Chrissie's legs. Shredded like wheat doesn't begin to describe her. But then again, what do you expect from the current, 3-time consecutive Ironman World Champion?



Maybe I'll have to up the ante next year and do the 70.3 too. Stranger things have happened! I'll have to chew on that for awhile though, and get a real tri bike. I'm sure the wife will love having yet another bike in the garage!

The internet is endless...

You'll have to ignore everyone but the drummer. That dude is incredible, but you'll figure that out pretty quick.

Yea, I know I post a lot of videos.

IRON BABY from Patrick Boivin on Vimeo.