Reinventing the Wheel

Training Begins

2008-12-09T21:30:00.003-05:00

First two workouts down. Sunday and Tuesday were both 20 minute runs, about 1.25 miles each. This Saturday is our first team run. It is a timed, 3-mile outing to judge what pace group I'll be training in. I already know the answer to that: SLOW.

On the Road Again...

2008-12-09T21:00:00.002-05:00

I have decided to train for another endurance event with Team In Training. As you may remember, I ran the Marine Corps Marathon with them in 2006. In the process, I met lots of wonderful people, made several fantastic new friends, accomplished something that this expert couch potato never thought possible, and raised nearly $2300 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's fight against blood cancers.

This time around, my girlfriend Rachel and I are training together for the Shamrock Half-Marathon on March 22, 2009, in Virginia Beach, VA. Besides challenging ourselves to do something difficult and uncommon, the other reason we're participating is to help Team In Training raise money to help stop leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives. This is a personal endeavour for us, because as a child, Rachel had lymphoma.

Rachel was diagnosed at the age of seven, underwent chemotherapy, and has been in remission for twenty years. As Rachel is a long-term survivor of the disease, it is very important to us to contribute to the cause and ensure that research finds a cure. Each year, lymphoma and other blood cancers strike some 110,450 Americans, while claiming more than 54,000 lives in the United States alone. Leukemia is one of the leading causes of death in children between the ages of 1-15. The good news is that the survival rate has risen from 4% in 1960 to 81% in the last decade. This is in part due to the money that The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society has raised to aid researchers in their fight to find cures for this disease.

My fundraising goal for this season is $2000. Please make a donation to support my participation in Team In Training and help advance the Society's mission. The support and generosity I received when training for MCM 2006 exceeded all of my expectations, and because of that I know that this goal is also easily attainable. My Team In Training fundraising page is where you can track the progress of that effort. I am going to maintain this page as my training log. So tune in regularly to see how my workouts are progressing (as well as non-training related insights into life, the universe and everything).

On behalf of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, I want to thank you in advance for your love and support!

I Award You No Points

2008-12-09T20:30:00.001-05:00

I just love this clip:

Long Time, No See

2008-12-09T20:00:00.003-05:00

It's been quite some time since I last posted here. The original idea was for this to primarily be a training log for my efforts toward the St. Anthony's Triathlon. Since, I had to drop out of training due to scheduling conflicts, I ended up neglecting the blog as well. (Trying to swim three times per week and travel for work does not come together easily.) Also, I started posting a lot of the pop-culture silliness that I found on Facebook instead. But this is a different medium, and it is better suited to different things. I'm also going to be training again, and this will be where I again log that effort. (See forthcoming post for details.) So the blog returns!

This One Goes to Eleven

2008-02-27T20:29:00.004-05:00

Wait a second -- eleven planets? I came across this AP article on CNN today. I thought it was a little silly when Pluto got demoted from full planet status a while ago. Now, it seems, we have eleven planets. There are the regular eight planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune. But now were including three dwarf planets in the count: Ceres, Pluto and Eris. So the new mnemonic goes like this, "My Very Exciting Magic Carpet Just Sailed Under Nine Palace Elephants." Everything I learned in elementary school is now obsolete.

Tuesday Swim

2007-12-11T23:46:00.000-05:00

Another night in the pool completed. Swim training is damn hard work, and I still don't feel comfortable in the water yet. But it was better than last week, so I will keep at it. This weekend will start the several swim workouts per week that I need to get prepared for St. Anthony's. Wish me luck.

Monday's Run

2007-12-11T22:07:00.000-05:00

Two more miles on the odometer Monday. Nice and easy pace. I'm still getting back into the swing of exercising regularly, but it does feel pretty good. Running on the treadmill is a little tedious, especially since the only thing on the TVs in the gym at work is CNN. After a full day of work, Lou Dobbs is the last thing I want to watch during my run. That makes my iPod Nano a key piece of equipment. For motivation on the treadmill, there's little better than some Van Halen. Personally, I'm partial to the Sammy Hagar-era stuff, such as 5150 and OU812. All of this VH talk is just an excuse to post the awesome video below of my favorite Van Halen song, "Dreams," featuring the US Navy's Blue Angels. Enjoy!

FYI, the video is straight out of 1986, when the Navy Flight Demonstration Team was still flying A-4 Skyhawks. Today's Blue Angels fly F/A-18 Hornets.

Triathlon 101 Clinic

2007-12-08T14:21:00.000-05:00

This morning was our Triathlon 101 Clinic. It was a basic info session on nutrition, gear for the three sports, and what to expect on race day. We're going to have more in-depth clinics on many of these topics later in the season, but this was a good primer for me as a triathlon rookie. Afterwards, we had a short run workout - just 30 minutes, or about 2 miles. It's tough getting back in the swing of training, especially in the cold weather.

Not The Daily Show

2007-12-06T19:30:00.000-05:00

As you may be aware, I am something of a television connoisseur. An aficionado of the small screen, perhaps. So it should come as no surprise that I am very concerned about the ramifications of the writers' strike on my viewing options - taking further episodes of some greatly entertaining shows off the air prematurely, only to be replaced with reality-TV crap. But while my Tivo may run out of worthy material to present to me, I am wholly on the side of the writers in this dispute. Here are two quick videos that explain the situation. The first is from the Writers Guild of America, presenting their case. The second video is a very funny takedown of the hypocritical stance that the big media companies have taken over the value of Internet video, produced by writers from The Daily Show. Watch for the great cameo from Daily Show correspondent John Oliver at the end.

Hat tip to BoingBoing.

Death by Ninja: Silent and Inevitable

2007-12-05T22:17:00.000-05:00

In honor of Day of the Ninja, I present to you six minutes of ninja glory:

That was from Revenge of the Ninja, one of many ninja-themed martial arts movies in the 80s to feature the awesome Sho Kosugi. I loved these nonsensical, action packed flicks in elementary & middle school, staying up far past my bedtime to watch them on cable. I mean how can an 8-to-12 year old boy not love crap like this:

I'll leave you with the opening credits to Enter the Ninja, another Kosugi flick from the 80s:

Pirates suck!

Wednesday's Workout

2007-12-05T19:55:00.000-05:00

Short workout tonight. Twenty easy minutes on the bike, plus cooldown. About 5 miles. We're still in the "get acclimated" part of the training schedule. And considering tonight's weather (heavy snow), I'm glad that I was in the gym instead of riding around town.

Like a Fish Out of Water...

2007-12-04T21:51:00.001-05:00

Or me in the pool. Both are really awkward.

Well, tonight was the first swim practice for this training season. It was only about 45 minutes in the pool, but Holy Crap!, was it hard. Easily a more difficult first session than the 3-mile run on Day One of Marine Corps Marathon training back in May of 2006. Swimming is going to be the difficult part. This is going to be where I have to put in the work. In comparison, the bike and the run training will be a nice, leisurely day in the park.

Even though tonight was so difficult, I'm actually really optimistic. No, I didn't embarrass myself, and no, I am not at all dejected about the whole enterprise. In fact, I am really excited for this challenge in the same way that I was excited for the challenge of running a marathon last year. Doing something that is difficult, that takes such a commitment, that's the appeal.

Day One

2007-12-04T10:54:00.000-05:00

Last night was the start if triathlon training. It was also the first time I had run (or even set foot in the gym) for months. Just a short 20-minute run (plus warm up and cool down) to remind my body what exercise is like. The sore muscles this morning tell me that my body definitely forgot.

My biggest concern about doing this triathlon is the swim. Tonight is our first group swim practice. Hopefully I won't embarass myself too much and be completely dejected about this whole enterprise afterwards.

Back in Training

2007-12-04T10:17:00.000-05:00

So I have decided to train for another endurance event with Team In Training. As you may remember, I ran the Marine Corps Marathon with them in 2006. In the process, I met lots of wonderful people, made several fantastic new friends, accomplished something that this expert couch potato never thought possible, and raised nearly $2300 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's fight against blood cancers.

This time around, I am training for the St. Anthony's Triathlon on Sunday, April 27, 2008 in St. Petersburg, Florida. For the unfamiliar, this is an Olympic distance triathlon consisting of a 1.5K swim, 40K bike, and 10K run. A triathlon shouldn't be as hard on my body as a 26.2 mile marathon, but there wasn't any danger of drowning during the MCM. ;-)

Besides challenging myself to do something difficult and uncommon, the other main reason I'm undertaking this adventure is to help Team In Training raise money for the fight against blood cancers. My fundraising goal for this season is $5000. The support and generosity I received when training for MCM 2006 exceeded all of my expectations, and because of that I know that this goal is easily attainable. My Team In Training fundraising page is where you can track the progress of that effort. I am going to maintain this page as my training log. So tune in regularly to see how my workouts are progressing (as well as non-training related insights into life, the universe and everything).

It will definitely be one hell of a ride (and bike and swim).

Sometimes I Miss Boston

2007-04-20T14:50:00.000-04:00

This past Monday was Patriots Day up in Massachusetts. It is a state holiday to commemorate the Revolutionary War battles at Lexington and Concord. Patriots Day is also the day of the Boston Marathon, and a Red Sox home game that starts at 10:00 AM.

There was a bit of an incident at the game this year. Check out these videos:

Here’s some more context in a Boston Herald article, written by Tufts Daily alum John Tomase.

Ah, Beantown.

UPDATE -- December 4, 2007

When I posted some new stories above, I realized that both the original YouTube video and the Herald article by John Tomase had expired. I replaced the original video with two new ones. Video one has the incident live. Video two has the NESN commentators breaking down the replays while laughing their asses off.

Tomase's article explained the backstory to the incident. The "victim" had been heckling the "perpetrator" over several innings for buying and eating pizza at a baseball game. In the bottom of the 7th, the "perpetrator" was finally fed up with it and when the foul ball presented a diversion, he launched his vicious attack. Brilliant!