AND SO IT BEGINS

25 weeks from 3/18/07 will be 9/9/07....Ironman Wisconsin. "And so it begins" means training begins in earnest today. Don't get me wrong, training started a long time ago. The line of when it actually started is a little arbitrary. I've been swimming, biking and running all winter. In everything I've ever read about competing in an Ironman distance race is that you have to train before you can train. So, up until now I've been training to be able to train. Most of my efforts thus far have been base training. I've been building a bigger engine....not necessarily creating more power in that engine yet, but creating more capacity.

What starts today, as opposed to last week, is my 24-week Ironman distance training plan. I know I said there's 25 weeks until the big day. I'm building in some space in case I get sick or need a day or two here or there when I won't be able to train. More than likely I didn't build in enough days.

Am I ready? For the race? Heck no! Am I ready to starting training for the race? I am. I've been planning for this and thinking about and preparing for it for quite some time. I have a dedicated training plan, a log, a new bike (still need a few minor bells and whistles for the bike), I feel very healthy and I'm eager. As Irony would have it, with all this eagerness my training plan has Monday as a rest day.

My first week of training includes 5750 meters in the pool, 4:35 on the bike and 2:35 pounding the pavement......I'll do more than that in one day on 9/9/07!

HELLO WORLD

There are many things I love about this time of year. I've found that as I get older I do love the change of seasons. Yes, I even like the end of Daylight Savings Time. It took a long time for that one to take effect though. Springtime is my favorite which leads into summer. Among the things I love about this time of year are: Daylight Savings time, warmer temperatures, baseball, golf, green grass, wearing shorts, cooking food on the grill, colors everywhere. The world wakes up in the spring. Unlike humans, when the world wakes up it looks beautiful. It doesn't worry about bad hair or breath or crust in the corner of the eyes.

One of my very favorite things is the bloom of the Bradford Pear as seen in the picture above. I think the white blooms are just beautiful. You do have to enjoy them in a hurry though because the blooms don't hang around long. In about a week the white is gone replaced with the leaves of green. Hello world.

NEW RIDE

Christmas comes again this Tuesday! Well, OK, truthfully, Christmas doesn't come again this Tuesday but the next best thing does....the FedEx man. He'll bring with him my new Roo. I've upgraded to a dedicated Tri bike, the Quintana Roo Tequilo. I'm certain this is going to make me Normann Stadler-fast. Stadler won the 2006 Ironman world championships with a record setting bike split of 4:18:something. He rode 112-miles in 4-hours 18-minutes and change! Ridiculous! You've probably been stuck behind someone in their car driving in the fast lane who's head you couldn't see over the back of the seat driving at a pace slower than 4:18:something for 112-miles. Drives you crazy doesn't it? Why don't they just get over? I'm sure Normann Stadler wondered the same thing during his Sunday ride in Kona. Now I'm sure I'll be thinking the same thing on my new QR! Seriously, I'm kidding...........seriously!

I do wonder about all this equipment stuff, though. Does an upgrade really make you faster, better, more efficient? I used to be an avid golfer. I played with blades my entire life. Still do when I get a chance to play. There's nothing like the feeling of a well hit shot struck with a blade. You know instantly that it's going to be good. My question is was it the club or the swing? You know that comment "it's not rocket science"? That can be thrown out with yesterday's coffee grinds because when it comes to sports and the equipment we use to play them it has become rocket science. Look at the technology used to build the better driver these days. It's truly amazing filled with a lot of rocket-science terminology promising to deliver a driving average of 350 yards (give or take 100 or so....usually take, right?). I've never had the latest, greatest technology on the market when it came to golf clubs. Heck, I was reluctant to give up on the wooden driver and probably wouldn't have except the day I won a long driving contest using my wooden driver and the prize was a Big Bertha. Side note: I've always questioned that. Why would the prize for winning a long driving contest be a new driver....wouldn't they assume you were happy with the driver you had and maybe give you a golf bag, putter, 10 dozen golf balls or something other than a driver? Oh well, I'm kind of glad they did because it was getting embarrassing being the last surviving golfer using a wooden driver. It was akin to being the last known member wearing a "Members Only" jacket! The point is this, you still have to have the swing that will place the club head in just the right spot when it makes contact with the ball that will put the ball on the desired trajectory. All the technology in the world will not move your muscles to make that happen.

Back to the technological, geometrical upgrade with my new bike. Is it going to make me stronger, faster, more efficient? Time will tell. It is a dedicated tri bike rather than my current road bike fixed with aero bars. So there is different geometry at work providing a more aerodynamic position on the bike. It does have the latest, greatest technology........this is beginning to sound familiar. That technology still isn't going to make my muscles move any differently to make me stronger, faster, more efficient. Oh, what do I care, the FedEx man is coming Tuesday!

CLIP TIP

Short and sweet today.

If the person who cuts your hair doesn't charge extra to trim your eyebrows and he asks you if you want yours trimmed, you might want to go ahead and take him up on the offer because he certainly didn't ask you to get more money out of you....wink, wink.

THREE SIMPLE LETTERS

We've always been a nation that likes to use acronyms. After all we want everything fast and right now from our food that we drive through to get to the messages we send to the oatmeal we microwave, we want it instantly. Please, we don't have time to say all the words we want to say so we shorten them with acronyms. From the sports world there's NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, NASCAR etc. And growing up in a military family where acronyms fly around like moths to a light bulb, TDY (temporary duty), BOQ (bachelor's officers quarters), HQ & NCO are a few that come to mind quickly.

Now, in this world of instant and text messaging the acronyms are endless: BTW, LOL, OMG, TMI (WTMI - when there's just Way too much information, because, you see, there's too much information and then there's a completely different, higher level of information that's just, well, WAY...).

In the world of triathlon there's an acronym that gives you this sick feeling in the pit of your stomach: D-N-F! DID....NOT....FINISH. My journey into the world of triathlon is really in it's infancy and I've been fortunate enough to have not experienced a DNF. I know many have for various reasons. My Brother-in-law, Trey, who is an Ironman triathlete, gave me a book entitled "Becoming an Ironman". It's a collection of stories from triathletes experiencing their first Ironman distance race (I'll be attempting my first in September in Wisconsin). After reading the forward I went directly to the chapter simply titled "DNF". Some DNFed because they were disqualified, some had bad chicken the night before and their stomachs weren't right the next day and some just did not finish in the allotted time. That, to me, is the most difficult to deal with.

Some explanation is in order. You have 17 hours to complete an Ironman race. If you finish in 17:01 you really did not finish at all but rather received a DNF! That is hard to swallow! After a year or more of planning, preparing, gutting out the miles on the road biking and running and enduring the laps in the pool at 5:30am, sacrificing the good foods you like to eat for yogurt and protein bars, going to bed at 9:30pm so you can get up @ 5a, forking over the cash for the entry fee (north of 4 Ben Franklins, BTW), all the gear required, the different kinds of food, the hotel, travel money, etc., etc., etc., only to endure the entire, grueling day and you don't finish in 17 hours.....DNF!

I know those who do it bring it on themselves. I fully acknowledge that fact. It's masochistic. But it's also why we do it because when you receive an actual time after you finish and not an acronym, it's incredibly rewarding.

SHOES AND SUCH

Three things I want to say about the above picture...the third one is the shortest and simplest so I'll get it out of the way first. Under Armor is the new Nike.

O.K., now to the real reason for the post. The shoes above belong to my oldest, Alex. He's 14. These shoes are almost the same size. Please!? When I was 14 I think I wore a size 9. When I got married at 24 I wore a 9.5. Now that I'm pretty darn close to 20 years older than that and gravity has done it's job I wear about a 10.5 or 11 depending on the shoe! Is Alex going to be this gigantic monster in 3 to 4 years? Well, we do know this...yesterday Alex got his arm x-rayed because he fell on it playing basketball with some of his buds and it's been hurting for several days. The good news, there was no fracture according to the film. What we learned from the film was that the growth spaces in his wrist and elbow have pretty much closed. What that means is that he's pretty much done growing, at least in his right arm. The doc did say that his spine will probably continue to grow over the next couple of years. That was certainly good news to Alex because right now he's about 5'8". It's pretty tough to get to 6'1" - 6'2" if you've stopped growing at 5'8". Now there wasn't an x-ray of his foot...we can only hope the growth spaces have closed there as well! Size 16 anyone? Does anyone have the website for the shoe of the month club?

Now, for the second main reason for the post. If you'll notice these are brand-spankin' new, shiny, red, unscuffed, lightenin' fast, fresh-out-of-the-box, haven't-made-an-error-yet, baseball shoes! Baseball season is here. Pitchers and catchers reported a week ago. Positions players are rolling into camp (except for Manny Ramirez, because, you know, it's just "Manny being Manny"). The JD Babe Ruth Reds have had 2 practices.....BASEBALL SEASON IS HERE!

Until Next Time, NFL

Well, the NFL season is officially over with the playing of the annual Pro Bowl...yes, the Pro Bowl was played this past weekend. Did you miss it. I did except for the fact that my oldest, Alex, was flipping through the channels and came upon it and said, "oh, did you know the Pro Bowl was on?" We both agreed that we remembered it was on but neither of us cared. I don't think the players cared either...except maybe Drew Brees who dislocated his elbow, which is why the Pro Bowl may soon be a thing of the past.

Anyway, this post is about the end of the NFL season. Will you survive until the next kick-off in September. That depends because anymore you don't have to survive...there's always Mel Kiper, Jr. analyzing the deep snapper for Hofstra who might go late in round 7. Then there's the free agent season, mini-camps, the start of training camp and then pre-season games televised nationally in prime-time when we actually get to see that deep snapper for Hofstra perform after the first series...so exciting!

So the question I pose today (and will answer) is to what does the NFL credit for the explosion of this game in this country? Many things, but a lot of credit should go to those who play fantasy football. I'm one of them by they way. Come on, why else would you care, and watch by the way, the Buccaneers playing the Cardinals unless you had Larry Fitzgerald. Or, why else would you watch the Vikings playing the Bills unless you had Chester Taylor. O.K., not really a good example because I would watch the Vikings play anyone...I've been yoked with this team for years (see post below). And now McBrick is yoked with the Eagles (see post below), poor guy! So, many people will have to survive until next season (no alternative, really) but most are waiting with great anticipation because they can't wait to manage their fantasy football team because most are sure they're going to win it all next season and grab the glory (not to mention the cash!). They just hope they don't get the first or last pick in their draft.