Eight for eight!

I hardly ever get all eight of my work outs in during the week but managed it this week.  It's a big accomplishment for me since it included two 5:30 am workouts so I have to brag.  I had four things I wanted to get done this weekend, two chores and two workouts.  Well, caulking the bath tubs and trimming the bushes will have to wait.  Hopefully I can fit them in next weekend.  Oh well.

I've been thinking about eating more than training lately so I'll share a couple quick, simple recipes.  My wife knows I love to cook so she planted some herbs in hour kitchen window box.  I now have fresh cilantro, basil, parsley, and dill.  The cats knocked over the oregano several times, so it didn't make it.

So Saturday, one thing I used the fresh cilantro for was a Mahi Mahi steak.  I forgot to take a picture but the recipe was simple.  Juice from two limes, equal amount of olive oil, and minced cilantro.  Coat fish with mixture then grill 3-7 minutes per side until the fish is flaky.  I'll repeat this when I remember the camera (blogger failure :-)).

cilantro from the window box

Sunday I used the fresh dill for some cucumber salad (actually Cheryl made it, I was the helper).  Take a couple cucumbers, skin them then cut them in to slices.  Add some light sour cream, a pinch of salt and pepper, a cap full or two of vinegar then dill to taste.

Dill in the window box

cucumber salad with said dill - bad pic, it was delicious

I also love the cheap fresh berries you can get this time of year.  Take some blueberries and raspberries, mix them together and you have a healthy, delicious side dish in seconds!  I tried adding whipped cream on top for a better presentation, but it started melting almost immediately, fail!

yum, berries!

 One more recipe while I'm thinking about it.  My dad sent me a link for a jalapeno popper recipe a while back and I've made it a few times with great results.  I shared the link with a couple friends this week and was looking forward to making a few this weekend.  I arrived in the produce section in the store to this.

bummer

If you have access to jalapeno pepper this time of year,  and you like bacon, this is for you.

Yum.....

Where did I misplace my training mojo?

love this trail sign

Since my first half, my volume has really dropped off.  I need another race to get motivated or I need to cut my calories.  I'm up another couple pounds again this week, yikes!  Two months ago I was at my lowest weight in 10+ years.  I'm now almost 10 pounds heavier than that.

I thought it would be hard to stick to a plan in the winter since the weather is so crappy, but it turns out it is harder to get motivated to train in the summer when there are so many other things to do.  Couple that with my tri club coached swim schedule and my Y pool summer schedule and I just don't like the way my workouts fall.

For my first half, I experimented and came up with a good schedule for me.  I routinely missed a workout or two during the week due to life but overall, I like this structure.
Fri - rest day
Sat - long run
Sun - long ride
Mon PM - swim (perfect after two long workouts)
Tue AM - run, Tue PM ride
Wed PM swim (perfect after a 2 a day)
Thur AM run, Thur PM ride

now my swims need to be on Tue and Thur evenings so it's looking like

Fri - rest day
Sat - long run

Sun - long ride

Mon PM - ride (not perfect after two long workouts but better than a run)

Tue AM - run (not so good 12 hours after a ride), Tue PM swim

Wed PM ride

Thur AM run (not so good 12 hours after a ride), Thur PM swim

The good news is my tri club is paying for a coach on Thursday evenings.  I went this past Thursday and one of the drills was swim golf.  6 lengths of the pool taking one less stroke each leg.  I started off at a pathetic 21 strokes and ended up at 16.  Coach says guys should be able to hit 12-15.  I have some work to do.

I am signed up for an Oly in four weeks.  It has not motivated me to increase my training at all.  I'm MOP and that is where I will be for this race (maybe lower with my current attitude).  It doesn't help that I had a good friend die three weeks ago, went on vacation two weeks ago, had a business trip this week, had a friend's wife die this week along with a couple other lame excuses.  I'm about to sign up for a HIM on October 2nd.  I need to do this to get serious about training but dread being a slave to the plan.

I did have a really nice 8.5 mile run Saturday.  It was one of those runs that felt great and was perfect for letting the mind wander.  Big storms moved through in the morning so the smell of fresh rain, sounds of rushing creeks, sight of vibrant lush vegetation was perfect.  I also ran one of my favorite loops.  It was a little humid but it really didn't bother me for some reason.

I also had a really nice ride Sunday.  I experimented with Pandora playing on my Blackberry for the ride.  I kind of liked it but it did detract from my mind wandering and figuring things out.  I think it is unsafe to wear headphones so I won't do it.

Enough about my lost mojo :-), what's for dinner?  Before we get to that, my daughter signed her and I up for a 5k run this fall for my present.  This will be her first 5k and I'm really excited about it.  Really a cool present.

So for dinner the main portion was a beef tenderloin I trimmed and cut in to fillet mignon.  Our local meat store has beef tenderloin on sale a couple times a year and I usually buy a couple and freeze them.  This 7.2 pound bad boy was $5.49 a pound!

yum

first you remove the silver casing

 

then remove all excess fat and loose pieces

slice about an inch thick and wrap in bacon

everything is better with bacon

loose pieces were wrapped in bacon for appetizers

asparagus coated in olive oil and Parmesan cheese, wrapped in aluminium foil and grilled

Not shown, black eyed peas (I love those!), turkey sausage (Italian seasoning flavored) and sun dried tomato and basil chicken sausage.  The turkey and chicken earned a spot on the regular rotation this weekend.

If you found my mojo, please return it :-)

Fishing Report

Fishing was good this past week even with crazy weather.  We fished in Hayward, Wisconsin a 9-10 hour drive for me.  Tuesday the high was 91 and the low that night couldn't have been below 75.  That made for a rough night sleep with no AC.  Wednesday the fish were in the shallows and hitting on rubber worms.  They were hitting hard and chewing up my rubber worms.

one of many chewed up worms

The rest of the trip the lows were in the low 40's which make for some cold fishing in the morning allowing me to sleep in and go fishing after breakfast.  Yum, breakfast.  I gained 5 pounds on the trip.

wonder where the weight came from?

We were fishing for large mouth bass and caught our fair share.  We had to change our strategy a bit when the cold front came through, but we adapted and still did well.  We also caught a lot of Northern Pike.  The lake used to be known as a Musky lake, but I think that is changing with the arrival of the Northern.

me with a bass

the cabin we rented

the cove behind the cabin

the bay in front of the cabin

We didn't see any bears this year but did see a big snapping turtle laying eggs and a couple loons with their baby.

I'm already looking forward to next year....

Gone fishin.......................

This week is my annual fishing trip with some buddies.  I only fish once per year and I'm not that good, but what the heck.  No laptop, no cell phone coverage at the cabin, beautiful scenery, good friends, greasy food, and beer.  Sounds perfect.

Here is a pic from a previous trip.  I'll put a fishing report up next week after I get back.  Then it's time to start training for a fall HIM.

Life is short....

This is a tough post for me.  This isn't about my selfish triathlon journey (for a change).  This post is about my friend Dave.

Dave passed away this week.  We are the same age, similar backgrounds, similar interests, etc.  We worked together at a couple start up companies over the last 10 years where we went through many trying times together.  Working at a startup company means late nights against aggressive deadlines, operating under sleep deprivation, while always worrying about staying in business.  Dave always had a great attitude, strong work ethic, great ideas, and get it done no matter what mentality.  Dave was the real deal.

Dave blogged his battle with cancer here.  He leaves his wife and two children behind plus lots of family and friends.  The visitation is Sunday and I don't do well at visitations or funerals for people I know.  I get all choked up and can't really even spit out a sentence without crying.  I don't cry often, but in situations like this, I cry like a baby.  Luckily Cheryl is going with me so if I can't speak she can cover for me.

Good Night Dave.......................

Life is good....

Life is good in no small part to our active duty, veterans and fallen soldiers.  I sincerely thank all of you!  I'm not a big country music fan, but I love the song American Soldier by Toby Keith.  Check it out.

Life is good when you have good friends.  I'm very fortunate in that regard.  I have good friends at work, the neighborhood, from high school, from college, online, etc.  My college roommate came to town Friday and we got together at our friend Scott's house and played some poker.  We had a blast!  I haven't laughed that hard in a while.  Sunday night my neighbor across the street had a fish fry.  We had a good turn out and awesome food as always.  The week after next I go on my yearly fishing trip with a buddy from college.  Life is good.

Dale is the poster child for fried food :-)

Life is good when you celebrate 23 years of being married to your high school sweetheart and are still in love.  I'm a lucky guy and would marry Cheryl all over again.  She is a great wife, wonderful mother, all around nice person, and very supportive.  Life is good.

Life is good when you are in the best shape of your life.  My training volume has been down a bit since NOLA, but I'm about to sign up for another HIM this fall so that should bring the volume back up.  I did a couple sweat tests this weekend. For my ride Sunday it was 90 degrees and very breezy.  My starting weight was 160 and after two hours on the bike I was at 156.5.  I drank 34 ounces of fluid which I rounded to 32 ounces to make the math easy.  One pound = 16 ounces so I drank 2 pounds of fluid for a total of 5.5 pounds of sweat lost in 2 hours which is 2.75 pounds or 44 ounces/hour.  For my run Monday, it was 86 degrees and humid (felt like 91).  My starting weight was 161 (thanks to the salt from the fish fry) and my ending weight after an hour run was 156.0. I took in 8 ounces of water for a total of 5.5 pounds of sweat lost in an hour which is 88 ounces/hour.  I guess I'm a heavy sweater.

Life is good (but short).  Get out there and live it!

My first Oly

First of all, I'm happy to report I had NO pre-race funk!  If you've followed my blog for a while, you know I normally get moody, edgy, and stressed on race week.  Enough so that my wife added "good mood" to my packing list for NOLA :-).  I tried hard not to have that happen for this race and it worked!  It really made for a much more fun race experience.  To have that happen, I pretty much just didn't think about the race.  So I packed the morning I left for the race site and only forgot my running visor and Halo sweat shield.  Not bad.

The other thing I did different for this race was trying to meet some people.  I'm kind of an introvert (being an engineer and all) and have gone to races alone and not talked to anyone.  Not a fun way to race, trust me.  So for this race, there were several people from BT racing and I made it a point to hook up with them.  I met Ann, Mary, Mike, Joe and Joe's wife Michelle.  It is so much more fun racing with friends than alone.  I need to make a point of meeting more triathletes.

I arrived on site the day before the race.  Picked up my race number and swim cap then swam the sprint course, biked the run course and did a brief run.  The water was chilly (66F), but perfect with a wet suit on. After the brief workout, I met up with Ann, Mary, Joe and Michelle for dinner.  Again, it was nice to eat with other athletes.  I stayed at my BIL and SIL's camper near the bike turn around.  It was very quiet and peaceful.  I slept great after getting an electrical issue taken care of with help from my SIL.

Race morning I woke up ahead of my alarms and ate a yogurt and banana.  I bought peanut butter and bread at Walmart the night before but I also bought peanut butter stuffed pretzels and ate a bunch of them before bed, so I wasn't very hungry.  Transition was open from 6 until 8 and I got there about 6:30 and was one of the first to arrive.  I was set up by 7 and just hung out.  I wasn't nervous or stressed at all even though I knew my longest OWS swim yet wasn't going to be easy.

For the swim my plan was to start wide and stay wide.  I pretty much did that but would drift back toward the crowd then back wide.  I was really off course on the back stretch.  I was a good 50 yards wide.  It felt like it was taking forever and I stopped and got my bearings at least 10 times.  I expected to see 45 minutes on my watch when I exited the water so I was surprised when I saw 37.  The wet suit was so buoyant that it felt like my legs were too high and kind of bothered my lower back.  I just need more practice OWS.

Hill coming out of the swim

In T1 I took 2 salt capsules, socks, shoes, glasses, helmet and I was off.  I was happy with my transition, I wonder how fast it was.

The bike was mostly flat with a couple steep hills.  On the way out I was going 26-27 mph so I knew the way back would be brutal.  It was, a 10+ mph head wind meant 15-16 mph.  I ate a GU about 10 minutes into the ride and another about 15 minutes from the end.  I really had to choke down the second one.  I need to practice eating while going nearly all out.  I drank one 20 oz bottle of water on the ride.

Most of bike route was like this

In T2 I took 2 more salt capsules.  I need to put them in baggies so I can take them on the course instead on in T2.  Then off with the helmet, switch shoes, grab race number and I was off.  Pretty efficient again.

The run was out and back across 2 dams with a nice hill about a mile in and again a mile from the finish.  It was hot but not as hot as last year.  I could have gone a little harder but after my bike I knew I couldn't reach my goal and the kind of pain I would have had to inflict on myself wasn't worth coming up short.  I felt pretty good and was encouraging many other triathletes and received much encouragement myself.  What a cool sport.

start of the run course

After the race, I got to clean up this mess in transition.

And this mess when I got home.  Not quite as neatly organized as when I blogged my gear checklist.

I pretty much missed all my goals but had fun anyway.  From what I can tell, transitions were added to the next segment. The race site says transition times are coming soon. So here are my times:

swim - 37:00 - actual 37:04 (pretty close!) 138/159

T1 - 2:30
bike - 1:12:00 actual 1:18:21 (really windy ride so not too bad) 60/159
T2 - 1:00
run - 54:00  actual 59:22 (my goal was aggressive for my running ability) 65/159
Total - 2:46:30 actual 2:54:46 (I'm happy with it for my first Oly)

That put me 3rd of 11 in my age group, 83rd of 159 overall, and 66th of 115 men.  Not too shabby for a 45 year old non athlete.  It does point out what I need to work on though.  Yep, all three sports :-).