We're at Kylie's Halloween Party yesterday, the kids are all sitting politely on the rug in their costumes, with the teachers leading them in their Halloween songs that they're all singing pretty enthusiastically. They finish one song, and the teachers are in the process of picking new little helpers for the next song when we hear the following dialogue...
5 year old boy -
"Mrs. Jensen, he said a mean word"
No response, so he followed with the graphic details...
"He said bitch"
To his credit, it worked.
Mrs. Jenson - cool as a cat and not drawing any additional attention to the culprit or the tattle tale..
"Please use nice words" and on she went into the next song, handled like a true master.
Except - every adult in the room got the giggles, the kind that got me and my buddies kicked out of sex ed class everytime they tried to talk about sensitive material in middle school. One adult would get it under control, only to lose it again when they made eye contact with another.
Oh yeah, the kids looked cute in their costumes too...
Friday, October 31, 2008
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Sportscenter now playing a distant second fiddle
Good chance it's just me, and that it's because I got a degree in finance and work in the world of banking (pronounced fin-ance by those who are legit, fi-nance by undergrads or less legit finance folks - forgive the rudimentary pronuciation cues, you'd never guess I also minored in english) but I suspect that it's not just me and it's not just because my career is in the world of finance.
I haven't watched Sportscenter for about 2 months now. It's because any time I've got the tv turned on, I'm glued to channel 23, CNBC, the new Sportscenter.
I heard the World Series may wrap up this week - who cares.. back page news right now for the finance folks, and probably a whole lot more folks.... OK, so I'm not a baseball fan to begin with, but you get my drift. There's going to be a fine line this time around between who gets sunk and who makes a bunch of money coming out of it... remember the mantra of the stud swine of the pen - pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered.
I haven't watched Sportscenter for about 2 months now. It's because any time I've got the tv turned on, I'm glued to channel 23, CNBC, the new Sportscenter.
I heard the World Series may wrap up this week - who cares.. back page news right now for the finance folks, and probably a whole lot more folks.... OK, so I'm not a baseball fan to begin with, but you get my drift. There's going to be a fine line this time around between who gets sunk and who makes a bunch of money coming out of it... remember the mantra of the stud swine of the pen - pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Gotta hand it to him...
Brock is now 17 months old and is being proactive about distancing himself from "baby" behaviors and graduating to toddler type stuff. These changes include his insisting on sitting up to the table for dinner instead of sitting in his high chair, getting to use utensils instead of his hands, walking with his sisters during family walks rather than riding in the stroller, and - the highlight of this post, refusing a bottle in lieu of drinking from a cup like the bigger kids.
He's become adept enough with a cup that we've had to start using the lock on the water dispenser in the refridgerator. This frustrates him because he'll see his big sisters go fill up, immediately go to fill up his own cup, only to find they've bought into the family plan of locking it to prevent Brock from using it as a shower. The perk is that this strategy put a stop to the large puddles of water we'd find in the kitchen shortly after Brock learned he could get water from the fridge. The unforseen and unintended consequence of this strategy has to do with our shortchanging Brock's ingenuity in solving the problem it created for him - namely, sourcing some water when he's thirsty.... I started to suspect something yesterday... and caught him redhanded tonight.
Here's the moral question for all you parents...... do you stop it early, or hold out so you can get the 2nd to last photo of the series?????? Don't judge me!
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Winter Training - The Torture Chamber
These are called Pilates Reformer machines and they happen to be located in my basement. Annie has spent a lot of hours becoming certified to inflict pain with them. I've asked her to spend some time helping me beef up my core strength this winter and have no question that she will so long as I can hang with her - therein lies the wild card. She's had me sore for about 4 days after a 20 minute workout on these things - hits muscles I wasn't aware of and that I'm pretty sure, based on the soreness, had not been used since I was 6 months old trying to muscle my way into sitting up. 2-3 times a week is the plan, with some spinning/trainer work on the bike and some indoor rock climbing, pool time and some snowboarding to keep it fresh and fun. May even throw in some much needed running.
Who am I kidding - I'll start running about a week before next years first race. But I am looking forward to seeing what Annie and her Pilates stuff can do for me.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Xterra Nevada race report
http://www.xterraplanet.com/uploadedfiles/races/ncs/results/nevada08.pdf Am happy to report that after the doom and gloom weather report in the last post, we actually got a pretty decent day for the race. The one exception was the wind, which had the lake rolling into shore with 4-5 ft swells = a little too rough for the spotters in kayak's to feel like they can stay on top of the nearly 300 racers that would have been in the water flailing to get through the swim. So the Xterra folks cancelled the swim. Have to admit it alleviated some nervousness on my end. Ocean swimming is not in my arsenal, and I've body surfed on smaller waves than what we would have been swimming through in Tahoe. It would have been really tough.
So in lieu of the swim, we did a 1 mile run previous to the normal bike and run legs of the race. I hemmorage some time to the field in both the swim and run disciplines so it was a wash in regards to any advantage/disadvantage the change to the race created for me personally. The strong swimmers would have gained an unusually large gap on the field had they sent us out in the water, but there were limited grumblings about the swim being cancelled, no one argued that there was legitimate danger in sending a large group out in those conditions.
After lining up the field for the run start, briefing us on a few of the names to watch out for (including Shayna Powless, a 14 year old girl whom we were informed would smoke most of us on the race course, turned out to be an understatement) the Big Kahuna shot off the little canon and we were off. I settled into my pace fairly quickly and made sure I didn't give chase to the droves of people who had settled into faster paces, story of my run every race, smile. Only hiccup on the run came when I pulled my beanie off midway through and my Oakley's which were sitting on top of my head came off with it. Luckily I heard them hit the ground and stopped and ran back to get them, minimal effect on run time as I accelerated to get back into the same position I'd been in before the backtrack. I came into transition 1 in what I estimate to be about mid pack. Took a little time to put on an extra layer in anticipation of the winds and temperature on top of the mountain, grabbed the bike and was off on what would be a more difficult bike leg than I was prepared for.
There's about a mile or so of paved road before we start the climb up Tunnel Creek, a double track dirt road that took us up to the well know Flume trail. Lee introduced me to the Tunnel Creek section of the course on Thursday. It was loose and sandy. It was much better on Saturday due to a steady rain all Friday night. Still loose in sections, but dramatically better than it had been. It's a grunt of a climb that forced me into the small ring in some sections despite trying to stay in the middle ring as much as possible to force a little extra speed - a tactic I've had to embrace to keep up with my single speed friends. A strategy I question for this race in hindsight.
I managed to get around some people and went into the Flume section with a pretty wide open trail in front of me, the few riders I did pull in were gracious and made room to pass quickly - and I did the same for a few who came up on me. Couple of pile ups when the course headed back up hill before we came out at the lake, some technical rocky sections that caused people to stall out or fall off. I jumped off the bike and carried it up and around these lines of folks. It was here, as we exited the Flume trail and started to circle around Marlette lake, that I started to think I may have a tough go the rest of the way. The road around the lake is fairly flat, usually something I'd look forward to as a good place to push it hard and still feel like I'm enjoying a break from climbing. I tried to do that, but the push I had in me wasn't a hard one, the the break from climbing feeling was somewhere far away. A lot of the position I'd gained on the climb was given back as several riders came by me and dropped me fairly quickly. The effort to stay in the middle ring earlier became really noticable in my lower back on this flat section, it was getting really, really tight. I yo yo'd with a few riders for the remainder of the ascent to the top of the course, giving up position on the flats, getting it back on the climbs. I began asking where the top was about 2 miles before reaching it, trying to gauge whether I could afford to continue pushing the pace or if I needed to back off. The fatigue I was feeling was the type that makes you scared to back off - felt like I'd tighten up immediately if I did that, so I kept working. After a couple of false summits that almost cracked by body and came even closer to cracking my brain, I rode by a race staff dude who said "enjoy your descent" when I went by. I yelled back that I was pretty sure I would - he laughed.
Not the case. I'm a decent descender, partly cause I carry a few pounds more than necessary, and partly because I'm comfortable in quick reaction situations and don't mind carrying speed into rough sections of a trail. I really enjoy the rush and the mental sharpness that descending speeds and risks force on you. That sharpness wasn't there, and it became pretty clear in the technical rocky sections and switchbacks that the ascent had beat me up and the fatigue would have me a little delirious instead of sharp. I kept the wheels rolling, but it wasn't fast. I opened it up a little once I got back onto Tunnel Creek Rd., but still had to take it more cautiously than I'm capable of when my body is working well. High probability of a good crash/early end to the race if I had pushed it in the state I was in going down the mountain.
I tried to stretch a little on the bike once I got back to the pavement, and came back into transition pretty stiff and having had a few twinges of a cramp brewing in my right leg. You can't tell in the video, but when I bent over to change out my shoes, I wasn't sure I had enough left to stand back up straight. Did a repeat of running backwards for the Oakley's in the first leg by having to go back for my number belt coming out of the transition area, was thrilled to have to bend over again but it gave me the chance to get the spare tube out of my pocket, carrying it on the run may have blown me up, smile. I had only two thoughts for the next 30 minutes - keep turning the legs over, and - please don't cramp. Although borderline the entire run, with a few false flashes, the cramp never developed and I successfully got over the last hurdle of making it across the big log without falling into the creek in front of the crowd.
Annie and the kids were at the finish line cheering, I slowed down to see if the girls wanted to finish with me, they didn't, and finished the race in 3 hours and some seconds. I felt absolutely hammered, but pretty happy with how I'd managed myself while in the pain cave, I've crumbled at less intense fatigue in earlier races so this was a bit of an inner battle win for me. Finished 85th overall and 12 of 47 or so in my age group.
Video highlights include a prancing Xterra racer about 5 seconds in, a classic snot blow, and AnneMarie's no less classic "you got beat by a 14 year old girl" welcome at the finish line. Also, check out Lee's facial expression when he sees me at the finish line - also a classic. While only mentioned on the video, no actual footage - the highlight of the day had to be Nick's winning his age group in the Xterra 10k and Garrison finishing his first ever triathlon, not an easy one to take on the first time out - tough hombres!
Sidenotes - Conrad Stoltz had his new Specialized Epic on display Saturday, looked like a sweet piece of equipment, especially with those oval shaped chain rings.
My bike split was 2:18, roughly 45 minutes slower than Christoph Sauser who's a world class mountain biker. It's a testament to the quality of the pro field that Sauser's time would have been 4th fastest in the pro race, with the pro's going out after swimming a mile and Sauser going out fresh as part of a relay team.
Well, that's it for the year in regards to race schedule, will probably do a few cyclocross races through the rest of the fall/winter months, but have some specific ideas for winter training that I'm looking forward to working on. It's been a fun year.
So in lieu of the swim, we did a 1 mile run previous to the normal bike and run legs of the race. I hemmorage some time to the field in both the swim and run disciplines so it was a wash in regards to any advantage/disadvantage the change to the race created for me personally. The strong swimmers would have gained an unusually large gap on the field had they sent us out in the water, but there were limited grumblings about the swim being cancelled, no one argued that there was legitimate danger in sending a large group out in those conditions.
After lining up the field for the run start, briefing us on a few of the names to watch out for (including Shayna Powless, a 14 year old girl whom we were informed would smoke most of us on the race course, turned out to be an understatement) the Big Kahuna shot off the little canon and we were off. I settled into my pace fairly quickly and made sure I didn't give chase to the droves of people who had settled into faster paces, story of my run every race, smile. Only hiccup on the run came when I pulled my beanie off midway through and my Oakley's which were sitting on top of my head came off with it. Luckily I heard them hit the ground and stopped and ran back to get them, minimal effect on run time as I accelerated to get back into the same position I'd been in before the backtrack. I came into transition 1 in what I estimate to be about mid pack. Took a little time to put on an extra layer in anticipation of the winds and temperature on top of the mountain, grabbed the bike and was off on what would be a more difficult bike leg than I was prepared for.
There's about a mile or so of paved road before we start the climb up Tunnel Creek, a double track dirt road that took us up to the well know Flume trail. Lee introduced me to the Tunnel Creek section of the course on Thursday. It was loose and sandy. It was much better on Saturday due to a steady rain all Friday night. Still loose in sections, but dramatically better than it had been. It's a grunt of a climb that forced me into the small ring in some sections despite trying to stay in the middle ring as much as possible to force a little extra speed - a tactic I've had to embrace to keep up with my single speed friends. A strategy I question for this race in hindsight.
I managed to get around some people and went into the Flume section with a pretty wide open trail in front of me, the few riders I did pull in were gracious and made room to pass quickly - and I did the same for a few who came up on me. Couple of pile ups when the course headed back up hill before we came out at the lake, some technical rocky sections that caused people to stall out or fall off. I jumped off the bike and carried it up and around these lines of folks. It was here, as we exited the Flume trail and started to circle around Marlette lake, that I started to think I may have a tough go the rest of the way. The road around the lake is fairly flat, usually something I'd look forward to as a good place to push it hard and still feel like I'm enjoying a break from climbing. I tried to do that, but the push I had in me wasn't a hard one, the the break from climbing feeling was somewhere far away. A lot of the position I'd gained on the climb was given back as several riders came by me and dropped me fairly quickly. The effort to stay in the middle ring earlier became really noticable in my lower back on this flat section, it was getting really, really tight. I yo yo'd with a few riders for the remainder of the ascent to the top of the course, giving up position on the flats, getting it back on the climbs. I began asking where the top was about 2 miles before reaching it, trying to gauge whether I could afford to continue pushing the pace or if I needed to back off. The fatigue I was feeling was the type that makes you scared to back off - felt like I'd tighten up immediately if I did that, so I kept working. After a couple of false summits that almost cracked by body and came even closer to cracking my brain, I rode by a race staff dude who said "enjoy your descent" when I went by. I yelled back that I was pretty sure I would - he laughed.
Not the case. I'm a decent descender, partly cause I carry a few pounds more than necessary, and partly because I'm comfortable in quick reaction situations and don't mind carrying speed into rough sections of a trail. I really enjoy the rush and the mental sharpness that descending speeds and risks force on you. That sharpness wasn't there, and it became pretty clear in the technical rocky sections and switchbacks that the ascent had beat me up and the fatigue would have me a little delirious instead of sharp. I kept the wheels rolling, but it wasn't fast. I opened it up a little once I got back onto Tunnel Creek Rd., but still had to take it more cautiously than I'm capable of when my body is working well. High probability of a good crash/early end to the race if I had pushed it in the state I was in going down the mountain.
I tried to stretch a little on the bike once I got back to the pavement, and came back into transition pretty stiff and having had a few twinges of a cramp brewing in my right leg. You can't tell in the video, but when I bent over to change out my shoes, I wasn't sure I had enough left to stand back up straight. Did a repeat of running backwards for the Oakley's in the first leg by having to go back for my number belt coming out of the transition area, was thrilled to have to bend over again but it gave me the chance to get the spare tube out of my pocket, carrying it on the run may have blown me up, smile. I had only two thoughts for the next 30 minutes - keep turning the legs over, and - please don't cramp. Although borderline the entire run, with a few false flashes, the cramp never developed and I successfully got over the last hurdle of making it across the big log without falling into the creek in front of the crowd.
Annie and the kids were at the finish line cheering, I slowed down to see if the girls wanted to finish with me, they didn't, and finished the race in 3 hours and some seconds. I felt absolutely hammered, but pretty happy with how I'd managed myself while in the pain cave, I've crumbled at less intense fatigue in earlier races so this was a bit of an inner battle win for me. Finished 85th overall and 12 of 47 or so in my age group.
Video highlights include a prancing Xterra racer about 5 seconds in, a classic snot blow, and AnneMarie's no less classic "you got beat by a 14 year old girl" welcome at the finish line. Also, check out Lee's facial expression when he sees me at the finish line - also a classic. While only mentioned on the video, no actual footage - the highlight of the day had to be Nick's winning his age group in the Xterra 10k and Garrison finishing his first ever triathlon, not an easy one to take on the first time out - tough hombres!
Sidenotes - Conrad Stoltz had his new Specialized Epic on display Saturday, looked like a sweet piece of equipment, especially with those oval shaped chain rings.
My bike split was 2:18, roughly 45 minutes slower than Christoph Sauser who's a world class mountain biker. It's a testament to the quality of the pro field that Sauser's time would have been 4th fastest in the pro race, with the pro's going out after swimming a mile and Sauser going out fresh as part of a relay team.
Well, that's it for the year in regards to race schedule, will probably do a few cyclocross races through the rest of the fall/winter months, but have some specific ideas for winter training that I'm looking forward to working on. It's been a fun year.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Xterra North Pole - Tahoe
Here's the hourly forcast for the next 12 hours here at Incline Village, NV:
10:00 pm (now at the hotel) - 47 degrees, feels like 41 degrees, raining. Not bad race conditions actually, low 40's can be pretty comfortable and this rain will make the sandy climb up Tunnel Creek dramatically better - so long as it stays moderate.
9:00 am (race start) - 40 degrees, feels like 32 degrees, with cloud cover.
11:00 am (should be around the top of the bike course, 8,700 ft altitude) - 38 degrees, feels like 29 degrees, raining.
12:00 pm (back down at Incline Village for the run/finish) - 38 degrees, fells like 28 degrees, rain/snow showers.
There's going to be a problem area of this race that I'm not sure how to approach, and it's probably different than your initial idea of why this triathlon may be a little nuts. I say that because it's a different than my initial idea on why this race may pose some unique challenges.
My initial concern as I saw the weather forcast detriorating all week to downright cold for the race tomorrow was the swim. We pulled into Incline Village yesterday and walked down to the beach and there were good 3-4 foot swells rolling onto the beach. The water was chilly, but it's going to be just fine. The swim isn't going to be the cold part of this race. In fact, it may be the warmest.
Those temps I listed are for Incline Village, which sits about 6,200 ft elevation (almost identical to my home in Draper, Utah). This bike course is going to take us up to just below 9,000 ft elevation, via the highly exposed and windy Flume trail and along some trail along the crest of the mountain. So, here's the problem. That "feels like 29 degrees" we get at 11:00 am is actually going to be pretty darn balmy relative to what it's going to feel like at 9,000 ft where I'm pretty sure we're going to be in the mid - low teens while working through the top of the bike course. And the winds - 17 mph down here in the valley - no idea what they'll be up top, but I rode up Tunnel Creek Road to the Flume trail with Lee yesterday and we went from minimal wind, to a whole bunch of it once we got out on the Flume which is pretty exposed. Suspect it will be even worse up on the crest section. And that rain. I'm not a meteorologist, but I'm pretty sure that if it's 10 degrees cooler and "feels like 15-20 degrees" up on the mountain, that rain ain't gonna be rain. So, low-mid teen temps, high winds, and probably snow - should make for a real adventurous race.
10:00 pm (now at the hotel) - 47 degrees, feels like 41 degrees, raining. Not bad race conditions actually, low 40's can be pretty comfortable and this rain will make the sandy climb up Tunnel Creek dramatically better - so long as it stays moderate.
9:00 am (race start) - 40 degrees, feels like 32 degrees, with cloud cover.
11:00 am (should be around the top of the bike course, 8,700 ft altitude) - 38 degrees, feels like 29 degrees, raining.
12:00 pm (back down at Incline Village for the run/finish) - 38 degrees, fells like 28 degrees, rain/snow showers.
There's going to be a problem area of this race that I'm not sure how to approach, and it's probably different than your initial idea of why this triathlon may be a little nuts. I say that because it's a different than my initial idea on why this race may pose some unique challenges.
My initial concern as I saw the weather forcast detriorating all week to downright cold for the race tomorrow was the swim. We pulled into Incline Village yesterday and walked down to the beach and there were good 3-4 foot swells rolling onto the beach. The water was chilly, but it's going to be just fine. The swim isn't going to be the cold part of this race. In fact, it may be the warmest.
Those temps I listed are for Incline Village, which sits about 6,200 ft elevation (almost identical to my home in Draper, Utah). This bike course is going to take us up to just below 9,000 ft elevation, via the highly exposed and windy Flume trail and along some trail along the crest of the mountain. So, here's the problem. That "feels like 29 degrees" we get at 11:00 am is actually going to be pretty darn balmy relative to what it's going to feel like at 9,000 ft where I'm pretty sure we're going to be in the mid - low teens while working through the top of the bike course. And the winds - 17 mph down here in the valley - no idea what they'll be up top, but I rode up Tunnel Creek Road to the Flume trail with Lee yesterday and we went from minimal wind, to a whole bunch of it once we got out on the Flume which is pretty exposed. Suspect it will be even worse up on the crest section. And that rain. I'm not a meteorologist, but I'm pretty sure that if it's 10 degrees cooler and "feels like 15-20 degrees" up on the mountain, that rain ain't gonna be rain. So, low-mid teen temps, high winds, and probably snow - should make for a real adventurous race.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Bringing down the house at the Atlantis Hotel & Casino in Reno
I'll start with the less exciting news of the day. The weather forcast for the race saturday continues to deteriorate. As of today, the High, and I'll stress that I'm talking about the HIGH, is supposed to be 42, and the low - a balmy 28 degrees. The one positive, it's a pretty dramatic cool off the next few days so the water temp shouldn't have time to drop nearly as much. Regardless, it's going to be a pretty brutal day - can't help but think there's a good chance of getting some snow at the top of the bike course.
So back to the title of this post. We got into Reno about midnight last night and checked into the Atlantis. The girls are just hitting the sack tonight with their booty after making a killing at the Atlantis arcade. They figured out how to play the arcade version of Deal or No Deal and after a bunch of big pots, and one gigantic one, they cashed in just under 3,000 of those tickets that these arcade machines spit out (usually 5-20 per play). The take? A Strawberry Shortcake pony, and Baby Shrek doll that wears a diaper the girls can pretend to change, and some booby prizes for Brock. I won't try to articulate how many tickets 3,000 is, but it's a bunch - and the dude behind the counter had to refill the machines we were playing more than once. Think I'm going to give Kylie and Chesney a quarter each and have them sneak a pull on a slot machine on the way out of here, they're on fire!
So back to the title of this post. We got into Reno about midnight last night and checked into the Atlantis. The girls are just hitting the sack tonight with their booty after making a killing at the Atlantis arcade. They figured out how to play the arcade version of Deal or No Deal and after a bunch of big pots, and one gigantic one, they cashed in just under 3,000 of those tickets that these arcade machines spit out (usually 5-20 per play). The take? A Strawberry Shortcake pony, and Baby Shrek doll that wears a diaper the girls can pretend to change, and some booby prizes for Brock. I won't try to articulate how many tickets 3,000 is, but it's a bunch - and the dude behind the counter had to refill the machines we were playing more than once. Think I'm going to give Kylie and Chesney a quarter each and have them sneak a pull on a slot machine on the way out of here, they're on fire!
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