sometimes you need more room

Ironman Cozumel - 13:17:04

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:58:00 -0600

(You can click on the swim, bike, and run headers to see the legs in Garmin Connect. I forgot to un-set the auto-pause feature so any stops along the way don’t show up.)

Swim - 1:00:23

Sweet jeebus! Either this course was short or I took a wrong turn because there’s nothing in my training that points to my swimming this fast without wearing myself out. The most plausible explanation is that the current was much stronger on the outside of course.

My goal was to come out of the water as if I had just done an easy warm-up which is exactly what happened. Every so often I would switch to breathing every 3rd stroke for a little while just to make sure I wasn’t overdoing it. I was able to draft off of a few people but not as much as I would have liked.

The conditions could not have been better - no waves with perfect visibility. We got really lucky because this is what it looked like 2 days prior.

Although I didn’t spot it, the Christ figure below was visible from the course. Several safety divers and rays were visible along the ocean bottom as well.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewsaunders/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

T1 - 14:45

Just like IM Florida, the transition tent was packed so I just sat down right off the path to the bikes. I took some extra time to make sure there was no sand left on my feet when I put on my (compression) socks. That, arm coolers and a ton of sunscreen made this a less than speedy transition. Still faster than my 20:00 IM Florida T1.

Bike - 6:37:59

The bike course consisted of three laps around the south end of the island that was marred only by the wall of wind as seen in the video below. It may look beautiful, but you get over it really quickly.

I was a bit apprehensive because I brought my 100mm Blackwell racing wheels, and while I wasn’t blown across the road at all, I’m sure I exerted a lot more effort than I would have had my wheels been shallower.

Everything was going as planned until the special needs stop where our bags weren’t organized effectively and there weren’t enough volunteers to help us get them.

T2 - 2:32

This was a bit surprising. I’ve had slower sprint transition times and definitely an improvement over my 15:01 IM Florida T2. The only things I had in my bag were shoes, race belt (with GU), and hat.

Run - 5:21:25

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/20076612

"Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns...."

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:14:59 -0500

“Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who’s gonna do it? You? You, Lieutenant Weinberg? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that Santiago’s death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives! You don’t want the truth because deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties, you want me on that wall! You need me on that wall! We use words like Honor, Code, Loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline! I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it! I would rather you just said “Thank you” and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon, and stand a post. Either way, I don’t give a damn what you think you are entitled to!”

- Colonel Jessep in “A Few Good Men”

"Great. So Demi Moore just validated the entire Twitter community which apparently consists of..."

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 16:39:33 -0500

“Great. So Demi Moore just validated the entire Twitter community which apparently consists of suicidal maniacs, her douche of a husband and Heidi Montag. Narcissism: It saves lives - as long as you look at me!”

- The Superficial

Negative Projection

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 16:41:00 -0500

From Jack Bauer, Wilhelm Reich and Confronting Fascism by Mac McKinney

Psychiatrists and psychologists recognize that when one is excessively denigrating someone or something, one is really engaging in negative projection, projecting one’s own negative “shadow”, to use Dr. Carl Jung’s term, by which he meant the subconscious, repressed and suppressed parts of oneself, in particular those aspects that one refuses to even acknowledge, so inimical are they to one’s self-identity. Thus the stridency with which one accuses and assaults those same aspects in another is often an indication of the depth of intensity with which they exist in oneself, particularly when the accused bears no resemblance whatsoever to the accusation. In this latter case, such accusations would be pure projection, a veritable mirror of one’s own negative shadow.

Want to test this out? Write down the qualities of people you hate and then ask yourself if you have those same qualities.

So, just to get this straight: Recruiting is so bad that the Army has had to lower its standards to allow felons, borderline retards and the elderly to serve; but they are STILL firing soldiers just for being gay?

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:33:46 -0500

So, just to get this straight: Recruiting is so bad that the Army has had to lower its standards to allow felons, borderline retards and the elderly to serve; but they are STILL firing soldiers just for being gay?

How to appear offline on Facebook

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 20:20:00 -0600

Don’t you hate it when your Facebook chat window pops open and suddenly you’re stuck going over the last twenty years of your life with a high school friend you barely even remember? The image below shows you how to appear offline so you can avoid this. Open this box by clicking on the chat icon on the bottom right corner of your Facebook window.

Oh, and it will remember this setting even after you log out so you don’t have to keep resetting it.

Comic Sans

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 12:02:00 -0600

A co-worker of mine uses comic sans in his work emails which drives me nuts. So I posed the question on Twitter: say something, or let it go. Here are the responses:

I suggest a firing squad at noon.
SAY SOMETHING. http://bancomicsans.com/home.html Only you can help prevent Comic Sans.
Please say something. That’s just wrong…
Respond in brush script or marlett and report back.
You gotta nip that in the bud!
if he is sending professional emails to “All users” then yes!
I know I’m late with this response but for the love of all that is good say something! There’s no excuse.

It’s reassuring to know I’m not the only one.

Run Less, Run Faster

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 23:51:30 -0500

I just finished Run Less, Run Faster: Become a Faster, Stronger Runner with the Revolutionary FIRST Training Program and I highly recommend it. You can get a lot of the program from the FIRST website but there are gaps you’ll need the book to fill in. Anyway, if you want to get faster or prepare for a longer distance (including a 1/2 or full marathon) but don’t want to run 4 to 6 days a week, then you should consider this program. I’ve been using it for about 3 months now and I’m already seeing huge speed increases.