Sunday, March 27, 2011

Quotes for the Week #95

"I just want to get the work over as soon as possible so I can do some fishing.  Fishing relaxes me.  It's like yoga, except I still get to kill something." - Ron Swanson

"That's like comparing apples to... Nazi oranges." - Cyril Figgis

"And if there is one thing I have learned in all my years as a spymaster, it's that you keep your friends close and possible genetic clones of Adolph Hitler closer." - Mallory Archer

"That's what he's best at...putting a bow on a turd, marking up the price and selling it so hard you want it, even though you know it's just a turd with a bow on it.  America is that turd.  It's time to let Donald Trump come in, put some gold leaf on the border and marble columns around Florida, throw up his names in big lights over the midwest and sell this whole place to the Chinese before they realize it's half broken.  This is what I've been waiting for my whole life, a president who's not afraid to tell the truth... about being a lying asshole.  Trump 2012!" - Lewis Black

Monday, March 21, 2011

Triathlon Training Week 5

Monday, March 14- Basketball - 90 min.  Same as last week, guarded the other low-post player and got pummeled with elbows... but wasn't quite as rough as the week before. 

Tuesday, March 15 - Recovery from basketball

Wednesday, March 16 - Swinney Lap Swim.  30 lap total swim (distance - 1500 yd) 10 laps, short rest, then back to back 10 lap sets.  Splits were - 11:05 (+ 1:19 rest), 12:00 and 12:23.  This is the triathlon distance.  Total time - 36:49.  Each set of 10 laps consisted of 85% freestyle swim and 15% breaststroke for recovery. 

Swinney Lap Swim by daskaff at Garmin Connect - Details

Thursday, March 17 - Macken Park 6.8 Mile Run.  Stupidly, I hadn't charged my Garmin watch in a while... and the battery died during this run, so I only have the first 2.27 miles of the run.  I did manage to break my personal distance record (of 6.7 miles on 3/5/11) by a whopping, 0.1 miles!  The splits were -10:20, 10:32, 11:00*, 11:00*, 11:00*, 11:00*, 8:48* (0.8 mile - 11:00 pace).  Total time - 73:40*.  I'm pretty sure that I was going faster than the 11:00/mile pace, but I have no proof, so I'll just have to make sure to charge the watch so it can stay on for the whole run. 
*Estimate based on average laps from previous 10K run at Macken Park 12 days earlier

Macken Park 6.8 mile run - partial record by daskaff at Garmin Connect - Details

Friday, March 18 - Rest

Saturday, March 19 - Rest

Sunday, March 20 - 10K run in Ames.  I was in Ames for Saturday and Sunday and happened to stay with my old college roommate, Craig, who ran a half-marathon last year in Des Moines.  Since he's training for that again this year, I brought my running gear along for the trip and joined him for a 10K around Ames.  It was a pretty nostalgic run.  We started at Craig's place, went along the south side of Campustown, up University Ave, around the stadiums, then back down Lincoln Way, which is along the south side of the Iowa State University campus, back to our starting point. We managed to run negative splits, except for one mile that we missed by 2 seconds because of a couple hills which also coincided with when it rained on us for a bit.  All in all, easily the best run of the year!  Thanks, Craig!  Split times were -10:40, 10:26, 10:14, 10:10, 10:11, 10:04, 1:52 (0.21 mi - 9:08 pace).  Total time - 63:37.

Ames 10K run by daskaff at Garmin Con63:3nect - Details

Week 5 Summary  I had decided with the successful brick from last week, that I could take it somewhat easy this week.  I want to stay off the bike for at least this week to try to drop a few more pounds, but definitely wanted to get back in the pool.   This week's successes were doing the full distance swim with only minimal rest, extending my running personal distance record and cutting 4 min 23 seconds off my 10K time.  Wow!  That's not too bad for a taking it somewhat easy week. 


Totals for Week 5
Swim - 0.90 miles
Bike - 0 miles
Run - 13.0 miles
Other - Basketball

Week 6 Goals  I would like to get in two swims, two runs (one focusing on speed at Macken and one focusing on distance at the hills of 68th St), one bike, the regular basketball session and do the AbRipperX workout.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Quotes for the Week #94

"If I cared about what you do on the weekend, I'd stick a shotgun in my mouth and pull the trigger with my toes." - Malory Archer

"Why do I have to go to a French movie?  I didn't do anything wrong." - Phil Dunphy

"While Claire watched one of the most highly-acclaimed films of the year,  I sat through a badly made schlockfest with absolutely no redeeming value... and it was awesome!" - Phil Dunphy

"There's no proof she's being stalked by ninja squirrels either, but if she's scared of them, as her boyfriend, it's your job to figure out how to help her feel better." - Dr. James Wilson

Monday, March 14, 2011

Triathlon Training Week 4

Monday March 7 - Basketball, 90 min - Guarded the other low-post player and got beaten up by repeated elbows to the arms and chest.  Definitely need a day or two to recover from that.  Ugh.

Tuesday March 8 - Rest

Wednesday March 9 - AbRipperX - Up to almost 50%

Thursday March 10 - 5K + 1.75 mile run.  So, I wanted to see what my 5K time would be if I tried to run fairly quickly, just to see where I was compared to 5K runs from last year.  Turns out, I'm not too far off of last year's paces.  I kept all three miles under 10 min/mi pace and had neg splits - 9:56, 9:48, 9:26, 0:56 (0.1 mile - 9:05/mi pace) for a 5K time of 30:06.  Pacing wise, this was 37 seconds/mile faster than the last 5K I did last year - The World's Maize-iest Maze Race in Spring Grove, IL (race recap here via IlaxStudio, because I was too lazy to write one myself).  I ended up tacking on a 1.75 mile (very slow) jog to this run, because I had nothing better to do that night.  My ankle started bothering me after the 5K and I wanted to see how I could compensate for it should this injury come up in an actual run.  It was annoying, but it wasn't that big of a deal.

Macken Park 5K + 1.75mi Slow Run by daskaff at Garmin Connect - Details

Friday March 11 - AbRipperX - Passed the 50% mark. 

Saturday March 12 - Bike/Run Brick - 14.8 mile bike/3.7 mile run.  It was finally warm enough on a weekend day that I could get my bike out for a test ride.  Last year at this time, I had yet to even own a bike, so simply getting it out means, by definition, that I would be ahead of last year... right?  My first brick of 2010 wasn't until about mid to late April, so if I bike then run, I should be WAY ahead of last year... maybe.  The Downtown KC Airport is a great place to bike - it's a 3.7 mile loop around the airport with minimal traffic and there's a couple hills, but mostly straight and flat.  The downside, since there is no cover at ground level, is the wind, which you have to eat for about 1.5 miles straight.
The ride was alright, the seat was uncomfortable (as usual) almost immediately, which (along with the wind) reminds me that I need to lose about 25 pounds.  Excess weight and the loose clothing I had to wear because it was somewhat chilly, killed my speed during the straight away facing the wind.  I ended up doing 4 laps of the airport for a total of 14.8 miles.  Splits were - 15:50, 15:59, 16:19, 16:24.  Total time - 64:32.  My average speed for the ride was only slightly slower than last year.  
When I finished the bike portion, I tossed the bike back in the car, drank some water, then ran one lap around the airport (if only the airport threw a small lake in there somewhere, I could practice the whole damned thing).  The 3.7 mile run took 39:45.  Splits - 10:34, 10:55, 10:53, 7:23 (0.67 mile - 10:59 pace).  Again, the times weren't that far off of my triathlon pace from last year and my endurance isn't terribly far off of last year either.  Today's bike and run were each 60% of the distance of the full triathlon distances.  

Bike/Run Brick - 14.8 mile Bike/3.7 mile Run by daskaff at Garmin Connect - Details

Sunday March 13 - Rest

Week 4 Summary  I had been pretty worried that I was months behind in my training compared to last year.  At this time last year, I had focused almost exclusively on swimming (because I was basically a beginner), didn't own a bike, and had run about 10 miles.  I felt like I was in shape and weighed 215 pounds.  This year, I only have been playing a lot more basketball, only have about 3 swims in, but almost 50 miles of running and now 15 miles of biking as well as the experience of last year's triathlon.  I feel like I am in adequate shape, but weigh 230 pounds (started 2011 at almost 240 though).  After this week, I honestly feel better about my position in training than I have at any point this year.  I now have proof that my endurance is still there and my weight is going in the correct direction.

Totals for Week 4
Swim - 0 miles
Bike - 14.8 miles
Run - 8.6 miles
Other - Basketball, AbRipperX x2

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Quotes for the Week #93

"Airlines are considering charging for reclining seats.  Also, your scrotum now counts as a carry on bag." - Stephen Colbert

"That's not fair.  I slept with that hot girl and you want me to pretend I slept with Connie?  That's like going to Led Zeppelin and telling everybody I saw Styx." - Larry Munsch

"I'm sorry if this is your wake-up call, but being an ugly woman is like being a man... you're gonna have to work." - Daniel Tosh


"What part of Europe is he from... Pretentioustan?" -  Mitchell Pritchett

"Well, here's a good reason.  You ever go the bathroom and find parsley in your teeth that your friends hadn't told you about?   Now, imagine your teeth are a uterus and that parsley is a half-Chinese baby." - Pierce Hawthorne

Friday, March 11, 2011

Community - Chang vs Rich

I wanted to put this in the "Quotes for the Week" but it's waaaaay too long. If you're calling me lazy for just posting this clip... Guilty as Chang'ed.


Monday, March 7, 2011

Triathlon Training Week 3

Monday Feb 28 - Basketball 90 min. Somewhat strange team divisions, but the games were competitive. Back felt tired, but not sore. I just kept stretching it out through the rest of the day and it felt alright. Progress!

Tuesday Mar 1 - Rest

Wednesday Mar 2 - Rest. My back feels pretty well healed, but want to give it one more night of rest before testing it out.

Thursday Mar 3 - 3.6 mile run. My back still feels good, so it's time to test it with an easy-ish run. Macken Park is completely flat and not very busy after dark, which is when I get a chance to go. I kept the pace kind of slow, but my back didn't tighten up, so I sped up (slightly) for each 1 mile lap. Finished with 3.6 miles and no tightness! I could be ready to get back into training then... but should take it easy for the next week to try to not make things worse.  Times were 10:19, 10:16, 9:58, 6:01 (0.6 miles). 
Distance/Time - 3.6 miles/36:35

Macken Park Run - Easy Pace 3.6 miles by daskaff at Garmin Connect - Details

Friday Mar 4 - Cold and rainy day, so didn't really want to do anything outside. Ended up doing the AbRipperX workout from P90X. And by "doing", I really mean "tried" as in I probably did 1/3 of it. Yeah... not prepped to do well in that workout yet. But, you have to start somewhere.

Saturday Mar 5 - 6.7 mile run.  The goals for the run were A) increase distance (hopefully out to full 10K - the distance of the run for the triathlon) and B) keep the pace slow to ensure I can finish the 10K but also establish a slow enough time that basically any future 10K completion would be faster than this.  It was much colder than Thursday's run (25 vs low 50s), but tolerable.  I kept a pace of about 11 min/mile throughout the run, which was almost too slow of a pace to maintain and I was barely ever breathing over a normal rate.  My left hip flexor started getting tired in the fifth mile (no biggie) and my left ankle got a little sore in the sixth (also no biggie).  I ended up finishing the 10K in 1:08:00.  To prove I still had something in the tank, I decided to run an extra half mile at a much faster pace.  Actually, I got the half mile point way before I expected, but I decided that was enough.  My back never tightened up or even felt tired.  I might actually be over that injury
Total time/distance - 1:12:50/6.7 miles
Laps were - 10:43, 11:06, 11:05, 11:00, 11:00, 10:51, 2:15 (0.2 mile).  Bonus (0.52 mile) - 4:48 - 9:16/mile pace
Macken Park 10K+ by daskaff at Garmin Connect - Details

Sunday Mar 6 - Rest.  With basketball in the morning tomorrow, I decided to take it easy after that long run.  Ended up just doing two different stretching sessions, but nothing taxing. 


Week 3 Summary - Injuries are basically not a problem by the end of the week.  I'm pretty happy that I managed to run a 10K+ nonstop.  The time (1:08:00) was slow - purposefully, but is (after some checking) 7 minutes slower than my final practice 10K before last year's triathlon.  So... maybe I'm not too far behind last year's training after all. 

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Quotes for the Week #92

"The pressures of public life has made me lose sight of what is really and truly important... and that is drinking.  I love alcohol and I need to recommit myself to the consuming of it.  After this is over, I intend to check in to the Super 8 motel off on I95 and I'll have an entire case of Wild Turkey.  Thank you.  That is all.  I love drinking." - Sen Dave Tillis (the nations first openly drunk senator)

"Absolutely, but it's not your fault. You are genetically predisposed to compete against other women for the attention of strong, powerful men like myself, or others very similar to me, for example: Hercules, The Highlander, or a... God." - Jack Donaghey

"That won't make any sense. An urgent marketing message? Oh, my God, the bobbleheads aren't stupid enough." - Ben Donovan

"Who am I, Count Bullets-ula? Like Dracula? That was bad. Come back to me, I can do better." - Sterling Archer

"There is no explanation.  There is no excuse... I just want to know why?" - Cameron Tucker

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

The Onion News Network - Chickens Choose Oscar Winners Amid PETA Protests

"Madison, you must love this... everyone buzzing to your one little area of knowledge." - Brooke Alvarez

"It is simply inhumane to expose an animal to decisions involving movie soundtracks, or who may, or may not have won best supporting actress in a motion picture that year. God knows I wouldn't subject a person to that kind of treatment." - Cam Silver


PETA Protests Use Of Chickens To Randomly Pick Oscar Winners