Swimming Is A Mess

I thought you were supposed to get better when you practiced something? I hadn’t spent any time in the pool for a good stretch up until a few weeks ago, so I wasn’t too tough on myself for swimming like a fish out of water. But it’s been 3 weeks…I should be getting better by now. My technique is so jacked up I don’t even know where to start to fix it. I just know that it’s bad all over.

Think I may be headed for a masters class or a swim clinic next month. This is supposed to be the easy leg of the race, and I want to keep it that way.

Yesterday Doing 0 Comments PERMALINK

On Missed Swim Sessions

I know the general rule for missed short workouts is to just move on without worrying about picking them up. I usually follow this to a fault. I’m rethinking this a little right now though, at least for the swim. I usually don’t place a huge amount of importance on the swim anyway…those are definitely workouts I don’t stress about missing since it’s the shortest leg of the race by Read More ...

12 Step Recovery For Mileage Junkies

My name is Scott, and I’m a mileage junkie. The first step is admitting you have a problem, right? It feels good to say it out loud…like a weight off my chest. Now if I can just get some weight off the rest of my body. I’ve been reading “Be Iron Fit”, and while it’s mostly a collection of the same advice and information I’ve read before, I think I’m Read More ...

28 days ago Doing 0 Comments PERMALINK

<3 Google+ Photo Sharing

I’ve shared plenty of photos from my phone on Google+, but in the last couple of days I’ve started uploading larger albums there. The display of photo albums within Plus is very nice (waaaaaaaay cleaner than Facebook), and if you upload through Plus instead of Picasa, your photos get auto-resized and don’t count towards your Picasa limits: If you’ve signed up for Google+ Free storage limits Photos up to 2048 Read More ...

125 days ago Doing 0 Comments PERMALINK

On Getting “Chicked”

Emily has a pretty funny post about mixed-gender running and talks about guys who lie about planning on an easy run only to come out and try to race their female running partners. Most of the time I’ve spent training has been with women, so I guess I have something to say on this. I’ve trained with all sorts of girls. A couple have been a little slower than me, but Read More ...

131 days ago Doing 0 Comments PERMALINK

Correct Swimming Pool Temps

I’m going to break this down to levels beyond scientific, based on my test data. I’m proposing a “bust-yer-aise” scale similar to the wind chill factor or the heat index. 80 feels like 88, provided you’re working hard enough. If 80 degree water in your backyard pool is too cold for you to cool off in, you need to increase the intensity of your run/bike/walk/row/rugby/training. Or mow/landscape harder. Whatever. And Read More ...

151 days ago Doing , Thinking 0 Comments PERMALINK

Hurricane Preparedness – Irene

It looks like Hurricane Irene is going to miss us for the most part, although I’m sure we’ll get plenty of rain and some good surf out of it; more surf than I could handle anyway. Unfortunately, the rest of the east coast may not be as lucky as we were this time around. We did the usual things to prepare over the weekend when it looked like we were Read More ...

168 days ago Doing , Thinking 0 Comments PERMALINK

Investing for Triathletes

During yesterday’s market tumble, I saw this tweet from @lokibeat… It made me chuckle, but it also made me think of a couple of things triathletes and runners can hopefully relate to. First of all, the practical… I prefer to think of dips in the market the same way I do water stops. At first glance, water stops cost me time in races because I walk them. But the truth Read More ...

182 days ago Doing , Thinking 0 Comments PERMALINK

Yammer Should Be Called “Sweet Potato-er”

Don’t “sweet potatoes” sound so much tastier than “yams”? I posted this to our network this morning, but it’s also worth stating publicly. My new favorite thing about Yammer: It’s so much more convenient to come back from vacation and read what people wrote in groups/threads on Yammer over the past couple of days than it is to try to sort through all the messages and replies on email. I Read More ...

197 days ago Doing , Thinking 0 Comments PERMALINK

DailyMile needs to expand their “add a workout” section to cover things like yard work. I know I’m not at my top level of fitness right now, but I go at it pretty hard in the yard some days, especially when I’m wielding a machete. That should count for something more than a blank spot in my workout log.

Maybe they are aware I’m offsetting the calories with beer as I go?

204 days ago Doing 0 Comments PERMALINK

I definitely didn’t set any land speed records. No distance records either. Luckily I didn’t feel any pain in my foot. Of course, I was definitely distracted by the pain in my lungs and knees. Baby steps…two weeks without pain and times will start dropping again.

210 days ago Doing 0 Comments PERMALINK

Training Swim With Manatees

I jumped in the river with my buddy Ryan on Saturday for a training swim. It was his first open-water swim, and my first swim in a long time. We’re lucky to have a perfect spot to swim at his parents’ condo with no boat traffic and a loop course that’s about 400 yards or so. The water was nice and calm, except for the occasional manatee poking its nose Read More ...

225 days ago Doing 0 Comments PERMALINK

Shrimp and Grits…With BACON!

Shrimp and grits inspired by a Throwdown–the best of both recipes. My boredom with food was temporarily paused. The Missus cooks good groceries.

251 days ago Doing 0 Comments PERMALINK

How To Remove Dead Christmas Palms

Unusually cold winters here for the past two years have caused many a palm tree to perish. If you need to remove dead trees and replace them with something more cold hearty, I’ve built up some experience in the past couple of months, and there are two basic methods I’ve used. Method 1 works best for single trees or small doubles/triples. Since the root ball on palms is relatively small and Read More ...

294 days ago Doing 0 Comments PERMALINK