Doing More With Less Since 1972
I issued a challenge to the world–I’ll do burpees daily for those who help me raise money for Miles of Love.
Yesterday I got 50 dolla, no holla, from Coupon Katie. Today I knocked out 50 51 burpees. I’m better at counting at the end than I am at the beginning.
Video proof below.
I’m not very good at burpees. Probably because I hate burpees with all of my soul. I’ll get better though…if someone pays to see it.
If I’ve ever done anything to tick you off (and that’s pretty much all of you), now’s your chance to get me back.
I’m doing the Space Coast Marathon again this year, even though I said I’d never do another marathon. I’m doing this to raise money for Miles of Love, which is a local charity a friend of mine started. The MOL mission is to provide support to local families who have sick kids. What I love about this organization is that it’s local, and it’s super-efficient. MOL has set up relationships with bigger organizations to vet recipients to help eliminate waste and fraud. They do all kinds of things for these families–anything from providing gas cards to help them get back and forth to the hospital to buying gifts for the kids themselves.
So the big question is, how can you use this situation to dole out punishment to me? Here’s how it works…
Every day, from not until ???? I’ll be doing a burpee* for every dollar I receive in donations. $20 = 20 burpees. $100 = 100 burpees. If you’ve ever done 100 burpees, you know that’s some serious punishment. I’ll video these and make long-distance dedications Casey Kasem style to those who help me raise funds.
So let me have it. You can click here to make a donation. Click early, click often.
* Burpees will be without the pushup at the bottom, but will include a jump and over-the-head hand clap.
Disney Princesses Turn Deadly In This Killer Interactive Street Art – It's been my experience that The Princesses mean no physical harm. They simply want your money. All of it.
What Gmail Knows About You – I'm guessing the answer is "more than I know about myself".
What’s Really ‘Immoral’ About Student Loans – It all comes down to skin in the game. The current system encourages schools to get as much of the students' skin into that game as possible.
The 25 Golden Rules of Running – How come it don't say nothin' about hydration?
Just got back from a trip to Cartagena Colombia. All kinds of fun–a peaceful day at the Rosario Islands, exploring the city walls with the kids, and the most insane wedding I’ve ever been to.
Of course, I ate a little bit too.
The trainer is going to exact some revenge on me.
First of all, it’s not a race. Got that? I’d probably have opened up with a different line if I’d gone faster. But that’s not the case.
Second of all, 3.75 miles is a really long way–at least for me. The trick to swimming distances for me has always been to just get my mind wrapped around how long I’m going to be out there, get started, and don’t stop. Swimming is different from running in that it doesn’t beat you up physically, so I’ve always had the mentality to “just keep swimming”. The strategy for this swim was to just survive it. This was much farther than I’d ever gone before, and I really didn’t know for sure what to expect physically. Fatigue has never played that big of a part in swimming for me unless I’m doing intervals, but 3.75 miles was enough to make me tired.
Thirdly, there’s no way I could pull off something like this without a ton of support. Pretty much everyone except for the top-notch swimmers (there were a few out there) needs a dedicated person in a kayak or on a SUP to carry food and liquid, keep them on course, and make sure they are safe. So thanks to Brevard’s best dentist, Ryan Osorio, for waking up early and paddling at an excruciatingly slow pace for me. Also, a huge thanks Rob Downey for coming up with this idea a few years ago and getting everyone organized. When I stumbled onto this event on his website last year, it seemed like a “one of these days” type accomplishment. But he’s created something really special in this event–something that is fun, inclusive, and has a very supportive and encouraging vibe all around it. He even hosts training OWS swims twice a week. Those were huge for me for this event and for my last 70.3. Last but not least, I want to thank The Missus for encouraging me to do this kind of stuff, taking care of the kiddos by herself when I get up early to do it, and for bringing donuts and a camera to the finish.
Some people had some concerns Saturday afternoon/night about the SW winds and the amount of chop we’d be dealing with. I’m not going to lie…that caused me to pause and reconsider a little. At one point, I even talked myself into skipping the B2B swim and going to the pool to knock out 6k instead. But I realized that wasn’t at all the same thing. The best case scenario there would be that I’d kill it at the pool and beat myself up for not going out to do the real swim. The worst case scenario for the B2B would be that I’d have to get a tow in if I couldn’t hack it. I knew realistically that wouldn’t happen unless I was attacked by manatees or something.
Ryan picked me up at 6:15 Sunday morning, and we headed over to the Eau Gallie boat launch ramp. There was already a nice sized crowd there. There was a nervous energy for sure, but completely different from triathlon energy–this was much more friendly. The water was a little choppy, but not white capping or anything like that. I was instantly glad I’d decided to do it. I’ve gone over the Eau Gallie causeway and looked at the Melbourne Causeway a million times, but it looked a lot farther today. You can sort of see the destination bridge in the background of the photo below. Squint.
We got started without a lot of fanfare. No organized waves, and no fighting for position. Everyone knew we’d be out there a while. It was really hard to get into any kind of rhythm at the start because of the chop. It wasn’t anything too crazy, but it also wasn’t going to stop. We’d be swimming into the wind all day. My biggest concern early on was to minimize the amount of water I accidentally swallowed, so I was breathing a lot higher than I usually do. Luckily, I have a lot of experience turning my head way too high, so I easily reverted back to some old habits and looked up to breathe. At times I almost felt like I was going to roll into a backstroke. Staying on course was tough too, even with a navigator. With no buoys, sighting was pretty much impossible. Ryan had to constantly adjust to herd me in the right direction. We stayed at it for quite a while, and I was surprised when Ryan got my attention and told me we’d gone about a mile in just under 40:00. I thought we were going at a much slower pace. I also thought we’d been out there much longer.
About 15 minutes later I felt a nice rush of cooler water and the surface flattened out a little. I guessed we were getting close to the first sand bar and planned rest point at about 1.3 miles in. I peaked up and saw that we were pretty close, so I picked it up a little and swam until I was scraping sand. I grabbed a bottle of liquid from the kayak and killed it, along with two or three energy bars. The only issue at the first break was that my head was hurting. I thought it was because I’d tightened my goggles up a notch the day before, but it was actually my swim cap. I ditched that and could not believe how much relief it gave me to swim without it. I wasn’t too worried about it since there were lots of swimmers out and I had Ryan right next to me to keep me safe.
The next leg was much more comfortable. I hit a nice groove and did a mile in ~33:00, which is a typical easy pace for me in the mile. At one point it felt like the water had handles and I was getting a really good pull–almost like grabbing pudding. Nice! I had a terrible song stuck in my head, so I tried to sing something different to myself and get rid of it. It kept coming back up though. Ryan grabbed my attention to tell me there were some dolphins about 30 yards away, but I never saw them. I skipped a few bubble blowing sessions to see if I could at least hear them, but no luck there. I’m just glad one of them didn’t slam into me thinking I was a fluffy water toy.
By the time we reached the next break at about 3 miles I knew for sure I was going to make it without any problems. I was starting to feel a little tired though. I knew the last leg was going to be a challenge. Pushing through fatigue isn’t a huge challenge, but I knew it was going to be important to focus and try to keep my form as best I could. I’m not a gifted swimmer to begin with, and it’s hard to focus on form when you are beginning to fatigue. In that way, swimming is a lot like running and cycling. I’d argue that it matters a lot more in swimming.
I’d stopped trying to keep anything resembling splits, but I know my pace was falling off at this point. I actually did roll into backstroke by accident once, and my stomach made a small sacrifice to the Drowned God (obligatory GoT reference) somewhere in there. Hope the fish enjoyed that!
I could see the finish was just a few hundred yards ahead, and that gave me some extra gitalong. I was expecting to swim all the way to the exit ladder, but I noticed people ahead of me standing in thigh deep water. It wasn’t long until could see the bottom and I instinctively stood up. I probably could have dolphin dove to the ladder, but I’d had enough swimming for the day, so I walked the last 50 yards or so and talked to Ryan. It was nice to listen so something besides bubbles and gasps for air.
Dave Underhill had a smoothie stand waiting for us at the finish, and that hit the spot, along with a bottle of water from The Missus. I think the only thing I was really missing out on would have been a gallon jug of water to pour over myself and get the brackish saltiness off.
I felt good about my time of 2:33:00 all things considered. Even though conditions weren’t too bad, they definitely weren’t optimal. I haven’t been swimming very much at all lately, and that was almost twice as far as my longest previous swim. I’m coming back next year looking for a big gain. This counts as a PR, and it shouldn’t be too tough for me to break it next year.
I will give them credit for trying out some new things like Timeline and Home for Android. Maybe not the most successful features, but at least they were different and showed some creativity.
I will also admit that for creating videos, Instagram>Vine. The problem is, for consuming videos Vine>Instagram, and most of us (especially me) should stick to consuming video instead of creating it.
The Facebook UX is an absolute train wreck.
I support the right for individuals to own property without having it confiscated by the state and given to another individual, regardless of the sexual orientation of either party. #kelo #doma
Memphis Legend Jackie Fargo Dead at 85 – Sad news Pally. #memphis #rasslin
Why Do I Think Better after I Exercise? – I thought it was because it's actually quiet *while* I'm exercising.
The 10 Fittest Cities In America – Would like to see a similar article on the 10 "fightest" cities in America. Real fighting…not gun fighting. Sorry Chicago.
Men Over 40 Should Think Twice Before Running Triathlons – I usually think about triathlon at least twice while making coffee in the morning. I didn't know I could consider that part of my morning training routine, but it's nice to have one more item to check off the list.
We’re big on unschooling. If you aren’t familiar with that concept, let me use a more friendly term. I actually prefer the term “child-led learning”.
“Unschool” sounds like a lot of sleeping late and watching Diego. Wait…maybe that is what we’re doing.
Nah…what actually happens with child-led learning is that you observe what your kids are interested in, then provide them with resources and opportunities to learn more about it. They get to go as far as they want to go with it–maybe they’ll move onto something else in a week or two, or maybe they’ll become passionate about it and do it for the rest of their lives. The general idea is to let them learn about what they want to learn about instead of deciding what you think they should learn and pushing it on them.
Maybe it doesn’t work if you’re dealing with a kid who really hates to learn, but I haven’t met one of those yet. I’ve seen lots of kids who aren’t interested in some of the things they are being forced to learn, and I’ve seen lots of kids who have been convinced that it isn’t cool to learn, but I’ve never met one who didn’t clamor to find out more about something they are interested in.
I don’t know any adults like that either. I’ve seen lots of adults who hated school but are experts on classic cars, gardening, home brewing, photography, fishing, etc. Once we find the things that strike a chord with us, we will go out of our way to learn as much as we can about it.
No force feeding necessary.
What we’re trying to do is nurture that love of learning and provide options from the get-go. What they learn isn’t nearly as important as the process of learning something…and loving it.
Ok…not on an unshcooling soapbox, because that’s not really what this post is about. There’s plenty more information about unschooling out there, and plenty of places to argue about it with other people if you are so inclined.
What I’m actually interested in is how this concept applies to kids’ sports. We were talking last night about how much our 3yo loves to play soccer. The immediate idea (even for us) is to put her on a soccer team. But wait…why? This is completely contrary to her personality. She has absolutely zero interest in being on a team, going to scheduled practices, wearing a uniform, etc. She just loves to go out and kick the ball around the yard with her sisters and neighborhood friends.
So why should we introduce all the things she would hate about playing in an organized program and place limits on the parts she loves?
Instead of hauling her to a practice where she can be told what to do for 45 minutes (and when she has to stop), why not let her play for 15 minutes or an hour and a half the way she likes to play and decide for herself when she wants to stop? I think she’ll end up with more time kicking and running, have more fun, and have the aspects of playing soccer that she loves nurtured. If she’s really into it and decides she wants to compete later on, she’ll let us know. That’s the time to get her into a program. Until then, why not just let her have fun and get better at the same time?
If a love and passion for the game grows, she’ll ask for the structure. She’ll crave it. If she gets structure too soon, that love may never get a chance to grow.
Some people (“people” here means adults, but kids are also people) run just for the heck of it. They don’t use watches, distance, pace, or anything. They just run. Not for a race or any kind of competition. They just love to run. What do you think would happen to their passion for running if you forced them to enter 5ks and placed them on a program with a coach? I mean, most of them could probably be better runners with coaching and a training program, but is that what they want? If so, they’d already be doing that.
I’m not saying organized youth sports are bad. I loved playing organized sports when I was a kid. But I was a different kind of kid than she is. I was really into the competition side of sports, and I wanted that trophy*. But I spent many more hours playing baseball and football in the yard than I did on organized teams. I played in the backyard because I loved baseball and football, and I’m pretty sure the backyard was the place I made my biggest gains, not at practice 2x a week for a few months.
Every kid is different. If we were dealing with our 5yo, who actually doesn’t give a flip about soccer, she’d be all about the team. She enjoys running and loves entering races. She likes running on her own, but entering a race ignites something extra in her. She doesn’t win, but she’s ok with that. She loves the idea of being involved in a big event. If that’s what does it for her that’s great, and we’ll pursue it that way.
Even as unschoolers, I think we can sometimes fall into the trap of putting that approach into a box, labeling it “Education”, and forgetting it can apply to everything else.
*Back then, only the champions got trophies.
Very hot on today’s run. This ain’t no Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.
Top 5 Triathlon Swimming Problems And What You Can Do About It – Haven't been nervous in any water for a long time, but these are good things to review and always have in the back of your mind.
Winning Manhattan Race Report – Was feeling really good about my 3.5 mile swim coming up. Of course, this put me right back into my place.
Google Hangouts upgrade removes ability to host Google Voice calls on your computer | The Verge – Hard to complain about a free service that's so useful. So I won't.
It's just that, well…
New Study Finds It Is Impossible To Lose Weight – I think I know the guy in the before/after photos.
I’ve been using Trainerroad for two weeks now, so I thought I’d provide an update.
I tell you one thang, Hoss, I tell you one dern thing. And you can write this down…
I fully expect this program to vastly improve my speed/power/endurance/efficiency, but if it doesn’t I’ll at least come out of it mentally tough.
I’m talking about plum mad-dog mean.
At the end of the first week, I did my weekend ride outdoors and a conversational pace. This wasn’t in any way based on the Trainerroad program.
For the second week, I did a 1.5 hour longish ride (Eclipse) on Saturday, and I came out of it feeling like I could chew through leather. If fact, there was so much teeth gritting going on, if I’d leather in my mouth I probably would have chewed through it. There were three 20 minute intervals in the “sweet spot”, which is ~90-100%% of FTP, or the absolute max effort you should be able to maintain for an hour.
Still no puking, but I have a feeling it’s going to happen eventually. The 3×20 minute ride was especially tough because I was barely hanging on at the end of the 2nd interval, and it was scary knowing there was another one coming.
The mid-week rides have not been nearly as tough…yet. The intensity is about the same, but the intervals so far have been shorter.
Next month, I’ll be adding heart rate data and The Sufferfest to the mix. I’m a little scared.
Haven’t done this for a long time. And, well, this isn’t strictly really political because I’m not really picking a side on anything here. At least I don’t think I am. These are mostly just some of my thoughts from recent conversations.
I have some friends who are outraged (their words) over the NSA data collection coming to light. Granted, this is not a good thing. But did anyone think for a second this wasn’t happening? It seems like the outrage really comes from the fact that their veil of plausible deniability has been lifted. This is especially true for those who voted for the current administration once or twice.
Oh, and for those who voted for the previous administration as well.
Yeah, nobody likes it that someone has access to information that wasn’t intended for them. But maybe I should feel a little flattered at the thought that maybe someone is actually paying attention to what I say and think? I mean, I’ve been blogging/twittering for a long time–attention is a pretty hard thing to come by. I mean, unless you tag other people in your photos, good luck distracting them from their own navel gazing.
Ok…I guess I’d rather them not pay attention to me until it is too late. *evil laugh*
If you want to be outraged, be outraged that this information was used to win elections.
You don’t believe that happened? Then be outraged that the people you voted for weren’t even smart enough to use this information to help them win elections. They’d already taken 90% of the public risk just by doing it…may as well take the baby steps with the last 10% to use it to their advantage.
The problem I see is that this NSA thing has taken so much attention away from the IRS thing (and the other scandals too…can’t remember them all). When the IRS is being used to push or hinder a political agenda, we have real problems. And it doesn’t matter whose agenda is being helped or hurt. This is very bad. Yet another reason to scrap the tax code completely.
I bet they wish they’d never tapped the AP phone lines. Because if they hadn’t done that, chances are pretty good we wouldn’t be hearing about the rest of this stuff. That was stupid.
Come to think of it, maybe they really weren’t smart enough to abuse their access to information to sway the elections.
Open Source Tool Moves Spotify Playlists To Google Music Using Unofficial APIs – Dangit the money! You have to have a premium Spotify account to do this. Oh well…maybe an official mover is just around the corner?
5 Tools For Creating Your Own Infographics – I think they are trendy and all…but I still look at them a lot. Great way to get several ideas across in a very convenient format.
Homeschooling Growing Seven Times Faster than Public School Enrollment – Yeah, but doesn't it worry you that your kid may end up enjoying learning at home instead of hating school at school? LOL
Google Will Soon Launch Google Web Designer – Awsum. There's an app I'd like to build for work. I'm Android, and most of my target audience is iOS. This will make it easy to just do it as a webapp.
Well, I did it without puking. But it was pretty tough!
One thing I really liked about doing my first Trainerroad ride was that they seem to know exactly where you need to be encouraged and flash some helpful instructions on the screen to help get you through those spots without letting up. I’m pretty happy with my effort. The chart below doesn’t have heart rate information…I’ll have to wait until next month to get the Ant+ HR monitor–limited allowance. 🙂 But I averaged ~150 for the 20 minute test portion.
I’m most happy that my effort built throughout the test.
I ended up testing out at 252, which isn’t too bad for a skinny guy. Unfortunately, I’m not a skinny guy. It translates into ~2.8 watts/kg based on my current weight.
The experts over on SlowTwitch (there are lots of them) seem to think the average weekend cycling competitor should be at around 3.1 watts/kg. Interestingly, one of my goals before this test was to increase FTP by 5% in the next few weeks. Another goal was to *ahem* “adjust” my weight over the next few weeks.
252*1.05 = 264.6 watts
190 lbs in kg = 86.18
264.6/86.18 will give me 3.07 watts/kg
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