"That Guy"

Who's going to do it today? Barcelona? Man U?

Did I mention I am now on a soccer team? Well, I am. There's a one day tourney in my town on the July 4 weekend, and I was recruited by one of the teams. Was I recruited because of my soccer prowess? No, I don't think so. I haven't played futbol since I was about seven years old. No, I think I was recruited because I'm "that guy".

One of the guys that talked to me about playing said something like, "You're always running and stuff so I figured you'd be in shape enough to play." Well, there are worse reputations to have. I hope he understands that just because I do it doesn't mean I'm great at it.

The only thing I worry about competing on an ironic adult soccer team is getting kicked in the leg by another adult. I'm not down with that.  I may have to invest in shin guards.

BTW, Google Blogger won't let me reply to comments. There's some glitch, at least when I try it from this PC. Thanks for reading. Now, I need to get out of the house and do something.

Crunch Time

Jimmy Fallon has an audience full of sailors and Marines. It's fleet week in NYC. I have fond memories of fleet week, but it seems like a million years ago. We didn't pay for one drink the whole time we were there. I'm sure the guys are receiving similar treatment this time around. Go Navy!

Crunch Time

Not that I do crunches much anymore. Rather I'm racing June 4th in the Sedalia Spring Into Summer Duathlon. That, then, begins my race season, and I don't feel at all ready. The funny thing is, however, I'm itching to race.

I have to hit the pool hard in June. I'm drowning in laziness, and my swim has hardly progressed. My favorite part about the upcoming duathlon? The part where you don't swim. I know why I'm so lazy about swimming; it's because Branson seems so far away, and I'm so sleepy in the mornings. But my wife and I made an agreement-she agrees to force me out of bed when the alarm goes off, and I agree to not drown.

The in-laws graciously took the kids this weekend for a while, so I hope to get in a long ride and maybe even a run tomorrow. I'd swim, but the pool isn't open for laps.

Until next time...

Alternative Forms of Work Out

Usually when I hear about some alternative form of anything I get skeptical. Alternative medicine, alternative energy, alternative music. They're all like the real thing, just less effective. Like the other day when I tried to get rid of my headache by listening to Interpol on my wind-up radio, and it totally wasn't working. The radio that is. I finally plugged it in and got an aspirin.

But I'm trying to convince myself that there are alternative forms of work out that are just as effective as actually running, swimming, and biking. Activities like mowing my yard. My lawn tractor broke the other day, so I have to push mow until I fix/buy another. Keep in mind, my house is planted firmly in the side of a hill, so my yard is an inclined plane, and a steep one at that. The only thing that makes mowing it bearable is that somehow I imagine I'm engaged in training.

The last time I mowed I carried my Garmin eTrex with me. (I'm mad at eTrex, so don't interpret this as some sort of recommendation.)  I wanted to see how far I actually walked when I mowed, but the stupid thing shut off without warning at some point. It's been doing  this to me for awhile, and it's not because the batteries are low, because they're not. So I caught it and turned it back on. I was surprised to see I'd only walked 0.62 miles when I was done. Total distance would be a little more to account for the shut off.

So, should that count as my training for that day? What if I threw in some yoga or tai chi? What if I visualized myself working out? Would that work? What if I visualized myself mowing the yard? Would that actually cut the grass? I'm just asking, people.

My new cross-trainers

First Brick of the Year

Why is it called a brick? I have no idea.

On Saturday I rode eighteen miles and ran four point five miles. Basically, that's two thirds of the SM Triathlon.

Thoughts? None here.

It was chilly and windy here on Saturday, so I decided to wear pants when I rode. I don't have riding pants, so I wore my Rocky Balboa gray sweatpants pants. Was that a good look? Well, do we need another Rocky movie?

Speaking of Rocky, a week ago Saturday I ran in a local 5K, and I developed a plan that would ensure I ran the best 5K of my life. Did I train a certain way? Did I mind my nutrition the morning of the race? No, of course not. I had a way better plan than that. What I did was create a playlist on my iPod with songs that would certainly inspire me to run fast. I don't know where I got it, but I have a CD with songs from Rocky I, II, III, and IV. So I put all of those great training montage songs on there, and you can only imagine how well I did once that started playing.

How well did I do? First in my age group. Was I the only guy in my age group? I think so. The race is the local Girls on the Run 5K, so I think a lot of guys stay away thinking it's only for girls. My time was twenty-two minutes something. Not great at all, but I accomplished my goal which was to run seven and a half minute miles the whole way.

Until next time...

All Consuming

Lately, if I find I have it, I use my free time for lifting, running, riding, swimming, eating cake, etc.  Trying to train for a triathlon can seem all consuming, and you find that other hobbies you used to have get forgotten.  For instance, I occassionally lke to refurbish a piece of furniture or even build a simple table or stool or whatnot. I don't get to it as much as I used to, but I did find something the other day I could work on.

Recently my lovely bride and I decided we needed a new table to consume food off of, so we went shopping, and were aghast to see what they charge for brand new wooden eating platforms. So we decided to go to shops where they sell experienced furniture.  We found a table that I said we could re-finish, which means aside from buying a table, I bought a project. Re-finishing a table can count as cross-training, can't it?

Here are a few pics of what I found humorous that day (simple mind, simple pleasure), and my new projects.



Subtle



You can buy anything at an antique shop.

Freaky

Obama chia and some Saget movie.

Table after I removed the top and put everything on the work table.

I negotiated with the guy and got this sewing table. It's in great shape, just needs some re-finishing.

Table top before we stripped it.

My lovely bride.

Yes, I made my wife put that on before I showed her what it said. She's a good sport, but she said she'd kill me if she got lice. Anyway, it was a good day because we spent the day together while the kids were at school, and I still managed to swim in the morning.