Monday, December 31, 2012

Resolutionista statements and questions


  • Hey Fatso, I know what your resolution is!
  • Cardio while reading a novel doesn't count as high intensity?
  • The volume of grunting isn't proportional to effort?
  • Cannonballs are not allowed in this pool?
  • Is a lap there or there and back in this pool?
  • I don't sweat so I don't need to wipe off the machine.
  • Isn't my watch cool? Do you know how to use it?
  • Is it ok if I water jog in the same lane you are swimming in?
  • What about my friends too?
  • You are supposed to ride a bike more than 12 minutes?
  • How long does it take to run a mile?
  • Is it always this crowded?
  • Are you supposed to wear underwear under your bike shorts?
  • My goal is to run a 5k marathon.
  • I can't take pictures of you working out and post them on Facebook?
  • What do I do with my cell phone while I'm on the treadmill?
  • It isn't polite to stare?

Monday, December 24, 2012

December ramblings.


  • There could be lots of reasons why I haven't written a blog entry lately but the net of it is that I haven't. No excuses. Fact.
  • I've been traveling a lot recently. Sleep overs in New Jersey and London were the most time consuming. I have a lot of work travel to plan. Dallas, Singapore, San Fran, Prague, Hong Kong, Tampa, and Boston need to be queued up.
  • Getting PLAGUE on the way home from London in the petri dish known as American Airlines sucked. (The doctor said it was the flu, not PLAGUE, but I'm still a little messed up).
  • Our treadmill was fixed but I haven't used it yet.
  • I'm no where near being ready to run a half Mary in less than 3 weeks. In fact, I really can't run at all although I've walked 6-7 miles or so one a week in addition to some other training when not suffering from Plague.
  • My daughter, in contrast, seems ready for Disney having thrown down a 10 spot last weekend with the running club. I walked 6.
  • Losing all this time has made the holidays sneak up on us. Can we just delay it a few more weeks?
  • I really don't like email holiday cards. Seems too impersonal. Especially when you have to remind yourself who that person actually is - most commonly a vendor wanting to sell crap.
  • I like picture christmas cards but not when I can't recognize the kids in the picture as they have changed so much.
  • The NYC marathon resolution has been published. The lesson that I learned was do not cancel until the last minute. Since I cancelled 3 weeks earlier I do not get a refund. Don't know what options I do have but rescheduling it for 2014 would have most appeal to me. It will be my first marathon.
  • I'm so fat that I can't fit into my clothes any more. Need a self intervention. Don't want to buy fat clothes again but might have to. Christmas cookies aren't helping but this is the key to my year.
  • My 2013 race calendar is set. Two races in Florida, one in New York, and one in Tempe are the highlights.
  • Training is going slow but going. The indication of real triathlon training is when I'll be swimming. Thinking about kicking that up this week and either masters swim or private lessons after the New Year.
  • Merry Christmas to all.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Deadmill

Those who know me know that I have a love/hate relationship with my treadmill (and there ain't so much love involved). I've had a LifeFitness T55 treadmill for a while and never felt we've gotten the value that we paid for it. It was expensive.

A couple of years ago when I ramped up the use of it we had issues where the treadmill would randomly shut off mid "run." It would immediately turn on when you repressed the start button but was very annoying. My wife called for service and was told that it was still under warranty for parts but not for labor. The tech came and told us we just got it in before our warranty expired. He did his magic and while the problem still randomly occurred it was usable. He said that there may be a problem with the quality of the power but we never looked into it.

Last week while I was on it for a very casual workout, it died again. This time there was a slight smell of smoke and it would not power on again. It was dead and I have to admit I had mixed feelings.

If the 'mill was just under the warranty last time there was no way it was covered now. We decided to go look at the new treadmills to see how the offerings have changed. My wife and I both consider ourselves technologically savvy. We believe that there is a change upcoming where tablets (iPads or the like) will be used to control this type of equipment. There will be a software revolution that additional capabilities with updates to a controlling app. There will be the treadmill equivalent of a CompuTrainer where the incline will adjust to a video to give a virtual reality feel. This revolution will also cut down on the cost as the electronics wouldn't need the initial investment by the treadmill manufacturers.

Unfortunately, we are more innovative than the equipment manufacturers. We found they are going that way but very slowly. Also, treadmills are not cheap. We were originally looking in the $4k and up range but got a little frightened to what the "and up" turned into. Our quest turned to the internet since we didn't want to make a large investment into something that would be rendered obsolete shortly.

My wife found out some of the next generation treadmill information. It seems like LifeFitness was one of the more innovative companies so she called to see when these products would be available. Their road map was long with the first step on this journey happening later in 2013. While on the phone she tried to get an estimate on fixing our existing one.

Their first estimate was about $750 with the caveat that no one checked out the unit in question. Some newer treadmills have lifetime warranties (excluding labor). The person on the phone said that ours came with 5 years and since we bought it in mid 2006 it was out of warranty. My wife noticed in the instruction book where she got their number it said we had a 7 year warranty.  If 7 years, we are covered! The person on the phone said if our book says 7, we get 7. Seems odd but we'll go with it. It'll be about $200 for the labor but that beats thousands for a new one.

They said a tech will contact us. We asked to have him bring all the parts that went into the $750 estimate. Out treadmill is dead. I hope it gets fixed soon.

Once fixed, I can start hating it again.