tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14537035784076129122024-03-12T22:49:03.644-04:00Rock Star Tri: My journey back to the endurance world frequently interrupted by life Copyright 2008-2020 Rockstartri.comRockStarTrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01819672184842226835noreply@blogger.comBlogger612125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1453703578407612912.post-80102547876759240752023-02-03T15:10:00.002-05:002023-02-03T15:10:36.519-05:00Background on IMNY70.3 Jones Beach<p>I’ve been thinking about why I want to do another 70.3, after all I’ve already done three and that doesn’t even count completing Ironman Florida in 2011. All of them were a long time ago.</p><p>Last year I realized the 70.3 mountain was too steep for me so I bailed. I did complete 5 sprint triathlons though. Three were pool swims and two were open water. My biking was slow and my running (if you could call it that) was poor. I’ve done no runs longer than 5 miles or so and my longest race was 5k of more walking than running. Even so, I viewed 2022 as a success.</p><p>My plan for 2023 was to do a 70.3 AquaBike in May (the Crystal Coast triathlon in Beaufort, NC) and to run a standalone half marathon in the fall. Look for an Olympic distance to stretch out a bit. If all went well, spring 2024 would queue up a retry at the half distance. I may consider the Disney Half Marathon as a January fun excursion but signups aren’t until April.</p><p>This all assumed that my body composition improved enough. I wanted my weight to be below 250 pounds before I would sign up. I have a lot of weight to lose.</p><p>Then IMNY was announced. It looks like a perfect race for me. It is as flat as a pancake. I’ve trained in the area a lot. While I haven’t ridden my bike on the parkway, I have on the adjacent bike path. I’ve run on the boardwalk. I’ve raced in the park. Did I say it was flat?</p><p>So I signed up. I’ll succeed if I’m dedicated and focused. I will have athletic atrophy to deal with (I’m not as fast as I used to be and I wasn’t even fast then). The summer heat will need to be dealt with. I have a plan, a coach, a swim group, and the legacy of being a rock star.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>The Rock Starhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05209554834663352862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1453703578407612912.post-57716433380680625472023-01-27T15:04:00.000-05:002023-01-27T15:04:30.740-05:00And so it begins, again.<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4sfRGtCrFIcAmU7RQiuCkc4v5Beq6bgvWLvRAb6jFH5fnEck6D0ihC4ELed79luF8xxJV6Y_MILJxeNi2cwpiz4SR4I1frk1L_KGq9fb1TOAHIgQJIcAxEnFOLRK16SqDQvClDrX-xRxejcDw19JveryOzfLavmUF15C6-gndRZcX6DEKi6MDmwtVzg/s1462/577D20D5-54DB-4C9D-9297-BBFD6729C73C.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1462" data-original-width="1170" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4sfRGtCrFIcAmU7RQiuCkc4v5Beq6bgvWLvRAb6jFH5fnEck6D0ihC4ELed79luF8xxJV6Y_MILJxeNi2cwpiz4SR4I1frk1L_KGq9fb1TOAHIgQJIcAxEnFOLRK16SqDQvClDrX-xRxejcDw19JveryOzfLavmUF15C6-gndRZcX6DEKi6MDmwtVzg/s320/577D20D5-54DB-4C9D-9297-BBFD6729C73C.jpeg" width="256" /></a></div>I wasn’t going to sign up for another half Ironman until I had my body composition under control but then they announced a new race in the middle of my old stomping ground. I signed up yesterday.<p></p><p>I’ve decided to reimagine the blog. It is about me and my journey and my progress. If anyone follows along, so be it. If not, that’s ok too.</p><p>Starting stats:</p><p>Weight) 292.2</p><p>A1C) 7.7</p><p>Running) 30run/60 walk, long run is 3 miles-ish. Fastest recent 5k time is 42:25 in October 2022.</p><p>Swimming) 2:30/100y with a swim buoy.</p><p>239 days to go.</p><p><br /></p><p>Game on.</p><p><br /></p>The Rock Starhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05209554834663352862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1453703578407612912.post-19424534861474459322021-12-20T12:06:00.003-05:002021-12-22T11:55:55.921-05:00The not so secret 22 plan.<p> Here's a list of events under consideration:</p><p><br /></p><p>Spring Running: </p><p>2/12/22 Run for the Roses 5k.</p><p>3/5/22 Shark Tooth 10k</p><p>3/26/22 Charlottesville 10 miler</p><p>5/15/22 NCRC 10k</p><p><br /></p><p>Biking</p><p>4/9/22 Raleigh Five-0 ride (100k)</p><p>5/1/22 Raven Rock Ramble Ride (100k)</p><p>7/4/22 Firecracker Ride (100k)</p><p><br /></p><p>Triathlons:</p><p>4/23/22 Emerge Ortho Sprint</p><p>9/11/22 White Fall Lake Oly</p><p>10/15/22 IMNC 70.3</p><p><br /></p><p>Fall Running:</p><p>11/24/22 Turkey Trot TBD</p><p>12/10/22 Frosty 10k</p><p>1/8/23 Disney Half Marathon</p>RockStarTrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01819672184842226835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1453703578407612912.post-81616850206266278232020-07-09T16:00:00.000-04:002020-07-09T16:00:02.360-04:00And then, goals change.2020 was supposed to be my return to the land of athletic misadventures, my comeback year if you will. I had grand plans culminating with racing Ironman North Carolina 70.3 in October. Alas, due to progress going slower than planned in both the training and body composition fronts, I was skeptical that I would be prepared for this event. Mix in the risk of the event not even happening due to COVID-19, I felt that my plan was off the rails.<br />
<br />
I saw on one of the many Facebook groups that I subscribe to that some athletes were asking for deferrals until 2021 and some, but not all, were being granted. So I gave it a shot and Ironman responded that I could defer. So I did.<br />
<br />
So the 2021 goal is now:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Beaverdam Olumpic Triathlon in April 2021</li>
<li>If my training is going phenomenal, Ironman Eagleman 70.3 in June. The current odds are 1:4 against.</li>
<li>Outer Banks Olympic Triathlon in September 2021.</li>
<li>Ironman North Carolina 70.3 in October 2021.</li>
</ul>
<div>
The dates are all up the air as is everything these days.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Game on.</blockquote>
<br />
<br />
<br />RockStarTrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01819672184842226835noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1453703578407612912.post-32478870092109368982020-05-21T09:33:00.001-04:002020-05-21T09:46:34.111-04:00The best version of youselfThere was an interesting conversation on some completely forgettable television show the other day. I don't remember the show. I don't remember the day. I don't even remember the participants of the conversation. I don't remember why I was even watching it. Maybe the bigger problem could be my memory but that's a topic for a different post.<br />
<br />
The gist of this talking head conversation was that many people have an aspiration to be the the best version of themselves but few people actually know what that means. "Best" is different for every person. It not necessarily reality. In fact, it might be very rare for many. It might just be an aspiration. Nobody is perfect but can you be better than what you are? What is better to you for you?<br />
<br />
But if you know what is your vision of the best version of you, then you can work on becoming closer to that vision. It is sort of obvious but in this time of establishing new norms due to quarantining it might be something to think about.<br />
<br />
I think this "new normal" is going to last more than we expect. Do you know what your best version of yourself is or what type of person you aspire to be? Where are the gaps and what is the plan to minimize them?<br />
<br />
I'm going to spend some time trying to write some of this down in the upcoming days. Join in if you want.<br />
<br />
Stay tuned.RockStarTrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01819672184842226835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1453703578407612912.post-91281228679635281982019-01-24T11:10:00.001-05:002019-01-24T11:10:04.345-05:00My thoughts on the 2019 Disney Half<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirNjbWiPqGORokn30Z4Yy4wfrwTXFRiqZCt0pjMOuLP0IGn19PEPOHuMKX7F8cEZFcCYxgAmgm-2WAn62j8F8SidueqNzlLv46qSEQondVPmYZ1EA0f7XWuDvc8nuCoBMTAuBSeQielJc/s1600/disney1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirNjbWiPqGORokn30Z4Yy4wfrwTXFRiqZCt0pjMOuLP0IGn19PEPOHuMKX7F8cEZFcCYxgAmgm-2WAn62j8F8SidueqNzlLv46qSEQondVPmYZ1EA0f7XWuDvc8nuCoBMTAuBSeQielJc/s320/disney1.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Last week Mrs. RockStar and I walked the 2019 Disney Half Marathon. It was her first half mary. I've done a few.
The takeaways were:<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Our time was a lot slower (4:03:04)than my past halfs. In fact, it was my slowest ever.</li>
<li>We knew it was going to be slow since that was how we trained. We executed our race exactly inline per our training.</li>
<li>We were concerned about the balloon ladies who are supposed to run/walk 16:00 miles. If they pass you, you may be asked to get on the "bus of shame." We did not go on the bus! We finished the race.</li>
<li>I was hurting after the race. It took me longer to recover than I expected. I missed out on my post Disney Shula Steakhouse tradition.</li>
<li>I view this race overall as a success. 9 months ago walking was an issue. We've come a long way.</li>
<li>We did it with Team in Training. Don't know if we'll do it again but we helped a good cause</li>
<li>My next time at Disney will be 2021. Join me!</li>
</ol>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNHWQ5qB0gOZ-Ku6DtDfVXI9IUow4lsBdmupC7MyYQzL7nmGTzvWJZwMRTZJWQI6kTHMDfBX_SYPKcbUi0A4eZ5nvkkLIiLHvqL0cAPXCJsJ83FtwDtOz5JWYNk1HzIOPcTFh8zRgryu8/s1600/disney2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNHWQ5qB0gOZ-Ku6DtDfVXI9IUow4lsBdmupC7MyYQzL7nmGTzvWJZwMRTZJWQI6kTHMDfBX_SYPKcbUi0A4eZ5nvkkLIiLHvqL0cAPXCJsJ83FtwDtOz5JWYNk1HzIOPcTFh8zRgryu8/s320/disney2.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />RockStarTrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01819672184842226835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1453703578407612912.post-43458211075812589612019-01-05T17:42:00.000-05:002019-02-20T13:18:34.598-05:00Making myself smarter - the 2019 reading experiment.One of my goals for this year (and probably appropriate for the rest of my life) is to continue to get smarter. Either a derivative of this goal or perhaps a complement to this goal - I don't know which because I'm not that smart - is to not get dumber. Either way I look at it, I've got to do something to make this happen. It won't happen automagically.<br />
<br />
So, I've decided to read. I've set a goal is to read a book a week, at least 52 for the year. Luckily I got some good book recommendations from a Facebook post where I asked for help. I also got a bunch of books as gifts for Christmas. So, I have a queue of quality reading material to get through. Once I get through the queue I'll either buy some, get others from the library, and some I'll borrow.<br />
<br />
Very few will be electronic books. I read old school bound words on paper. I am somewhat flexible in hardcover vs. softcover but a side effect of this goal is that I'll be looking at my phone less than before. Reading should expose me to more diverse thought as compared to reading the same stuff over and over on the phone.<br />
<br />
I'll update this post with every book that I read. Here is the completed list:<br />
<br />
1) The Autobiography of Malcolm X - as told to Alex Haley. Completed 1/2<br />
2) Dick Vitale's Mount rushmore of College Basketball. Completed<br />
3) Grateful American: A journey from self to service - Gary Sinese completed 2/18<br />
4) The stranger in the woods - Michael Finkel. Completed 2/<br />
5) The princes of Ireland - Edward Rutherford<br />
6) Traffic - Tom Vanderbilt.<br />
7)<br />
<br />RockStarTrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01819672184842226835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1453703578407612912.post-10313582927083381322018-12-30T15:15:00.000-05:002018-12-30T15:15:18.941-05:00AccountabilityOn twitter the other day, I read a thread by Ali Yahya (twitter handle @ali01) where he described how he was inspired by Benjamin Franklin (no twitter handle) to manage a set of "virtues" on a daily basis. Franklin's virtues originally included Temperance, Silence, Order, Resolution, Frugality, and Independence and were managed by tracking with red ink in a book. Over time, Franklin added virtues to track, ultimately ending with 13.<br />
<br />
@ali01 modified this slightly. He called them habits rather than virtues. He tracked via a spreadsheet rather than via ink and paper. He started with four habits: sleep well, exercise, meditate, and update his habit list. In order to improve on something, it has to be a priority and have focus. There cannot be too many "habits" tracked, otherwise it this process will diminish them all. Even so, he has added to this list over time, managing 16 habits currently. He believes this has changed his life and helped make him who he is today, personally and professionally.<br />
<br />
I've decided to do my own RockStarTri derivative of this. I'm going to start with my resolution themes: 1) Making myself smarter; 2) Improving my weight and body composition; 3) Continuing my Athletic transformation; and 4) Becoming a better person. I've realized this these aren't really goal oriented but more process oriented which is new for me. I expect to add sub categories to each habit to help track progress, and perhaps add more habits to track.<br />
<br />
One additional habit may be to update status via the blog but I haven't finalized this. Stay tuned. <br />
<br />
<br />RockStarTrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01819672184842226835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1453703578407612912.post-28696166085893093552018-12-29T09:48:00.002-05:002018-12-29T11:52:03.046-05:002019 ResolutionsThe overall theme of 2019 is that MrsRockstar and I are going to focus on ourselves more than we have in the past. I've been trying to put together some ideas on some resolutions for 2019 that I can actually help me become a better me.They fall into the following categories:<br />
<br />
1. Making myself smarter via reading<br />
<br />
2. Improving my weight and body composition<br />
<br />
3. Continuing my athletic transformation.<br />
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4. Becoming a better person.<br />
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5. Regularly tracking my progress (or lack thereof) against these goals.<br />
<br />
<br />
That's it. More details will come in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />RockStarTrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01819672184842226835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1453703578407612912.post-44978779241081636202018-06-17T19:56:00.004-04:002018-06-18T14:26:32.698-04:00Life Goals1) My friend Guido recently posted on Facebook that through diet and exercise he was able to eliminate all prescription drugs from his life. I don't know where he started but I currently take 7 prescription drugs. The life goal is to get to zero but let's shoot to reduce 2 in a year.<br />
<br />
2) I'm fat at BMI = 42. I need to get unfat. Unfat is a BMI of 30 - for someone 6'2" that means 234 lbs. If I can get halfway in a year, BMI=36, 280 pounds, that would be good progress.<br />
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3) I can't lose weight at the expense of muscle. Need a stat to measure.<br />
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4) I need to get in shape (see number 3). Disney half in Jan19, StA in Apr19.<br />
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5) Fit into 2xl clothes and some XL. The 2XL are often too tight.<br />
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6) Need to find something to engage my brain.<br />
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7) Need to gain flexibility. A good goal would be to be able to touch my toes. Haven't been able to do that since high school.<br />
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8) Need to sleep through the night.<br />
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<br />RockStarTrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01819672184842226835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1453703578407612912.post-51594131613665856182018-01-31T13:24:00.001-05:002018-01-31T13:30:14.256-05:00A life update<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
I officially retired from my work career in May of 2016. I was young to retire. Many thought I was so driven at work that there was no way that I could stop playing that game especially in the context that I generally played it well. Many considered my retiring some sort of a ploy and figured I'd reappear at some other firm quickly. My over/under was 6 months. Everyone else's was shorter.<br />
<br />
The reality was that I was burned out. My health was crap. I lost any semblance of a work/life balance. I was not nice to be around and I wasn't performing at the standards that I expected of myself. In almost everything.<br />
<br />
Since then I've been keeping busy with various projects but my focus has been simplifying my life, trying to avoid drama, getting my health under control, and dealing with the noise that otherwise can't be avoided while trying to live a life worth living. I did introduce some complexity by trying to relocate to the South but mostly I've been concentrating on the present.<br />
<br />
I don't miss work. I've become mellower and less stressed (although my family will quickly interject that I still have my moments). To paraphrase the great Chico Escuela "Retirement has been berry beery good for me.<br />
<br />
I've decided to dust off the blog to chronicle what I do miss and what I'm going to do about it.<br />
<br />
Stay tuned.<br />
<br />
<br />RockStarTrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01819672184842226835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1453703578407612912.post-25188437304589677372017-01-03T16:05:00.001-05:002017-01-04T09:04:39.765-05:00Resolution RamblingsIn this season of resolutions, three articles that I read earlier today seem to be having an impact on how I hope to think. Here is what I read and what my mind turned it into.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://markmanson.net/goals?sptw_42738">The first article b</a>y Mark Manson talked about how establishing habits can be more productive that setting goals. Goals, if done right, should be hard and are not always accomplished. Habits, while also hard, can be "keystone habit" which the author describes as habits that, once adopted, will reverberate into other areas of your life. These habit make acquiring other desirable habits more natural and require less effort. I let you read through this article from the link and rejoin this when done.<br />
<br />
Welcome back.<br />
<br />
The next article, while using many different themes, talked about what I interpreted as a candidate list for keystone habits. I edited the list down to 4 pillars to be done every day; exercise, cook. read and write ( I left out a few of the others mentioned but that is how I roll). I can't find the original article as it had more of an impact after I read it than when I was actually reading it. If I find the link, I'll update this post.<br />
<br />
One of the themes throughout this recent reading journey was that, at the beginning, it is better just to do some each day rather than to get a big ass hairy goal (like an ironman, HA!!) and see where that leads. So I am exercising every day (2 days in a row), will strive to cook rather an eat out as much as I do (Mrs Rockstar cooking counts too), and will write on this blog more frequently although only a rare sample of my writing will make the cut of being advertised via social media. As to what to read, I picked a book off from <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/books-to-read-in-2017-if-you-want-to-get-rich-2016-12/#think-and-grow-rich-by-napoleon-hill-1">this article</a> and a different book off another list of books that a well rounded person should read in their life. So, first up is David Sedaris' 'Me Talk Pretty One Day' and 'The Behavior Gap: Simple Ways to Stop Doing Dumb Things with Money' by Carl Richards.<br />
<br />
Stay tuned.RockStarTrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01819672184842226835noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1453703578407612912.post-33206833394909686572016-09-10T16:02:00.002-04:002016-09-10T16:02:47.822-04:00What were the most significant days in your life?On this upcoming 15th anniversary of 9/11/01, my mind was wandering around the concept of the top days of one's life. The context is often when people being interviewed say something along the lines of "after the day of the birth of my children, today is the mos important day in my life. Some people keep a top 10 day of life list. Some are days that something good happened, some days something bad. I decided to give it a try:<br />
<br />
1) The day I married my wife. (GOOD)<br />
2-3) The days that my two children were born. (GOOD)<br />
4) 9/11/01 - I had a 10am meeting in WTC, I never made it. My professional career changed significantly. (BAD)<br />
5) 11/5/11 - the day I completed my first and only(so far) ironman. (GOOD)<br />
6) 7/25/92 - Christmas in July. The day my then girlfriend agreed to become my wife-to-be by saying yes. (GOOD)<br />
7) 9/15/08 - The death of Lehman Brothers. (BAD)<br />
8) 9/8/09 - The day I lost a bike vs. car collision . (BAD)<br />
9) A private bad day so bad that I won't discuss and will never on social media. (BAD)<br />
10) 2/15/1990 - the day of my back surgery. (GOOD and BAD)<br />
<br />
There are more good than bad but I think my quest needs to be to replace the existing bad with better goods.<br />
<br />
Do you keep a list?<br />
<br />
<br />RockStarTrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01819672184842226835noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1453703578407612912.post-6024889580081952662016-08-02T09:57:00.001-04:002016-08-02T09:57:06.051-04:00What Type of Eyes Do You Have?<div style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;">
<img alt="" class="irc_mi iLPVbrsAMHL0-pQOPx8XEepE" height="200" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/566276646261370880/FVRZg3QJ.jpeg" style="margin-top: 30px;" width="200" /></div>
Last weekend I got up early (for me) to go for my "sweat-once-a-day" walk before the current heatwave made my day too uncomfortable. Rather than go to a track or a trail or some other "official" running venue, I decided a better route would be to wander around the few roads of my neighborhood. I left my house at 6am.<br />
<br />
Let me describe the geography a bit to put some of this into context. I live on a dead end street. It dead-ends into a county park which focuses on a 1800s era restoration village. They recently added a museum. There are only three streets in my neighborhood with a total of about 30 houses.<br />
<br />
This county park was hosting a Tough Mudder last weekend (why a restoration village was hosting a Tough Mudder was fodder for many of the local newspapers so I won't go into that here). There was no athlete parking at the facility, instead the athlete's parked a few miles away with bus transport to the race site. Several enterprising athletes (and their support teams) decided a better option was to park as close as possible to the venue and walk it in. Since the closest place to park was my street, at 6am there was a traffic jam on my block with some athletes trying to park and others heading to the site. I decided to join those athletes and walk to the site as my daily walk.<br />
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Surrounded by athletes on their way to the race site, I initially felt a little like a poseur. I looked at the folks walking with me. I noticed and recognized the look in their eyes.<br />
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A guy who worked with me once said that people had one of two types of eyes and you can tell a lot about their personality based on which type of eyes they had. The first type of eyes are typical of raptors, they are focused ahead, on prey, and are ready to be aggressive. The animals with these type of eyes are ready to attack. The second type of eyes are the opposite. This second type of eyes is typical of bunny rabbits, large, constantly looking behind them, passive, yet ready to flee. Animals with these eyes are defensive.<br />
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Many of the athletes had raptor eyes, A few had bunny eyes. I used to have raptor eyes. Now, I don't know.<br />
<br />
This reminded me of Rocky III and the "Eye of the Tiger." Apollo's speech (edited a bit) was:<br />
<br />
<i>"You lost your edge. All right, you were all messed up in but the truth is you didn’t look hungry. You had that eye of the tiger, man, the edge. And now you gotta get it back, and the way to get it back is to go back to the beginning. You know what I mean?"
</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
I know what he means.<br />
<br />
What kind of eyes do you have?<br />
<i><br /></i>
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<br />RockStarTrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01819672184842226835noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1453703578407612912.post-23804241843615558232016-07-23T07:18:00.001-04:002016-07-24T15:49:37.091-04:00Sweat once a day.Earlier this week, Ironman announced a 70.3 will be held at the iconic Lake Placid Ironman venue. The 70.3 would route the athletes through one lap of each of the full's 2 lap per discipline's course, a true Half. I've never raced Placid but have been there for a few structured and unstructured training camps. Sign ups for the half are this September with the race a year later in September 2017. This announcement intrigued me.<br />
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I realized that, even at one lap, this course is the wrong course for me and even more so, I am so out of shape that there would be no hope for my success in 2017. Many of the triathletes in the Long Island area are excited for this race. I'm guessing that many would be looking for training groups and if I could latch onto a group, even if I didn't succeed at training for LP70.3, I would improve to the point where maybe a 2018 HIM would be a realistic goal. That may of may not be Placid but I called my former coach for his view.<br />
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He agreed. "I<i>f you want to climb a hill, don't start with Everest." </i>I asked how would I know if I was ready to begin training. We talked a bit and agreed upon a training structure of "sweat once a day."<br />
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This means every day I should either bike easily for an hour, walk easily for >20 minutes, or swim >30 minutes. He asked to post the workouts and he would respond with occasional snide comments.<br />
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We'll checkpoint in a month or so.RockStarTrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01819672184842226835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1453703578407612912.post-35173919984437225612016-06-28T21:05:00.003-04:002016-06-28T21:05:45.527-04:00What makes a good day?I've been trying to come up with some sort of rubric to define a good day vs. a bad day to make it more objective than subjective. Here is what I'm going to use for a while (until I need to adjust):<br />
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Food:<br />
- Calories as measured by livestrong. Under 2000=pass, 2000-2500=push, over 2500 fail.<br />
- Carbs as measured by Livestrong - Under 100g=pass, 101-150=push, over 151=fail.<br />
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exercise:<br />
- Stretching. 2 sessions=pass, 1 session=push, 0 sessions=fail.<br />
- Workout. > 1 per day=pass, 0=fail.<br />
-Fitbit Steps. 0-5000=fail, >5001=pass.<br />
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Will measure the next week and see what this translates into. As of now for today I have 2 pass, 1 push, and 2 fails but have some time before I go to bed.<br />
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<br />RockStarTrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01819672184842226835noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1453703578407612912.post-6537790773501629252016-06-07T10:08:00.002-04:002016-06-07T10:08:32.157-04:00Fake running with a little reality thrown inThis morning, as the next step on my road to recovery, I tried to go for a walk. Except I did everything that one would do while going for a run, with the plan of doing it a lot slower and shorter. Let me explain.<br />
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One of the more difficult things I had to do to prepare for this excursion was to find everything that I "needed" to run and by everything I don't mean sneakers (aka running shoes) but all of the necessary "accessories." I found my trusty Garmin 910xt, that I later found had not been used since August 2015, and plugged it in to charge. I found two of my ancient ipod shuffles, charged one and sort of remembered that one was dying back then but forgot what that meant and which one it was. I never got around to putting music on my iPhone 6+ which is too big to carry while running so that raised a phone problem to solve in the future - in the meantime I'll carry that brick around. I found my Rudy Project glasses stashed in the center console of my car (a miracle in that it was were it was supposed to be). Got dressed - the running shorts still fit, the shirts not so much because of my being fat. Threw on a triathlon hat - chose Timberman 70.3 since it matched my non-running Big Dog cotton t-shirt and drove to the local trail.<br />
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I was going to start at about the 3.5 mile marker and head north on the trail. I knew there was a cross street at about 4.25. I was originally thinking I could make it to that cross street then turn around getting in 1.5 miles but quickly realized that my last attempt at walking, I mean fake running, was 0.25 miles on the dreadmill and was an abysmal failure. I reset my objectives to make it to the 4.0 and next time, if this experiment was successful, try for the cross street. I hit start on the Garmin and off I went.<br />
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My ipod shuffle died during it's second song, 0.18 miles in, but I kept going. The 3.75 mile marker wore away (these are seemingly home made markers) but my back was only beginning to yip at about the 4.0. I turned around, headed back to the car and finished with 1.15 miles in 23.11 for a not so blistering pace of 20:18/mile.<br />
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In my so-called glory days, my goal was to walk faster than 17:00/mile so there is work to do. But I view today as progress.<br />
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Who knows, maybe one day fake running might turn into real running. If it does, I'll at least look the part.RockStarTrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01819672184842226835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1453703578407612912.post-29800861658535610412016-04-29T11:22:00.002-04:002016-04-29T11:22:44.130-04:00No Fitbit found.So I had a Fitbit one and I've had it for a while. I've gone through periods where I lost it then later found it. Most of the time there was laundry and washing machines involved with fitbit disappearing but I normally found it after a while. Then last week happened.<br />
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I was in Raleigh visiting my eldest at Duke and setting up my youngest at Chapel Hill (actually buying most of the clothing in the book store), when, while driving in a crappy Jeep Cherokee rental car, I reached into my pocket to take out my cell phone. That same pocket is where my Fitbit usually lives. My fitbit fell out and landed on the floor of the car. When I later stopped, I reached down to get my fitbit and all that was there was it's case. No fitbit found.<br />
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I looked under the seat. No fitbit found. Looked in the back seat. No fitbit found. I decided to wait until the next day for the sun light.<br />
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The next day I looked again. No fitbit found. Then in a moment of technology genius, I synched it with my phone. The phone found fitbit!<br />
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So it was in the car but I couldn't find it. I felt a very small hole in the carpet under the rail for the seat and all I can assume is that fitbit, while trying to run away, fell into that hole. I looked for it for a few days. The phone taunted me everytime it synched with my fitbit. I never found my fitbit.<br />
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When I returned the car I asked if they could continue my search for my fitbit. They said if they found it they would put it in the lost+found box at Hertz in RDU. I think deep down they were laughing at me.<br />
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Little do they know but I'll be back at RDU in a few weeks. I looked at a garmin tracker and the Apple watch but ordered a new watch-like fitbit, a Curve, as a replacement for my One. It won't live in my pocket. Maybe I won't lose it as much and if I do, I hope will be easier to find.<br />
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Now, where are my sunglasses?RockStarTrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01819672184842226835noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1453703578407612912.post-75094547853212967082016-04-17T15:27:00.000-04:002016-04-17T15:27:00.546-04:00The journey starts with a single stepThe initial goal of my retirement is to heal my body. Simple to say, difficult to do.<br />
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The first problem that I'm working has to do with my gastroenterological system. I had my gall bladder removed last December. I had some "plumbing" problems before that I haven't solved yet. I think a lot of this has to do with too much medication interacting in undesirable ways mixed in with some diet woes. This is moving along.<br />
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More of an issue for me is my back. Over 25 years ago, in what seems to be a different lifetime, I had surgery on my back. An L5/S1 discectomy. The issue then, and as it recurred, involved weakness in my right leg with sciatic pain to my toes. I had good days and bad days after the surgery but had a recurrence that we tried a then experimental process of epidural steroid injections into my back. I did three of these shots and they helped me recover and be OK for a while.<br />
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Over the past few months my left hip and leg started hurting. I thought this might be a hip or some other type of issue happening and first saw a chiropractor. He immediately said go see a real orthopedic doctor. I found the doctor who did my surgery a gazillion years ago. He was still practicing, sent me for PT and said to come back if I wasn't cured. I tried that PT, it didn't fix me, then went for an MRI which showed I have almost everything that could be wrong with my back is wrong with my back. My main issue is spinal stenosis. I also have herniated discs, nerve damage, scar tissue, degenerative disc disease and other stuff I've forgotten.<br />
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Meanwhile, I can't stand for more that a minute at a time nor walk more than 100 yards.<br />
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We decided the try the now non experimental shots again. They hurt a lot more than I remember. The first one didn't lead to any relief. I just did round 2 last Thursday. I'll find out if it works in about a week after it kicks in.<br />
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This injury is odd in that rest doesn't help. I need to be active but being active triggers pain. Dr.Internet says to get a cane or a walker or anything just to get more active. David Wright of the NY Mets has the same issue and they say he needs to workout and stretch for up to 3 hours a day just to be able to play. I started today with 5 minutes on the 'mill and some stretching. This was an improvement from the one minute limit of last week so I'm going to try to do this a few times a day, mix in some swimming this week, and see where it leads.<br />
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I know that losing weight can only help. If I don't fix this with this approach, the next surgery would include screws and titanium rods in my back to fuse discs to together. That, my friends, is something I want to avoid.<br />
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<br />RockStarTrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01819672184842226835noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1453703578407612912.post-7638815620137048452016-03-09T14:26:00.000-05:002016-03-09T14:26:04.591-05:00Pre-colonoscopy conversationOne of the many downsides of getting old is that most doctors recommend that patients to get a screening colonoscopy after they celebrate surviving past the age of 50. I celebrated my 50th by training and completing an ironman and kept "forgetting" to prioritize this other way to celebrate.<br />
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As part of my preparing for retirement, I am taking care of all the medical issues that have been pending for a while. Next up on this lengthy list, see a gastroenterologist to schedule this colonoscopy and take care of some of the fallout from my recent surgery (I didn't blog about it but it was decided for my gall bladder and I to part ways recently. Don't want to go into defining the fallout as that could turn into TMI).<br />
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We scheduled my colonoscopy for early May. He said in the meantime I needed to start exercising since I am obviously very out of shape. My back injuries (another thing that I'm taking care of soon) are preventing me from running or walking so he asked if I ever tried swimming.<br />
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I summarized this conversation on twitter but I decided to try hopping in the pool later today and see what happens.<br />
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Wish me luck.RockStarTrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01819672184842226835noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1453703578407612912.post-20124848430324999692016-02-29T13:31:00.001-05:002016-02-29T13:31:12.695-05:00RetirementI announced my intention to retire from my job the other day. When I told my boss he asked if I was thinking about it or did I already decide and was going to do it. I said I already decided and was going to do it.<br />
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We announced it to my peers and later to my management team. I told them I'm going to stay home for a while and heal my body and mind, take a vacation with the Mrs., figure out what retirement means to me and then see if it will stick. Almost everyone believes I'll be back in the rat race soon. I want to prove them wrong.<br />
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It will take a while to wind down but I expect more blog posts. After all, what else am I going to do with my time?<br />
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<br />RockStarTrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01819672184842226835noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1453703578407612912.post-74298626561004910682016-01-08T10:00:00.000-05:002016-01-08T10:00:16.667-05:00Reversing a trend.Last year I wrote a post about how I got fat. Here it is<a href="http://www.rockstartri.com/2015/01/a-sad-story-data-of-my-getting-fat.html"> A Sad Story of how I got fat</a> I'm still fat and it wasn't the holidays that got me fat. I've been fat a while.<br />
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The good news is that a trend turned My weight on Jan 1, 2016 was less that my weight on Jan 1, 2015. 10 pounds less. Not a lot and getting sick late in the year helped this along but all-in-all better than gaining again.<br />
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A miracle?RockStarTrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01819672184842226835noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1453703578407612912.post-13484203654742840212016-01-04T09:52:00.000-05:002016-01-04T09:52:02.813-05:00Why did I publish that blog post the other day?There could be a bunch of reasons:<div>
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1) I had to pay my domain registration fee and wanted to make sure that it still worked.</div>
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2) I have been rarely looking at blogs these days but remember there was a time where they were very motivational. There are people that I met through the blog world but have crossed over to the real world.</div>
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3) I'm looking at Facebook, Twitter and Instagram too much. I seem more like a voyeur on those other social media platforms though and a 2016 resolution is to cut down the time I waste on them.</div>
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4) all of the above.</div>
RockStarTrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01819672184842226835noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1453703578407612912.post-57813955197763759912015-12-31T09:48:00.001-05:002015-12-31T09:48:25.539-05:00Good Riddance 2015.2015 was my worst year ever. Many of the details I'm not comfortable sharing which is odd for someone who has often been accused of sharing too much, especially on a blog. I did learn more about certain subjects than I ever wanted to but learning about those subjects is something I wouldn't wish on anyone.<br />
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I believe most the bad stuff is behind me and my family. I have a plan to work out some of the remaining physical woes (a contributor to the worst year), other scars are healing on their own. One of the things I am grateful that I learned is who and what is important and I have to remind myself of that every day.<br />
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Here's to reminding myself in 2016.<br />
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<br />RockStarTrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01819672184842226835noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1453703578407612912.post-5674724976294931602015-08-17T09:59:00.002-04:002015-08-17T09:59:10.044-04:00Week 1; day 1: It is better to train for the wrong race that to not train for the right one.A bunch of my iron cronies, feeling old, fat and out of shape, are coming up with a "Fran" plan which is centered around getting now un-athletic slugs to the finish line of Timberman 70.3 in 2016. This plan includes an Oly in June and maybe some other misadventures.<br />
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There needs some diet stuff in there too. I'm the furthest from my traditional race weight of all my friends so that is my biggest challenge.<br />
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I raced Timberman before. It wasn't pretty. The hills hurt fat guys, especially fat guys named Joe. I finished but there is some opportunity for revenge. Whether the revenge comes from me or on me is still to be determined. The difference is that I'm older, fatter but not wiser.<br />
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Yesterday was Timberman 2015 so that makes today is week 1; day 1. I hope the blog will turn into short bursts of activity and chronicles of diet and exercise. Hey, if it doesn't work, try something else.<br />
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Disney Half is still on. my body isn't cooperating while I ramp up walking so I may need to bias more training in the pool. Luckily, I've got an endless pool for that so the excuses aren't so easy.<br />
<br />The Rock Starhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05209554834663352862noreply@blogger.com2