Zen and the Art of Triathlon [A Podcast]

 

 Karma Pizza: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Join me on this episode while I take you for a Zen Bike Ride, then show you how to do an upside down hamstring stretch, and then we go waaaaaay off the deep end and teach the Yoga Corpse Pose.

Listen in for lots of great audio goodies thrown in and notice how uncomfortable and disorienting it can be to listen to silence for only a few moments.

SHOWNOTES!

• On a Zen Bike Ride.
• Pictures of Suunto bike pod.
• How to email pictures to Flickr.
• Trick to make footwear make you want to work out.
• SLS Compression socks really do work.
• Meditation walk.
• Have you tried a metta-run?
• Erich the haxor.
• Ozzy starting an ironman.
• Awesome upside-down hamstring stretch.
• Spencer Green update. Do like radiohead?
• Follow mcnitt on Twitter for pushups.

• Suunto T6 updated to T6c
• Oakley Half Jackets winner!
• The Zen of half-eaten pizza.
• Corpse Pose.
• Alan Watts and “It is what it does!”
• The truth behind Karma.

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The iPhone has numerous cool applicatons and more coming out every day. With an on-board GPS, it can be of incredible use to people who cover vast distances under tough conditions. If you are a triathlete, I am describing YOU.

“Here I am” is an app that opens up a screen and shows your current coordinates. It will then prepare an email with those coordinates stuffed into a Google Maps URL. When the recipient clicks on the link, it opens up Google Maps and throws down a pin on that location. This is an example of such a link. http://maps.google.com/maps?q=32.844981,-117.247467 Go ahead, click on it!

Here’s just a few ways you can use it:

1. Have a flat tire on the bike? Call somebody to get you and tell them you are emailing them your exact location.
2. See something on a ride or run that you want to remember? Email the location to yourself.
3. Set up a TwitterMail account and post to your friends on Twitter where you are while training.
4. Traveling to a race? Send yourself the coordinates of that great tri shop, where you parked your car, and everything else so you can find it again.
5. Drive a bike or run course and email yourself the locations of the tough spots. Analyze later on Google Maps so you can plan out your race better.
6. If you have a Google account, you can add these points to your own map to keep. Collect over time remember!

You may be surprised that I did not pick some workout log, distance measuring, or other fitness app as a “Must Have.” I am sure there are plenty of them and they are great. Here is why this one is tops:

1. This one can save your life.
2. It is incredibly simple.
3. The uses are only as limited as your imagination.
4. It is free.

There was a reporter who was recently captured in a war zone. He told everybody ahead of time that if he needs help, he will Twitter for it. One day his message simply said “Help” or “Caught” and the calvary came running. It saved his life. I’m no reporter in a war zone, but my family knows that I can tell them right where I am if I need help.

How would you use it?

UPDATE!

I’ve been testing it with Twittermail and they break the link when it is sent on to Twitter. Anybody have an idea on how to preserve the link correctly?

UPDATE #2

The fine folks at TwitterMail didn’t put comma handling in their utility. When emailing your location to TwitterMail, replace the comma in the Google Maps URL with “%2C” (Minus the quotes.)

UPDATE #3 (Will this ever end?) The fix above makes it work everywhere but in the gmaps application on the iPhone.  It puts the coordinates in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.  To get it to work,  you have to replace the “-” and add “n” and “w” after the lat and lon.  Here is an example -

BAD - http://maps.google.com/maps?q=32.123456,+-97.234567

GOOD - http://maps.google.com/maps?q=32.123456n%2C+97.234567w

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Zen teachings used to be hard to get a hold of. You had to either climb to a mountain top to find some old master or dig through the bookstore to find writings that may or may not be of any help.

I present to you two “game changers” who have suddenly moved Zen teachings into the modern world. Gil Fronsdal and Tara Brach give regular talks that are recorded and then posted on the Internet for all to download and experience when convenient. It is because of these two (and several more) that many of us have come to finally understand what Zen actually is.

Gil and Tara may not be the Dahlia Lama, but it is the amazing delivery of their talks that is so attractive and possibly of even more use to us in the Western World. The tone of speech, the calmness, the intelligence, the pure insight into the human psyche is unlike anything else you can find. Gil seems to have an unending amount of patience with questions and could likely talk a turtle out of its shell. Tara often references some of the funniest quotes that drives home the point of each session. For example, “This life is not a test. If it were, then you would have been given instructions and told where to go.” Both speakers are Ph.D.s and it shows.

Both have a great back-catalog of wonderful talks that I hope you will check out. I have listened to many of them and found myself a changed person because of it. Here they are and enjoy!

Talks by Gil Fronsdal

Talks by Tara Brach (in iTunes)

Post some links to your favorite speakers if you have some…

...Comment [2]

 

 Your Brain on Triathlon: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Join me for some surfing and running!

• Week off after running 50 miles.
• Morgan’s Oaklies.
• How heat affects you.
• Running upright as possible is the fastest form? June Runner’s World.
• Kaizen - changing habits a little at a time.
• 100 pushups a day program via Mcnitt on twitter.
• Sethnickerson on twitter wishes he was at the beach.
• Ttriboomer’sStay Tuned Report show is a gooder!
• Check out the Yogamazing.com video Podcast.
• Ultimate running song - TIMER by Moving Atlas.
• Donation from the pentagon?
• Emily is getting back into it! running, weights…
• Ragnar Radar report by Emily
• Look for the audio on Google. There’s a guy from Google walking round your house in your bathrobe RIGHT NOW.
• Thanks Moonpie!
• Hornet Juice Contest winners - Jay See with his epic video and Jeremy Webb (gusano)
• We’ll give each of them 100 Hj packets spread over 3 months plus a shirt and cap. All those who sent in their feedback get 30 packets each.
• What is it with people coming back from the dead with HJ? We should name this stuff zombie juice!
• Just came back from watching batman. Somebody needs to make a short film with just Heath Ledger. I’m calling dibbs on the joker outfit for halloween.
• I just got a functional iPhone and HOLY CRAP is it amazing. Updated workoutlog, checked weather, sent email to emily, all while listening to a podcast in way less time than firing up a computer. what a timesaver! Can walk around with theme music!
• Shout out to Jetpack and Special K. Just got married!

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I can’t surf as much as I used to because I live 2.5 hours from the closest beach.  I end up going about once a month and I have trouble remembering everything I need to know between trips. So, I keep a “Surf Log” in Google Documents to track notes on my experiences and a “Surf Hack” as well to catalog gear changes and tips and tricks.  It’s a good reference on what to expect on the drive, what a particular beach is like that time of year, and how long/expensive the endeavor will be.

I look back in my log and can find times like when I went surfing a few days after my son was born.  Reading what I wrote back then about him almost makes me cry.  Keeping a log like this about something you are passionate about is a wonderful thing.  I look forward to someday printing the whole thing out and letting my grandkids read it.  Do you keep something similar?

SURF HACK:

Destination: Matagorda
Distance: 3 hours one way.
Fuel: 3/4 tank in Ford F150 round trip.
Eating: McDonalds for Coffee in Wharton on the way. Bay City has Subway and Whataburger.
Tips: The drive is quite pleasant. Two lane highway most of the way. Very poor rural areas, so make sure your car doesn’t break down.

SURF LOG:

2008, July 27
Location: Matagorda
Notes: Drove alone to Matagorda beach. Surfed Hurricane Dolly leftovers (Cat. 2 storm hit Texas/Mexico border 3 days before.) Got up at 2:30 AM, Left at 3:30, was on the beach at 6:30.  Driving at night was cool since I couldn’t see anything and listened to iPod. Even though it was daylight, still too creeped out by the unknown and lack of surfers to go in that early.

Surfed from 7:45 to about 8:45 on inside sets on Emily’s 7′8″ egg board.  First few waves were good.  Tide was high and falling.  Waves were smashing onto the beach shallows too hard and fast to get good rides on them.

Went back to truck and laid in shade of camper shell and napped for an hour.

Went back out on 9′ longboard and decided to be brave and surf bigger waves way on the outside. Wasn’t doing it earlier for fear of sharks.  WOW, great waves out there. I put the 10′ fin on the 9′ board a few months ago and it still continues to blow me away how much better it surfs with that.  SAW A SEA TURTLE pop it’s head up and look at me!  Bumped my hand into something big and soft underwater a little later. Scary!  WTF was that?!  Stean told me it was probably a body.  Ha ha.

Surfed from 10 to 12:30 out there and was soon joined by a father/son combo that was really cool. Me became friends and chatted a bunch.  We got pushed down the beach about half a mile, so he offered to walk to his truck, come back to where we were, and then load us up and drop me off at my truck.  Gotta love Texas kindness in the surfzone.

AC was broken in truck.  Got to drive home 3 hours in the middle of the afternoon in the Texas heat.  Not terrible, but not fun, either.

Came back into the house with the stupidest grin on my face.  I LOVE SURFING.  Makes me feel on cloud 9 for at least a week.   Somebody is a jerk to me?  That’s OK, I went surfing. 

Tips - July is not too hot to surf.  Just get there early.  Take a nap in truck or on the beach in the shade of your truck after you get there. Water was wonderful feeling. Used lots of sunscreen and it worked great! If the wind is offshore, mosquitos will be hell, so bring bug spray.  Keep up the yoga and pushups.  Made paddling really easy.

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I was reading a fellow triathlete’s Zen-specific blog and came across Now Do This.  Talk about Zen! Wow!

Now Do This asks you to put a short list of items in a box and then it lets you see them one at a time until they are done.  The brilliance is in it’s simplicity (and lack of need for maintenance from it’s creators).  The page is clean, the font is clear, and there’s no clutter.  Fans of Apple stuff and Zen love this look.

I tried it at work today and it was awesome.  Here are some usage tips:

• Keep the list short.  Make it just a few items or you’ll never feel like your accomplishing anything.
• This is the “Single-tasking” style. Make your items things can do sequentially.
• Close the browser and you’ll lose the list and have to start over.
• Take it home with you and use it for your evening/weekend chores as well.
• Enjoy!

...Comment

I originally ruled out Twitter as just another crap-tastic time-waster, and it still might be.  Blabbing about what you are doing in short bursts for the whole world to read screams “I’m the most important person ever!”  Kinda lame.  BUT, there is an interesting trend of actual utility with some of it’s pawns.  Here’s several examples:

1. The Open Sourcer - I recently had a problem with some code on my blog.  I posted on Twitter that I needed some help and the calvary came a-running.  Pretty cool.

2. The Fund Raiser - Coach Adam is using it to get people to donate to a swim to raise money to fight cancer.  It works!

3. The Leader - Twitter user McNitt is using it to motivate others to do the 100 pushups a day program.  Very interesting how people are willfully following his cyber punishment.

4. The Self-Motivator - I’ve seen many others and myself posting their progress while working on a project.  Many computer jobs are solitary and it is nice to get encouragement from others while working alone on something.

All other uses of Twitter are stupid and evil.  Except for a few more I can think of… What are some of yours?

...Comment [17]

Looks like Hurricane Dolly is busy working up waves in South Texas this week. I’m watching netsurfing.com and some other sites to see what’s not deadly available for surfing on Saturday. I haven’t been in a while, so I’m excited about going!

It’s also my birthday this week! I have been taking it a little bit easy and catching up on some home stuff. My new iPhone came in and was broken right out of the box. I get the honor of waiting for another one to come in again, but only after I sign some paperwork and fax it back to Apple. That being said, this is my first customer service experience with Apple and they are really sharp.

I’ve gotten the iPhone to work some and it lives up to it’s hype. The thing is unbelievably cool. What we need now is some triathlon-specific apps on it. iTri 1.o, people!

...Comment

Here’s something relatively new on the block that you might want to check out. I’ve been testing out the SLS3 compression socks for a few months now and they work great.

Compression gear of any kind reduces fatigue by stopping your muscles from shaking and vibrating during exercising. Compression shorts were first on the scene many years ago, then Under Armour brought it to the upper body. Now we are seeing it being used on the lower portions of the legs.

What you might not know is that compression gear increases blood flow. From SLS: “…scientific tests have shown that the SLS3 Compression Sport Sox boost bloodflow about 34%. This increases oxygen delivery to the working muscles to enhance their performance. The circulation improvements also help the body to eliminate metabolic wastes like lactic acid. The combination of these effects allows you to work harder and longer.”

Do they work? Heck yeah! I’ve been wearing them on my weekly long runs (2 hours or more) and I experience zero fatigue from the knees down. I also have been hearing that triathletes wear them after workouts to speed recovery and during long flights.

Aside from function, the most interesting thing is how they look. My wife laughed as I started out the door. But, after many years of biking at 3 AM, swimming with a foam block between my legs, and running with more electronics than the Space Shuttle, I’ve learned that you cannot care about appearances and be triathlete at the same time. Besides, if you act like you know what you’re doing, these socks kind of look awesome.

My running buddy told me about one of his friends that wears them for trail running for additional protection against brush. Cool idea!

In conclusion, they work great and pros are starting to wear them like crazy. They may look a little weird at first, but they also have that signature style that shows that you know what you are doing and that you take your training and racing seriously.

They cost around $57 at various dealers and you can see more pictures of pro triathletes racing with them here.

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I just posted this week’s detailed workout log at www.teamwhitelinefever.com.  I’m one of four team members running the 200 mile relay race called the Ragnar and I’m trying to get in as much running as I can before the end of October.  Rather than post the same thing in two places, you can just follow the above link to go check it out.

There’s also a Twitter feed on that site that details our running-specific issues as we train.  Those twits don’t show up in my profile - that’s the only place you can get them.  Enjoy!

I’m taking a nap.

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