Google Calendar Actually Being Used

Sounds almost like the title of a news podcast from The Onion.

Just like how a triathlete is always fiddling with his/her HR zones, I tweaked the calendar that you see in the sidebar (scroll dooooowwwwwn) so that it is legible and has content. My workout buddy and I are keeping up with what we do via gCal, so I thought I'd use the Zentri Calendar to post that. I'm also throwing in any events or other items worth mentioning. Keep your eye on it for some cool stuff coming up.
On that note, I'm also using the "delayed posting" feature in Wordpress to publish this a couple of days after I wrote it. Those with higher IQs and lower HRs will now be in the know that I got hopped up on coffee and wrote three posts in a row and just scheduled them to be released slowly like long chain amino acids.

I'm so glad I'm getting so clued in on how to be more productive now that I'm almost 35 and my life is half over. Where was this ingenuity when I was 12? I COULDA BEEN A CONTENDAH!

Bravery

There's a woman at my office that had to make a tough choice recently. Well, it wasn't so much of a choice as it was an abrupt lifestyle change. Her car blew up and she has no other option to get to work than on a bike. We live in one of those towns with no other alternatives from the car.

She's not a cyclist. Her ride is 8 miles each way, lots of it without bike lane. Her bike is one of those terrible $50 walmart rigs. It has full suspension and knobby tires.

I saw this person do one of the bravest things today by biking to work for the first time on a terrible commuter bike when it was 30 degrees outside.

Most other people would take a taxi every day for a year than do what she did. I'm guessing she saw enough bike lane, used Google maps to plan a route, saw others biking to work and that was enough of a magic mix to get her to bike herself.

She's decided to blog her adventures about the new cyclist's perspective on trying to commute to work daily. Don't write her off as some 'dumb Texan' - she's lived all over the world and done more in her short life than many of us will ever have the time to do. Her perspective should be entertaining. Not many people have lived in Ireland, now how to surf, AND had a pet Longhorn that you could ride with a saddle. I'm linking to her blog here and also adding it to my "Cool Links" on the right so we can watch this next crazy adventure in her life.

And when you don't feel like biking because it is a little chilly outside, think of Dawn cranking up a hill on a 40 lb. mountain bike with knobbies when it is sub-freezing just to get to work. I'm going running right now and her bravery is making the cold seem a little less severe.

Austin, Anybody?

I'm going to Austin all day on January 12.  Anybody feel like hitting Barton Springs for a swim, trail running, chowing down at Chuy's, and checking out bike porn at all the tri-shops along Riverside Road?  I'll have one of my newbie tri friends with me, so I want to show him a good time and all that a REAL tri-town has to offer.  Throw down some comments and I'll do what I can to hook up!

Organization and Failing at Normalcy

First off, I have to say "Wow!" to all the comments I've been getting from people glad to see me blogging daily. This blog is supposed to just be to list shows and their contents, but hey, why not throw in some dailies? Thanks, guys, and I hope this stuff is interesting.

We in the tri-geekdom know we have too much crap. I've got 3 HR monitors, 4 bike computers, 3 sets of arm warmers, about 12 beanies, and a whole lot of other junk. I get PISSED when I can't find something. What drives me nuts is that I'll have 3 of something and can't find the one I'm looking for. When a workout or bike commute gets delayed because I can't find what I'm looking for, I go ballistic. And it's not like I want all this crap. I just have it. It shows up in my life and it just roosts here. I'm giving away a HRM and a bike computer tomorrow just to dig out from under the heap.

I spend a good bit of time trying to organize this stuff. Having a second person in the house who believes she knows where stuff goes just makes it worse. You see, MY system of finding things depends on me being the one putting it away. I think "where did I put that?" and then I go there and... it's not there... because Huck thought it should either go in drawer B or the trash.

Have I told you how many of my silicone dashboard grippy-anti-sliding-cell phone-paddy-thingies Huck has thrown away because she thought they were trash? Three.

So, I have to organize things or 1. I risk spending two hours looking for something and blowing a workout or 2. Huckster the Chuckster will mistakenly misread something that says "SUUNTO" or "NIKE" or "PHILMONT" and in her non-workout dyslexic fit thinks it actually says "Throw me away without asking Brett first!"

I had a great system of drawers that functioned perfectly until Huck decided we needed new bedroom furniture. In female-ese, new furniture = everything that was functional but doesn't match exactly has to go.

Putting the drawers within the new furniture just isn't working. I was trying to find a HRM to give a friend and found everything but. And I'm missing my ultra cool tattoo print primal wear arm warmers. I told her via cell phone today that I was going to the hardware store to buy a system of hooks and very small shelves to put in the garage so I can have some peace of mind and put my most commonly used stuff in one EASY TO FIND place again. She yelled at me that I better not buy anything, I pretended I agreed, and then I bought some stuff.

I just installed what looks to be some sort of tie rack and then a small double basket rack in the garage. I'm using them to hang helmets, armwarmers, gloves, HRMs, mp3 player arm bands, a headlamp, goggles, GPSs, and various other often used tri gear. Soon, Huck will get "the talk." This is where I point at my hideous construct and ominously demand "Put all that stuff there from now on!" She will pretend to care and then continue going about doing what she does.

Speaking of that, I couldn't do my swim workout today because she suddenly decided that she needed to go "walking" (chatting) with our new neighbor. It's not too terrible since my body could use a rest from yesterday. Still, I need to get her using Google calendar so we can straighten some of this crap out. The woman uses no fewer than 5 analog calendars but says Google is too difficult. Huh? Somebody email her at erhodes at rocketmail dot com and tell her to start using google calendar. I'm dying here!

It has begun!

I'm high as a kite right now and I'll get to why later...

I always wait until January 1 to get serious about training. Everything between my last 2007 race and today has just been casual or for kicks. As the new year approached, I could tell I was putting things into more order.

I drank too much last night. I love microbrew beer, so I drank about 5 of those and also squeezed in some Mojitos. Those mojitos are some sneaky bastards. Otherwise, I ate really well and kept the calories down. Found stuff like salmon and crab to snack on instead of just stuffing my gaping maw with chips.

Woke up this morning later than usual and feeling like kag. I have a bad habit of wanting to cook eggs on mornings after I've drank to much and then regretting the eggs more than the drinking. Today was a repeat of that. Bleah.

Slept in a little longer than then went for a bike ride and brick run. I was supposed to bike with a buddy, but he failed to return my call. I've learned to not count on other people too much for workouts - you'll never get done what you need to do if you depend on others to be there. I loaded up my iPod Shuffle and my singlespeed and went out for a two hour ride.

It was crazy windy. I love the wind. I grin when I hear other people complain about it. It's usually roadies that ride in their little wind-cheating clusters that bitch the worst. It's funny, because those are the guys that are the best cyclists. Triathletes end up training and racing a lot alone (or the should be), so we tend to not care as much about the wind. I get annoyed when I'm riding with the wind to my back because I feel like I'm being cheated out of a workout. Triathletes have a lot of sh*t to do. Taking the difficulty out of a ride isn't worth the time wasted on the bike.

It was also sort of cold. Nothing too bad there.

I got a new helmet and rode with it for the first time. Specialized Propero. Seems nice. I like that it has a detachable visor on it. Good ventilation, nice colors. Thanks Mom and Dad!

I have a weird neuroma issue and plantar fasciatis in my left foot, so I was having to keep an eye on that. Seemed to do ok.

Got home and threw on the running gear. No distance measuring stuff, just a watch. Took along my greyhound, Roxy, and had a nice run. Probably only ran 5 miles in that hour. I get a weird tightness and pain at the bottom of my shins and in front of my ankles. It went away after a while.

Came home and went with the fam and a neighbor to grab some chinese food. I pulled a couple of tricks from peertrainer.com - I got spring rolls (not fried) for an appetizer and asked for my main course (thai red curry tofu and rice) to come with a doggy bag. As soon as it hit the table, I scooped half of it into the doggie bag. They say that's a good trick to keep from eating too much food. Bonus - my lunch for tomorrow is already made!

Huck said I looked really tired. I told her I was, but really I just felt very mellow. Almost high. Why? I got in three solid hours of continuous aerobic workout today. Not very intense, just great base training. I feel like I did something with my life.

The cool thing is, it's really not all that hard. I am so happy that I'm at a fitness level where I can go forth for 3 hours and have such a nice time. I think all my training last year has really set the stage for me to be a much more balanced and capable triathlete this year. I've warmed up to the idea of lots and lots of running. I told Huck and another friend recently that running is great because it burns the most calories, it is cheap, is super convenient, and very safe.

Well, that's enough for now. I caught a little chill while running in the cold. Gonna have some hot half-caff to warm up. Laters.