Chillin’ at the Disco

The summer heat and Ironman training in full-swing is making people just about lose their minds! Whether it is Jetpack struggling with a workout, triathletes arguing with each other, or my cycling buddy hurling a bike tool at a car, these are all signs that the intensity is getting to some of us.

I have just what you all need. This podcast is cooler than a polar bear wearing a frozen jock strap. I take audio of Emily, Triboomer, Kai and I at the Disco Triathlon in Dallas and lace it with some laid back tunes to help you relax and take this summer training in stride. Don't let the tri-training get you worked up. Throw on some 'phones, lay back in your favorite chair, and tap your toes to some of the chillin' tracks I laid down. Check out the show here or hit the play button and follow the notes below.
Shownotes!

• One of my buddies freaks out and throws his bike tool at a passing car. This is too much!


• "Suburbio Soul" from DJ Dolores. You can find it for only 99 cents at Calabash Music.


• Triboomer freaks us out with creepy song lyrics as we drive to the Disco Triathlon.


• "Relaxation Spa Treatment" from Dan the A utomator.


• Flats suck! Get yourself some good flat-proof racing and training tires called Gatorskins Ultra.


• Brett, Emily, Triboomer, and Dinger in the tranny area.


• "Sister Saviour" by The Rapture.

• Hate your iPod Shuffle docking station? Try out the Encipio Bud.
  


• Race finish, interviews, drive home.


• "DC 3000" by Thievery Corporation


• Call and leave the show a voice mail at 512-CRY-DELI


• Train nice and enjoy the summer.


• "Fake French" by Le Tigre


• Voice mails!
  

Cyclocross and Workout Supremacy

Ah, the pleasure of getting muddy! Join me for a ride on my new cyclocross bike as I take you for a jaunt through the woods and sling some dirt. I go for a 2.5 hour recovery ride on this beast as I talk about what cyclocross is, play an interview with Faris Al Sultan, listen to voicemails, and then deal a major slam to my arch-nemisis Jetpack. I finish it all off with a killer workout tune by Moving Atlas. If you like your workouts a little dirty, you have your order filled.

Shownotes!

• Aboard my Nishiki hybrid with 700 cm wheels, cruising through the muddy woods and running through creek bottoms.


• What is cyclocross?


• Using the Suunto t6 with GPS Puck. (Flawless!)


• Triboomer interviews Faris Al Sultan.


• Voicemail from Scott in NY.


• Voicemail from Cav in W.V., sounding like he's hopped up on goofballs.


• Weeeeeeaaaaak voicemail from Jetpack.


• I make fun of Jetpack by replaying his show with my own sound effects.

• Jetpack gets mad and calls back.


• I go to San Diego, swim two miles in the open ocean, and interview Unleashed after we run 6 miles with hippies.


• We love Rockin' Baja Lobster. Mostly.


• I busted my laptop by dropping it. New one rocks my face off.


• People start shooting weapons in their backyards. This is Texas, y'all.


• I smoke Jetpack in a virtual workout.


• I play Timer by Moving Atlas. These guys are a great band. Check out their link.

I Have Witnessed the Future

I'm reading a book by Marcus Buckingham titled "Go. Put Your Strengths to Work." Unlike triathlon, you should be using your strengths to get things done at work and not worry about improving your weaknesses. Improving what you're bad at is a waste of time, the reasoning goes, because you will only be slightly less bad, but still bad at what you just spent a lot of time trying to improve.

Marcus encourages us to find out what we are good at and use it to our benefit. This made me ponder what I'm actually good at (not the run portion of a triathlon) and I finally came up with one certainty: One of my strengths is using technology to do things in a new way. We can go on and on with listing things like podcasting, using wattage for training, and geocaching, but my new favorite is collaborating with coworkers to get things done using Google Documents.

While my coworker, Kevin, and I attended a software conference in San Diego, we had a intuitive flash of brilliance. The whole building is stocked with WiFi and we are taking notes on the lectures to bring back to fellow employees in Texas, so why don't we write all of our notes in Google Documents and share them with each other?

For the rest of the week, Kevin and I had a blast writing our notes into documents on Google's servers. Everything was saved as we typed it, we could see each others' edits, and I would occasionally get a message from him that I was writing stuff that he had already written and to not bother. I even dropped my computer on it's power plug port at the end of the week, effectively taking the whole machine out of service. No worries - everything was saved online. I also can fine tune my notes at home and then publish them at work, without ever having to move them around via email or thumb drive.

This workflow performed so well, it was like something out of the future. Ubiquitous WiFi and server-based apps made my job much easier than ever before. Just this morning my wife was asking questions about what we will do without a computer while I get it fixed. I told her "This isn't like last time the laptop died (a few years ago). Our email, bill payment, all my work stuff, even the software I'm using to post to this blog, it's all online." Sure, there's a bunch of things loaded on that laptop, like my music, podcast production, and workout software that I can't use, but we will survive for a few days or weeks.

Back to the book I'm reading - Marcus says one of the identifiers of your strengths is that you enjoy doing it. You are so adept at it, it seems effortless. Remember when I said Kevin and I "had a blast" writing notes in Google Documents? That's how I know one of my strengths is adopting new technology to get work done.

What are some of your strengths?

Bouldering is Good for the Soul

I'm in San Diego this week for work, which is always a sweet deal. I used to live here, so I know the town really well and there is always great stuff to do.

When my coworker and I landed, we found out that the airlines lost my luggage. I've been through this before and there's not much you can do except wait it out. We were going to go surfing, but my swimsuit and contacts (I'm blind without them) were probably flying around above Oklahoma somewhere.

The best thing to do when you're frustrated and can't do anything about it is to find a way to take your mind off things. Kevin and I hit Solid Rock Gym, the local rock climbing gym, where all you need is your hands and 20 bucks to have a really good time. We were there for several hours doing what is called "bouldering", where you only climb up a few feet and then traverse sideways.

Bouldering is an amazing thing. It's like a strength and agility puzzle, where you have to figure out how to get your body from point A to point B without touching the ground. It has all the Zen qualities of rock climbing, but without the need for a second person or ropes.

I popped in my headphones and bouldered away to my heart's content. Met lots of cool, friendly people, and then got a phone call that my bag was dropped off at the hotel. It was a much better way to spend the afternoon instead of hasseling with the luggage folks at the airport.

Great Swim Coaches aren’t Lean, Just Sunburned

By the time a great swimmer has enough time to actually coach, he/she is probably not working out like crazy anymore. Looking for a good instructor? Just find the plump dude wandering around the pool deck in board shorts at 7 AM with an exceptional sunburn. The roasted epidermis is a sign he's spent all last month coaching kids from 3 to 5 PM.