Jamie told me what he thought. “I think this happiness project is all about you trying to get more control over your life”, he said.
The year is over, and I really am happier. After all my research, I found out what I knew all along: I could change my life without changing my life. When I made the effort to reach out for them, I found that the ruby slippers had been on my feet all along; the bluebird was singing outside my kitchen window.
By Gretchen Rubin
The Happiness Project
Posted in Quotes
I’m a Cub Master in a local Cub Scout Troop. That means I’m responsible for organizing the annual Pinewood Derby Race. Below is the note I sent to parents and announcing the race.
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We’ve outlined important details about the race this year. More info. will come, but this should be enough to get started. The race will be held on April 24 in the Stake Center.
Please actively involve your son in the construction process. This is his race, and he should be proud of the car he worked on with you to build.
Below are the construction rules:
Feel free to add Legos, plastic parts, and other stuff to make the design fun.
We will have awards (first through third place) for two categories: Design and Fastest Car.
The Fastest Cars Award
Each car will race on each lane at least once. The car’s speed from each lane/race will be averaged to rank the cars according to speed. At the end, the top three cars with the highest average speed will win.
Design Award
Each car will be judged on the design and creativity. Independent judges from each ward will agree on the top three cars for design and creativity.
Race Night
All cars will be on a table that is not accessible to the audience. There will be a line for each race lane. A few minutes before a race, the boy will be called up and asked to hold his car until race time. When it is time to race, the Race Director will place all cars on the track and ask the boys to verify that it was done correctly. The boys will then go to the finish line to watch their cars finish. They will retrieve the cars and then take them back to the table. Since most boys want to win a trophy, I encourage everyone to teach their boys how to properly hold their car while waiting and returning it. Dropped cars means broken axels.
We do realize that some boys will be happy just racing and playing with their cars that night. Please remember to teach them that the fun is designing, building, and the excitement of racing – Even if you don’t win a trophy.
Parent/Sibling Race
After the kid’s race and awards, we will have a sibling/parent race for any interested in building a separate car. No check in is necessary, but please do not apply graphite in the church building. We will use the computer to provide speeds, but no awards will be given.
If you don’t have the tools to build a car, please contact either Sean or I and we will find a way to help out.
Den Leaders – Please check my email distribution list to make sure I have included all boys.
Posted in Uncategorized
I knew going into this race that I wasn’t ready to push it. I knew I could finish at a respectable pace, but I didn’t have the endurance to put in a solid 6 miles. In the weeks leading up, I had one 6 mile run and several 4 mile runs. I also tried hitting the track twice in the same week. That was a mistake, I churned out a reasonable run in the first session, but my legs were so destroyed in the second session that I threw in the towel and headed home half way into it. It didn’t help that it poured rain the entire run.
Waking up on race morning, I had a lump in my stomach for the pizza the night before and my back was killing me from who knows what. My expectations for the race just kept getting lower. Lisa and I drove to the race and really enjoyed the time together without kids. We hardly talked about the race so I obviously wasn’t very stressed about things.
Apparently, the number of participants increased this year because the lines for the bathrooms were huge. When I walked out of the Men’s Room, there was a line of ladies waiting to come in and claim our bathroom as well. In a stupor of thought, I wondered aloud if I had walked into the wrong bathroom – my personal nightmare.
Just before the race, I got a brief warm up in and ran the last .2 miles of the course. A few minutes later it was time to start and I lined up in a shirt, undershirt, arm sleeves, gloves, and shorts. The temperature was 40 degrees. I was comfortable and probably could have done fine without the undershirt.
The Race
The pack took off and I found myself running about 5:30 for the first half mile. I knew I couldn’t sustain this, so I tried to pull it back a bit. People of all shapes and sizes were passing me and I started feeling really slow. As I was kicking myself for not training more, I could feel my legs complaining about the pace so I backed down to a 7:00 minute mile. My mind wanted to go with the crowd, but my legs just weren’t up for it.
At mile 5, the number of runners passing was getting quite bothersome, including one rather large guy who even had a full Camelback on. Feeling a little embarrassed, I picked up the pace a bit and with about .3 miles to go, we arrived at the final hill. I powered up the hill and passed four people.
As we turned the final corner, I could see a lady about 20 yards ahead so I put in everything I had and passed her right before the line. Looking back, there were tons of people calling her name and cheering her on and I put in a little show to beat her at the end. It was probably a little arrogant, but I had no idea that she would have a support crew cheering her on at the end.
Lessons Learned
1) I need to build up my endurance. On a weekly basis, I need several 6 mile runs and at least an 8 mile run in on the weekend. I simply don’t have the endurance to put in a full run right now.
2) Pay more attention to nutrition the day before the race and the morning of the race. I had a lump in my stomach and I cramped up during the first mile.
3) Stretch a little more before and after.
Goal for the Next Race
For the next race I would like to drop my pace to somewhere between 6:45 and 7.00. That should put me into a 43 minute race and hopefully faster than the dude with the Camelback.
Posted in Race Reports, Running
I’ve had a hard time getting serious about racing again. Since the half ironman, I’ve run a few races, but I really haven’t trained consistently. I’ve had plenty of excuses: recovery, sickness, weather, my wife’s sick, up too late the night before, etc. During the start of spring last year, I was hitting spin class 2-3 times a week and running at least 3 times a week. Don’t even ask what I had to do during the summer.
I often wonder why I’m not as consistent this year and I’ve come up with multiple excuses. The easiest excuse is that I don’t have a major goal to train for.
My Long Excuse
I haven’t had a challenging goal to train for so I haven’t been fearful of the race. That has allowed me to slack off the workouts and be less consistent in my sleep habits. I’ve caught multiple colds over the past two months because of a weakened immune system that isn’t working overtime due to extreme exercise.
The Real Excuse
Last winter I worked my tail off and this winter I’m taking a break.
Posted in Triathlon
The Wall Street Journal had a great article on how to modify the regulatory structure the United States uses to manage everything from child day care to electric utilities to worker safety. In the current structure, regulators (lawyers) try to think of every possible mistake and then dictate a solution. This creates codes and laws that are so constrictive and complex that it doesn’t allow people to use good judgment. Meaning, people don’t take personal responsibility because they are following the law.
In the proposed structure, laws would state a desired result and require that people and businesses use their own good judgment on how to get there. If the obligation is ignored or abused, then inspectors would be allowed to punish the offender. Of course, the inspectors would also require a system that kept their demands reasonable and fair.
Apply this to your children and require them to use good judgment instead of dictating every rule and it seems like they can learn from the experience as well. It seems like every time we set a firm rule, a necessary exception comes up and we have to explain it to our kids. But if we give them the chance to make their own decisions, mistakes will happen, but in the long run hopefully they will make better decisions than the complicated rules I’ll come up with.
Posted in Leadership
“All one can really leave one’s children is what’s inside their heads. Education, in other words, and not earthly possessions, is the ultimate legacy, the only thing that cannot be taken away.”
Rocket scientist, aerospace engineer, and space architect
Posted in Quotes
On the last Thursday of July, we took the kids to the High School for a track meet. Our local rec. center organizes a track meet with multiple events where kids can compete against others their age. When we heard it was free, all of us could run, and everyone gets a ribbon, we were already heading out to the car!
All four kids did the 100 meter dash, 200 meter dash, and the softball throw. Natalie and Brendan also did a relay and the mile.
Earlier in the day I did a track workout so I was still a bit stiff. After standing around for two hours and with no warm up, I managed to crank out a 6:08 mile run. I don’t think I’ve ever run that fast, but I think I have a sub 6:00 mile in me.
Posted in Race Reports
Transition from Bike to Run
I ran into transition and quickly found where my bike had been, but the previously mentioned arrogant, experienced racer’s bike was spread diagonally from his spot to my spot with his front tire was sitting on top of my towel and gear. The clown had thrown his bike in the rack and then pushed it into the open space (my area) so he could have space to get to his stuff. I stood there for a second; somewhat incredulous that someone could be so tactless even in a race. Quickly, I tried to grab his front tire to push it aside so I could get to my stuff, but the bike fell off the rack. Now I was holding his bike by the front tire and mine by the handlebars with only a wee bit of exhaustion setting in. I grabbed his top tube and yanked it back up to the rack so I didn’t have to support it. Then I pushed his bike over to my side of the area (still on top of my towel) and placed my bike on his side of the area with my bike directly on top of his towel.
I was pretty sure he would finish before me, so I was somewhat worried that he would mess with my stuff, but aside from adding five minutes to my time, I did the best I could. Lisa and the cheering squad were going crazy just beyond the fence so I ran over, slapped high fives with everyone and ran off. My legs felt pretty good, but I wasn’t sure how long it would last.
The Run
Within the first mile my stomach started sloshing around typically happens when I’ve taken too many liquids. The last 7 miles of the bike ride, I had several large swallows of water thinking that the sun was coming out and hydration would be an important factor later on. Both fortunately and unfortunately, the sun was nowhere in sight so I had extra water in my system that wasn’t going anywhere soon. At least I wasn’t going to melt in the heat as athletes did last year. I started out at an 8.00 minute/mile pace and started passing people left and right.
My small goal for the run was to stay under two hours for 13.1 miles, but the mile markers were inconsistent and I didn’t remember the time I started the run. Each time I did see a mile marker, I would calculate the remaining distance at an 8.30 pace and a 9.00 minute pace, but my brain seemed more focused on keeping my legs moving rather than doing the math. It seems really funny, but at that point I can remember questioning myself about how long it would take to finish 6 miles at a 9.00/mile pace.
About mile 8, my stride started getting shorter and I knew that my pace had dropped to somewhere around 9 minutes a mile. My stomach continued to slosh around so I figured I didn’t need to take on any more liquid. Just to get my mind off the endless miles, I started sucking an orange at each rest stop. I usually love oranges, but every orange tasted extremely sour. I’m not sure if that was because I was so used to sugary nutrition products or if my sensory systems were already overloaded.
I continued to pass people on the run and would usually mutter an encouraging word about the distance, weather, or how great they looked. I always think it’s funny when people say, “looking good” to me as they pass when I’m in absolute agony, but it always gives me encouragement so I do the same thing when I see others.
Eventually, I started walking through each aid station whether I took anything or not. The brief walk seemed to renew my legs for the run that would soon follow. About the only thing I remember from my last triathlon was that I walked for a minute or two towards the end. It didn’t really make a difference to my final placement, but I get disgusted each time I think about it. This time I was determined to only walk through rest stops and I had to start moving once I passed the last person handing out water.
Eventually my pace probably slowed to 9.15 or 9.30/mile, but I continued to pass people. Eventually I caught a lady who I had been chasing for some time. She would run for 100 yards and then walk 20 and then run a bit more. When I caught her, I said, “Come on, run with me, you can do it!” She did and we ran about half of a mile together. It was really nice to have some company and hide my own pain by encouraging someone else. Eventually my legs were ready to pick up the pace again and I said, “Almost there, no more walking until you finish.” She smiled and said, “ok”. We only had about one mile to go and as far as I could tell, she didn’t walk again.
The Finish
Finally I saw the finish line and Lisa with all the kids in the distance. I tried to pick up the pace for the last bit, but I couldn’t move things much faster. Lisa took the two pictures below as I came up the hill. She later told me that she was watching for a red tri suit, but lots of people had red tri suits. She only realized it was me because I have this really white stripe on my quads where my normal bike shorts go about two inches lower that my red tri suit. I have a nice tan on my the lower part of my quads, but the upper part apparently stands out like a reflector at night.
I crossed the finish line and tried to keep moving as the kids ran up and around. I was absolutely thrilled to be done and fairly certain my next triathlon would be of a shorter distance.
I can’t remember a single person passing me on the run and I really don’t think anyone did. I can only assume that all the really fast runners are also really good cyclists so they passed me early in the bike ride. The runners I passed on the run were those who were good cyclists, but terrible runners.
Race Results
I finished the race in 6 hours and 13 minutes. I had hoped to go under six hours, but after quickly changed my goal after I saw all the hills on the course.
Swim: 31.3 – Rank 13th of 182
T1: 3.34.6
Bike: 3:37.38.1 – Rank 141th of 182
T2: 2.27.7
Run: 1.58.13.3 – Rank 64th of 182
Overall Placement: 88th of 182
Age Group (35-39): 6th of a lot
What would I do differently?
1) Cycling is obviously my weakness. I’ve seen huge improvements from interval training on my run and swim so I should probably incorporate interval training on my bikes. Aero bars would probably help as well.
2) I tried doing all my long workouts on Fridays or weekends. That left me exhausted most of the weekend. Try doing the at least one of the long sets in the middle of the week.
3) Try incorporating caffeine in my race nutrition. An occasional energy burst would help get things moving again.
4) Pick a closer race. Traveling 6 hours for a perfect event didn’t seem worth the stress, time, and cost. A closer race would make everything a bit easier.
5) Practice transitions. I wasn’t terrible, but things weren’t fresh in my mind.
6) Don’t be afraid to race hard the last chunk of the swim. I’m a good swimmer so I shouldn’t just be coasting in. I should be racing in.
7) Try to avoid the restrooms and run through the rest areas. This is to take my race to the next level and will require better fitness through training.
See part 1 here: The Swim
Posted in Race Reports, Triathlon, Uncategorized
Transition from Swim to Bike
The run from the water to the transition area was short so I hardly had time to pull my goggles off before I was at my bike and pulling my wetsuit off. All of my food for the ride was already loaded on my bike so I just needed to put on my shoes, helmet, and sunglasses. Just as I was about to pull out, the “experienced” racer who was arrogantly talking about things before the race ran into his bike and started to pull his wetsuit off. I’ll mention him again later.
My Cheering Squad
The entire time in transition, I could hear Lisa and my kids cheering me on like maniacs. They had even made a bright green sign that they were waving around. As I was trying to pull my wetsuit off, Lisa told me to look up and I saw the sign. She snapped this picture. Note my left leg is lifted up horizontal as I try to balance things.
After the race Lisa told me that during the ride, everyone went back to the hotel for breakfast and a movie. They little girls also found some fun hills to roll down.
Nutrition
I ran up the hill with my bike and started on my merry way for the next 56 miles. The sky was overcast and lightly raining so I was a bit chilled because I was soaking wet. I immediately started eating part of a Cliff Bar so I would have some energy to start warming up and began to think about my nutrition plan. During a long race like this, you have to eat something that your body can easily process so you don’t run out of energy. It’s just like a car, when you run out of fuel, you stop. I had to eat/drink at the beginning of the race so I would have something for later. To complicate things, eating during the bike is easy, but eating during the run is difficult.
Originally, I had planned to drink about 280 calories per hour of a sports drink (Infinit) and one bottle of water. Combined this would be about six full bottles of liquid. Because I sometimes like to chew on something during long rides, I also brought along two cliff bars that I would snack on as needed. Because the weather was about 70 degrees, drinking lots of liquid didn’t appeal to me because I wouldn’t be sweating it off. The liquid would just sit in my stomach until I drained it out at a rest stop. Instead, I decided to eat the Cliff Bars (320 calories each) as my primary source of fuel and then supplement with the liquid nutrition. I also cut way back on the water I had planned to drink.
Fast Cyclists
The first 35 miles of the ride were up and down rollers. Nothing difficult, but enough to keep you engaged in each mile of the race. Almost as soon as I got on the bike, faster riders would fly by me on their $4,000 rockets. At first it was pretty frustrating to be passed by so many men and women of all shapes and sizes. This was a race, so of course I didn’t want to give up my lead. But I couldn’t go much faster or risk wearing out my legs so early in the race.
Soon I started to wonder how fast these guys were actually going. Because of the rate at which they passed, some riders must have been going at least 3-5 mph faster. The math geek in me immediately started to wonder how much faster I must have been in the water. If I was riding at 18 mph and they were riding 22 mph and caught me at mile 20, then I must have beaten them out of the water by a good 15 minutes. Then as they continued to fly by me, I started to think, “Wow, that guy is pretty fast on his bike, I must have thrashed him on the swim.” Then later, my thoughts would change to “His swim sucks” as the riders would fly by.
Oh The Hills!
About mile 40 we started the long climb up the first hill. Soon enough I started to pass a lot of the heavier riders who flew by me on the flats and rollers. I train on a lot of hills and I weigh next to nothing so I tend to do rather well on the climbs. Over the remaining 30 miles I would pass people on the climb and then get passed on the flats and downhills. On the last climb, I started joking with people about how they would catch me again on the downhill. Everyone laughed except one guy who apparently thought he still had a chance to win the race.
Crashing
At mile 50 we reached the final peak and I stopped for a quick break and grabbed another bottle of water. I jumped on my bike and the volunteer shouted that it was mainly downhill from the top but to be aware of the hairpin turns. As I picked up speed going downhill, I saw a sign warning of a long, tight turn. I immediately slowed down and then saw to my right a cyclist who had just crashed on the side of the road. His right arm and left leg were both bloodied and his bike was nowhere to be seen. I thought about stopping but there were several people jumping out of cars and racing toward him so there was little I could do. About 2 minutes later a fire truck and ambulance passed me on the way to him. I think he probably dropped into his aero bars for a more aerodynamic position on the downhill and then couldn’t break in time for the tight turn. Because the fall had just happened, it was probably one of the people I had joked with and passed on the climbs.
Nutrition, Cramps, and Dizziness
The sun was coming out so I was getting worried about heat for the run. I started sipping water heavily, hoping that it would help me stay hydrated but wouldn’t get caught in my stomach during the run. I absolutely hate the feeling of a sloshing stomach as I run around. Around this time I also realized that during the swim and transition, I had no problems whatsoever with cramping or dizziness. The earplugs and prerace hydration had totally solved the problem.
The Final Bike Stretch
When my bike and computer showed 56 miles, I was ready to be done. My rear end was sore and I was sick of pedaling. Unfortunately the course was long and I still had two miles to go. Lisa snapped this picture as I finished up the ride.
Then later as ran through T2, Lisa snapped this.
I couldn’t wait to start running.
See part 3 here: The Run
Posted in Race Reports, Triathlon
