The Tri was put together very well. I picked up my race packet the day before at Triathlab. There was music playing and they had an excellent questions and answers for all the beginners lime myself. They even had a guy perform the entire triath Lon (in the same place) so we could see what was involved in the ever scary transition area.

Evening before Race Day:
I really watched too many movies on pre-race eating and for some reason I decided that I should carb load the night before. I know I read it somewhere. I stuffed myself. Here is the problem with that, first, I had to go to the bath room A LOT so that did not do much for my rest. Secondly, I was so wired I didn’t sleep all that well. I finally managed to fall sleep around 1ish.

Race Day:
I woke up on time and nervous. My wife wanted to go with me but it was really early and that would mean waking up the 3 year old. No thanks. I was still stuffed from the night before. Note to self, don’t do that again. I pushed down a peanut butter bagel and left the house. It took about 45 minutes to get there.

I arrived on time but I probably should have been there at least a half hour earlier. By the time I hit the transition area, my wave was full, so I had to setup in the under 20 group. No big deal but it can effect you. After setting up, it only left me about 10 minutes to warm up. Really not enough time to have a proper warm-up.

We all headed to the starting line. The 800 yards looks much longer than I remembered it. I started to get a l title nervous but I ran into a guy that calmed my nerves. One the horn wen t off I jumped in, I decided to take my time going in, which in hind sight was probably a bad idea. I went in slow, trying to allow for the fast swimmers to get out first. The problem was that I myself was faster than some of the people I let go ahead of me. This meant a lot of unnecessary bobbing and weaving around people. Once I hit the buoy I was finally able to pick a lane away from people. I felt pretty good in the water. I was tired but not exhausted. The worst part of e swim is looking at the shoreline and realizing how far you are away from land. I shut that out of my mind and pushed on focusing on my breathing and stroke extension.

I hit the sand and decided to walk up the path to catch my breathe. This was a mistake because you’re swim is not over once you leave the water, it is over once you cross the mat. It effected my time and made my swim appear slower than it really was. (always run to the mat).

Once in the transition area I removed my wetsuit, put my bike shoes on a began jogging out for the ride. I was still tired when i left transition so it took a while to get my legs moving. Its only 6 miles so you really need to get moving fast. Mistake 3: I immediately when into a higher gear than i should have to try to get speed up. Bad Idea. I ended up wearing myself out because I was working too hard.

T3:
This was my fasted transition and I actually finally felt good leaving the area, well, at least my lungs did. My legs decided to punish me for not warming up. About 2 minutes after leaving T3 I developed not one, but Two cramps. One in my calf, the other in my groin. Do you know how frustrating it is to get cramps when you feel great? Guess i should’ve haas a sweet potato instead of the pasta the night before. I decided to push on and the cramp was manageable, only if I did not push it. I was forced to slow down to keep them at bay. I finished with a respectable time of 1:00:29. My goal was 1:00 so I had to be happy with it, but I wasn’t loving it. I have more in me…next time.

1. I had another birthday and it was great.
2. I did start training for my Triathlon, however it took a little break…for like a…year. I will get into that later.
3. I started my own DJ company that is actually going very well.

I’m too tired to talk about them now but I will post very soon.

Go Lakers!

It is really hard to get some time to just do nothing. I have a job, a quickly growing company, a family, music, to do items, yard work, etc. I don’t know about you, but for me the hours in the day disappear very quickly. So when my wife asked, “What do you want to do?”. I flashback to being in Fresno for 2 days, working on websites and songlists, preparing for the party Saturday night, training a new DJ…

I replied, nothing.

Don’t get me wrong, we went out to brunch as a family, had a wonderful breakfast on Sunset and then we went home. I watched the first NFL championship game, grabbed my two year old, laid him on my chest and then we took a nap. 2 blissful hours of sleeping on the couch. I awoke and went to the store and bought the things necessary to make my homemade Beef wontons and chicken fried rice. I make everything from scratch by the way. We had a great dinner and then we relaxed with a little wine.

That’s it…nothing spectacular in the traditional sense. No running around, no gathering people for a dinner only to have to wait for them because they will undoubtedly be late. Just a very peaceful day with the family.

This was probably the best birthday I have had in a long time…

Well, it was a pretty good week, I got in 3 days of training, but it was so hot that it was hard.  I may be a black man, but I’m not from Kenya. I can’t take all of this heat!  It was kind of a busy week so I really had to squeeze it in.  I got in 4 miles of running and then 2 days of weight training.  The weight training is apart of my normal week and I don’t plan to stop that just because I added some more intense cardio.  I typically don’t run more than 2 miles so even adding the 1 additional mile feels like someone is on my back, yelling at me, why pouring hot cocoa down my shorts.  I have not even attempted to swim or get on my bike, although, the 2 flat tires may have something to do with that.  Slow and steady. That’s how I roll, or walk…

My main focus this week are breathing and running form.  I used to be a sprinter so my distance form is horrible, I really have to get my stride working for me, because right now, we are not seeing eye to eye.  As I said before, breathing is very important, or should I say oxygen is very important.  So i have slowed my stride down a little to focus on consistent breathing, taking deep slow breaths of oxygen, while exhaling just as slow.  I found that this does two things, prevents your muscles from early fatigue because your legs are receiving healthy amounts of oxygen, and two, it’s gets your mind off the pain. After my run, I have noticed my legs don’t hurt as much.

I’ll keep you posted!

Okay so I don’t want that much pain and I do have an agenda.  I want to get ripped, and I think this is the best way to get there. I exercise right now about 3-4 times a week and I am in pretty good shape, but I don’t want to be pretty good. I want to be great!

So I have set up my Triathlon Sprint, which is basically a full Tri cut in half, for March of 09′.  It is an all-terrain course because I don’t have a road bike but I still have my once great full suspension Specialized mountain bike.(Why spend the money?)

You can get more information about the event here

I will keep you posted on my status!

DON’T WAIT FOR SOMETHING TO HAPPEN, MAKE IT HAPPEN.

I am all about the signs, almost to a fault. Sometimes, signs can also hold you back, like staying with a dead end job because you haven’t gotten that sign that says, “GET OUT NOW”. Sometimes, you have to make your own sign. I am reminded of a 4 way intersection by my home that had no yield or stop signs, either way. I kept thinking, someone should put a sign up. Obviously, I couldn’t put one up myself, but I could have contacted the City and explained the dangers of this intersection but I didn’t. One was put up about 2 months ago, so someone took the initiative. You can’t always wait for that sign. Sometimes, you are the sign. If not for you, maybe for someone else.

If you are looking for God to show you a sign, you will never see it, because as Humans, we interpret the world in low definition.  We see the world based upon experiences, and emotional factors.  It is never looked at in the critical degree that it should be.  Plain and simple, we see what we want to see, or ignore what we don’t.  Perhaps it would be better to close you eyes, and listen inward. That voice in your head is usually right.

More importantly though, it’s a time for family, and because of the distance between Christmas and Hanukkah this year, it has really allowed us to focus on “our week”. It doesn’t hurt that all of the stores are fully stocked with product too. See, there are benefits to being Jewish.

THE 8 GOOD THINGS OF HANUKKAH

1. We don’t have to drag ourselves to the roof to put lights up, or buy that kindling, otherwise known as Christmas Trees, drag it home, and untangle Christmas lights and broken ornaments.
2. If you did forget to get that special someone a gift, well don’t worry, you have 7 more days to get it. It’s like lay-a-way for Jews.
3. Who wants to get up at 5 or 6 in the morning on Christmas day when you can light candles right after sundown and open the gifts then?
4. You go to one Christmas Party, we go to at least 4.
5. It’s the only holiday you can have were “socks” are considered a quality gift because they know you have 7 more days to bring out the big guns.
6. When we get Hanukkah gifts, typically, we still have time to exchange them for better gifts, like the ones you want to get for Christmas. We get the stores fully stocked, you have to kill your neighbor for that Elmo doll on the 24th.
7. When Hanukkah is over, there is no tree to drag to the curb, or lights to retangle and no ornaments to sweep up that the cat knocked down. We just close the menorah box and put it back in the closet.
8. Oh and we get OUR holiday and YOUR holiday off.

THE 8 BAD THINGS OF HANUKKAH

1. There are no Jewish holiday songs, unless you think Adam Sandler sounds like Perry Como
2. When you go to the book store, there is a huge end cap for Christmas books. Strangely enough, all of our books make jokes of Hanukkah like, “Christmukkah” and “Christmas for Jews”
3. You guys make a lot of traffic on the roads for my people. We just want to get home. Can’t you shop between 10-2pm?
4. Parties mean travel, and going anywhere in So Cal at 5pm is a nightmare. 10-2 folks, help us out.
5. Latkes can only be deep fried…I gained like 5 pounds over the week and I think my heart may have stopped once or twice.
6. Your neighbors know where the “Jews” live. They are the ones with no lights up.
7. Your office just doesn’t understand, but will act like they do anyway, and trivialize the whole thing until it sounds like your leaving to have oral surgery.
8. How many times can you hear, “Well, you get 8 days of presents”. Did you not read #6 on the good?

Merry Christmukkah,
Citi

Blogged with Flock

Tags: hanukkah, christmukkah, Channuka, Chanukkah, holidays, top 8 things about Hanukkah