Thursday, June 26, 2008

Nutrition delivery!

Well just in time I received my shipment of Carbo Pro and Accelerade. I was just plain out of nutrition for the coming Tupper Lake half. I have never used carbo Pro before but many of the IM folks I know seem to live by it during their long races so I decided its a tested formula.

Today I used it for the first time. It passed my own test, I did not vomit. I realize these are pretty low standards for nutrition. Can you imagine this as a restaurant review " well the ambiance was romantic, the food delicious and more importantly the clientèle appeared not to be vomiting"

But the truth is stomachs act pretty weird during these endurance events and sometimes taking in too much of anything can result .... well... in Vomit. In fact last years Tupper lake race with my teammates was a veritable Vomitorium on wheels, so to speak. One of the dangers of sharing a house with a bunch of athletes is that race morning is like a chem lab in the kitchen with dozens of different powders and formulas flying around. You can almost see a cloud of energy powder forming above everyones heads.

Anyhow, a number of folks decided to try each others formulas ( Golden rule- try nothing new on race day). Well a few ended up swimming through their vomit, others pulled over to vomit on the bike, and some just well chose not to Vomit from their mouths but instead Vomited from the other end ;)

If you don't believe me here is my Race report that I had posted on the race with purpose site last year:

Great race everyone!

Despite a number of obstacles such as multiple cases of Vomit in just
about every leg of the race, Leg cramps, stomach cramps, trips into the
woods, over-hydration and under-hydration... we all managed to finish
the race.

It was lots of fun, and Congrats to all.

So as you can imagine I was happy to see that it seems I was able to handle the Carbo Pro pretty well.

Now the lemonade flavored Accelerade--Yuck! But it will have to do for now.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Simba Swims!

Well that Simba swims is not really news, she loves the water. But today we had a great training session, she actually swam WITH me. I took her up to White Pond, which is the local Open Water hot spot. And slapped a leash on her, I bought a 9 ft one thinking it would give me room to wrap it around me and still have about 5-6 feet of space. The rules for teh Doggie Du are that the dog needs to be tethered to the human during the swim with no less than a 4 ft leash. The problem with a 4 ft leash is it does not give allot of space to kick without kicking the dog. So I went with a longer leash.

At first she resisted. She enjoys swimming but only when she is chasing a ball or something. There needs to be a reason. But in this case I just had to drag her out. Mind you she had a life vest on, so she was safe if she got tired. Anyhow after about a minute of trying to swim back to shore she just gave up and started to swim right after me. If I turned left, she came along without me having to drag her. It was sweet! There was something pretty awesome seeing her swimming next to me.

Great stuff to end a tough day.

Peaks and Valleys

They say life is just full of peaks and valleys. I hope so, because the way this week is going, I am going to be due a great day at the Tupper Lake half!

Monday, June 23, 2008

Week 2 of 100 pushup challenge

Yesterday I was at an auction to support a charity called Out of the Pits which is an organization that rescues pitbulls and educates the public about the many misconceptions about this breed that was once the sweetheart of the American public. We were there because my wife donated some of her jewelry t help with the fundraising.

Anyhow this was happening the day that me and Simba showed up on teh frontpage of teh paper, so that was the talk amongst the dog people.

SO many conversations eventually led to my triathlon goals. I lost count at the number of people that gave me that "you are a freak" look when I told them about my Ironman goals. I am pretty sure I am not the only one i the world to have to explain, why the hell I want to put myself through this, but it is kind of funny. Especially the looks that couples give each other sometimes when I am telling them I like it, its like a quick glance to each other as they say "of coouuuurse you do, it must be sooo rewarding" but teh glance says "this guy is off his rocker".

Anyhow to continue my freakdom I am on week 2 of the 100 pushup challenge. Still pretty easy.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Front Page!!

Me and Simba made the front page of the Journal News!

Here is a link, unfortunately, the website does not have the action shot of me and Simba running.

Doggy Duathlon not just a walk in the park

Mike Dougherty
The Journal News

Javier Gomez already knows he can't possibly keep up with the competition.

And that fur will be flying.

Gomez is anchoring the leash for his four-legged running companion - Simba, a chow/border collie mix - as both train for the first Doggy Duathlon World Championship, to be run in conjunction with the New York City Triathlon on July 20. They hope to go stroke for stroke and stride for stride with 25 other entrants.

"I've done a number of triathlons and my wife is very supportive, but triathlons were kind of like my thing," said Gomez, a Somers resident who works as an IT audit manager. "Simba runs with me all the time, so I thought it would be cool to do a race with her. All of a sudden, this is a big deal. Everybody in the family knows about the race. It's a big to-do."

Vincent Morrow knows the feeling.

Nobody made much of a fuss when the Bedford resident entered past competitions. But the level of interest went up the moment he was accepted to race with Z, a confident vizsla who's on the Doggy Duathlon Web site sporting a finisher's medal from a past New York City Triathlon.

"There will be 10 to 15 people we know down there for the race," said Morrow, a fund wholesaler at Federated Investors who's never enjoyed that kind of support. "It makes you realize the dog has a good life."

Maybe some compassionate soul will throw a biscuit to the upright competitors.

But there's no reason to beg.

Triathlon organizers attempt to add something unique to the race each year, so they came up with what they affectionately call the "Doggy Du."

"New Yorkers are passionate about dogs and plants," race director John Korrs said. "Plants can't run, so I asked if dogs can swim. We had to bag the cycling because we couldn't figure out how to keep the dogs on a bike."

It's going to be tough enough keeping them on track with so many fire hydrants to visit.

Getting the dogs into the Hudson for the 1,500-meter swim could be the biggest challenge. It's not like they are unaccustomed to the water, but the addition of race conditions and river currents makes this a completely new experience.

"Simba is used to chasing a ball into the water," Gomez said. "One day I put on my wetsuit and jumped in with her, and she was like, 'What the hell are you doing?' I still have to work out the details of how I'm going to swim with a leash."

How about the doggy paddle?

Morrow is hoping to find a set of stairs to ease Z into the competition.

"He's not a jumper," he said. "We haven't done any lake training yet. When it's hot out, he walks over to the pool and goes for a nice swim. He goes in circles, gets out, shakes off, then lies on the patio and suns himself.

"We should all come back as our dogs."

Each dog is getting a custom-made life vest. And the current will help them get down the river between 99th and 72nd streets in a relatively short period of time.

"I don't think anyone enjoys the concept of jumping into the Hudson," Morrow said.

There is a transition area where the competitors finish the swim, complete with orange fire hydrants in case nature calls. Water bowls with be at the ready along the course. Each dog also will undergo a series of veterinary checks during the race to ensure the safety of the animals.

It seems nobody really cares if the humans are running around with their tongues dragging.

Once the running shoes are laced up and the physical is complete, the competitors will head up 72nd Street and into Central Park where they'll complete a 10-kilometer run. It shouldn't be a big deal for either dog.

"We run three times a week," Gomez said. "Simba trained with me for a marathon I did early on, and can run up to 20 miles. Then she wants to play fetch, which is what kills me. I'm ready for a nap and she brings me the ball."

But he always plays along.

"Simba is a daddy's girl," Gomez's wife, Retno, said. "She can't wait for Javier to get home. And keeping her entertained is a job and a half."

It's no different for Z, who runs frequently with Morrow.

"There's been a little grief from the college friends I usually run with," he said. "Not too much. They all know the dog is probably a better athlete than the rest of us. My wife, Erin, did the San Diego Marathon a couple weeks ago, and she'll do Westchester's triathlon at the end of the summer. So between the two of us, he gets plenty of running in."

Nobody knows whether it's going to be a competitive race.

"We told all of the owners they're just going along for the ride so the dog doesn't get lost," Korrs said. "It's all in fun."

Still, there's always the potential for a quick race in the park.

"Normally, she runs on my left side the whole time," Gomez said. "But if there's a squirrel up front, she'll be dragging me along."

A good-looking Doberman might have the opposite effect.

Since the owners are both competitive triathletes, it won't be easy to coast across the finish line if there are dogs to pass with a trophy on the line.

"We'll see," Morrow said. "I just don't want to embarrass my dog. If he decides he wants to run faster, he can pull me along. If he decides he's all right watching the others in front of him, that's fine, too."

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Twizzlers as survival food

Ok so I was having a strawberry flavored Twizzler ( I know my holistic nutritionist friend commonly known as Holistic Guru is probably gritting her teeth right now) and it occurred to me that this little piece of candy is true survival food:

1) If you are really starved it has 39 calories per serving for that little bit of Umph that you may need
2) You can use it to tie things together
3) most importantly you can bite off each end and use it as a life giving straw to breath through if you find your self in a situation where you need to dive into water to evade capture by evil doers. I mean they are hollow inside!

I am sure there are lots of other brilliant uses for this handy candy. I will make sure to keep one around in the cars emergency kit.

100 Pushups

OJ as part of my core strength training I have decided to take up the 100 Pushup challenge

its basically a 6 week training program designed to get you to complete 100 pushups straight. Pushups are a great all around exercise. Build upper body strength and helps strengthen the Core.

Back in the states

Well back home and I am taking to day off to spend some time home and get things in order. Much to do around the house.

But also allot of training to do to catch up. The Tupper Lake Half is just two weeks away, and the IM Wisconsin is 80 days off.....80 days...

Holy Crap!

Anyhow my training has been disrupted with all of the travel that I have had and will have coming up in the two most important months of my training. So I am not expecting a grand race. But me and my coach have worked out a "Kill yourself when you can" type of approach where I will just have some serious super long weekend days when I am around. along with good training when I have control of my schedule.

So today I am back on the training wagon and started off with a nice 1 hour ride, did a time trial. Followed by a 1 hour run.

Had to come back due to an appointment withg a photographer for the journal news. Who wants to capture shots of me and SImba training and such, This fame thing is just getting out of control! ;)

Anyways I want to just shou out to my peeps at the JCC/RWP tri team who this past weekend completed their FIRST triathlon!! All of them beginners and all of them finished! despite some real adversity, like one of them had an asthma like attack in the middle of the swim, but instead of ditching he rolled over floated to let it pass and resumed, suffered the whole race through and finished. Later on he went to a doctor and all is well now. But thats composure under adversity! They all did great!
I am real proud of having taken part in coaching them. Looking forward to seeing more from them.

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Riding Cerro San Cristobal

Today I made a major discovery, at least for me that is. I was planning on doing a long run, with maybe an hour of cycling thrown in. The bike I rented yesterday was just a piece of crap. and I really did not look forward to riding that thing again. After all when coming down a long downhill its good to have decent brakes, yesterdays bike ( which as the guy who rented it told me ) was actually the best bike they had, and its brakes were of the Fred Flinstone types, you need to help out with your feet on the ground :)

But in reality I was really hoping to be able to ride, so I knew the concierge had no suggestions since I had asked, so I went back to the internet. Searched for Bike rentals in Santiago and got nothing. Then it occurred to me, to try the search in Spanish. I entered "rentar bicicletas en Santiago Chile" And suddenly a whole world openned up! There were several listings but not all were exactly what I was looking for. But one did have what I needed, La Bicicleta Verde (www. labicicletaverde.com)

They specialize it seems in running tours on bikes, using what appears to be green colored "comfort" bikes. I was not really interested in that. But I saw they also rent bikes. I called them up and spoke to Peter, who hooked me up with a sweet hybrid (Trek 7100).

Better yet, they deliver! He brought the bike over to the hotel I was at for a pretty fair fee, and the company provides all the necessities like a bag, bike gloves, spare tire and tools etc. I was stuck using push pedals again, becaiuse they do not have cages avaliable but he told me in the future if I bring my own pedals they would switch out the pedals for me. SWEET!

So off I went for 4 hours, I kicked my ass doing Hill repeats on the Cerro San Cristobal, I went up the 5K hill 3 times and then I took a short tour of the city.

Now for pictures I have the usual cheesy tourist Photo of me looking like a "civilian" without my name brand bike jersey, uncoordinated bike outfit and even with an UNBUCKLED HELMET! jeeze! :




But you may also want to see the ACTION VIDEO of part of my Descent! Yes you get it all here!!





Sorry for the shaky vid, but I was trying to balance my camera on the bike handlebars, and also steering the turns with one hand. But anyhow the views you see here are ten time better than you see in teh video. But it was great.

This also helps me out in the future in that I may have to come back to Chile before My IM. So now I know I CAN get a bike workoutr in while I am here.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Cerro San Cristobal

Well today I discoverred the Cerro San Cristobal, which is a park nearby to my Hotel. I was told that I could run there so since I wanted to get in a nice run, I ran there. First I on my way I had to pass the River Mapochio which is near my Hotel.


Its a brown muddy looking river that Moves FAST. I was told it originates from the mountains and during the winter it swells up to reach the top of the river banks. The river also has a park that runs along the river. Its pretty nice except that there is so much construction that it gets broken up with work areas and such.

One thing tho I have to say I have never seen so many couples in one place. I mean Santiago must be on the world register of places of Romance or something. Couples both young and old seemed to be everywhere!

Anyhow to get to the park I had to cross over the river using the "Puente de los Leones" The Lions Bridge. Named after the Lions guarding the bridge.

About a mile further on I finally got to the park entrance and what should I see yonder but a place that advertises BIKE RENTAL! there is gold in yonder hills!!

So I mosey on over to see how much they are and what the options are. Road? Mountain? Maybe have to settle for a comfort bike?

Wrong.

They had as we will call functional and not functional. They were old Mt Bikes that had seen better days. I paid up for about an hour since I was suspicious of the bike quality. The guy selected a bike for me saying it was the one in best shape. So I took that one. The tires were low on air and I asked if they could fill them up. He did not have the pump with him, the guy who puts the bikes out has it.

OK, the tires were still full enough I could ride, tho a bit "swishy". So I take a few minutes, to give it a spin. I have to get used to rideing with Push pedals again. I have become so accustomed to my clipless pedals.

After a few minutes I head up the road to the crest of Serro San Cristobel, which is nasically a small mountain. It was a great 30 minute ride up...up..and up some more. The bike sucked, but the ride itself was awesome. What spectacular views!


Santiago is a beautiful city that is surrounded by mountains. Those are the Andes in the background. On the ride up I encountered dozens of cyclists and riders. Obviously this is a popular riding spot I have come across. The ride was a little hard but not just because of the incline but due to not having my normal pedals, I just kept slipping off teh pedals.

When I finally got to the top I just had to stop and enjoy the views. The top has some little shops up there offering empanadas along with Power gels and gatoraide, clearly my assumtion was correct.

Riders were sitting around chatting all over the place as well as dozens of tourists. It was great.

I then rode back down and added a little detour around a different road. I dropped the bike off determined to ride again tommorow and then started my run up the same hill I just came down. It was a great run and a great day.

Tommorow more of the same. Not too bad.

JAVIER GOMEZ: The Tiger Woods of Triathlon

Damn, Just can't keep a secret around here! ;)

http://www.canada.com/globaltv/bc/story.html?id=893a1228-5edb-4e8e-b8e3-e588622af313

Monday, June 2, 2008

Chile

Ok so here I am in Santiago de Chile. Nice town. I will actually have the time this coming weekend to get to see it. It has a very european feel to it, and it is in fact growing.

I am staying at the Radisson Plaza Santiago, which is a great Hotel. Good service, amicable and very helpful staff.

I arrived in Chile this morning and pretty much today was spend dealing with stuff from the office back home and getting settled in. The hotel has a nice state of the art gym. Its small but it has some very neat treadmills that I have not seen before. No stationary bikes but some neat weight and strength equiptment. It also has a pool. Small but large enough to tie up using my swim chord and do some time workouts there. Though I keep those limited because I have not done it enough to figure out if its affecting my swim mechanics.

Anyhow this week it is my intent to run 50 miles. So it will be a great opportunity to explore the city by foot. More to come.