Thoughts of #ironman Louisville creep in @IronmanTri

The playoffs for most Triathletes is to race a full Ironman Event.  I've signed up for 5 Half Ironmans with 3 finishes, 1 DNF due to flat tires and one DNS for the birth of my son.  While the 70.3 distance is still a big challenge for me, my eye has always been on the full 140.6.  Can I do it?  Will I ever race one?  Can my family and friends survive me training for one?  All questions swirling.

By the way, the Superbowl would be the World Championship in Kona... a lofty target I'm sure I will only get to by winning a lottery spot.

Most of the time, I blow it off and don't worry about the stress of "should I" since most of the events sell out in 24 hours and I don't have the wherewithal to get plan before hand, discuss with my wife and sign up online they day registration opens.  Can't sign up, no problem.  I also read an article on Active.com asking some of the "should I" questions as well that made me think as well...

Problem was, I was poking around the IM website and saw that IM Louisville is still open.  For how long, who knows.  I'm not even sure it sold out last year.  It's a tough course in the midst of some nasty heat on August 29th.  I would suspect that's why it may not fill up.  There's also the Utah race, but I read reports from the pros that the course was a b*tch and you're asking for trouble racing that event.

So, I just mentioned it to the wife with 80% joking and 20% serious.  She was like "are you signed up for any Ironman races in 2012"?  Um, no.  Sure, go ahead... I was like, "who are you and where did my wife go"?  Not in a mean way, but such a huge undertaking and she was more than happy to encourage me to sign up within 2 minutes of me bringing it up, until she asked, "wait, is that a half or full?".  HA, busted.

But even after I told her it was a full, she wasn't totally turned off to the idea.  But, she also knows the reality of life and the fact I am OC and way too practical to just sign up on a whim.

Obstacles

1. Training time.  It was tough with a 3 year old, 1 year old and a wife with medical issues to find the time and not feel guilty for what time I did train for 2 HIM's last year.  I don't want to take away time from my wife and kids to train.  I also would like to keep my job, so i can't just quit to train.  I'm not a pro, sadly.
2. Money.  It's $600 just to sign up, not counting to and from Kentucky, lodging, food while I'm there... etc.  It's not cheap.
3. What do you do with the family?  Take the kids and make the wife watch them for the entire pre and during race period?  That's not fair.  Leave the kids and just take the wife?  That's more realistic, but the kids that suffer missing you while you train don't get to participate in the culmination of your training.
4. The unexpected.  Wee Man has had some resurfacing of some of his health issues.  Nothing extreme, but we are looking into some possibilities for conditions he has that could have long term and costly ramifications.  Ironman's can wait, his health cannot.  Then, you add the wife and her foot into the picture.  Who knows if that ankle will hold up with work and life.  Lots of medical concerns running around our house.

Overall I'm confident I can complete a full IM race, but I struggle with the logistics, mainly the funding and especially if we find out our son needs a lot more medical intervention than thought.

I'm contemplating putting IM Louisville on MVT as a future event and hoping funding gets to a certain point before registration closes.
Something like $600 for registration, $300 for gas, $300 for 3 nights lodging and $200 for food, totalling $1400 at minimum.  Fellow IM finishers, does that sound reasonable?

The MVT project has been going well.  The Heartland 39.3 series is picking up partners, Ruckus came up quickly and I'm adding more events.  I'd like to get a race kit made and work in all partners while writing content for them and helping get the word out about them.

It's a lofty goal.  Any thoughts?  Sadly, I believe in myself enough that I can complete and compete in a full 140.6.  The reality is that we have had some tough financial times with medical situations.  I'm not complaining, to an extent.  We have jobs, we have health insurance and we live a nice life.  What sucks is when you want to do a couple things outside of "normal" and you don't have the funds.  Tough times call for creative measures!

What do you guys think out there?  I've shared my Examiner writing.  A lot of you have probably found me from EverymanTri.com.  And some have probably just stumbled on to my site surfing the web from work when you should be working.  =)

Nothing worse then putting it out there and having no interest.  But, you can always say, "nothing ventured, nothing gained

#coupons strike again!

This time I was on my own.

The wife set em up, and I knocked them down.

The mission was home supplies.  Toilet paper, soaps, deodorants and our new favorite, toothpaste.

We ended up with 106 items, and we shouldn't have any needs for deodorant or toilet paper for a year... an what's left will be donated to Operation Breakthrough.

I've bought in, but it can be time consuming,

Check out took some time as we tried to get everyone on board.  When we finally were on the same sheet of music, check out went smooth and I was out of there.  It's not one of our monster runs, but we had some things with the boy come up that didn't allow us to spend too much time on couponing this week.

Until next time!

Last week's grocery run

How in the world did my wife get $1,852 of stuff for $276?

Usually my posts are tied to the work of triathlon or some form of endurance sports.  How to train, how to race, how I did, what I'm doing and the fact I'm always thinking about the sport.

This post is dedicated to the family side of life.  I don't often get into the depths of the every day life, more rather how I try and balance the multisport lifestyle with life in general.

If you have read the blog for a while, you might gather that our family is pretty much textbook middle class.  We don't struggle, but if one of us is out of work, we would be in serious trouble.  We had some serious times with our second child being in the hospital and needing surgeries 5 times in 4 months.  We have also had hard times with Em having chronic foot problems and having 3 surgeries in 2011 alone.  I say that to relate how we came upon ways to save money at the store.  We are as smart with our money as possible but sometimes being smart just isn't enough.  Em has taken to a few ways to find deals on mostly food and every day house items.

Normally I wouldn't think anyone would want to hear about how we saved a sizable portion of money at the store last Friday night until I posted the picture on twitter of our carts and asked people to guess how much we were looking at spending.  I got more twitter traffic than in the previous year of being on twitter.  I guess money sparks peoples' interests!

To be honest I thought we would end up leaving a lot at the register as the "deals" my wife would try to use wouldn't work.  Well, we started shopping at 7pm and by the time we got home, unloaded (just put the fridge items up and left everything else in the bags in the floor) is was 12:30am.  We spent 5 and 1/2 hours shopping.

3 hours loading the carts.

2.5 hours checking out.

As the headline states, we got $1,852 of goods for $276 before taxes.  We saved $1,576.  Plain and simple.

We spent $300 including taxes for the entirety of two FULL carts.  No one guessed $300 on twitter but someone guessed $275.  Good work.

Just a sample of what we got:

• 50 bags of candy, each more than 10 ounces.  Not just the cheapo stuff, we're talking snickers, reeces peanut butter cups, skittles... the good stuff!
• 42 cans of Chunky soups
• 60 various brands of toothpaste
• 20 boxes of name brand cereals
• Aside from the samples above, we filled two carts over the top and the under cart rack as well.
• It covered my truck bed and filled the extended cab portion.

No, we are not hoarding.  We realize some of this stuff we will NEVER use all of and some would expire before we could realistically eat it (unless we are looking at clocking in at more than 300 pounds each).  We contribute a lot to Operation Breakthrough here in Kansas City.  http://www.operationbreakthrough.org/

They have a closet for toys for birthdays.  It was empty and kids cried when they had nothing until we stocked it with 20 plus board games we got a deal on.  Band aids, toothpaste, hamburger helper.  They said the kids were upset all they had was cereal every day for breakfast.  We found a deal and will be donating 15 to 20 boxes of Pillsbury toaster strudel.

It's a pretty cool feeling to contribute besides just forking over money (which we are limited on).  Through the deals my wife finds and spends a large amount of time on, we help our family and others.

Thanks for reading and just wanted to share how we make it work.

9/11 for a different reason

10 years ago today so many lost their lives and the day became synonymous with terrorism and sorrow.

Last year on 9/11 I saw a post or tweet or something somewhere on the web about how there is nothing good on 9/11 and that it was just a horrible day.

I beg to differ.

9 years after 9/11 in NY (1 year ago today), our second child, "Wee Man" was born.  If you have followed my blog since that date you will realize he came in with some severe health issues and spent the first 2 weeks of life in the NICU and we weren't sure he would make it out.

He spent the majority of his first 4 months of life in the hospital for issues if left unchecked, could threaten his life.  We were a wreck and our family was pushed to the brink.

Flash forward a year later and he is a HEALTHY 30 pound 1 year old today.  He is actually the size of a 2 year old but aside from a few surgery scares, you wouldn't think he had any issues.

We were so close to not having him and I for one could not imagine life without him.  Some days you aren't as thankful for what you have and then you reach days like today and with so many people lost and lives changed forever, you take stock.

Hopefully if 9/11 touched your family, you can take some solace in the fact that the day may have brought despair, but it also brought life and I'm sure will continue to bring life forever.

Happy birthday Wee Man.

Extended vacation

So, I had to take today off.

What did I do with all of this "free time" since I was not at work?

Cleaned up the water leak in my basement office.

It's been great!  NOT.  Replaced a part in the master toilet and I guess that dislodged something on the valve to the toilet so it had a nice steady drip for 2 days that I didn't notice.  Finally went in the office last night to notice a couple ceiling tiles soaked and the carpet we and a couple binders of stuff on shelves ruined.

AWESOME.

No training.  No fun.  Cleaning.

Hopefully your Friday is going better.

Maybe if it stops raining I can get a workout in outside.

Maybe...

SALES
Hydrapak Flash Sale - Up To 60% Below Retail On Hydration Packs & Bottles At TheClymb.com. Event Ends 8/15/2011 At 9AM PDT.

Tech4o SALE! Buy Now And Save Up To 51% On All Running Watches At LeftLane Sports! Event Ends 8/17

Get FREE 700ml Bottle with purchase of Soto Muka Stove

Feel better and save $10 off your IceWraps ice wraps and packs orders over $100 with code ICETEN today!

Thriv Flash Sale - Save Up To 60% On Performance Clothing At TheClymb.com. Event Ends 8/15/2011 At 9AM PDT.

Thriv Flash Sale - Save Up To 60% On Performance Clothing At TheClymb.com. Event Ends 8/15/2011 At 9AM PDT.

New Markdowns Up to 60% Off at SpeedoUSA.com!

Dude, really?

USB external hard drive.....?  CRASHED!  Just lost 6 months of data...spreadsheet updates, article docs, pictures... luckily I backed up back in November but time escaped and I had not updated in a long time.

If I want to pay $500 up front, I can MAYBE get SOME data back.

Lame.

So here I am.  I lost 6 months of training data, last six months of event details.  While it's not the end of the world, it was nice to be able to look back at historical data.  I'm not sure if I want to go back the backup and update to today.  Probably not for training since I stopped with daily mile a while back.  I have Garmin connect but it does not capture treadmill runs and swims.

What do you guys out there use online?  Training Peaks?  I'm tempted to go all to Garmin connect since you can download into a spreadsheet and look at what you want.  At least that way the data is still there if my files get lost again.

But I also kept stuff like spreadsheets on personal finances, my formulas for rating races, keeping track of Falkee Triathlon.  Gone.

But at the same time it's liberating like Fight Club. "Tell him. Tell him, The liberator who destroyed my property has realigned my perceptions."  I refuse to waste more time dealing with it by recreating past data.  I MIGHT do it for event results.  But then there's Athlinks that does it automatically.

I'm not sure what I will end up doing but I spent the morning trainer ride (morning t-storm forced me indoors) reading Chris McCormack's new book coming out next week.  Check EverymanTri.com for my review coming soon!

Time to stop moping and do something productive instead of trying to explore ways to save my data....

Sniff Sniff, Good Bye ZIPPS

Ebay auction over, wheels will hit the mail tomorrow. I hope they go to a good home. I'll miss them... moment of silence for the departed.
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OK, enough pity. Moving on. Looking forward to the weekend. Em will be home as opposed to working for various reasons and it'll be nice to get some errands in, kid play in, grocery run in, church and who knows what else! You don't really realize how much you missed goofing around doing stuff around the house with the wife when you go a few weekends without them. =)

Also, check out the new site layout! Old layout was getting stale, I thought. Looking to add some more sponsor and affiliate buttons to spruce it up! Let me know what you think (I'll take CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, so be nice).


TRAINING
I counted shoveling snow as lifting weights. I had to shovel twice as we got 13 inches in Olathe where I live. Plus the snow plow packs a nice dense snow at the end of the driveway when they clean the streets. Good times.

Cycling : 30 miles - another ride planned this weekend
Running : 6.5 miles - another run planned this weekend
Swimming : 4100 yards
Total Time : 6.5 hours - 3 hours of it was shoveling snow...arg


EXAMINER
Rock the Parkway offering training runs and discounts for charity fund raisers!

GIVEAWAY
Collecting some stuff this weekend, hopefully next week!  Stay tuned, tell your friends!


SUPER BOWL
Can I call it that with the NFL owning the rights to the name?  Who knows.  But, I'll be trying to watch while wrangling kiddos and I'm not sure who I want to win.  I think the Steelers will win b/c they have the better defense but Big Ben has just been so off the wall, not sure how I would feel with him having 3 SB rings.


Here's another text convo gone wrong.

Making It Work

Often as triathletes get more involved in their sport they add more to their plate.  If you're mid-20's and single, that's not a big deal.  Maybe it cuts into your happy hour time and hangover sleep-ins.  When you work and aren't attached, you have free time.

As you get a life essentially, getting married, having kids, buying a house, added responsibilities at work (maybe not in that order) you have less time to work with.

We often forgo sleep in order to "make room" to fit everything in.  Either work out in the AM before work or in the PM after the kids go to bed.

Then, add in today's technology - cell phones, blackberries, android apps, tv, movies, etc and poof, there goes the "free time".

I often see triathletes ask "where did the day go" or "I need more hours in the day".  I don't think they are going to mess with the calendar any time soon to add hours to the day.  It'd be nice, though.

So what are you to do?

I was approaching this issue as well.  At first, it was me, my house, work, triathlon, my 2 labs and extended family.  Pretty cut and dry.  My time I did what I want/needed and had it balanced.

Fast forward to today, house, work, 2 cars, the Wife - E, toddler R2, infant WeeMan, 3 dogs, triathlon, wife's work, wife's extended family, my extended family.... and I'm sure there's more.  Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not bitching about how I don't have time to do what I want.  For the most part we have a decent plan going as long as WeeMan stays out of the hospital (which has has for 3 WHOLE WEEKS and is doing a LOT better!!!!).  But, we were bursting at the seems with not enough time.

We attended church a few weeks ago and they have started a new series on balancing life.  It struck home as E was shooting me looks through the whole thing as if to say "are you hearing all of this???" as sweetly as she could.

I heard it.  Maybe didn't like some of it, but I heard it.

Reduction #1, we had to find a new home for Patches the weiner dog.  If you have read for a while, we got him back in March, he got thumped by RJ for eating his food and just hasn't really fit in overall.  Luckily he was cute enough that finding a new loving home took a total of 1 hour at my work.  He's going to get a lot more attention than we can give him right now.  It worked out for everyone.

Moral of the story is, if you think "I need more hours in the day", it isn't going to happen.  You need to find reductions in life to carve out more time to devote to what really matters.

School's out! Snow day!

Well, school may be out but work is not.

Here's my Good, Bad and Indifferent for our latest blast of 6 inches of snow here in Kansas City.

Bad
 - 25 minute commute home took 1 hour and 30 minutes and that was leaving work early.
 - New rules of the road apply - two lanes become one lane, stop signs and stop lights no longer apply
 - Wiener dog has to pee on deck since he's too short to go in the yard, or he won't go and holds it until he gets inside, stinker.
 - Didn't get firewood inside and it's all covered in snow and wet...

Indifferent
 - Shoveling driveway at 4:30am since that's when the snow stopped - it was cold but good cardio
 - Hybrids and little fuel efficient cars - ya, they may get 50 miles to the gallon, but since you spin your wheels through the snow, that's just enough to get you home before spending a tank full of gas.  Props for being green, but minus for no traction in bad weather.
 - Love to see 6 inches of snow on the ground, ok about shoveling it, not cool to drive to or from work in.
 - Left work early.  I have enough to do and needed to keep working, but it's nice to change it up a bit and get out early, but spent the extra time in traffic.
 - Snow for the kids to play in, but highs in the teens only - way too cold for kids to be outside.

Good
 - Olathe has improved their plowing plan and the plow hit my road at 5am, when in the past it had been a day or two before they got to my street - props to Olathe
 - The gym was ALL MINE!  4 runners on the treadmill, 2 weight lifters and one other swimmer.  I had access to anything I wanted to work on!
 - Since I left early for a morning swim, traffic was smooth and the highway was well plowed - bravo KDOT
 - FINALLY had date night with E (the wife) and NO ONE was out!  No traffic!  We had the dining area of Old Chicago all to ourselves for like an hour.  It was great!

I'd have pictures but my phone early this morning while I was shoveling snow and I didn't have time to charge it before getting to work.

Hope everyone else fairs well in the latest winter weather!

Snow-namee 2011

Weather Channel is blowing up with alerts about the snow coming in tomorrow.  Possible 5 to 7 inches of snow!  Better get to the store and stock up, right?  Alert level Red!  Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!

Ok, maybe a little overboard but news picks this up and KC shuts down.  They cancelled some schools today because it misted yesterday and got to freezing by morning... causing SOME slick spots... SOME.  I'm sure all schools will be cancelled on the threat of snow.

Wimps.


TRAINING
2 days of getting up early enough for the gym.  Woo hoo.  The snow tomorrow isn't suppose to hit until afternoon so not enough motivation to get in early.  Still plan to ride and swim in the AM.

So far this week:
20 miles cycling
6 miles running
3500 yards swimming

Going the right direction.

But, I do notice I'm a bit pasty and pale these days.  I think the past 3 weeks have all been indoor training.  Blek.  I need the outdoors asap!


SPORTS
Anyone else see that KU basketball game last night?  They killed Baylor when everyone was thinking KU was due for a loss.  Ya, keep thinking that.


SURVEY
So, I shave my chest and back for tri season.... should I shave my legs?  I NEVER have and not sure if it's really a necessity.  Just seeing what everyone else does out there.

Cover your wallet

So yesterday while looking through the old credit card statement, I noticed a suspect charge.

I didn't do it.

My wife didn't do it.

I'm pretty sure my 2 year old and 4 month old didn't do it.

CERTAIN the dogs didn't do it.

Called up where the charge was from.  Order was placed over the phone, picked up and no one signed for it.  Another credit card loophole found.  You don't need a skimmer or any email hacking skills to do this trick.  Just get the card while someone isn't looking, call something in and put the card back.  No one is the wiser and what makes it even more slick is that it's a local charge.  It didn't stand out from the other KS charges.

I won't bore everyone with the details of how exactly it was done, but it was slick and probably someone we casually know from a work environment.  Lunch was on us for a day.

I'm sure ALL of you check your bills religiously every month, right?

If you don't, better start.


TRAINING
Back it at with a BRIK this morning.  15 miles on the trainer and 2 on the treadmill.  Would have been more if not for the NyQuil haze keeping me snoozing this morning.
Workouts 1, Colds 0 - for today

And we're off!

2011 is stomping right along.

First event up, Groundhog Run Jan 30th.  It's hosted in some underground caves used for storage here in KC.  Nice and warm until you run past the dumpsters they forgot to clean out for the weekend.


TRAINING
The Groundhog Race is usually my 10k PR race.  I don't run many 10k's or shorter so this is one of the few opportunities to PR.  Hoping sub 48, 45 would be cool.  I'm not sure what to expect.  I have succeeded in staying around 180 over the winter when in the past I get to 185 or 190.  From 2010 I've learned how much dropping weight really affects my race.  So, now's the time to start ditching Christmas cookies and sticking to the slimfast lunch plan.  Don't tell me wife but I'd like to race around 170...

I do have to give the new year resolution crowd props this morning.  The gym was not as insane as I was expecting.
Treadmill runners, score 1
Swimmers, score 1
24 Fitness, score -6 since that was how many treadmills were down.  Ya, probably the biggest workout week of the year and they can't seem to fix treadmills that have been out since last week.  Not impressed here people... as Chris Berman would say, C'MON MAN.


EXAMINER
Tips for Beginner Triathletes
Ironman isn't the only well organized 140.6 mile events
Lance Armstrong delays Triathlon Comeback


FALKEE TRIATHLON
Dec 26th has come and gone, and with is was the deadline for athletes to apply.  I have 60+ applicants for the team so hopefully I get some time to whittle it down so people can get on and take advantage of the sponsors before the season.


FAMILY
Family is doing decent after an abysmal Christmas.  Saw some old friends over New Years and Liam has been at home since Christmas from the hospital.  He's still not 100% and has a minor procedure tomorrow for a feeding tube placement that should hopefully give him some relief with his reflux.  We're trying to get into a pattern and family life but it's always looming that Liam could take a turn or need more hospitalization.  Don't want to jinx us.


CHIEFS
Got a rare treat to go to a Chiefs game yesterday.  The experience was great tailgating with familiar faces and made up for the fact the Chiefs didn't really show up.  Lost 31-10 to the Raiders.  They were in the playoffs no matter what but man, you would think they would want a last complete game before heading in since 2003.  Not so much.  But it was nice getting a game in this season.  As my two year old daughter would say, Go Chieps!

Christmas Cards Are a New Endurance Event

Over the years the Christmas card list has grown and grown.  I think we have like 25 or 30 people.  Card, Christmas letter, stuff in envelope, seal, address, stamp and mail... 30 times.  I need to train for this next year.  And, there's nothing like mailing them out 3 days before Christmas.  It's the thought that counts?


TRAINING
Good start this week.  I'm not sure what the rest of the week will bring but I did get the go-ahead for running the Operation Jack satellite run Sunday morning.  If you are doing a long run, consider signing up and helping a good cause!

That would take care of the 3rd run for the week, already have 2 rides... need another ride and swim at some point with 2 days to work with that I don't have to go to work on!  Should be a slam dunk.

32.7 miles biking
7.45 miles running
3500 yards swimming

Since everyone else was posting year end totals, I'm looking at:
2530.5 miles biking
705.6 miles running
329,165 yards swimming, 187 miles --> upped that to focus on the weakest event


EXAMINER / CHIEFS
Caught wind of EveryManTri article talking about NFL QB's wearing wetsuits to play in the cold.  Matt Cassel from the Chiefs was mentioned!  Way to go, appendixless Matt!


FALKEE TRIATHLON
Dec 26th is the deadline for athletes to submit a request to join.  50+ people have sent me a note so that's encouraging!  Hopefully I can get people picked by the new year and hook them up with the sponsors.


FANTASY FOOTBALL
I'm sweatin my games for 3rd and 1st in my two leagues I'm still alive.  I keep flip-flopping who to start.  Chad Ochocinco or Fred Jackson for a flex position?  Will Ronnie Brown with the Colts show up like last week??  AHHH!!!!!


Sign up for the Falkee newsletter and get the inside scoop!  Anyone that signs up will get a code for XTERRA trail shoes discount and Jelly Belly jelly beans discount!  AND... wait for it... I'll resend the December 2010 newsletter to you so you don't feel left out!  =)

Hump Day

Wednesday has a new meaning for hump day.

Our 3 month old son, Liam, has been battling issues with his health ever since birth.  This has culminated in a double whammy surgery today to knock out two issues.  We tried using medications and other means to control his issues, but he proved that he wasn't going with that plan.

So hopefully today is his hump day and it's smooth sailing after today.  He went through the procedures with no problems and we await to see how recovery will go at the hospital and at home.


TRAINING
With family issues going on, I've been limiting myself to mornings only on the treadmill or trainer, saving lunches and after work for hospital visits and tending to the family.

If I was better about getting up on time, I'd have more done in the week.  =)  Dang snooze button.  Gets me all the time and when it's 19 degrees outside, those covers are extra warm!


EXAMINER
Garmin 310XT Article
Kansas City Events



EVERYMAN TRI
Ironman Needs Revamping


FAMILY
Like I wrote above, kiddo had more surgery but the outlook is good so far!


FANTASY FOOTBALL
Yahoo League 1 - Went 6-7, missed playoffs.... Peyton did not pay off.
Yahoo League 2 - Went 9-3, 3 seed in playoffs.
CBS League - Went 7-6, 4 seed in playoffs.
Big weekend coming up!


That's all for now, short and sweet.  Need to get back to the family.  Thank you all for the well wishes and prayers, they have done the trick thus far!  Keep em coming!

Made it up this morning!

So I actually got out of bed on time this morning for my trainer ride.
Yeah getting morning workout in.
Boo for having to ride inside on a trainer.
Boo for 17 degree mornings and no snow to show for it.  Either snow and 17 degrees, or sunny and 75.  Pick one, mother nature!

TRAINING
31.75 miles cycling
17.43 miles running
6500 yard swimming
7.4 hours
I got in a nice 9 miler Saturday (brrrrrrr) and rest was on tap for the weekend minus the soccer game Sunday.  It's nice cross training and I think my abdominal injury from last year has heeled up as I don't have pain the day after soccer these days!  Yeah for not being too old to play!

We are looking at 40+ degrees here in KC towards Wed, Thur and Friday.  Hoping to get some bike rides and runs outside over lunch!

FAMILY / LIFE
It's not really family per say, but I just got wind that KDOT is looking to redesign a major highway interchange that I drive daily.  As it stands right now, as long as I get out on the road by 7am, it's a smooth 15 minute drive.  Past 7, it turns into 30 minutes.

When I come home, from 4pm to 6pm it's like a parking lot.  30 minutes easy.  45 on a bad day.

So if they fix it, that saves 15 minutes each way, 30 minutes a day, 2.5 hours a week!  Think what training I could do with that extra 2.5 hours!!!!!!!  Ok ok, MAYBE I'll use it to hang out with the family more.  =)  Kidding!  But it would make life a little nicer not to waste 2.5 hours a week sitting in my car.  Spending time with the Fam or working out would be an upgrade over car time.

What vacation?

So with the wife working 3 of the 4 holiday weekend days, I was on kid patrol for 3 days I had off.  So, in reality I didn't get those days off.  So no training, nothing done around the house... other than dirty diapers, potty training, feedings, and food preparation.  I did get a break Sunday when some family watched them for a couple hours... but that only got me enough time to pay the bills.  Woo hoo!


TRAINING
Right now it's a squeeze to get it in.  With Emily working a lot of weekends, I have to get the long rides and runs during the week.  Week nights I mostly head home and help with kid duty, and lunch isn't enough time for a long workout, and that leaves the morning.  Add in some COLD temps lately and nothing but darkness, and it's a tough call.

Got in close to 7 hours last week.  I had to skip a medium run and do my threshold within my long run.  That went well and I actually felt a nice burn afterwards.

It's also rough moving indoor for trainer rides.  Hopefully this week will give me some lunches in the 50's for outside rides!

35 miles riding
13.35 miles running
4000 yards swimming
95 minutes weight lifting

Kind of off my goal but you take what you can get with a new baby!


EXAMINER
Early Bird Pricing for Some KC Events


EVERYMAN TRI
Running At Night Run-Ins - Lack of Holiday Cheer
Top 10 Night Running Tips


FALKEE TRIATHLON
Adding some more sponsors!  Stay tuned for details on them and I got a great response from Slowtwitch from athletes wanting to join up!  The ball is rolling!


FAMILY
Liam is doing good.  He has been at home for more than a week and we intend to keep it that way unless he gets worse.  He's not where we want him to be but he only needs meds and no mechanical intervention.  All I have to say is when you take anyone to the hospital, watch the staff like a hawk!  I have never experienced so many nurses and doctors bent on doing stuff you ask them not to do.  We got backed into a corner to do some stuff we did not want and it made him worse.  If you can, have someone stay with the patient at all times!

Looking forward to Christmas and Santa.  Although, Riah wasn't really all that excited to see him Friday if we go.  I told Emily that we should just take her gifts back if she doesn't really care.  =)


FANTASY FOOTBALL
Another 3-0 weekend!
I'm now 8-4, 6-6, 7-5.  I'm clinched in the playoffs in one league, fringe for the 6-6 and need to get one more win for the 7-5.

The key I have found is staying on top of free agents.  My drafted players have tanked for the most part and the randoms I have added here and there have carried me.  Peyton Hillis for your Browns peeps is the man!  Carrying me in two leagues.

I also use the yahoo player analysis to judge my starters.  I'd say 75% yahoo and 25% feel for deciding who to play.  Works so far!

Rolling into the Holidays!

So does everyone notice the earlier and earlier start of Christmas?  Halloween is an afterthought these days.  September marked the appearance of Christmas decorations at my local Target store.  2 weeks ago people on my street started putting up lights... and turning them on at night.  Thanksgiving hasn't even happened yet!?  Wow.  I sort of gave in.  Trying to get the lights up before we head for a cold spell, I started last night.  Half done.  Half baked... however you want to look at it.

I did head out for a sale at Toys R Us that was across the street from one of our large malls.  The traffic was insane.  Here's a phone that doesn't do it justice.  Traffic was backed up 2 miles onto the highway for the exit to the mall.  Ridiculous.  I stay online for my shopping.

TRAINING

Got in 7 hours last week.  Only got in one swim which isn't my plan.  I still would like 2 to 3 swims a week.  As usual, matters on the home front rendered me out of commission to swim over lunch.  More on that later.

And... trainer season is in full effect.  It is encouraging that my speed is up from last year.  Of course, I have been able to stay outside longer this year so I'm sure that helps with cycling legs.  Hoping to get out over a lunch this week before we hit below 20 at night around these parts.

I'm still shooting for 3 runs a week.  Short - fast tempo, medium with threshold sprints and a long slow/medium tempo run.  So far so good.  Pace is still up but the cold morning temps dip into my energy stores and take a little out of me.

EXAMINER

Thanks for Thanksgiving
Bike Crank Recall


FALKEETRIATHLON
New sponsor added!  Grease Monkey Wipes!  I'm looking forward to ordering some and trying them out at home.  If nothing else, they have a sweet logo!  50% off to FalkeeTriathlon Athletes - looking to add more athletes by the way.

To celebrate, check out their latest sale!

** NOTICE ** - I have added an email list to the right below my profile.  If you would like to get in on a monthly email newsletter or notice when a deal comes along from a sponsor or affiliate like Grease Monkey Wipes, sign up.  I create the emails so I will not litter it with links and ads (I'm not sure how many ads Bravenet puts in the email automatically).  Sign up, and you get an email from me!  How sweet is that?  More personal communication from ME!  How can you ask for more????  You can't!  Sign up!


FAMILY
Liam... oh Liam.  Back in the hospital AGAIN last Friday through Sunday.  It's hard to get a life again or have anything resembling a schedule with Liam having his issues.  We took him in for one thing and they kept him for another, making him worse.  We got him to a point they would let us go and unless it's an emergency, we are not going back.  Hospitals are good and all, but sometimes they do more harm than good.


FANTASY FOOTBALL
Peyton Manning showed up!  Thanks to the Patriots for pasting 21 on the Colts early to make them stop running.

I went 3-0 for the weekend for all of my leagues and two I'm sitting good for the playoffs.  One of my yahoo leagues I'm going to need to keep winning and I'll need some help to make the playoffs.  At least it pays for high score for the week that I have won a few times, almost covering entry fee.

Stay tuned for a review of The-Regimen!

Is it Friday yet?

This has been the longest week.  Maybe it's the kids getting up at all hours, maybe it's daylight savings time, maybe it's trying to fit a full week of training into 5 days... or maybe it's just a long week??


TRAINING
I actually got up to get 27 miles in on the bike this morning.  This could be the end of temps being acceptable (above 40) enough to ride during the morning.  I tried working some sprints on a road I know well so speeding in the dark wouldn't be as daunting.  It was a little depressed to see the average speed was sad and slow.  If I didn't know better, I'd say I have lost some speed, which sucks.  Maybe it's working out in the cold, maybe it's being tired.

It's always interesting to look at the Garmin mapping to look at the sprint sections.  You can see my one street I rode and the speed up for sprint and slow down for recovery back to the other end.

EXAMINER.COM
Kansas City Events This Weekend


EVERYMANTRI.COM
Endurance Athletes : Get Organized and Get Fast


FALKEE TRIATHLON
In addition to adding sponsors, I have added a new athlete!  Welcome Gregg Pellicone from Indy.  Check out his blog at www.conepile.blogspot.com!

I am looking to add more athletes and sponsors by the end of the year!  If you know anyone interested than pass the info along!

Also, here's me with the Monk Pak!  Stupendous, right?

FAMILY
Seems the consensus on the toddler that refuses to sleep all night is to tough it out.  No one had a miracle cure.  Thanks for all of the responses.  Sadly, they all were the same answer.  Time.  Argh.

Little man is on soy milk now.  He seems to be doing better and hopefully the little ear infection and lung virus the Dr said he might have won't give him much trouble.  He can't win for losing.  At least we are another week without a hospital visit!  And, he's officially 1 month old.  Feels like he should be 21 which how much we have crammed in with him.


FANTASY FOOTBALL
For those of you keeping score, I'm 14-13 after 9 weeks.

YAHOO League 1 : 6-3 Had a good showing from C Bensen from the Bungels and got me a nice win.  San Diego's Rivers is on a bye so I'm stretching with starting Vince Young.  Throw the ball to Randy Moss early and often!

YAHOO League 2 : 4-5 I managed to eek out a win and stay first in my division with a losing record.  That's probably the only way I will make the playoffs... if my division keeps sucking!

CBS : 4-5  Not going good.  Another lousy week.  I need some running backs and Shonne Green has been a bust with the Jets!  C'mon man!

If there's enough interest, I might start up a Blogger / Twitter league for online bragging rights.  You can never play too much FFB!!!

Wednesday Hump Day

Some weeks just seem to grind and blend into all of the other weeks.  Non-sleeping kids on the home front also add to the GRIND part of that.

TRAINING
Getting it done.  I'm adding more speed work (threshold runs, swim sprints) to get faster during the non-race season.  I don't call it off-season because I realized 2 years ago if you have an "off-season" and just putz around and you want to have goals that surpass last year, you need to be running, swimming and biking year round.  I have an Examiner article below where I spoke on that a little bit.

I've been cramming lunch rides in to take advantage of the weather around here.  It's not too long before we'll be looking at 20's for the high so when it's 70's in mid-November, I'm out there when I can be!

The wife is also working this weekend so I can't really get any distance in this weekend to I'm trying to get it all in during the week and use the weekend for recovery.  I'll let you know how that goes.  =)

EXAMINER
Article on Active.com take on speed training.
Edison Pena (trapped Chilean Miner) finishes NYC Marathon, barely.

EVERYMANTRI.COM
Edison Pena finishes NYC Marathon

FALKEE TRIATHLON
New Sponsor!  Rudy Project has been added to the list!  Some athletes have shown interest in joining so get in while the getting is good!



FAMILY
Liam is still hospital free.  He went in to the ENT and they think MAYBE he will need another surgery for his throat.  We are trying some different formulas and inhalers to avoid that, but at this point it would not surprise me.  That boy loves the hospital gig.

And now kiddo #1 is waking up non-stop at night.  She was up from 1am to 3am and I cover her while Mom covers Liam.  She used to sleep all night with no problem and now needs the door open and a hallway bathroom light on.  Anyone else have this problem?  Solutions?



Feed a Cold, Starve the Flu?

So, I've been under the weather since Friday.  Kiddo #1 picked up something from the petri dish, I mean daycare and shared.  It happens.

So I've got sniffles, snot, cough and my voice cracks like I'm 14 again.  So I'm going to head home, hide under the covers, take some cold medicine and sleep it off...

YA RIGHT.

Forget that.  Swim/lift over lunch and looking for some mountain biking and trail running after work!  YA BABY!  Sounds smart to me.

Latest Examiner Edition
Handful of IM 70.3 events opened up and Midwest Triathlon Series Early Bird Opens Up

Don't play too hard out there!