Aloha

I have made it!  The trip was for the most part uneventful, only my flight from Honolulu to Hilo was delayed.  But even that was only by 20 minutes.  Apparently I have not yet adjusted to my new found time zone as I woke up at 4 a.m. local time this morning.  It has been raining nearly 2 inches a day here, so the sky is staying mostly cloudy.  Not sure what is on the agenda for today, but think it will be a fairly calm day.

Crawling Back

Today I finally got back out and took a little ride on the bike. As I hadn’t a clue as to how my body would respond, I decided I would just go down to The Veloway to do some loops. (Yeah, hoping on the trainer would have been easier, but I have spent enough time in front of my TV lately.) I was actually very surprised how I felt on the bike! It went great and I actually felt like I could manage speeds close to what I had been riding before the pericarditis flared up - the hard part was not pushing it hard or heading out on MoPac for a little more of a real ride. Well, I did really push the fifth lap. But, it felt great and my heart responded just like it should. In the end I did nine loops and with the little ride to and from my car, managed nineteen miles in a little over an hour. Hopefully this means that I am back. Tomorrow I am going to ride with my friend Rob and perhaps even do a little run afterwards. We shall see.

After my bike ride, I made it home just in time to catch the start of the Ironman World Championship, Kona. One would think that watching the live web broadcast of an entire Ironman race would be something that you might check in on every once in a while, but certainly not a “just plop your ass down on the couch and hardly budge” type of event. Nope. I was enthralled. I watched it for nine hours. Now I want to qualify for the race more than ever. Watching the pros rip through one hundred twelve miles on the bike in four and a half hours and then set off at sub six minute mile pace for the marathon is just insane! I know that I will never be able to post those type of numbers…

Now for a little non-triathlon soap boxing – politics have become absurd! It is not my intention to make this a political blog or even discuss it here, but after a really good conversation with Claire earlier this week, I feel obliged to share this with you all. Chances are that you are amused or annoyed by some political sub-party that is making the news these days. Perhaps it is the new Occupy (place your location here) rallies going on or the Tea Party, but you probably have some strong reaction to them both. Everyone wishes that their politicians listened to them and would stop pandering to lobbyists and special interest groups (except for the ones we agree with, of course). The solution is really quite simple – vote! Voter turnout in federal elections over is low. Politicians cater to the people that actually vote, and by and large, the moderate middle is not very reliable at making it to the polls. But the overly vocal minority shows up in droves if you poke them the right way. I started this blog in part to focus on the things that we share. I truly believe that most people want largely similar things in life, and that we are not as polarly opposed to each other as the political environment would suggest. Typically only half of registered voters vote in presidential elections and even less in other national elections. If we all showed up to vote, I think we would find that the world at large, is not as extreme as it seems now.

OK. That is all for now. Run friendly! -T

Can I get some cheese with this?

Forewarning – This is going to be a whiney entry. Naturally, shortly after I write a post about getting back to serious training, I come down with another bout of pericarditis. Luckily this bout has not come with the large amounts of chest pain that some of the previous ones did. Perhaps the Celebrex that I have been on has kept the pain away. What it has brought is exhaustion and frustration. Though, I have watched a ton of Angel and Psych. The most frustrating part is that if I lie down and not really move around a whole lot, I feel more or less OK. But, if I move around, at all, I quickly start to lose all of my energy. I have been going through this for about a week now and it seems to be getting a little bit better. But, even with that, I was only able to last a little over 4 hours at work today. After I came home and crashed out on the couch for a couple of hours, I feel more or less OK. Then, 30 minutes in the kitchen wipes me out again. Tomorrow morning I’ll see the cardiologist so I’ll hopefully get a better idea of what I need to be doing from here. My plan is to try to bounce back to full blown training faster this time than I have in the past. Before, I would always start back to training very slowly. While that might sound like the most logical approach, it takes me out of training for over a month and, well, it doesn’t seem to be keeping the flare ups from happening again. We shall see. Sorry for the rambling post, just needed to babble on a little bit. Until next time, run friendly!

I'm back...I hope.

Hello Reader! Well, this has been a crazy year to say the least, but one that I have learned a lot about myself for sure. It is interesting how you usually look back on some of your toughest times as some of the most important of your life. For me, the first half of this year is certainly starting to look like that. I have had two major pericarditis flare-ups, several minor ones, and some possible near flare-ups as well. As a result, I have not done any triathlon races this year and have been forced to just write the year off. But through all of this time off, I have learned how much I truly love triathlon – especially the training. I have not had any health problems since May and have been able to slowly build the training back up and now hope to do a few road and trail races by the end of the year, including my first half marathon! (No, I don’t count my two 70.3 events as a half marathon.) Perhaps it was the heat, and perhaps it was the fear of another pericarditis episode that kept me from really pushing myself this summer, but I am now finally at a point where I am craving those insanely difficult workouts that make you feel like throwing up. (I never claimed to be normal.) So, for the rest of the year I am planning on running the IBM 10k, San Antonio Half, and hopefully the Rogue FatAss Trail series. Next year, I will look to get back into triathlon and working on my ultimate goal of trying to qualify for Kona*. The plan is to race several 70.3 events throughout the year and see where I am at the end of that. That’s about all for now. In the meantime, run friendly! *Just for clarification, I have no idea if qualifying for Kona is a realistic goal or not. I have never done an Ironman and have no idea if I could get close to breaking 10 hours even with diligent training. My goal is to simply go through all the steps and put in the work to see if I can – the goal is the journey.

Time to Reevalulate

This past weekend I rode a pretty hard 40+ miles. It felt great to really push hard and try to keep up with Glenda and Nails. Well, they dropped me, but were kind enough to come back for me. And now, a couple of days later, I have what seems to be another flare up of pericarditis.

None of the doctors said that they think there is a correlation between strenuous exercise, but it seems that for me there is a pretty direct correlation. But, I seem to be able to push myself fairly hard while running and it not come back to hurt me. Part of me thinks that it is that I have a much stronger base in running than I do in biking and swimming. But, this is my third year of doing triathlon training and the flare ups have been becoming more frequent. So the denial side of me wants to believe that it is happening independent of my training. Sadly, I think I have been listening to the denial side a bit too much lately.

So, can I try to slowly build up a solid base in the swim and bike and hope that doesn’t cause any more problems? Or will that just lead to more flare ups and more time off from work. Or do I just walk away from training and start doing a little running, biking, and swimming to just stay in shape? Will that even keep the flare ups from happening? And what do I do if the flare ups keep happening even when I stop training? Do I go back to training?

Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! -T

Race Reports and Updates

Since getting the all clear from the doc, I have raced two trail races and slowly ramped up the triathlon training. Well, technically one of the races I didn't truly race and it was a couple of days before the doc cleared me. Oh well.

It has felt great to get back to running and training. My first race back, The Maze, was a 10k trail race held by Rogue Running. I did not race the race as many people might assume. I did push myself though and made it about a 70% effort run. The second race was The Loop, the second part of Rogue's trail series. This one I did race. The first thing I noticed is that I have lost a lot of my speed. I tried to stick with the leaders right off the start line, but I just couldn't run that fast. But, after things settled down and people found their rhythm, I could certainly hang with them. I know the speed will come back before too long, but it is going to take some work.

The tri training is coming along. Well, except that my bike frame got cracked. But Masi is shipping out a new one today or tomorrow! Every sport is a little rusty right now, but I have been surprised that it all seems to be in better shape this year than when I started up again last year. Fingers crossed that it continues on in this pattern.

One of my good friends and fellow vegetarian/vegan athletes has started up his own blog. He will probably be a much more prolific writer than I am. So go check it out. The No Meat Geek. Good stuff.

Until next time, run friendly! -T

I'm back!

Well, it seems that with a new drug, Celebrex - the arthritis med, I have been showing great recovery and the doctor has given me the clear to go back to training. I meet with Panther next week to determine what it is that will entail. But I'll go through some of my thoughts on it.

One of my goals for this year was to do an ironman so that I could say I did it before I turned 30. While I could still probably get there, it wouldn't be pretty, and it certainly wouldn't be a race that I would be proud of. So that is on the shelf for the time being. Instead, I figure I will try to use those fast twitch muscles while I still have them and focus on 5ks, 10ks, sprint, and olympic tris. We shall see.

I don't know how all of this will work yet, but I am excited about it. With all the training, I am going to still try to find more of a balance in my life this season though. I don't have the passion for golf that I once did, and it certainly does not compete with running and triathlon, but I don't want to get as far away from it as I have the past two years. Also, I want to try to make more time for my friends that don't do the crazy training gig. Again, how this will all work out, I don't know. But I am going to give it the ole college tri. (Yeah, that was bad, I know.)

OK. That's all for now. Y'all run friendly! -T

Perspective

"Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile." -Albert Einstein
"A life not lived for others is not a life." -Mother Teresa

A couple of weeks ago saw me turn another year older. I still cannot believe how many people wished me a happy birthday. It really meant a lot to me and has really made me think about the quotes above. The fulfillment you can get from making someone else feel good is far more rewarding than anything we do solely for ourselves.

Well, I said that I might try to post a little more frequently now that my life is not consumed with triathlon training. One thing that I have certainly had more time to do lately is think. Sadly I haven't been able to find the same type of clarity that can come from a 2 hour long run, but I have been able to start running with my trail group a little. That is a god-send. I wish I could do more and train harder, but at least it is running.

Recently, I have been pondering my love of comedies. Or more specifically, my lack of desire to read or watch dark books and movies. Every time I look at the news there are plenty of stories of human suffering and loss that when I watch a movie or read a book, I don't want to feel that anymore.

On a different note - I am back to working at the golf course and have started playing a bit more golf. I am still a long way from where I was, but it is coming back. In many ways, I probably have a lot more potential as a golfer than I do a runner or triathlete, but I do miss training incredibly. Oh well! I guess I will just have to take that intensity to golf.

In the mean time; run friendly! -T

A wave goodbye...for now

After my first half ironman in November of 2009 I came down with
pericarditis. Essentially the lining of my heart gets inflamed and it
makes everything much more laborious. Since then it has come back a
few times an lately it has become more frequent and the attacks more
painful. There is no evidence that says intensive exercise causes the
flare ups, but it cannot be ruled out. So, my doctor and I have
decided to take a year off from triathlon and intensive running.

I have no intentions of completely giving up running, but I don't yet
know how much I will be allowed to do. Luckily I have golf that I can
fall back on as something to fill my time. While I am home I can get
pretty excited about golf. And when I am on the course, all the more.
But right now, I am writing this from a log on the side of the Barton
Creek Greenbelt Trail. Watching the trail runners go by is killing me.
Especially as I stare at my trail shoes not being able to do more than
walk. We shall see how this all goes.

I'll try to post more as I apparently will have more time to write.
So, this is goodbye for now to training. But also a timid hello to
whatever awaits around the corner. Run friendly!