Welcome Class of 2012

A friend of mine asked me the other day if he was getting old. After spending a large portion of Saturday in the hot sun, getting up at 4 a.m. to spend Sunday morning out in the sun again, as well as doing some swimming and biking; he was a bit dismayed that he could only make it through 3 innings of a baseball game Sunday evening and was heading for home around 7:30 p.m. Since we are about the same age (I'm 8 months younger, though) I'm supposed to have an answer. Actually everyone knows how I feel about age - we're not getting older, we're getting better. As Dara Torres stated "Age is just a number". Since she just won her first ever individual Olympic silver medal at age 41, and she's bigger and stronger than me, I'm not going to argue with her.

I will freely admit that there are times when I do feel my aging a bit - the realization that I am the same age or older as the parents of many of my summer camp kids including the ones in middle school, my approaching 20 year high school reunion, my niece Emily, who was born when I was 23, starting high school in a few days. These things occasionally cause me to feel my aging. Of course, as long as I continue to get the response "No way!" when people find out how old I am, what does it really matter?

Anyway, since the subject of aging came up, I thought I would aid my friend in feeling old. As college campuses around the country prepare for the start of the fall semester, they also prepare to welcome a new batch of freshman. I thought I would share the Beloit College Mindset List with you. The following paragraphs are from the Beloit College Website. Due to it's length, I put the list into a slideshow below. The list in text form can be viewed here.

This month, almost 2 million first-year students will head off to college campuses around the country. Most of them will be about 18 years old, born in 1990 when headlines sounded oddly familiar to those of today: Rising fuel costs were causing airlines to cut staff and flight schedules; Big Three car companies were facing declining sales and profits; and a president named Bush was increasing the number of troops in the Middle East in the hopes of securing peace. However, the mindset of this new generation of college students is quite different from that of the faculty about to prepare them to become the leaders of tomorrow.

Each August for the past 11 years, Beloit College in Beloit, Wis., has released the Beloit College Mindset List. It provides a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college. It is the creation of Beloit’s Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride and Public Affairs Director Ron Nief. The List is shared with faculty and with thousands who request it each year as the school year begins, as a reminder of the rapidly changing frame of reference for this new generation.

The class of 2012 has grown up in an era where computers and rapid communication are the norm, and colleges no longer trumpet the fact that residence halls are “wired” and equipped with the latest hardware. These students will hardly recognize the availability of telephones in their rooms since they have seldom utilized landlines during their adolescence. They will continue to live on their cell phones and communicate via texting. Roommates, few of whom have ever shared a bedroom, have already checked out each other on Facebook where they have shared their most personal thoughts with the whole world.

It is a multicultural, politically correct and “green” generation that has hardly noticed the threats to their privacy and has never feared the Russians and the Warsaw Pact.

Students entering college for the first time this fall were generally born in 1990.

For these students, Sammy Davis Jr., Jim Henson, Ryan White, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Freddy Krueger have always been dead.

I guess everyone is thirsty.....or something

On my Monday evening visit to the grocery store, this was the sight that greeted me as I walked down the beverage aisle. I know it's summertime, but isn't this a little ridiculous? Just kidding! In case you haven't been paying attention - the Olympics are on after all - there is a tropical storm or something heading our way. I think they are calling it Fay? Brian and I keep yelling every time they interrupt the Olympics for a weather update. We have our priorities straight. The Olympics only happens every four years; we'll probably get another storm next week.

Seriously, we have been paying attention, and we are mildly prepared - it's only a tropical storm after all, and we do live in the middle of town less than a mile from numerous restaurants, grocery stores, schools, churches - our gym is going to be open as a shelter if necessary We always have plenty of food, candles, batteries for the flashlights, etc. Worst case scenario, I probably have enough energy bars and gels, protein bars, clif bars, luna bars, etc. for us to live off for at least a week. I knew that Ironman training would come in handy. The car is fueled up, the cell phones are charged - and can always be charged via the car. One thing I didn't do was buy extra water. Now for those of you that are concerned that I am tempting fate, I'm really not. I don't usually buy extra water, we fill up the 2 gallon Brita and that's about it. Recently, I found out that not having water is probably the least thing people in Gainesville need to worry about. Let me explain.

The last week of summer camp, we took the campers on a tour of the drinking water treatment plant. Of course, one of the things the plant manager talked about was all the back-ups, etc. the plant has in the event of power failure. They have diesel engines that can run as long as there is fuel, and enough fuel on site to run for several days. I'm sure many of you are thinking "If there is flooding, won't the water be too contaminated?" That was always an issue in North Carolina where the drinking water comes from a river, and if we lived there still, I'd be stocking up on water; but Gainesville water comes out of the Floridan Aquifer. The city is essentially on a giant well. As long as there is power to pump water out of the Aquifer, we are golden. I asked why we are told to have enough water on hand for 72 hours, and the manager responded that we really don't need to, but he did say that there is always the possibility of a water main break. Maybe I'll fill up one of the bathtubs, just in case.

At any rate, I'm not too concerned about getting around. I rode my bike to the Duke campus during Isabel, and that was a way worse storm. Yes, I was very wet - imagine riding while someone is pouring buckets of water over your head, and the wind is blowing superhard, and that will be pretty close. It was warm out so I rode in a pair of shorts and a rain pullover, and wrapped dry clothes in a plastic bag. No, I'm not stupid - they hadn't closed campus yet and I had class. If I had driven, I would have been soaked from the walk from the car anyway, it would have taken me longer to get there, and I would have had to pay for parking. The point is, if I need to get around, I know what to do.

Just in case you were wondering, the bread and toiletpaper sections were nearly as decimated as the water.

On a separate note for you educators, taking a tour of the wastewater treatment plant is way more interesting to children than the drinking water plant. There is nothing like seeing nasty raw sewage transformed into water so clean you could drink it. The kids are always disgusted and amazed, and completely fascinated.

Yippee!

Warning: This post contains some content that might be considered adult and may not be considered appropriate for children. I don't think so, but then again I tend to have a different view on these things so I figured I should put in a warning.

I've not been in love with the bike seat on my tribike. Before my bike went MIA, I was considering replacing it. After only 2 weeks on the new bike and 250+ miles, I'm liking the seat even less then I did before. Every seat has a sweet spot and I just can't seem to find it on this one. I'm definitely at the place where discomfort in the nether regions is affecting my speed over longer rides. I went online to Bicycling.com, the website for Bicycling magazine. They are always a good place to go for equipment reviews and suggestions. They did a lovely review on my tribike, by the way. As I'm conducting a search on bike seats I spot an article titled "Fit and Frisky" among the search results. With a title like that, I must have a look. I assume it's something about sex and am not disappointed. Here is the subtitle "Sex can be a great training tool. Here are 6 ways getting busy boosts your pedaling." What's that - sex can help my training? Yippee! I read the article and contemplated emailing it to my cycling friends, but then just decided to share it in a blog post. So if you are interested, just click on the title of the article and it will take you there. I found the article rather humorous because it was actually very seriously written. I'm pretty sure my husband will be more than willing to help out with this aspect of my Ironman training.

I feel like I should point out that many of the benefits discussed in the article would be beneficial to non-cycling athletes as well, so if you aren't a cyclist don't feel left out.

Olympic Fun

This pic just makes me laugh! Brian showed me the story Saturday morning after my 5k race, but I was on the phone at the time and didn't have an opportunity to fully appreciate the humor. I fully expected either The Daily Show or The Colbert Report to have some fun with it, but so far there has only been one slight mention. Maybe they just couldn't come up with something that wouldn't be highly offensive - who knows? At any rate for those of you that don't know the story, it's totally benign. President Bush was playing beach volleyball with Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh - our kick ass women's team who are on a crazy winning streak. If you've never watched beach volleyball, there is a lot of butt slapping that goes on between the players. Way more than baseball, if that's possible. Keri Walsh is what I would deem an excessive butt slapper - I don't know if it's her indoor volleyball background or just her exuberance, but she slaps Misty a lot, which just made this pic even funnier to me. After volleying for a bit with the President, Misty offered her backside to him for a butt slap. President Bush very tactfully tapped her on the back. I do have to say that I bet Misty May-Treanor is fun to hang out with. Anyone that has enough balls to offer the President of the United States an opportunity to slap her butt has got to be fun.

On a side note, when I first saw this picture, the caption I gave it in my mind was "It's good to be the King." Whoever names the movie it's from first gets a prize - no Googling. Feel free to share your own photo captions.

Wow!

The results of the Men's 4x100 meter freestyle relay is all over the news, but just in case you couldn't stay up last night to watch it, didn't set your dvr, or haven't checked out the replay on line - here it is. I wanted to post it last night but NBC wasn't that quick with their website updates, and I haven't been at the computer yet today.

At any rate, this race was the most amazing race in a pretty spectacular day of swimming that saw world records fall all over the place. When the USA men's relay team broke the world record in the qualifying round with what was essentially their B team, you just knew the final was going to be a ridiculously fast race - and it was! Team USA was not the favorites to win the race, the French were with the current world record holder, but our guys didn't let it phase them. They swam their hearts out and ending up winning by a touch at a the wall. Michael Phelps started out the race and set a new 100 meter American record, and the Australian Eamon Sullivan set a new world record. Jason Lezak, who anchored the race for the third time in an Olympic Games, swam the fastest relay leg ever. After a silver in 2000 and a Bronze in 2004, Jason really wanted Gold. Oh yeah - he's 32 years old. Way to go Jason! The winning time was a new world record - actually the top 5 teams all swam faster than the world record the Americans had set in the prelims. Crazy! Michael Phelps got his 10th gold medal.

Men's 4x100 meter relay video

The NEW new ride

So here it is - my new bike! It looks just like the old one. It's not the old one, but in time it'll make me just as happy. I had my fit with a local bike shop, Chain Reaction, and they did a wonderful job. It's not the guys at Jack & Adam's, but they spent lots of time with me and made me feel like royalty. I got lots of compliments from the guys at the shop and everyone loved the bike, of course. Most importantly is that I feel like I got a pretty good fit. Now I feel like I can truly focus on my bike training.

Sunday is long ride day and this week was 4.5 hours. Obviously, I didn't want to head out of town for a ride of that length on a brand new bike whose only miles were on the trainer during the fit. Also, there's little adjustments that need to be made to a bike once you start riding it, and you want to be sure it's mechanically sound and that you are comfortable with gears, brakes, etc. I decided the best option was to start the ride on the trainer so I could futz around with everything as needed. After an hour or so on the trainer, I headed out to the neighborhood to ride around and just see how I felt. I was a little wobbly starting and stopping, but that's just rediscovering where my center of gravity is with that bike. Overall, I felt comfortable so I headed out to the road for a bit, and then came back and did the last hour on the trainer. It feels good to be back on the tribike. There's definitely some work to be done, but it's all good.

On a side note, it was absolutely beautiful on Sunday. We had completely clear skies for the first time in I don't know how long. It was hot - 96 degrees - but the humidity dropped to 60%. I couldn't believe it. It was dry! It was the first time in quite awhile that I was only wet from sweat. I had to check my speedometer to make sure I hadn't slacked during my ride because I wasn't completely drenched. I didn't even smell all that bad. Seriously, it actually felt good to have the sun on my back and it was a lovely ride. Yay!

The weather today was equally as lovely, and none of my campers complained once about being outside. I was outside earlier this evening and I saw the stars in the sky. I hadn't realized it, but it has been a long tine since I remember seeing the stars. That realization really drove home how oppressive clouds and rain can be. I will never live in the Pacific Northwest. At any rate, it's been a pleasant break from the typical Florida summer and I hope it lasts a while longer.

Clothing review

Summer is in full swing and I just have to say that it sucks! It has been a truly unpleasant summer here in Gainesville. About midway through June, the humidity went through the roof. Before that, it had been getting pretty hot - temps in the mid-90's, but the humidity was only around 60-70%. The temps have dropped a bit - mostly due to more cloud cover, but the humidity regularly hovers around 95%. It's horrible! It's like being wrapped from head to toe in a warm, wet blanket. It has also been raining/storming almost constantly, and not in any predictable manner. I've been muddling through my training, but it hasn't been all that enjoyable. I keep thinking longingly of last summer. It was quite hot, but not nearly as humid. I didn't mind being outside at all - I just made sure to wear sunscreen, a hat, and drink lots. I've realized that it is much easier to deal with heat than it is humidity. Of course, the lack of rain from last summer put us into a pretty serious drought. I guess you can't have everything.

I didn't write this post to complain about the weather, I merely wanted to set the stage. When you step outside, you are immediately wet. If you are exerting yourself in any way, you are completely soaked through in about 10 minutes - I'm really not exaggerating, I promise. I discovered that on my long runs, I needed to carry more with me - more energy gels, more Nuun tablets, more than I could stuff in the pockets of my trishorts. I really hate running with a fanny pack so I started thinking about other options. As many of you know, I am picky about my clothing. It has to fit, it has to be made well, and it has to last. I don't mind spending a bit more if it meets those standards. When it comes to technical clothing, there are considerations like fabric and construction, also. Where seams are placed is a big issue when it comes to preventing chafe - and when it's 95% humidity, chafe is an issue. I'm sure a few of you are thinking "Why don't you just do your long runs in a bike jersey? It has pockets." That's actually a good idea, but I had a few issues with that. I only have a few sleeveless bike jerseys - most of my summer bike tops have built in bras so they aren't appropriate for running. The sleeveless jerseys I do own are made out of a little heavier fabric than I wanted - I usually wear them in the fall. Super thin fabric is a must. If I'm going to be wet my entire run, then I want the wet fabric to weigh as little as possible. The only bike jersey I had that was really thin had a high neck that I knew would annoy me when running.

I actually have the perfect running shirt - my New York Marathon Asics singlet. It lacks pockets, though. So what I decided I was looking for was a singlet that had pockets, preferably with a v-neck. The more of a racerback that it had, the better. That requirement is pure vanity to try to limit crazy tan lines. Obviously, triathlon clothing is the place to start looking. So with my requirements clear, I went shopping, which for me means hitting the internet. I found some really nice tri singlets, but they were either really, really expensive or had built in bras - or both. I finally found what I was looking for - the Castelli Fascino top and the Craft Wave Tank. See pics below. They are both cycling jerseys, but are fitted and super thin, and have pockets - yippee!

I have to say that I am really happy with both these tops. They weren't cheap, although the Craft recently went on sale so I bought another one. The Craft is more fitted than the Castelli, and has three back pockets to the Castelli's two, and has a small zippered pocket. I love the zippered pocket because I can put my I.D. and emergency money in there and it doesn't get in my way when I am getting gels out of my pockets. The Castelli is beautifully made - Castelli is an Italian cycling apparel company that has been around forever. As everyone knows, Europeans know cycling AND clothing so European cycling apparel is usually really nice. From a best value for the dollar veiwpoint, I'd have to say the Craft comes out ahead. Having these tops has made it easier to carry my running necessities, and even my cellphone so it's made my long runs just a little easier. I thought I'd share my finds with my lady readers. A little something for the guys - and ladies - I love running in my Zoot trifit shorts. They fit really well, and I don't notice how wet they are. I still think I prefer Pearl Izumi trishorts for racing, though.