PCB!

That's Panama City Beach, FL - not Polychlorinated Biphenyl. One is a lovely town on the panhandle of Florida, which is host to Ironman Florida; the other is a toxic organic compound that will make you very sick. One is good, the other is bad. Now that we've got that all cleared up, on to the post.

Joey and I arrived in PCB yesterday evening. The house I rented for us is awesome! I'm always pleased when a vacation property looks as good, if not better, than the photos. I will try to remember to take pics. We spent today just taking it easy. Maggie, Janice, and Mike arrived this evening, and we all had dinner. All the athletes in our group are now in town. Brian arrives tomorrow afternoon, and my brother Chris arrives Friday evening. This Ironman thing is becoming more and more real. Since Joey's arrival last Thursday, I've been a little bit in vacation mode, and in a bit of denial too. Tomorrow I have a pre-race workout so it's time to get into race mode and get down to business. I don't know how good I'll be about updating my blog before the race, but I promise a post-race entry. Joey is likely to be better at posting so check out his blog.

If you want to track us online, you can go to Ironman.com on race day and go to Ironman Florida. My race number is 2243, Joey is 858, Maggie is 2421, and Janice is 2530.

I wanted to take a moment a give a big THANK YOU! to Rachel and Jordan for being willing to part with Joey for so long. Having him here sooner has been great. I am quite sure I would be a serious basketcase by now if he hadn't been here. I just wish you were both here, too! I can't wait for Thanksgiving!

MS Bike Ride

Last month I did the Cycle to the Shore bike ride to help raise money for Multiple Sclerosis. If you are unfamiliar with these rides, they are typically 2-day events and involve cycling around 150 miles. They are often referred to as the MS 150 rides. Usually the participants cycle from point to point with an overnight somewhere in between. The particular ride I did was from St. Augustine to Daytona Beach and back again. It was 84 miles one way so 168 miles round trip. I decided to do the ride as part of my Ironman training - I love riding alone, but doing 6 hour bike rides by myself was getting a little tiresome so the opportunity to ride with a group was appealing. Since the ride was on the coast, it's perfect for IM training - flat and windy. Aside from the obvious training advantages, doing a ride like this is a good way to give something back. Training for an Ironman is a fairly selfish endeavor. The time commitment is big and it is inevitable that other things in your life are going to be neglected - you should see my post-IM to do list. Taking all that hard training effort and using it to raise money for charity just seems like a good thing to do.

It was a somewhat tough ride. Saturday started off with a coastal wind advisory. This was the same kind of weather that caused the swim at the St. Augustine Tri in 2007 to be canceled. The first half of the ride was inland so I wasn't concerned that the wind would be too bad. The 16 miles heading east to get to the coastal highway were into a brutal headwind and then a crosswind as we headed south. It was a bit rough, but not hideous. The real fun started around mile 50 when it started to rain, and rain, and rain. Don't forget the wind. The next 11 miles or so were in conditions that would make me nervous to drive a car in - torrential rain, flooding roads, wind gusting over 30 mph - but we put down our heads and kept pedaling. The ride course turned away from the coast again as we approached Daytona and I knew that at least the wind would diminish and there was a rest stop after the turn. The last few miles before the turn were in Flagler Beach. The highway was right on the beach - no dunes, no buildings, no buffer. The waves were coming up over the wall and onto the road. I could taste salt mixed in with the rain. I have never witnessed in person an ocean looking that scary, and hope I never do again. Once we got away from the coast, the conditions weren't as bad - some wind, some heavy rain, lots of flooded roads, but nothing as bad as that stretch along the beach.

The conditions the next day were much better - sunny with some wind - and the ride was pretty nice. At mile 56, I caught a ride to the finish. They weren't feeding us lunch on the ride since there was a big cookout at the finish. Dinner and breakfast had been marginal and I needed a little more than clif bars and bananas. Really, a PB&J sandwich or three would have made me happy. There was a rumor that the next rest stop had some, but I decided that I had accomplished what I set out to do, and that it was time to stop. I had an 1.5 hour drive home and I didn't want to be too tired. Weather aside, it was a good ride. I had a lot of fun and it is a definite possibility for next year.

I got a letter a few days ago letting me know that the fundraising deadline is October 31. For some reason, I thought it was September 30. So if you haven't made a donation yet, click on the link below to do so. If you already made a donation, thank you so much for your support!

DONATE NOW!

Has it really been 20 years?

I had a request - more like a demand - yesterday to please update my blog. It's been 10 days since my last post so it really isn't an unreasonable request. It's not like I haven't had anything to write about; it's been a busy couple of weeks, and if you check out the countdown clock to your right, there's a little race called Ironman Florida that I'll be doing in 7 days.

So what has been going on? For starters, two weeks ago was my 20 year high school reunion. That's right - 20 years since graduation. I haven't been to a reunion since the 5 year, and that doesn't really count. I haven't lived anywhere near my hometown since 1992 and not even in the same state since 1995. There are only a couple of people that I graduated with that I have maintained contact with over the years. Most of the people I went to school with, I haven't seen since graduation. When I got the invitation for my 20 year, I figured why not go. I didn't skip the 10 and 15 year reunions out of dread or disinterest, but out of scheduling conflicts. Since my family lives in the area, it's really not a big effort to go. Just a nice weekend home.

At any rate, the reunion was superfun. I got a chance to catch up with lots of people, and it was a lot of fun to see how everyone turned out. Overall, everyone looked great! As a group, we are aging well. I did have a hard time recognizing most people, but not because they looked old, but more mature. As soon as I would hear their name, though, everything would click into place. Overall, it was a fun time, and I will definitely make an effort to attend the 25 year. This is my yearbook picture from my senior year. It's a pretty good pic, I think, even with the short hair.

For Maggie

Taper, time to rest

prepare for the coming race
restore the body

-a haiku by Teresa McDonold

Woosh!

Woosh! That's the sound of our investment portfolio going down the toilet. In case you didn't notice the Dow closed down 679 points today for the 6th consecutive triple digit loss. Oh well! It's not money we depend on at this point in our lives, and the market will rebound eventually once people stop going insane and divesting their funds. Granted stock in banks or credit companies may not recover, but there is no good reason for tech stocks or energy or consumer merchandise, etc to be tanking other than people are panicked and want to put their money under a mattress. I feel like the NYSE should hang a big "Don't Panic!" sign outside their doors. Brian and I actually thought it might be a good time to pick up some more shares in companies we are already invested with. It's a sale on Wall Street. Granted if I were retiring soon or had a kid in college, I might feel differently about all the hits our accounts have been taking this year, but in general I'm not overly concerned about our losses.

That's not to say that I'm not concerned about our economy, but I've been concerned about that since Bush was first elected, and just about everyone I know has been expressing concern about the housing market since the crazy boom started. There was no way it was sustainable. I didn't expect the crash to be quite so brutal, but looking on the bright side, as I try to do, it'll be a long time before we hear the word "deregulation" coming out of any politician's mouth.

Anyway, the brutal plunge reminded me of a Stephen Colbert segment that aired on Sept 23 after Bank of America bought Merril Lynch, Lehman Bros went bankrupt, and AIG collapsed. Sometimes you just have to laugh - either that or go nutso.

Facebook

I have joined the ranks of Facebook. Actually, I had created an account awhile ago - out of curiosity more than anything - but had never done anything with it. No picture, no profile, just my name. My sister is on Facebook and kept telling me I should join. I mentioned awhile ago that I had an account, but wasn't using it. Apparently she took matters into her own hands and sent me a friend request on Friday. Her request was followed by a bunch of other friend requests from friends we have in common. Well, since she outed me, I figured I'd better go ahead and set up a profile. I basically used the info from my blog profile so it didn't take too long. Then I sent a few friend requests of my own. It's been fun seeing what people are up to, although I haven't spent that much time looking around. I do try to limit my computer time. I did get to hear about my neice's birthday party, and my sis had posted pictures of mine and Brian's last visit to NY so that was nice. I've been harassed about being a Duke Alum by one of my old roommates at Maryland - too funny! - given a hug by my sis, and some nice words of encouragement by Maggie. In some ways, it's like keeping a miniblog with a little more interaction. It really is good to reconnect with people - I'm really bad about keeping in touch.

Holy Bleep! (insert expletive of choice)

28 days from now, if all goes according to plan, I will be in the process of completing my first Ironman. Needless to say, I am completely freaked out. I've actually been freaked out for a while. Many of you may have noticed that I haven't been posting as much or writing about my training or the event, and that is mostly due to the freak out. I had every intention of explaining why I'm so freaked, but I am about ready for bed. Tomorrow is another long ride, and at this point in the training, sleep is as important as anything. 4 weeks and counting - more to come.

Some nutritional info

This is a quick post for me, but not a short one as I am hijacking a post from someone else's blog. I'm really tired - 1:45 hour lactate threshold bike workout followed by teaching my yoga class followed by an hour on the Pilates reformer. I had a solo session today so my instructor focused on moves that would loosen up the muscles that get tight from riding, and open up my upperbody in preparation for my swim tomorrow. Very nice! I feel good, but I'm a bit fried.

Anyway, I'm trying to post more often, and this particular post kind of stuck with me - mostly because it's something I realized about two years ago had become a problem for me. It actually became a problem in grad school - I got in the habit of forgetting to eat - but I didn't realize it was a problem until a couple of years ago. I haven't done a great job correcting it, but I'm trying. As I was eating a bean burrito - organic, of course - while driving to yoga, it made me think again of this post so I'm gonna share. It's from the blog of James and Lindsay Cotter, The Cotter Chronicles. He's a pro triathlete and she's a nutritionist. They take turns posting, but when Lindsay posts, she shares all kinds of nutritional info - and recipes. Here's the post:

Number one Nutritional Mistake

Not eating enough -- or often enough.

The trend these days with most of my clients is that they don't have time to eat enough of the RIGHT foods and end up going hours without fueling their bodies properly. Here's a little explanation of how it works!

While overeating and undereating may seem like contradictory nutrition mistakes, they are related.
"If you don't eat at regular intervals throughout the day, you risk disrupting your blood sugar and insulin levels, which in the end can promote fat storage and lower your metabolism -- both of which lead to weight gain," Brandeis says.
The solution: Eat something every four hours and never let yourself "starve" from one meal to the next, Brandeis says.

Below is a sample day of someone who might need 2000-2200 calories. Most likely an active female. Athletes of course need more but this person is recreational athlete who works out 5-8 hours a week. Although this sample is not a set calorie range for everyone, it will give you an idea of how to structure your diet.
(EXAMPLE DAY)
• Breakfast
o 2 hard boiled eggs with 1 yolk
o 1 cup hot oatmeal and 1tbsp nuts and 2tbsp 1% or soy milk
o add in 1/2 sliced banana and sprinkle w/ a little honey and cinnamon

• AM Snack
o 1 reduced fat string cheese
o 1 c. grapes or small apple
o 10-15 almonds

• Lunch
o 1 whole wheat pita bread
o 3-4 slices of turkey breast
o cucumber and tomato to stuff the pita bread
o 1 tbsp. of light mayo or mustard
o Piece of fruit or whole wheat crackers if fruit is not available

• PM Snack (pre-workout snack)
o Cliff bar (whole grain) OR Luna Bar with 1/2 banana

• Dinner
o 1c. brown rice or wild rice
o 2 c. steamed broccoli w/ 2 tsp olive oil and 1 or 2tbsp Parmesan/feta cheese
o 4 oz. Grilled or baked Salmon–sprinkle with choice of seasoning and/or lemon juice and 1 tbsp olive oil for more flavor

•Evening Snack- 1/4 cup of dried apricots and 1/2 cup lowfat greek yogurt with honey and cinnamon mixed in.

I know its a VERY healthy sample day but I like to follow the 80/20 rule. 80% of the time you eat healthy and 20% you can satisfy your cravings. This will keep you sane.
Hope this feeds some minds out there.

Cheers,
LCotter
Posted by James and Lindsay Cotter at 12:55 PM