McDonald's Wants Me Back

Nearly 10 years after I kicked my daily habit of eating an Extra Value Meal "snack" (either mid-afternoon or late night) McDonald's finally realized where I shifted my vice -- Starbuck's. The fast food giant recently targeted the high-end coffee market and has obviously made an impact as Starbucks just announced a 28% drop in revenue along with plans to close 600 stores. Truth be told, I admire McDonald's for their adaptability and innovation and I still LOVE their french fries, although I have lost my taste for the Bic Mac.

Of course, I advocate a healthy diet, but I like what big wave surfer Laird Hamilton has to say about it:

"I have friends who eat healthier than anybody, but it takes them all day. And if they don't have their sprouted bread, they go into a seizure. I can eat a Big Mac. I'm not going to love it, but it won't put me into toxic shock. It's like if a car is too high-performance, then it's sensitive to any kind of fuel. I like being more like a truck. If a little diesel gets in there, maybe a little water, it'll cough and burp a bit, but it's gonna get through it and keep running."

Swim, Bike, Run

But not in that order. I rode for 3:25 today covering just under 60 miles. When I got home I found a note that said Sandi and the kids were at the pool, so I grabbed some Uncrustables and some Gu H20, threw them in my old Official Ford Ironman backpack and ran five minutes to the pool. After playing with the kids for about 50 minutes or so, and after my Peanut Butter and Honey Uncrustable and a few blueberries, the lifeguard blew the whistle for break. Realizing my goggles were in my bag, I figured, why not? I hopped in the lap lane and knocked out 200 yards before running out of steam.

At least I got my swim, bike and run in!

Gillette's New Product: Foot Deodorant

I need new sneakers and it's been a while since I had the whole fitting thing done, so I needed to take my most recent pair in. I've washed my current sneakers several times in anticipation of this, but could never make it to the store while they were clean and freshly scented. Yesterday, I had time and actually made it over to Fleet Feet Raleigh but my shoes were to say the least, not so 'milidly fragrant' as they are just after a washing. Okay... they stank. It was embarassing.

Me and the shoe fitting guy both knew it. No words were spoken, but we both knew. Afterwards they tried to sell me some socks. Even the "thin" pair I wore to test out different sneakers were so thick my feet immediately broke out into a serious sweat. Because that's what my feet do, they sweat.

So... I walk out with a new pair of sneaks but no socks. They did sell me some shoe deodorant thingys. Then it dawned on me... why not put deodorant ant-perspirant on my feet? It's worth a shot, right? In order to keep running sockless and not wreck my shoes with foot stench, why not?

Swim Breakthroughs Courtesy OFF THE DEEP END

According to Hodding Carter in his book "Off the Deep End", Gary Hall tells him something about good swimming coming from the hips or something. With not a whole lot more information than that, I started experimenting during my last swim workout.

Outside of some childhood lessons at the local pool, I'm an entirely self-taught swimmer (never been on a Master's Team, either) who swam a 1:06 at Ironman Florida. I attribute my time to a strong stroke developed while surfing for many years in Southern California. But, based on this new information I discovered in Carter's book, I realized that the stroke I developed surfing also translated into stationary hips and had no idea whether that was good or bad.

Breakthrough #1
The particular workout I was following (which I'll post below) called for me to practice long strokes. With that, I added a little movement I learned from Thys from WindSpeed Training in a bodywork exercise he calls "Supermans". In mimicking (to some extent, this is probably a terrible description of what I did, but the best I can come up with since I can't see myself actually swimming) that movement in the water, I extended my reach just a little further forcing my hips to rotate some.

I didn't feel particularly faster, but timing my 50 with and without the rotation resulted in a consistent split 2 seconds faster with the rotation than without. 42 versus 44 seconds (a moderately fast pace for me while swimming in a 25-yard pool. note I have the slowest flip turns on the face of the earth).

Breakthrough #2
The final set of this workout called for 4 x (50 KICK [mod], 50 SWIM [mod], 25 KICK [fast], 25 SWIM [fast])

Now, I don't know if it was the hip rotation, the sequence of sets leading up to this one, or the nature of this set itself, but when I got to the 25 SWIM [fast] my kick was SOOOOO strong I felt like it was lifting me out of the water. It seemed like my arm stroke couldn't keep up with the speed my legs were generating from the kick. I didn't expect it, and was already late so I had to cut the workout short without timing it.

Again from surfing, I think my kick is underdeveloped. It normally take me close to 4 minutes to kick for 100 yards.

So, I sense it was a major breakthrough for me. We'll see in subsequent races.

Here's the workout and link to where I got it:

Warm Up: S-300 K-200 P-200

Set I: PULL 4 X 125 @ MODERATE INTERVAL
1ST 75- WORK DISTANCE PER STROKE
LAST 50- BUILD UP SPEED WITHOUT SHORTENING STROKE

Set II: SWIM 8 X 25 @ EZ INT. ODD-STROKE DRILL (CHOICE)
EVEN-SWIM

Set III: SWIM 18 X 50
4 @ FAST INTERVAL/ 3 @ +15 (DESCEND 1-3)
3 @ " " / " " "
2 @ " " / " " "
100 EZ
* FAST INTERVAL 50's ARE FREESTYLE
* +15 INTERVAL 50's ARE YOUR CHOICE

Set IV: KICK/SWIM 600
ALTERNATE 50 KICK - 50 SWIM - 25 KICK - 25 SWIM
MOD. EZ FAST FAST

Mop-Up Set: 200 ALT 25 STROKE DRILL(CHOICE)/25 SWIM EZ

TOTAL 3,200

Father's Day

What American family photo album is complete without a picture of a kid fishing? Sandi and the kids secretly bought me a new fishing rod, some nice tackle, and rods for the kids. Although it lasted all but 1/2 hour, if that, and didn't yield any "whoppers" Carson always talks about catching, the fishing was fun. It was a great day spent mostly swimming and finished off with some great Eastern Carolina Barbecue (vinegar based), hush puppies, french fries, potato salad, and shrimp for Claudia, and of course, sweet tea for me and Sandi (unless you live or have visited North Carolina, when it comes to "sweet tea"... well, you just have to try it!). Later when Sandi and Carson were napping, Claudia and I went for a hike at the park and nature trail near our house. We caught (and later released) a praying mantis, spotted a very fat lizard, swung on a vine we found in the woods, saw a turtle lay 13 eggs than bury them, and saw a water mocassin on a stick in the creek.

Wildfire Smoke

I awoke this morning to hazy conditions outside. When I let the dog out, I smelled smoked and took a few quick walks around the house to see if anything was on fire, or maybe at one of my neighbors houses. Nothing. Figured someone was burning something somewhere...

I just learned that it was smoke from the wildfires that have been burning in eastern rural North Carolina. The smoke drifted inland and will continue to drift closer towards Burlington before dissapating.

Weird.

First

The kids are in the sometimes cute but mostly annoying phase where being FIRST is of utmost importance. Here's a snipit of this morning's conversation:

CJ: I'm going to be FIRST (said with emphasis) down stairs today.

Scampering footsteps

CB: (who obviously didn't make it the top of the steps first and knows we don't race on the steps) Well... well... CJ, you know I was FIRST (said with emphasis) out of mama's belly.

BAM! CB lays the ultimite FIRST smackdown on her younger brother, leaving him speechless. But he still races to the bottom of the steps. Better to lock in a small victory and be first at something must be his thought process. Still, he comes up with this reply:

CJ: I killed a dragon last night... IN THE FOREST!

In CJ's little world of good and evil and bows and arrows, to him, this trumps everything. Both he and CB walk away with smiles on their faces.

A Good Problem to Have

CJ is sort of potty-training himself as of late, but refuses to wear pull-ups. Not quite ready for underwear just yet, we've been keeping him in diapers. So, sometimes when he gets up in the morning, he takes his diaper off, goes pee-pee and leaves the diaper on the floor walking around ultra-commando style (shirt, but no pants or underwear). Ocassionally, he'll put his pants back on for what we all know as normal free-ballin' commando (shirt and pants, but no underwear).

This morning, I noticed he was commando...

Tridaddy: Hey bud. We need to get a diaper on you.

CJ: I can't!!!

Tridaddy: You can't? Why not?

CJ: My penis is TOO BIG.