Funny Monday!

Shamelessly stolen from Slowtwitch today....

He's on a break!



I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this one....

JONNNNNYYYYYOOOOO!!!!!!

ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2nd place at Ironman Canada with a >10minute PB (and that was set at Arizona) and a 8 minute marathon PB. I am speechless

SWIM BIKE RUN OVERALL POSITION
51:25 4:49:26 2:55:58 8:39:59 2

RACE LEG DISTANCE PACE POSITION
TOTAL SWIM 2.4 mi. (51:25) 1:21/100m 10

FIRST BIKE SEGMENT 40 mi. (1:45:21) 22.78 mph
FINAL BIKE SEGMENT 72 mi. (3:04:05) 23.47 mph
TOTAL BIKE 112 mi. (4:49:26) 23.22 mph 2

FIRST RUN SEGMENT 13.1 mi. (1:25:41) 6:32/mile
FINAL RUN SEGMENT 13.1 mi. (1:30:17) 6:53/mile
TOTAL RUN 26.2 mi. (2:55:58) 6:42/mile 2

TRANSITION TIME
T1: SWIM-TO-BIKE 1:35
T2: BIKE-TO-RUN 1:35

Tagged

Jobs I've held

Bagel girl
Usher at Milwaukee County Stadium
Shipper of art supplies
Packager of brushes made of steel that liked to get lodged under my fingertips
Checkout girl at ToysRUs during Christmas week (I earned Sainthood for that one)
Research assistant who excelled at cleaning the tanks of snails that were heavily infected by a tropical parasite
Student: Including medical student who excels in cutting off limbs, and grad student who knew how to grow bacteria with the best of em.

Movies I can watch over and over

Tommy Boy
Dumb and Dumber
Anchorman
Dodgeball
Real Genius
The Goonies

My Guilty Pleasures

Peanut M&Ms
Peanut butter right out of the jar
Red wine in copious amounts
Sorbet
Slowtwitch
Baking and secretly eating unfinished product


Places I have lived

New Berlin, WI
Madison, WI
Cleveland Heights, OH
Melbourne, Australia
University Heights, OH

Shows I enjoy

Iron Chef America
30 Minute Meals
Everyday Italian
The Office
Scrubs
Law & Order (anything but CI)

Places I have been on vacation

Hawaii
Italy
Paris
Australia (Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Western Australia)
Cancun & Cozumel Mexico
Bermuda
Niagara Falls Canada
Sarasota, Ft Myers, Miami, Orlando Florida
San Diego, LA, San Francisco, CA
Rock Hill, SC (and Charlotte NC)
Chicago
Coeur d'Alene, ID (That was a memorable one!)
Tempe, AZ
Las Cruces, NM
Denver, CO
Washington DC
Lexington KY
All over Wisconsin

Favorite Foods

Peanut butter
Chocolate (the darker the better)
Bakery bread
Peanut butter
Kashi GoLean cereal
Hummus
Anything Indian or Thai
Peanut butter
Peanut M&Ms

Websites I visit Daily

Cleveland TriClub Forum
Slowtwitch forum
Hotmail
Bloglines

Body Parts I have injured

Broken:
Index finger left hand
second toe right foot
tibial stress fracture left leg (in high school)
Left kneecap (that was fun)

Ulcered stomach
badly bruised butt and head from car accident
Name the knee overuse injury, I had in my 2006 season

Awards I've won

2 travel fellowships
age group awards at triathlons
1 age group award in a running race
Lots of things through school that I'm too tired to think of


Nicknames I've been called


Jodester
Thomps
Choad (I can't believe I just made that one public)
Jodes
Grace

I won't bother tagging anyone since most of you have done this already. If you haven't and you're reading this, consider yourself tagged

Guess what!!!!

I just got back from the gym. I did 45 minutes on the elliptical... and then...

I ran a MILE!

Without pain!

First time since April!!!

Now, of course I'm thinking silly things like maybe doing another race this year...

GO JONNY GO!!!!!!

Well the day is almost upon us. The day that Jonnyo races Ironman Canada in his home town!

I've known Jonathan for about a year, and as his unofficial sports doc I feel it is appropriate to do a little pep-talk, pictorial style. First of all, check out this link and download an awesome little video of the race that crowned Jonathan as the Canadian National Champ this year (with some interviews with the man himself). Also, keep your eye on ironmanlive for an upcoming interview with Jonathan, and also for live coverage of the race on Sunday.

Ok Jonny. It's been a long journey and it's time to remember all the fun times.

The days at the beginning of big weeks. When everyone was fresh and excited and ready for the challenges ahead. Time to meet new people and form lifelong friendships:




Then there was the excitement of the long ride. Ready for the challenge ahead...



And the feeling that maybe you bit off more than you could chew...





The recovery periods:



The fun times when you're feeling stupid from 5 days of crazy training:




But know you have to get right back on the horse that same afternoon:



And then feel the pain:



Then at the end of the week, you look around at everyone who is beaten, drained, sunburned, but completely in love with the world and the sport



And you're so happy, that even the death grip of your coach makes you smile



And your favorite training buddies are rallying around you



As you get closer to your race, you surround yourself with friends




Start to channel the power of the cowbell



Then you relax with a huge carb loading dinner, and get ready for the big event...



The morning of the race, you sit in front of the water and soak in the years of training, the excitement of 2400 people, and the calm of the water.

BOOM goes the cannon



You swim and leave the water with feet of your competition in quick pursuit



You bike like you've never biked before (and on a sweet new Orbea speed machine)



You run until your muscles can push no more and until someone with a silver coated blanket makes you stop



But no matter what you do, make sure at all times, your face looks like this:



Not this:



Or you'll surely get this look from you know who:




And of course, my one solid piece of advice- the way you should race and finish this journey- is said best, by your favorite artist...



And I tried. But I just. can't. resist....



BEAT GORDO!!!!!

;-)

Good luck Jonathan! Kick some butt. And never forget- the Womens love Ironman Champions!

I'm BACK

Ok, so surgery is officially over. I have mixed feelings about that. I am convinced that I can finally tell people I know what I want to be when I grow up. And I'll miss it dearly... but the 100 hour weeks I can live without for awhile. So now I'm on family medicine... strict 9-5 M-F with half days on Wednesday. Tough life!

Yesterday I got back in the water and I think that I just might have caught the tri-bug again. It was one humbling experience though, let me tell you. Now I just have to see if I can run. I did a step aerobics class (no heckling from the peanut gallery...) on Saturday with no pain so I think I'm going to hit the treadmill this week. If all goes well I need to pick a 70.3 for next year. Unfortunately Eagleman is closed already. WTF????? So it will probably be Musselman.

Randomness...

My computer is totally FUBARed. It was completely unresponsive for 5 days and now it is deciding that it will turn on again. (it just MIGHT have something to do with the glass of water I dumped on it last year. I can't be trusted with nice things) I went 3 days without checking my email which is a new record for me. So instead of buying a new road bike, my sites are set on a new laptop. I have seen the light, and it is good:



I'm leaving the darkside of Dell laptops (which should really only be used as glorified paperweights. I mean what freaking genius designed the intake for the fan on the bottom of the computer???), and joining the ranks of Apple converts. I can't wait!

I'll be back soon and often to update this month. But I want to give a quick note of congratulations to Charlie for finishing IMUK strong with a huge negative split on the run. Way to go Charlie! Can't wait for the race report.

And the next blog will be a tribute to a good friend who has a little race coming up on Sunday. As we speak, I bet he's carb loading and getting into the freaking zone...

GCT Aquabike Race Report!!!

Ok, so I did it. I'll start from the top...

It was a bit of a rough week for me sleeping. The past 7 days I had 3 days where I slept 3 hours or less. There was a party that I REALLY wanted to go to on Friday night, but I got home early and completely passed out on the couch. I just woke long enough to try to change my cassette over to the race wheels and move to my bed. That didn't go so well. The cassette kept going on crooked. I took a good look at the hub for the race wheel and saw that the thread was completely stripped. There was a shop in Wisconsin that I went to when I needed my cassette swapped (before I was comfortable doing it myself). It took them a really long time. I think they forced it on and messed up the hub. Lovely. So I put the cassette back on my training wheels and had to deal with the fact that there was a little back and forth play from the somewhat stripped thread on the cassette (which wasn't as bad as the race wheel hub). Hopefully it would be ok... Then I totally passed out. So although I had to work on Saturday morning at 7, I got a really good night's sleep.

After work I stopped at Whole Foods with a friend and picked up some antipasti and red wine and headed over to the beach to register for the race and picnic. It was great seeing Deirdre and my great buddy Jen who just did IMLP a few weeks and has the great post-IM glow!

Headed over to the beach after registration was taken care of and had a fabulous time eating good food, playing frisbee, contemplating going in the E. coli ridden waters, and watching the beautiful sunset over the lake. Maybe had a tad bit too much fun... carb loading with a bottle of wine and getting 2 hours of sleep isn't exactly optimal pre-race regimen. But this was all about going out and having fun anyway right?

Race day:

Woke up at 4:45, exactly 2 hours after falling asleep and my last glass of wine... I was pushing it a bit on the time scale, but hoped for little traffic. I arrived in transition at 6:20, about 25 minutes before it was set to close. I threw my bike on the rack with my helmet, sunglasses and shoes, said hi to Janet who was doing her first ever Half and was very excited about it. I then went to the beach expecting to just walk over and get ready to start. Not. It was a straight swim, so we had to walk a mile to the start. Doh! A LOT of people missed their waves, but I made it in time for my 7:12 start.

Within about 2 minutes of starting I was feeling the results of 4 weeks of no swimming. Talk about fatigue! I was smoked by a woman doing backstroke! But actually I was enjoying myself. Swimming nice and easy and watching the sunrise over the beach from the water. I just totally relaxed and enjoyed the experience. It was a fabulous swim! My worst time, but a great experience. Got a little bit off track and swam about 200 yards north of the buoy line. oh well!

1 mile- 34 minutes. Doh!

Transition:

Totally took my time. It was like tea time in there. No one really in a hurry. I think I was out in 2 minutes, but I don't know how that was possible since I felt like a slug. I couldn't find my race belt on Saturday night so I had to pin my race number on a big baggy t-shirt and throw that on in transition. It was dorky, but actually saved me from sunburn, so it was all good!

Bike:

The first 5 miles or so it was tough to find my groove. I was a bit dehydrated from the wine last night (just a bit...) so I started downing Accelerade. It was such a lifesaver. Totally settled my stomach and gave me enough calories that I didn't have to eat much. Miles 5-45 were fabulous! I was having the time of my life. Cycling fast and reminiscing of all the time I spent on that course last year when I was first getting into the sport. It made me so happy to think about how far I came since the first time I showed up in Mentor to do a training ride.

I caught Janet at about mile 30. I knew that passing her would rev up her competitive spirit and push her on, so I put it into overdrive to go by her and say hi. As expected, she quickly repassed me and picked it up. Sweet! I was totally stoked to see that. For the rest of the ride I just tried to keep her in site. I figured if I could keep up with her I would do ok. But then mile 45 happened. Suddenly my bad preparation, no sleep, and alcohol started to kick in. The end was so brutal! I just kept thinking to try to keep the pace up so I could just be done! It ended with 2- 4 mile out and back loops that were really boring and took us right by the park entrance which was a sick freaking joke. I wanted to get off that bike so badly! My crotch hurt SOOOOO bad. I became a vulgar sailer. Every time I hit a bump I said some kind of profane statement. I guess you have to work the nether regions up to an assault like 56 miles in the aero position.

Then it was FINALLY over! And something really fortunate, but horrible happened. The second I stepped off the bike I developed the hangover of my life (couldn't ask for better timing though). I was stumbling around, head pounding, just wanting to crawl up in a hole and sleep. I managed to stick around to see a bunch of great performances by the CTC, including Janet who smoked her first half.

End result:

34 minute swim, 2 minute T1, 3:02 bike

3rd place overall- just 1 minute off second and 10 minutes off the leader. Not too shabby given the circumstances. And more hardware for the shelf!

I'm so glad that I did it. I had a wonderful weekend and wouldn't change a thing

:-)

Should I.... race????

Ok, here's the deal...

There is a half iron aquabike this weekend. No running. Just 1.2 miles of glorious open water swimming topped off with a 56 mile tour of lovely Mentor Ohio. The race starts and ends at my favorite beach and I'll get to see a couple dozen of my favorite people racing. Plus, I think the race director is a great guy and if I'm going to give my money to any race in NE Ohio it would definitely be the Greater Cleveland Triathlon

But of course... I've biked 1 time in the past 3 weeks and zero swims.

So should I go get a whopping dose of humble pie on Sunday?

I was thinking of a race plan like this:

Swim balls out and pedal as fast as I can until my legs build up so much lactic acid that I can taste it. Then spin into the finish with my tail between my legs.

No heart rate monitor, no watch, no bike computer. Just me, my Nineteen wetsuit, and Mike Honcho

Or I could just sleep in and go on my favorite weekly ride. This is all if I can actually get off work, of course. So what do you think? At the very least it will make for one hell of a funny story

:-)

Make the most of every second...

When you work an insane, incomprehensible number of hours for 20 straight days and get most of the weekend off you have to embrace it. Sure, washing some underwear is probably a good idea, as is cleaning the house and getting some groceries. Studying should also be on the radar screen. But really, every 16 hour day you work is a day of your life that just poof! disappears forever. Now if you love what you do and go to sleep every night with a smile on your face wondering what tomorrow will bring it's a huge bonus. But there is so much more to life than work...

- Taking your dog on a leisurely walk through the woods. Watching her excitement as she swims across a murky pond and bounds through a prairie of 4 feet tall grass.

- Sitting outside on a beautiful summer night unhurriedly eating bruschetta until the restaurant closes

- Going to a large open air market to get fresh raspberries and bakery bread

- Watching the sunset from the beach with a bottle of wine and chocolate



- Going for a leisurely bike ride through the metroparks with 10 friends

- Sleeping for 3 glorious hours in the middle of the day

I honestly didn't even feel like I needed the time off. I've been having such a great time at the hospital that I hadn't really missed the finer things in life. I mean, when your job consists of a man in a large bloody gown and mask giving you a very long sharp knife and instructing you to cut a guy's leg off below the knee, you don't exactly spend the day thinking of your next gustatory delight. But nonetheless, the weekend was glorious.

Speaking of living life... I think I've changed my 2008 plans a bit. I have been given an invitation (ok, ok, so I totally and rudely just invited myself along) to a week long cycling trip of the wineries in Tuscany. So as much as it will disappoint many of you, I will spend next summer cycling to my heart's content (and probably getting knee surgery) instead of training like an insane person for another IM. I'm sure I'll be back for another IM someday, but next year my money will be well spent on an orthopedic surgeon and trip to Europe. I'm thinking I might even go a couple weeks early to do some hiking and adventuring. 4th year of med school is a gift- a lot of freedom and time off. I don't plan on taking that gift lightly...

I'm currently accepting applications to fill my room for the trip to Italy. Applicants must be easygoing, have a insatiable thirst for travel and adventure, and truly love great food and fine wine. Oh yeah, and be prepared for some kick ass rides through some of the best cycling country in the world. Oh, man. This is gonna be awesome.