It's been a while...

Ok, so this weekend went exactly as I had hoped. I wanted to do something physical, ANYTHING but sleep is just too nice and enjoyable. I lifted weights on Friday, and did nothing this weekend. No swimming, no biking, no running, no lifting but plenty of sleeping. Sleeping IS one of my strengths. I am probably the best sleeper any of you know. Anytime, any where on any surface. If there is a challenge, bring it on. (Or bring it on 2) Anyways, Monday inevitably arrived and I had to go back to work, which meant I would work out again. Monday's workout consisted of swimming and lifting. I am getting better at swimming. My brother in law said he didn't want to do a triathlon with me (even though he already bikes and runs for recreation) because he said he would sink and he sucks at swimming. Everyone does! It has taken a while but I am getting better. The trick is your breathing. But that is not the point. Today I rode my bike into work despite it being freakin' cold and windy. I wore a long sleeve shirt which worked great for my top, but didn't do anything for my legs and my poor freezing hands. What a difference temp and outside conditions make on my biking. Normally I get to work in about 30 mins and bike around 20mph. Today it took like 45 and I avg around 15mph. What a difference being cold can make. For right now my whole body hurts and feels tight. I hurt in places that never hurt before (I still need bicycle shorts) so when I try to figure out too much or too little I guess for me I will keep up my 5 days a week program and then as I get closer to my longer triathlons (and after day light savings) I will add in morning workouts and weekends. But for now, I think 5 times a week works for me.

And now the real reason I blogged today... (and to be honest) the only real interesting part about my blog...Today's Top 5:Top 5 websites that are awesome, and a complete waste of time, and just cool. If you got time to kill you HAVE to check these out. And all are safe for work, maybe not for little eyes, but safe for adults. Enjoy.

1. www.Engrish.com - The wifey and I are going to submit to this website. For those that don't know... engrish is like spanglish... it is the Japan's (or other asian countries) attempt at speaking english. Way funny, cause they are real signs, commercials, t-shirts, etc.

2. www.YouGotOwned.net - Awesome videos of people getting hurt (nothing serious). The phrase "you got owned" is somewhat defined in these videos.

3. www.WillItBlend.com - A really cool website devoted to blending everyday items. Now THIS is a blender!

4. www.HowToFoldAShirt.net - Not sure what language this is, but this is a real website. Really? Who sat down and decided they needed to make this video?

5. www.pointlesssites.com/our-favorites.asp - A website devoted to other pointless websites. A lot of fun (stupid) online games that can waste a lot of time. The honorable mentions are top games that kill time.

Honorable Mention:

www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=9644 - A bit lengthy, but funny.

www.boreme.com/boreme/funny-2007/flight-hamsters-p1.php

Pride comes before the what??

...The Fall

I originally learned about the details of bike racing from my brother-in-law. He was in this bike race for the cure (not sure which cure... I mean they are all good causes but there are just a lot of race for the cure organizations) and the wifey and I went to go see him. He was telling us about bike shorts (still need to get a pair, btw), and bike pedals that you clip into. Clip into? I asked. You clip your shoes into the pedals so you are basically attached to the bike. And immediately I thought to myself, self what happens when you fall? Your feet are stuck on the pedals and normally you just put your feet down and regain your balance, but if your feet are clipped in...? Do you just take the fall like a man or what? Well, my brother in law is smart enough to not clip into the bike pedals. He just put his feet on them and pedaled like normal. Well normal was never a word used to describe me...
So I am clipped into my pedals this morning and biking to work. I am biking in the street and about to cross the street so I check behind me to make sure it was safe and sure enough... a car. So I try to slow down so the car can pass and I can cross the street but the car decided that just because there no speed minimum, that meant he could drive as slow as he wanted. So while I am waiting for this car to pass, I am trying to keep the bike moving (and thus upright) but not too fast so I don't miss my turn. Well, eventually gravity won (you may have won this time gravity, but next time you might not be so lucky) and I fell over. And I figured out the answer to the age old question, no not the tree in the woods, that one is easy... (yes it makes a sound but you can't hear it because all the other trees are laughing at it) but if you are stuck to your pedals of your bike and you fall, you simply fall too. I stuck my arm and my knee out to break my fall. And quickly looked around to see if anyone saw me. Luckily the streets were quiet and no one but the slowest moving car in Orlando saw me. So I got back up on that bike, cried a little, sucked my thumb, cried a bit more and eventually got back on that bike and carried on.
Now I am nervous about falling again, but at least I know what to do when I fall over... try to get as much of your body to hit the pavement as possible to protect the bike.
Well I went for a run this afternoon and my legs felt like lead weights. All this swimming and biking really takes a toll on the legs. I ran a loop around UFC but managed to make the run more interesting my venturing off into the woods. Running in the woods can be both a good idea and a bad idea at the same time. While running in the woods I keep thinking about my dad warning me over and over to be safe from the alligators and how I am at every step about to be attacked (on land) by an alligator. Luckily I don't live in West Virginia or I might also worry about some back woods hill billy (one word or two?) grabbing me and acting out scenes from the movie Deliverance. But I digress... good idea running in the woods, splashing in the puddles, jumping over logs... bad idea running in the woods and getting lost or ending up further from home than intended. Well a simple little run turned into what my Nike+ told me was 9 miles. Total run time 54 mins in the hot Orlando Heat. (The Heat are from Miami, not Orlando). Anyways... I'm out.

Top Five alternate names for my blog:
1. The Pretty Pretty Princess, It’s so hard to be the pretty sister (you don’t ask, and I won’t tell) (That one comes courtesy of my sister Lu)
2. Plus 1
3. The Infantryman’s guide to the Galaxy
4. Consider this my facebook page
5. I’m a PC and this is my blog

Honorable mention:
Things I do when I am bored at work
Simply Me
I’m British (but I’m really not)
The world is your oyster, but what if you are allergic to shellfish?

Too much or too little...?

I have been reading stuff on the internet about training for a triathlon. Some sites say one of the worst things a newbie can do with their training is to over train. Another site says one of the worst things a newbie can do is under train. I have not worked out since last Thursday (and that was only riding my bike to work and back). I had a busy day at work on Friday and slept in Saturday and Sunday. So I am under training at this point or what? I think that was just laziness getting the best of me and that I should worry about under or over training. I know my body and I will know what is too much or too little. Anyways, here is what I did today.

Swim: 1000 m in about 30 mins. Swimming is getting easier but it is still extremely difficult.
Lifted: back and chest muscles.
Swimming really gets the chest and back muscles tired. 185 pounds felt much heavier today than usual.

In reply to my dad's email about western movies here is today's top 5;
Top Five Westerns:
1. Lonesome Dove
2. Tombstone
3. Young Guns
4. Open Range
5. Brokeback Mountain (just kidding)
5. Shane

Honorable Mention:
3:10 to Yuma
Unforgiven
Silverado

The road goes on forever...

I am already tired of running. Running while deployed and on a ship was easier. Everyday was so mundane that even logging hundreds of miles on a treadmill staring at the wall was exciting. Now that I am running and have a normal life again I am reminded just how boring running can be. Maybe it was just one of those days and tomorrow will be easier, but then again maybe the road just goes on forever.
Q: Who sings the song that today's title refers to? Hint: The line ends with "and the party never ends." First one to answer correctly wins the honor of being the first person to answer correctly.

That was neither here nor there (which by the way, what does that mean. If something is not here nor there, then where is it?) But I digress.
Today: Lifted Chest and Back muscles then ran 5.5 miles in 40 mins.

Top 5 Songs to Jam on your Ipod while running:
1. Anything off the Footloose Soundtrack (pick any of them)
2. Almost anything by Fallout Boy (most of their songs are awesome)
3. Into the Night by Santana feat Chad Kroger (the guy from Nickelback)
4. Jump (For my love) by The Pointer Sisters (When I hear this song I think of the scene in the movie 'Love Actually' where Hugh Grant is dancing around his house while jamming this song. It is just a fun song, and something fun can go a long way when facing the boring monotony of running)
5. ABC by The Jackson 5 (Just a good song)
Honorable Mention:
Rage Against the Machine
Rise Against
(Both are good, angry, I wasn't hugged enough by my father kind of music)
Note: I don't fall into the above description but angry music is good to get you pumped up sometimes.
I know my #1 and #2 answers weren't songs but rather albums but I challenge anyone to put on a Footloose CD and see how long you can listen to it before you need to hit the next button.
(And FYI you would hit the next button 2.5 times; Waiting for a Girl Like You by Foreigner, Almost Paradise by Ann Wilson and Mike Reno, and half crap credit point for Somebody's Eyes by Karla Bonoff) And if you have an Ipod and don't have Footloose or Fallout Boy on it, you need to.
That's all I got, I'm out. The lame debate is on.

Key West Baby!!!

First Off - Congrats to my sister and brother in law. My sister is knocked up (again) and she found out today that they are having a girl this time. Two boys and they are now adding a baby girl to the family. She has been calling this for a while now; she knew it was a girl and she was right.
This weekend the wife and I went to Key West, Fl. Only a short 7 hour drive (sarcastic) from Orlando and you can be in an Island Paradise. Here are a few pics but trust me there are more. With our fancy camera in hand, we were picture taking fools.

Anyways... the purpose of this blog wasn't to brag that I am going to be the uncle of a baby girl or that I went to Key West this weekend; it was to post my work outs as I prepare for an Ironman. I took Friday-Monday off while we were in the Keys. Today I rode my triathlon bike for the first time. I bought the bike shoes that clip into the pedals yesterday and even bought a helmet (safety first!). So today I took off for a ride. 18.25 miles. All I can say is that I need to invest in padded bicycle shorts, ouch. That was all I did today.
No top five list today, I didn't have time to work on it. Peace out.

It is official now...

Well it is official. I have signed up for 3 triathlons. I have a sprint on Feb 14, 09 (Swim 400 yards, Bike 9 miles, Run 2 miles), an Olympic Tri on March 14, 09 (Swim 1500 meters, Bike 24.9 miles, Run 5.5 miles) and a half Ironman on May 17, 09 (Swim 1.2 miles, Bike 56 miles, Run 13.1 miles). It is for real now. I am doing this. Here is today’s workout…
800m swim: 25m any stroke easy pace
25m freestyle fast
10 rounds of the following circuit:
10 pushups
10 curls (65 pounds)
10 thruster (75 pounds) Don’t worry about what a thruster is, not important.

Instead of a top five list I give you a disclaimer...
Before we go any further, let’s be friends…
I am not sure I totally understand the name, Blog, though. Isn't this just an online diary or journal (for those of us who think diary is for sissies and girls). I am not sure what a Blog is, but after being wrapped up in several of them for some time now, I have decided to take to the world wide web and contribute my piece to society.
A bit over dramatic, most likely, but for those of you who become loyal readers, or just unlucky passer-bys who happen to be reading this I will forewarn you that I tend to be an overdramatic person. At least in my head I am. I am not sure if my actions or even my reality is ever overdramatic, but my thoughts and the fantasy world in my head are definitely overdramatic. Also, a second warning. I am not very good at spelling. Nor do I really read what I write to ensure I write what I mean. In fact sometimes I can write the exact opposite of what I intend to say simply by leaving off certain letters. Can't can easily become can, and didn't can just as easily become did. So, please read not the words I write, but the message I intend to write. Or read what I actually write compare that to what you think I meant to write, then have a great big laugh about it in the end.

This is where is all begins...

Well today wasn't the first day of my training but it was the first day to post, which means it is the first official day. The more I type and the more you read the more you will understand why this is a real super man's blog. I took about 6 weeks off and did zero training until about a week ago. So I am starting to get back into the swing of elite fitness.
Today: Ran 2.5 Miles (20 mins), 100 pullups, 200 squats, 300 crunches (40 mins), 2.5 mile run back (20 mins)

Top Five List of things most people don’t know about me:
1. Milk gives me gas.
2. I think I am ambidextrous, just out of practice at using my left hand
3. My biggest fear in life is living with regrets
4. This is actually the third blog I have done. The first two didn’t work out so well.
5. I am an introvert… an introverted Alpha Male. Go figure.
Honorable mention:
Without proper self motivation, I am the laziest person in the world. A lazy super man? Yeah, that's my kryptonite - laziness.