Volleyball Week 9

An all around good result last night, 3-0. We really needed these wins too, as we are tied with another team for the final playoff spot with one week remaining. The other team currently owns the tiebreaker which is point differential, so we need to win out and hope they don't. It would be nice to at least be in the play-offs, and as our play has improved a great deal of late perhaps at least challenge to advance. We would be playing the top seed, and it would be pretty tough to advance, but it would be nice to keep playing.

On a personal note, I played fairly well with a couple nice spikes and a few more good digs. My passing from the back line is improving, but still needs a lot of work. My best spike of the night, and perhaps the season occurred when I went against my brother and rifled a shot past him that no-one could get too. It's always a bit sweeter with some good-natured rivalry.

I skipped the pick up games to head home and finish some work and to get up early for swimming this A.M. Don't tell my coach, but I think I may be starting to enjoy backstroke. Even the kick sets didn't seem quite as bad this morning!

Read more...

Soapstone... and crash

It was really nice to get out on the mountain bike again this past weekend! We went on Saturday afternoon, hoping to get a few hours of riding before we get a bunch of snow again which would make it tough to ride.

There were four of us heading out, and I was the only one that seemed under dressed, scorning pants for just shorts and a long sleeve shirt. I did remember my gloves however, and ultimately I wasn't cold at all unless we stopped for a while. We decided to try and head for the "Home Depot" (No, I don't know why it's called that) trail over towards Porter Road. After a miscue or two in trying to find it, we ended up just where I had been a few weeks ago and had really enjoyed. It's a pretty windy trail with a lot of lines through, around and over rocks.

One particularly fun section involves riding over two rocky ridges that are somewhat connected by a deep trough that you need a lot of speed to get down and back up the other side. Shawn was a bit farther ahead of me and had stopped when he missed the line and was checking it out. I saw him, and just decided to go for it without thinking. This was a great idea as I made it all the way through both sections and the guy behind me just followed me right through. Sometimes it's best to just go for it, instead of spending too much time thinking about it. It was a lot of fun and the other guys wanted to try it. Unfortunately, on the way through Josh got a pinch flat and spent some time fixed that instead of riding. This gave us plenty of time to try riding the ridge in both directions, and I cleared it a few more times, but never quite so good as the first time.

After we got the flat fixed, we headed on and then looped around to head back to the house. Just ahead of me, I saw Josh to a wheelie drop off a pretty big stone, probably about a 2 foot drop. I just followed him right off it with one problem. As I pedaled hard to bring the front end up, my wheel spun and instead of lifting the front wheel and staying back over the drop my momentum stalled and the front wheel dropped! Not a good position to land on the ground in, as I went over the bars and slammed into a few rocks. I ended up with a pretty bruised thigh and knee, and it's still bothering me today.

That was pretty much the end of the adventure, we were mostly back at this point with one detour as we tried to avoid some flooded trails. All in all, a really good time and I'm glad we went as it's snowing now, and it will probably be a few weeks before the trails are rideable again.

Read more...

Yoga again

It's been about 6 months, but I restarted my Yoga program yesterday. The gym at the office where I work offers Yoga classes during the lunch hour a few days a week, and I've really enjoyed it in the past. I'm not entirely sure why I stopped going, it was a combination of the session I registered for expired, I got busy, it was summer so I wanted to be out side, yada yada yada...

Anyway, I signed back up and was looking forward to the first class all week. It's hard to totally quantify the benefits, because in addition to a fun workout and added flexibility, it just seems to make my body feel better. I don't feel as stiff and awkward, my movements just seem to feel better and I suspect it helps my running a lot since it loosens up my legs and hips. The Thursday class is a Power Yoga class and tends to be more rigorous than Mondays, and it proved to be again yesterday. We do quite a bit with Sun Salutations, sometimes staying in downward dog or high push up which can be quite taxing on the arms, at least for me. The teacher likes to refer to downward dog as a resting position, but he's clearly crazy!

In any case it was enjoyable and I felt good for the rest of the day, I only wished I could do more than 2 days a week. I really have to try and find a way to fit it in sometimes at home.

Read more...

Quick review - The Tea Stop

A bit of a digression from my usual topics, but I wanted to mention a fascinating new weight-loss product I've tried... no, not really! Or at least it's not exactly a weight-loss product, although it is probably helping me with one of my goals which is to stay more hydrated to keep from overeating as much during the day.

I ordered some loose tea from The Tea Stop to add to my collection of tea at work. I've been a tea drinker off and on, but lately I had drifted into the hardcore land of Starbucks coffee which is available in the lobby of my building (I wonder if my company did any studies on increased productivity from the vast quantities of caffeine consumed since they added the coffee stand) I wanted to get back in the tea habit a bit since I enjoy it, and it would be quite a bit cheaper not buying coffee.

I ordered two teas to try, a China Drum Mountain white tea, and a black licorice tea. Both were really good, I've been a white tea fan for a while and I really liked the mellow flavor which really was nice after lunch. The black licorice tea is billed as an energy booster, and I didn't notice a significant letdown from the lack of coffee which was a good sign. My only current issue is that I'm not sure exactly how to tell how much to use as I'm just grabbing a pinch from the bag. The site does give you how much you should use, but it's hard to tell how much is an oz. when I grab a bit. I'm sure I get a feel for it as I go, but if that's my only complaint that I'm pretty happy.

Read more...

What are YOU waiting for?

I'm in, why aren't you yet?

Yes, Eric, Nate, Greg, Matt, Sean, Tom... I'm talking to you! Sign up here

I'm not suggesting you have to be as dumb as I am and sign up for the Bull Moose challenge, which is both races back to back, but pick one at least! Mooseman is a great event, a fun weekend all around and extremely well run. If you need to pick one race to do this year I would definitely recommend it!

Read more...

Volleyball Week 8

Whoops, looks like I missed week 7 which is okay since it was mostly forgettable anyway. I suspect my uncle feels otherwise however since it was his team we lost too... but lets move on to this week.

As a team we played pretty well, winning 2 out of 3. It was critical to win since they were the team directly ahead of us for a playoff spot. I think we could have taken all three games, but we couldn't finish them off the last time. Personally, the first game was probably my best all-around game that I've played. I had at least 5 kills and 2 blocks and was a solid force on the front line. I also limited my mistakes in the back row, and served well. We really played very well as a team the first game. The second two games I didn't get as many opportunities, but I still played well when I got the chance to make some plays.

After my game, I got on the bike for 50 minutes and then on the elliptical for another 20 while waiting for the other games to finish so I could play pickup. It was a pretty forgettable pickup game for me, although my uncle seemed to be all over the net. It's still a lot of fun though and I'm enjoying it enough to sign up for another session.

Read more...

Lazy? Not us.

This is a pretty funny if scary picture!

Read more...

Looking back

Well, 2007 was a great year both personally and from my athletic endeavors perspective, capped most certainly by finishing the Ironman in Lake Placid at the end of July. Ironman was a goal I thought about almost 4 years ago, and it felt pretty great to achieve it. In fact, it was such a relief that I spend much of the rest of the summer in a bit of a lull trying to find something next to pursue. Much like my wife called post-partum depression, although I will probably get in trouble if she thought I was denigrating what she went through :) In some respects, I still don't entirely feel back on track but I've started to get some consistency back with my workouts which will help I'm sure.

With the Ironman looming over much of the year, I achieved my highest totals in workouts since I started tracking them.

Swim -- Bike -- Run
102,500 yds, 44:28:00 hrs -- 3,057 mi, 176:35:00 hrs -- 335 mi, 59:43:00 hrs
Total Time
371:14:00 hours

Here's 2006 for comparison
Swim -- Bike -- Run
43,200 yds, 13:26:00 hrs --2,046 mi, 121:21:00 hrs -- 463 mi, 86:36:00 hrs
Total Time
276:51:41

Almost a hundred more hours overall, one thousand more miles on the bike and a doubling of my swim mileage! Not too bad. As I've mentioned previously, the running is down and I attribute it to not staying consistent with running after the race in July. I hope at some point these numbers will be an inspiration to myself or someone else and help in putting my year in perspective.

Overall, I would consider 2007 the year of reconnecting with my family in sport. There was not a single race or competition that I participated in where there was not another family member present, and the group has gotten larger. It's no longer just my brother-in-law anymore, more uncles have gotten involved with both triathlons and hiking trips, my brother has done a lot with me as well. Cousins, friends and other relatives have also joined me at different points to mountain bike, ski, play volleyball and hike and it's been really great. I've reminisced a bit in the past about my childhood spent playing sports or other games with family, and I feel a bit of that has come back this year.

Here's looking forward to another great year, I'm hoping for more consistency but realistically less volume than last year.

Read more...

Happy New Year

I haven't exactly been lights out with the posting, but the holidays as always were rather hectic. I hope that everyone enjoyed any time off that you got to spend with your family and that it was a pleasant few weeks. I certainly enjoyed my down time, and I managed to get out and do a few things that I haven't gotten the chance to do in a while, including skiing with my cousin.

Lots of interesting stuff to post about, I'm due for a 2008 goals post and a 2007 wrap up at least :). Two highlights from the year past, over 100,000 yards of swimming and over 370 total hours of fitness goodness! I'm also looking forward to the wrap-up of the volleyball season, and a decision about whether to continue or not into the next session.

Carry on...

Read more...

Running challenge

I'm trying to find a way to get my running kickstarted again and make things more interesting. There was a time last year when I really got into the flow of running and started to enjoy it a lot. I'd like to get back there! One of the really fun events I did last year was the Colchester 1/2 marathon in February despite the brutal cold. I'm thinking there's a way to wrap these two items together.

There are 75 days between now and the 1/2 marathon on February 23... perhaps another challenge to set say 60 as a target number of days to run. That's quite a bit, but it would force me into consistency which would ultimately be my goal. I should probably set a number of miles too in order to add a bit of spice. I need to find a way to get it back into my daily schedule, probably by starting to run during the day at work again.

The best case scenario is that someone else, either a friend or relative, would join me in this challenge. Perhaps someone could pick a different activity, or even a few different folks? Anyone interested? It would be nice to have a bit of competition to keep me going... we could even put a small wager on it. Or not.

Drop me a note in email or a comment below if you're interested...

Read more...