Houston… we have flip turn

Yesterday at the pool… I asked my swim coach if instead of doing rotation drills etc… if he could teach me to flip turn instead.  Luckily, he said yes. 

(Tangent) If anyone needs a swim coach, I can put you in touch with him… he’s been great.  His credentials include:

• 2004 & 2008 Olympic Trials qualifier
• NCAA Division 1 National Champion
• NCAA Division 1 All-American
• UC Berkeley Men’s swim team five year member
• World Sprint Team 2004

So… the flip turn.  Surprisingly not all that hard.  There are 3 main things to remember.

1. hand position entering the wall:  your hands should be by your side facing the bottom of the pool.  When you want to turn, tuck your chin and initiate rotation by pushing down and raising your hands above your head.
2. Go out directly the way you came in.
3. Blow out your nose so you don’t get water up there (ouch)

I need a little practice… but I know this’ll make my swim workouts a lot more productive.

Here’s a really good video I found on showing the flip turn.

Giardia… Yuk!

Ok… so I don’t know if I mentioned this in one of my posts or not but I know Loren did. About how he and I have been sick with the exact same symptoms; stomach cramping, nausea, dizziness and diarrhea (I know TMI).

Anyway, I finally went to the Doctor and my labs came back that I have Giardia! If you don’t know (I didn’t) what it is, it’s basically a parasite that you can get if you eat food or drink water that is tainted with human or animal waste. HOW GROSS IS THAT!

here’s more from WebMD.com.

After some thought on How the Hell could I get this… I boiled down to one place… UVAS. I don’t know if anyone else who did the race got it or not, but I did and I think that Loren (who also did the race) got it too.

I wrote to Andrew at J&A Productions who puts on the race, but I haven’t heard anything back from then yet.

If you know of anyone who did that race, let them know that they are most likely infected and should get checked out because the parasite can lay dormant for a while.

So… now I’m on a pretty strong anti-biotic to get rid of it. Thankfully it’s not anything worse and I can get rid of it quickly.

I wonder if there’s a way to check the water before you race (hint hint J&A).

Technorati Tags: Giardia,UVAS,Loren,Poo

Training again & Trying Live Writer

After about 3 weeks of being sick (you don’t want to know the details) but it’s the same thing that Loren and Ian have/had. Let me just say that it hasn’t been fun, I’m not entirely over it… but I’m tired of not working out and I needed to exercise again.

So this is my first full week of training and I’m glad to say I haven’t really lost a step. My heart rate is a little higher than normal but I’m sure that’ll go down.

I also just got my new toy a Garmin 405 and I’m really excited about using it. I’ve been training without a HRM for a few months now and it’s killing me! I’ll finally be able to get back on track and do some really good tracking of my workouts.

Also I’m using Live Writer for the first time to write this post. It’s pretty good. All the basics and I’m sure more that I don’t know about. Loren seems to dig it, so I’ll give it a try and see how it goes. I suppose I can support MSFT for one more product :-)

And lastly… I found this Funny.

Bacon Flowchart...

I was emailed this today and I had to pass on. Who doesn't love Bacon!

I wish I could have a BLT. Stupid Salmonella!



Image from http://incredimazing.com/page/Bacon_Flowchart

Batter Blaster

Ok... so how many of you like Breakfast for dinner? Most of you probably said you do so check this out.

A woman I work with showed me this Cool New product; Batter Blaster! "Batter Blaster™ makes organic light and fluffy pancakes and light and crisp waffles in minutes!"

You know the whip cream in a can? Change the whip cream for pancake batter and you have Batter Blaster!

So... in thinking about this you probably already have some preconceived notions about it:

• Completely laden with chemicals
• It's -10 on the healthy chart
• Gross... pancakes in a can

Well... You couldn't be Further from the truth.

• It's Organic (I know, I couldn't believe it either)
• See first bullet... Good for you!
• I admit it's a bit odd... it's Very clever

Here are the ingredients:

• Filtered water
• Organic wheat flour (unbleached)
• Organic cane sugar
• Organic whole egg solids
• Organic soybean powder
• Sodium lactate (lactic acid from beet sugar)
• DiCalcium phosphate and Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) (leavening agents)
• Organic rice bran extract propellant

Ok... after I saw this, I ran out at lunch and bought some Batter Blaster so I could make them for dinner.

I get home and pull out the non-stick pan, the butter, the real maple syrup and the Batter Blaster.

Heat the pan, spread some butter around, shake can vigorously, depress batter dispenser... Houston we have Pancakes!

Super Easy... And let me tell you... They were Really Good!

They aren't the super fluffy pancakes you get in a diner... they are a thinner pancake. But I wouldn't hold that against them, they were delicious.

I can't wait to break this out on my next camping trip... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Wilderness Pancakes!

Everyone Please Be Careful!

I know... 3 posts in 2 days can you believe it.

I had to post this... Everyone Please Be Careful when you are out riding! There's no telling what can happen.

This is just Horrible!

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1239294.ece

FRS - 30% off

I just got a sample pack from FRS (Free Radical Scavenger). I'm on my second day of using it and I can see a little energy boost after taking it... I'll post again after more use.

Their main thing is around this stuff called Quercetin (supposedly a super strong antioxidant)

I just got an email for 30% off. Use this code to get the deal too. "FRSHEALTH"

I got my sample pack as a Free Trial. Pretty sweet deal; $50 buck worth of stuff for $7 (shipping cost).

Check it out.. it includes:

Low-Calorie Ready to Drink Can --one 11.5 oz. can, 25 calories per serving

Low-Calorie Powder --14 packets, 10 calories per serving

Soft Chews --30 chews, 40 calories per serving

Low-Calorie Concentrate --one 10 oz bottle, 20 calories per serving

Wow... it's been a long time.

So... once again it's been a long time since I've posted. No wonder I can't garner a steady group of folks to read my blog... they never know when I'll post again ;-)

But... I have a list of excuses this time.

1. I was in NYC for an extended Memorial Day weekend where my wife and our friends Jaa and Tom. Great Food and Shopping.
2. Extension of NYC... I caught a cold on my last day there and I've been fighting it for 7 days now. AAAAAAhhHHHHH! Stupid Germs.
3. Busy at my new job at Art.com
   

So, with NYC and the Cold pretty much behind me... I figured it was time to post again.

Today was my first workout in 8 or 9 days. It was killing me not to workout but I tried to enjoy the extra sleep and to let a few injuries heal.

One other thing to note... My stomach has been acting up. Everything I eat makes my stomach cramp up and I feel a little sick. It's been this way for a couple of weeks now. Odd. I think it's time to see a Dr. about it. Soda... is that how yours started?

And Lastly... It's My Birthday Today. Man I'm getting Old. And fortunately...I have Loren to point that out to me. Thanks Loren. I'll remind you that I'm only 38 and I'm guessing that it's all perspective. Heck to an 80 year old, I'm a young guy.

My amazing wife Julie put together a Great dinner party on Saturday night. She made 2 pans of Lasagna (Really good), Anti-pasti (assorted meats and veggies), salad (which I didn't eat and went for more lasagna), good Bread, strawberries w/ aged balsamic vinegar & Cream Horns (which I use to get as a kid from Helen's Bakery... Man are they good!)

and with that... I'll leave you with a great quote I saw in a Tri article in the NY Times.

"Sweat streamed down my forehead, and all I could see were random neon dots floating in the corners of my eyes. I was deep in the pain cave. We got to the top of the climb, and I stopped to catch my breath. I was euphoric: I pushed myself that hard?"

“Nice effort,” Jacobson said. “And the good news is, you’ll always pass out before you die.”

That's good to know!

Push Hard and Rest When Your Dead.

I promise to post again soon