Pale as a light bulb hanging on a wire

Third time is not really a charm. But back to New Orleans. My friend Rob was in town so we drove there from Houston.

It was fun and we learned a little bit about the city so we could at least say we went off Bourbon Street. It was fairly tame for there but with the heat in stunk to the high heavens. Frenchmen street was neat with some great live music venues and great New Orleans restaurants.

So now my life has come to this. It is New Orleans on the weekend and I am in bed by 11.

Ever since I have been a kid I have heard the battle cry, Remember the Alamo and it was of interested to me  to learn more about it so Rob and I took another trip to San Antonio. In my opinion, it has a lot more character and vibe vs Houston. It is the center for the Texas Liberty movement and the Alamo is well worth a visit and to learn more about American icons of Davy Crockett, Sam Bowie, Gen. Travis etc. I didn't know that there so much of San Antonio built around the rive. A unique city in North America (I think)

And this is what to remember

River walk

No trip would be complete without this

My First Full Tri

I think every play on words have been employed regarding a tri but I have not read Tri your arse off so that is what I did for three plus hours of my life.

I had the flu and was too dumb to cancel the meet but I finally have a full tri completed.

This one was in Austin and is one of the more popular (I think) ones in the US where the big boys and big girls come to play. Lots of competitors and as usual when I sign up they change the sign from Welcome Athletes and Frank.

The swim at 1.5 km was excruciatingly slow and even slower today. Typical mashing and thrashing until you found some free space in the river with the faster swimmers passing me from the previous age group.

I was a bit disoriented after the swim and it took forever to find my bike so lots of time lost. The bike racks looked like a penguin rockery to me at this point. But now I run through the transition area and hop on my bike. There was a bit of wind of some hills but nothing too serious. I woman wiped out or more likely passed out on her bike and hit hard on the asphalt. I stopped to help but another woman stopped and said she was a paramedic. So I said I was an accountant and if you want to know how to correctly depreciate that bike to call me.

So now I am back on the bike and back into the beehive that is the race. There were some hills and some wind in Austin that day but some amazingly strong riders in which I was not one of them.

So now I am done with the bike and don't really feel like running 10k in 95 degree heat but through self loathing this is what I signed on for.

The run was slow again. 15 minutes slower than what I was aiming for. The running for me is the toughest phyically but easiest mentally. Hot and tired but you just have to run. I find there is so many moving parts with me swimming that I over think it and being clipped into your bike with people whizzing by you, yelling of your left and almost touching pedals can be a bit unnerving as well.

But running is just running. I don't like drinking or taking goo when I run so that is something I need to work on.

Now I am now making this up, as I ran towards the finish line a dude dressed as a banana jumps out from the crowd and hugs me as I am breaking the tape. He was pissed drunk and I was too tired to care.

I was too tired and too sick to wait around to see how I did so I packed my gear and drove back to Houston. Glad to have the first full one done but I am also looking forward to the next one and hopefully feeling better.

This reminded me of a penguin rockery 

Onward,

The Coldest Winter

The Golden Gate

This is the former house of the Grateful Dead

This is where the Hippie movement started

Mark Twain once said that the coldest winter he ever spend was a summer in San Francisco. Sounds about right. It was fecking cold.

I decided that I should see a bit of the USA before I move on somewhere else and San Francisco was one of the places that I wanted to see. I was told many years ago that old deuce bags call it the Bay.

Mostly a touristy trip to Fisherman's wharf (very touristy), Alcatraz and Haight Ashbury. There is a great vibe to the city with lots to do and a great place just to walk around. I stayed in China Town which I think is the largest in N. America. No sports events but the Giants were in town playing.

A very windy city and now I am so wimpy with the cold I found it freezing. And this was California. Not sure I could handle another Canadian winter anymore.

As you would expect, there are great restaurants and a certain charm to the place. Glad I went for a few days.

This guy is great. bro

Coolest Hero Ever

Even Better

Damn it 0-2

Yet Again

The intro says welcome athletes and as soon as I registered it said and competitor.

Feck Sakes

I am now 0-2 in trying to do an dedicated athletic endeavor. The bike part of the tri today was canceled because of all the rain last night. So it was a duathalon but I did finish that part of it.

So after months of training I was ready. I again have planters fasciitis which the pain peaked in my last week of training but I still could get through a 10k but will be glad to have some time off and get ready for another tri.

It rained really hard last night so I thought the race was in jeopardy. I drove down to Kemah where the meet was, racked my bike, picked up my goodie bag and drove home in torrential rain, thunder and lighting. The usually aggressive traffic even slowed down. The lighting seemed so close at times it was a bit scary.

But alas and alack I got my gear ready, put on the racing numbers tattoos and had about 3 hours sleep which was dumb but...

We received an email about 4 in the morning to say the bike leg  is canceled but the swim and race would go on. So I got up, had some bananas, honey, quinoa and water for breakfast and made my way to Kemah again. It was dark, rainy and cold for some but I didn't mind that part of it. I left my bike outside in the pouring rain but I am sure there were  8 thousand dollar bikes there so I was not too concerned.

The Swim
The swim was from a boat start. They sailed out a bit in to the harbour and from a standing jump away you went. With the storm last night, it was really choppy, a strong current and really poor visibility. The pro's go first and they and amazing to watch. Even with the crappy conditions they have such good form. The next are the amateurs  and that is more like it. Heading cats with one dude going the wrong way.

Next it was the age groupers and the over 40's so I was ready. The water was cold so I had a wet suit which I don't like but it does give you some buoyancy advantage. With a wet suit, swim cap, goggles (vs glasses) and a nose plug I looked like a bad prop from a bad B movie. The jump is not far but I sank further down than I thought. When you are on the boat 1.5 km's looks fecking far. But I just focused on the time vs the distance. I knew I could swim an hour with a pace and it should take me 45 minutes to do this (which is slow) but my goal was not to drown. The sighting was really hard with the big waves, strong current against you and the waves made it difficult to get into any type of rhythm and I was swallowing lots of lovely BP enhanced, freshly lubed Gulf H2O. I can see how people panic out there. A couple of times all I could see was ocean in what seemed to be all directions with no one around. That made no sense I just saw the friggin beach so I it was a matter a getting a line again and trying to get another rhythm going. Lots of people were yelling for the kayaks. There was the usual thrashing, kicking and punching to start (I say usual, as in this is my second one) but once you had some open ocean you did not have to deal with the crowds until you started the run leg.

Bad move for my goggles. They leaked and fogged up which made sighting even more difficult and I really had no idea how my time was but eventually I could feel sand beneath my feet which was a relief. My legs were a bit wobbly and my rickety left shoulder was sore but I ran to the transition time. The wet suits are bastards to get off so they have a "stripping station" but no one through money at me. I left my friggin watch on the outside so I couldn't get my wet suit off quickly. Once I figured that out, I drop to my arse and then they rip the suit off you. You then carry that find your transition shoes and run 1/2 mile to the running station. A half mile for a transition time was long so it will be tough to get a gauge as to what a good time is.

I find my running station. put on my running gear and have 10k to run. This was uneventful other than the planters fasciitis getting worse with every km but I finished. I am amazed again at the pros who can run just over 6 minute miles. I was probably 8.

Running Shoes
It was a weird race. I used three pairs of shoes. Because the first transition was 1/2 mile I needed trainers from the water to the race where I would put on my normal runners. But the boat launch was another half mile from the bike/run area so I used another pair to get to the launch. The other pair was brought to the swim finish the night before. So three pairs of trainers for one race. And only 2 of which I got back.

The Run
I wasn't really that tired until the last 1.5 km and my goal of reducing my time by a minute was not realized. It basically worked out to be-my swim time was 5 minutes under and my run time was 5 minutes over. I regret not getting the bike ride in. If it is not my best leg it is certainly my favorite. I was looking forward to hammering down with out traffic lights, kids, dogs, and people on smart phone suddenly crossing over into the other lane.

What I did right
Stuck to the training plan, rarely missed a work out and almost never missed the totals for the week.

What I did wrong

1) I don't like drinking or taking goo when I run so I am not hydrating properly. I think I need to practice this when I run. I of course drink water but not enough and I think I will need to make my own running goo as the other stuff I find just awful. I think honey and water will do the trick.

2) Find a better way to put on the timing chip. It was chaffing, then blisters and then a small amount of blood. I just could not find a comfortable way to do it and I didn't want to stop to adjust. Fortunately , it was the back of my calf and not heal so it was no so bad running. And as my niece says, I little blood makes you a warrior (but she says it better than I can write it)

3) Figure out how to prevent PF. Fecking hurts.

4) To much gear in transition areas but I think this was bit to do with the rain and perhaps the cold but it did seem to be a lot.

5) Train harder on the runs. I was passing a lot of Clydesdales and Athenas (race terms) but I was slow. I was hoping for under 50 minutes on the run but I don't think I did that.

6) Get tri laces. Two stops to tie my shoes two too many and I lost time.

7) Quit taking it so serious that I am worried about laces. At 47 and a hack, I don't think there are any Olympic berths in my future.

The End

At the end of the race, I was had a some chaffing, my heal was sore and the sun came out for the run and I was sun burnt so I was not too anxious to stick around. I took one quick look to see my placing but it was not posted yet. The area where the times were posted were a sloppy mess because of the rain so I gathered my stuff and drove back to Houston. I will find out later this week how I placed. With 2,000 competitors I suspect smack in the middle.

The Next One
I want to do a full tri for sure, a sprint and a super sprint so I will need to see where I can do this. I heard the one in Austin is a really nice one so I think I will try for that.

Onward,

Can you guess what my number was. Not to mention it was on my bike and I had a wrist band

Thankfully you don't need a lot of arm strength.

Fecking Houdini could not get out of this

This is a link to Rancho Relaxo (My Condo in Nicaragua). Actually this is not my unit but is the one the management company uses for advertising. Mine is very similar.

Link to Rancho Relaxo

And here is a link to the town that is close to the beach

Link to San Juan Del Sur

And please don't kid yourself. I am pretty gangster.

I wanted to see how easy it was to post a picture with caption and this is the fist picture that  I had.