Tri-As He Might

Thoughts on my first Triathlon

*I now have even greater respect for superheros after wearing a wet suit, rubber is hot.

*Mobile bathrooms, become less gross the more you need one.

*Sorry Bobby Boucher Jr., Gatorade is better.

*Salem Springs' pond does not taste great.


*Red Vines are an excellent recovery food, Pay-Days are excellent race fuel.

*Triathlons are addictive.

*Racing around farms and having people bang cowbells at you on your bike, really allows you to pretend you are in the Tour de France. This is of course a very a happy delusion.

*Someone turned a giant piece of farm equipment into a dragon with a sign that says, "Don't Feed the Dragon". Neat.

*Look Llamas.

*Having people chant "BEARD, BEARD, BEARD" and "GO BEARD GO" is awesome.

*Only slightly more awesome is winning the prize of a high quality new bike bag solely because of your ability to grow facial hair like a Norse God.

*DZ Nuts is essential to success.

Musical Rundown
I only used music during the run portion of the race, and then I only started at the half way point. It made an enormous difference. I immediately felt energized, and picked up the pace instantly at the point I decided to turn on my the Ipod.

*Under Pressure-Queen
First song to come on is a perfect way to revive the lost energy. Queen as long been the band best associated with stadium soundtracks.

*NFL Films Soundtrack
The orchestra playing rousing music while John Facenda grizzled voice speaks of blitzing linebackers, Vince Lombardi and the gridiron as the floor of the ancient Roman coliseum even though you are not in anyway resembling football still manages to stir up all of the masculinity stored in your body and push you further.

*Stronger-Kanye West
I'll let all you haters finish in a minute, but I gotta say Kanye recorded one of the best work out songs of all time.

*Iron Man-Black Sabbath
Tommy Iommi's guitar and Ozzy's vocals...nuff said.

*Shipping Up to Boston-Dropkick Murpheys
Finding your wooden leg while being genuinely pissed off seem to echo the feeling during the last minutes of triathlon.

*Black Friday Rule-Flogging Molly
Again, when you are just needing to harness the anger to push yourself nothing beats Irish Punk.

*Blitzkrieg Bop-The Ramones
Fast and furious excellent for when you want to make a move and pass some fools.

*Beautiful Day-U2
The song I like to end all of my runs with with. It captures the zen feeling of seizing the day and experiencing life that running/biking/swimming on a perfect sunny day bring to pass. Beautiful Day encompasses the experience you are in the midst of because the rush of endorphins merged with weeks of training and sense of accomplishment all collide to great a day you don't want to let slip away.

Fresh Scent

By: Maggie

Scene: Maggie has just gone running and is now doing yoga when Colt comes into the room. Maggie is in Warrior II.

Colt: What is that? Is that you?

Maggie: What?

Colt: Something smells really good.

Maggie: Well I doubt it is me. I have been sweating like crazy.

Colt: (leans in and smells Maggie) It is you. (smells again) Wow you smell really good.

Maggie: Really that is strange.

Colt: (smells Maggie again) yeah it is you huh you smell...fresh and clean.

Maggie: Ummm.... Thanks

InFlexiable.

By Maggie:

I try to go to a yoga class on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7 AM. I have a very black or white mentality when it comes to exercise (among other things). I was training for a race last year missed one week of training and never went back. I have gone running since then but not with the same verve or consistency. Last fall I was going to this yoga class regularly until I got a few early morning appointments that conflicted with it and I had not gone to the class again until last week. It seems like my schedule has worked out in a way that at least for now I can go.

How do I get back in the habit once I break it? Just power through and force myself? Maybe, but I am very stubborn. My mom always said that if I could channeled my stubbornness into positive things that I could do anything and that no one could make me do anything I did not want to do. Well tomorrow is a yoga day so we will see whether my desire for sleep or for stretch is stronger. Wish me luck!

Yoga Man Needs a Steak

Maggie: I did the yoga class today.

Colt: Oh yeah. How was it?

Maggie: It was good, I liked the new teacher. He was really good at helping me with my form.

Colt: It was a man?

Maggie: That's why I said "he." You would have hated him.

Colt: Why?

Maggie: He said things like "Point your heart towards the earth with this pose."

Colt: hmmm

Maggie:You would have ripped up his "Man Card" huh?

Colt: If any girl has drug her boyfriend/husband there before against his will...that "Man Card" is long gone.

*Please note that doing yoga or teaching does not result in automatic suspension of a "Man Card" but saying things like "let your inner self bond with the trees"(for example) will require action by a committee of men.

Movies to Make You Get Off the Couch

I have been trying hard to get in better shape lately. Its hard because watching TV and eating pure garbage is much more fun, and easier. The way I combat this is by watching movies that make me want to get up off of my ever growing posterior and go the gym. In the spirit of making us all healthier I share these works of film motivation.

Sports Century Montage

Around the turn of the millennium ESPN did a countdown of the greatest sports icons of the 20th century. As part of that countdown the created this montage of the greatest moments of sports. I loved watching and it was one of the first things I ever looked for on YouTube. If you don't love sports this montage shows you why you should. It encapsulates all of the drama and the importance that sport brought to a century. It reminds us of the moments when Jesse Owens and Joe Lewis had two halves of our divided United States cheering together. It shows us Jackie Robinson taking the field even before Rosa Parks took her seat. It shows us the Olympic hockey team creating a miracle on ice, Joe Dimaggio, Muhammed Ali, John McEnroe and Michael Jordan. If you watch only one of my suggested motivational clips this is the one to watch, if does not motivate you to work out it will at a minimum make you cheer.

SportsCentuary -Simply Great.

Rocky IV

I could have easily selected any of the Rocky Series for this article, but Rocky IV has the best training montage in my opinion. I know there is no Mickey, and no raw egg eating, but there is a big Russian and lots of snow. Watching Rocky climb a mountain in knee deep snow, after doing pull ups in a Siberian barn contrasted by Dolph Lundgrin (Ivan Drago) working out in the sterile environment of the Soviet Union's training compound all set to John Cafferty's inspiring anthem "Heats On Fire" just motivates the crap out of me. If you are a man and you watch this and you don't feel like pulling an ox-cart of Russian peasants up a mountain or at a minimum going for a brisk run in the park, check downstairs something might be missing.

ROCKY IV-Training Montage

Hoosiers

This film about a small town Indiana basketball team taking on impossible odds to compete for the state championship, plus Gene Hackman receiving a second chance on life reminds all of us who are former athletes(or just were once in better shape) that we can get a second chance on our own lives. Besides warming your heart this movie should motivate you to go run some ladders on your nearest basketball court.

Hoosiers- Brings a tear to your eye

Any Given Sunday

This is a very complex movie. I think its one of Oliver Stone's better films, and one that gets little recognition. It shows a much more raw unsavory side of pro football, but also humanizes superstars. It shows that football is sport of gladiators who actually do love their team and the game they play.

Everyone who views this film will be able to find a piece of themselves in one of the members of the fictional Miami Sharks football team. It might be the young unknown becoming superstar played by Jamie Fox that reminds those of just starting out that we don't know everything, and that we are building on what those who came before us have already created. It might be LL CoolJ's running back who reminds us of the risks we no longer take, Lawernce Taylor's linebacker who is proving his worth, or Dennis Quaid who just wants take his team down the field.

Al Pacino plays the head coach of this team out of control. He is a drunk that nobody loves, but who has a deep passion for the game of football some where in his messed up life. This is one of my favorite Pacino roles and his speech at the end should awaken all of us to "...fight for those inches around us..." by going to the gym. Warning this is Pacino and Oliver Stone so its a little(a lot) crude.

Any Given Sunday-Pacino's great speech(this section is not super crude, but does have a naughty word or two)

Rudy

For all of us who had to work hard for something we were not meant to have, Rudy is the movie for us. If you have not seen this movie there is a spot in your heart that has been reserved for watching a hobbit trying to play for Notre Dame(of course lately Frodo could may have helped the O-Line or at the least given the QB the ring so he could hide). If watching Rudy does not fire you up to go run under a set of stadium bleachers and relive your own dreams of glory, almost nothing will.

Rudy- A tribute video to movie about Rudy...its okay

Wii Fit Can Eat my Shorts

I decided to try the Wii Fit the other night. I have put on a little weight, and have been working out and eating better to try and get down to where I was when I came home from my mission. I climbed on the Wii Fit Balance Bored for my initial weigh in , and when the Wii Fit finished it said in a cute mocking little voice "That's Obese" then I swear to everything I heard it laugh. I then be screamed at the top of my lungs "ITS YOUR FAULT YOU ELECTRONIC BASTARD!!!" I was just called fat by a video game, one of the very things that lead to my newly developed big bones. Anyway the moral of the story is my Wii Fit and I not speaking, and the balance board is being used for Shawn White Snowboarding Road Trip.