k-Blog

2012-01-09T11:25:00.000-08:00

I was asked to do some compliance analysis against a product. Some research had been performed for me and I was to take the page source and submit it to a online tool called The Ruby Accessibility Analysis Kit or Raakt for short. We chose the online submission because we're primarily a Java shop and writing Ruby code would take longer than just submitting to the site and parsing the results.

I spent a couple days coding up Java/Selenium and was able to output to CSV and nicely report issues but it worried me that this was a personal web site I was using for business purposes. I get up today and the URL comes up with "500 Internal Server Error." Ugh... Now I need to figure out how to call Raakt from Java.

I take a look at the Ruby script that is include on the Raakt site to try and see how I can pass things in and get them out of the script. In the original script it just uses the "puts" command to output to the console. I had already coded up a nice CSV output and wanted to get the result back into Java land. I tried various things but finally read something that "use of return is permissisble but unnecessary" in Ruby. So I tried it and lo and behold I get back a result from the script. I'm certain there's a better way but at the moment I'm just trying to get things rolling.

require 'rubygems'
require 'raakt'

# Set up the RAAKT test and pass in source html
raakttest = Raakt::Test.new(page)

#Run all checks and return them
result = raakttest.all
return result

After a little more Googling I find out that there's such a thing as JRuby and it supports Java integration in the direction that I want. I find that the ScriptingContainer needs to know where JRuby home is (after much head banging). Then I'm able to give the script my page source and get back the result. The only lame part is that it comes back as Object. Maybe I'll tokenize the issues that come back to pop them into my CSV as separate lines but I'm running out of billable hours. :)

public static Object validate(String pageSource) {
    ScriptingContainer container = new ScriptingContainer();
    container.setHomeDirectory("/Library/Frameworks/JRuby.framework/Versions/Current");
    container.put("page", pageSource);
    container.put("result", "");
    Object result = container.runScriptlet(PathType.RELATIVE, "./analyze.rb");
    return (result);

ScalaTest with FeatureSpec

2012-01-02T12:14:00.000-08:00

The Scala fruits seem to be coming in the way of ScalaTest with FeatureSpec.

In a previous test harness I used cucumber-jvm and JUnit4 to be able to write Given/When/Then BDD style statements. I was excited when I found this but quickly tired of maintaining the code that supported the features. There's a resource directory that contains files with .feature as their extension. Those look like the following.

 Feature: As a user with a valid account I'd like to login to the system with a given role.  
 Scenario: Sign in as a Institutional Administrator role with a valid password.  
   Given a user with email address admin@example.com and password xxx
   When I click Sign In  
   Then I should be on the Institutional Administrator page

Then a class annotated with @Feature and a custom JUnit Runner... See this post of why the test class and the class containing the steps are different.

 @RunWith(Cucumber.class)  
 @Feature("Login.feature")  
 public class LoginTest {  
 }

Finally a class this contains the @Given/@When/@Then/@And annotated methods that have regex statements that match the feature file. Since I used JUnit4 I also have my @Before and @After methods in there.

 public class LoginSteps {  
   private WebDriver webDriver;  
   private LoginPage loginPage;  
   private InstitutionalAdminPage institutionalAdminPage;  
   private String username;  
   private String password;  
   @Before  
   public void prepare() {  
     webDriver = new FirefoxDriver();  
     loginPage = new LoginPage(webDriver).get();  
   }  
   @After  
   public void cleanUp() {  
       webDriver.quit();  
   }  
   @Given("^a user with email address (.*) and password (.*)$")  
   public void setLoginValues(String username, String password) {  
     this.username = username;  
     this.password = password;  
   }  
   @When("^I click Sign In")  
   public void signInAsUser() {  
       institutionalAdminPage = loginPage.loginAsInstitutionalAdmin(  
           this.username, this.password);
   }  
   @Then("^I should be on the (.*) page$")  
   public void assertLoginSuccess(String role) {  
     institutionalAdminPage.isLoaded();  
   }  
 }

Here's essentially the same thing using ScalaTest extended by FeatureSpec with GivenWhenThen. Granted I'm don't have PageObjects coded up in Scala yet but it seems to have promise. One thing I see is that the Gherkin statements are now buried in code. :( This is unfortunate because it affects its maintainability and export to future tools. On the flip side of that upon execution the statements are output to the console so you could potentially "export" them later on.

class ExampleSpec extends FeatureSpec with GivenWhenThen with BeforeAndAfter {
    var driver: FirefoxDriver = _

    before {
        driver = new FirefoxDriver
        driver.get("http://localhost/")
    }

    after {
        driver.quit
    }

    feature("Login as Institutional Administrator") {
        info("As a user with a valid account")
        info("I want to be able to login as a Institutional Administrator")
        info("So that I can perform administrative functions")

        scenario("Attempt to sign in as a Institutional Administrator") {

            given("I am given a user with email admin@example.com and password xxx")
            val usernameField = driver.findElement(By.id("username"))
            usernameField.clear
            usernameField.sendKeys("admin@example.com")
            val passwordField = driver.findElement(By.id("password"))
            passwordField.clear
            passwordField.sendKeys("tissueLocator1")

            when("I click Sign In")
            val signInButton = driver.findElement(By.id("submitLogin"))
            signInButton.click

            then("I should be on the Institutional Administrator page")
            val pageTitle = driver.getTitle
            assert("Arizona Biospecimen Locator" === pageTitle)
        }
    }
}

The experiment shall continue.

OSS immaturity

2012-01-02T10:07:00.000-08:00

I guess I'm not the only one...

"Unstable. Consider the blocks that build up Cuke4Duke: JVM, JRuby, RubyGems, Cucumber gem, Gherkin gem, Maven. For the sake of simplicity, let's assume that each of those exists in 4 versions. That means some 15.000 different combinations people might have on their machines. And then there is Windows/Linux/OS X differences on top of that."

Scala, IntelliJ, and Webdriver

2011-12-30T13:16:00.000-08:00

I finally got it all working. Successfully writing and executing tests in Scala using Selenium2 (aka Webdriver). The IntelliJ IDE support for Scala seems way better than Eclipse though. Now to see if I can write page objects and use Cucumber. Yay BDD!

sbt

2011-12-30T11:22:00.000-08:00

I tweeted a couple days ago that I was diving into Scala again. I did and the language is fine but the tools around it still seem pretty immature. Take for instance the build tool sbt not being backward compatible with each other. Googling for tutorials and grabbing things from github to try out isn't easy but now that I've stumbled a couple times I think I'm pushing through it. I did it with make, ant, and maven so I can do it again.

BrowserMob

2011-12-29T15:46:00.000-08:00

In the past I've set up performance environments using the typical injector, system under test, and monitor configuration using tools such as JMeter or The Grinder. Since all the cool kids are in the "cloud" I had to try this stuff out. After some internal querying some people suggested BrowserMob.

The first thing I noticed is that web services aren't the focus of the solution. Oh well. It's not named "WebServiceMob" then I start reading the tutorial. I'm happy it's pretty darn easy to get things set up. You can upload a saved Selenium IDE test case, script one in their editor, or get really fancy and code up JavaScript to control the types of users.

I decided to upload a short Selenium IDE test case. The Selenium IDE source was converted into a BrowserMob script after it was validated.

That's nice but how can I start a load test? After you select "Schedule" a page is presented that lets you turn all sorts of knobs and dials related to virtual user configuration, scripts, script time allocation, and more.

Lots of knobs and dials to configure!

The test plan shows how many concurrent users were planned when the test was scheduled, and how many were actually active in the test run.

Data throughput displays how many bytes were received by transactions that completed during each minute of the test, both as a total number of bytes as well as broken down by each script associated in the test. Often when throughput levels off, you have reached the saturation point of the load test.

The average response time per minute, summarized for the total transaction and also broken down by each step. A site that scales well will have little variance in response time and very few associated errors. Response times that increase as load is applied indicates that the site may have reached its saturation point.

A per-minute summary of the total transactions, the total failures, and a break down of which step each failure took place. Often as response time begins to degrade, more errors will begin to take place. Note: a spike of errors at the end of the test is expected. It simply means that the final transactions were interrupted because the test was shutting down.

For this particular run through I didn't create any failures but there was also a failure report which showed screenshots.

So I have a bunch of screenshots but how do I present reports to management or accumulate my load test data offsite? There's a MySQL data dump feature that gives you a SQL script that will recreate the data for you. Pretty nice. :)

This seems like a legitimately interesting tool. It didn't take ages to set up or get reports. It did bother me that if Selenium IDE can't do something or if the script won't validate I'd be stuck writing JavaScript. I'm really comfortable writing either Selenium or Selenium 2 code but I can't imagine maintaining JavaScript for multiple user scenarios on an actively developed product. What would really be awesome is something similar to the functionality that Sauce Labs has. If I could write a test harness and scenarios within a class and execute them with the same options as the scheduler that would be really powerful. The other thing I see would be monitoring on the server side to pair up the transaction times and responses with how the server was doing. There's still some collaboration between the cloud and the SUT.

Regardless, I hope to try this out in the recent future on a project and see how it goes!

Geek++

2011-12-29T15:28:00.000-08:00

I updated my profile to "geek, husband, daddy, and triathlete" and I really haven't lived up to this in terms of my posting content. Here's to some geek++.

Left Big Toe...

2011-12-28T11:28:00.000-08:00

I've been dealing with pain in my left big toe. In fact, it was so bad that I went to the doctor to find out wtf?! After a quick exam I was given a splint, some tape, and an X-ray appointment. The X-ray revealed nothing out of the ordinary and the exam didn't either. My mother suggested it could be gout but a quick email to the doctor confirmed that the likelihood of that is very low.

I have no idea what brought it on but I'm stuck riding the bicycle and using elliptical trainer in the garage. I foresee lots of practice going nowhere for the rest of the winter.

My coach has advised me to get back into the pool but I hate swimming alone. I might try and get involved with the Tacoma Center Master's Swim but the ones I can attend are 5:15-6:00am on Tuesday and Thursday.

Get Creative

2011-12-28T10:52:00.000-08:00

"There once was an Indian medicine man whose responsibilities included creating hunting maps for his tribe. Whenever game got sparse, he'd lay a piece of fresh leather out in the sun to dry. Then he'd fold and twist it in his hands, say a few prayers over it, and smooth it out. The rawhide was now crisscrossed with lines and wrinkles. The medicine man marked some basic reference points on the rawhide, and--presto!--a new game map was created. The wrinkles represented new trails the hunters should follow. When the hunters followed the map's newly defined trails, they invariably discovered abundant game.

Moral: By allowing the rawhide's random folds to represent hunting trails, he pointed the hunters to places they previously had not looked."

--Roger von Oech, A Whack on the Side of the Hea

Motivation

2011-09-28T09:34:00.000-07:00

Great quote from the USAT Facebook page today.

“Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.”

Someone else on the feed pointed out that it's a snippet from a speech by Pres Theodore Roosevelt on April 23, 1910...

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

The mental game...

2011-09-14T14:26:00.000-07:00

I'm looking for ways to become "faster." In previous posts I've expressed that I've never subscribed the mental side of athletics. Like the separation of church and state I considered my body abstracted away from my mind. My first marathon I was worried about finishing because it was completely unknown territory. During the run I swung between pain, elation, and tears but willpower kept me going.

The problem isn't finishing anymore it's having tools that allow me to persevere and keep pushing. When I get negative feedback from my body I think I get too conservative. Maybe I'll get a twinge of a cramp so I'll slow down running or start a run/walk strategy. I want to be able to make the decision to be more aggressive and not be afraid of it. I want to be comfortable with the pain coming. I don't even know if this should be a goal?

I've heard of different methods like visualization but it sounds complicated and hard to measure. How do I go from not trusting something I can't see, feel, or touch to experiencing it in reality? It sounds like the beginning of a deep philosophical debate but I think the answer will be that I'll have to put it into practice during training and experience it during races. I'm hoping that taking the small steps will add up to something more.

Goals and off-season races...

2011-09-12T15:17:00.000-07:00

"Offseason"

Learn more about mentally preparing for training and racing then apply it. Read books, get ideas, and try them!
Figure out what's the better bike/run strategy for me (maybe on a race basis). What will get me the best overall result?
Train with better consistency.
Stay healthy!
Crossfit! See if functional strength exercises apply to triathlon.
November. Seattle Half-Marathon?
December. 12K's of Christmas?

Races for 2012

March 25, 2012. Mercer Island Half Marathon
May. Mt Rainier Duathlon
June 2, 2012. Honu 70.3
July 15, 2012. Vineman 70.3
August 26, 2012. Ironman Canada

Goals for 2012

Beat my PR 70.3 finish time of 5:47:26! I'm currently under 6 hours. What's a change(s) that will push me through the barrier?
Finish Ironman Canada under 12 hours.

Tri Turtle Tri Race Report

2011-09-12T12:39:00.000-07:00

Finally the end of the triathlon season! My final race was Tri Turtle Tri (SprintPlus Distance 1/2 mile swim, 15.6 mile bike, 3.4 mile run) in Kitsap County. I was really excited because I grew up about 5-10 minutes from Wildcat Lake where the swim start was and the transition area was located. The bike route took riders past the entrance to Lake Symington where I lived!

We spent the night at my parents house and I woke up at 5am to have my bottle of electrolyte. I hadn't slept well that night so I was sort of groggy but decided not to get back into bed. My dad drove me down to transition area and I got situated. The rack I was in was completely full and like most smaller races peoples gear was strewn about. An official moved some bikes around on the rack and gave me the 1' I needed. It seems that inexperienced people tend to assume they can take as much space as they want. People had buckets of water, full size towels with gear laid out on the ground in front of their bicycle, etc.

Race registration and body marking was running smoothly but I it was already nearing the 8am start! I hadn't performed a run or swim warmup yet. Some officials also were recommending non-wetsuit swimming since the lake temperature was so warm. I walked from transition to the swim start and decided I'd wear the wetsuit. I haven't swam much this year and anything to make me faster would be an advantage. Back at the transition area I sprayed Pam all over my calves, put on my wetsuit, and got back down for a warmup.

The water was indeed warm. No cold feet or toes today! I don't think I'm especially sensitive to the cold but it's more pleasant to not have freezing hands and feet. I did a couple accelerations and got back to shore. It was time to listen to the race director and be ready to go.

I lined up toward the inside of the first buoy hoping that nobody would be there. No such luck. Even though I tried to get up front everyone had the same idea and I swam over some people. I had to pause to empty my goggles once then one person knocked my goggles off. That all happened before the first turn buoy so on the back stretch I settled in and got my breath back. Starting quickly and not swimming a lot this year left me a little out of breath. Sighting was generally easy and the swim was pretty easy compared to the half-ironman length swims I had done this year. Out of the water in 16:14. I wanted 15 minutes but this also includes running up the bank and into T1.

T1 went smoothly. I was alone at my rack. Put on my gear out in 1:21.

Getting to the bike mount area you had to run out of T1, out a parking lot, and across an "open road". I took care not to break my clips like i did at Lake Stevens. The course was almost immediately hilly. I was tempted to power up in a big gear but decided to use it as a warm-up spin instead. Some guy with a full disc wheel shot by me but I had a suspicion that I'd see him again soon. Settling in I started passing the people that swam better than me. I caught the "rocket" guy who had promptly blown up and was winded on another hill. I decided to use the same spinning strategy on hills until the turnaround to try and conserve energy. This allowed me to maintain my position while climbing but gain on the flats and descents. A good example is a guy on a Kuota that I kept trading positions with. We'd be generally be passing people but he'd soar up hills with great effort and I'd easily overtake him when the hill was done. This is exactly what happened on the stretch home when there was a slight decline. I pedaled hard, ran out of gears, and left 3-4 people in my wake. I should have reread the course length before race day because I thought I had 25 miles not 16 miles. I probably would have pushed harder sooner. Oh well... hindsight... Into T2 after 44:40 averaging 21MPH.

T2 also went smoothly. It was generally empty but I was losing time because I refuse to run barefoot. Out in 1:21 which was probably mostly putting my socks on. ;)

It seems I've had quite a few brick workouts this year and it's really helped me become comfortable with the odd feeling of running after cycling. I still don't think I feel "fast" out on the run though. Since the run starts following the cycling route it was immediately hilly. Didn't power up but increased cadence and stepped up. A couple guys passed me and rather than get discouraged I kept my head in the game and focused. I told myself that some pain would come and that it'd be alright. I've never done this kind of mental stuff on the run and usually I gave in. I recently finished Macca's "I'm Here To Win" and he talks about expecting pain and greeting it when it comes. It helped me hold off some guys that tried to pass me and keep another runner in sight rather than get dropped. The back part of the course was a combination of rolling and steeper short hills which made it hard to get into a groove. In no time I turned the corner to the finish and it was done. Ran a 26:10 at 7:35/M. So that got me 1:29:48 and 15th place overall. If I subtracted relay teams that puts me at 12th place overall. :)

Thanks to my wife, parents, and son for supporting me this season! :)

2011-08-24T07:01:00.000-07:00

Great post I needed this morning for burning an ISO to a USB drive.

Essentially partition the USB drive using DiskUtil as "Free Space". Open a terminal window and use "diskutil list" and note the device path. Unmount the disk but leave it physically connected. Then finally use the dd command to burn the image (example: sudo dd if=location/name.img of=/dev/disk2).

Battle of the blah...

2011-08-22T14:41:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling pretty low today. I went for a bike ride to try and help that but it didn't work. I had forgotten that my clips were ruined from Lake Stevens 70.3 so I ended up riding to the bike shop. After some waiting while they put new cleats on my shoes I cycled back up 30th street and out toward Pt Defiance. That's when I started really bumming out. I sank lower and lower as I considered my 2008 through 2011 half-iron performances.

My 2008 Lake Stevens 70.3 time haunts me because it's still my best 70.3 time. It wasn't stellar by any means at 5:47 but I haven't beaten my half-iron debut yet! 2009 Boise 70.3 I did 6:17 due to weather and stomach problems. 2010 I took off to help with the birth of my first child. 2011 Honu 70.3 I got 5:55 which is a generally tough race due to heat, etc... and I felt like that was a good showing. Rev3 Portland was 5:50 with me being sick on a flat course. I should be happy coming back after a year off. I've had some solid under 6 hours efforts this year! But I'm not...

The recent Lake Stevens 70.3 relay I did showed me that I beating that time was in reach this year! I managed a 4 minute faster cycling time on the same course. I felt great getting off the bike so a 2 hour 13.1 was probably in the cards. I swam a 38:41 at Rev3 Portland and a 44:00 (I know it's gross) so I wouldn't be losing time there. Even a mediocre performance would have netted about 5 minutes and a new PR. Oh well. What married with child age grouper has time or money for three 70.3's in a season anyway. :(

Lake Stevens 70.3 Relay Race Report

2011-08-17T10:59:00.000-07:00

Sunday, August 14th I did my second relay of the Lake Stevens 70.3! I love doing the relay races because you get a chance to do a single sport which feels really luxurious.

Fast forward to day of the race. Woke up and ate a banana and drank bottle of electrolyte on the way from Mercer Island to Lake Stevens. Into T1 things looked just as I had left them. Bike was racked, tires good, and I thought mechanically I was set. My swimmer and runner arrived and I was excited to get rolling!

Our swimmer got out of the water, I grabbed the timing chip, and I ran out of T1! I got across the "mount" line and noticed I couldn't clip in my left foot. I continued going and figured it was just a minor problem. Down the road a little ways I took a look at my left clip and it was shredded and flattened to the point that only the very front of the clip was left. That meant I wouldn't be able to completely clip in the entire ride. :( Running in and out of transition areas for a couple races takes its toll on clips and I regretted not buying new ones before this ride. There was nothing else to do except keep going and get used to my foot pulling off the pedal or rotating if I didn't hold it on the pedal. I tried to change my style from a smoother spin to a hammering push.

I quickly remembered why I love the relay rides... passing everyone without feeling like you're going to regret it on the run! I also love the Lake Stevens course (yeah I'm strange like that). I like climbing, I like descending, and I like rollers. This is the opposite of Rev3 Portland which was flat and soul crushingly boring. One great take away from Rev3 though was standing up and pedaling to relieve the pain in my lower back from staying in aero so long. It works great for me! First lap I was caught by another TNM relay rider around mile 20-25. I quickly got dropped as he's a 70.3 World Championship qualifier but it felt good to hold him off as long as I did. My single bottle was nearly gone so I dumped it and grabbed another bottle from an exchange. A little further down the road I grabbed the bottle from the cage, put in my mouth, turned it, and everything came apart! I had assumed the bottle was twisted shut but it was open. I spilled a bunch and lost the cap. I put the bottle back in the cage the no top and hoped it wouldn't be sloshing all over me the rest of the way.

With the second lap done I took the turnoff for the last 6 "easy" miles back to the T2 area. Last time I did the relay I forgot that the last 6 miles isn't easy at all. There's a bunch of rollers, a final hill, and sudden climbs hidden on corners. I was mentally prepared this time and just dug into it. No shame of getting out of the saddle to power up hills. Finally done I came in with a 2:52:45 which was a 4 minute PR over last time.

With our runner out I headed out I went to pick up some calories (pizza) and walked to the TNM tent. I forget how awesome it feels cheering for people especially when you're already finished. ;) Our runner finished in a great time and in good spirits.

I went to pick up my bike from transition and noticed my rear wheel wasn't rolling freely. Hmm... Upon further investigation my rear brake pad was dragging on the rim. :( So... a 4 minute PR with a broken toe clip and a dragging rear brake pad? Could have been worse I suppose.

Ride the Hurricane Ride Report

2011-08-17T10:07:00.000-07:00

On August 5th I did the Ride the Hurricane which allows you to ride to the top of Hurricane Ridge without cars on the road! I borrowed my dad's Cannondale Six13 road bike, swapped my wheelset because it had more favorable gearing, and eagerly awaited the day.

On the way there we noticed Fat Smitty's was open so we stopped.

I received my burger in good time but somehow they forgot the rest of our order and we waited, and waited, and waited. :( This wasn't the best first impression for my wife.

After wandering around Port Angeles we had dinner at Bella Italia. My wife said the restaurant was mentioned in the Twilight series but I had no clue. I just wanted a beer and some pasta. Wyatt wasn't exactly cooperating and I had the most frustrating dinner I've had in awhile. The final straw was when he feigned a hug and bit my nipple. I don't know if I can completely blame him. His only nap was in the car on the highway and I don't know if he had much lunch.

Back at the hotel room I gathered up all my riding stuff and put it in the bathroom so wouldn't wake the baby when I got ready in the morning. I didn't know what to expect so I had all sorts of extra cold weather gear. I had decided to ride to the starting point which was a nice warmup. I met a fellow TN Multisport athlete and we were off. I quickly found out that I needed more gears. :) The road immediately went uphill and stayed that way pretty much the whole way.

Upon finishing the ride I'm glad I did it. When we got above the fog and clouds the view was amazing. I also had the pleasure of smelling the wildflowers as I rode by them.

North Bend Warrior Dash Race Report

2011-07-19T12:55:00.000-07:00

Last year I did the Warrior Dash down near Portland, OR and had a blast! There was a lot to love and less to hate. Fire, ponds, obstacles, varying terrain, and beer! When I saw that this year it'd be held in North Bend I was overjoyed to not have to drive so far to do a 30 minute event.

The day before Warrior Dash I didn't know if I'd be doing it at all. I woke up at 4am feeling light headed with nausea. I spent the rest of the day napping with two wakeful moments to do my check-in meetings. I think I slept almost 24 hours that day and doubted I'd be doing any dashing the following day. I figured it was just fallout from Rev3 Portland and if I ignored it I wouldn't be effected by it.

Warrior Dash morning I woke feeling born again! I was no longer completely exhausted, no longer felt like barfing, and looked forward to some warrioring! I fixed the baby and I waffles with happy thoughts. A little after consuming them I felt less than awesome. Time passed and the more I stayed stationary the better I felt. My wife came downstairs and asked why I hadn't left and rather than making an excuse I picked up my sorry butt and decided to go to war!

The first thing I noticed about the North Bend Warrior Dash is that North Bend isn't made to hold that many people! Cars backed up on to the highway so far that even though I was an hour early I missed my wave time by 30 minutes.

Parking was sane and the shuttles were working as well as can be expected. Stepping on to the battleground I could tell it was going to be an interesting run. Rain all night and showers in the morning had turned the trails into either 1) slippery trampled grass, or 2) mud bogs of varying depth which had a hunger for shoes and bodies.

Up to the starting line I felt the heat from the flames shooting above the starting gate. It reminded me of Portland and I got excited! I positioned myself near the front directly behind some healthy looking guys. The countdown started, finished, and the heat from the flames was felt once again! WARRIORS!!! I immediately underestimated how crappy the slippery trampled grass field would be to run on. It was uneven so every step could potentially trip you or twist your ankle if you weren't paying attention. Every step slipped and forward momentum or any kind of rhythm was nearly impossible.

I ran and ran and ran and kept expecting an obstacle to break up the monotony. We all rounded a corner and entered a mud bug which I thought was a planned obstacle. Then it kept going and going. Then back out to more wet trampled grass. Then some obstacles! Last year I remember seeing some of them and being intimidated. Not this year. A wall to jump over then barbed wire rigged so far up I barely had to duck?! Lame! I won't go into the other obstacles but they seemed vastly watered down from the previous year.

The final trail to the finish was probably at least a half mile of mud. People were losing shoes, girls were falling face first while trying to skirt past it, and everyone was sliding into each other. Nearing the finish line the final signature obstacles loomed. The Super Mario-esque jumps over fire were still mildly exciting. However, the crawl through mud under barbed wire had the same problem of having the option of not crawling! I was committed to being dirty so I slogged through and ran across the line. All that got me a finishing time of 33:46.10 @ 9:39/M. In my age group that was 71/926. Back at the car I celebrated our achievement with some other warriors (brother-in-law and his friends). I don't think I'll be back next year and probably should have just stayed home this year but being with others made it all tolerable.

Selling the Toyota

2011-07-19T11:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I posted our truck on craigslist because we have no need for a 2 door vehicle with another baby on the way. I thought this would be difficult since it had been in an accident. Now I realize I've inherited a bad situation from our insurance company. They insisted that it shouldn't have been totaled and that there were comparable vehicles in our area selling for more. My wife and I second-guessed the claims adjuster a couple times and even talked to him at length about it but they insisted. Now I look at the blue book value and can't imagine buying our truck for nearly $5,000 more than that. Now it's repaired and everything is good right? Wrong. Here's how every call as gone so far...

Potential Buyer: I saw you're truck. Looks awesome!
Me: Thanks, do you have any questions?
Potential Buyer: Has it been in an accident?
Me: Yes.
Potential Buyer: How much were the repairs?
Me: Almost $10,000.
Potential Buyer: Not interested.
Me: *groan*

I'm stuck. I can't lie. I can't convince someone that taking it to a reputable shop repaired the truck. Mentioning that I took it to the dealership to confirm the work doesn't help either. The repair price is nearly the sale price of the truck and people are suspicious! I have a feeling I'm going to end up lowering the price until I find people that are more desperate for transportation than they care about an accident. The question is where that tipping point is? Why couldn't the insurance company just totaled it?!

Rev3 Portland Race Report

2011-07-11T10:36:00.000-07:00

Rev3 Portland was supposed to be a fast, flat, course since they changed it from being in downtown Portland to Blue Lake. I was hoping to get out there and burn it up feeling a good as I did at the Honu 70.3 nearly a month ago. That wasn't the case at all though. I came down with a either severe allergies or a cold the Saturday before the race. I spent the week leading up to the race taking all sorts of medications to either calm my cough or be able to clear out my congestion. I stopped taking the drugs Thursday night and still suffered through a night of barely breathing through one clogged nostril. I still had hope though...

Friday was looking better. I wasn't coughing much and my nose was only slightly snotty. I got beat down again with a call from my boss Friday night though. He let me know that I hadn't submitted the 6 monthly reports that are due on the 10th. Since the 10th fell on a weekend they were due the Friday before. Ugh... I had decided to leave my laptop at home and couldn't enjoy dinner. I decided to go to the local Best Buy and buy a cheap laptop to finish the reports on. Fighting through the reports until around midnight in the lobby of the Hampton Inn I wasn't feeling it at all. When I got back to the room and tried to sleep I just laid there listening to the baby snoring. My mind swirling with doubt that I completed the reports correctly. The baby woke up a more times crying but quickly went back to sleep.

Saturday I really looked forward to getting out and exploring Portland. We got up, had some free breakfast (with terribly thin coffee for how tired I was), and decided to go downtown. I dropped my bike off at transition and we were off.

By the time we made it we were hungry so we scoped out Voodoo Donut. Of course the line was huge so we opted instead for Big Ass Sandwiches which is a food bus not far away. It always surprises me how gritty Portland can be. Lots of tourists and suburbanites wandering around with kids intertwined with the dreadlocked white guys and homeless people. We then decided to go out to the Portland Rose Garden since we figured the plants were in bloom.

The plants were indeed in bloom! We could smell them from pretty far away as well. We ended the day with my parents at McMenamins Edgefield. We put the baby down for bed and left the AC fan on to give some white noise to drown out any random noise which might wake him. He only woke up crying once which was much nicer than Saturday.

Sunday morning I awoke at 5am and was tired. I had been able to breath all night and only blew my nose a couple times in the morning! I wasn't looking forward to swimming or the race in general though. I downed my electrolyte and a banana and pondered coffee. My parents were nice enough to drive me to transition in the morning so I got there, got set up, and stood around a lot.

Fast forward to the race itself... I got my wetsuit on and watched in disbelief as the first male pro completed the swim in 24:30'ish. I was feeling calm but wished I could clear my nose somewhere. My wave was invited into the water and I immediately cleared my nostrils, swam a bit, and went back to shore... and so it begins...

This was a beach start so when the race started we all ran in and were off. A little contact but nothing major. I immediately noticed the sun was in my eyes and I couldn't see the buoys. I'm glad I opted for my darker goggles or I would have been completely blinded. I kept coughing in the water but my nose was clear. It was an odd feeling coughing in the water and then knowing that I'd have to take a breath. My energy level was nearly non-existent but I figured I just needed to let it come. Other than that the swim was going pretty well as I wasn't overheating and pulling wasn't so bad. Then the person in front of me and I noticed we had skipped the 2nd swim buoy! We both swam back and made up the distance. I was frustrated to swim backwards but I'd expect the same from the other athletes. The last portion always seems like forever and this was the same except I'd site the buoy and I could swear the shore was getting close but I'd site again and it'd be far away. Maybe it was a swim mirage or something. An average performance of 38:41 out of the water.

T 1/2 was exiting the water, removing your wetsuit, getting shoes on, and running 4/10 mile to the real T1. That went well as a volunteer grabbed my wetsuit and put it in my bag for me (yay volunteers). It felt wrong running after swimming!

Entering T1 I noticed that the bikes next to me were still racked which was encouraging. Changed all my stuff and started rolling! 05:51 transition which I assume includes running to T1.

I hadn't rode the course before so I was surprised by the right turn and hill. Coming back up over the hill I saw how flat and fast this was going to be. I settled in at a high cadence and waited for the neck and back pain that was inevitable from being stuck in aero for nearly 3 hours. The Mark Webb quote "you're always faster in aero" was in my mind. I was overtaking people but my plan was to kick it into high gear the second lap rather than burn out. Fueling was Double Latte Powerbar gels every 35-40 minutes with 32oz of Powerbar Perform every 15m which was supplemented by water at every other aid station.

The first lap was almost like discovering the road surfaces. The shoulder was definitely smoother as the roadway sometimes had disintegrated asphalt overlay potholes. Unfortunately sometimes sand crept into the shoulder and I had 1-2 exciting moments where freaking out would have landed me in ditch. Coming back the second lap I ran over a cone while trying not to block another passing rider. Disaster averted again...

Teresa had mentioned that getting out of the saddle would help the lower back pain and it help immensely! Up most every hill I got out of the saddle which kept my speed up and gave my back a rest. I resisted the temptation to get out of aero like I saw a lot of people doing. Completing the first lap I was saw I could definitely pull off a sub 3 hour ride. Now the question was by how much?

I decided to start pushing as planned. I was coughing a little and blowing my nose but the gels/fuel had picked me up. I think the excitement of the ride also improved my attitude. Pass, pass, and pass some more. After the turn around I pushed even more. My watch consistently read between 21-23mph. Up a hill I got up out of the saddle I felt a cramp in my quads. I had forgot endurolytes on the bike and I was stuck with what I brought. On the flats coming back to T2 I put my head down a bit and when I looked up I saw another cyclist walking in the road! I swerved but clipped aero bars! OMG! I wish I knew why he was walking in the bike course but I nearly had an epic accident at 22mph!

Finally near T2 I didn't take the correct turn to the finish and had to turn around AGAIN. More frustration as I lost time... 56 miles done in 2:40 (20.95 mph average).

In T2 I joked with Derek about the turn because he was yelling my name as I missed the turnoff. Got my shoes on, slammed a couple endurolytes with the little bit left in my speedfil, and took off. 02:13 transition time. Not stellar but alright.

I saw Cindy and the baby and stopped to say hi. It felt great seeing them. I was doing 8m/m and it felt great but then the coughing started. Whenever I coughed my stomach felt gross. Then the congestion started up. By the time I ran by Mark I was coughing and by mile 4 I was run/walking. I went ahead and set my watch to repeat alarms at 1 minute intervals. I'd just run a minute and walk 30 seconds. It'd be easy! It wasn't... 13.1 miles is a long way to run/walk. Sometimes I could run for awhile then I'd feel a combination of the emptiness I felt on the swim and my body telling me to back off. The endurolytes and fuel were keeping cramping away but between coughing and feeling tired I just wasn't running consistently. I crossed the finish line with mixed emotions. I was disappointed in the 2:23 half-marathon (average 10:58 min/mi pacee), but happy I completed the race.

Sickness again

2011-07-06T20:32:00.000-07:00

Here I am getting over a cold AGAIN! Saturday I went to the TNM club ride around Lake Sammamish and when I turned into the parking lot I promptly began to cough and had a runny nose. Yuck. Saturday evening it got to the point where I went to buy Sudafed. Then Sunday I went to buy multiple flavors of Robitussin. I made it through the 4th of July jacked up on Sudafed, Afrin, and Robitussin. I made it through my father in laws memorial service on just Afrin. Today I've finally made it through drug free. I'm hoping tonight I won't wake up in a fit of coughing because I have Rev3 Portland Sunday!

Tranquility

2011-07-01T13:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I decided to mow the lawn. Following that I decided to power wash the pathway to our front porch. Those tasks demanded a singular focus (link to my first powerwash experience) and put me into a philosophical state usually obtained while drunk. I thought about the word catharsis and if I was constantly seeking it. Mowing the lawn and power washing were soothing and satisfying to the soul this afternoon. Triathlon training and racing usually gives me that healing as well. The problem creeps in when the baggage outweighs the benefit. I've never had a lawn mowing session where I was afraid I wasn't performing to my potential, spending too much money, or hurting my family life. Sometimes I think I have a good balance and other times I don't. While doing Honu 70.3 was a great experience I'm having some buyers remorse with the bills I have now. We spent quite a lot of money to get there, stay two weeks, eat food, ship my bicycle, etc... Maybe it's guilt but now that I'm considering a 140.6 event I'm wondering if it's necessary. Is it the experiences I need? Is it the training journey? Is it some kind of way to say I'm better than other people? Or do I just need to focus on what's making me happy and go with it. That's a difficult decision because it always seems that the answer is to do more to achieve more happiness.

C++'ing

2011-06-30T21:55:00.000-07:00

I've spent the last hour completing my linked list class. Tomorrow will be the circular linked list class. Feels like 2002 when I started my computer science degree...

void LinkedList::insertHead(int value) {
cout << "Inserting value [" << value << "] to the front of the list." << endl; Element* newElement = new Element(); newElement->data = value;

if (!newElement) {
cout << "Sorry I couldn't create an Element to insert!" << endl; return; } newElement->next = head;
head = newElement;
}

Crossfit?!

2011-06-30T07:18:00.000-07:00

I'm seriously considering doing crossfit in the offseason. I'm at the point again where I'd love to gain a little more strength for some explosive power and maybe more endurance. This last offseason I focused on running which seemed to benefit my triathlon running. I'll have to talk to my coach to see if and how crossfit could help me.

2011-06-30T07:05:00.000-07:00

I'm still fighting some sort of cold. Runny nose, phlegm in the throat, coughing, and generally tired disposition. I've tried Claritin thinking it might be allergies but it doesn't help. I guess I'll keep training and keep blowing my nose and hacking.

Honu 70.3 YouTube video

2011-06-21T08:41:00.000-07:00

Here's a little video I put together of me and other athletes in TNMultisports. Most of the video is finish line shots my wife caught. It's difficult to run around filming people when the course is 70+ miles!

2011-06-21T08:36:00.000-07:00

I forgot how being sick can bring you down. After returning from Hawaii my wife got feverish, tired, congested, and had a sore throat. Since she was up with her mom and I had limited exposure I hoped I wouldn't get sick. It turned out that I caught it anyway and had to take a couple days off from training. The four (five tomorrow) days of overcoming the cold have reminded me how you can go from doing a half-iron length triathlon to feeling horrible in days. Staying healthy is paramount to continuing training. It seems that I can manage and prevent things like achilles soreness easier than a cold. When our son was bringing colds back from daycare during the winter I seemed to catch every one. I read some articles on preventing colds but it seemed I was already doing everything reasonable.

2011-06-17T10:14:00.000-07:00

I could really use a nice run in the sunshine about now. I'll need to wait until this afternoon and I'm still uncertain because my throat is feeling sore. So lame...

Honu 70.3 Race Report

2011-06-06T11:36:00.000-07:00

Woke up around 4AM Hawaiian time and couldn’t sleep anymore. Around 4:35AM got up and started applying Scape sunblock, getting dressed, etc... Downed a banana, a bottle of perform, and a Aleve pill. Luckily got a ride from TNM at 5:05AM so I had one less thing to worry about.

Checked bike tires and they hadn’t exploded like I had worried about all night. Put gears in low for the T1 hill since I had forgotten when I racked it. Filled up speedfil and had 10oz left to sip on before the start of the race. Did the body marking and had to lie that I didn’t have sunblock on. Put Vaseline on openings/seams in tri-top. Saw other peeps and just sort of stared at the bay hoping for a good swim. About 30 minutes before the swim went down to the water and got in. Took a PB gel and talked to Tom a bit. Positioned myself near the back of the and went out to tread some water. Was in a wide open spot, the music played, the announcer yelled at people to back up, and we were off. Didn’t get run over at all (at first).

Had trouble sighting because of the swells so I aimed for the most amount of swim caps farthest ahead of me. Tri top started chaffing the inside of my left arm and it started becoming really painful. First corner I took wide, but the second turn was closer. Second turn had some amazing stuff on the the bottom and I saw what I thought was a flounder. Back stretch I got elbowed in the right eye by someone trying to breaststroke. Then I nearly breathed in a mouthful of salt water which made me feel sick. I just ignored it and kept crawling. Saw the third turn buoy but it seemed like it too forever to reach. Amazed at how clear the water was and how the sand was rippled. Fourth turn back home finally and people were running into me and doing breaststroke a lot which was annoying. Out of the water I didn’t feel any pain in my right pec so I was really happy. Didn’t feel wobbly like other swims I’ve done before. Heard some people yelling my name but just ran up the beach. Waited to wash myself off with fresh water which sucked. No water pressure in my hose so I switched which took time. Saw Tom and ran by him.

Out of T1 but my race number flew off my belt! Everyone yelled that I would get DQ’d so I walked back down the hill, grabbed my number, and it was too steep/too much traffic so I just walked it up the hill. Just spun up, got comfy, had a quick drink, and decided I felt good. At this point in Boise ‘09 I already felt sick so I was excited. Caught Tom and asked him “where’s the wind?!” and passed. I used the road to pass because there were SO many people to pass which was annoying. A woman had crashed at the first aid station so slow through there. Everyone was drafting off everyone else until the officials road by and it was miraculous how everyone spaced out and got in line. ;) Wind was mostly absent so I tried to take advantage of it. Passed and passed and passed some more until the turn to Kawaihae where it spaced out a little more. Still passing people with some others surging from behind. Hill up to Hawi I just decided to sit up and spin up the big hill. I should have drove before it because it was longer than I thought. Lots of people would surge up the hill and I’d catch them just spinning. Back down the hill was super fun and fast. Finally started to feel some wind but it wasn’t bad. Started feeling hotter and the hill back up to Kawaihae was a furnace. Turning toward home felt fast but my lower back was aching so I sat up on some uphill stretches. Into Mauna Lani and a couple people passed me in the no pass zone. The guy in front of me slowed way down and I started getting frustrated but stayed calm and didn’t pass. My bike fueling had consisted of 3 PB gels (one every 45m), 2 endurolytes (1 hour in), the whole 40oz of Perform (sips around every 15m), and probably ¼ to a ½ a bottle of water at every aid station. I had taped the gels to my frame which worked out great! I felt awesome off the bike and felt like I could have worked harder. I figured that meant I was in good condition for the run.

T2 I messed up finding my bag. First I looked in one section away then when I chose the right section my bag was turned number side down under another bag. :( I just sat in the chair a moment and put my socks/shoes on and decided I didn’t care. I got my sub 3 hour ride goal and could still go for a sub 2 hour run. Saw Teresa coming out of T2 and she looked surprised but happy. :)

I felt really good but immediately felt the heat. Rather than spike my HR, get hot, and not be able to recover I decided to walk the hills. I also decided to take water and cola at every station, and take 2 endurolytes every 30 minutes. Even though I felt fine I was paranoid that adding gels (like Boise) to the mix would make my stomach start to turn. First aid station was WONDERFUL and I walked straight through, grabbed my selections, and started running again. Quick turnover, straight back, and raising from the quads rather than the calves made running easy. I was still feeling really good! Mile 9 ticked by and I started to feel the heat again but the aid stations every mile helped a ton. I realized that without the aid stations and volunteers the race would be disgustingly difficult. I had been thanking them along the way but I really meant it now. The road to nowhere was tough because up until then the course twisted and the sense of distance wasn’t so overwhelming. Having a straight hot road with a tent barely visible in the distance was discouraging. Lots of people were walking now. I kept running and felt the first indications that I was getting tired so on the way back I allowed myself to run walk. I really didn’t want to fight cramps. Did maybe 20-30 second of walk to cool down then ran for maybe 200-400m. The funny thing is that I made progress against other people that way. Glad to be out of the road to nowhere and finally headed home. I could hear the announcer and decided to see if I could pick up the pace since I felt good. I was able to go faster but I started feeling really overheated and I didn’t want to end up between aid stations overheated. A guy in front of me stopped and, bent over, and moaned. This happened a fews times and I always offered my sponge, endurolytes, etc... but nobody accepted them. Across the golf course to the finish line was strange. I wanted to go faster because I was excited but I didn’t want to cramp right at the end so I played it safe still. Heard people yelling my name so it shook me out of my conservative state and ran it in. Crossed the line and felt awesome. Had some mistakes which could have shaved off minutes but I enjoyed the whole thing. I already want to do it again!

2011-06-05T11:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the Honu 70.3 and it was the best race I've done so far in terms of experience.

Kevin Gann

BIB AGE STATE/COUNTRY PROFESSION
1174 36 TACOMA WA USA Computer Programmer
SWIM BIKE RUN OVERALL RANK DIV.POS.
44:00 2:52:49 2:09:53 5:55:22 560 89

LEG DISTANCE PACE RANK DIV.POS.
TOTAL SWIM 1.2 mi. (44:00) 2:18/100m 874 132

BIKE SPLIT 1: 5.5 mi 5.5 mi (15:41) 21.04 mi/h
BIKE SPLIT 2: 31 mi 25.5 mi (1:21:25) 18.79 mi/h
BIKE SPLIT 3: 56 mi 25 mi (1:15:43) 19.81 mi/h
TOTAL BIKE 56 mi (2:52:49) 19.44 mi/h 583 98

RUN SPLIT 1: 10 mi 10 mi (1:39:29) 9:56/mi
RUN SPLIT 2: 13.1 mi 3.1 mi (30:24) 9:48/mi
TOTAL RUN 13.1 mi (2:09:53) 9:54/mi 560 89

TRANSITION TIME
T1: SWIM-TO-BIKE 4:27
T2: BIKE-TO-RUN 4:13

2011-06-02T18:14:00.000-07:00

I took the bike out yesterday for a quick hour long out and back on the Queen Kaahumanu Highway otherwise known as the "Queen K". Believe the hype as the crosswinds are no joke. Out to Hawi wind was nearly constantly coming from ahead and would change from gusts on either side. At times I had to drop to 10-11mph just to forge ahead which felt like constant climbing. A couple times I got sucked into a semi-truck slipstream which was also an interesting experience. On the way back I got up to speed and barely felt anything except the crosswinds which made everything really hot. I guess you can't win on this course.

2011-06-02T18:05:00.000-07:00

Only a couple more days until Honu! We stopped by the hotel this morning after a brunch with other TN Multisport people. Beautiful grounds for certain. My shoulder is a lot better but I think I pulled a muscle in my chest swimming. It's painful so I'm icing it and taking some Tylenol to try and ease the pain. I've already decided that I'll race even if the muscle hurts. I've come this far and to quit now would be extremely lame. I just hope it isn't anything major.

2011-05-26T13:33:00.000-07:00

I've been experimenting with using a space heater to increase the temperature of the room I'm riding the bike trainer in. Yesterday I set up the heater in the morning and let it go until around 1pm. It was already quite warm but I put on a sweatshirt, moved the heater in front of the fan, and pointed the fan at me. Usually my HR zone is equal or less than my power output zone but in this instance my HR zone was a little higher than usual for my power output zone. I think this makes sense as my body was working hard to cool itself and maintain the power output. I don't know if this will help for Honu 70.3 next week but at least I've mentally encountered heat a couple times now.

2011-05-25T12:08:00.000-07:00

We were in Arizona part of last week with the intention to have a little down time but I wanted to run in the heat. The thing missing was the heat when we arrived! I actually had to turn on the wipers because it was pouring down rain. :( The day that the rain stopped I decided to drive to Tempe and use the ASU track. That didn't work out either because I had knee pain. I went for a walk that day just to scout out possible running routes. When I finally got to run it was reported to be 91 degrees. I decided not to bring water because I'd just do an hour long run. Starting out the first thing I noticed was the lack of humidity in the air. My nose was dry, my throat was dry, and I got the impression that my body was struggling to keep up. I turned down a trail and noticed how nasty the environment was. Fruit trees had dropped their fruit and I could imagine they'd instantly shriveled in the sun. Leaves that I accidentally brushed up against scratched me even if the leaves looked soft. I turned around at 30 minutes and really wished I had brought water. My extremities felt hot and I could feel the blood pumping in my hands. At this point I just decided to walk a bit but when I did I felt the heat rising from the concrete below me. I was glad to get back to the hotel, take a shower, and get back to relaxing at the pool. The next day of running I decided to go in the morning when it was only getting into the 80's. I also brought water and I felt a million times better drinking every 15 minutes as I've fueled for the past couple years. I didn't return home feeling defeated but it did make me respect the heat in Phoenix a lot more.

2011-05-16T15:22:00.000-07:00

Thursday was a pretty normal day until I decided to go tan and then go swim. I'm tanning because I have the Honu 70.3 in June. I thought it'd be a nice change to go to Hawaii and not instantly get burned to a crisp. Anyway... I did my quick 6 minute pasty white guy tan and started toward the pool. I never made it because someone hit my truck! :( So sad... Still waiting for the outcome.

2011-05-12T10:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was supposed to be a 2 hour zone 2 run but it was really difficult to convince myself to get outside. It was pouring down rain, 50 degrees, and I was tired. I made a quick Facebook post that I was trying to "think positive" and committed to getting out there! I planned on being medium weight since I didn't want to overheat. I dressed in shorts, long sleeve shirt, running cap, and wind vest. For the first 7 miles that was the perfect combination but then I noticed that my long sleeve shirt was bulging up around my wrists from all the water weight! When I looked down or turned my head water streamed out of the bill of my cap! My shorts were so soaked they were bound up around my legs. I kept telling myself that this would be an investment for the run at Honu 70.3 at the end of the month. :) Running up the 30th street monster hill I finally got a little tired. I felt a little bit of pull in my achilles so I slowed way down. I figured it was because it was so cold. Back on the flat things were back to normal and I felt strong all the way home.

2011-05-10T10:07:00.000-07:00

On May 1st multisport season finally began with the Mt Rainier Duathlon! Just like in the past I did the long course (Run 5.1, Bike 28.8, Run 3.87). I anticipated a really cold miserable day and as I drove out to Enumclaw it was sort of confirmed as the car registered 34 degrees. On the way I drank a bottle of PB and had a gel. Pulling into the parking lot I was surprised so many people were already around! As I stepped out it was indeed chilly but not so cold I'd need anything really heavy. I got everything into the transition area and started to remember that I needed to warm up. Running a little bit I felt tight and sort of lethargic. Not a good sign since I'd need to run in an hour. I did some easy drills and finally started feeling human. I saw a couple TN Multisport people jump on their bikes and I just happened to have the same idea. Get an idea of how the wind chill felt, gear up appropriately, and make sure I didn't have any mechanical issues. After some debate I decided I'd run in the tri-bottom, cycling jersey, arm warmers, and wind vest. That combination felt cold on the initial ride but I knew after running 5 miles I'd be warm and I didn't want to screw around with things in T1. After the race briefing we all walked to the starting line and I tried to fade into the middle of the pack. :) All the fast people jumped up to the line and before I knew it we were off. My body felt great but I knew that I didn't want to go out too fast and fade as my body got used to the early morning activity. My warm-up must have been good because I didn't feel that "bump" at all. The hill near the end of the first run didn't seem all that bad and I went into T1 warmed up and confident. Changing went fine and I was on the road in no time it seemed. On the road the Zipps always feel amazing since they seem to absorb so much of the bike vibration. I felt quick but held back and just spun for awhile then worked my way up to feeling more pedal pressure at cadence. Being in areo felt good and I just concentrated on settling in and not riding on the front of the saddle too much as I tend to do. The large hill came up and I just geared down and tried to maintain cadence and spin up the hill. I didn't have to get out of the saddle and didn't have to use any huge power output but kept pretty good speed. I switched back to big gears and felt a little cramp in my right calf muscle. Scared I was about to get full on cramps I spun again and worked my way back into the game. The road after the hill was deceptive as it looks downhill but you can't really gear down and make speed. When I finally took the turn to the big downhill I was excited to get some speed. I accelerated and felt super stable at nearly 40mph while still applying pedal pressure. Second lap I decided to give it more than the first lap and it worked out well. No signs of cramping and the big hill was easy again but I noticed a little more effort in the quads was required. Pulled into T2 and felt like I'd given a good effort on the bike though I might have been able to give some more. By now the sun was out and I was getting HOT! I threw off the wind vest and arm warmers and got out on the run. At first I was holding down ~7:30m/m then I forgot how much farther I needed to go so I decided to back off as I remembered my cramp. I started feeling hot so I grabbed water at the station and finally remembered this was a short run. By that time I was stuck at 8m/m and I was fine with it as I started to see the light posts in the distance. Crossing the finish I still felt strong so I'm hoping that's a good indicator for Honu 70.3 at the beginning of June.

2011 results...
Run 1: 39:27.6 @ 7:44/M, Bike: 1:31:48 @ 18.8MPH, Run 2: 30:11.8 @ 7:57/M, Finish Time: 2:44:02

I didn't do this race in 2010 but in 2009 I finished in 2:52:43 and in 2008 I did it in 3:04:14 so I'm steadily PR'ing at least. :)

2011-04-21T09:54:00.000-07:00

It's been interesting ramping up for Honu 70.3. I'm now back in the water swimming! This year I'm not getting nearly as congested after swimming as I had in previous years. I'm uncertain if this has to do with some change inside me or the pool itself. I've become less affected by hay fever this year so maybe that's playing a part. The marathon training I did for the Seattle Marathon and the Pt Defiance 30K has continued to pay off. Even though that was done November last year all the time spent running I think improved my mechanics. I find it strange that I enjoyed cycling the most in previous years and now I'm finding it tedious and boring. Riding the bicycle outdoors involves a commitment of changing my back tire, getting dressed, getting fueling ready, etc... Since the roads are covered with pine needles and gunk I need to wash the bicycle when I return. With running I just get some shorts on, grab some gels if I need them, and take off into the world.

2011-04-18T11:17:00.000-07:00

Today I think I've finally discovered what is required to have clean floors! In the past I've tried to use cleaning products but still had dirty socks after walking on the floor. This morning I boiled water in the kettle and poured it into the bucket along with some vinegar. The addition of hot water not only made everything dry very quickly but seemed to get a lot more gunk off the floor. Happy days?! We'll see!

Point Defiance 30K Race Report

2010-10-29T19:43:00.000-07:00

Woke up Friday around 6am EST which would be 3am PST. Got to work and meetings. Talked with my boss and went to the airport. 6 hours later I landed and got home at 9:30pm. Before I left for the trip I thought I'd have time to buy extra Gu, etc... but I didn't so I searched the house for Gu packets. I found some in a bag and was relieved enough to go to sleep dead tired. Woke up Saturday at 4am and wasn't able to sleep probably due to jet lag. I went downstairs and got my bottle of Heed, endurolytes, Gu, race belt, etc... all ready. Before most races I just have a bottle of Perpetuem but I forgot I ran out. Had two eggs and a slice of toast and hoped it'd be fine. Teresa called and we reviewed things. I was pretty confident things would be fine though I wondered if I could do 3:00 even. Made sure my wife was alright with the baby and got to the registration area at 7:30am. Had to park quite far away but the 30K and 50K lines were really short so it was easy to get my stuff. Slow warmup back up the hill to put my extra clothes away and get back to the starting line since I only had 10 minutes before the start. For some reason I got mad at the little bottle of endurolytes jiggling on my belt so I decided I'd be fine without them. I'd regret that choice later... Found my neighbor and his friends in the starting group and the race started. Felt pretty fresh and slowly progressed ahead of some people. I ran with a woman that had an IM Canada tattoo on her calf for a couple miles. We just chatted it up and I decided to speed up a little to make sure I hit 1:30'ish on the first lap. Got to the single track craziness and didn't attack hills just shortened steps and kept cadence up them. For some reason I forgot about the 2nd lap and that other people were doing 15k not higher distance around mile 8. Some of the 15k people were speeding up and I got tired of people passing me so I made the dumb decision of speeding up more. I felt fine but I think I was burning energy I'd need later on the 2nd lap. The last mile to the finish line is sort of crazy with ducking under logs, going over some, and then down a steep hill holding on to a rope. Crossed the "finish" line at 1:38 and sort of wished it was over. I looked around and started running again after realizing I had finished with the 15k people and remembering the 2nd lap was still coming. I was also a little concerned that my watch said a little over 10 miles while I thought 30k was 18.2 miles. I started running again with the hope that my watch was wrong and that I'd be able to do another 1:38 lap at least. Walked up the stairs from the beach and decided I'd probably just fast walk up the steepest hills rather than waste energy powering up them. There were other walkers and runners on the trails by now and they were in the way. One guy was asking me what was going on and I ran through a family that wouldn't move after me calling out "on your left". Stopped in a bathroom to "quickly" fill up my water bottle and realized I had only filled it halfway when I got back on the trail. Was starting to regret not bringing the endurolytes as the bounding over roots, ditches, etc... were starting to take a toll on my quads. Since I was walking up steep hills (which seemed everywhere), we were under the trees, and there was a little wind, I started getting a little cold which rarely happens to me. At least my HR was back in a sustainable range I thought. Nearly through the 2nd lap some 30k guy popped out from another trail and wondered where he was going. He had already ran 20+ miles and was lost. He wouldn't listen or follow me so I let him continue being lost. When I left him I could hear other runners yelling the same things I told him but he continued not listening. I ran out of water and regretted not watching more closely when I filled. Avoiding all the obstacles was starting to make my quads burn a little and I started feeling a lack of energy around mile 18. I tried not to let myself walk on the flats but was getting passed. I just kept telling myself the fastest way out was the finish and focused on keeping the cadence up. The last mile was sort of easy. A girl not in the race was doing her morning run and wondered what was going on. It was funny seeing the look on her face when I showed her the mileage on my watch. Going down the steep incline to the finish I got lost following another guy. So I had to run back up the hill to retrace the trail. Down the rope and through the last of the obstacles. Toward the finish line I felt really strong. I was able to practically sprint to the line and almost caught a guy that passed me awhile ago. Looked at the time and my watch and realized that the distance was the same the 2nd lap so I had done 2 additional miles than I thought. I also thought that 20 miles on that trail was worth 26 on the road. Had to large piece of smoked salmon, some baked beans, and a caesar salad. Thought about going down to the beach and standing in the puget sound as a ice bath but wanted to get home. When I stood up I started tightening up and walking back to the truck I wished I hadn't sat down for so long. Fought back some tears that seemed to come in waves. Couldn't tell if it was being happy or the muscle pain from walking to the truck up that long hill. Drove home, had some more protein/water, took a shower, and changed into another pair of compression socks. Next time I won't forego endurolytes, I'll make sure I fill my bottle all the way, and I won't run with the shorter distance people. ;)

St. Edwards 10K Race Report

2010-06-01T08:31:00.001-07:00

Long drive... Arrived early and got a spot. Nobody in the parking lot. Registration got set up and I got my number. Found out no shirt so I was a little bummed. Finally people started arriving and the parking lot had maybe 30 cars in it. Race started at 9:30 so about 8:45 I warming up. Felt pretty good but not super duper. Race briefing at 9:23 where we saw that course markings were streamers and flags which were almost the same color. I thought I heard the guy say "out and back" for the 10k. Starting line was just a place in the parking lot and the guy just yelled "go". :) Everyone started out quick but the hills and mud started early. They had placed hay bales to jump on in streams to get over them. As the hill kept climbing people dropped off. I just kept same cadence and kept passing people. Found a guy that was going my pace and followed him. Got to aid station and was probably in the top 5. Grabbed a little water and started back. Can't believe there was so much uphill still! Ran with same guy and we saw one of the race directors taking markers down. She said we were going the wrong direction and were about a mile away from the start. We decided to just keep going rather than get back on course since it required a long backtrack. We got lost again and finally got back on the course. Ugh... I was tempted to just use my watch to find my way out. We went from top 5 to not finishing on the course. :( Lame... Went to the real finish line and clapped for people. Talked with some really nice people. Mentioned TNM a couple times. :) Top couple guys were an Xterra guy and a dude wearing a Marines hat. I still had fun jumping over streams, sliding in mud, and having a new experience. Definitely hilly! I don't mean switch-backs but just straight up! Got a call later in the day from the race director asking if I finished. I complained the flags were nearly the same color and turns were poorly marked.

2010-05-08T06:48:00.000-07:00

I'm getting really tired of people specifying my gmail account as their "recovery address". This particular person is only one of 5-6 so far that can't read the directions on the web site or decide to spam me with their password reset requests. Lame!

Congratulations on creating your brand new Gmail address, kgotso.mofokeng1@gmail.com.
Please keep this email for your records, as it contains an important verification code that you may need should you ever encounter problems or forget your password.

You can login to your account at http://mail.google.com/

Enjoy!

The Gmail Team

Verification code: 3c5645a9-5d32e1ce-2615977835

2010-05-08T06:31:00.000-07:00

This morning is glorious but I have to admit I'm tired. The baby faked us out by making sounds at 4:30am. My wife and I both waited to see what would happen and he went back to sleep. Phew. About a month ago I started setting goals for races again but this time I'm concentrating on running. IM 70.3 just takes too much time with a baby around. As my wife points out when he goes to childcare there will be a lot more time for me to do things during the day. I'm really looking forward to having some 1-2 hour stretches where I can get training in.

2010-03-29T09:51:00.001-07:00

Interesting that Basel came up in the local news. :)

2010-03-12T08:55:00.000-08:00

Now that I'm between contracts I'm really feeling the real implications of having a baby.

2010-03-11T14:21:00.001-08:00

Hey... does this thing still work?! ;)

2009-09-22T16:41:00.001-07:00

I overheard what looked like a couple lawyers while I walked to the train today. The woman said "by combating injustice don't you by definition increase justice?" I thought about it for a moment while I walked and my answer was no. How do you assume that the amount of just people in the world increases when you fight injustice?

2009-09-22T06:11:00.000-07:00

My leg is feeling slightly better again! I found that I can sleep on the opposite side of my injury finally. It was getting annoying having to sleep on my back through the whole night. Now I sort of have an idea how my wife feels being pregnant and not being able to sleep the way she likes to. I can largely walk without pain but it's still sensitive to the touch where the rope was. I'm hopeful that will go away with some time. I'm also hoping that the crappy feeling I'm getting from not exercising will lessen. I appear to have almost immediately gained 5 lbs and feel generally lethargic.

2009-09-22T06:09:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that getting up at 5am every morning to catch the train is a real bummer. I suppose I could go to work later, but then I'd have to leave later which is also a bummer. So far I'm pretty certain I could perform every function I do at home with chat or skype like my last job. Oh well.

2009-09-21T06:16:00.000-07:00

I've may have identified the most annoying thing about my MacBook Pro... the mag-safe power connector. After coming back from Hawaii I had some sand in my backpack and now since the connector is magnetic it filled itself with sand. :( Lame... Obviously I have to keep the laptop in it's own bag.

2009-09-20T09:03:00.001-07:00

I went swimming in a river last Saturday and used a swing that was there. I swung out and the rope wrapped around my left leg as I went down. It completely stopped me right as my torso entered the water so I was just hanging there upside down with half my body in the river. After stopping myself from swinging back into a rock wall I was able to untangle myself and swim to shore. The ER doctor said they can't tell if anything is torn up in there so I'm going to have to wait and see. It's been a difficult week since I went from starting p90x and triathlon workouts to not able to walk. I've also been waking up in pain at the swelling seems to be worse at night. I'm pretty confident that things will be looking up in the training department I just have to be patient.

2009-08-21T07:16:00.000-07:00

This is how you accelerate past someone. :) Zoom!

2009-04-02T16:20:00.001-07:00

I'm going to list my business in Google Maps!

2009-01-14T10:34:00.003-08:00

Here I am in the New Year! I've been trying to keep up with training and thought maybe starting up the blog again and posting workouts would keep me honest. :)

2008-09-25T06:47:00.000-07:00

If for some odd reason you keep coming back to look here... I'm primarily posting things via Facebook these days. Get an account, connect to me, and socialize. :)

2008-09-11T20:02:00.000-07:00

We just watched a History Channel special about 9/11. I probably shouldn't be surprised at the emotions it brings but I am. Not long ago we were attacked and many people died. But today I went through my day normally almost not even realizing what day it was. I'm sorry for not remembering.

2008-09-09T14:18:00.000-07:00

It's been quite a few days since I last posted! We've been busy though. Near the end of the month my wife and I went to Chicago for a few deserved days of vacation. While we met with my brother in law and some friends we had the complete Chicago experience! When I returned I flew to Lucern, Switzerland for a business meeting. I just got back Monday and I'm returning to work slowly but surely. :)

2008-08-27T08:16:00.001-07:00

Hmmm... Alternative training options... :)

2008-08-26T16:28:00.000-07:00

It's funny how when you attempt to build software systems you find that you troubleshoot so many aspects it boggles the mind. For example I've been trying to get Selenium RC to work with SSL for the last few days. First I got it working with Selenium IDE, using Java, then finally through my Ant build scripts. This wasn't without pain as to get the SSL certificates to work correctly I had to configure the selenium-server to start with a saved firefox profile which contained the certificate of the site! With that created I checked that into my Selenium code project, modified my build script, and tried again. It didn't work and I tried every combination I could think of until I realized the arguments to selenium-server might not be right. After much trial and error I ended up with the following:

target name="start-server">
java jar="${selenium-server.jar}" fork="true" spawn="true" >
arg line='-firefoxProfileTemplate "${firefox.profile.dir}"'/>
arg line='-trustAllSSLCertificates' />
arg line='-port ${selenium.port}' />
!---->
arg line='-log selenium-server.out' />
/java>
/target>

Notice how there are single quotes on the children of the java tag... This was the key to getting the profile loading as I required double quotes inside them. All the examples I've seen use double quotes so I thought I needed to escape them not replace them with single quotes. I'm finished now so I'm happy, but it's one of things that takes time to go through all the stupid iterations before you find the obvious answer.

2008-08-22T19:58:00.001-07:00

I was just talking to some friends about the days of Windows 3.1 with joy. When we'd go to the mall any Windows 3.1 was instantly set to the "hot dog stand" color scheme and the system.ini was set to read only. :) Now the person was stuck with the ugliest color scheme shipped in a product. Oh... to be young and easily amused... ;)

2008-08-22T15:39:00.000-07:00

Will Smith is right. Running and Reading can change your life.

Proof there is a God

2008-08-21T14:53:00.000-07:00

2008-08-21T07:03:00.000-07:00

We've hired someone to help us change our furniture and design our living room and office. We've had the same brown leather couch and seat since before we were married so we decided to get some new things. It's going to be more contemporary looking with fabrics, patterns, end tables, etc... I'm really excited about having real matching office furniture. Not only that I'll have enough space to stretch out. My current setup forces me to have my laptop sitting off the side of the table.

2008-08-21T06:48:00.000-07:00

To be able to swim I joined the Tacoma YMCA yesterday. While I swam my wife got on one of the machines. She seemed excited because they had TV's located at about eye level on each machine. ;) I got in the pool and did a quick 20 minute swim. I had a tiny twinge of pain in my left shoulder which left almost immediately. Like usual I've awaken to some pain in my right shoulder. This started awhile ago at my previous job, but went away when I improved my ergonomics at the computer.

2008-08-19T10:45:00.000-07:00

10 minutes of BMW Motorcycle awesomeness in the Italian Alps...

2008-08-17T08:04:00.001-07:00

I did the Beaver Lake Triathlon and had a much better time than Seafair. :) My shoulders are still sore from the accident and my right calve is acting up so I went slow on purpose. What was surprising is that even going slow I nearly broke the top ten of my age group and was in the top 30% overall. In the water I kept catching people, on the bike (which worked flawlessly) everything seemed easy, and the run was just a slow job to the finish line. I don't know what event I enjoyed more... the 70.3 or this sprint. The sprint almost seemed like cheating, but I'm certain it would be much harder if I really pushed it!

2008-08-17T07:59:00.000-07:00

Another interesting week. Got SSHD working on multiple ports and multiple configuration files but my init.d script doesn't start it. We chucked denyhosts after the author of the script couldn't explain to me why the times for purging things added to the hosts.deny weren't making sense.

2008-08-12T12:50:00.000-07:00

Telnet to towel.blinkenlights.nl to see ASCII Star Wars! Awesomeness!

2008-08-05T07:08:00.000-07:00

I only made it to "Smart" on this idiot test before I messed up. It was the "Press the Green button Quick!" I don't know how I messed up... maybe I wasn't "quick" enough. It was fun for a couple minutes anyway. :)

2008-08-04T17:03:00.000-07:00

Today I did some cool stuff! I got Selenium RC working headless with Hudson. I'll have to remember these little Linux tricks for later. It was fairly complex as I had to figure out that I needed to have the virtual frame buffer installed for Firefox to start. Craziness. JUnit reports are published now as well. The outstanding thing was that you can start a SeleniumServer object from within Java, but when it attempts to use it to start the browser it can't see the export DISPLAY=:1 which is the Xvfb. Maybe I'll experiment with those in my .bashrc to see if the new process that's started has to get them since just set them manually in my current session.

2008-07-31T14:58:00.001-07:00

Very cool. Software Engineering radio! They interview people on topics and they have radio/podcasts of them. Aren't you tired of reading geeky stuff? Don't you want to listen to geeky stuff instead?

2008-07-31T11:19:00.000-07:00

I think I need this shotgun rack for my bed!

2008-07-31T10:18:00.000-07:00

It's another nice day in Tacoma today. Plan of attack is comparing Hudson to CruiseControl. :) Over the past couple days it took me hours to configure CruiseControl while Hudson took me minutes. I need to compile a list of articles to see if I argree with the commentary.

2008-07-29T20:22:00.001-07:00

I took my wife to the doctor today for surgery. She made it through just fine and the doctor said everything went very smooth. Now she'll have a couple days off to recover.

2008-07-29T20:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to the doctor because I'm having pain in my jaw and wondered if I was fighting off an infection. They took my vitals, got a sample for a culture, and sent me on my way. :| Not exactly what I expected since I got paranoid reading the symptoms of tetanus. ;)

2008-07-29T20:17:00.000-07:00

Today I started my new job as a independent contractor. Craziness! I wondered how long it'd take me to sit at my computer without getting dressed and it only took one day. :) Actually... I did get dressed but it was shorts and a sweatshirt. I still woke up at 6am and read material, tried to get started on a expense spreadsheet, and went through some tutorials on Rally. Looks like it's going to be a great experience getting back up to speed with Linux since I've worked in primarily Windows environments.

2008-07-28T21:19:00.000-07:00

Tonight I finally got my Vista X11 server talking to my Ubuntu box. This isn't really required, but it's nice because now I can use GUI programs on Linux box.

2008-07-27T06:24:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting kind of race. It's called City Chase. It sounds a lot like amazing race, but without cameras following you around. :) I wonder if I could get together a team for the Seattle race!

2008-07-26T18:55:00.000-07:00

A nice thread about Oktoberfest. We now have a hotel room, but we're planning on showing up early on Monday to get a place at a table. Every tent we checked only took reservations for parties of 10 or more. Good luck to us!

2008-07-24T16:36:00.000-07:00

More geek shirts! I think I need to play some GTA when I get home.

2008-07-23T08:47:00.000-07:00

I'm an internet presidential candidate phenomenon! Vote for me!

2008-07-23T07:54:00.000-07:00

Looks like using SVNKit works when using Subclipse with Eclipse Ganymede. I'm now able to view the repository. :)

2008-07-23T07:49:00.001-07:00

Last night my wife and I celebrated our 8 year wedding anniversary at El Gaucho in Tacoma. It was sort of a last minute thing since we didn't have anything planned. My wife had some huge king crab legs and I had a New York strip steak. We both went home stuffed and tired from a long day.

2008-07-23T07:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I started going down my "on-board" documentation by sending emails to people and attempting to get access to resources. One of the obvious ones was getting SVN access and getting Eclipse to use it. I already have my desktop hooked up to a repository, but my laptop hasn't had a new repository in quite awhile. I've also used the update feature a few times since I installed Subclipse. When I attempted to connect to the new repository Subclipse wasn't even available. Hmmm. I attempted to install it again. Now an error message "client could not be started". I made the mistake of grabbing the new version of Eclipse (Ganymede) and believing this would help. Instead Subclipse no longer works. Now I'm probably going to have to downgrade back to 3.2 or 3.3. :( Eclipse plug-ins FTL!

2008-07-22T07:57:00.001-07:00

Here's a picture of my coach Teresa Nelson coming across in first place at the Seafair triathlon!

2008-07-22T07:41:00.000-07:00

I think it's safe to post that I quit my job last week and will be contracting from home. I'm not going to post the details of the new job, but it will be software QA which I'll work out of my home office. I start on the 29th of July officially though I've been attending some meetings virtually and reading documentation already. It's going to be a practice in patience and communication I'm certain.

2008-07-22T07:19:00.000-07:00

My wounds are healing well it seems. My shoulder soreness is only there when I put a lot of pressure on them. The scrapes and scratches on my legs are fading and the ones on my right arm have scabbed over and are healing. My left hand is going to be the bad one since the skin was scraped off and I have to wear gauze and a pad to protect it. My left knee is still a little sore on the inside so I'll have to keep an eye on that. Everyone that saw me at work yesterday asked what happened and people exchanged bicycle war stories. I found my one result which was the swim and compared it to last year...

313. 0:14:18 33 M 1302 Tacoma, WA
774. 0:18:47 32 M 488 Tacoma, WA

Looks like I beat my previous time by over 4 minutes which is awesome! This also moved me up 416 places. :) If I held this I would have only had to beat my bike/run by another 5 minutes to reach my goal of 1:20 for this race. I think would have been completely doable as I can hold a 7 minute mile now and my bike split should have been much faster. So frustrating...

2008-07-22T07:18:00.000-07:00

Today is our 8 year wedding anniversary! It's unfortunate that it's a week day, and we're both working, but I hope we can celebrate a little bit.

Road rash

2008-07-22T06:28:00.000-07:00

It's healing!

2008-07-20T13:20:00.001-07:00

I want to thank my wife for trying to help me bandage myself this morning when I got home. She's no nurse, but good nice enough to unwrap band-aids and uncap cortisone cream. :)

2008-07-20T12:16:00.000-07:00

Today the Seafair triathlon was another "learning" experience for me though it started quite well. Getting things together for races is now easy for me. All my equipment is already used almost on a daily basis so it takes almost no time to pack. I've been at Seward park a few times for practices and last years race so that was easy. I arrived about an hour early, saw my coach, and got set up. I was ready to get rolling! I was going to try to do my fastest sprint tri yet at a planed 1:20-1:25. I did a swim out to the first buoy slowly and came back at race pace. I felt strong today! I said hello to some teammates on the shore and we watched the elite racers leave at 7am. My age group was next and we looked massive . I positioned myself in the middle of the field near the rear hoping to push through on the back stretch. The horn blew and we were off gliding over the millfoil that clogs Lake Washington. I had no sighting problems rounding the first buoy. On the back stretch someone rammed me, straightened out, but kept elbowing me. I sped up, but he sped up, I slowed down, and he slowed down. He knocked my left goggle partially off and it flooded with water. I relinquished control of the line and kept my distance for now. Around the 2nd buoy to shore I increased my stoke count and he tried to stay with me by once again. He started crowding me and proceeded to elbow yet again. This time I elbowed back and he relented. Standing and running out of the water I glanced at my watch and saw 13:40 go by. Excellent time for me I thought and I ran into T1. My suit slid off with Pam on my ankles and I was on the bike in no time. The course was smooth and flat almost immediately and I was already passing people comfortably. I got to a nice race pace when I figured I'd take a drink. I moved over to not block, grabbed my bottle, drank, thought how refreshing it was, looked down to see my cage, glanced to insert the bottle, peeked up and saw the curb angling at me at 25mph. My reaction was almost fast enough as I glanced my front tire almost parallel to it, but I lost so much speed I fell. I slid on my right side for what seemed like forever. When I got up I didn't feel any major pains which would have come from broken bones. Yay. I had hope of finishing still! No flat tires or bent rims either! A nice person I almost hit helped me put my chain back on since my hands were shaking from adrenaline. I got back on and started to roll, but it didn't feel right... I got back off and the brakes had shifted and were on the tire rim. I fixed them and looked again. The right brake handle was rotated all the way around causing the brake cable to pull caliper closed. I fixed what I thought was the final problem and tried to roll again. Now my derailleur wasn't keeping my chain on any gear! With any pressure it was causing my chain to jump off the gear so it constantly slipped. My hopes sank and I knew this would be my first DNF. The road rash that was up and down the right side of my body stung, but the thought of DNF actually hurt. I found a race official, got help from a very nice police officer with aid (alcohol wipes/gauze/bandages/ice), and got a ride back to the transition area. I thought I might try to run the end of the race, but my left knee now hurt along with my left shoulder. The sense of oneness with the other athletes faded as I stood motionless at my bike. These thoughts were amplified by how much activity was in the transition area. Everyone had a purpose and direction but me. I wanted to turn it into something positive so I went to the finish line and clapped for incoming runners. I saw the first men come in and saw Teresa come running in. I cheered for her and she said in a bewildered breath "what are you doing here" as she sped toward the finish line. :) I kept clapping for other people and felt a little better. I now know that it really sucks crashing! I felt strong today and let an opportunity get away by misjudging distance, speed, and maybe being overconfident. I've already decided that I'm going to get a bar hydration system and practice putting my bottle back by feel at speed more often. I don't intend on this happening again. It was a whole mess of emotions like embarrassment, sadness, helplessness, anger, relief, and more. I'm not going to re wrap my aero bars to get rid of the blood stains. For now they're going to be a reminder of this day.

2008-07-16T21:35:00.000-07:00

This is the website that explains the steel alloy my bicycle frame is made out of. I found it pretty interesting.

2008-07-15T07:50:00.001-07:00

This weekend is the Seafair triathlon which I'm hoping will be a easy and fast race compared to Lake Stevens. My plan is to try and leave everything on the course this time. I did the race last year so I'm more familiar with the course, and I'm in much better shape now. If I don't PR I'll be really disappointed. Next month I'm thinking of trying an XTERRA.

2008-07-15T07:19:00.000-07:00

The last two years has been a strange one in terms of career. Locked up at a small company in Redmond I gained a lot of experience, but my pay level suffered. Since I started there as an intern and eventually was trusted on larger projects my pay only increased slightly. I interviewed and was hired at a company in Kirkland where that experience finally paid off. But that company was bought out and salaries were frozen and bonuses didn't materialize while I was there. Since we moved to Tacoma and I took a new job in downtown Seattle I actually took a virtual pay cut by giving up that bonus. But I gained sanity in terms of an easier commute. What I'm trying to express is that I haven't had a raise in almost two years. It's becoming more apparent that I'm in a stalemate situation. I need to get experience back to where I was going before. I'm at the level where I should be controlling projects, making decisions, and being held responsible for results. It's going to be uncomfortable to bring this back on to myself, but it's what needs to be done for the future.

2008-07-08T18:22:00.000-07:00

I want to specifically thank my wife for supporting me training for the 70.3 and other events. After the race if she would have hugged me I probably would have cried from her being there to support me.

2008-07-08T08:18:00.001-07:00

Does your sunscreen work? I know putting nothing on doesn't work for me. ;)

2008-07-07T08:20:00.000-07:00

Here's my "race report" for the Lake Stevens 70.3...

Got up about 4:20am and took a shower to wake up. I didn't feel hungry so I had a whole bottle of Perpetuem with 2 scoops. Arrived at race about 5:30am, found parking, transition, etc... Got body marking on the way in. Filled my Bento Box with Gu and Endurolytes. In my cages I had 3 bottles of Perpetuem (all with 2 scoops). I anticipated getting regular water at the bottle swap if I needed it. With everything in it's place I went to grab my timing chip. Walked around to see the layout of the transition area, what the turn buoys were, and visited the bathroom. About 15 minutes before 6:30am used Pam on my ankles, put on my wetsuit, visited the bathroom again, and took a warmup swim. The water was much warmer than any of my previous open water swims which was a nice surprise. Got in the queue and saw Arron Postema and Mark Webb get in right next to me. We all got in the water together and started the floating in water start from the dock. Since there were so many in this age group the fighting for position seemed fiercer as people tried to swim over me, grabbed my ankle, elbowed me, and nearly knocked off my goggles multiple times. I started slowly on purpose figuring that the field would stretch out and it'd be easier to pass. This also allowed me to relax, concentrate on my stroke, and breath more regularly. I kept hearing Teresa telling me to complete my pull phase. ;) About 1/4 through I noticed a flourescent string holding all the buoys so I followed it which made sighting almost unnecessary. It was just like a nice swim in the pool except people wouldn't let me pass! I'd tried to go around people and they'd speed up or turn to get in my way. I decided if that person was going at a good pace along the line I'd draft them and then pass. Out of the water into T1 and the Pam really paid off as my wetsuit slid off without any problems. This wasn't the fastest transition ever, but I just concentrated on not getting frustrated and things went smoothly. I said "hi" to Arron and we left almost the same time. My fueling plan on the bike was 1 Endurolyte an hour, 1 Perpetuem bottle an hour (sips every 15 minutes), and a Gu every 45 minutes. As we went up the first hill I noticed something I overlooked! Though I had rented cool Zipp 808's I hadn't adjusted the derailer so I didn't have usage of my top, lowest, or 2nd to lowest gears! Hills were going to be difficult today. :( I got mad at myself for assuming the cassette position would be the same, but decided quickly that I had 56 miles to worry about and this was a minor setback. Though I easily kept up with people in the practice laps I held back race day figuring I would get excited and burn out. I passed quite a few people and loved doing the 45mph+ downhills! According to my watch I completed the first lap in about 1:35 (wish I had my Garmin or a bike computer). 2nd lap I noticed people were going slower and I tried to pass as many as I could without going anarobic. We also started lapping some other people. I found some guys in my age group and stayed with them. My left pedal started "clicking" and I got worried so I stopped and made sure it was securely screwed in. Nothing seemed out of order, but now with every crank turn I loudly "clicked". I got worried that it'd unscrew on me at any moment so I tried to be careful on turns, downhills, etc... I caught and was still keeping up with the same age group people so I didn't feel too bad. Fueling was going well with the exception of the Gu's. I found they're much harder to "roll" into my mouth in aero position. So I waited for hills where I'd have to get up anyway due to my lack of low gears. I didn't use the bottle exchange because my stomach was fine. Came into T2 next to another happy triathlete and we laughed and make jokes. Shoes, socks, hat, glasses, and I was off. My legs felt extremely fresh which really surprised me. When I say "fresh" I mean almost no fatigued feeling at all. I'm assuming it was the combination of Endurolytes, not biking as hard as I could, and Perpetuem? My run fueling plan was to use Endurolytes every 30 minutes, my Heed hand bottle every 30 minutes, and Gu every 45 minutes. By my watch I figured I was doing 7:45-8 min/mile the first 3 miles so I tried to slow down. I figured the 56 miles would catch up with me. First lap done and through the crowd (thanks for the cheering) I attacked the first long hill of the out-and-back portion. At the turn-around I quickly used the bathroom. I powered up the other side of the hill and started feeling a little hot. Back through the crowd I felt significantly slower and wasn't looking forward to the next 5 miles. I noticed lots of people were cramping and going a lot slower than me. I offered some of my Endurolytes to people since I had quite a bit extra. This lap I refilled my water bottle with regular water and drank some of the Gatorade. I took a Gu at about 1:30 and my stomach wasn't very happy. I slowed down again on purpose to try and keep myself from blowing up. Through the crowd and cheering I felt a little better. I was now on the last out-and-back. The hill I attacked earlier seemed much harder and I would walk one cone length and run the next. At the turnaround I poured water on my head and it made me gasp. I did the same walk cone and run cone on the way back up the hill because my legs felt a little tired. On the downhill stretch about 3 miles away from the finish I had the first cramp on the back of my left leg. It wasn't terrible, but it reminded me of cramps I had on my first marathon so I tried to increase my cadence and power through it. About 2 miles away my calves felt on the verge of cramping, but I kept going slowly. Finally through the crowd and I sprinted to the finish line. My wife came over to see how I was doing and I thought I could have done better, but learned a lot about 70.3. I immediately ate a piece of pizza, drank almost a whole bottle of Gatorade, and had a bananna. I wanted to cheer for some HSP people so we found Teresa and the others. It was nice seeing people go instead of being in the race still. ;) I drank another bottle of water, ate a protein bar, and drove home. We stopped at the grocery for ice. I took a 10 minute ice bath while sipping another protein drink and reading triathlete magazine. I think I can finally call myself a triathlete. I have to give credit to Teresa for her coaching which made it possible. I'm surprised that I feel good today. A little leg soreness, but I can go up and down stairs, and I'm not exhausted or having headaches. Again... it's got to be the training.

2008-07-07T06:14:00.001-07:00

I completed my first Ironman 70.3 at Lake Stevens, WA yesterday. Here's the overall results... Detailed race report to follow.

Summary
number of finishers: 876
number of females: 300
number of males: 576
average time: 5:56:07

bib number: 212
age: 33
gender: M
location: TACOMA, WA
overall place: 408 out of 876
division place: 53 out of 86
gender place: 326 out of 576
time: 5:47:26.6
pace: 0:
swim: 39:55
t1: 2:28
bike: 2:56:45
t2: 3:14
run: 2:05:07
penalty: 0:

2008-07-02T07:20:00.000-07:00

Things have been busy! We went on vacation to Mazatlan, Mexico. Work has been heating up, I started trying to teach myself Spring 2.0 on the train, Ironman training is ongoing, and I'm trying to get our landscape work organized. Back to work!

Awesome license plate

2008-06-23T10:19:00.000-07:00

Saw this going to work today.