If you’re a cyclist who sometimes fantasizes about a solo break away Tour de France stage victory.
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Category Archives: Sports
Time Warp
And in other news, China was stripped of a bronze medal from the 2000 Sydney Olympics for fielding an underage female gymnast, with the women’s team medal now going to the U.S.
Funny. China built every Olympic venue in less time than it took the IOC to determine the actual age of an athlete.
And this just in, Tour de France officials have determined Bernard Hinault was ridin’ dirty in the 1985 Tour.
Why Exercise?
I once had a colleague, a smart scientist, who said research showed exercise extends people’s lives the same amount of time spent exercising. If that’s close to correct, and if you excercise 5 hours a week, 48 weeks a year, for forty years, that’s an extra 13 months. If that seems paltry, he’d agree, which was why he chose to be sedentary.
I don’t exercise to extend the length of my life as much as I do to improve the quality of it. Most of the time I enjoy the activity itself, the swimming, running, and cycling, especially since I have great training partners. Long story short, exercise improves the quality of my life on lots of levels.
Last Sunday I was traveling all day and on Monday and Tuesday I wasn’t able to squeeze in a workout. Felt completely out of whack. Finally rebooted with a 5 mile run along the edge of Storm Lake Tuesday night. Travelled all day Wednesday, so four days, and one five mile run. Salvaged the week by hitting it hard Thursday-Sunday.
Sunday’s ride was especially nice. Longest ride of 2010 thus far. The numbers, 63.27 miles, 3:34:11, 17.7mph avg, max 42.5, 2,954′ of elevation, 4,057 calories. Morning resting heart rate, 48, 52 in the middle of church (so I drifted during the sermon, what else is new). Great riding with Lance except for the hills he added on. His front tire exploded mid-ride. Loudest flat ever. Embarrassing the lengths he goes to to force rest.
The pictures.
In the peloton, you are what you eat and drink
Ready to roll
Dropping in on 81st Street
Line of the day, "Don't throw that away, I'm going to patch it."
Lance's elaborate rest stop ruse
Self portrait mid-ride
Calorie replacement. . . stage one
Calorie replacement. . . stage two
Calorie replacement. . . stage three
Calorie replacement. . . finishing kick
We Don’t Know Phil Mickelson Either
Masterful Masters. Listening to Bones and Mickelson talk it through and then witnessing Mickelson’s shot on 13 from the pinestraw and trees just may have been worth wasting a beautiful afternoon indoors. Unbelievable. Has there ever been a better player-caddy relationship?
Sometimes an announcer make no sense like when Jim Nantz said Tiger’s play on Thursday was so warmly welcomed by the Masters patrons (don’t call them fans) because Americans love the redemptive arc or something nonsensical like that. What the heck does Tiger’s making a few birdies and getting his life together have to do with one another?
Here’s how the press will want you to remember the 2010 Masters. Phil was inspired to win it for Amy, his wife who is battling breast cancer. Watch SportsCenter for the continuous replaying of Phil’s and Amy’s post championship embrace or the Golf Channel or see pictures of it in Sports Illustrated on Thursday. Analysts will laud Phil as the anti-Tiger for days to come. Faithful family man versus filandering “family” man. The joke will be, “Wonder which blonde Tiger would have embraced had he won?!”
The truth of the matter is, we don’t know Phil just like we didn’t, don’t, and won’t ever know Tiger or Kobe or Sandra or name the public figure. Hell, do we truly know half of our friends and acquaintances? Maybe Phil hasn’t always been faithful. With no way to know, why put him on a pedestal for anything other than that filthy shot on 13. That’s not cynicism, it’s healthy skepticism. Cynics assume the worst, skeptics know things aren’t always as they appear, and therefore, question conventional wisdom.
Now Lee Westwood, he seems like an all around great bloke. :) Here’s hoping he breaks through later in the year.
Play Ball
Shortish clip (4:41) in honor of Opening Day. Mariners 2010 “World” Series Champions. You read it here first.
Dispassionate Madness
Give the debacle that was the UCLA bball season this winter, I nearly gave up March Madness for Lent. But alas, the allure of winning big bucks in the office pool (so far ten people have put in five dollars each) inspired me to fill out and submit a bracket. Despite my late-adapting techno idiosyncracies, as an experiment, I decided to go with the Wall Street Journal’s computer generated bracket from beginning to end. Regrettably, we have Puke beating Kansas in the championship game.
One thing is nagging me, how does a computer factor in game location, crowd intensity, and 20 year olds’ emotions? It’s not like swimming where the predicted finish of the finalists in any given heat is quite predictable. The tourney’s popularity is largely a result of unforeseen upsets.
If the computer could speak for itself, it would probably say that by factoring in every result from the season its accounted for home/away, crowd intensity, and emotional variables. As a result, we have BYU in the Final Four. The experiment is whether a computer can predict upsets. Hope so.
Here’s a relevant excerpt from Tuesday’s journal:
To better understand upsets, and to find the best way to predict them, The Wall Street Journal looked at the 40 biggest NCAA tournament upsets since 2004—the games where the surprise winner was seeded at least five spots below the favorite. For each upset, we compared the teams involved by their performance in two dozen categories. The majority of these comparisons were based on how the teams matched up—for instance, how well one team shot three-pointers during the season and how well their opponents defended against them. The same head-to-head comparisons were made for factors like rebounding and steals. In the end, we found a few strong similarities between all of these matchups. But there was only one unequivocal theme: the importance of turnovers. In 30 of the 40 games, the underdog “David” team had been better all season at protecting the ball and avoiding turnovers than the “Goliath” team had been at forcing them. Getting steals also is critical.
How should I spend my winnings?
February 2010 Fitness Notes
Wasn’t the symmetry of February 2010 off the hook? Every month should start on a Monday, have four weeks, and end on a Sunday. Miss it already. Positive Momentum readers are like the children of Lake Wobegone, so someone draw up a new calendar with a leap week or something.
Swam 26,700 meters. Did not re-up for the second Masters session of the year so volume ebbed. Last Masters practice was a time trial and I set three personal records since I had never swam the “events”. 25 free, 13.1; 25 fly, 15.2; 25 breast, 18.1. 100 free was slow, 1:05 something and 200 free was so slow I can’t seem to recall it. 100 IM was slow too, something like 1:21. I’ve written nine workouts, three with a sprint focus, three middle-distance, and three distance. I rotate through in a sprint, middle distance, distance rhythm. Nine, the third distance workout, is a time trial. A “circuit” will take a month now that I’m only swimming 2x/week. Eliminates the “wonder what I should do today” pre swim meditation. Let me know if you’re interested in seeing the workouts. I didn’t see the kind of improvement in early February that I thought I would from the January increase in volume. I thought I would be able to hold 1:19’s for ten 100’s (short course yards, I convert totals to meters) on 1:30, but I was doing 1:21-1:25 on 1:35. My guess is I need to incorporate resistance training or what we once called weight lifting. There are a few problems with that though. One, even though I lift very light weights and concentrate on form, I somehow usually tweak my lower back. Two, if my Squeeze finds me any more alluring, I won’t get anything done. I think I’ll risk both and see if that’s the missing link.
Cycled 226 miles, 73 outdoors. Our winter has been the opposite of the eastern U.S. and Western Europe, unusually mild. It’s so nice to see a light at the end of the indoor cycling tunnel. Two weeks from Daylight Savings Time when the outdoor cycling season officially begins for wusses like me. I like where I am for late February/early March. On a scale of 1 to 10, I’m an indoor 6 and an outdoor 4. Thoroughly enjoyed a brilliant 40 miler with Dano and Lance on Sunday.
Ran 112 miles. Frontloaded the month a bit, weekly totals were 32, 32, 22, 26. Can’t wait for more daylight. The team is running well, holding 7:30’s while discussing the difference between triple lutzes and axles. Well, most of the team. Principal entered the Witness Protection Program probably for some malfeasance at his place of employment. Health Care Analyst somehow forgot that you run a cold into submission. Trooper continues to recycle the “hammy” excuse to avoid Saturday long runs. In contrast, Architect manned up (pun intended) and ran in shorts on a 27 degree morning, Highway Chieftain took a dive for the team on a darkened trail, and Hair Care Sales Manager was nails as usual. I seemed to have picked up a new nickname while in Spokane, Adolph, I’m guessing because I impressed the team with my knowledge of World War II Germany.
And in related news . . .
• My brothers co-authored a book about my steriod use, but I filed a cease and desist order and kept it from seeing the light of day.
• Last indoor cycling session, 250w avg, 75 minutes, 20.4m, 1,104c.
• Luckily for Armstrong, I was not selected to ride in the Leadville 100 in Leadville, Colorado in August.
• There’s building momentum for a repeat Olympia Half Marathon in mid-May. Nothing else on the calendar.
• I’m undecided on what Olympic event to begin training for, the summer 400IM or winter 50K cross country. Seventeen suggested figure skating. Not sure how I didn’t think of that myself. I will see if my sister is up for training with me for a run at Ice Dance gold in Sochi.
Dear Norway
As you know, my grandmother was born and raised in Bern, I lived in Hamar for a few months a few years ago, I loved Elling, Out Stealing Horses was brilliant, my wife drops mad kroner on lefse every Christmas, and my conservative friends think I’m a closet socialist.
I’m writing because I couldn’t help but notice Sweden kicked your ass in the 30K combined.
I’m not applying for the soon-to-be vacant x-country coaching positions, I’m writing to offer my services in the relays.
As your scouts no doubt informed you, I trained under Tore’s expert supervision at Gasbu. Granted, I’m prone to fall when descending, I have a hard time getting into and out of tracks, I’m often off-balance, and I don’t know how to skate.
On the other hand, I can get to Whistler in six-seven hours depending on the border and I may be just the spark the team needs. Car’s packed and I’m awaiting your call. Call now and I will have time to learn how to skate.
In Anticipation,
Ron
p.s. Tell the equipment and clothing peeps that I’m 188cm with a 86cm inseam. And could I get a couple extra tics to the closing ceremonies?
Taking the Call
Doesn’t Compute
In an email I recently received, my father-in-law asked me what I thought of Tiger’s performance. I’m guessing his use of the word “performance” as opposed to “statement” means he wasn’t buying what Tiger was selling.
I thought Tiger was sincere, but who knows, talk is cheap, and as he acknowledged, only time will tell. The question of whether he was sincere is not the most interesting one, nor is the question of what he does or doesn’t owe the public, nor the related one of why didn’t he allow questions.
For me there’s one interesting, actually troubling aspect of the whole Tiger melodrama, and one interesting aspect of his performance or statement.
The disconcerting aspect is the opportunity costs of our fascination with celebrities. In your circle of friends, what’s the ratio of “Tiger talk” to “education, foreign policy, health care, or economic talk”? We are a People magazine people and the quality of our democracy suffers as a result.
The interesting aspect of his statement was how pained he appeared to be, how unhappy I’m guessing he is, and his paragraph on Buddhism. We are a materialistic people. Here’s a guy that’s close to being the first billionaire athlete living a complete life of luxury and he’s unhappy. How can someone who’s the best in their field, on the way to being the best ever, with hundreds of millions of dollars, private jets, yachts, houses, Escalades, be unhappy?
Doesn’t compute.
Lots of people think if they had El Tigre money and fame they’d be much more happy than they are. To me, the Tiger story, like a lot of Old Testament ones, is a powerful reminder that money and fame are no substitute for a sense of self; a selfless spirituality; honoring your ancestors; a sense that your wife, children, and close friends respect you; a sense that you’re at least as good a person as athlete.
I’m Guessing Not
Pressing Pause 