Go around man!

Today was the best weather I have had yet in terms of how nice it was and by how there really wasn't a ton of wind. I was cruising around Edmond when some jerk store honked at me when he had to pass me on Kelly just north of Danforth. If my speed is too slow for you that is fine but you don't need to honk at me when you pass me. Simply just go around me and continue smoking your Virginia Slims and drinking you mocha latte that you paid $8 for. So if any of you know a guy who drives a dark red Lexus and lives in North Edmond and in all likelihood is probably about to file for bankruptcy because he thinks he makes $100K and only really makes $42K, tell him he is a douche bag and he needs to not honk his horn at me. Next time I may just have to poke him in his retina and tell him to eat a wiener.

Cancer Sucks!

My uncle, Terry Ginn, has been fighting Brain and Lung Cancer for just about 2 years now. A few months ago he ended his chemotherapy when the doctors told him it was too aggressive and there wasn't much more they could do to slow it down. Last Thursday, June 18th, we was admitted into Mercy Hospital and has been there ever since. Wednesday evening he was in a severe amount of pain and the nurses gave him pain medication to make the pain go away but it has also caused him to go into a sort of coma like state. He breathes heavily and looks like he is out of it but his brain is still working.

The nurses told the family to have everyone come up to the hospital if they wanted to see him alive. So I left work early on Thursday and went to see him and I typically don't do well with hospitals but wanted to see him one last time. I was in the room all alone and went up to him and saw him breathing heavily and his skin color was very pale. I grabbed his hand and said, "uncle Terry, this is Kenny" He squeezed my hand and started to shake his leg. I said, "It's okay to go now, I will take care of Scott (my 18 year old cousin) and everything will be ok. I love you and it's okay to go." He continued to shake his leg for a few seconds and I told him goodbye then I left the room.

As of right now he is still holding on but we think that once my brother and cousin Philip get there to see him he will let go and move on to a pain free place with the rest of our family.

My triathlon couldn't mean anymore to me than it does right now. My fundraising is for blood cancers specifically but I know that the research that is done could lead to breakthroughs for other cancers. If you have received an email from me about my fundraising please forward it on to anyone who might be able to help. I am grateful for any amount that you may be able to offer and please keep my family, especially my uncle Terry and my dad in your thoughts and prayers.

Team Brick

We had a team brick training this morning at 6:30am. We started at Nichols Hills Plaza and rode around Lake Hefner with a slight detour so we ended up going 18 miles. It was a good ride that burned the Quads because we went faster and there was a strong North wind that we had to ride straight into for about 5 miles.

We finished the ride and did a 3 mile run through Nichols Hills. My legs didn't feel great but after about the halfway mark they got better and I was able to finish strong. It was a good day of training and now I plan on doing a whole lot of nothing today.

I took Friday off to rest and got a 3 mile run in on Thursday and plan on running tomorrow for a while I might even do some yoga, but we will have to wait and see about that.

½ Mile Swim!

Today I was able to swim half a mile and felt good about my progress. My arms are still tired but I know that over time they will get stronger and get used to the amount of strokes I will need to do. I did my drills as well and was able to find a foam floaty thing to put between my legs to help keep my booty up and streamline my body. It took me a while because I was stopping every 4 laps to get the fog out of my crappy goggles and catch my breath. Overall I am happy with my progress in the week I have been swimming.

Yesterday I got up and rode around Edmond and was telling people to get out of my way because I was going so dang fast. Ok……maybe that wasn’t happening but I did get an 11 mile ride in and it was good. It’s cool to see how much ground you can cover in about 45 minutes of riding.

On a different note my training has taken on a different role. My uncle Terry is in the hospital suffering from Brain and Lung Cancer (he is not a smoker). I know my fundraising is for blood cancers specifically but all cancer research is a plus in my mind and who knows if a breakthrough with Leukemia will help with other forms of cancer. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Starting to find my stroke

I was too exhausted to get out of bed this morning to go swim so I postponed it til after work. I made it to the gym and got a 30 minute workout it. I was doing some of the drills that the coaches taught me last week and was able to really work on my breathing and just trying to stay consistent. I still have a lot of work to do but know that I will eventually get to where I need and want to be.

Lindsey Mason asked me to post the drills I have been doing so she could try them out so here you go.

1. after getting warmed up swim with your left arm straight out and stroke with the right one only, do one lap. Do the same thing for the left arm only.

2. lay on your back or side with your right arm straight out and left on your side, kick 10 times and rotate your body down to the right with your face going under water and emerging on the other side and switch to the left arm out and rifht arm down and kick 10 more times and switch back the other way. repeat this for one full lap.

3. I did this one with fins but if you don't have them it will still work. it is designed to help you get a feel for where your body should be positioned in the water and help you stay on top. Put your arms straight out and put your head between your arms, ears should touch biceps. Kick only and complete one full lap, while going try to play with your head position and get a feel for how you can streamline yourself moving through the water. I figured out that the further down my head went the higher my legs came up and made it easier to cut through the water.

4. If your pool has supplies look for a foam piece that looks like a figure 8 and put it between your legs right under your booty and just do laps. This will help keep your legs up and allow you to work on your breathing and stroke.

These drills are helping me a ton and I will continue to do them for a while until i get more comfortable with what I am doing. I do one drill then do a lap and then move to the next. Lindsey I hope these help. For all you other Triathletes feel free to leave comments with tips that you have done while training.

Weekend Update

I took Saturday off and went to Ada, America to celebrate Ryan's 30th birthday, but got up this morning and headed back to OKC to meet the team at Lake Hefner for a ride/run. Again there were only four of us and I didn't expect that there would be more since today is Fathers Day. We decided that we were going to do 2 laps around Hefner in the 95+ degree heat with a 15ish MPH wind. It wasn't too hot because the wind was blowing and the wind didn't make it too hard to get around since Hefner is really flat. The first lap was nice and slow and the second lap I wanted to push myself so I left the group and went ahead on my own and finished the last 7-8 miles by myself and went pretty fast. I felt like a kid again, I think I still am a kid, because I was going fast and it was just fun. I finished with the wind at my back so that was a nice reward for pushing so hard while going into the wind. We skipped the run and headed to Louie's on the Lake for a beer and air conditioning. I will swim tomorrow morning and hopefully get a good nights sleep cause I really need one.

Running, Swimming and Leo

Yesterday I woke up and did my normal 3 mile run but added a little bit of interval training too. I would speed up and slow down for a minute at a time. It was a great start to the day and always helps to keep my energy up throughout the day.

This morning I swam for about 30 minutes doing a lot of the same drills I was taught on Wednesday and it seemed to help. Today's swim was 100 times easier than Tuesdays thanks to my coaches.

I have determined who I will be racing for. My cousin Leo was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma a few years ago, after many rounds of Chemo he has been cancer free for a few years now. Go Leo! I will give more info on Leo soon.

I am looking for a song to base my training and fund raising on and am currently leaning toward the song "So Alive" by Ryan Adams. I think it is a great song and the meaning seems to fit the idea behind Team in Training. If you have any other songs that I should consider please send them my way I am open for suggestions.

I can breathe easier now

Today I had my first swim practice with Team in Training and it was kind of amazing. I met my swim coach Natalie and she recruited her friend Ryan to come help out for the rest of the season. they started me out on a warm up where I struggled. Then I moved on to some drills where I would swim with one arm or kick 10 times and roll to the other side. The whole time I did this I was trying to work on my breathing and form. Needless to say I had no form and was barely breathing because the water was getting in the way of all the air, aka choking. But after a few modifications to help me recognize what good form can do and continued to do the drills I slowly got better. By the end of the evening I was no longer needing the aid of a device to keep me legs higher or fins and was actually getting in a rhythm and breathing from the left and right. I was totally impressed with the coaches ability to help me and my ability to listen and actually make some huge changes. I am still far from where I need and want to be but I will take the improvements made tonight and work from there. I rewarded my hour or so in the pool with a nice bowl of Frito chili pie. Yum!

Humbled Twice In One Day

I have been some what of an athlete my entire life. I have been in some kind of team related sport since I was 5 and enjoy athletics. Most of those years have been spent doing a form of baseball or softball. When I began to run my senior year in high school I had a small learning curve but was able to pick that up pretty well and in the last 3 years have been running a lot and competing in various 5K and 10K events.

Well.....today I felt weak, non-athletic and just down right crummy for the first time since I was probably 5 years old. I swam and rode my bike and I have to say that shit ain't easy. Swimming is the toughest cardiovascular thing I have ever done and I have a new found respect for the Michael Phelps' and Darra Torres' of the world. The water just gets in the way, unlike the air in running, and causes you to work harder and I am gonna have to really work on my swimming stroke.

After work I rode my bike 12ish miles and it kicked my ass. My legs were burning and the wind made it really tough to go up a hill not to mention I was sweatin' like a clown. Again....new found respect for Lance Armstrong and Greg Lemond. I will have to really work on my cadence and just keep focused to make this work. Luckily I have just under 3 months to prepare.

Getting back to main point. I am deeply humbled. I feel like I have been fortunate in my life to have been able to easily adjust to whatever athletic activity I was doing. Today made me realize what I have in front of me and I can only hope when I get done it will have made me a better person. I admire those who have already done what I am starting and hope that it gets easier because my old body may not be able to take it for 3 months.

I need to work at swimming

I got a text message from T. Fox this morning saying "are you up yet? time to swim". I was just laying there wanting to stay in bed but knew I needed to get up. After swimming this morning for the first time I confirmed what I thought to be true, I am terrible at swimming. I swam 13 laps in what I believe is a 20 meter pool, 47 laps is 1 mile, and I was swimming 2 at a time. I can't swim and breathe out to the side right now so I am sure once I figure out how to do that I will get a lot better. Until then I will struggle and keep working at it.

After my swim which included 3 other people no younger than 65 yrs old I went home and go t ready for work and then rewarded my efforts with at Jamba Juice. Tonight I will try to bike 20-30 miles.

Oh....I also go my first donation for my fund raising effort. Thanks Tina for the generous gift.

Introducing Giant! My new Bike!

I bought my new bike on Friday and am looking for a good name for it. First off, is it a he or she? Secondly, the bike is a Giant Defy 3 (sounds fast huh?). I am open for suggestions. I rode it for the first time on Saturday morning and went about 15 miles and really enjoyed it. I am hoping this becomes a new source of exercise for me. I will keep the naming poll open for a while so please send me your thoughts.

First Blog Post Ever

How does this thing work? Am I supposed to type something and then you are supposed to read it?