Not a lot to report today. Amanda and I got an early start to the day with a run, followed by a short bike ride. We then took a nice dip in the pool at our hotel, before heading into town. We were supposed to be there for Amanda to be interviewd at 1:00pm, but nobody was there to enjoy the interview, so they postponed it. The expo scene definitely gets a bit later start down here when compared to the IMNA events back home. It seems like everything will get underway tomorrow, with registration starting.
Amanda takes Friday off prior to race weekend, so we'll not have much to do exercise-wise. There is a press conference at 10:30 followed by a tv interview. These should be it as far as commitments go, so we should be done pretty early in the day.
I am really looking forward to watching this race. Amanda is set to have a fun time out there, and provided she plays her cards right, she is going to be qutie competitive with the others. I wouldn't say there is a clear-cut favorite out there, so the day will got to whomever executes the smartest race. Should be fun, indeed!
That's about it for now. I'm going to see about importing a few photos from the digital camera now!
Adios
Thursday, November 24, 2005
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
WOW! I'm quite the slacker when it comes to posting new Blog updates! Sorry 'bout that; it's mostly because I've been paying each time we hit the internet cafes, and I'm trying not to break the bank on this alone. It'll be much more fun to break the bank on chocolate, wine, and some ice cream post-race. That's right, I'm getting closer to being back on the junk! Since I've been battling this case of giardia and blastocystis hominis (so fun to say), I've been on the ulta-potent anti-biotic, so alcohol has been strictly off limits. It turns out that my liver is not able to handle it right now. On top of that, I'm lactocse intolerant, as a result of the out-of-balance intestinal flora. I'll be kicking this soon enough, and then it's back to the simple treats.
Amanda is really shaping up to have a great race. It's finally race week, and she's come around quite well. We are finally not on US time, so that's a big plus. It's really a good thing for us to arrive so early, in order to adjust. We have been doing some really nice training, and now that it's time to taper a bit more, we're even doing some fun sightseeing.
I'll have to post more info later, as my time just ran up.
Hope all's well in the northern hemisphere... summer with Christmas coming is quite fun for us!
Until next time.
Amanda is really shaping up to have a great race. It's finally race week, and she's come around quite well. We are finally not on US time, so that's a big plus. It's really a good thing for us to arrive so early, in order to adjust. We have been doing some really nice training, and now that it's time to taper a bit more, we're even doing some fun sightseeing.
I'll have to post more info later, as my time just ran up.
Hope all's well in the northern hemisphere... summer with Christmas coming is quite fun for us!
Until next time.
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Wow! It's been a long time since my last post. A lot has happened since then, so I'll quickly try to bring everyone up to speed:
After returning from SOMA, I made an appointment with a gastroenterologist to determine if my problems were resolving. It turns out that my previous diagnosis of intestinal ischemia was a bit off. My current diagnosis (after a somewhat unpleasant round of testing!) is giardia and another parasite called blastocystis hominis. It turns out I ingested these nasty bugs while drinking too much lake water in Madison or at Timberman. Bummer. I am glad to know why things went wrong, but bummed to have such a nasty afliction. I'm now on some powerful antibiotics to right things. In the meantime, I'm happily out of shape, and a bit weak from all the drugs, etc. I'll be back to normal in no time, if I can just get over this jet lag...
... yes, Amanda and I are Down Under, after a long, yet uneventful trip to Busselton, Western Australia. We're here for Amanda's season finale: the IM WA! It's a great town; a bit of sleepy beach town. We're settled in our new accommodations, which is a pretty fancy beach resort. We've got our very own apartment that has all the luxuries (more really!) that our home in Boulder affords us.
The training has been pretty relaxed, as we're just trying to back in the swing of things. (I'm basically doing whatever workouts are right for Amanda to get on track for her race... it's very fun, actually!) Later today we are hoping to get ahold of our missing bike box! It never arrived in Syndey, and has since made the trip to Perth, but not further down the road to Busselton. We have been ok up to now, but are now anxious to have the wheels: the race is in thirteen days!
That's about it for now. We're off to get a bit of food at the natural store, and to follow up our early morning swim with some more breakie and perhaps a run.
Until the next time (hoping it won't be too long), buh bye!
After returning from SOMA, I made an appointment with a gastroenterologist to determine if my problems were resolving. It turns out that my previous diagnosis of intestinal ischemia was a bit off. My current diagnosis (after a somewhat unpleasant round of testing!) is giardia and another parasite called blastocystis hominis. It turns out I ingested these nasty bugs while drinking too much lake water in Madison or at Timberman. Bummer. I am glad to know why things went wrong, but bummed to have such a nasty afliction. I'm now on some powerful antibiotics to right things. In the meantime, I'm happily out of shape, and a bit weak from all the drugs, etc. I'll be back to normal in no time, if I can just get over this jet lag...
... yes, Amanda and I are Down Under, after a long, yet uneventful trip to Busselton, Western Australia. We're here for Amanda's season finale: the IM WA! It's a great town; a bit of sleepy beach town. We're settled in our new accommodations, which is a pretty fancy beach resort. We've got our very own apartment that has all the luxuries (more really!) that our home in Boulder affords us.
The training has been pretty relaxed, as we're just trying to back in the swing of things. (I'm basically doing whatever workouts are right for Amanda to get on track for her race... it's very fun, actually!) Later today we are hoping to get ahold of our missing bike box! It never arrived in Syndey, and has since made the trip to Perth, but not further down the road to Busselton. We have been ok up to now, but are now anxious to have the wheels: the race is in thirteen days!
That's about it for now. We're off to get a bit of food at the natural store, and to follow up our early morning swim with some more breakie and perhaps a run.
Until the next time (hoping it won't be too long), buh bye!
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
So the race season is finally behind me! Amanda and I travelled to Tempe, Arizona over the weekend, to participate in the Soma Triathlon. Our friend Jeff Suffolk is the race director, and he was kind enough to invite us out to the events. We had planned on going for quite sometime, and were looking forward to having a good time out there. However, we both ran into a few hurdles going into the weekend. First off, I had been struggling to get back to normal energy levels since my downfall in Hawaii. I found that I was feeling better for the most part, but I did not feel very energetic. Then, to top it off, I came down with a bit of a chest cold! Unfortunately, I passed it along to Amanda just before we were about to leave for Arizona... not good. Nonthesless, we had already committed to the race, and we knew that it was going to be a quality event. I was hoping to end the season on a more positive note after Hawaii, and Amanda wanted to have a tune-up race before Australia. So off we went.
We arrived on Friday, and went directly to the Soma Cafe. I had shipped my bike there directly from Hawaii, so we needed to pick that up. Plus, we had been invited to dine there during our weekend in Arizona. Soma is a great restaurant, created by and run by nutritionists, doctors, and athletes. Their goal is to provide healthy food and a fun environment in which to eat it. They are successful on both counts: the food is great, and it's a very casual place to hang out. They plan on opening one in Boulder soon, and I must admit that I'm really looking forward to that day.
After a large late breakfast (a pancake that nearly knocked me out!), we went back to the hotel for a long nap. We both felt the need to get as much rest as possible, seeing as how we were both so under the weather.
Our next obligation was quite fun: a gathering back at Soma Cafe that evening. There was a bit of a "meet and greet" with the pro athletes competing, so we joined up with Tim Deboom, and later Chris Legh to enjoy some more great food and to talk about the upcoming race. I think we all really enjoyed the night, as there were some super nice folks there, including Brad (Soma's owner), Todd, and the rest of the Soma staff.
On Saturday morning, Amanda and I opted for a quick run before we headed back to Soma... once again! I felt good for about fifteen minutes, but unfortunately didn't have much zip on the return trip. I was definitely starting to doubt that I would be strong enough to race the half ironman the next day.
Once again, we grabbed Tim and headed out for an awesome breakie out at Soma. We really had no obligations, so we just chilled out, relaxing and chatting for a couple hours. I must say that I really enjoyed getting to know Tim a little better. He's a really nice guy, and I think we all just enjoyed having a low-key day.
Later that afternoon, I put the bikes together, and we headed down to Tempe Town Lake. We signed up for the race, and jumped into the water for a quick swim. The water was nice enough to go sans wetsuit, although the race day temps would be cool enough to allow them.
Once we were done with the sign-up process, we did a brief Q & A for Jeff and some of teh triathletes, and headed back to the hotel for some more rest. Next up was another trip to Soma!
This time we dragged Chris along, and the four of us enjoyed a delicious pre-race meal. I was feeling ok, but definitely not normal. In spite of all the great food, I didn't have my standard appetite, and so I found myself contemplating not racing at all. I just didn't want to do any more harm to my body... although it seemed like it was going to be such a fun race!
Sunday morning came, and I still was unsure as to whether or not I would race. I felt pretty lousy, so I decided to ask Jeff if I could switch to the Quarterman, knowing that it would be a lot less taxing on my body. Fortunately, he was ok with that request, and I jumped in the water for the ealier/ shorter race.
I'll save all the details for a brief race report on my website, but suffice it to say that I had a fun time, and it was a REALLY good thing I did not do the half!
We're back in Boulder now, and the plan is to rest my bones for a few days, prior to heading back out the door to give Amanda some company in her final prep for IMWA! She's going to have a great race down there. Even though she was under the weather, and she took a wrong turn on the bike, she notched a third victory for the season! She's on a roll, indeed!
Until next time...
We arrived on Friday, and went directly to the Soma Cafe. I had shipped my bike there directly from Hawaii, so we needed to pick that up. Plus, we had been invited to dine there during our weekend in Arizona. Soma is a great restaurant, created by and run by nutritionists, doctors, and athletes. Their goal is to provide healthy food and a fun environment in which to eat it. They are successful on both counts: the food is great, and it's a very casual place to hang out. They plan on opening one in Boulder soon, and I must admit that I'm really looking forward to that day.
After a large late breakfast (a pancake that nearly knocked me out!), we went back to the hotel for a long nap. We both felt the need to get as much rest as possible, seeing as how we were both so under the weather.
Our next obligation was quite fun: a gathering back at Soma Cafe that evening. There was a bit of a "meet and greet" with the pro athletes competing, so we joined up with Tim Deboom, and later Chris Legh to enjoy some more great food and to talk about the upcoming race. I think we all really enjoyed the night, as there were some super nice folks there, including Brad (Soma's owner), Todd, and the rest of the Soma staff.
On Saturday morning, Amanda and I opted for a quick run before we headed back to Soma... once again! I felt good for about fifteen minutes, but unfortunately didn't have much zip on the return trip. I was definitely starting to doubt that I would be strong enough to race the half ironman the next day.
Once again, we grabbed Tim and headed out for an awesome breakie out at Soma. We really had no obligations, so we just chilled out, relaxing and chatting for a couple hours. I must say that I really enjoyed getting to know Tim a little better. He's a really nice guy, and I think we all just enjoyed having a low-key day.
Later that afternoon, I put the bikes together, and we headed down to Tempe Town Lake. We signed up for the race, and jumped into the water for a quick swim. The water was nice enough to go sans wetsuit, although the race day temps would be cool enough to allow them.
Once we were done with the sign-up process, we did a brief Q & A for Jeff and some of teh triathletes, and headed back to the hotel for some more rest. Next up was another trip to Soma!
This time we dragged Chris along, and the four of us enjoyed a delicious pre-race meal. I was feeling ok, but definitely not normal. In spite of all the great food, I didn't have my standard appetite, and so I found myself contemplating not racing at all. I just didn't want to do any more harm to my body... although it seemed like it was going to be such a fun race!
Sunday morning came, and I still was unsure as to whether or not I would race. I felt pretty lousy, so I decided to ask Jeff if I could switch to the Quarterman, knowing that it would be a lot less taxing on my body. Fortunately, he was ok with that request, and I jumped in the water for the ealier/ shorter race.
I'll save all the details for a brief race report on my website, but suffice it to say that I had a fun time, and it was a REALLY good thing I did not do the half!
We're back in Boulder now, and the plan is to rest my bones for a few days, prior to heading back out the door to give Amanda some company in her final prep for IMWA! She's going to have a great race down there. Even though she was under the weather, and she took a wrong turn on the bike, she notched a third victory for the season! She's on a roll, indeed!
Until next time...
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