Life Lessons....

You're never too old to learn something new.

And thank goodness for that!

I had the opportunity this week to get two coaching sessions and it made me realize a couple things: 1) this triathlon thing is going to be a LOT of fun, and 2) this triathlon thing is going to be REALLY DIFFICULT!

Amy helped me at the pool Wednesday evening, pointing out all the stupid crap I was doing (my words, not hers - she's a really good coach). Did you know that you're supposed to breathe out of BOTH sides of your mouth? I didn't. Did you know that you're supposed to keep your head about eyebrow level in the water? I didn't. Did you know you're supposed to look forward and not at the bottom of the pool? What? You neither?

You get my point. I was swimming, well, I was propelling my sorry self through the water with a pathetic attempt at swimming, but I was doing it pretty much incorrectly. Amy helped me fix a lot of things and I began to learn how to flip turn! (Did you know you're supposed to exhale while you flip over? Guess what? If you don't, you get water in your brains!)

Today I had the pleasure of running with our Cross Country coach at SMNW, Van Rose. Van is the third winningest coach in America (yeah, the SMNW boy's XC team has won the state championship the past twelve years and has like twenty-two state titles in the school's history, all of which Van coached). Van was gracious enough to take me out with him on a quick little 4-miler in the freezing rain and snow. I was freaking out all day, as I had no idea what I was getting into, but Van is not only an awesome coach, he's one of the finest teachers in America (literally - Presidential recognition, no kidding!) and he's also a very cool cat. I've been having problems with tension in my neck and arms and with two little suggestions, Van fixed it!

I got some new shoes tonight as well. I'm ready to rock and roll!

In short, and you all know that I am short, I'm really enjoying not only the training, but also the techniques behind the training. And for all my friends who like to poke fun at me for becoming a triathlete, I have a little message: Yeah, I know, I was one of you not so long ago, making fun of tri-geeks and such. But I've decided to do this as I've lost any hope of having success in team bike racing, and I would hope that you would respect my decision to keep myself fit and set higher athletic goals for myself. And, if you can't handle that, I'd appreciate it if you'd keep your negative comments to yourself. There's enough negativity in my life without you throwing shit my way.

In fact, before you poke too hard, why don't you come swim a thousand meters with me and then run five miles? Then you can talk all the smack you want.

And for those of you who've been nothing but supportive - thanks, I love ya!

Finding the joy in life,

Jeffrey

Swim, Swam, Swum...

Is swum even a word? Must be, as my spell-checker didn't underline it in red.

Anyways, I'm very proud to report that I wen to the pool today. I'm even more proud to say that I did NOT DIE! Hadn't been in a pool for at least five years, but since cycling has given me a little bit better aerobic engine, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I actually worked out for about 30 minutes and did 600 meters of interval work. For a "real" swimmer, that's pathetic. But for those of us that swim like three-legged water buffalo, I felt pretty good about it!

Then Johnny GoFast and I did a little TT work while we watched the Tour of California. Gotta love the DVR. Recorded the tour while I was at an afternoon concert and watched it tonight. Got in a good 2-hour session and really dialed in my position. And I had a nice long chat with a good friend who is a fantastic triathlete and got a bunch of great pointers.

I think I can do this triathlon thing....

At least I'm excited about it and looking forward to the training. A lot of swimming, biking and running in my immediate future. But, hey, what else am I gonna do to keep myself off the streets, right?

If anybody's reading this, drop me a line. I miss you guys!

Jeffrey

Half the Man I Used to be....

Not really, more like a third of the man I used to be.

I hit 74 pounds lost this morning. I'm down to 164 pounds and am still dropping! Can I get a "whoot-whoot," people?

However, I'm still recovering from the upper respiratory crud, so I haven't been really voracious of late. But I have been really meticulous about what I do eat, and it's working. I've been hitting the gym hard and I'm actually being smart about what I use as fuel. I'm protein-loading after my weight workouts, and I feel really, really good!

Haven't been on a bike in two weeks.

Hmm...Let me write that again: Haven't been on a bike in two weeks. Weird. I've actually not missed it. For one, I don't enjoy putting my lungs through hell by sucking freezing rain and wind at 20 mph. And two, I'm still pretty pissed over the whole team thing and I just don't have the desire to get back to it.

However however (I'm using however an awful lot tonight, aren't I?), I have been running a lot more. And I'm talking my favorite girlfriend into teaching me how to swim better. You can see it coming, right? "Oh, no! Jeffrey's going to become a triathlete!" you're saying to yourself. And you'd be right.

Now, I know all my friends know that I have often disparaged local triathletes for their lack of bike skill. And their goofy clothes (says the guy who shaves his legs). And their dipshit aero bars clipped onto their cheap road bikes. But, what else am I going to do? I mean, I don't have a team any more, so crits ain't exactly going to be fun. Road race? More like "hide in the pack and hope for a pack sprint" race!

I'm left with two viable options as an unattached rider. I can race mountain bike - which I plan to do as well. And I can compete in triathlons. And I have to admit, competing in triathlons is pretty much the epitome of pain and suffering. I swim like a rock and I run like a hippo, so I better kick serious ass on the bike. But, after doing a little research and watching those crazy sumbitches in the Ironman Championships in Hawai'i, I'm convinced that I can do it.

Why?

Because it's there. Because people will say "that's stupid crazy, man!" Because it's difficult, outrageous, and something that only a handful of people actually can say they've done (well, a few thousand anyways). I'm going to be 38 in April. I think I'd like to do an Ironman-length triathlon before I'm 40. And, you guessed it, wouldn't it be cool to race the Big Kahuna in honor of my fourth decade on the planet? Sounds extremely painful, brutal, and beautiful.

Now I just got to learn to swim. My left shoulder is still jacked up from my crash three years ago. I'm rueful of my comment to the doctor back then that "oh, I don't do much with my left arm, so 80% mobility is fine." Yeah, every time I throw my arm over my head in a swimming motion, the ball socket "pops" a bit. I don't think that's good, is it? Hmm, we'll see, I guess!

Well, I'm at least excited about something besides my weight loss. I've got a goal, and you know how I am about goals. All I need now is somebody to tell me that I'll never be able to do it. That would seal the deal. You know how I like to succeed when others have told me I'll fail. I'm a spiteful bitch that way.

So, tomorrow I set up my TT rig on the trainer and begin dialing in my fancy new handlebars. I'll tweak my seat position, and get after it. Supposed to rain and snow all damn day anyways, so it'll give me something to do.

Hope you're all doing well.

Jeffrey

Made Me Cry

I know it's hard to believe, but sometimes, just sometimes, I am a bit of a pushover. I know, say it isn't so, but it's true. Take tonight, for instance.

We had a concert at school. Actually, it was at a local church, as it has much better acoustics than our auditorium, and gosh darn it, it's just got that whole "religion" thing hanging all over it. Music and guilt - what's not to love? So, we had our annual (and sometimes ironically named) "Great Works Concert" in which the orchestra accompanies the choir on a piece of big ol' (read: undead composer boy) piece of music. This year it was a Schubert Mass.

But it was the stuff AFTER the choral piece that was where I lost my heart. I love my job. I love the kids I teach, and when I get a chance to showcase their talent, I do it without any kind of apologies. My kids kick ass, and I'll tell the whole world if given a chance. And tonight, not only did they kick major tuckus, they also made me cry. And it was that good kind of cry. That "we're really, REALLY making music here" sort of cry. It hit me about 30 seconds into a new piece we commissioned. It was this wonderful, over-the-top rush of emotion that made my eyes well up. I had to think about dead puppies for a second so I didn't lose it.

Man, I love moments like that. Those too-good-to-believe kind of moments that make me remember why I got into teaching in the first place.

Sorry, this post isn't about cycling or random road rage stuff, but I had to share. I was just so proud.

Wish you could've been there to share it with me,

Jeffrey

Leave it Better than You Found It

As I was walking to the village today (Amy took my car and my key to her car was conveniently locked INSIDE it) I had ample opportunity to think about recent events in my life. I'm a pleaser - I like to make everybody happy and I really don't like confrontation, so it's a bit odd that in the last couple months I've managed to tell a job and a team to basically bite me. I started the whole "what the hell is wrong with me" dialogue as I ambled down the sidewalk. It was cold, it was windy, but the sun was shining and I was wearing my favorite blue hoodie. That made all the difference and it really helped adjust my attitude accordingly.

What I finally realized was something I'm sure somebody much wiser than me, probably my grandfather, mother, or some smartass friend, had told me a long time ago: no matter what you do, leave it better than you found it. That struck a chord (pardon the pun from composer boy there) and I riffed on that for a while as I walked in the sun.

When I landed the youth symphony job, there were only three orchestras and a little over 200 kids in the whole program. When I left, I had helped build the program into seven orchestras and over 450 kids. Many of those kids I personally brought into the fold, as you can't really have a decent orchestra experience for ANY of the kids if you don't have full instrumentation. So I beat the bushes for the instrumentation we needed year after year. I made it better.

When I took over the presidency of the bike team, we hadn't had a decent operating system in place for two years. We installed a board, solidified sponsorship, garnered several big-money sponsors in addition to our current ones, and we managed to put up solid, and sometimes stellar, race results. I helped make it better.

Of course, if you want to get all metaphysical on me, I guess I could also say that I've managed to take my own self and make it better. I'm lighter, faster, stronger, and I dare say a little more savvy, after all the B.S. I've gone through the last few years. I got better.

There's still an area or two in my life that I look at and sigh. Things I've not managed to turn around or make better. But I'm not done yet. Joy is evasive and I'm still in the hunt. I will find it. I have to find it. Life is too damn short otherwise. Or else I'm just fooling myself....and that wouldn't be making it better, now would it?

Jeffrey

My Loyal Minions...

Okay, mostly you're my friends and family, but doesn't "loyal minions" have such a nasty, little ring to it?

And, in my long, long absence from the blogosphere, things have definitely gotten a little nasty in my life. Needless to say, as you can tell by the new look of the ol' blog, I'm no longer with the blue and orange. I quit the cycling team and have decided to race unattached. Independent. Solo. Sovereign. Free. Unfettered. Ah, hell, let me put the thesaurus down and get down to business.

It's been a pretty shitty last couple months. I quit my job with the youth symphony program (long story short: crappy concert, I had higher expectations, I let 'em know it, and their parents wanted my head on a stick). Yeah, that was fun. Then the team stuff went south quickly. Funny thing, after I quit getting coached by the team sponsor, my services weren't needed. In fact, all communication pretty much stopped between me and coach. C'est la vie, eh?

And then, drum roll please: THE FLU! And not just the "oh, I have a sniffle and a bad cough" kind of flu. We're talking the "take a baseball bat and beat the living shit outta me and then stuff green slime behind my eyes until my head explodes" kind of flu. I was flat on my back for five days! Okay, I can hear the D-Unit saying "you shoulda got a flu shot, dumbass!" And he'd be right, of course, however, I don't listen to him. The good news is that I was home in Iowa, so I got to hang out with my folks, do a little shopping (before I went down sick), and watch the Super Bowl! THEN I got to spend two more days sicker than a dog.

So there you go. My life the last few months. Oh, yeah, I also lost 20 pounds. Don't know if it was the dope (just kidding, mom), the extreme diet and workouts, or the stress. Could be all the above, I guess.

So, here's my promise to you, MLM (get it "my loyal minions"): this blog is going to be a little bit different. Maybe a little bit of cycling advice, some weight loss tips, maybe a little humor here and there (did you hear the one about the cellist who married a tuba player? hilarious).

Stay tuned. I'll try to do the same.

Jeffrey