weekly update

One of the changes we go through as we get older is that it takes longer to recover from hard athletic efforts. It is Thursday and I'm still not 100% from the Philly tri. It also takes longer if you're not in killer shape...so perhaps that has been the extra day. Anyway, enjoyed some easy-steady riding yesterday with a gaggle of local girls, and had a nice run tonight with my baby Bri.

Yesterday I did a tri training tutorial interview with Todd Spain / Delta Triathlon at a local video production company. Todd is working on a series of educational triathlon clips that will be hosted on the website at www.deltatriathlon.com. It was a good time and like I told Todd, I did my best not to curse or make misogynistic comments. Here are a couple action pics.

Look how serious I can be:



Or a little less serious:



I think I stepped in poop!:



The EMT class is going well, and I am looking forward to figuring out where I might start up with some volunteer EMS or fire crew work in the late fall. Most places require 30+ hours per month to be an active volunteer, so it's no walk in the park and you have to get all your certifications if you do the fireman thing. We will see where that takes me down the road.

We decided to stay local for the 4th of July weekend, had a couple of friendly offers to hang out with people out of town, but between the travel last week, work I need to catch up on (it has picked up a bit recently), and Shana and Scott's wedding next weekend (my sis in law and future bro in law), we go nowhere and we like it.

That is all for now.

Don't forget about the upcoming camps and clinics we are offering.

Philly

We drove up to Philly so Bri could have a great race and I could get a couple beers at the Manayunk Brewery and a cheesesteak with an old college buddy.

Bri did great with a 9th overall, 3rd amateur performance, and I was also there with a good swim-bike-run to mile 4.5 then die which landed me 4th AG and 54th overall. I did beat Bri too which is good, but dang she is getting closer and closer to taking me down for the count.

It was nice to swim in the Schukyll River and see Rocky.

Philadelphia

We are here in Philly for the 5th annual Philly Triathlon tomorrow morning. We're staying with an old old buddy from FSU and the Jersey shore. Doug is the fella that got me to Ocean City in 1991 to start working for the beach patrol during college summers. We're in Manayunk which is sort of an old city suburb. Just had a nice breakfast at the Manayunk diner, soon Bri and I are off to pick up our packets with a bike ride down Kelly / West River drive, which takes us along the Schukyll river.



As for the race, I am feeling good but have no goals other than to go as hard as I can for 2hours or so. The swim is in the river and the bike is a 2 lap moderately hilly course, while the run is flat and along the river.

Last night we went to the Ugly Moose for dinner and then talked finance/politics into the late hours.

open water clinic and running clinic - upcoming

We have two more clinics coming up the weekend of July 18-19:

A comprehensive running clinic on Saturday, July 18, from 7AM-11AM somewhere in Cary, North Carolina. Cost is $55 and includes brunch and a run film analysis. Maximum of 30 athletes. We'll be joined by Without Limits Running coach Tom Clifford of Wilmington, NC.

An open water swim clinic on Sunday, July 19, from 815AM to 1115AM at the Ebenezer Church Recreation Area at Jordan Lake in Chatham County (outside Cary/Apex) in North Carolina. Cost is $50 and includes drinks / snacks. Maximum 25 athletes.

stuff

We had another good group for the Powerstroke clinic yesterday at TAC. Afterwards we had an early dinner with some friends, then hit the sack before 10pm. I slept like a log last night and got up feeling refreshed this AM. Jumped on the bike for what was meant to be a 2 hour ride but it turned into 3 hours. I am getting fit, like it or not!

Ordered a new license plate for our Xterra; NC has a commemorative Buddy Pelletier plate and I put "YARR" as our custom word. "YARR" is short for "Yarrrr, I'm a pirate!"

I wrote my first put option contract this week. When you sell a put contract you're agreeing to buy 100 shares of a stock at the designated strike price. The premium you collect is your payment for taking on the risk that you'll have to buy the stock at X price when the contract matures; the downside is that the stock price is actually X minus whatever. For example, you write (sell) a put contract of DOW $14 strike price in July at $30.00. You collect $30 bucks (premium). On the 3rd Friday in July if DOW is trading above $14 you keep the premium of $30 and the contract expires worthless - no obligation to buy. If DOW is trading below $14 you're obligated to buy 100 shares from whoever bought your contract. So your break even in this scenario is $13.70 on DOW. The risk is your opportunity cost to commit funds to the purchase and the possible spread between your strike price and the actual price on expiration.

I held off on put contracts because they are not as intuitive as a covered call option, where you buy 100 shares and then write/sell a call at a strike price that may be in the money, at the money, or out of the money.

My training stats for this week:
Swim: 2 hours
Bike: 6.5 hours
Run: 3.5 hours
strength: some pushups/situps, no Kung Fu this week.

Upcoming events

We are hosting a Powerstroke® Triathlon Swim Clinic this Saturday from 11AM to 5PM at the Triangle Aquatic Center in Cary. If you have been looking for some quality swim technique instruction, video taping, underwater analysis, and information on both swim training strategy and triathlon training strategy, you should sign up. It is $99 and everyone gets a DVD of the swim analysis mailed post-clinic. Lunch is included.

Also coming up at the Triangle Aquatic Center:
The Splash n Dash Series first race on June 21
The Triathlon Lecture Development Series first lecture is June 21 10-1130 with Coach Vicky Yeingst
I am lecturing on bike training August 8.

Battle at Buckhorn report

The Wilson Times ran a story on the race here.

I saw the first annual Battle at Buckhorn triathlon listed on FS Series website and decided to give it a whirl. My new mode of racing is that if it's within an hour drive I'll consider it if I don't have a party or bar to go to the night before. Even then it's still a possibility. So I drove down with OSB athlete / swimmer Cindy Marks and we got there just before 7AM. Picked up my stuff and ready to go. The arms and legs felt a bit tired - I did Kung Fu the night before and had 2 hard rides during the week. But you don't want to hear me complain.

The swim was in Buckhorn Reservoir, the town of Wilson's drinking supply. Nice lake. A bit on the warm side so no wetsuits. I Powerstroked(R) my way to first place within a few minutes, then kept the pace up to build a lead as much as possible. As a first year event it had just over 100 athletes, but there were several that are solid athletes and you never know who is going to have a good day.

The 17 mile bike was challenging with several sharp climbs and a lot of rollers. I pushed as well I could and came in with a two minute or so lead on #2. The run felt good and I was able to hold and even 6:30 pace throughout without feeling too terrible. It was hot but the combination of slimming down a bit (I am back under 160, down from 176 over Christmas, yikes) and consistent tempo runs is helping. The run course is an out and back loop course so I could see where my competition was. Richard Armstrong and John Worden were both gaining on the run but I had enough to hold them off.

Finished in 1:17.47 and won the prestigious Battle at Buckhorn Belt Buckle. Yeeehaaawww!