Age Is Just A Number - Book Review

I've been doing a huge amount of reading on endurance sports recently (mainly cycling, but also running and swimming and triathlon) so it occurred to me that I should probably write a brief book review when I finish books from now on.   So here's my first one!

I was in Barnes and Noble the other day and saw "Age Is Just a Number" in hardback on the discount rack for $4.99.   Seemed like a bargain, so I picked it up along with Johan Bruyneel's "We Might As Well Win" for the same price (more on that one once I've finished it!).

Don't judge a book by its cover....

For those of you unfamiliar with Dana Torres, she is the American sprint swimmer who made two Olympic comebacks after her original Olympic appearance and won medals each time, most notably at the age of 41 in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.   I have always admired her and I was looking forward to reading the book, which was co-written with Elizabeth Weil of the New York Times.   Unfortunately, I was ultimately disappointed......

I understood going in that this was an autobiography, with focus on "the comeback years".   What I expected (and wanted) was an inspirational tale with lots of insight in to how she managed such an amazing feat, but this is where I felt the book fell flat.   It just didn't do it for me and I found myself thinking of her as a little "strange".   Dana's troubled relationships with both of her husbands is glossed over and I can't help but think that these must have had some material impact on her decisions and motivations.   Her second husband (her dying father's physician) barely gets a mention and the father of her daughter is essentially relgated to just a name.  Her relationships with her coaches are discussed in a little more detail, but I still found the book lacking in this area.  She somehow made things sound like a giant tea party, but there's no way it can always have been wine and roses.  The competitiveness and "bitchiness" between swimmers is there, but again it's as if she's trying to brush this under the carpet.  There is some detail of the sort of workouts she was doing, but not all that much.  The fact that Dana used some sort of a psychic as part of her training routine turned me off big time.   I found the whole thing shallow and somewhat selve-serving.  Yes, I'll be honest, I wanted more suffering! 

The one area that I found somewhat interesting (as an "older" athlete) was her description of changes she made to her diet, supplements she took, how she changed her rest strategies and so on.  I was also very interested in her stretching routines and the fact that she paid two "stretchers" to accompany her to China for the Olympics.

Pre-race stretching - looks painful!

Unfortunately I didn't derive an ounce of motivation from the book, which was disappointing.  I wanted to like her, but somehow I couldn't.

Just my $0.02 - take it for what it's worth.

Now that I have somewhat panned the book, I have to say that she is an incredibly impressive athlete and what she achieved (losing the gold medal in the Olympic 50 M feestyle by 0.01 second at age 41) is so very impressive.  

I also have to say that she's in pretty damned good shape for her forties!  :-)


Wish I had those abs!



Posing

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Inspirational? Moi?

OK, so I'm doing this whole triathlon thing for a host of essentially selfish reasons....   to get fit; to have fun: to meet cool new people: to become competitive within my age group; to lose a few pounds and look better; as a reason to brag; to hang out with women wearing Spandex....  :-)        Perhaps some of those translate into some secondary benefits like being a good role model for my girls and (hopefully) being there for them for many years to come but, never-the-less, I think there's a good deal of selfish motivation for most "triathlon types".  I certainly don't think of it as being a particularly noble cause!

Today, however, for about the fifth time in as many weeks, someone said that I had "inspired" them to start working out and get fitter and I have to say that, on reflection, this may be one of the best and certainly a very gratifying reason for taking on this crazy triathlon thing and writing this blog.

I have two friends who credit me as their reason for starting to run and lose a few pounds recently.  Another friend has returned to his bike and my boss, who is of a similar age and lives in the UK has committed to doing the Outer Banks Sprint Triathon with me in September of this year!  Far more gratifying though, is another friend and ex-colleague of many moons ago, John Yonkin, who said nice things about how I made a difference in his decision to take on the challenge of climbing 69 flights for stairs in full firefighting gear at the Columbia Center in Seattle to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society http://www.llswa.org/site/PageServer?pagename=FF_homepage.   John comes from a long line of firefighters and his son (another volunteer firefighter) will be doing the event with him.  John's oldest brother lost his life fighting a fire and he participates in support of family members who are afflicted with Leukemia/Lymphoma.   You can read about his exploits in his blog:  http://jyonkin-seeyouatthetop.blogspot.com/2012/02/full-gear.html

Mr. Yonkin in full garb!

So, while it's nice to help encourage others to get off the couch, it's people like John and the many volunteer firefighters and first responders who are really inspirational.  I hope that you might consider supporting John's fundraising efforts.

Sunny Days & Equipment Malfunctions

What a difference a week makes!   As noted in my previous post, last Sunday I headed out for a 50 mile ride in freezing mist and drizzle and its was completely and utterly miserable.  There's no doubt that getting drenched and chilled to the bone didn't help my "man flu"!

Falls Lake looked like this:

One week later and I set out this morning on much the same route on an absolutely glorious late January North Carolina morning.    Still a bit chilly (34 F when I left and 44 when I got back) so I wrapped-up warmly, but the sky was a clear Carolina blue with not a cloud in sight. 

Thats more like it!

I stopped at around half way for a quick drink and clipped out of my pedals.    Uh oh.....     Ummmm.....I'm pretty sure that's not meant to happen!:

The cleat on my left shoe broke, leaving half of it attached to the pedal!  

There wasn't much to do but keep going at that point.   I left things as they were and found that if I "wiggled around for a while" I could get the two parts of the broken cleat to marry-up sufficiently well that pedaling felt pretty secure and I made it home safely.

The good news is that I have a spare set of Speedplay Snap Road Cleats which came with the new pedals that I put on The Slut, so I'll just put them on my shoes later.

The Puppeteer called for a "gentle" ride, so I took it pretty easy and it felt good out there.   No issues at all with my calf and breathing wasn't too bad after my bout of Man Flu.    I'm happy and yet again grateful to be living in a part of the world where we can ride outside in January!

Man Flu...

Not just back to the blog for a new post, but also finally feeling ready to start some light training again after an awful week!

I have had horrible "flu like" symptoms.  Fever, aches, pains, shivers, sore throat, cough, congestion...ugh!   It was a really nasty one.   I'm pretty sure that it wasn't actually the flu - in my experience people throw the term around far too loosely.  If you've ever really had the flu you'll know what I mean!   If you have the flu there's no way you can be up and about, so it wasn't the flu because, unfortunately, I had a ton of work to do with some important deadlines and no one to delegate to, so I had to do my best to work every day (at home - there's no way I could or would have gone in to the office).  Could never have done that with the flu. No resk for the wicked apparently!

I guess it must have been....  "the Man Flu"!



SWMBO had the same lurgy last week and, no doubt, I caught it from her, but I probably didn't help my own cause when I set out for a 50 mile ride early last Sunday in freezing mist.  The temp. was 30 F when I left home and pretty soon there were small ice pellets on my helmet and glasses and I was drenched and oh so cold....   so much for that ride - I turned around after 8.5 miles and rode home again.   I was going to make up the distance on the trainer in front of the NFL playoffs that afternoon, but that's when it hit and there was just no way....

What really pissed me off was not being able to work out.   I guess what they say about endorphins is true.  I even missed my swim workouts, and that's saying something.  I'm especially bummed as I was going to have a pool session with The Pupeteer and The Snitch at Homestead in Chapel Hill yesterday, but there was just no way....   Missing almost a weeks worth of workouts is not the way I wanted to start the New Year!



I woke up this morning finally feeling a little more myself.  Fever subsided and congestion clearing.  It was soooo nice to finally get outside and get some fresh air as I went for a 55 minute walk around the neighborhood - it felt as if I had been released from a dungeon.  Of course it didn't hurt that it was sunny and 68 F in late January!

OK, I'm back!   TRX and a 30 min run tomorrow and a "gentle" (The Pupeteer's word, not mine) two hour ride on Sunday will hopefully get me feeling much better!

Stop the Congestion!

While crowded roads and traffic back-ups are certainly annoying, this isn't what I'm referring to.....



......rather I'm referring to congestion in this area......



Yep....   I'm getting absolutely sick and tried of having almost continuous nasal congestion.

Ever since I was a kid (and that's a loooooong time ago!) I have suffered with nasal congestion after swimming in chlorinated pools.   Almost inevitably, within an hour or so of getting out of the pool my nasal passages are blocked and it can often last 48 hours or more.   I used to also get terribly red eyes, but thankfully that seems to have passed!

Now that I am working hard on my swin and increasing the number of sessions that I am spending in the pool, I am basically "blocked-up" pretty much all week 24/7 and I hate it!!!    Not only is it generally unpleasant, but it also hampers my bike and run workouts and, worse, I have had a somewhat "paniced" feeling a couple of times when I have gone to bed because of the feeling of not being able to breathe.   Not a nice sensation I can assure you!

So what to do?

I have added two weapons to my armory....

The first is this stuff:



Basically a pH balanced saline rinse that you squirt up one nostril and it comes out the other.  Not neally as bad as it sounds once you get used to it!   I tried it after my last swim and my observation was that it seemed to delay but not prevent the onset of congestion.  I will keep trying.

The second weapon is this:

Kind of a freaky picture!

Yes, a nose clip.   I haven't tried it in the pool yet and I already hate the way it feels, but it must be better than the congested feeling, so I'm willing to give it a try!   First outing tomorrow - I'll report back!

Wrestling with The Slut.....

No, it's not this - get your minds out of the gutter!

Had a two hour ride scheduled this morning and decided to do what I call the "Two Bridge Ride" - starting in Nags Head, NC; riding over the Washington Baum Bridge; riding across Roanoke Island; ride over the William B. Umstead Bridge: a short distance through Mann's Harbor and then turn around and do the same route in reverse.

It was about 37 degrees and breezy when I set out, so I dressed warmly and boy was I pleased that I did!   All was fine as I crossed the causeway and the Washington Baum Bridge, but I could feel the wind really starting to pick-up.  [It should be noted that because of traffic I only ever ride this bridge off-season and during quiet travel times!]  Once I got on to Roanoke Island it really started to blow hard, and I was still relatively sheltered as I rode through Manteo and in the wooded area around the Lost Colony and Elizabethan Gardens (home of the first English Settlers in America).

Pretty soon I reached the Umstead Bridge and stopped to take these snaps.  Note that the Croatan Sound looks relatively calm at this point where it's sheltered from the wind....



After a short break I set out across the bridge - even though the wind was slightly behind me at this point, it wasn't long before I was wrestling with the slut and having to work really hard to keep her under control!  I tried to get on the aerobars to stay out of the wind, but after a couple of death wobbles I decided that discretion was the best part of valor and stayed up on the bars with my hands on the brakes!

By the time I got to the elevated section in the middle of the bridge it was absolutely ripping and I knew that coming back in the opposite direction was going to be brutal!

The Slut.   I was worried that she would blow over!

Looking down in to the Sound.  Brrrr.....

Luckily not much traffic on a Sunday morning.

Wrapped-up.

It didn't get any easier when I got off the bridge and turned right onto Mashoes Road - smack bang in to the head wind.  Rode down a couple of miles before turning for home.  Strangely there were a huge number of deer carcases on the side of the road - well picked over by the turkey vultures.  I don't know if this was the result of the local red necks popping them off or the work of the local black bear population.   This area has the highest population density of black bears outside of Alaska.  My guess is the red necks!

Pretty quiet out on Mashoes Road!

I enjoyed having the wind at my back for a while until I turned left and back on to the bridge - all I can say is...   wow!   I had to really fight with The Slut to keep control and a couple of times I thought I might actually have to stop to avoid being pitched over the edge in to the Sound. 

At the start of the bridge - usually a beautiful calm spot.


To give you an idea of how hard it was blowing, I free-wheeled down the elevated section of the bridge and didn't even hit 15 mph!  A real struggle.  Even once I was back in the relatively protected confines of Manteo it was still hard work and coming back over the Washington Baum Bridge was brutal.   Perhaps worst of all was the final stretch up the beach road in Nags Head, where the wind was roaring directly in to my face.  Even on the aerobars I could barely hold 10 mph!

Certainly one of my more interesting rides!    I checked the weather channel when I got in and it said that the winds were sustained at 25 - 30 mph out of the NNW with gusts of 40 - 50 mph!

I wrestled The Slut and lived to tell the tale!  :-)

As an extra plus, even though the wind chill was significant, I stayed pretty warm - I guess that I have the right gear!

You know you're old when....

So I got a haircut today and the stylist (if that's what they are in Great Clips!) was very complementary about my (let's call it "uber blonde") hair.  Shortly afterwards though, she asked if I swam a lot....     apparently she could tell that my hair has been exposed to pool water and all of the chemicals in it!

I was OK when she recommended that I try one of the specially formulated "anti chlorine" shampoos after pool sessions, but I was a little taken aback when she also recommended that I use this a couple of times a week....



Yes folks...   that's Matrix Solutionist "So Silver" shampoo!!!!    Damn!

I guess that she meant well as apparently it prevents any "yellowing".....

What an old fart I have become!