campfirenights

Vacation processing

2009-07-05T14:50:00.001-07:00

This was a good week of training. Had five days of swimming, in which I was able to swim a mile in the pool in what I would call a respectable time. I also swam the straight 1.2 miles that will be required for my HIM in the spring. It's encouraging that I still have nine months to get that time down. My bigger concern is not the distance but the water temp which will be in the mid to high 50's. I'll address that issue this winter. Because of the readily available pool, this has been my focus while in VA.

Saturday's run was suppose to be a TT 10k. It turned out to be a 10k long run. I had eaten terribly the day before and stayed up too late and it reminded me on Saturday of the other aspects of training. Lesson learned.

My voyage away from home is more than half way over and I'm ready to get back. There's been too much time away from my lovely and my little one. Vacation (even though this isn't purely vacation since it was coincided with some work stuff) is not real life. It make me appreciate the life I have at home. It also allows me to reflect on my habits that I have formed and prompts questioning of some of those decisions. Specifically my diet (as hinted above), my renewed work ethic, and my role in my household.

I'm eager to get home to begin working on these things. The past two weeks I have been very selfish (which is allowed since my family is not with me) as I have spent almost all my out of class time training or sleeping. But I will be happy to get home and get back to real life...focusing on things that are important.

is soccer in the marathon or HIM training plan?

2009-06-30T18:32:00.000-07:00

Swam in the am, and I didn't feel strong. This has got to be due to my double swim w/o yesterday. This afternoon I biked 60 min. then as I was leaving the gym some folks were getting ready for a pick up soccer game. Knowing that I didn't have much waiting for my at my barracks, I decided to take my weary legs to the game. I actually did pretty good given I didn't have cleats and was on tired legs. It was an international game with the american playing against the foreigners...

Boredom forces an extra workout

2009-06-29T18:39:00.000-07:00

Swam in the am, 2000. Pool was full, but I got there early and claimed my lane. After a warm up I did a TT for 500m and came up with 8:32.

After class I made the conscious decision to run in the 88 degree heat because it was a shorter run, 5 mile. Saw 4 other crazy heat stricken folks. 7:49/mi

Stretched for a good amount of time, then ate dinner. While I was eating I was contemplating my evening. I could piddle on the net (which is SLOW), I could read, I could go to sleep...and then I had the crazy idea to swim. I am in the middle of three weeks in which I am trying to swim 4 days a week, up a little over my norm. Comparing my options, I decided to swim. To make it a easy workout I decided to do a w/u then a straight mile. I ended up swimming 30:03, about 3 and half minutes faster than the last and only other time I did a straight mile. It's amazing what confidence in knowing I could do the distance can do....that and a "competitor" swimming next to me.

fly into the my air-intake!

2009-06-27T16:51:00.000-07:00

Today was my long run of 10 miles. I’m in Yorktown, VA for work and so I get the pleasure of running through the Civil War memorials. I’ve been here a week and have run the lap a couple times. There are a good number of trees that have fallen and they make me think of fallen soldiers, the way they lay in such a desperate posture compared to their upright counter parts.

Hopefully I didn’t wake up my roommates this morning, up at 530, on the trail by 550. There was some anxiety about my left Achilles and my right IT band as I began. The weather was already beginning to heat up and I was happy with my decision to run early vice later.

The fun began as flies that I would call “horse flies” pestered me. You know, the big old dark gray HUGE flies, which are mighty brave. To combat them, I flailed my arms about, hitting them pretty often, but this was futile. The only break I got was when I was in the clearing; apparently they melt in the sun. About half way through my trip one flew into my air intake (my mouth), which was a mighty shock, sending me into a spitting frenzy. I don’t believe I slowed him, probably due to my cat like reflexes.

Toward the end of my run I was pretty frustrated with my companions and as my flailing was futile, I said, “Hey, what if I just ignored them.” This lasted until they bit me behind my ear.

Overall, I was pleased with the actual w/o, 10 miles, reached my goal of 9/mi.

Achilles: no problems

IT band: began to get tight around 5 miles, but never anything more than a “tight feeling.”

registered for first HIM

2009-06-20T14:53:00.001-07:00

I'm currently celebrating my sister's high school gradation back on the east coast (and at the beach). And at the same time I have registered for my first HIM, the California 70.3. I'm pretty excited, just need to make sure I take my stretching seriously.

Wrigley River Run Race Report

2009-06-16T04:17:00.000-07:00

Intro and race report:

Hello trifuel folks. I’d like to introduce myself; I am a Coast Guard vessel inspector and father of a new born. While stationed in Guam I got into triathlons with a desire to finish an ironman. My biggest hinderer is my inflexibility and guilt of training while maintaining my family commitments. I also am a ¾ time student…but graduate this winter.

So last weekend my Achilles began to be sore, so I took the weekend off. Then on Thursday while playing soccer I sprang the same ankle, so I had to discern what was over training induced and what was a short term (hopefully). I am following a training plan for the Long Beach marathon for a local running group in Long Beach (www.arec.org) and they had a scheduled race. It was a small 5k/10k that was only the second year of conception. I registered hoping that my ankle would be healed. Come race morning, I could barely walk. The structure of my foot hurt when I pressed down on it, but for some reason I was still hopeful.

By the time I reached the race I guess my foot loosened and it was manageable. Being me, I got to the race WAY early, surprising the registration lady as she was still trying to figure out what she’s suppose to be doing. After registering I committed the morning to stretching and it worked.

The 5k started off by a group of high school students singing the national anthem. I really appreciated that this was part of the race. I don’t hear our anthem very often, and I think it’s a good reminder of my own commitment to the people before me who had sacrificed.

Shortly after the 5k began, it started to sprinkle…then what I would call a “rain.” Now this is a foreign term here in southern California. I am not from this place so it was such a sweet reminder of back home in the south. Rain, such a blessing.

As they called us to our corral, I usually stay in the back, being the conservative person I was. But when I registered for the race I noticed that the times weren’t too fast, so I decided to inch my way to the front quarter of the pack. The frontline were mostly high school students. The race began and thinned out pretty quickly. After the first mile I was pretty much set in my position and pace. There was a switchback at the first mile where I figured I was around 20^th. The lead runner was the guy that won the 5k last year and this year.

Miles 2-4 was pretty uneventful, but kind of fun as it drizzled. It reminded me of a being a kid playing football in the yard. It made me want to take a shower, how fun is it to take a shower after playing in the rain?

By miles 5 I had been passed by one person, passed two people, said thanks to about 20 volunteers and good morning to about 10 group of spectators (mostly individual’s in their pj’s watching the spectacle in their backyard). I must sadly pas on that out of the 10 or so spectators in their yards only one said good morning back and his replay was more of a grumble as he got his vocal chords ready for the day.

At mile 4 I was steadily behind a guy that I am pretty certain was in my age group. He looked strong so I was doubtful that I would be able to catch him. Regardless we both caught a high schooler, so we were slowly moving up. Unfortunately, the top 25 or so was pretty spread out, so not much jockeying. At mile 5 I began to push myself a little bit, trying to figure out how much I had left I me so that by the last half mile I was right behind the guy the only guy to pass me on the race (he passed me at about mile 2). I could tell he was trying to bring a little more distance between us and I was feeling sick in my stomach. Right before the final stretch I opened up my stride and breezed right by him. I expected him to stay with me, but apparently he wasn’t playing.

Results: finished 14/190 overall & 4/14 age group

44:25

Overall the race was pretty enjoyable, nice size of 400 total (5k & 10k), but man was it a boring run along the LA “river.” And if you aren’t familiar with the LA county “rivers,” which means they are glorified drainage ditches. Huge cement crevasses used for storm control, since the county is nothing but cement.

2008-06-29T20:28:00.000-07:00

the past week was long. so long, it was actually two weeks, back to back. i had to work last weekend, then wasn't able to take my comp days off the last week due to a drill. the drill was a two and a half day, multi agency what if exercise for a potential worst case scenario in the port. all this while also trying to stay caught up with school and spending time with stephanie.

i found out last week that my gpa for admission into the psychology honors society (psi chi) will only use the grades from the courses that i take at vanguard, which is awesome. i should be able to get in with those guidelines.

This past week

2008-06-17T19:06:00.000-07:00

The past couple days have been pretty promising.

-Two of Stephanie's friends from GA are coming to visit us in July. One of them was able to make it last year.

-Stephanie's best friend from college and her husband got bumped from another flight so they got two free tickets and decided yesterday that they wanted to come to CA.

-Last night during class we got our fall course schedules. I was expecting to have two electives and a core class. My core class should have been during November. But because I've already taken a couple of the classes that we are scheduled to take the fall semester, they put me with a different group, which caused me two take two core classes and an elective. But now instead of taking a classes each month, I'll get to double up in October and take November off! All that is to day, October will be a busy month with school but thankfully I'll have November and December with no classes to enjoy Willow...and our families which are planning on visiting.

-I've also decided not to seek a second job anymore. It wouldn't be worth my time for the small amount of money that would come in.

***we have another willow appointment tomorrow where we are getting an ultrasound, too fun***

2008-06-07T22:24:00.000-07:00

"the questions, the inspection, oh, the lovely thinking—the beautiful thinking."

this past week during my class, foundations of a christian life, which is an elective since i've already taken the class which the rest of my cohort are taking, we are talking about naturalist's perspective versus a christian's perspective in the question of sin. we went to genesis, comparing man's life before and after the fall. i hadn't been aware of the specific, descriptive comparison that is in the bible.

this got me thinking about steinbeck's "east of eden." this is one of my more favorite books. in the end, steinbeck breaks down the point of the novel. in looking for the bible verse that he quotes in the novel, i found the site that has a couple paragraphs from the book. it's a inspiring little blurb if you have the time. steinbeck

It's to be a little girl!

2008-06-05T13:02:00.000-07:00

well we found out that our little one is a little girl.

the nurse was pretty certain, as our the baby was "not shy."

here she is, in her angel pose!

as we were watching, she lifted both

her hands and placed them at her cheek.

oooo, look at that foot!

Hi folks!

2008-05-26T20:05:00.001-07:00

i've decided to create a blog. being that we have a little one joining us soon, i wanted a way to quickly pass on pictures and experiences to all our family and to try and minimize the distance that is felt. also, just as when stephanie and i were dating, it's good for me to take the time to write out ideas, to solidify them...or to create an even more cluster of them.

this past week was pretty good. the past couple months i've felt really burdened about my occupational future. deeply wanted to relad (get out) to move closer to family. this would also allow me to pursue a job that truly interested me. this is something that we've been praying for at small groups and has been constantly on my mind. at work people are beginning to depart to their new units and it's so exciting for me to hear where people are going. well last thursday i was in my class at school and i had this strange feeling of wanted to remain in the cg. i realized that it could be just because people were leaving and that i also wanted to go to so many different units. getting past this point i did a gut check to see if it's the fear of relading, being removed from the security of active duty. this is the beef of my questioning. am i wanted to remain in the cg for fear of getting out?

i came up with this...my experience since changing departments, going from pollution response to vessel inspections has been really good for me. i'm having good interactions with warrant officers and junior officers that are encouraging for me. they've given me a different perspective from the cg that i haven't seen in awhile, if ever. people wanting to do their job, do it well, but also realizing that being in the cg has it's limits. adversely my first class (my immediate supervisor) isn't the best guy to be working for as it was while i was in pollution response. the actual job of inspecting i enjoy. instead of forcing to make people spend tens of thousands of dollars from an advisory role, i'm ensuring people keep their boats safe and mostly this is a rewarding position. i'm also within a decent reach of my next promotion which would finally place me in a supervisory role. the position where i'm current at (e-5) is only short term and the next rank (e-6) would put me where i want to be. i have a strong desire to finally serve as a true supervisor. this is the crux of my decision.

other positive benefits is that it would allow stephanie do as she pleases very comfortably, and that's be the mother first. i still want to go to so many different places. i would continue to have a ton of time off.

all this is to say...i'm still thinking, praying, seeking guidance. but as we were leaning towards getting out, now we are leaning towards staying in.