Number 8 In The Books!

Don't wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful. -- Mark Victor Hansen

This past Saturday we rode our 8th century of the year, the August version of the 121212 Challenge. We started at Jeff's and rode south... out to Kyle, then Lockhart and Lytton Springs, and back in to Creedmoor. I have to tell you - the smell of the BBQ at Creedmoor was wafting through the air as we pulled up to the convenience store...very tempting.

It was about the time we came out of Creedmoor that we got the winds cranking up into our face. And they stayed with us pretty much the rest of the ride. There was a rain front coming down from north Texas, and we fully expected to get wet, but never did. Just more heat, and more wind.

We stopped in San Marcos and sat in the air-conditioned air for a bit,  then it was back in the saddle and the return trip to Austin. While we were sitting in San Marcos, the wind changed direction on us, so we were riding into it on the way home, too! Lucky us...

The back road from San Marcos to Kyle and another regular stop for more air-conditioned rest. We were at about mile 90 on the ride, and decided we could get our 100 in by the time we got to Curtis' home. Between the heat, wind and 4 flats amongst us, we were toast by the time we rolled into his driveway. But, 102 miles and we were done with #8!

Curtis' son drove us and our bikes to Jeff's house, and then we were blessed with a really nice cool shower and a feast spread from Lianne which was awesome. Great replenishment for the beat-up foursome!

I am really ready for this 100-plus degree weather to be over!

Less than 100 days to IMAZ! Oh boy!

USA Triathlon Becoming Elitist?

Before I get on my soapbox, let me preface this with some points of clarification:
1. I am NOT attempting to become a coach;
2. I enjoy triathlon as a sport, and support the efforts to bring more people into the sport;
3. This is NOT a slam against the coaches. To date, most of the coaches and athletes I have had the privilege to meet are very helpful, generous with their support of us normal working-class age groupers.

Given that position - I recently found out that USA Triathlon is now going to "screen" the people wanting to sign up for a Level 1 Coaching Certification class. Note this clinic is the first step for anybody wanting to be recognized for their expertise and willingness to help others. The way it is structured, according to their USA Triathlon's FAQ page for becoming a coach, is to now give preference to those already-certified coaches who are seeking renewal. I find this totally unacceptable, in that this is discriminatory against those folks wanting to enter the coaching ranks for the first time, those who feel that the certification would give them added credibility. But that opportunity will essentially not be available to any "newcomers".

USAT's criteria for entry into the clinic:

"Priority for acceptance into the Level I clinic is given in the following order:

1. Full-time Triathlon Coach (self-employed or employer)
2. Full-time Swim, Bike and/or Run Coach
3. Advanced Degree in Sport Science (or related field)
4. Full-time Employment in Fitness/Wellness Industry
5. Part-time Triathlon Coach
6. Part-time Swim, Bike and/or Run Coach
7. Part-time Employment in Fitness/Wellness Industry
8. Certification with Relevance to Triathlon (ACSM, USAC, ASCA, USATF, NSCA or NASM)"

These clinics are limited to 40 seats, so what is the likelihood somebody new to coaching will ever be able to get into this clinic? Virtually nil.

I sent an email to USA Triathlon, asking about this and voicing my concerns. In fact, I sent two emails... does anybody see any answers to my questions? The thread is below (I am not including the name of the person responding, because it is not my intent to attack anybody personally, nor will I allow anybody else to do so):

First email from me:
I am extremely disappointed in USA Triathlon's decisions regarding the application process being implemented. Your focus on existing coaches excludes anybody wanting to enter the coaching arena. Your process is biased, discriminatory and extremely preferential. What was supposed to be the everyman's sport is now becoming elitist in its coaching ranks, apparently.

If the problem is that you have such a large demand for re-certification, perhaps you should consider separate renewal clinics rather than penalizing those wanting to become coaches.

It is unfortunate that between WTC's exorbitant fees and now your limited focus on certification opportunities, many will hesitate or completely refrain from enjoying the world of triathlon, either as participant or coach. 

You have made a terrible choice.

The first response:

It is just something we are trying. It is not necessarily something we are going to keep going forward, but we have to try it to see how it works. The clinics do not exclude people with little experience, but we are trying to make sure people who attend the clinics are interested in coaching and not just helping themselves. 

My second email:

Respectfully, I disagree...
What is the reason behind it? What is it you are hoping to accomplish?

How can you say "The clinics do not exclude people with little experience" when in fact that is exactly what you are doing with your selection criteria?

"we are trying to make sure people who attend the clinics are interested in coaching and not just helping themselves. " Don't you believe people who are willing to pay the rather sizable registration fee are interested in furthering the sport? How are the interests of already-certified coaches any different? Aren't THEY helping themselves as well?

Just for the record, I am not interested in coaching. As the chairman of a non-profit supporting athletes and working to get more children active, I have a number of experienced triathlete friends wanting to move into coaching. Your policies are designed to prevent that growth, either because of preferential treatment or your inability to deliver your product - the opportunity and support for those people wanting to raise their involvement in the sport.

The second response:

We are trying to get away from it being a race to see who types the fastest and is based more on the background of the person. It is a coaching certification, so the focus is on people who want to coach. We developed our online program for people who are looking for information and not necessarily to coach.

___________________________________________________________________________

There really are not any answers to my questions; no honest, legitimate justification; no alternatives offered. It seems that just as WTC raises their already-costly fees, which will certainly exclude many everyday athletes, USAT will do the same in their coaching ranks.

I don't know how to better word my questions so that I actually get a response.

It isn't as if these legitimate new-want-to-be coaches are asking to be considered as part of the Elite Mentorship program... they just want, and I believe deserve, an equal opportunity to get their foot in the door.

I don't know if there is an alternative to USAT certification, as REV3 is a viable and growing alternative to costly WTC.

I am certainly open to any feedback. As I said in my opening statements, this is not intended to be a vote against the certified coaches we already have, so don't take it that way.

Good News! It is “Game On, IMAZ!”

"Perseverance is not a long race; it is many races one after another." -Walter Elliot

(Walter Elliot never did an Ironman! - me)

On July 2^nd, I got the anxiously-awaited call back from my cardiologist’s office: “Mr. Hight, Dr. V says to tell you that everything about your stress test looked ‘normal’ and that he would see you in a year.” That’s it – no changes in my medications, my activity level was good, and I had apparently gone further in the test this time than I managed last year… I guess so! As much as I already don’t like running, getting the treadmill up to the 20-degree incline was freaking ugly! Still, very good news and a big relief for me.

This past Saturday, I went up to Dallas to check out the hotels for the wedding weekend, and drive the bike course I had laid out for the morning of the wedding (no, a little wedding in the mix is NOT going to interfere with Ironman Arizona training! – don’t tell Amanda I said that). Last week I figured I may as well see if there is a triathlon or bike ride in the area, and do that Saturday morning. I did find a sprint tri at Joe Pool Lake put on by the same folks that put on the Waco Tri last year (this should give you a hint of how my day went…just saying). So I got a hotel room for Friday night and headed up after work.

On the way up, I had a phone conversation with Dave and Ellen about DILIMS being a fiscal sponsor of the HEART: Flatline To Finish Line documentary. With the film framed as an educational, inspirational effort to get more people off the couch, the storyline fits well with the mission of our non-profit. I have some reading to do about fiscal sponsorship, so we don’t complicate things with the IRS, but it sounds promising.

The race Saturday morning went okay, mostly.  It was overcast so it never really got too hot. The swim start meant getting into the water at the boat ramp and standing waist-deep until the gun goes off, and then waiting for the people in front to quit walking and actually start swimming. I think this race director has it in for me, because he again put my age group in the last wave. I had one guy come from my left side across in front of me, and he kicked my goggles off as he went by. Fortunately, I was able to retrieve them and didn’t lose a contact! So I was one of the last out of the water. But once on the bike, I passed a number of folks. It was a 2-loop course across the dam and back, but what was weird in the ride was that about midway across the dam on the second loop, I was literally pelted by a cloud of gnats. I had to keep spitting so I wouldn’t get a mouthful of bugs. A number of people were having flats on the ride, so I felt really blessed to roll into T2 without any issues.

The run actually was not too bad. I didn’t give back on the run to everybody I had passed on the bike, so I felt good about that. I walked a couple of short bits because it felt like the tightness in the right thigh was creeping back in, and I wasn’t about to risk injury. All things considered, it wasn’t too bad an experience… not a bad way to get in the training on a Saturday morning. Plus – I had enough time to get back to the hotel and shower before I had to check out!

Lunch with Amanda and Matt, check out the two hotels, and then off to drive the planned bike course. That changed in a hurry when I realized how much construction was along the route; so I headed back to the east and managed to find much better road conditions. Looks like the course will be re-designed.

Interesting drive home…the Austin area has been really dry the last month or so. But as I finished up on the possible new bike route, it started raining on me. The rain continued all the way to Temple. Just south of there, I stopped to get gas and a drink. It wasn’t long before the rain caught up with me, and followed me all the way home.

Saturday will be the 4-year anniversary of my triple bypass surgery. I thought about doing another triathlon to celebrate, but will more likely just do the planned bike and brick workout, then have dinner with some friends…maybe I can drag some of them out for the ride first!

Train on, friends. We are 130 days away from Ironman Arizona.

Don't Sweat The Small Stuff

"The most important things in life aren't things."

On Saturday, the 23^rd of June, we had Amanda’s and Matt’s wedding shower down here in Austin. Amanda wanted to give the Austin-area friends and family an opportunity to meet Matt, with full expectation that most of them will not make the drive to Frisco for the wedding. Her friend Bess, Bess’ mother Jean, and a friend of Jean’s – Emily, hosted the event. It was a nice brunch, and although there were some folks missing, it was still a decent turnout.

I was a little sore last week, which I think was a combination of the handlebars on my tri bike being set in too close and soreness from the motorcycle incident coming into play. Given my medical history, I went in to the doctor just to make sure the tightness in my leg was just from getting banged as I came off the bike. Dr. O said it was okay; no heat or swelling at the sore spot, though there is a small knot at just below the knee…just some soreness that he says will probably take 4-6 weeks to diminish. He did tell me to wrap it and use some heat when I can sit for a while. I am okay with that.

This coming weekend is the Iron Brothers Sprint Tri up near Dallas. I wanted to go up and check out the hotels for the wedding and possibly drive the bike route planned for that Saturday morning, so I figured I may as well see if there was a race going on nearby – pretty convenient!

On that same line of thinking, I decided to look for a jersey appropriate for the day, for the Saturday ride. I went looking at the websites of the jerseys printers, but could not find anything that both caught my eye and was available. Oddly enough, I decided to look on eBay, and lo and behold – I found something that works, and I got it pretty cheap! I am going to print “Father   Of The Bride” on a black placard and attach it to the back.

I got to thinking about the whole IronHeart thing, and the documentary. I decided I wanted something to keep my thoughts about the loss of Scott on an even keel, so I ordered one of the TeamBlaze running shirts. Pretty cool, huh? I hope I don’t embarrass them too badly when I am seen wearing this in public…

On another front, I received an email from the gift-giving manager at Dell. David’s donation to the DILIMS non-profit has been processed, so between David and Selene, we will get over $1000 in matching from Dell. Pretty cool!

Speaking of the non-profit, I hope to finalize a logo design this week, so we can look at getting some jerseys and running shirts put together.  I also registered DILIMS.org as another website URL, and auto-forwarded it to the original website – it fits a LOT better on the back of a shirt than the whole name of our non-profit!

Training continues…have I mentioned lately how much I “love” running?

Testing, testing, 1,2,1,2...

June 25, 2012

Today is my annual stress test – FINALLY! Because of insurance policies and the new relationship my cardiologist has with the hospital, what used to be a one-time visit, complete with doctor consult, test, and review of the results, has turned into a 3-visit ordeal. All this is a result of distorted reimbursement practices with insurance companies. Here is the problem…

When the stress testing was done in Dr. V’s office, he was allowed to bill $305 for a $300 test, and given his staffing, equipment and no-show costs, a losing proposition. The hospital on the other hand can bill for 10 times that amount. To their credit, Dr. V’s group went through a long and hard decision process, knowing the impact it would have on us patients. Now, you are not allowed to see the doctor to get the orders written for the test, and have the test on the same day. Nor will the doctor see the test results the same day it is completed. And THAT scares me – my triple bypass need was identified during my test in 2008, Dr. V. immediately pulled me off a bike ride I was supposed to do that afternoon, and two days later, I was in the hospital. This time, I am roughly two weeks away from the 4-year anniversary of my triple bypass surgery, which was 4 years after my heart attack. So you see where my mind is going…

Just to be able to stay in business, over 80% of the Austin-area docs are now affiliated with the hospitals in town. But this could turn into a patient’s nightmare. While I know my docs are a very passionate group when it comes to patient care, I don’t expect to see that same level of concern from the medical behemoths.

Back to the timeline…

not being an emergency, from calling to request the test to seeing Dr. V.   5 days;

seeing Dr. V to getting a call back from the test registration clerk                 7 days;

test registration to test date                                                                                     5 days;

test to Doctor’s review                                                                                                ?

…yeah, not so good. We’ll see…

Into the Summer Heat…

Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.  - Shel Silverstein

So the month of June brings a number of activities into my life that I have never done before -completing a trail run; hosting a wedding shower – and some things I will repeat – kayaking the Danskin women’s triathlon, riding the Atlas 4000 ride and completing the Pflugerville Triathlon.

This was the 3^rd year in a row that I have kayaked the swim for the Danskin Tri. I enjoy the opportunity to get out on the water when I can, and this was a chance to give back a bit. There are a lot of first-time triathletes doing this race, so I feel like I owe somebody for being there as volunteers for my races. After the last swimmer is out of the water we usually have to hang around a bit before they will let us drive out, because all the bikes are out on the road course, so I went up to the finish line to cheer for a bit. I listened to the interview with the pro who had won the race, and then wandered back to my truck.

This is also the 3^rd time I have ridden the Atlas 4000 ride, but this time it had a little twist. With the 121212 challenge, Kristi MH and I decided we would turn the 70-mile route into our June century. We both rode from our houses to the start line, and then in the middle of the ride route we added an additional loop to get us over the 100-mile mark. It was a bit windy this time around, but we got it done. I was also very happy that none of the aid stations along the route ran out of ice. It was very refreshing to be able to actually drink something cool throughout the ride.

One of the volunteers at our Tri Camp in April suggested doing a trail run. He was originally going to sign up for this Rogue Running Ranch run, which took place at a big trail run/mountain biking ranch in Burnet, so a number of us signed up as well. I signed up for the 10K and dragged out the old road shoes. This was a very interesting experience – running/walking on huge slabs of rock, through the trees, crossing small creeks which were running down the rocks, climbing down some drops – definitely different from the usual running in my life! But it was fun, and given the right pair of shoes, I may be inclined to do another one after IMAZ.

Seems to be a month of 3s - on Father’s Day, as I have done for the previous two years, I participated in the Pflugerville Triathlon. This time, however, was preceded by a minor motorcycle accident the day before. No broken bones, no major blood loss or anything like that. It was a very slow (2-3 miles an hour) turn across very soft tar (because of the 100-degree weather) and I basically just slid off the bike as it spun around. So I was pretty much just sore in general. Given that, I didn’t expect much in the way of my finish in the tri. But I managed an improved finish time for the 2^nd consecutive time, going from a 1:43 in 2010, to a 1:41 in 2011, to a 1:37:22 finish this time around. The swim and the run were slow as usual, but I had a good time on the bike, with a 19.8mph average. And this year, I felt better coming off the bike, in that the hips did not feel like they wanted to lock up on me right off the bat.

The annual stress test is this week too; hopefully, no surprises there. I REALLY don’t want to mess up the IMAZ plans.

This coming weekend, we will be having the Austin shower for Amanda and Matt. Since they are getting married in Frisco, north of Dallas, I don’t expect many of the Austin friends will make that drive, so we wanted to be able to share this exciting event in Amanda’s life with the folks here. Beer and mimosas… I am just saying.

Okay, back to the regular training schedule.

Memorial Day Weekend, and then some!

"The most important things in life aren't things."

Busy 3-day weekend, with training wrapped around real life… Friday pm was a long run on the treadmill after work; Saturday was a 2-hour bike ride with more-of-the-usual Texas winds; Sunday was another 1-hour run outside, followed by a motorcycle trip to Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio to visit my dad’s grave, and ended up talking to a few military veterans also visiting their lost loved ones –hard to believe it has been almost 50 years since I lost my father; and Monday was a short run after 4 hours of kayaking the swim portion of the CapTex Tri. - truly an awesome experience to watch and support the challenged athletes taking part in the paratriathlete championships.

Next weekend, the June century ride is Saturday. I am riding the Atlas 4000 for the third year in a row. While the Atlas is actually only 70 miles, my plan is to ride to the start, which is about 20 miles or so from the house, and then finish whatever is left once we get to the winery - yes, we finish the ride at Pillar Bluff Vineyard!

Sunday, I am kayaking a race again, this time the Danskin women's triathlon - come to think of it, I will be doing this for the third consecutive time as well. Another opportunity to give back.

Training for IMAZ continues. Yesterday was a one-hour run in the heat followed by a swim at the pool. I hit a wall about 43 minutes into the run, and the heat got to me. I don't think I recovered from the run very much before the swim, so it got shortened to 1500 meters from the 2500 originally planned. Oh well, it is what it is!