Kick Out The Funk

There is good funk:

James Brown.

George Clinton.

Sly and the Family Stone.

At its best, funk is a perfect recipe of soul, jazz, and Rhythm and Blues that deemphasized melody and instead placed emphasis on the downbeat—so that white guys everywhere with poor rhythm and a terrible body awareness could understand what it means to groove. Yes.  There, I've said it. Funk helps white guys dance. Well, funk and vast quantities of malted hops and barley.

Nothing transports me back to the late 1960's like listening to the "Godfather of Funk" himself, James Brown. Music, like language, is more than just a tool to communicate. They both help us understand how people within a culture think. Plain and simple. We study languages to understand the way people think. We study music to understand the way people think.

What makes Papa's Got A Brand New Bag,War, and Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine so awesome are there ability to infuse unprecedented levels of sexual mojo to whoever dares listen to these libidinal masterpieces. Seriously, why do I always feel like I want to dress like Shaft and have the same swagger whenever I listen to JB?
Then, there is the BAD funk:

You wake up in the morning to look at your workout(s) for the day and feel overwhelmed by the prospect of spending more of your discretionary time with your ass on a bicycle, or running miles than sitting on a couch and allowing yourself to eat chocolate covered almonds and drink good stout. The best thing about the end of my season—which has culminated with REV3 Iron Distance at Cedar Point the last two years—is that I spend at least two weeks recovering, eating whatever the hell I want, whenever the hell I want.

I find that the Funk starts to creep in about two months after you've started your base training. You know what I'm talking about....
It's December and you have started your training for your first race..... in June... and realize... it is going to be a long, long winter.

There is good news. You can shake off the funk. A couple of good workouts in the gym and you are back to feeling like Bootise Collins. For me, there is also no substitute for sleep. Admittedly, I am still a total slacker when it comes to getting my butt in bed early. You would think that I would have no choice in the matter—than after getting up at 5:30 a.m. for a 3 hour training day—my body would go into a voluntary coma. Nope.

Does anyone else do this?

Do we as triathletes just enjoy pushing ourselves to the absolute bring of sanity? Wait.. don't you really have to be insane to even do this in the first place?

Kick it out.

The Funk.

Seriously.

ADDENDUM:


I will have an awesome product review in my next post and some exciting news.

More soon. Train Smart!

Vegans, Beer 4-Packs, And Training!

"If God didn't want us to eat animals, why did he make them out of meat.?" — Homer J. Simpson

As much as I love Israeli couscous and quinoa, I start salivating like Pavlov's dog at the mere thought of a strip steak. 

I do not really understand vegetarianism, let alone, vegans. I have listened to arguments about health benefits of vegetarianism for years from good friends who swear by it. I understand ideological vegans and vegetarians, but some can be a bit judgmental and militant towards us omnivores. My wife recently found herself in the middle of a heated Facebook exchange (as heated and serious as one can take a Facebook exchange) with a vegan who could not appreciate my wife's ignorance for ruining the world by eating animals. All I have to say to this is ... really? 

Do you drive a car? Do you put gas in it? A bicycle? Does it have parts that were manufactured in a factory? Do you make your own clothing? Oh, you do? From hemp? What do you use to sew it? A sewing machine? A needle manufactured in a factory in China? Unless an ideological vegan is prepared to live off the grid, eat only local ingredients, make their own clothes, dig their own wells, and live without indoor plumbing, please do not judge my wife. Or, if you do, prepare to be judged yourself. Pick your battles. I do not often stand atop the soap box, but I really get irked by the shortsightedness and hypocritical thinking by some folks. 

All I know is that after 3000 yards in the pool, or by mile 10 of a long run, I start visualizing and smelling cheeseburgers.

This can not be a coincidence.

Speaking of the pool, I had a really great second swim test this past week. I guess I should preface by saying I have never been a really efficient swimmer. I have only been swimming as long as I have been doing triathlons, which is six seasons. Before beginning triathlons, I was the guy who use to swim flinging his head from side to side keeping it above the water, or bury my face in the water and kick like hell and fling my arms in front of me with the hope that I might be getting somewhere quickly. What the hell was I thinking?

But I digress...

I shaved 18 seconds off my previous 400 time trial time. 18 seconds!

1 went from a 7:15's, all the way down to two consecutive 6:57's. That is good improvement for me.

The crazy part is that I feel that my effort has not nearly been as hard. I have learned how to re-relax in the pool while I am swimming. As a musician, I can attest to there being some similarities between performing on your instrument and training. As a pianist performing concert repertory, you have to make a conscious effort to continue to relax while you are playing—especially difficult passages. Improvisation can be even more mentally demanding. It is is one thing to play repertory form the printed page, but it is a completely different thing to compose "on the spot" in front of an audience while you are performing jazz. Nothing really prepares you for that like practicing technique and understanding the theory of jazz improvisation, but relaxation is key to this as well. Young jazz musicians will often feel the need to play too much, or continue to introduce new ideas rather than expanding on ones they have already stated. A more experienced player will allow space, and time for musical ideas to develop without being nervous about their audience. You have to trust your instinct, follow your own trajectory, rather than being worried how the music is being perceived in the moment.

So, my swimming has borrowed a page out of my musical playbook: "Allow it to happen."

RANDOMNESS:

BEER: What the hell is up with my favorite beers now being sold in four packs?  I want MORE of a good thing, not less! 

It happened first with Young's Double Chocolate Stout, followed soon after by Brooklyn Brewery's Black Chocolate Stout. To my knowledge, my favorite beer on planet Earth, or any other planet for that matter, Sam Smith's Oatmeal Stout has never been sold in a six pack, only four packs. Is it something specific to stouts? Are beer companies worried about the caloric intake of stout drinkers specifically? 

NETFLIX: Yeah, so I recently discovered Netflix. Perhaps you've heard of it?  For the past couple of years, I have been searching for ways to make my tedious long weekend trainer rides to seem a little less.... tedious. Music in my ears does not work, nor does reading. Although, I did read much of books six and seven of the Harry Potter series while working up a nice sweat. I am not sure whether my heart rate use to elevate because of my hatred of Voldermort, or because I was actually working hard. This brings me to my next random topic:

SPARTACUS: I am a sucker for those sword and sandal type films. You know, Gladiator, Clash of the Titans, Alexander, etc. I recently started watching the new Spartacus series—based on the legend of the famous Thracian leader who led his army of slaves against the the Roman Empire—on Netflix while on my trainer. It is everything I could ever want in a program for my long rides. There is plenty of gratuitous sex, graphic violence, and poor acting. What I find the most difficult to understand is how every single male gladiator and slave in the show are incredibly jacked for performance enhancing drugs. Seriously, how are these guys 6'2, 240, incredibly ripped with six packs while seemingly be limited to about an 800 calorie a day diet. More, they show these cats bare chested in the middle of winter crawling on the side of a mountain in the snow. They are not shivering. They barely notice that it is even cold, because their giant muscles and underdeveloped gladiator brains—and an apparent slight neurological problem not being be able to feel pain or cold—has left them unfettered by these minor nuisances. 

...and one more thing. Since when did these women have breast implants in ancient Roman times? Seriously!  If you are doing a period piece, it is difficult to take it seriously when there is more silicon in the breasts of some of the actresses than all of the semi-conductor industry. 

TRAINING: Training has been going unbelievably well. As in, I am doing it. Consistently. Perhaps that is why I have not been around as much as of late. I know... I know.. I use these lame excuses like having five children, blah blah blah, and a job that comes home with me every night (i.e. grading papers), blah blah blah, and a training schedule that I try to fit in to a ver busy professional life. LISTEN... I am NOT complaining. I am the luckiest human being on Earth. I have an unbelievably patient wife. Speaking of which, my wife has resurrected her amazing dance career and has been performing quite frequently after taking several years "off" to have children. I am quite proud of what she is able to do. 

RUN ACROSS AMERICA: You know what is really, really, really cool about the REV3 race series?

Answer: Everything.

But, do you know what else?

The amazing folks over at REV3 have decided to run across America. I know, how lame. I mean, they are going to just run across America once? How many times did Forest Gump run across the United States? The REV3 goal is to raise $100,000 for the Ulman Cancer Fund. I know that we have all been affected by cancer. I lost a lot of people I love dearly, especially my father, to cancer. 

What's that?  You say  you want to do your small part to kick cancer's ass? 

Do your part here, would ya?

REVIEW: I have an unbelievably kick-butt review coming up in my next blog post. Trust me, it's a winner. 

Train Smart!

2012: A Fresh Perspective

It is a new year.

I am a little wiser.

Where have I been again?

Well, for starters, I put a lot of "time in the bank" at home over the winter recess. I know how incredibly busy my semester is going to be, so I wanted to make sure that I got to spend a lot of time with the kiddies. 

<--- This is a picture of my girls and me playing the game Headbandz. You put a card in the headband and try to guess what it could be by asking questions before the time runs out. It is silly and fun, and my girls love playing it, which means, I love playing it.  

Over the break, we all spontaneously decided that we would take a rock climbing safety course. I have never tried rock climbing. Neither has wifey. We are both semi-afraid of heights. I've learned that rock climbing is really good fun and a good way to keep upper body strength. We've learned that we have some various degree of spidery children among us. All but my youngest could take the course. It is mere matter of being able to fit in the climbing belts. My twins barely fit. 

I also have been writing and performing quite a bit. Wifey dances with a regional modern dance company called BIODANCE. I wrote and performed a piece with them recently in Brooklyn. Working with wifey is fun. It gives us the opportunity to spend some quality time with each other while seeing some really cool places (and drinking some kick-ass beer).  

How hysterical is the painting on the wall of this restaurant that we went to in Brooklyn??!! Nothing says classy like pole dancing. 

I also have been writing and performing quite a bit. Wifey dances with a regional modern dance company called BIODANCE. I wrote and performed a piece with them recently in Brooklyn. Working with wifey is fun. It gives us the opportunity to spend some quality time with each other while seeing some really cool places (and drinking some kick-ass beer).  I am here with four of the members of BIODANCE after a week long engagement at a theater in western New York. 

Observations:

• Uncle Ben (and Voltaire) were correct— "With great power comes great responsibility."

• There exists an inverse relationship between the number of children I have and the amount of hair I have left.

• On the way home in the car the other night from the gym, I looked out the window of our mom-mobile and commented on how beautiful the moon looked. The full moon shone brightly, unobstructed by any clouds. Then, out of the blue, Luca asks me, "what is mooning?" I caught wifeys eyes out of the corner of mine and we gave each other a quick look. So, I proceeded to tell the kids what mooning meant.

There was a pause.

Finally, Julian—the second oldest—says, "Dad, I bet you would like it if mommy did that to you."

Wise man, that Julian.

He's right.

Kids 5k: 

I don't know what exactly prompted discussion, or who brought it up, but there was a 5k race last weekend in town that my kids asked if they could run. Over the summer, they have run some "kid fun runs." Neither of them ever did a run over one mile. Wifey was skeptical. I got the, "Mark, do you really think that they are capable of running a 5k?  That is really far. I did not see any reason why they could not just go out there, run/jog/walk slowly if they needed and have a good time with their old man. So, we went and made it in a nick of time.

It was really cute. Both of them wanted to start up in the front, but dad convinced them that we should start near the back and pass everyone along the way.

So, this is how the race went down:

Luca—as he always does—started like a bat outta hell. Julian took it slow and steady. He managed to run the first two miles nice and steady, but at the first long steep hill had to walk a little bit. I stayed with him the whole time reassuring him that it was okay to walk. He continued running again shortly after that and he managed to catch his older brother. Nice!

Both of them got first time 5k medals, and Julian finished 3rd in the 0-10 age group. He just turned eight. He was super excited to get a ribbon and a medal!

The boys have been asking me when we are going to run another 5k.

Bikes:

Bikes!  Wifey and I decided that our Christmas present to the children this year would be to bite the bullet and buy brand new bikes that were worthy of the hills and bike trails around our new house. Wifey pointed out that she thought it was fair considering that their father now owned three really nice bikes. Don't tell the wifey, but I am in the market for a 29'er. My friend EJ over at Crankskins  has convinced me that I need to get on a mountain bike  and experiencing the thrill of crashing into trees cross training.

Oddly, I started my love of cycling by mountain biking. When I was a student, I founded the "Adventure Club" on campus. We would go white water rafting, spelunking, skydiving, etc. One of the greatest trips I ever scheduled for the club was to Snowshoe, West Virginia to go mountain bike riding. Let's face it, West Virginia is really just a giant adult playground. Seriously, have you ever been there? Morgantown—where West Virginia University is located—was/is the most metropolitan "city" in West Virginia. Even Morgantown had a real "you might run into Davy Crockett" sometime soon sort of feel to it. It was the only place that I have ever been in North America where coonskin caps are still in style.

Inspiration:

You know, I remember once asking my father on my 35th Birthday if he would like to be thirty-five again. He was seventy -five years old then. His eyebrows furrowed and he looked at me quizzically and said "Mark, I would like to be sixty-five again." I thought that was a hysterical and unexpected answer.

As we continued talking, he explained that even though his body was not able to do the same things it once could, that his mind still believed that anything was possible. He used the example of the ottoman that lay in front of his chair and said, "Look at that. In my head, I know I can jump over that. I have memory over me doing that very thing. But I know that if I try to do it, I am going to kill myself."

As my father was telling me this, I couldn't help but think of Lew Hollander—the eighty year old, who in 2010 finished the Ironman World Championships in Kona in 15:48:30, knocking off more than an hour from his finish the previous year.

The mind is amazing. What you believe you can do is sometimes more important than your ability to actually to be physically capable. It is my belief that persistence trumps talent. Perseverance is the secret to discovering new talent within ourselves. Pushing ourselves past the point that we thought we were capable of allows us to believe that even more is possible.

What I learned from my father was that people who are successful in life are often not the most talented in their discipline, but they are the people who outwork everyone else. They don't complain how tired they are. They continue to work, to learn, never resting on their laurels, never compromising the integrity of their work, and above all else, always remaining humble.

They don't give reasons why something can not be done, but rather, ask, "how am I going to solve this problem? How am I going to make it work?" When everyone is debating whether it is a glass half full, or half empty, they've already drank the water.

TRAINING:

Training has left me reenergized. I have made some really decent strides with my swimming over the last month. After six seasons of learning how to swim, I think I am starting to finally realize what people mean by "the feel of the water." Hey, better late than never, right?

My body has been pretty tired as a result of bumping up the training volume a bit earlier this year. I am scheduled for my first triathlon at Rev3 Quassay, where I will race the Olympic distance.

My biking seems to be the thing I need to work on the most, although I recently discovered Netflix!  

Yes, yes... I know what you are all thinking... recently??!!  I mean, we've always known about Netflix, but wifey and I have finally decided to try it out. Can I just tell you how much faster Netflix makes my trainer time go? 

A lot!

Tomorrow is my first day back teaching classes after a nice, long break.

I get to teach History of Rock and Roll (at 8:45 in the morning!) 

Rock on!

Some awesome news happening soon. Looking forward to sharing. 

Train Smart!

Lazer Helmet Give Away: And The Winner Is...

Congratulations to some chick named Laura Wheatley. She is the proud new owner of a Lazer Tardiz helmet. The rest of you should be green with envy.

Thank you to everyone who signed up to participate in the giveaway. I appreciate your PATIENCE more than you know.

I started getting some messages on "the" Facebook from followers asking if they had won. Thank you for stalking me. The last couple of weeks have been crazy. I just got all of my grades in yesterday. As much as I love spending time adding and subtracting numbers, grading is the last glamorous part of a college professor's job. Plus, my ass has been busy training once again. I am really getting back into the swing of things after a month and a half of relative laziness. Know how that feels? Yeah. Like you've been hit by a truck. Around ten o'clock at night, my energy level resembles that of a tree sloth.

Congratulations Laura. Send me an email to let me know which Lazer helmet you would like.


A BIG THANK YOU to Lazer for allowing me to have this super-awesome giveaway on my blog.

For anyone who did not win, have no fear! Contact me about how you can receive a 20% discount on a new Lazer helmet!

More soon. Train Smart!

The Friday Top Five: The Top Five Greatest Tunes About Rock n' Roll

The Friday Top Five: The Top Five Greatest Tunes About Rock n' Roll


As someone who actually teaches a course titled "The History of Rock and Roll," I feel a unique sense of entitlement with all things rock& roll. In fact, I have self-appointed myself the absolute authority on all things rock and roll. I mean, after all, Michael Jackson dubbed himself "The King of Pop," and Howard Stern declared he was "The King of All Media," why should I not be Dr. Rock and Roll? I mean let's face it, I even have the official name plate on my door.


I know I will receive some comments and other suggestions for this list... I'm looking at you Jeff and Rock Star.

Picking the five best songs ever written about rock and roll is a lot like picking my favorite dish containing lobster. I mean, does it matter? I heard a comedian once talk about how lobsters completely got the short end of the stick. He went on to say, "...when God was creating all the animals, he said, "Okay, lobster. I'm going to make you red, and give you these little claw things on the front. Yeah, that's it. (muffled voice) Oh, yeah, and the most intelligent creatures on the planet are going to find you absolutely delicious."

I decided to base my list on songs that really celebrate rock and roll for what it is; a subversive, ass-kicking, stick-it-to-the-man, in-your-face, "My amplifier goes to eleven," form of musical expression.
I had to eliminate tunes with "Rock and Roll" in the title that were played by fringe rock and roll bands at best, like The Velvet Underground. I love the Velvet Underground, but they are about as rock & roll to me as say, The Cure, or Elvis Costello.

So, I had to rule out tunes like "I'm Just a Singer in a Rock and Roll Band" by the Moody Blues, and "So You Want to Be A Rock and Roll Star" by Tom Petty. While peripherally tunes about rock and roll, they do not speak to the true nature of what it means to bang your head and feel the power of guitar distortion. 

5) For Those About to Rock, AC/DC: How cool is it that those of us who have never served in the armed forces can still be saluted? This tune from the 1981 album of the same name features starts with lead singer, Brian Johnson, engaged with a little antiphonal (call and response) between himself and the band. The music is raw, heavy, heavily influenced by R& B guitar licks that are predictable, but tasty.

4) I Love Rock and Roll, Joan Jett: This tune feels nostalgic because her lyrics "I love rock and roll, so put another dime in the jukebox baby. I love rock n' roll, so come an' and take your time an' and dance with me" harkens back to a time when you could actually pay for tunes on the jukebox without having to take out your ATM card and take money out.

3) Rock and Roll Music, Chuck Berry, Look, Chuck Berry is unequivocally the architect of rock and roll. There would be no rock guitar if it were not for Chuck Berry. Who would the Beatles cover, and Brian Wilson—of the Beach Boys—rip off if were not for Chuck Berry? He explains in the song how rock&roll has a backbeat, and if you want to dance with him, it has to be rock& roll music that you're listening to.

2) Long Live Rock, The Who: A tribute to rock and roll artists dead or alive, this tune mixes some honkey tonk, with good ole' fashion ass-kickin' rock and roll to reaffirm that rock and roll is here to stay.

1) Rock and Roll, Led Zepplin: Proof that when you spend enough time away from rock n' roll, you really need it. I feel this way every morning when I need my jazz fix. I have to sit down at the piano in the a.m. and unleash some demons. I spend and hour and a half playing tunes, improvising, and getting my daily therapy before I go out there and face the ever-increasing sarcasm of la vie quotidienne.


TRAINING:


Hey, guess what? My ass is IN gear and I am training hard again. This year, it does not appear that I will be facing some of the same kinds of stresses as previous seasons. Let me recap the last two seasons for you:

2009: My father passes away a day before his 81'st birthday. It came unexpectedly. This put a bit of a damper in my training. I ran the Musselman HIM less than two weeks later.

2010: Left a steady academic position I was in for ten years after completing my doctorate to take a one year position and pray that it would turn into something more permanent. It did. The stress of applying for gigs, and reapplying for my position left me spent and struggling to find time last season. Had an injury that kept me from running for about eight weeks. Oh, I decided to coach my son's baseball team last summer. What the hell was I thinking?

2011: Have some major writing to do this year. I have a couple of huge commissions on the burner that I have to get done. Unfortunately, I prefer writing and training in the morning. Finding balance is going to be difficult.


Coach Kelly has me hitting it pretty hard already. I like that. There is something to be said for ramping up slowly, but I really dislike waiting until, say, April to start having any significant long runs.

I did a 2800 yard swim yesterday, followed by an hour of interval work on the bike. I have also been doing some weight training this pre-season. I use to be a strength athlete and I trained pretty hard. I miss pumping iron, but it has been a really long time since I've bench pressed, or did dumbbell flys and my chest is absolutely killing me.

I think I am going to run a 5K this weekend. It will be fun to go out there and really test myself early. I have not run a 5K in years. Isn't that crazy? I have been more interested in running 10K's. Something about going out there and running fast enough to elicit vomiting really scares the hell out of me. A little vomiting never hurt anyone.

I was pretty excited about my recent heart rate test. After warming up for 15 minutes and doing 3 short 30-second intervals, I ran hard for twenty minutes. I remember reading something years ago that someone wrote about how to run faster. This coach once said, "in order to run faster, you need to run faster," and that is exactly what I did.


I have to admit, I don't envy all of you who live in warm-weathered locales who have to deal with heat and humidity all year round, but I am not excited about having to sit my ass on a trainer in my basement during the winter. Ugh!

More soon. Train Smart!





Training is going swimmingly. Pun intended.

The Friday Top Five: The Top Five Things You Give Up When You Become A Parent

5) Being Cool: Although some parents try desperately to remain cool by declaring to all the world that  they would "would never be caught dead in a minivan," having an infant pee, poop, and vomit on you makes what type of ride you're rolling in the least of your problems. You have to worry about whether anyone at work can smell that vomit on your clothes because you were too tired to change them on account of staying up all night wondering why how your child will cry all evening for you then manage to sleep all afternoon when you need to run errands.

4) Listening to your music in the Car: I have tried desperately to indoctrinate my children to my musical aesthetic. It has worked for the most part. Sometimes, it is a little embarrassing. I mean, I remember my boys singing "Brass Monkey" at some pretty inopportune times as well. Now, my youngest wants to hear her Suzuki violin CD and everyone in the car will sing Lightly Row, Twinkle Little Star (to the rhythm of "Mississippi hotdog"—a personal favorite of mine). I have also listened to enough Disney tunes in the car with the kids that I have temporarily "misplaced" the CD... perhaps forever.

3) Reasoning: It is nearly impossible to try to reason with five year old. Their brains—although amazing sponges—do not function quite the same way as a fairly well-adjusted adult. I use "fairly adjusted" here, because, let's just face it, all of us are still recovering from the trauma of are dysfunctional childhoods. Children believe that are at the center of the universe and that everyone and everything should revolve around them. Forget trying to speak sensibly to a screaming toddler. What I have learned is that inconsolable screaming over
not having the right dinner fork or wrong socks to wear with their school clothes is usually a result of on of two things:

                        1) child is hungry
                        2) child is tired

Here is a diagram of how the average child thinks:

2) Sanity: Yeah, wifey and I left this at the turnstile long ago. (I am not even sure what that means). All I can attest to is that having young, fragile lives to take care of every second of the day is a daunting task. There are times when I have been so crazed trying to get the kids ready to do something that I leave the house without remembering to bring my computer, or lunch, or brain to work with me.

1) Sleeping In: Yeah, forget this completely. Sleeping in when you have small children means waking up past 7 a.m. I remember the first time we had to set a mandatory "sleep in" time with my oldest son. He came into our bedroom and climbed into bed with me and asked if we could go downstairs and play. It was 6:30. I said "No, buddy. We have to sleep until seven o'clock." He nestled in right next to me and went back to sleep.... or so I thought. As soon as the clock hit 7 a.m., he turned around with his
eyes wide open and said "Okay!  It's seven o'clock daddy, let's go downstairs!" Ugh!


Training: Training is going pretty well, as in I am finally training and not just cobbling together a bunch of half-assed workouts and feeling good about myself. Guilt has a way of turning the screw and

My recent delve back into the world of training/self-flaggalation has been directly linked to a few different factors:

1) I was tired feeling like out-of shape. If I intend on keeping my ridiculous Ironman like diet (which I have absolutely no intention of departing with), then I thought that perhaps I should start training more consistently. I am self-motivated, but I needed some time off to regroup after Rev3 Full Cedar Point to reassess what I wanted to focus on this season.

2) I have a coach. I am now trained by Coach Kelly over at T2Multisport. The cool part about training with Kelly is that I have known her for a long time. We went to graduate school together some.... hmm, 12 years ago!

3) Work: This semester has been incredibly crazy, not to mention the fact that we moved twice in the span of two months. We are settled now, but it made training insane.

I have some lower back pain that I have been wrestling with. I could not figure out where it was coming from. I thought that perhaps it was a result of bumping up the training again. Wifey's back has also been hurting her. We have been giving each other nightly massages. Bonus.

Last night I finally figured out where all my pain is coming from. I knew that is must be some movement that I have been doing because it is really localized. While I sit in my office, I often throw my feet up on top of a chair—as I am sometimes sitting in front of my computer for hours out of my day—and write. Last evening, I noticed that my torso was having to twist around to put my feet up and that the numerous hours I have spent in that position have caused a great deal of pain. It reminded me of when I was a graduate student at the Ithaca Conservatory and I spent the summer painting houses. I was young then (with more hair), and I spent hours on a ladder painting trim with my arm stretched over my head. I didn't notice anything at the time until the next morning when I got up and my neck was absolutely killing me.

The Rest:


My youngest has graduated to her first real violin after spending a few weeks on the noodle-roni box. So awesome! Watch out, Vanessa Mae!

Lazer Awesomness! Tardiz Helmet Giveaway!

Friends! (Triathlon nerds and their supporters)

Amazing news. 

The fine folks over at Lazer have once again allowed me to giveaway another one of their super fast—and fashion conscious—Lazer Tardiz aero helmets. 

In case you missed my review of the Lazer Tardiz helmet you can find it here.

ontzagwekkend! (Dutch for awesome, at least according to Google)


I find this funny, given that the Dutch word for "Awesomeness" according to Google, is "awesomeness." But I digress. 


I decided that I wanted to do another giveaway via my blog because on any given day, about a quarter to half of the hits are from people going to the review of the Lazer helmet that I wrote. Surprisingly, I am unbelievably popular in Laos and Senegal. Who knew. 

I love my Lazer helmet. It is zeer comfortabel! 


So, here is the skinny:


1. Go to the Lazer website and then come back and leave a comment
telling me which Lazer Tardiz helmet design you like most AND when you would wear it. (1 entry)

2. Be a follower of my blog, leave a separate comment letting me know
who you are. (1 entry)

3. Become a fan of Lazer Helmets on Facebook. Leave a seperate
comment letting me know. (1 entry)

4. Post this contest on your blog, leave a separate comment letting meknow you've done so. (1 entry)




I will do a random drawing next Sunday, December 11th. 


Good luck!