More Bowling

My Dad gave me some old pictures. In the stack was this one of my grandpa, Fred Renner, Sr. from 1958.

Exhaustion

So, I was supposed to do my push up test yesterday... I ended up Christmas shopping, how hard could it possibly be to find a dolls baby swing? So I picked up the plan tonight. I'm not sure how accurate of a test I did though. I started doing my push ups during warm ups at hapkido, someone started talking to me and lost count then class started so I had to stop. I think I was in the area of 45-50 and I felt pretty good, like I had another 10 or more in me. So later tonight I decided to try again and got to 55. Not sure how accurate it is with the number I had done earlier but I'm gonna go with it, it still puts me on column 3 of the plan. I'm gonna re-do week 4 of the plan.

Today we shut down the ATM network at work. It was originally installed back in 1997, someone made a brilliant decision that gig-ethernet was too bleeding edge and ATM was the better way to go. Over the last 3 years we have been under the process of shutting it down, this involved bulding out a gig-E infrasturcture including a 10 gig core and data center with 14 distribution layer routers servicing approximately 250+ access layer switches. Amazingly, we rolled that out in about 7 months shutting down ATM infrastructure as we went until all that remained was one datacenter that did internet hosting. A new gig-E hosting infrastructure was completed about 1 1/2 years ago and to a large extent sat empty waiting for applicaitons to move. It was not a "build it and they will come" event, it seems the apps folks needed a fire burning under them to get moving and they finally got moving about 2 months ago.

When we were told the last of the apps had moved... not really a well planned project it really involved a long string of unplanned emergency change controls to overcome their planning (do you sense that it was us, the network folks that had to compensate for the lack of planning?) there was celebration, I left all of the alerting turned on and we went down to the datacenter and started powering stuff off. It was glorious. Some of the equipment was end of life and end of support 2 years ago, if we had had parts fail there were no replacements to be had.

Week 4

Push up challenge Week 4.... well, it's only my second week but I'm working on the week 4 plan. Somehow I ended up with 2 days back to back, the whole week has been a bit of a blur with work and holiday stuff going on. On set 5 of each day my max was meeting "at least" number, and they were hard. Looking at the plan it appears that Week 4 Day 3 is one of the hardest of all, second to Week 6 Day 1. Sunday will be my progress test.

Christmas Party

We did the Discovery Christmas party last night. Seems like a good time was had by all. It was at my brothers house so it was a chance for he and his wife to show it off. It was the traditional Christmas Party with food and more food, the white elephant gift exchange. On the positive side I didn't end up with the worst gift, I took home a box of poker chips and a chess set that is missing a pawn. We've had one gift re-appear every year for he past 8 years, a charming little Prescious Moments figureine that has come to be called "Pink Boy". Now if you end up with it you are required to bring it next year. After the gifts was dessert. Yum.

The after party included exploring the garage which I have dubbed the "man cave". My brother has his shop there where he works on guitars and likely another surfboard coming along soon. The bonuse of the man cave is the BEER FRIDGE! A friend gave my brother a fridge that has 2 tap handles and doubles as a bar. He keeps it stocked with beer from another friends brewery, the Craftsman Brewery of Pasadena, Ca.

I did get home and get my push ups in. (22 + 30+ 20 + 20 + 28). I actually made a mistake and thought it was 30 for the first set so overall I did 8 extra. The last set was uberhard.

2 Days and holding strong

So, the push up challenge is moving forward. Tonight I did day 2 of week 3 (20 + 25 + 15 + 15 + max) For my max I made 29. So 104 total. For each of the 15 rep sets the kids had to sit on my back for the first one... I barely made each of those. Ethan likes to count as I do the push ups.

Keith and I did our 3 1/5 mile push/run as he calls it. 12 push ups every 1/2 mile or so. Again a total of 96 that makes the grand total 200 for the day.

I told my brother about the push up challenge and he started on Tuesday as well.

A little extra

Well, I didn't get started on the push up challenge yesterday due to an unbearably long problem at work that had me on the phone for 6 hours but that's another story. So I knew I had to start today, I guess I get motivated to complete things by telling other people about it.

While getting the kids to wind down before bed I told Ethan about the challenge and showed him the plan then it was his job to count. For today, starting at week 3 the plan is 14 + 18 + 14 +14 + max. On set 2 Ethan wanted to sit on my back, that didn't work too well. Overall it was difficult in that I was shooting for good form but I was able to complete all 5 sets. Set 5 I did 30, the plan calls for "max (at least 20)" so I met that with a little extra. Feeling good.

Then I went to hapkido. We never know how many, if any, push ups we'll do during warm ups but I should have know when Mr. Birkholz stepped up to lead class there were going to be a lot. I ended up with just about 150 push ups today.

Push Ups

Ok, as some fallout from doing the running and pushups I found a website (http://hundredpushups.com) that has a 100 push up challenge. Along with it there is a 6 week plan to succeed. I'm ready to give it a try.

Step one is the initial test. I was able to do 33 full good form push ups so that's the starting benchmark. With 33 as a starting point the web site suggests starting with week 3 of the plan. So here we go, Day 1 will be tomorrow.

Started Running again

This week Keith and I started running again. He's taken on some challenge of 30 minutes of activity a day for 30 days, me, I'm just trying to stay fit.

So both Tuesday and today we headed out around The Lot for our 3 1/2 mile loop but now we have added sets of 12 push ups every 1/2 mile. Apparently we can't really measure distance and ended up with 96 push ups total.

It felt good after a 3 week break.... or was it 4. Whatever, I never would have thought I'd say it but I feel much better after running someday I might have to admit that I like running.

Happy Birthday Wade, who's your buddy?

Wade's birthday was back in October. Since we've done triathlon's together my present to him for the big 40 was to enter us into the Muddy Buddy race. It's a 5 1/2 mile, 2 guys, 1 bike race where teams trade off running and riding, then crawl through a mud pit together.

Here we are ready to go... unaware of what we're getting into.


I started on the bike, Wade with the run. On the first leg there was one excellent downhill that I saw a guy go over the bars.

Obstacle 1 was a climbing wall with rope ladder on the back, then I was off for the run. When I finished the run and did my climb over obstacle 2, an A-frame I didn't see Wade yet. He soon followed on the bike and traded off. Soon after I came around a corner to see the road flooded out and a big mud hole. Most everyone was circling around it on the edge where it was dry. I was following someone that stopped and put their foot down so I quickly made the choice to go through the mud. About 3/4 the way through the bike stopped, my foot went down, and the bike went down, now it would be covered in mud for the rest of the race. I heard someone yell, "right on!!" There was then a lot of uphill riding.

The next obstacle was walking across a beam. Normally easy but with wet, muddy shoes a different story. Then I was off running again. Somehow Wade ended up with the long downhill ride on pavement and passed me going pretty fast. Actually good for me because I'd rather run that part than the part Wade had just finished running.

The last obstacle was the bouncy house slide. Again, wet, muddy shoes made climbing the rope ladder a little more challenging.


Then I was off on the bike. A lot of uphill again and I never caught up to Wade until the end where he had to wait for me to go through the mud pit together.


Who's your buddy? Wade going to give Tanja a hug.


The kids were pretty scared that I would give them a hug. It was great to have them there and hear Junia yelling "Go, Daddy Go!"


Right before Kerrianne got her hug.


It was great fun. Happy Birthday Wade!

Is it a sign?

Well, Wade and I have the Muddy Buddy race in the morning. On the positive side it's the time change tonight so even though the clock says it's 11:34pm that I'm writing this it's only 10:34pm... that's where the positive side ends.

I went out to the garage a few hours ago to get the bike loaded into the truck and get things ready... I started rolling the bike and flat tire! I know I have a tube around somewhere but I haven't seen it since we moved 2 years ago. The only place I could think of that would be open at 9pm was Target so off I went. I picked up 2 tubes so we'll have one on the race tomorrow and while I was at it got a new pump for on the bike. Back home, change the tube... all good. Then I went to start the truck, it's been sitting for a couple of weeks, battery dead. I think the jumper cables are with that tube, haven't been seen since we moved. About that time work called with 3 different problems they wanted me to look at. (Bad planning on my part being on-call the weekend of a race.) I spent the next hour fixing problems for work and decided I'd try to fit my bike in the other car for tomorrow, as I was moving stuff to put it in I came across the emergency kit my wonderful wife got me for Christmas last year.... in it were jumper cables. Gave the truck a jump start and let it run for a while while I got the rest of the things together.

Right now things look OK, except when I look at the clock and see that it says 11:42pm.......

Almost Famous

Keith and I went for a run at lunch today around The Lot. We were headed up towards Jaws Lake and passed a Tour Tram. Just as the tram passed we heard the tour guide say, "look they might be.... nope, not famous." But hey, we looked good.

Back on the mountain bike

Well, today marks 1 week since the triathlon which means it's time to get off my bum and get out and do something. Since I think the Muddy Buddy race is mountain bike I thought it was about time to inflate the tires and get the dust off. I took a ride up the wash and up the Clamshell trail, 7 miles round trip but a much steeper hill than I've been riding the road bike.

On the way up I came across 4 deer walking through the neighborhood just before I hit the fireroad. There was more wild life as I came back down, I saw a bear rummaging through someone's trash can. By the time I turned around to stop and take a picture he had headed off into somone else's back yard.


Mountain ride felt good.

Hapkido Dodger Demo

Every year the Jan Mu Wan Hapkido association gets together and does a demonstration before an LA Dodger game and today was the day. Ethan, Junia and I joined a couple hundred students from the 6 schools around Southern California gathered today to go out on the field before today's game against the San Francisco Giants. We got to go out on the grass, it was way cool.

Here's some of the group waiting to go on the field.


Then we ran out to the third base foul line.


First everyone did a show of some basics. This included everyone from Little Ninjas up to black belt... then technique demonstration.

Here's Rog taking a black belt fall.


Grand Master Kim demonstrated the cane technique on the Dodger vision.


Master Connard took out Mr. Sullivan.


And the kids and I got our picture taken on the way off the field.

Who's your buddy?

I turned 40 earlier this year and my buddy Wade gave me tickets to see Tom Petty. The show was great fun, they played all the old stuff and put on a great show.... as much as we could see from up on the lawn. Actually the view was good and I was amazed at the sound. I remember seeing Dio at the same venue (Irvine Meadows now Verizon Wireless Amphitheater) back in '87 and the sound was muddy and unclear. Sound technology has come a long way in 20 years, we could actually understand what Tom Petty was singing.


So Wade turned 40 a couple of weeks ago, for him I registered the two of us for the Muddy Buddy race in San Dimas on Nov 2. The Muddy Buddy is a 5 to 7 mile bike/run race of teams of two and one bike. Teams take turns running and riding and then go through a big mud pit together to finish the race. Should be a good time.

More Race Pics

I got a few more pictures from the race.

Riding down PCH.

The turn into the parking lot, about 1.5 miles to go.


Headed up the beach.


Into the finish.

Race Day!

Today was the big day. Started out early and dark, I hit the road from home about 4:15am. By the time I got to Malibu I had to park 1.5 miles from the transition area and walk all my stuff over. A nice walk in the dark with a lot of other people.

Spent some time getting everything set up and organized. The only snafu was a contact lens that didn't want to cooperate, I thought I was going to be racing blind in one eye but got it sorted out during the pre-race meeting.

All 3000 entrants walked down the beach to the start line. The run it in waves based on age and gender so the mid-life crisis guys like me are not until wave 9 or so. Each wave starts 5 minutes apart.... so a 7:15 am race start actually was an 8am start for me.

While walking over I found Kerrianne and the kids. My brother's family and my buddy Wade's family came out to support and watch as well.


The water was nice and calm, I only had to dive through one wave to get out. 22 minutes later I was out of the water. I felt pretty good even though I got passed by some mid-life crisis women. (Apparently it's hit them harder than me and they have been training more than me.) I was even able to run up the beach.


Scott was there to help with the transition (he did the olympic distance race yesterday and the swim portion of a relay team today) so pulled the wet suit down half way, sat down and he pulled it the rest of the way off... slick. I put on shoes, helmet and gloves and was on my way for the 18 mile bike ride.


The ride went well for me too. There was one gnarly crash pretty quick out of the transition area where I saw a guy sitting with a bloody towel to his head, an ambulance was headed his way a moment later. I caught up with Keithrus at about mile 7 pushing hard riding his mountain bike. There were some places where I really got in the groove and felt good but I never really felt like I was gearing correctly on the hills. the last 6 miles were especially strong.

At the transition I struggled to find a slot for my bike, quick change of shoes, grab my hat and I was on the run. My plan was to take the first 1/2 mile real easy to make sure I didn't get cramps in my legs, pick it up a little but not push it until starting the return at mile 3. The strategy worked well and I was actually able to pick up the pace even more as I progressed through the last 2 miles.


While I was doing the run the kids got to do what Junia is calling her "triathlon", the Tot Trot which was a 50 yard run in the sand. Apparently it was quite a mob of kids, sorry I missed it.





The last mile I really picked up my pace (though for a real runner I'm sure it wasn't much of a pace) and finished strong. Everyone told me I didn't look completely beat as I came out of the finish chute.


Me and the kids all got finisher's medals for our races.


So, here's my race stats:
Swim: 22min 32sec
Transition 1: 3min 49sec
Bike: 1hour 02min 25sec
Transition 2: 1min 39sec
Run: 35min 49sec
Total: 2hours 6min 16sec

I saw hoping to get 2 hours but would have been happy with anything better than 2 hours 15 minutes so it was a success. also, I raised $1300 for pediatric cancer research at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, a big THANK YOU to those that donated in support of me.

Let's Go Bowling

Taking it easy so a little alternative training today... at least to start.

Ethan is now in the first grade which means Cub Scouts and there was a get together this afternoon at a bowling alley in Montrose for new kids to come meet some of the other scouts and leaders, so we went. Also my brother sent my name in as being a possible den leader so it looks like I'm getting roped in to that fortunately Ethan's buddy Jason's dad is into it to so we'll lead together.

Anyway Ethan got out there and threw the ball down the alley and had a great time.

And he took a video of me utilizing the kid's bumpers on the gutters....



Bowling was great fun and included hanging out with some of Ethan's friends from school and meeting the other Scout leaders... next week is the first Pack meeting.

After we got home and had dinner I went for a short run, 3.6 miles to the gym and back, while at the gym I did 10 minutes on the stationary bike and weighed myself... down to 222. That's 25 pounds lost since I started training in April. It feels good.

What was that?

So I've had some good recovery time after last Saturday's pre-run of the event. I did some hapkido Monday and Tuesday then tonight I went for a 4 mile run and it felt good. I actually felt like I had a stride and was able to comfortably hold an 8 minute/mile pace on the hilly roads around home. The body felt good and loosened right up. I never knew what a stride felt like but wow things just came together. Between this and riding the current on Saturday I really hope that wasn't my perfect run and it's all gonna go downhill from there for Sunday.

Ride the current

Another day training out at Mailbu. When we left the Valley it was already getting warm at 7am, as soon as we started dropping down on the ocean side of the hills we descended into the fog, thick fog. The plan was to start swimming at 8am but we couldn't see out into the ocean even as far as we needed to be, and the visibility wasn't much better up the coast highway to ride. Some o us joked about heading over for a work out at Starbucks. We hung out a bit and finally it was clearing up around 8:45 so everyone suited up and we headed out.

I remembered to start my watch when we started to swim and look at it when my feet were back on dry sand... 13 minutes. The ride went well and felt good, according to the bike computer it says I was rolling exactly 1 hour. I checked my watch when I finished the run and it saidy 1 hour 58 minutes. So there's a goal for next week, 2 hours.

Emily and I were discussing the 13 minute swim versus the 20 minutes last week, Scott felt he had to burst our bubble and point out that the current was going our direction this week. One can only hope it will work for us next week.

It was a great turn out this week with plenty of the team coming out for a last chance to get familiar with the course. It was encouraging to see the team jersey all over the course.

Other training this week included 2 rides to Santa Fe dam at 20 miles each. The Labor Day holiday and the start of school kinda messed up the lunchtime run at work. This week is supposed to be a light workout week so right now the plan is a light run or two, hapkido and a short ride on Saturday then early to bed.

Another trial race

This weeks training consisted of a couple of run outings at work during lunchtime, hapkido 3 nights and a pre-race of the Malibu course. This time around we included transitions. The swim was tough as expected but I was able to keep myself calm and work my way through it. One moment I wondered what I was doing and why I was there. Though I was at the rear of the pod I was able to finish and not feel dizzy when I came out of the water. I need to work on a system for the first transition from swim to bike. The bike was good and I was able to make up time and pull through strong, though there are people that are faster than me I think the bike is my strong event. Transition to the run was smooth, I took it slow the first mile and focused on just keeping going and making sure my legs didn't cramp up. By the end of mile 2 I was feeling better than when I started the run and was able to pick up my pace more and more as I completed the 2nd two miles.

Total time 2hours 3minutes.

It was very encouraging to be out there with the team.

Is that Yoko?

A bit of running at work this week but some silly meetings got in the way so I only got 2 days in. The I was off Friday and thought I'd take a bike ride down to Santa Fe Dam, go for a swim and ride home. Well, apparenlty they don't get too many folks swimming on a Friday morning so they make the swim area smaller... a lot smaller. In fact by the time I got out to where it would be deep enough to actually swim it was only about 20 feet across so I stayed on the bike and just made the loop back home.. 17.5 miles. I had projects to work on around the house anyway.

Saturday we took the kids to San Clemente to the beach. After burying the kids in the sand I decided to take advantage of being at the ocean and go for a swim. So I put on the wetsuit and headed out. The water wasn't really cold enough to need a wetsuit but I need to get used to swimming in it.

Here's me headed out.

You have to look close, but I'm there. I swam and thought I had gone a good ways and headed in. When I got on shore I realized I had only gone a few hundred yards. I'm gonna say it was extra tough because the afternoon ocean was so rough, the reality is I'm not the swimmer I wanna be.

The wetsuit was comfortable and I didn't feel like it was a hinderance and helped keep me afloat.

Junia took a self portrait.


Tomorrow I'm going to try Santa Fe Dam again. There's always a bazillion people there on the weekends so they have the whole swim area open. And with that many people it should feel just like teh triatlon event.

Running in the heat

This week's training consisted of a lot of running... well, a lot of running for me anyway. Two days of 6 miles and 1 day of 4 miles at lunch time. It felt pretty good. I can't remember ever running 6 miles in my life. It was 90-95 degrees each day.

Work got in the way of my bike ride on Saturday morning so I ended up going out at 7:30pm. It was beautiful, a full moon and clear. I did my normal 20 mile loop out to Santa Fe Dam. The wildlife this week consisted of the bats flying around under the bridges under Huntingto Drive and the 210 Fwy.

Swimming consisted of a pool party throwing kids around in the pool.

Wildlife this weekend

So, I got a call from Larry The Neighbor about 1:30 last Thursday afternoon, he said Uncle Leo was trying to take on a bear and two cubs in the back yard. He got Leo out of the yard and over to his place to keep him safe.

I headed home from work, by the time I got there KC had gotten home to find the police and animal control in our driveway. She go Uncle Leo and he was covered in something sticky...and boy did he stink! Not like a skunk... but stink. By the time I got home she had him washed off, then he went off to the groomer on Friday.

Apparently the bears came over to play with Uncle Leo after hanging out in Larry's jacuzzi.




Then Sunday the kids and I were playing Uno out by the pool, I looked over at the pool and saw a big spider floating...dead. I, of course went and grabbed the camera. Wen we scooped it out of the pool Ethan wanted to scare mom with it...I said that would be a bad idea.

Here's the spider with Junia's hand for size comparison.

Training
Training wise, I still had a good weekend. With a 10 mile ride/4 mile run on Friday. 3 mile run on Saturday then a 6 mile ride, 1/2 mile swim and 2 mile run on Sunday.

Wildlife and a pre-race

Wildlife
Well, the training plan at night around home has taken a turn. I was out for a ride a week or so ago about 8:30pm and rustled up a deer and a few miles later something came out at me, it was either a raccoon, skunk or possum. Kinda startled me and I rode faster.

When I got home Uncle Leo was barking at the back wall. When I called him in I could hear something up in the avocado tree. Of course I grabbed the camera and a flash light, I kept looking around and then I saw it.... a brown bear. I tried to get pictures but didn't get close enough for the flash so none of them turned out. They would have been great of the guy peeking over the wall at me. I ran back in side and grabbed the video cam, by the time I got back out there the bear was up on the wall. I need to get a video capture to post a video clip. The bear stayed up there for about 10 minutes then hopped back up in the tree to get some more avocados. I think I need to put some chips out there so he can make guacamole.

The result is I'm not as into running around here late at night and I've kicked in the noontime runs at work shooting for at least 3 times a week.

Pre-race
I joined the team from work for a pre-race out at Zuma where we actually did the whole course. Turns out we did about 75% of the swim, the whole 18mile ride and 4 mile run...and I made it.


The swim. Went better than I expected. We all went into the water together and out the 150 yards. We floated and gathered together while Scott gave us all some tips then started swimming up the coast past 3 lifeguard towers. Some of the others turned around and swam back, I headed to the shore. Felt pretty good, 14 minutes.


The ride. We set off in two groups, me in the second a couple of minutes behind. Once we got out of the parking lot and onto PCH I just kick in and started going. The course seems a lot less hilly than the rides I've been doing up to now so I was able to get some good sped going and I caught up to some of the folks from the first group and finished the ride in 20 minutes less than I've been doing 28 miles out here.

The Run. The run is down the sidewalk along the beach..... which means flat. That works well for me.

Overall it felt good, and very encouraging to complete all of the events in one shot. The fear of drowning is subsiding but the swim was still a lot of work... more practicing to do.

Back to Training

So, since back from the trip up the coast I've been back to my normal training routine: 20 mile ride on Saturday and some riding, running and hapkido during the week after the kids go to bed.

Knowing we're taking the kids to a movie tonight and I won't get a work out I decided to have a little run at lunch time. Conveniently there's a locker room and showers at work....and surprisingly clean and private, I took off for a 2.5 mile run around Universal Studios.

Now, the nice thing about working at Universal is I get to run through the backlot, maybe people think I'm famous as I run past the tram cars for the tour, I always wave just in case. Running past the Desperate Housewives set was tough because the food services folks were out there BBQing. It would have been fun to run down New York Street but that's just a bunch of rubble now since the fire.

Fortunately I have control of the A/C in my office and now I'm just sitting trying to cool off.

Here's a map of the run.

Training Break - Morro Bay

Family vacation this year was a camping trip to Morro Bay. It also turned out to be a bit of a training break... we'll call it "recovery time", that makes it sound like part of the training plan.

We set off or 5 days and 4 nights of camping with the Turners. First stop was the Summerland Beach Cafe for brunch. It's a great restaurant just south of Santa Barbara with omletts, french toast and all kinds of yummy things. From there it was about 2 hours to Morro Bay.

We got to camp and started pulling everything out to set up. Both Mark and I forgot a hammer and had to use a crescent wrench to pound in the tent stakes. There was a guy sitting outside his fancy RV that offered a hammer, I told him I had my multi-tool that was working just fine. He seemed to find that funny for the rest of our stay.

There were some one-star people staying at the site next to us (the other side from the Turners) that it appeared wre building some type of shelter out of plywood. After the ranger came and told the people they couldn't build a shelter and asked them to leave Ethan and Jason decided thae shelter would make better firewood and started bringing some over.


Junia and Brandon held hands by the fire.










On Monday we went to see what this rock deal was all about.



Ethan and Jason thought they should find their own rocks and carry them around...










Then we went to a park for lunch with a great view of Morro Rock.










That night after dinner we made another fire, roasted marshmallows and made a traditional camping dessert of S'mores.









Tuesday we set off to Hearst Castle. The kid's pondered how we could get a Neptune Pool at our house.











Ethan liked the gold on the front door.

Then we drove up the road and saw the elephant seals, it wiped Junia out.










Back at camp Junia was fully recovered and ready to go, there was no chance of a rest time so me and 4 of the kids went exploring around the campground and over by the water and found our excitement for the next day....canoing!

With 10 of us we needed 3 canoes, it seems the Turners had a bit of trouble getting out from shore. We were able to get out a ways. We found the water wasn't very deep, in fact only 1-3 feet so we didn't really need to paddle we could push the canoe around.


And we did manage to see some sea lions swimming about.

The kids then enjoyed the natural history museum. which seems to be run by a bunch of tree hugging green people, oh, that's the rangers.






And here's the kids in our tent.... I did discover that if the door was large enough we could park our Ford Escape inside. It's pretty big.









And finally, here we are getting ready to come home. Ethan looks happy here but was very sad to leave, he cried himself to sleep the night before knowing we would have to leave.












We're already looking forward to the next camping trip.