A Tale of Two Sports (and Panga's)

I have two distinct competitive activities; one is road racing/triathlons and the other is dog agility.  These are VERY DIFFERENT sports in nearly all ways.  I have a similar approach to both: train quite a bit, and am relatively good at both, but no one is exactly lining up to sponsor me anytime soon. 

This past weekend, I competed in dog agility with Panga and one of my other dogs, Calypso.  We headed up to the freezing tundra of Chicago-land and had a fabulous time.  Panga was especially fabulous and achieved one of my big goals- qualifying for nationals super early in the year, so I can spend the summer focusing on getting her and I in great shape and training for the Ironman!

Case study in a happy Panga (picture from this weekend):

And how did I reward my fabulous cattle dog when we returned home from the trip to Chicago at 9 pm Sunday night?  I was a wretched person and dared to exercise on my bike.  The 15 degree temperature and the dark?  EXCUSES!  ANGRY PANGA!  I was quite pleased I had the self-discipline to exercise after a long weekend...but this did not abate the rage rising from my dog.

See, the issue with Panga is she spends her entire life WAITING TO DO SOMETHING! and DOING SOMETHING! HOORAY!  Panga's standard for things to do is low.  Things she enjoys include following me around the house, standing next to me 'helping' while I bathe the other dogs, and biting her nub of a tail.  WAITING TO DO SOMETHING! is not a comfortable thing for her.  She hates it.  Panga is extremely smart and puts an enormous amount of her energy during WAITING TO DO SOMETHING looking for tailsmen signifying the potential of DOING SOMETHING.  Running shoes? Putting stuff in the car? Pick up her leash? Touching the basket where her running harness is located? VERY EXCITING. SQUEAL SQUEAL!

Panga sees going for a run as THE BEST THING EVER and me riding the bike as an excrucinating version of WAITING TO DO SOMETHING! as I do it while wearing clothing tailsmen similar to the outfit worn when THE BEST THING EVER (running) is possible. 

While I was committing this torture of my poor, loyal dog, she clearly decided to communicate her extreme displeasure at the current WAITING TO DO SOMETHING agony:

The Panga Suicide Demonstration

(Disclaimer: no dogs were harmed in the making of this photo.  She literally did this herself behind Allen's bike in the basement.  I am riding and took this with my iPhone)

Taking her level of desperation in mind, yesterday I decided on a long run outside despite the cold temps and snow on the ground.  Panga's boots were strapped on, I remembered my YakTrax, and off we went.  We were DOING SOMETHING! HOORAY! and Panga was very pleased.  I have to admit, it was a wonderful, Panga was right.  We covered 6 miles at a good clip on a beautiful bright, clear night, with a pretty blanket of snow.  An excellent example of the wisdom in listening to your wise training partner's desperate attempt to communicate her need to DO SOMETHING.

All in all, both sports are going well and Panga is pleased I learned my lesson.

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Training continues: adventures with my bike trainer

Did my first ride on my birthday present: a Kinetic bike trainer & power meter from Allen! Rode for an hour and I learned to keenly appreciate why they sell sweat shields for bikes. I am not that sweaty of a person but basement lack many of the glories of the outdoors...including wind. It is an interesting experience to blow sweat off the tip of your nose. YUCK.

To do: understand power meter. Mystery I need to understand.

Bottom line: riding in basement doable, especially watching a distracting, particularly creepy Criminal Minds. Good way to avoid running outside on a cold, wet winter night. Panga disagrees:




I HAVE NEW BOOTS. I WANT TO USE THEM. BIKES ARE DUMB! -PANGA!

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-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Day 1 of training for Steelhead 2011

OK, so I am all about gear.  I am much better at acquiring gear then I am about making my run faster, which would actually improve my overall times.

It is still very cold here in Indiana and, therefore, a challenging start to my Steelhead 70.3 Ironman training.  However, I decided new gear for my best training partner (my dog Panga) would inspire me.  I then convinced myself that rugged boots to protect her feet from the snow, ice, and salt would definitely jump start my training.  Boots were ordered from RuffWear and dog-humiliation-to-kick-start-winter-training was on.  Panga is game for almost anything but this was a bit much, even for her.  She galloped around the house like a clydesdale.  Tee hee.  Here she is in her new boots (current funny score: Sam 1, Panga 0):

Finally it was time to really go run.  Starting to run for someone who loves gear takes awhile.  Shoes: check, Jacket: check, iPhone: check, This American Life downloaded for running to (I'm a nerd, I know it): check, amphipod pouch for iPhone: check, special nike running headphones: check, gloves/ear band: check, RoadID (shoe and wrist versions): check, Garmin GPS watch: check, Panga: check, Panga's special boots (and socks): check, everything possible reflective: check.  READY TO GO.

Off we go.  I am very concerned Panga will lose her special boots (and socks) on the road, so it takes about a 1/2 mile before I realized that I forgot something very important.  Our neighborhood takes a frugal approach to snow removal.  Therefore, the side roads I run on are covered with an inch of packed ice/snow, which on this sunny day of 25 degrees, the result is a slippery surface with nearly zero traction.  I realize with a growing sense of horror I forgot my YakTrax, which give traction to my running shoes that, in these conditions, have nearly zero grip on this sheet of snow/ice.  I also fully understand I am tied to 35 pounds of VERY MOTIVATED CATTLE DOG who is now essentially towing me behind her enabled by the excellent traction afforded to her by the new boots.  I can only imagine the scene the neighbors were treated to, which involved me skidding along, battling gravity behind an unsympathetic canine running companion.

Funny Score: Sam 1, Panga 10.

After a pretty harrowing 4 miles, the dog boots are billed a success and I have not forgotten my YakTrax once since....

Result?  Panga wins this one.  I begin training for my second 70.3 Ironman!

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MY FIRST BLOG! Training for Steelhead 70.3 Ironman with Team in Training!

Racing to Save Lives!

Welcome to my Team In Training home page!

I'm training to participate in the Steelhead 70.3 Ironman as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In Training. All of us on Team In Training are raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives. I am completing this event in honor of all individuals who are battling blood cancers. Patients and their families are the real heroes on our team, and we need your support to cross the ultimate finish line - a cure!

Like many of you, my life has been touched by cancer. My career is focused on developing new drugs for the treatment of cancer but I have always wanted to do more, so I chose to join Team in Training. Over 75% of your donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society go to research and patients services! Please help me to help even more patients and their families through your donation to support my participation in Team In Training and help advance LLS's mission.

I was a member of the 2009 Steelhead 70.3 Ironman Team in Training and it was an amazing experience! It was extremely hard work but after losing a friend to AML (leukemia) a few months before, I felt honored to do something meaningful to help others' with blood cancers and their families. One of my close friends lives every day with multiple myeloma. He always has a positive outlook and has more courage then I can imagine. The hardest day of training is nothing compared to cancer treatment!

I hope you will visit my web site often. Be sure to check back frequently to see my progress. Please also visit my Team in Training Steelhead 2011 Fundraising Website and support my goal of raising at least $4000 to support the mission of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society!

Thanks for your support!

Hugs,
Sam