On Igloos

it's snowing now... I'm reading Reid Coolsaet's blog and thinking of making an igloo (take a look at his posts around early February)

I've only had the chance to do this once in my life, it was unforgettable.

I remember spending the evening in the igloo with friends. Shivering, sipping cocoa, and watching the snow take a red hue the color of sunset. Listening to the wind, muffled into a murmur by the hard packed walls of snow. We were too proud to go inside.

it's something fun to think about


Rest Well



BTW i was passing a friend on my way home tonight, and I see him lean down and begin making a snowball. in response, i do the same, hastily scooping wet snow into a snowball the size of grapefruit. by this time he's playing it cool walking towards me with his girlfriend

i think...do I try and catch him off guard, and throw early, do I desperately threaten to throw my snowball at the girlfriend unless he backs off, is there proper game theory for a snowball duel?

but as I'm about throw my snowball I see his girlfriend hand him another snowball! so what am I supposed to do now, he has twice the firepower! fortunately instincts took over, as he's cruising towards me I reach over to a car hood next to me, get a big handful of snow and throw it into the air right above him

the sucka looked up, and i planted a snowball right on him, simply awesome...till it came to me that this wasn't a gun fight, and i got a couple snowballs myself...too fun of a night

awkward

This evenings track workout was classic. I show up at the track and realize that there's an indoor meet in the field house. So ACC track and field athletes from what seemed like nearly every school in the conference are all down on the outdoor track warming up.

"Well, here we go"

I warm up on the xc course and then got on the track workout, tempo 800's with a 400 recovery, followed by a couple miles tempo. What's great about this is the fact that I'm storming by these ACC TRACKSTARS! Sprinters, distance runners, everybody was jogging around the track, and aside from the occasional striders no one was running. Except for that kid with the red hair(ME). Everybody kept looking at me, like who is this guy? Who does he run for? WHAT is he doing?

It felt like a sin passing the same distance guys over and over. But I stayed on it and had an ok workout. And it was all made better by watching the sprinters warmup. I took notes.

The Sprinter Warm Up:

1. Make sure you have every ridiculous piece of equipment on. Receivers gloves, bling, sunglasses (oh, it's 5:30pm), headphones, towel.

2. OK now just tip toe around for about 800m, follow these with a few 100m striders/sprints/skips

3. Feelin it? Good...DANCE! Dance with friends, dance with coach, dance alone, or with the FSU sprinters because the best dancers attract all the other dancers

4. Keep dancing until your event, you should be listening to krunk, remembering to shake it out as much as possible, and jumping straight into the air every so often

so dance skills=speed...just ask Usain Bolt...I couldn't be more jealous of fast twitch guys right now.


Rest Well

Im gonna

run fast this afternoon.

Finally a real track workout on the program, let's see what the legs can do, the turnover definitely isn't there, but it's a tempo like workout so it'll just be about strength

I'm also gonna find a cool steel frame and build it up, the weather's starting to turn around, I need something for riding to class.

Can anyone help me out with the bike? Something to buy, or should I be looking at Keirin Culture?

eh hem

swim.bike.run.

not. pulled an audible on the workouts today, big mistake, I'm going stir crazy right now

Been studying for this exam for too long. I'm sick of it.

I find solace in Stone Cold,

"the darkest part of the night, is just before you see the light." this line really isn't theirs, but they say it better than anyone else.


while I'm plugging, let me introduce Philip, or Big Red. he's working on a better name, any ideas? Not everyone can be blessed with the brilliance that is "backhand." EDIT: hmm... is alliteration contagious?, someones skills maybe rubbing off

...even Timbaland started small, and in Virginia Beach, who knew that?

Rest Well.

NPRatVT

NPR shows up for a scoop on a co-ed Pritchard Hall.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101062974&ft=1&f=2


"...because Pritchard is going to change!"

hahahaha...who is this?

BTW, that story about throwing a vending machine out a window is NOT "folklore." Ever wonder why there are no vending machines above the first floor!



We roll hard.

BlacksburgClassic

Blacksburg Classic 10 miler, 2^nd place on the day.

Number 517, (Billy?) and I were in 2,3 for the entire race. I was able to drop him in the last mile after a few surges on downhills, but I didn't make my move early enough to get to number one who came into the finish chute just before me. Tech Triathlon had a huge showing, making up five or so in the top ten or fifteen in both the men's and women's races.

Thanks for the sun, and the stories.

Rest Well.

TrackClub

Let's get this rollin!

This morning I was on the tready warming up for the swim, and a sophomore here at school named Aiden, approached me to talk running. He is starting a track club at VT, and is simply looking for people interested in competing, it sounded like the focus would be the cross country season next spring.

I have some family in Bloomington, Indiana, home of IU, and last time I was in town visiting I met up with a group of runners that pretty much did the exact same thing he's trying to pull off here. These guys/girls were part of the Indiana Track Club. The track club that has access to a lot of the university's varsity facilities, travels and races as a team, and has structured training throughout the year as a team.

The ITC has expanded to youth, and masters runners as well.

There are so many fast runners on the triathlon team, if we get together with Aiden's squad we could really make something good happen.

So if you're on the triathlon team, look for an email on the listserv from Aiden, if you're not, email me if you want some more info.

Rest Well.

Lame

No bands I'm interested in ever come to Blacksburg. Then the one time a DJ who's ok, and I'm kinda interested in books a show here, the ticket sales open while I'm stuck in a lecture, and are sold out within twenty five minutes.

We've got the lantern, but it hasn't brought any of the bands I want to hear. Living in Richmond is so much more interesting if your looking music/art/food, although the sports here are solid.
(UNC, Duke, FSU to round out the bball season, I'm praying to the lottery gods right now)

I've had a two week break from serious training, which meant I had a lot more time for hanging out, and while it's been fun, I realize that without training I would probably just be really bored living here. Looking for NEW stuff to do, is not easy, and frequently I just get sick of whatever scene I'm stuck in here.

I ran the Blacksburg classic ten mile course yesterday and put down some really solid times for the second half. As long as it's not windy/cold next weekend I think I can do something good.

Rest Well.

Subtle

Curling my moustache and hatching a plan...

Unfortunately JZ had a mechanical and had to finish with the B's, but I'm pretty sure he knows what I'm thinking about in the picture.




Maybe next year. jk

Owen Cup Pictures and Report

Owen Cup was Saturday.

Here's some pictures compliments of Matt Phillips.

http://picasaweb.google.com/labratmatt/OwenCup2009?pli=1&feat=directlink#

As for my ride it went pretty well. I rode pretty conservatively knowing the group was pretty strong and the course would take its tole on me. A few times during the first and second laps I thought about attacking, or bridging to some people up the road but I was feeling good and I wanted to keep it that way as long as possible. Just kept thinking about that last lap.

On the last lap the legs got heavy. I finally got kicked off the back right at the end of the last roller on Tabor before Sandy Ridge. Really should of held on until Sandy Ridge and tried to get some recovery, but that's a lesson for next year I guess.

The ride back on Blacksburg was windy and lonely. All I really wanted to do was take a nap. I got to the top of Harding took a deep breath and cruised through campus just enjoying the weather and then back to my place, I was seventh on the day.

Rest Well

ThereGoesMyHero

Canadian Rider Has Made Unorthodox Climb to the Top

Matthew Staver for The New York Times

By JULIET MACUR

Published: February 7, 2009

Here's the link to the NY Times article, I love it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/sports/othersports/08cycling.html?_r=2&ref=othersports

Rest Well

Pictures

Owen Cup was Saturday, awesome weekend catching up with people, and trading stories.

Here's some pictures compliments of Matt Phillips

http://picasaweb.google.com/labratmatt/OwenCup2009#

LiveFast

uhhh lots going on this week

I was in the library Wednesday night and in my path to collecting a book I found this huge collection of maps

all of them where of places on the east coast, but it was a huge collection with some of them dating in the early 1900's, it was neat to see downtown D.C., Richmond, and New York at that point in their development

I looked at them for almost an hour

Owen Cup's tomorrow, who feels like terring legs off? "theres beauty in the breakdown," that's a
Frou Frou lyric

I'm not really in a "killer" mood right now, I've made the good decesion to stay in tonight and I just wrote one the popiest songs for the band, I'll throw it at them when they get back

Rest Well.

The "Best" Way

I read an interview with Taylor Phinney recently. One insight he had really stuck with me.

On riding the pursuit in the Olympics, Taylor said, "it sucks so much and it’s so hard. It’s sort of like stabbing yourself in the legs and you have to figure out what the best way to stab yourself is."

It seems a lot of cycling is like that, you want to hide behind someone, keep your nose out of the wind, but if you're there to race, then inevitably you're there to hurt.

Here's the whole Velonews interview http://www.velonews.com/article/86485.

Awesome ride today, thanks for the laughs, and the sun.

Rest Well.