Let's just hope this is an isolated freak event ...

My co-worker came across this shocking report:

Man stabbed to death for his bike: report

... considering I ride through Collingwood every Monday evening. Let's hope that there is more to the story, at least ... hopefully that this wasn't just a random guy walking his bike.

Lance already at work ...

So, Lance denies that he'll enroll for a post as Governor (at least for now) ... but he is definitely getting into lobbying for cancer research:

http://au.news.yahoo.com/050821/2/vlp0.html

Could you imagine if 1% of the Iraq war budget was set aside for cancer research (or for anything else, really)? That is a lot of funds.

The hilly hundred ... Aussie style!

Check out this link:

http://www.alphalink.com.au/~audaxoz/alpine.html

Hetti, I can pick up a pair of socks for you, if you want.

Ironman training hours ...

Hmm, so I had a brief discussion with one of the dudes doing Hawaii this October about training hours (and I must add that it was a brief discussion simply because he was warming up and waiting for the other dudes to show up on the Boulevard for the cycling session ... about 10 minutes after our discussion, I was appropriately placed at the back of the bunch doing my best just to hang on ....)

Anyways, he was just telling me that he had just done one of his big training weeks, coming in with just over 21 hours of training, including a 7 hour 230k long ride. He also mentioned he has no days off ... his biggest junk of time off is from 8am Friday morning after swimming to the 6:30am ride Saturday morning. I told him how crazy he was and that I had felt like I'd done pretty well with about 14 hours that week. He told me that a week of 12-13 hours was "just tickin' it over" for him ... but then, he's had a few years to adapt himself to this (he recently did a 4:14 HIM, he did Hawaii in 2002 and hopes to do around 9:30 there this year ... not exactly in my league).

Just did a tally of my training journal for this week. It was a 'bike' week, which means I go long (150k) on the long ride and add an extra 50k mid-week ride. And, I just happened to switch my Monday night ride (tomorrow's) for a Sunday "recovery" ride in order to get an entire calendar day off, so it was 315k in the saddle altogether. My butt hurts.

That said, I totalled 17hrs (3:30 swim, 9:00 bike, 4:30 run), not including today's afternoon ride, which is technically part of next week's tally.

What a crazy sport this is.

Cold!

Well, we've had our coldest week here in Melbourne. Yesterday, the high was only 11. Cool on the bike, but still comfortable. And, this morning for my run, I'd guess it was about 5 degrees.

And, Hobart (which is the capital of Tasmania, a couple hundred kilometres south of mainland Australia) got snow ... it's pretty big news:

http://au.news.yahoo.com/050810/2/vg0z.html

Some quick updates ...

Wow, been really lazy with the updates ... so here goes:

1. Training is going well ... I'm starting to feel fit again. Just about everything for the past 9 weeks has been low intensity so I'm looking forward to some mental stimulation (i.e. intervals). Been getting some lingering knee pain, which got me down for a couple days last week (hence the quote from Teddy). But, I've realized that it is that lingering patellofemoral pain syndrome (runner's knee) that I've had previously ... which i imagine is partly due to my skiing accident in 1998 where I lost some of that interior muscle on the right leg (it's always the right knee) ... so hopefully it's just a matter of doing some exercises to keep it in good shape. Also, a foot injury ... I dropped a shampoo bottle on it in the shower the other day and it still hurts.

2. Lynn and I have discovered (well, on TV) that Aussies have some bizarre sporting events here. First of all, there is NETBALL. It's like basketball, though you can't run with the ball, and there is no backboard, just the hoop. It's most often played by women and they wear skirts, which Lynn thinks is the only reason why any men would watch. They even have a national league. Then there is LAWN BOWLS ... try to put your ball close to the 'jack', which is a ball layed out in the field ... I would've thought this sport would attract those a little older ... but no, there was a championship b/w England and Australia and the Aussie was 32 ... in his prime, I guess. FIELD HOCKEY is played more often by men. Unlike in Canada, hockey has to be qualified by either 'ice' or 'field' so that one knows what you are talking about. And, of course, Melbournians are obsessed by FOOTY. And so am I, since I lead the footy tipping pool by 3 points and there are only 4 weeks left.

3. Big shakedown in North Melbourne last night. On our way back from the grocery store, they closed off parts of Curzon St right near the church. In excess of 5 police cars .... generally, it's a pretty sleepy inner suburb, so this was pretty exciting. Dunno what it was all about though.

4. We are thinking of breaking down and buying a car. It somewhat saddens me ... but there are lots of neat places within a couple hours drive of Melbourne that aren't easily accessible by long bike rides. I'm hoping for a HOLDEN, which is Australia's national car manufacturer .... though most of the parts are made by the Japanese now .... and just for reference, gas was at $1.18 per litre yesterday.

My non-attempt at poetry

I'll leave poetry to the pros, like Thom Ringer for example.

Though, I did find a quote that helped me somehow personally justify this whole "enterprise" called Ironman training (it's been a rough week motivation-wise ... i'm probably overdoing things a bit ... better take it easier for the next week)

So, here goes:

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." --- Theodore Roosevelt April 23rd, 1910.