Let's face it. Everybody can run. Most people know how to ride a bike. But the main reason why more people don't try triathlons is because of the swim. Either they flat out don't know how, or can't fathom having to swim longer than a length of a pool in one go. It's intimidating.
I came into swimming very late. This year, actually. Ya, I was able to simulate a poor approximation of the freestyle stroke. But the fact that I was only ever able to go 25 yards at a time before completely running out of breath meant only one thing. I was doing it wrong.
[Literally doing it wrong. Swimming is less about fitness than it is about how efficiently you can pull your body through water. It's a very technical sport... kinda like how golf is a technical sport. A nice effortless golf swing, when done right, will send the ball hundreds of yards. Swimming is like that. A nice efficient freestyle makes you tired like walking makes you tired. You gotta swim a loong time before you need to stop. Any extra effort put into your stroke will only be wasted energy if your technique is not right.]
I've always regretted never really learning how to swim, so late last year I finally decided to do something about it... and signed up for my first triathlon in March. Huh? See, that's how I roll. Commit to the crazy goal first, then figure out how to do it. This race had a very short 150 meter pool swim, so I figured I should be able to go from 25m to 150m in 4 months. 16 swim classes and 3x a week practice sessions later at the gym, I was there! Barely. I wanna say that I swam those 150m nonstop on race day, but let's just say I was very glad the pool was only 50m long!
So naturally, I signed up for 3 more triathlons with swims of 500m in April, 1000m in May, and 1500m in June. All open water swims in a lake, so no stopping this time. When the farthest you're able to swim is 150m, 500m seems pretty daunting, while 1500m might as well be the entire Pacific Ocean. Again, it was one of those instances of commit first, figure it out later.
I did figure it out! I "found" my stroke, the stroke I could maintain almost indefinitely, sometime between the 500m and the 1000m races. Problem is, it's ass slow. How slow? In the last Olympic distance race with the 1500m swim, I came in 289 out of 295 men and women of all ages (some well into their 70s) in the swim. That's the bottom 2%! And get this. At 42 minutes, it was the fastest 1500m I had ever swam. You know what? I'm not even embarrassed because I knew I had come a long way. I'm now past the point of simple moral victories, though.
The Ironman swim distance is 2.4 miles, or 3862 meters. With the way I swim in open water with no pool lanes to guide my way, I'll prolly get lost and end up swimming some extra... let's call it 4000m. That's 2 hours at my current pace. The swim cutoff for the IM is 2:20, so 2 hours is cutting it close. The top age groupers swim it in an hour. Something is still obviously not right with my stroke. I'd love to be able to swim 4000m in 1:30 or less by next November's IM.
Time to get to work.
[For those of you who need more inspiration, a friend of mine did not know how to swim *at all*, and ended up finishing an Ironman with the 2.4 mile swim less than a year after taking his first lesson. No excuses, guys. Just do it.]
Monday, December 28, 2009
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Overheard in an old school Civic...
...somewhere in LA.
Me: (trying to be funny) "You know, the last time I've had to roll up the window by hand like this was over 15 years ago."
Friend: (as I shut the door and started walking away) "Umm, you remember how to lock the door by hand too, right?"
Me: (trying to be funny) "You know, the last time I've had to roll up the window by hand like this was over 15 years ago."
Friend: (as I shut the door and started walking away) "Umm, you remember how to lock the door by hand too, right?"
Monday, November 16, 2009
Jack And Jill Went Up The Hill...
"Jack & Jill"
Definition: A contest where dancers are randomly paired up and asked to dance to randomly selected music. All the dancing is improvised. At its core, it's a contest of lead/follow skills and most importantly, music interpretation. Winners are selected by a panel of judges.
Westies sure love their Jack & Jills. In just a few months of West Coast Swing, I've watched more J&J contests than all of my 6+ years of salsa. Seems like most of the larger dance venues have some sort of contest lined up each week. One week one of these places was short guys, and I somehow got roped into a contest with my oh-so-impressive 5 pattern repertoire. The whole thing is kinda like how salsa clubs will soemtimes have a performance or two for whatever group or couple need a "live practice" before their big competition, except it happens a lot more frequently, and are generally loads more interesting to watch.
There's something about WCS and "WCS-able" music that makes it really well suited for this type of contest. I'm not gonna say that all salsa music is the same because it's not. Some songs definitely groove better than others, as some of you can attest to if you've ever heard me say, "Not this song" to a dance request. But for the most part, salsa can't compare to the huge variety of music to which you can dance WCS. Anything from hip hop and R&B to rock & roll to the blues. This is precisely the reason why WCS J&Js are so fun to watch. It's just really cool to see how couples interpret all these different types of music with no preparation at all. From the overall mood of the song to the breaks and the hits and even the lyrics... all come out in the dance. That's where the real talent lies. Most good dancers can lead and follow with no problem. But not every leader is equally good at pairing the dance to the music, and not every follow can react fast enough to play to, and even expand on, the leader's cues. When you watch WCS professionals do this, you're left with a sense of awe and wonderment. Often when I watch these vids on YouTube, there is a huge smile plastered on my face as I marvel at their talent.
How awesome would it be to be able to dance like *that*?
Watch the hat!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkcHzqr8a34
Perfect music interpretation. Ben, the lead in this vid, teaches in LA.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3toYxGlWxk
Deb used to teach at the Granada.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFNnjqqqjg4
Amazing follow here to match all that footwork. Doug teaches in LA. Tat is from SoCal too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCvP9fjXc8A
Definition: A contest where dancers are randomly paired up and asked to dance to randomly selected music. All the dancing is improvised. At its core, it's a contest of lead/follow skills and most importantly, music interpretation. Winners are selected by a panel of judges.
Westies sure love their Jack & Jills. In just a few months of West Coast Swing, I've watched more J&J contests than all of my 6+ years of salsa. Seems like most of the larger dance venues have some sort of contest lined up each week. One week one of these places was short guys, and I somehow got roped into a contest with my oh-so-impressive 5 pattern repertoire. The whole thing is kinda like how salsa clubs will soemtimes have a performance or two for whatever group or couple need a "live practice" before their big competition, except it happens a lot more frequently, and are generally loads more interesting to watch.
There's something about WCS and "WCS-able" music that makes it really well suited for this type of contest. I'm not gonna say that all salsa music is the same because it's not. Some songs definitely groove better than others, as some of you can attest to if you've ever heard me say, "Not this song" to a dance request. But for the most part, salsa can't compare to the huge variety of music to which you can dance WCS. Anything from hip hop and R&B to rock & roll to the blues. This is precisely the reason why WCS J&Js are so fun to watch. It's just really cool to see how couples interpret all these different types of music with no preparation at all. From the overall mood of the song to the breaks and the hits and even the lyrics... all come out in the dance. That's where the real talent lies. Most good dancers can lead and follow with no problem. But not every leader is equally good at pairing the dance to the music, and not every follow can react fast enough to play to, and even expand on, the leader's cues. When you watch WCS professionals do this, you're left with a sense of awe and wonderment. Often when I watch these vids on YouTube, there is a huge smile plastered on my face as I marvel at their talent.
How awesome would it be to be able to dance like *that*?
Watch the hat!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkcHzqr8a34
Perfect music interpretation. Ben, the lead in this vid, teaches in LA.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3toYxGlWxk
Deb used to teach at the Granada.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFNnjqqqjg4
Amazing follow here to match all that footwork. Doug teaches in LA. Tat is from SoCal too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCvP9fjXc8A
Monday, October 19, 2009
Cheating
About a month ago, I decided to start seeing West Coast Swing again. Sure we've flirted before, but it never really turned into anything serious. For one thing, I've been with Salsa for so long that it kinda felt like cheating. So it wasn't her. It was me. I didn't give her the chance she deserved.
Truth be told, I actually *love* WCS. Always have. Maybe even more than salsa, but don't tell her that! While salsa can sometimes feel like a frenetic roller coaster ride, WCS is more like a flirty stroll in the park. Salsa is heart pumping hot. WCS is playfully sexy. Also, the smooth nature of WCS fits so nicely with my lead style. Rather than sometimes forcing me to be somebody I'm not, WCS actually embraces who I am, and brings out a part of me that I really like. It's a strange thing to say about a dance, but there it is. :)
Salsa es Caliente!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t76xT26sQ5w
West Coast Swing is SEXY (note: these dances are lead/follow, not choreographed)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTwsoAC7qDs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3toYxGlWxk
WCS makes it so hard to love her sometimes though. Salsa is everywhere in LA. I see her all the time. So do my friends. WCS makes me drive 40 minutes west on Wednesdays just for a 2 hour date, and 40 minutes south on Sundays for a 4 hour tryst. It really takes dedication to want to be with WCS.
WCS also tends to attract an older crowd for some reason. Maybe it's because she tends to hang out with the not as cool crowd like Texas Two Step, Nightclub Two Step, and that cougar, Hustle. Salsa keeps company with fun and ever classy ChaChaCha, "I'm easy anybody can dance me" Merengue, and of course naughty Bachata. That's why I tend to dance with lots of girls in salsa, and lots of girls' mothers and grandmothers in WCS. Sigh.
But I think I'm ready to take the plunge. It's time to go with my heart and not with my head. Salsa will always be there, and I'll keep seeing her occasionally... but WCS and I have an understanding. An unspoken connection. She gets who I am. Who am I to deny that?
Truth be told, I actually *love* WCS. Always have. Maybe even more than salsa, but don't tell her that! While salsa can sometimes feel like a frenetic roller coaster ride, WCS is more like a flirty stroll in the park. Salsa is heart pumping hot. WCS is playfully sexy. Also, the smooth nature of WCS fits so nicely with my lead style. Rather than sometimes forcing me to be somebody I'm not, WCS actually embraces who I am, and brings out a part of me that I really like. It's a strange thing to say about a dance, but there it is. :)
Salsa es Caliente!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t76xT26sQ5w
West Coast Swing is SEXY (note: these dances are lead/follow, not choreographed)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTwsoAC7qDs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3toYxGlWxk
WCS makes it so hard to love her sometimes though. Salsa is everywhere in LA. I see her all the time. So do my friends. WCS makes me drive 40 minutes west on Wednesdays just for a 2 hour date, and 40 minutes south on Sundays for a 4 hour tryst. It really takes dedication to want to be with WCS.
WCS also tends to attract an older crowd for some reason. Maybe it's because she tends to hang out with the not as cool crowd like Texas Two Step, Nightclub Two Step, and that cougar, Hustle. Salsa keeps company with fun and ever classy ChaChaCha, "I'm easy anybody can dance me" Merengue, and of course naughty Bachata. That's why I tend to dance with lots of girls in salsa, and lots of girls' mothers and grandmothers in WCS. Sigh.
But I think I'm ready to take the plunge. It's time to go with my heart and not with my head. Salsa will always be there, and I'll keep seeing her occasionally... but WCS and I have an understanding. An unspoken connection. She gets who I am. Who am I to deny that?
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Filling in the Blanks
I was talking with a friend recently, comparing personal histories and whatnot... when I realized that there's still a few things I didn't know about myself. For example, I only had a vague idea of my life before the age of 4. Something about being sent to Taiwan a couple times... but I never really knew why, or for how long.
So I decided to fill in the blanks last night with my mom. Apparently, she brought me to Taiwan when I was three months old, and left me there with my grandmother and aunt until I was two!
Whaaa?!!
I can't imagine what it must have been like to be a brand new mother, and basically sending your newborn away for two years. That means my mom didn't get to see her only child's first steps or hear him say his first words! That's mind boggling. I also wonder what it must have been like to be placed in the position of having to send me away in the first place. She explained that with the hours she had to work (she was a nurse), she couldn't bear to keep waking me up at 4am each morning to take me to the baby sitter and leave me there until 5pm every day. She decided she would feel more at ease if she knew that either my grandmother or my aunt would be watching me 24/7, even if it meant sending me half a world away. So that's what she did.
[I'm wondering if there's more to the story than that. I also briefly wondered where my father was in all this that he couldn't help out with the baby... then quickly realized that this was my father I was wondering about.]
By the time my second 1.5 year tour of Taiwan ended, I was already five and a half. When my mom finally brought me back to the States for good, I had spent less than two years with her total. My very first memories are actually from that second stint in Taiwan, and i still remember that my mom was only a vague theoretical idea at the point. That the two women taking care of me were my grandmother and my aunt, but there was a woman out there in "Mei Guo" ("Beautiful Country" = what the Chinese call "America") who was my actual mother.
It was a strange concept to grasp for a five year old.
So I decided to fill in the blanks last night with my mom. Apparently, she brought me to Taiwan when I was three months old, and left me there with my grandmother and aunt until I was two!
Whaaa?!!
I can't imagine what it must have been like to be a brand new mother, and basically sending your newborn away for two years. That means my mom didn't get to see her only child's first steps or hear him say his first words! That's mind boggling. I also wonder what it must have been like to be placed in the position of having to send me away in the first place. She explained that with the hours she had to work (she was a nurse), she couldn't bear to keep waking me up at 4am each morning to take me to the baby sitter and leave me there until 5pm every day. She decided she would feel more at ease if she knew that either my grandmother or my aunt would be watching me 24/7, even if it meant sending me half a world away. So that's what she did.
[I'm wondering if there's more to the story than that. I also briefly wondered where my father was in all this that he couldn't help out with the baby... then quickly realized that this was my father I was wondering about.]
By the time my second 1.5 year tour of Taiwan ended, I was already five and a half. When my mom finally brought me back to the States for good, I had spent less than two years with her total. My very first memories are actually from that second stint in Taiwan, and i still remember that my mom was only a vague theoretical idea at the point. That the two women taking care of me were my grandmother and my aunt, but there was a woman out there in "Mei Guo" ("Beautiful Country" = what the Chinese call "America") who was my actual mother.
It was a strange concept to grasp for a five year old.
My first passport, issued at 2 months old for my first stay in Taiwan.
Baby pic taken in Taiwan.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Living in a Tent
I was home one weekend in our old house in Syracuse cleaning out all my stuff. I found this essay and decided to digitize it for posterity. :)
(written in 6th grade)
I think living in a tent would be terrible. First of all, a tent does not have good bathroom faucilities. And a person would very likely feel cramped if he has to live in it for a whole year. Seconed of all, if your family ever go out, the tent is a perfect place for burglars to strike, or even animals too. Another bad thing about the tent is that no friends would live near you, the tent would also probrably be to far away to walk to school-- which I really like doing. There would be no room of my own and no room to do homework in . Some bad things about the tent itself is that the surface usually gets wet in the morning. It is very destructable also-- any strong wind can blow a tent down. These are some of the reasons I think living in a tent is terrible.
Living In a Tent
(written in 6th grade)
I think living in a tent would be terrible. First of all, a tent does not have good bathroom faucilities. And a person would very likely feel cramped if he has to live in it for a whole year. Seconed of all, if your family ever go out, the tent is a perfect place for burglars to strike, or even animals too. Another bad thing about the tent is that no friends would live near you, the tent would also probrably be to far away to walk to school-- which I really like doing. There would be no room of my own and no room to do homework in . Some bad things about the tent itself is that the surface usually gets wet in the morning. It is very destructable also-- any strong wind can blow a tent down. These are some of the reasons I think living in a tent is terrible.
Monday, August 24, 2009
The Modern Forager
So I drove around all over town for much of Sunday, looking for some Gruyere cheese for my Mac & Cheese recipe.
It was that kind of day.
Sixty miles and three hours later, I ended up visiting Whole Foods, Ralphs, CostCo, Gelsons, and a specialty cheese shop... before finally finding what I needed at the eventual winner, Bristol Farms. The CheeseStore in Silverlake prolly woulda won, but I couldn't get to the friggen store because half of Sunset was blocked off that day. Dumb art fair.
Before you can fully judge the extent of my disorder, let's get something straight. Most of these places actually had Gruyere cheese. That's right. Ralphs even had 3 different kinds! But by then it was too late. I was already tainted.
You see, I have a weird obsession when it comes to buying stuff, *especially* when it is something important-- like mountaineering gear... or trying out a new Mac & Cheese recipe! I HATE the feeling of spending good money on what, at the end of the day isn't "the right thing". So I overcompensate by spending hours upon hours researching whatever it is I want to buy. It just so happens that I am a big fan of Cooks Illustrated, and I knew that they have an entire section of equipment and ingredient reviews...
That's right. I read a review on Gruyere cheeses.
After that, I was done. Game over. Had to... absolutely HAD to get "the best" cheese. And here we are, three hours of my life I'll never get back. :) It doesn't just stop at cheese. I could go on...
Beef? Not only do I know that beef comes in many different grades of deliciousness that is directly proportional to its ability to clog arteries, I can also rattle off at least 7 different places in LA where I can get the best tasting, most heart attack inducing variety, USDA Prime. Of course, there is Wagyu or Kobe, but that is so crazy expensive I haven't bothered to source it yet. :)
Giant sea scallops? At least two places near Pasadena. You want the "dry-packed", not the "wet-packed", which have been soaked in phosphates to increase juiciness, but will not sear properly because of all the extra liquid. Dry packed scallops will come in many colors, while wet-packed scallops will be uniformly white.
The list goes on. I love shopping for food. :)
Oh, the Mac & Cheese? Pretty damn good. Ironically though, I think the cheeses I used were a bit too strong! Sadly, the crab cakes I also tried that day didn't turn out so well. If anybody knows how to prevent mushy crab cakes, let me know!
It was that kind of day.
Sixty miles and three hours later, I ended up visiting Whole Foods, Ralphs, CostCo, Gelsons, and a specialty cheese shop... before finally finding what I needed at the eventual winner, Bristol Farms. The CheeseStore in Silverlake prolly woulda won, but I couldn't get to the friggen store because half of Sunset was blocked off that day. Dumb art fair.
Before you can fully judge the extent of my disorder, let's get something straight. Most of these places actually had Gruyere cheese. That's right. Ralphs even had 3 different kinds! But by then it was too late. I was already tainted.
You see, I have a weird obsession when it comes to buying stuff, *especially* when it is something important-- like mountaineering gear... or trying out a new Mac & Cheese recipe! I HATE the feeling of spending good money on what, at the end of the day isn't "the right thing". So I overcompensate by spending hours upon hours researching whatever it is I want to buy. It just so happens that I am a big fan of Cooks Illustrated, and I knew that they have an entire section of equipment and ingredient reviews...
That's right. I read a review on Gruyere cheeses.
After that, I was done. Game over. Had to... absolutely HAD to get "the best" cheese. And here we are, three hours of my life I'll never get back. :) It doesn't just stop at cheese. I could go on...
Beef? Not only do I know that beef comes in many different grades of deliciousness that is directly proportional to its ability to clog arteries, I can also rattle off at least 7 different places in LA where I can get the best tasting, most heart attack inducing variety, USDA Prime. Of course, there is Wagyu or Kobe, but that is so crazy expensive I haven't bothered to source it yet. :)
Giant sea scallops? At least two places near Pasadena. You want the "dry-packed", not the "wet-packed", which have been soaked in phosphates to increase juiciness, but will not sear properly because of all the extra liquid. Dry packed scallops will come in many colors, while wet-packed scallops will be uniformly white.
The list goes on. I love shopping for food. :)
Oh, the Mac & Cheese? Pretty damn good. Ironically though, I think the cheeses I used were a bit too strong! Sadly, the crab cakes I also tried that day didn't turn out so well. If anybody knows how to prevent mushy crab cakes, let me know!
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