Beer

A Week of Forget

This started with me forgetting my wallet in the rental bag of clubs Shuswap Lake Estates golf course in BC, which Heather and I golfed on Monday, and not noticing that I didn't have it until 4:30AM the next day, when we were scheduled to fly out at 7:30AM.  I then subsequently missed my flight home before reclaiming my wallet and arrived home 12 hours late.

The next day (Wednesday) I switched backpacks for my bike to work and forgot my bike lock.  So I went into the building and got Brad's lock, but forgot to take my swipe card and was locked out of the building.

Thursday I printed out a swim workout, which I forgot to take with me when I left work.  I then forgot my swim trunks and towel when I went to swimming and missed the swim.

I'm now, at any given time, afraid of what I'm forgetting.

#losingit

I laughed real hard

The best worst-sports week of my life

Luke was born Monday October 15th 2012.  Nothing else mattered for that week in the hospital other than tending to his and Heather's needs, and somehow trying to fit in some eating and sleeping somewhere.  There are a few things that really stand out about that week that I'll never forget: the struggles and stress of getting Luke to eat, the excitement of leaving the hospital to return home, the joy of Luke eating from the breast for the first time the night we got home, and ...  just how bad of a sports week it was for me, personally.

Being a sports nut, it was impossible for me to ignore what was happening in the sporting world.  Other than hockey, there was a lot going on.   I wish I could have tied Luke's birth to a run of great results from fantasy football, NFL, EPL, and Canadian men's soccer, but instead it's quite the opposite:

-Fantasy Football, Oct 15 - I have Philip Rivers in the Monday night matchup against Denver, playing against a guy with Deymarius Thomas, a Bronco receiver.  I'm down 15.54 points to start the game.  Rivers throws for 119 yards, two TDs and a pick in the first half, while Thomas has 8 yards on one catch.  The gap closes to 5.58 points and I figure I've got a shot when I check the halftime score.
Result: Only after the game finished did I find out that Rivers throws 3 interceptions and fumbles twice in the second half, while Thomas catches a 29 yard TD.  SD scores no more points after leading 24-0 at halftime and Denver wins 35-24.  Rivers finishes with 5.64 points and I lose the week.  I hate Philip Rivers.

-Canada Men's World Cup Soccer Qualifier, Oct 18 - Canada played it's last game in the group phase away to Honduras, needing a draw or a win to progress to the Hex, which they hadn't done in a long time.  Had Canada won against Honduras at home, everything else being the same, Canada would already have been through.  To get a result out of this game needed a prayer to begin with, but there was more attention and hope in the media and fans for this qualifying run than ever before, so I was somewhat hopeful.
Result: I thought there must have been a mistake when I saw the final score: Honduras 8 : 1 Canada.  It was an utter embarrassment.  Canada out of another World Cup.

-English Premier League Soccer, Oct 20 - Luke and I watch the big matchup of Chelsea at Tottenham (OK, Luke slept, but he was there beside me).  Tottenham down in the table at this point, Chelsea at or near the top, great chance for Spurs to gain some ground.  Tottenham go down 1-0 in the first half, but come back to score two in the second to go up 2-1.
Result: Chelsea score 3 in the last 30 minutes to win 4-2.

-CFL, Oct 20 - I have the Rider game on PVR.  Big game at home against the Alouettes.  The wind plays a big part in the game and the Riders don't do anything in the 3rd quarter against it, while Montreal scores two TDs on two runs from Calvillo.  Yes, runs, that was not a typo.  But we have the wind in the fourth and we come back down 6 points late.
Result: The PVR recording stops and I don't tape the program following it, so I miss the finale, which involved two promising but fruitless drives.  Riders lose 34-28.

-Fantasy Football, Oct 16-22 - I have 3 of my best players on byes.  I'm projected to lose big to Porterhouse.
Result: I do lose big to Porterhouse.  Not a shock, but a kick to the groin.  I've now dropped 3 straight after opening the season up with a 4-0 run.

-NFL, Oct 21 - The Colts have a home game against the Browns.  This can't continue, right?
Result: Finally the streak is broken and the Colts win 17-13.

Had the Colts not won, this streak would have continued until Oct 28 due to:
-Oct 25: Spurs draw Maribor (Slovenia) in the Europa league 1-1.
-Oct 23-29: I get pounded in Fantasy Football.
-Oct 27: Riders lose at home to Toronto (The haven't won a game in Luke's existence yet).
-Oct 28: Colts beat Titans (then won two more) and Spurs beat Southampton (then lost 3 straight in prem and got knocked out of League Cup to Norwich).

Ironman 70.3 Calgary Race Report

There was pretty much only two things I did right for this race, show up and finish.  Everything in between was a bit of a gong show.  I did finish in 5:45:23, which bested my target goal of 6:00:00, so I guess it wasn't a disaster by any stretch, but ...

I learned a good few lessons:

1. Don't go to Olive Garden the night before.  Carb loading is good, but more appropriate at breakfast a full 24 hours before the race, not stuffing yourself full of bread/salad/pasta the night before.  I did terrible things in the portapody at the race which was probably related to overconsuming the night before.  I also didn't eat lunch the day before the race or much for fruit/vegetables, and I had a protein/fat heavy breakfast the day before instead of carb rich breakfast.  I spent most of the bike feeling bloated and gassy, which may have been directly tied to my poor diet choices the day before.
2. Show up early.  And by early, I mean at my bike with at LEAST 45 minutes to spare.  Not get to the parking lot with 30 minutes to spare, have to walk a km to get to the bikes, rush to prepare bike, rush to get into portapody, and rush to get wetsuit on and in the water.
3. Use the strippers!  All the wetsuit strippers were occupied when I came up the boat launch and I was already down to my waist so I just pulled the bottoms off myself.  This almost resulted in losing my balance and falling.  Next time be patient and wait.
4. Setup watch before entering water.  I didn't have my GPS watch turned on or set to Multisport and in the panic of trying to get going on the bike, I couldn't remember how to set it up again and I stood there trying to navigate menus and figure it out.  This hurt my T1 time significantly.  Eventually I got it going, but it would have been so much easier to just pull it out, slap it on my wrist and push start.
5. Ensure everything that needs to be connected to the bike is done so properly.  I put on my aero bottle on the front of the bike backward and this resulted in it almost coming off at 35km/hr at the start of the bike.  I had to stop to fix this.  Shortly after this, the gel bottle on attached to the top tube mostly by velcro came off and was lost.  Both of these mistakes were due to lack of care and attention, in turn due to lack of time to prep.  I was prepared for long portapody lineups, but since I was so late, I had to deal with them.  
6. Remember gels when going out on run.  I didn't see the expresso gu gels I had put in my T2 bag and forgot them when heading out on the run.  Therefore I didn't get the caffeine kick I was hoping for, though there were still non-caffeinated gu gels on course.
7. I was warned not to consume too much liquid before the end of the bike and I tried this by cutting off liquid once I reached Glenmore trail (about 15 minutes left on the bike?).  However, I did take a few swigs on Glenmore.  The result was that I was feeling sloshing in my guts during the run and I was hesitant to take in much more fluid to make matters worse.  I would rather be dehydrated to start the run and take in as much fluids as I want during.  Near the final push for the finish, my calves and hamstrings nearly cramped, suggesting lack of fluid/eletrolytes.  I should have taken in more Perform sports drink during the run.
8. Along the too much fluid lines, don't take in too much fluids pre-race!  I had to pee the whole bike and I was not going to just let fly while pedaling down the highway.  This resulted in a much needed, though not too hampering, bathroom break in T2.  More wasted time.

These errors likely cost me at least 5 minutes.

As for things I did well:

1. Swim was just about what I had targeted.  I didn't have any issues with running into other swimmers.  I avoided the usual early race panic.  I swam to the inside of the buoys and largely missed traffic buildup.  And I waited off the start to avoid the thrashing.
2. The bike was much better than I would have ever expected.  I was averaging about 31km/hr even after the huge climb for the first 30km.  I think the lack of wind was a factor here, it may have been at my back on the climb, but it was so light I couldn't even get a real feel for what direction it was blowing.  Environment Canada showed it switching direction completely from start to finish, so I don't know if that's accurate.
3. The first half of the run was right on target for my goal pace of 5:45/km.  I walked up all the steep hills.  As expected, the second half slowed due to the uphill grade and tired legs.  I didn't really hit a wall until km 18 where I started to walk run.

Nutrition:

During the bike I consumed Ironman Perform in my aero bottle, and small and big Camelbak bottles (700mL, 710mL, 621mL), as well as a banana at about km 15, a BonkBreaker bar at about km 30, and a chocolate covered granola bar at about km 60.

I tried freezing my Camelbaks half-full of Perform and then topping up on race morning, but they were easily melted and warm by the time they were used.  If trying this again, freeze the full bottle.

During the run I consumed water/Coke/Perform in almost equal amounts.  I should have taken in more Perform.  I used two Gu gels, one at km 5 and one at km 12.

As for sun, I put sunscreen on before the race and rubbed well into my skin before putting my wetsuit on.  I didn't re-apply until T2 where I sprayed more on without rubbing it in.  No burns.

Summary:

The pre-race prep and bike/run fluid intake could be vastly improved which would be very helpful for my time and general feeling during the race.  Aim to fix all errors noted above.  I'm very happy with my time and though 5:30:00 was my "crazy good" goal, 5:45:23 is about exactly what I wanted.  Next year, I want to make 5:30:00 the target goal (with 5:15:00 or less being the "crazy good").  This will require significant gains to be made in swimming (lessons, stroke improvement) and running (more training and weight loss).

http://ironman.com/events/ironman70.3/calgary70.3?show=tracker&race=calgary70.3&year=2012#axzz22X1WkszI

Beer Pong and Gibsonators 2011

75 cans/bottles, 2 Gibson's 26's, one wine bottle. That's more empties than the idiot who tried to kick field goals. It doesn't have to make sense.

Simultaneous photo collage:


As far as beer pong results went, everyone did their best to ensure Ryan and I retained the trophy again. Clearly Karma doesn't exist based on the taunting I give out and just can't lose this thing. Maybe it was just our superior skills, strategy, and costumes. Sorry that Dean's championship run ended this year due to Ryan's return.

NickLynn finished the round robin in first with a surprise win over Got Wood. Got Wood got revenge though with wins in the playoffs which included 2 victories over NickLynn and Cassie's terrible attempts to blow everything out. In-Laws started strong and faded, as usual, losing repechage #1. Ponies finished in third and probably would have won, had it not for me cheating, making up rules, and faking injuries to get people kicked out. Right Mel? Random disintegrated throughout the night. Gingervitis lost big a few games and it cost them. Meat Parade did not win a game.





Awards:
MVP: Ryan, hits winning shot
Best Team name: Never Ending Meat Parade
Worst Team maybe ever: Never Ending Meat Parade (0 wins)
Most Roster moves: Team Random (7 signings, 2 trades, 5 waived)
Most complete game round robin victories: Got Wood? (3)
Worst beer pong throwing technique: Jen
Best distractor: Amy
Worst blower: Cassie
Best distraction: Matt's butt squeeze / gut extension
Most sportsmanlike: Ryan and Alex for refusing to win by goaltending call in the final vs. Nick Lynn
Least sportsmanlike: Mel for fighting legit calls, even when she wasn't playing
Worst person alive: Brad, for disrespecting the spirit of the event and bringing A&W
Most pregnant: Angie, slightly edging out Matt

Ideas for next year:
-Keep 9 minute time limit
-Less games
-2 teams, Ryan and I captain and we draft from everyone there. People take turns playing.

Captain Planet

Don Cheadle is Captain Planet from Don Cheadle