A Fool of Myself

This is the August 29, 2008, edition of the Blogger’s Guide Carnival! The posts below were written on other blogs and were submitted by their authors at BlogCarnival.com. Thanks, everyone, for contributing!

Michael. presents WordPress Free Blogging Platform Software Review posted at Review Hookup.

Rod presents How to exclude pages from WordPress’s page listings posted at Hippo Web Solutions, saying, “How to take control of your WordPress page listings without hacking.”

Raymond presents Battling Blogger Burn Out and Lack Of Blog Posting Frequency posted at Money Blue Book.

Sudhanshu presents Blogger to WordPress posted at Gyaan Sutra.

MoneyNing presents Spend Money On Good Web Hosting posted at Busy Blogging Dot Com, saying, “Don’t be cheap about web hosting! You won’t be sorry in the long run!”

Raymond presents The Best Credit Card Rewards For Google Ads and Search Advertising posted at Money Blue Book.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of bloggers guide carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

So it’s Take It and Run Thursday over at Runner’s Lounge, and the title of this week’s writing assignment is “Run. Rest and Recover. Repeat.” I’m supposed to be sharing my secrets for recovery after long runs or hard races, but instead I’m going to share four you shouldn’t do. Let’s take a look:

1. Don’t walk across hot coals. I don’t care if you do have a runner’s high. Your feet have already taken a beating; don’t torture them any more. Even if you’re caught in the wind of self-realization, understand that you are not Pam from The Office.
2. Don’t go bull riding. My brother is an aspiring bull rider, and let me tell you, if you’re going to ride bulls, you must be able to move quickly. YOU’RE A LONG DISTANCE RUNNER! And after a long run, slow is the only speed you have, which will not bode well for your back end when the bull head butts you across the arena.
3. Don’t try to outrun a serial killer. Only outrun serial killers for speed workouts. Granted, serial killers are notably out-of-shape middle-aged men, and I’m sure you give them a run for their money (pun intended), but it’s just not a good idea.
4. Don’t drink your body weight. I’ve heard that a cold beer after a hot run is wonderful, but let’s not get carried away. Yes, you need to hydrate, and one or two drinks is perfectly fine, but the last thing you want the morning after a long run is a hangover and stiff quads.

I understand that I just ruined your agenda for Labor Day weekend, but let me remedy that with some recovery activities that I do recommend:

1. Take a nap. In bed, on the couch, it doesn’t matter. Sleep is a way of telling your body, “Thanks for working so hard today. I love you.”
2. Eat pizza. I’ll be the first to admit that pizza is one of my favorite carb-loading foods, but it also makes a great recovery meal. I personally think that a thin-crust pizza with Canadian bacon, pineapple, onion, and red pepper is the best recovery meal for my body.
3. Ice everything that hurts. I have tendonitis in my left knee, and while it doesn’t flare up a lot, I like to baby it after hard runs with a little Aleve and some ice. I just prop that baby up on the ottoman and veg out.
4. Watch a DVD or movie that you know by heart. This activity works best with #1 and #3. Because you know whatever you’re watching so well, you won’t feel guilty for falling asleep while watching it, yet you love it so much that it’ll keep you on the couch while you ice. I’m a big fan of Friends, The Office, and romance comedies after long runs.

That’s all I’ve got, but I’m looking for more ways to recover after my long runs because I might be running a marathon this fall, and I’ll need all the help I can get! Yikes!

Sunday I shared with you all my experience with my first triathlon, and today I want to tell you a bit more about the race itself and give you (and its organizers) some feedback about how I thought it went. Let’s get some key stuff out of the way:

• Race Name: Republic Tiger Triathlon
• Years Held: Two
• Distances: 300 yard swim, 12 mile bike, 3.1 mile run
• Sponsors/Organizers: Republic Parks & Recreation, Ozarks Multisport Club, Sunshine Bike Shop, Ultramax Events

Prerace
OK, let’s talk about about the prerace, which includes everything from registration to packet pick-up to race morning to swag. For the most part, I found everything I needed to know about this race on its website, which I appreciate because I am online all the time, and I could check out results and pictures from last year’s race, too, which gave me an idea of what to expect for this race. At the same time, the website publicized two prerace workshops (one in June and one in July) that never really panned out–the website said TBA, and well, they were never announced, so I assume they were canceled or never organized.

I didn’t register for the race until the Monday before, but even so, registration was pretty painless. Ultramax Events has online registration, so there was no form to fill out and mail in. Bueno. Likewise, packet pick-up was well organized. Several OMC members were there volunteering and answering questions.

I’ll discuss swag here because most of it came in my packet. Excellent round up of goodies. For one, the t-shirt was awesome; it’s a black ringer technical T with cool (not lame) graphics that actually fits! I also got a plastic water bottle with the race logo on it, a Hammer gel, coupons to miscellaneous stores, some magnets, and a triathlete catalog. At the finish line, I was handed a black hand towel (soaked in ice water) with the race logo on it, too.

Swim
Let’s actually get to the race. Swimming, of course, came first. The Republic Aquatic Center has a 25 yard pool, so to get in 300 yards, you have to do 12 lengths of the pool. As a first-time triathlete, I’m glad I had a pool, but the short lanes made the swim difficult. Once you get into a rhythm, you’re nearly at the end of the lane, so you have to turn around and start again. The faster swimmers went first, but it was really up to the participants to organize themselves according to swim time. Naturally, because time estimates are only estimates, there were some traffic jams in the pool. The pool has a sloped, “beach” exit, so you don’t have to climb out of it.

Transition Area
The transition area was just a big parking lot, and since this is my first experience with a transition area, I didn’t have any issues with it. It sloped a bit, so depending on which way you were headed, you were going either up hill or down hill.

Bike
The bike course kicked my butt, but that’s probably my own fault. I am told that most triathlons either have a hard bike course and an easy run or vice versa, and this one had a rough bike course. Hilly does not begin to describe it; even when you think you’re on a flat, you’re on a slight incline. The course was six miles long, so we road it twice. We were out on paved county roads, so volunteers and the police and fire departments were stationed along the way to warn traffic and to assist if we wiped out. The roads were well-marked with the route, and there were signs along the way denoting upcoming turns or dangerous intersections.

Run
The run was, of course, my favorite part simply because I’m a runner. The course cut through a Republic neighborhood, and there were three aid stations, lots of volunteers, and a mister (like at the Olympics!). It was just an easy, flat course, which I appreciated after such a hilly bike ride. I don’t have much to say about; it was pretty standard as far as 5K routes go.

Facilities
Ah, yes, toilets. The Aquatic Center had real toilets with toilet paper, and they came in quite handy, though the TP ran out midway through the swim. The Community Center next door also had facilities for us to use, too.

Volunteers
The race volunteers were awesome! Many of them stationed around the pool and transition area were OMC members (I recognized them), so I was confident that they knew what was going on. Many of the volunteers on the bike and run course were high school students, whose organizations benefited from the race’s proceeds (I read somewhere that it benefited Parkview HS cross country and Republic HS band, but I can’t find that info again.). The volunteers on the courses cheered for everyone and were enthusiatic and encouraging! I even bantered back and forth with one HS boy who insisted that I was indeed Number 1.

Other Thoughts
The most depressing thing about the race was the staggered start. There were over 300 participants, and it took over an hour for us to get through the pool. By the time I started, the elite triathletes were crossing the finish line, and they were already announcing the awards when I came in from my run, which meant that I didn’t receive any of those awards. By the time I finished, non-race participants had started helping themselves to the post-race food, which really ticked me off. The area was clearly marked, but some people still insisted on feeding their kids.

I loved the race because everyone was so supportive of the beginners. I bet a better part of the field of participants were first-time triathletes, so I didn’t feel like I was the only one who didn’t know what was going on. At a prerace orientation on Friday night, one gal who was borderline obese came in and sat down, and I thought, “Surely, she’s just here with a friend. Surely, she’s not doing the triathlon.” But she did! And she finished it! It took her two hours to do the bike ride and another hour to do the run, (and I didn’t stay to see her finish), but she was such an inspiration! I don’t know if I’d have guts to do that. The course is by no means easy, but the distance is short enough that a beginner can tackle it. Everyone’s willingness to answer questions and not make you feel stupid really brightened the experience.

So the real question: Would I do this race again? I’ll give that a pretty confident yes. Based on my experience, I think it’s a great race for beginning and experienced triathletes alike, and I say go for it!

I finally sorted through all the pictures Chris took at the triathlon, and here’s a link to the album. Once proofs from the race photographers are posted, I’ll link to those, too. (Please forgive me of the atrocious bathing suit. I promise to get a one piece for the next race.)

Republic Tiger Triathlon

2:03:26. The official I-completed-a-triathlon-and-didn’t-die time. I thought I was going to die—several times. I have several post-triathlon posts up my sleeve, but today’s will cover my experience at the Republic Tiger Tri (and how much it sucked). OK. I’m being melodramatic. I’ve been finished with the race for about 34 hours, and in retrospect, I am very proud of myself. I’m a triathlete now! Yikes! Thirty-four hours ago, though, it was a different story. Here’s how everything went down:

5:00 AM My alarm goes off, and I proceed to start moving and getting ready.

5:35 AM Chris, my mom, and I leave the house. I know I need to eat something, but I’m nervous, and I never eat this early in the morning, so I don’t. It takes us about 25 minutes to get to Republic, and I try really hard to not critique Chris’s driving of my car. I’m not allowed to drive on race mornings, and we had to take my car because it holds the bike.

6:00 AM We arrive at Miller Park in Republic, and I can already tell everything is well organized. I drag my bike out of the Blazer and get in line to get numbered. I’m number six, and everyone is like, “Wow! You must’ve signed up early–like in January–to get such a low number!” And I’m like, “Dude, I’m an A. That’s why.” I set up my bike in the transition area and lay out all my supplies. I’m still nervous and don’t feel like eating, but I managed to get down a Snicker’s Marathon bar. I meet Chris and Mom to pick up my timing chip, and Chris’s phone rings. IT’S LINDEN! She called from Germany to wish me good luck! It was so good to hear from her, and I started crying because I was nervous and I just wanted her there. After our call, I got down to business, and set my mind to the race. Visited the bathroom again, stripped down to my oh-so-flattering bathing suit, and got ready for the race. Here goes nothing.

7:00 AM Swimming starts. Because we’re swimming in a 25 yard pool, we’re doing what’s called a “snake swim” where we go up and down all the lanes to get in our 300 yards. Since I’m a slow swimmer, I position myself near the back of the pack, and I don’t get in the water until nearly 8:00. My first few laps went well, but then things got hairy. First of all, there were a bunch of swimmers in the water, so we were all getting passed or trying to pass someone else. Second, at the end of the lanes, we had to duck under the lane lines, which was weird and a little unnerving. (Next time, I’m going to learn how to turn and swim under them.) I had to start breast stroking because the people in front of my were going too slow. At some point, I put my goggles on my forehead (I don’t remember why), and that’s when the trouble started. Water splashed in my eyes, and my contacts went blurry. I couldn’t figure out if they had fallen out or were just foggy, so I started freaking out a little, but I knew I couldn’t do anything until I got to the end of the lane. At the same time, every time I tried to breathe, water splashed in my mouth, so I wasn’t getting enough air, and I started hyperventilating. I’ve never done this before (and I wouldn’t recommend doing it in a pool at any time), but I knew enough to know that I MUST calm down and regulate my breathing or things are going to go south fast. I only had a few pool lengths left, so I took it easy and finished the swim as best I could. It took me 9:33.

8:10 AM (ish) Transition 1, 3:11. As I ran from the pool to the transition area, I did a mental checklist of what I needed to do: dry off, put on shirt, put on shorts, put on shoes, put on socks, put on water belt, put on helmet, ride bike. For some reason, I thought it was a good idea to put on a shirt with a shelf bra for this race (my bathing suit isn’t super supportive in the boob department, and I needed something extra). Because I was all wet, the shirt curled up on itself, and I was sorta stuck for a bit until I figured out how to untangle it. It was frustrating then (but funny now): I didn’t get the shelf bra pulled under my boobs until I was on the bike. It took a few tries.

8:15 AM (ish) Bike, 1:11:13. The bike portion of the race sucked from the gitgo. I had driven it the day before and thought, “OK, it’s a bit hilly, but I don’t think it will be too bad.” Oh, how wrong I was. First of all, I didn’t account for how tired I would be after the swimming, and remember, I had hyperventilated, so my breathing wasn’t quite back to where it would normally be. Second of all, my S10 Blazer handles hills a lot better than me and my mountain bike. I had completed underestimated just how hilly the route was. I had to walk up a monster hill twice (it was a double-loop route), and at a few points I asked my legs, “Why aren’t you working?” But I made it, and I only cursed once.

9:25 AM (ish) Transition 2, 1:03. This transition naturally went a bit smoother than the first because I only had to drop off my biking crap and pick up my visor. Getting the visor on was another story. Apparently, after working that hard on a bike ride, my brain just ceased to work.

9:26 AM (ish) Running, 38:06. So much for a good 5K time, but I was so happy to get to the running. I knew that if I could make it through the biking, I could finish the race (that’s the great thing about being a runner). I tried to put my visor on; it took a few tries. Normally, I take my hair out its ponytail, slide the visor over my head, put my hair back in a ponytail, and slide the visor up in to place. I didn’t account for sunglasses, and well, I had to stop and walk to get it on. I had to walk quite a bit on my “run,” but I don’t really mind. My legs had virtually nothing left after that bike ride, and I hadn’t taken in any food on the ride, so I was pretty much spent. I took my time on the run, ran when I could, and walked when I needed to. And as always, I gave it everything I had left the last few hundred yards.

10:10 AM (ish) Finished. Chris asked me, “Can I get you anything?” My first thought, “A shotgun.” Yeah, I was hurting, and I was vowing to never again attempt a triathlon. By far, that was the toughest thing I’ve ever had to do that challenged me that much physically and mentally. But even just a day after the race, I know how I would better prepare for another triathlon. Granted, I won’t be doing another on next week, but I won’t say I’m down for the count.

That’s my account of my race. I’ll have pictures up soon, and I have a few other posts up my sleeve, too!

Well, I finished. I have no idea what my time(s) is because when I finished the race, I just didn’t care. You’ll get those times when I get them. I know some of you are dying to here about the race, so here are some initial thoughts:

• I have the best friends and family in the whole world. Literally! Linden called me from Germany this morning, and Sarah sent me flowers to wish me luck yesterday! My mom came and watched, Chris photographed, and Sam ran me in the last few hundred runs.
• I have new-found respect for triathloners. They deserve a lot of credit for what they can do.
• I had never hyperventilated before today. A pool is not great place to do this for the first time.
• Periods and triathlons do not mix.
• Water misters are not only for Olympians.
• If I’m going to do another one of these things, I’m gonna need some better cycling equipment.
• I haven’t worked that hard in a long time–mentally or physically.

These thoughts are kinda negative, I know, but don’t fret. Already, in retrospect, I’m glad I did it, but I can’t say that I enjoyed myself while I was doing it. I learned a lot; the learning curve for triathloning is just a bit steeper than running.

OK. That’s all I have for you right now. I need another bagel and another nap. A minute-by-agonizing-minute report is coming soon (with photos)!

P.S. A prize will be awarded to the person who can guess the curse word I said to myself on the bike ride. You have permission to cuss in my comments…

This is the August 22, 2008, edition of the Blogger’s Guide Carnival! The posts below were written on other blogs and were submitted by their authors at BlogCarnival.com. Thanks, everyone, for contributing!

Richard P. McLaughlin presents Asking For A Stumble posted at Cheap Keywords.

Richard P. McLaughlin presents WordPress Translation Plugin posted at Cheap Keywords.

texasdave presents 5 Ways To Improve Your Adsense Earnings posted at Make Cash Online.

MoneyNing presents Be Patient with Increasing Traffic to Your Blog posted at Busy Blogging Dot Com, saying, “Be patient. Build it and they will come!”

Cheryl Hines presents Article Writing For Dummies! posted at Internet Marketing With The Hines’.

Nesher presents Spice your Blog with relevant content with Zemanta Plug-in posted at Blogging for Good in the Modern World.

Kacper Wrzesniewski presents What are the benefits of taking break from blogging? posted at KacperWrzesniewski.com, saying, “Taking a break from blogging can be a very beneficial experience.”

Aahz presents Lighten The Load Of Your WordPress Blog – Part One posted at Philaahzophy, saying, “If you love WordPress, do it a favor and lighten its load…”

That concludes this edition. For more information about how I edit the Blogger’s Guide Carnival, check out our Carnival page. Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Blogger’s Guide Carnival using the carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on the blog carnival index page.

That’s all you need to know.

P.S. I got bangs, by the way.

Wow! It’s been a busy week! The Olympics have totally consumed my evenings and my RSS reader, so this week’s link lovin’ will all be related to those fantastic games. Here we go:

• 18 Smaller Countries to Cheer For In the US, we’re pretty fortunate to have so many athletes in so many events to check out, but who’s cheering for the little guys–for the countries who only have one or two athletes that qualify for the Olympics? I say, we adopt them and cheer for them, too. Many of the athletes listed will be participating in the track and field events next week, so you haven’t missed them.
• For Opening Ceremony, Beijing Told Rain to Go Away Who knew that the picture-perfect weather on opening ceremony night was also part of the orchestration? Yep. Seems that it’s the rainy season in Beijing right now, so they (I’m not sure who exactly was in charge) made it rain outside Beijing where it wouldn’t ruin the Olympic events.
• Speedo’s LZR Racer Breaks Records If you’ve watched swimming at all, you’ve seen these new suits that, quite frankly, make it hard to tell the guys and the girls apart. And you’ve probably noticed that there’ve been a lot of world records broken in the last week. Yeah, these suits have a lot to do with those new records, but you should also know that the Olympic pool is 3 meters deep. Regulation pools have to be at least 2 meters deep, and this deeper pool is reducing the ripples/wakes that usually bounce off the bottom of the pool and interfere with the swimmers above.
• Champion Nicole Cooke’s Training Secrets This British chippy is a cycling champion who started out biking to school every day. Gotta love that!
• Blue Screen of Death Appears at Olympics This is just one more reason to buy a Mac, and quite frankly, I’m surprise the production people weren’t using them in the first place. Anyway, if you were watching the opening ceremonies on TV, you missed it, but yeah, a PC crashed and it was projected all over the bird’s nest.

And that does it for the week! I hope you’re enjoying the Olympics as much as I am! That should be sufficient for this weekend. Be sure to check out my other Google Reader Shared Items and Delicious pages.

This is the August 15, 2008, edition of the Blogger’s Guide Carnival! The posts below were written on other blogs and were submitted by their authors at BlogCarnival.com. Thanks, everyone, for contributing!

Nesher presents 14 Ways to Promote your Blog Offline posted at Blogging for Good in the Modern World.

Hops presents How to track all your blog mentions posted at Hop To It!.

Christopher Johnson presents Making Money With Amazon.com posted at CoffeeBreakEarnings.com, saying, “Making Money With Amazon.com Affiliate Sales”

Christopher Johnson presents Blogging With WordPress posted at CoffeeBreakEarnings.com.

Christopher Johnson presents Making Money Blogging posted at CoffeeBreakEarnings.com, saying, “You can make money blogging without ads and affiliates.”

Robert Phillips presents 3 Simple Ways to Increase Blog Traffic posted at How to Create a DVD without Spending a Dime.

seanjames presents Activating FeedFlare is optimizing your blog posted at Practical Jokes.

seanjames presents How to add Social Bookmarking Icons to your site posted at Practical Jokes.

Rod presents Stumble your way to a Rush of traffic posted at Hippo Web Solutions.

MoneyNing presents Be Patient with Increasing Traffic to Your Blog posted at Busy Blogging Dot Com, saying, “Be patient and keep writing to gain readership!”

Rob Edmond presents How to Be a Great Guest Blogger, and Be Invited Back posted at Blog To Great, saying, “Info on the importance of writing for other blogs. Help & tips on how to be a desirable “guest” blogger and how to get invited back.”

James Hills presents Blogging Lessons – Follow Your Passion, Not Your Wallet posted at mhn Integrated Online Marketing.

Kacper Wrzesniewski presents Taking break from blogging? posted at KacperWrzesniewski.com, saying, “Sometimes blogger needs to take a break from writing. How to handle such situation?”

Samir Bharadwaj presents Blog Ads by PerfomancingAds posted at SamirBharadwaj.com, saying, “Blog ads are the most lucrative way to monetise your blog. The new PerfomancingAds takes the effort out of selling advertising and managing inventory, so here’s a detailed guide to the whys, hows, pros, and cons of the service.”

Robert Phillips presents How to Use Blog Carnivals to Increase Traffic posted at How to Create a DVD without Spending a Dime.

That concludes this edition. For more information about how I edit the Blogger’s Guide Carnival, check out our Carnival page. Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Blogger’s Guide Carnival using the carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on the blog carnival index page.