Unstoppable

It's 4 days until the New Orleans IronMan 70.3

I feel ready, most of the time. But as I have never done this distance I sometimes get overwhelmed by it. Sometimes I wonder if...

But then I cut my self off and remind myself that I am "Unstoppable".

That's my mantra, "Unstoppable".

One word that says it all. One word that keeps me going.

Unstoppable

One word that reminds me of all those who were not, and how I will not be one of them. One word that reminds me of those who overcame, fought through, and earned their glory.

Unstoppable.

Looking back on my training I can see where I could have done more, worked harder, not skipped a session. But I also see many days where i was worn down, tired, and sleepy. On those days I dug down deep, and got in my workout. On those days I was unstoppable.

I think of the days when my legs were tired, still I pounded out a 40 mile ride. The days when my knee was sore, still I ran for an hour(followed by ice). The days when my shoulders, neck, and arms were tired, but I still swam a mile. On those days i was unstoppable.

I think towards Sunday. Will Lake Pontchartrain be smooth as glass or will it be like swimming in a washing machine? It doesn't matter, I am unstoppable.

Will the bike course be like riding into a wind tunnel on the way out, only to have the winds shift when i reach the turn around so that I ride into the wind the whole way? It doesn't matter, I am unstoppable.

While running, will the temperture shoot up to the low 90's in the afternoon, as it often does in NOLA? It doesn't matter. I am unstoppable.

I don't claim to know much, or to be an expert at anything. But I do know that I have worked hard. Though I may not finish fast, and I will likely win  no style points, I know that i will finish. Because there is only one word that will be on my mind for 70.3 miles.....

Unstoppable.

A scary thought

A very scary thought just crossed my mind. I was sitting in class a few minutes ago watching my class prepare for their graduation exit exam. They were supposed to be working in groups, review a key concepts packet. What they were actually doing was everything other than what they were supposed to be doing. I waited a few minutes to see how it would go, they got worse and worse, louder and louder as the minutes went by until I finally, what's the word? Exploded on to them verbally about what the were doing, and what they will be doing the rest of class. I'm pretty good at that and so they went from groups to individual study time and class ended a short time later without incident.

But, as they were working I thought to myself, "I am gonna hate to see what its like when their kids get this age."

Then the really scary thought popped into my head. Most of the parents of these kids are in my general age group. We always say things weren't like this when we were in school . But these kids had to get this behavior from somewhere.

Did my generation drop the ball?

Maybe, maybe not. Alls I know is its getting worse and there seems to be no end in sight.

Crap, thats an even scarier thought than the other one.

Oxbow Triathlon 2011 report

This past weekend i competed in the Oxbow Triathlon in New Roads, La. Unfortunately I have no pics to post but I will give you the low down anyway

I completed the swim 4 minutes faster than last year, completed the bike 10 minutes faster than last year, ran 4 minutes faster than last year, and was faster in the transitions for a total of beating my previous time by 20 minutes. I am pretty excited about those results and feel like I have gained a lot of confidence in my abilities. That confidence will come in handy in less than 2 weeks when I competed in the Half-IronMan in New Orleans on April 19th.

For now, it's time to get in these last couple of workouts, taper, hydarate, and eat right.  At this point, the hay is in the Barn(I have always liked that expression).

For You Know Who

I just wanted to let you know that you are on my mind, because you can be so kind.
I hope the words might be worthwile, and maybe even make you smile.
Everyday when i get home, I realize that I'm alone.
Sure, Sadie and Lily are there, but i can not find you anywhere.
and speaking of Sadie, she such a sweet angel true, and even sweet baby Lily too.
But this poem is not for them, but for you. this is my ode to you know who.

My New Nickname

Yesterday was a busy day for me. I had a lot going on at school and worked really hard to keep the kiddos motivated and interested in learning about the "conflict in Vietnam". After school I had to drive a couple of the students to moot court practice at our local HBCU, then dash over to the Y to put in my laps at the pool and then make it back to school for an event called "family literacy night", where I(and some students) dazzled some parents with the wonderful things we have been doing in class.

But that's not what's important. What's important is what happened at the swim. I swam 2500 yards, or 50 laps, or 100 lengths of the pool. It's a little over a mile. I have swam this distance several times. But, yesterday I swam it 3 minutes faster than normal. No, I wasn't trying to. I was just cruising along at a comfortable pace. I guess these workouts are paying off. The beauty of it was not only that I did it faster, but that it seemed more effortless. I felt fine afterwards. And so, A new nickname popped into my head, but I will get to that in a second.

I claim several cities as my home towns. I have lived in Baton Rouge for a couple years so it is home now. My family has it's origins in New Orleans, so that's where my roots are, I spent many years in Slidell, LA. And Moms still resides there, and I lived for about 9 years(in 2 different segments) in Tuscaloosa, AL. So, you can see how I might claim different places depending on the situation. Well, Nothing catchy popped in my head that pertained to swiming and any of the Louisiana towns. But, There was one that popped into my head that pertained to my years in T-Town.

"The Tuscaloosa Torpedo"

Awesome, I know.

Runners up were:
The New Orleans Drunken-Hurricane
The Slidell Slug
The Baton Rouge Manatee

I think I made the right choice.

So Aggravated

I love being a teacher. but these kids are driving me nuts. I could give you a list of a hundred things I love about teaching and a hundred that aggitate me. But, I know you don't want to hear all that. I will just tell you about one thing. Today, my students, my little thugs geniuses, took the first part of their graduation exit exam. They can not graduate without passing this test. I had no idea as to what was going to be on the test (the state doesn't tell us any specifics) but I focused on a few key concepts from each unit and really "hammered" on those things as we went through the year. Since taking the test this morning several students have stopped by to tell me that they thought they did well and how "easy" the history questions were and to tell me that the rules I gave them for answering essay-like questions really helped. "It was the exact stuff that you said would probably be on there". Well, I'm glad someone was listening because for everyone that said that, there was another who swore we never talked about "that" stuff.

My reply to that was: "You are correct. WE never talked that stuff. I talked about it while YOU did everything else that YOU could possibly find to do other than pay attention to what WE were talking about".

On the brightside, repeaters make it a lot easier to learn the names of my students at the beginning of each year.

Fishing trip

 My homeboy and I took the kayaks out fishing Saturday on False River. It was a beautiful day.

Only one fish was reeled in. A nice bass. We didn't mind the low fish count as neither one of us have much idea what we are doing. But, we learned a lot and look forward to improving our angling skills. I have also decided that for as long as I live, when I walk into a fishing store like Bass Pro Shop or Cabellas or Chagrin River Bait and Tackle, I will always say that I am new to fishing. It seems that experienced folk like to share with newbies. So, I will use that to my advantage to gain insight and access to the secrets that fisherman are so reluctant share.

Score for this trip: Me 1-Fish 0(as I remained upright the whole time).