Yes it is summer and time for Summer Vacations! The entire Landry clan (my lovely wife's side of the family) is heading on down to Wisconsin Dells for a few days where I'm sure we will not be short on things to do. I will do my best to get a few runs in, but aside from the water parks, I doubt there will be any opportunity for swimming and my bike will not make the trip. My dang alarm clock was set to the wrong hour this morning (notice how it was the alarm clocks fault) so I missed my swim and bike this morning (arrg!)
I do not know how available Internet access will be to me while I am there, so blogging may be light depending on that. If I am not able to blog on the trip you can expect a full report when upon my return.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Training Interrupted (again)
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Chasing down the dogs
When you run outside you never know what you may run into. Most of the time running is fairly uneventful, but sometimes you run past something interesting like a deer or rabit, but every once in a while it can be down right scary. I remember while running once in Wisconsin along a lonely stretch of Hwy 64 miles and miles from absolutely anything, I came across a big black bear. That was quite disturbing and I did not handle it the same way I do when I run across dogs barking at me. I just stoped and waited paitently for the bear to cross the road and hoped he would ignore me. Fortunatly he did.
Dogs are not my favorite animals. It may go back to my childhood when on two occasions I was bit by dogs and almost (at least in my mind) killed by a pack of them. Besides they are loud, slobber all over, jump on you with their dirty paws and leave piles of feces for you to step in.
My philosophy when dogs come upon me during a run is to yell at them as loud as I can, "Get Outta Here" and generally I will run at them if they continue to approach. Today I had two dogs come at me and I know that dogs are always worse in packs and I never know what they are capable of. They started crossing the road and I ran at them yelling. There being two of them, I knew I could be in some trouble if they decided to attack me and I was convinced I was going to have to kick the lead dog with my Asics as hard as I could to immobilize at least one of them. Fortunatly they bolth fled just as I was approaching kicking distance and I did not have to harm either dog. Please if you have a dog, keep him chained or get a fence, those of us who run will thank you!
That got my blood boiling and it took a while to calm down, but the rest of the 6 miles was uneventful, and was actually my best run in weeks dispite the 80 degree heat and partial sun already at 6:30 in the morning. However I do have to thank Jack (my 1 year old) for waking up screeming at 6:00. I am not 100% sure I would have gotten out of bed if it wasn't for him!
Monday, June 25, 2007
Our Schizophrenic Culture
I'm sure you've heard of similar cases like this one about Jessie Davis, where tragically a pregnant woman is killed along with her unborn child and the murder is charged with dual counts of homicide.
I would think that it goes without saying that this is completely absurd in a culture that believes in the evils of abortion on demand, if it wasn't actually happening. I therefore (apparently) need to comment. This type of thing shows how desperately we need people in our culture who have the ability to think, and is a glaring example as to the fact that our education system is only producing people who know what to think, not how to think. The idea that an unborn child is a human only when it suits our own interests would be an impossibility in a culture of thinking people.
How desperately does our culture need a TJEd now?
Camping with the Kids
Yes, we all had a great time, and I am still recovering. I am surprised how exhausted I was after this trip; as I laid in bed the night after we returned I thought my legs felt just as if I had done a triathlon that day. So I took another day off of training, but vow to pick it up again Tuesday with renewed vigor!As you can see (if you'll forgive the horrible pictures, my camera phone takes shots as if there were wax paper covering the lens) the children had a blast. We were fairly non-stop the entire trip minus the late night campfires. We went hiking, fishing, hiking, swimming, Climbed a fire tower, more hiking, read The Hobbit (the kids couldn't get enough of this book and nearly cried at the ending) and A Connecticut Yankee in King Author's Court by the campfire late into the night, had a picnic and then did still more hiking. There was plenty of wildlife including several deer, grouse, eagles, a big black Bear (we were in the car when we saw him, so I think he was more startled than us) and of course plenty of ticks (especially depending on the hiking trail we chose) and a few mosquitoes. We were well fed with way more snacks, treats, 'smores and actual food than we could shake a stick at. I'm sure I gained 5 lbs!
Here's a view from the Fire Tower, 100 ft above St. Croix State Park:
Zach widdling his marshmallow stick for 'Smores:
"I Hate Rabbits"
"Do we have to go?"
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Life Getting in the way of Training
I've been really good about following my training plan since I started using it early last week (OK it hasn't been that long I know, but I haven't skipped a day for any reason yet, and that's really good for me.) But it is going to come to a screeching halt this weekend as I take three of the kids up to St. Croix State Park for a weekend of camping where there will be no opportunity for any training (but some hiking!). I am really looking forward to it and the kids have been so excited to go for weeks that they can hardly talk about anything else. I'll try to get a few pictures from my camera phone and see if I can get them up here after the trip.
As far as training goes, I'm going to move my 'long' run (it's only 6 miles) from Saturday to Friday morning and skip Friday's Swim/Bike workouts. If we get back with some time Sunday (which I am not expecting) I'll do Sunday's Swim/Bike workouts, but at least I won't miss any runs.
Maybe that will give my arms and legs a break 'cause it seems like I am constently sore with this triathlon stuff. I assumed that the soreness would go away sooner than is has.
I will give a full report on the trip when I get back!
A Thomas Jefferson Education
I never thought I would read a book that would change my life, but A Thomas Jefferson Education: Teaching a Generation of Leaders for the Twenty-first Century
I couldn't have been more wrong.
A Thomas Jefferson Education (TJEd) is about giving children the access to the type of education that will live up to their greatest potential, not throwing our children on a conveyor-belt by shoving stuff into their brains under the threat of punishment so they can regurgitate it back to us. How can we teach our students how to think if we are constantly teaching them only what to think! If we want our children to become great men and women we must introduce them to the great men and women of the past through reading the classics and we (teachers/parents) must stop being educators and become mentors to our students.
The theme throughout this book is Classics and Mentors. This is the key to a TJEd. Great men and women become great through coming in contact with the great men and women of the past, through the Classics and they are encouraged through mentors who encourage discussion, writing and role-playing amongst the students.
So you may be wondering, How will this change Frank's life? He's not the one in school. The 'problem' (if you will) with the TJEd is not that it is complicated, it is incredibly simple, it's just hard work. If you want to bring a TJEd to your students then you must become the mentor and you must read the classics and study just as hard if not harder than the student. Great teachers do not Educate, they inspire students to educate themselves. In order to inspire the Teacher needs to set the example and be excited about learning. This is where I need to change my life. I need to become a great teacher and mentor in order to inspire excellence in my children.
Anyone who is a teacher (either in public, private or Homeschool setting) or parent is doing a great disservice to themselves and their children/students by not reading this book. It's not long, and if you disagree or think it will be too difficult that's fine, but to remain ignorant is simply unacceptable.
Buy The Book Now
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Who is Archbishop John Nienstedt?
We here in the Archdiocese of St. Paul will soon have a new Archbishop. So I thought it might be a good idea to find out a little bit about the man before he replaces our current Archbishop Harry Flynn next year.
The local media has already pegged Nienstedt as 'Conservative'. Not that I fault the media for being ignorant or just plain lazy or both, but that label is simply not appropriate for a variety of reasons that I will get into in a moment.
This is a perfect opportunity to show how the media is completely incapable of thinking and I need to spend a moment dissecting it. You see the media has these square holes that are the templates to which they create stories and they shove each and every peg they can find regardless of whether it is round, triangle, square or otherwise into that same hole.
Take the title of this Star Tribune article: Archbishop-elect John Nienstedt: 'I do not come as a politician but as a priest...'
Who ever heard of an Archbishop-elect? Bishops are not elected they are appointed! The proper title is Coadjutor John Nienstedt. This is simply laughable coming from the Star Trib's 'religion' correspondent. But they have this square hole and...
Now you can start see why they label Nienstedt as conservative. Later in that same article the Tribune tries to explain why they are justified in painting him in such a manner:
All Roman Catholic bishops are expected to support church doctrine. But the
issues they emphasize lead observers to characterize them as conservative,
moderate or liberal.
Here is the key phrase: the issues they emphasize. But if you keep reading the article that's not really what they mean. what they really mean is the issues they don't emphasize:
Flynn has been considered moderate by Catholic standards. For instance, although
in 2005 he advised parishes to deny communion to worshipers wearing rainbow
sashes, a symbol of support for gay rights, he did not punish a parish that
defied him
Here we come down to the crux of the issue with the Star Trib. If a bishop supports church doctrine he is conservative and if he does nothing (or close to nothing) he is liberal. I would argue that the correct terminology would be Orthodox and Heterodox (or for those of you a little weaker in the stomach: Less Orthodox). I would even prefer something like 'Active' vs. 'Passive' (as this seems to be what the Star Trib really means) or even 'Strict' vs 'Lenient'. Also the examples the Tribune uses to site Nienstedt's 'conservatism' do not even include any punishment so exactly what criteria the Tribune is using remains unclear.
In any case, the terms 'conservative' and 'liberal' are political terms, and based on politics alone Nienstedt is certainly not a conservative. One only needs to spend a few minutes reading the current Diocese of New Ulm (His current seat) page on him to discover some of his more liberal political leanings:
- He joined the lawsuit to challenge the constitutionality of Minnesota's Concealed Carry law
- He leans to the left on Illegal Immigration
- He signed on with the rest of the Minnesota Bishops supporting legislation that would attempt to mitigate Global Warming
- although I could not find specific examples, by reading between the lines all indications are he leans to the left on minimum wage, affordable housing, universal health care, welfare etc.
While I may disagree with our new Coadjutor over many of these issues, they are political issues about which he is free to come to his own prudential judgement and still be well within the bounds orthodoxy. Conservatism and Orthodoxy are not the same thing as the Star Tribune would have us believe. Every indication I have seen indicates Archbishop Nienstedt as being 100% faithful to the Magisterium of the Church (read: orthodox) and is vociferously outspoken about it. Every Catholic in the diocese should welcome with open arms an orthodox Catholic as our Archbishop. I for one hope that his zeal for the Truth will inspire him to reign in some of the abuses that have gone on far to long in this diocese (e.g. general absolution). When we have an 'active' bishop that will stand up for orthodox positions we will be less likely to end up with problems like the rainbow sash movement which was a direct result of a 'passive' bishop.
If you happen to be catholic and are dreading the arrival of an orthodox bishop then I have to question what you believe it means to be Catholic in the first place.
Welcome to the Twin Cities Archbishop Nienstedt!
Monday, June 18, 2007
A Lonely Fathers Day
My Brother-In-Law was deployed with his National Guard troop Sunday for an 18 month tour-of-duty. He leaves behind my sister and niece. Kare 11 did a story on the deployment and used them as their centerpiece. God Speed to those men and women puting their lives on hold for our country. The following video was on Saturday's 10 O'clock News, but be warned: you might need a Kleenex. (isn't my niece cute)
"There's this Triathlon thingy...
...going on at the YMCA" my fetching wife says to me as she comes home from the gym the other day. "O, Yeah?" I said, thinking that I could throw that into my training for the sprint Detroit Lakes tri in August. "yes" she says, "I think it is like 2.5 miles swimming, 112 miles biking and a marathon running".
"Ah, honey. that's a Ironman" I reply. I have absolutely no desire to complete an Ironman. I mean that's for the real crazy people, not for the only mildly crazy ones who might actually have a family and a job and soccer coaching and.. well you get the idea. I am perfectly happy competing in Sprints with possibly an occasional Olympic Distance Tri thrown in every once in a while for good measure. Heck she has been a bit paranoid that I might start training for another marathon, thinking I would be unavailable for anything else for at least 18 weeks.
"Yes, but you get to do this over 5 days" She retorts. Now I start thinking. Five days? could this be done? The quick calculation in my head goes directly to the run. Even if I manage to do the swimming and biking it the first three days, I'd still have to run back-to-back Half marathons to finish it off.
"Nah, that doesn't sound any fun. I'm really surprised that they are even doing something like that" and the conversation ends with something like that.
Now, I can't just drop a thing like that and for the rest of the day I am mulling the idea in my head. What If I stretched out the run over a few more of the days? If I trained real hard I might just be able to pull it off. I have to go to the Y tomorrow for my swim so I'll take a look at it myself.
The next day I bike up to the Y for my swim and find a flier for the 'Tri' my fetching wife was referring to and she was 'just a little' off on the time frame. They were calling it the Lazy man's Triathlon, and it wasn't 5 days it was 5 weeks! I had better do that much in 5 weeks! Heck I probably have that much done in the last 5 weeks and that includes taper (way more taper than my program called for) and post race rest (again more than I needed, yes I am lazy, that part of the 'event' I am cut out for). So checking my training log over the last 5 weeks I have 2.6 Miles Swimming, 112.7 Miles Biking, 47.8 Miles Running. Whew! I made it. With my training ramping up now and as long as my motivation doesn't really tank I will make the "Lazy Man's triathlon" when it starts in July without even thinking about it. Not that I will care.
But still an Ironman in 5 days. Hmmm. That is an intriguing idea....
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Buffalo Triathlon Race Report
The race was June 3rd in Buffalo, MN. This was my first tri ever 400yd Swim, 13Mi Bike, 3Mi Run and I finished in 1:26:59
First off this was a GREAT race. I enjoyed it immensely and will most likely do many more Tri's in the future. Thus I recently switched from coolrunning.com to BuckeyeOutdoors.com for logging because BuckeyeOutdoors has better tri logging capabilities (and built in linking to blogs!)
There were several people from my work in the race (the tall bald one is Ben who was the guy who talked me into doing a tri in the first place) As you can see from the picture everyone at my work was very happy pre-race (I am the one in yellow).
Pre-Race:
I woke up around 4:30 in the morning so as to arrive there early. Everyone told me how important it was to arrive early to do all the 'set up' and not feel rushed. I had a piece of toast and a cup of coffee and my father picked me up at 5AM to load my bike and take the hour drive to Buffalo. It rained most of the way out there, but we were expecting (or at least hoping) it to clear up.
We arrived around 6:15 (the rain had stopped) and I set up my bike and got my packed and was marker-ed up with my numbers (745). I was one of the earliest ones to arrive and had no lines and any place I wanted to put my bike. then I basically waited about 2 hours, but didn't feel too bored as the rest of my friends arrived we talked strategy and such. Mostly I just wanted to get things started, I was a bit nervous and must have gone to the bathroom about 5 times while waiting for the race to start.
with about 15min before the first heat was to start we headed down to the lake and got acclimated to the water. It was a good thing too as the water was freezing until I got used to it. someone had some anti-fog and I desperately needed it because my goggles were fogging up like crazy although I have never noticed it before. Probably because I always swam inside. The water felt real good after a few warm up strokes and then we were told we had to get out as the really good people were on their way in.
I lined up waiting for my heat to be called (14) and waited...
The Swim (7:32):
I was told to start in the back and just wait until people were out of the way to start to avoid traffic. This is not something that I can do very well. I mean is this a race or not? So I did the worst thing I could have done and started smack dab in the middle because I was afraid of getting trampled if I started in the front. I will not make this mistake again, but it's not as if I was in danger of my life or anything, I just would have been better positioned in the front as I am already better than a majority of triathletes at swimming.
Just before the gun (or whatever it was, I don't really remember) I herd someone calling 'FRANK!' I turned around but saw literally hundreds of anonymous people and couldn't focus on any one of them. 'My wife and kids were running behind and they can't possibly be here yet so it must be another Frank in my heat' I thought. and re-focused on the start. It turns out it was my fetching wife who arrived just in time. BANG! off we were. I ran for a little ways, just until I had enough watter to swim in and started swimming. This too was a mistake. someone was running right next to me and for several strokes we kept the same pace. I thought that this was really stupid that I am swimming while he/she is wadding at the same pace. Next time I'll do dolphin dives until it is too deep.
The rest of the swim was fine except I had to strain to keep my head up to breathe and figure out where the heck I was supposed to be going. for the next few days my neck would be sore because of this. I ended up catching several people from the heat before mine (they left 2:00min earlier) and did dolphin dives once it was shallow again.
T1 (5:00):
Once I was out of the watter I felt light headed from the swim and quite a bit more tired than I thought I would. I sort of ran/jogged up, up, up, to the Transition area and on the way saw the Wife and kids cheering me on. That was real cool. Once there I proceeded to get my biking/running gear on in a hurry. While I started doing this Ben (who left it the heat before mine) arrived and told me to slow it down and take a breather. I knew he was right and I would have little energy for the bike if I didn't get my heart rate down. So I sat down, washed off my feet and got ready for the bike.
Bike (49:31):
Man were there a ton of hills on this. I was going 25-35mph down and 6-10mph up. This really surprised me. I knew that the race was hilly, but I was not prepared for the number and size of the hills. Biking is my weak point anyway and the hills were no help. Ben passed me early on the bike and we went back and forth a few times until he passed me for good around mile 8-9. about mile 10 my left calf started acting up and I knew I had to relax a bit or there would be nothing left for the run.
As I rounded the corner of the final stretch I saw the family cheering again.
T2 (1:27):
Getting off the bike and running to the bike spot was difficult, but I caught up with Ben in the transition and we started the run together. This transition went smooth and fast.
Run (23:32):
This is probably my best part of the tri. I moved ahead of Ben early and saw him shortly after the turn around (it was an out-and-back run) I did not expect to run this as fast as I did after the first two events. Although it was by no means easy. My legs kept screaming at me to stop but I was determined to go as fast as I could until I died or they fell off. Fortunately neither happened and i finished with a 7:50 min/Mi pace
Post Race:
After waiting at the finish for a few minutes for Ben to finish my family found me and congratulated me. again.. cool. Ben went to the water to cool off, but I didn't feel too hot and stayed with the family. I was going to find the rest of my co-workers and wait until the slower ones finished the race, but then the rain started pouring and with the baby and the rest of the kids that was not going to work so we took off early and went to get something to eat.
Well that was easy...
Signed up for this blog site in about 30 seconds, though I never thought I would be a blogger. This blog will mostly contain my Triathlon/Running training thoughts and race reports, but I may decide to add personal thoughts about my life. I always heard that it is a good idea to create a journal, so this will most likely be my attempt.
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