Life of Riley

I'm Moving...

...to Wordpress. I don't know why I've stayed here on TypePad for so long when the Wordpress platform is free to use at the most basic level and fairly cheap for some upgrades, which I may be taking advantage of. For now I will be available here as well as at ryandahlstrom.wordpress.com. I am hoping to upgrade to a custom URL, so I'll update everything once I do...for now I'm off to LinkedIn and Facebook, and everywhere else I have directed to this site...

Lake George 2009

Yesterday I competed in my first Olympic distance triathlon, the Lake George Triathlon. An Olympic distance is composed of a 1.5k swim, a 40k bike ride, and a 10k run. The event was held at Lake George in Upstate New York. This was by far my biggest undertaking since starting doing triathlons a year ago.

I had my whole training regimen worked out and I did pretty good at following it...until I hit vacation time at the end of August. I was swimming and running pretty regularly and was even biking in my apartment when I could. My training schedule fell apart when I cam back home for Travers and labor day. The most I did was run 3 miles (once) and ride 30 miles (once). I did run last week once in preparation...but I certainly wouldn't say that I was in tip-top shape.

Well, race morning came and I was up and at 'em early as could be...about 5am or so. It was a lovely 40 degrees outside and still dark. I had a little bit to eat, got my stuff in the car and we were off...yep, Caroline made the trek with me bright and early.

By the time 8:30 rolled around, which was race time, it was up to probably 45 degrees or so and the lake temp was just shy of 70 degrees. I was in for a cold one and I knew it. It was so cold that I didn't want to get into the water until I absolutely had to...so I stood at the back of the pack while everyone else took off. The swim was...well, the swim. It was fairly easy for me, though my time wasn't as fast as I would have liked. The water was really choppy and they had us swimming against the current...both ways. Fun...but not really.

Then came the bike. I got out of the water, adrenaline pumping, and then I realized how incredibly cold it was. I started to shiver, which made it tough to get my socks, shoes, helmet & gloves on. I managed...finally...and was off on the bike. I felt pretty good...accept for the occasional shivers as I dried off. At about mile 9 or 10 it became extraordinarily hard to pedal my bike and I felt like I was lugging a million pounds behind me. I kept hearing a funny whirring sound, but I didn't want to stop to check it out, so I continued on. Well...come to find out, I rode the final 15 or so miles with a flat tire. Yep...completely flat. So that million pounds I felt like I was tugging along...it was just me and the back half of my bike. The course was tough...not gonna lie. There were plenty of fairly steep hills that made me want to get off and walk (I'm sure the flat didn't help here). It was pretty scenic as well...would be nice for a nature ride when the leaves change...in a car!

When I finally got in from the bike there were already folks finishing. It was a real-deal race, so I wasn't surprised. I was off on the run. Nothing too special here...some little hills here and there but a nice run course around the Village. The first loop was a little tough, but once the determination kicked in, I was able to kick it up a notch or three and finished strong. I was probably averaging about a 10 minute mile (or a little more) for the first loop and probably got that down to about 8 1/2 or so for the final 3 miles. I was happy with that performance...especially since I didn't stop to walk at all as so many others did.

All-in-all I had a blast. The race was so well organized and the folks at the Adirondack Tri Club put on an awesome time. The MC of the day did a great job keeping everyone in the loop...whether it was keeping us in check before the race started or anouncing everyone as we crossed the finish line, he was on point. The atmosphere was great after the race as well. It was nice to see that so many people stuck around after the race to hang out and enoy the food and music.

This race was probably the hardest thing that I have done to this point in my life. I am sore as sore can be today...my knees hurt, my hips are sore, my shoulders are sore...but I am totally looking forward to the next one! It was a great end to a great racing season. My goal for next year is quality over quantity. I finished 5 races this summer with respectable times at each. Next year I am going to tone that down by a few races and shoot for better times and better finishes.

Now it's off to football season...hopefully I can keep the activity level up there while I watch my 'Boys!

Trouble is brewing...

The Lake George Triathlon is in less than one week and I have not worked out or trained in well over a week. While I was home on vacation my training was basically put on hold in lieu of golfing, tv, and hanging with pups. I tried running a couple of times when I was home...the first time I felt like puking after 2 miles or so and the second time I was sore for three days after (a simple 3.1 mile workout). Seeing as how this is my longest race to date and I have sore quads after yesterday's Diamond Dash, I am extremely nervous for this race...extremely nervous!

Some pretty big changes...

It is official...the rumors are confirmed...Caroline and I are getting married. I proposed on the 30th of August and she agreed to spend the rest of her life with me. Awesome!

One of her first requests was a website...so I obliged and put together RyanAndCaroline.net. It'll be our digital presence and everyone else's way to keep track of what is going on with our wedding planning and our lives together. Check us out...

Twitter Update & Some Typical Randomness

So I have decided that I will be using my twitter account to track my training progress leading up to next year's Iron Man 70.3 in Rhode Island. I have been updating my account after each workout, but I always forget to hash-tag the post so that I can go back and pull everything up later on. That seems to be the trickiest thing for me...140 characters is no problem...it's the stupid hash-tag that I always seem to forget.

Aside from still not agreeing with twitter as a mainstream communication platform, I am starting to take to the service as an information gathering tool. The people that I follow all provide me some sort of information that is all conglomerated in one spot...which is nice. I follow some on twitter, but also am a "fan" or "friend" on facebook...and it is interesting to see how different the two services are utilized.

So far this is what I have noticed...NYRA gets it and US Soccer doesn't. NYRA uses its facebook account to post articles and news stories about what is happening at the track or within the organization. It then uses its twitter account to update followers on trainer standings, results of big races, and other breaking news. It is great since I am not at the track every moment of every day, but am still interested in knowing what is going on. NYRA does a really nice job seeding conversations on Facebook and engaging with fans through twitter.

US Soccer doesn't get it. I am also a fan on facebook and follow US Soccer news on twitter. They use facebook to post starting lineups and provide other interesting news articles. Each posting has hundreds of comments and "likes." The fans are obviously engaged and desiring of this information. The use of twitter is poor at best, however. Last night the US Men's Team played El Salvador in what was more or less a must win game. Not a single tweet from US Soccer throughout the entire game...not at the start, not after a goal, not at half time, not after the game even. It wasn't until about 2 hours after the game ended that the following was posted "by now everyone knows USA beat El Salvador 2-1. USA should have had several more goals. poor finishing is the story." Poor...very poor way to stay on top of things.

Some other thoughts...TO loves himself a little too much and tweets way too much...as does Lance Armstrong. The biggest difference is that Lance will throw out some interesting links every now and again. I am borderline ready to dump TO from my list. Shaq is a clown. I like the little tidbits here and there outside of their blogs from Mark Cuban and Fred Wilson.

Bottom line so far...I will continue to give this whole twitter thing a try. If nothing else it is keeping track of my training for me.

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Some random notes: I didn't compete in the Crystal Lake race on Travers' morning. It was a torrential down pour and, with the course the way it is, I just didn't want to risk getting hurt. If I didn't have Lake George in a couple of weeks I probably would have raced...probably. I feel like a bum for not doing it, but I am slowly accepting that it was the wisest decision. Vacation has been great! I miss it up here so much...it is so quiet and relaxed compared to the City. The air smells clean, there is grass and birds, and, of course, my puppies! I haven't been away from the city for this long since I have been down there...it is going to suck going back. Oh well. Finally...I am debating on switching over to Wordpress. It only makes sense to me...free blog versus paying fifty bucks a year to host this on Typepad. Any thoughts on making the switch? Aside from copying and pasting manually, is there a way to migrate all past content over to Wordpress? Lake George...2 weeks from yesterday...getting excited...nervous, but excited!