Training from day to day

It's not dead Jim!

2012-01-25T18:42:00.000-08:00

Oh Hey!!

Tucson is coming up (feb 10th to 20th) so I've decided to stick a fork in the electrical socket and get this blog back up and runnin' It will included pictures, cornbread, myself complaining about the morning swim, cornbread, climbing gigantic hills, other athletes views and opinions, and more cornbread. I will also be documenting my attempt at cooking for the 10 day entirety of the camp, thus the cornbread references.

Here is a picture of some ducks I saw crossing my street (I live 3km from the nearest pond)

Its dead Jim..

2011-02-28T17:11:00.000-08:00

blogs dead, been dead for a while, not a big deal, nobody reads it, one less thing to worry about.

Very rarely does an album go by that every song is worth listening to... and worth a second listen

2010-09-14T21:58:00.000-07:00

So this is out of the norm of the odd/puzzling that normally dot my blog (you'll also note the lack of race reports but thats another story) but I thought this was something worth talking about. About half a decade ago I heard 'speed of sound' by Coldplay, that song got me hooked on X&Y, an album I would recommend to almost anyone interested in what I listen to. Every song on X&Y was something that I cherished, I picked them each apart to listen to every drum line, bass hook, guitar riff, and piano key. It was amazing all the way from the spacey 'square one' to the album titled sonnet 'X&Y' to the heartbreaking pop of 'the hardest part' to the wonderfully moody 'twisted logic' I even enjoyed the bonus track 'til kingdom come' Simply stunning from front to back.

Now as the title of this post claims it's not every day you come across an album that just makes you want to listen to the whole thing. So when one does cross my path, I think I'd like to share it. Enter 'Miami Horror - Illumination' Illuminate it does...

I stumbled in on miami horror by accident. After going on a binge of finding Fred Falke remix's I found a video for Illuminations 2nd song, and from what I presume 1st single off the new album 'I look to you' (trippy video too :). I was hooked. Right then and there I needed to listen to the rest of Illumination, and it was mind blowing. exotic drum lines, melodic vocals painting captivating scenes (OK thats a bit cheesy but you'll realize it once you pull up a curious ear), and synth that reminds of the last 40 years, epic!

And you know what? I think every song is a hit. just like X&Y, Illumination pulls you in and leaves you wanting more and more after each song, but not to worry the next song doesn't leave anything left to desire more. Maybe what attracts me to Illumination is that every song reminds me of another song, for instance 'holidays' leads me to daft punk and their album discovery, arguably what put french on top of what we consider house music today. 'Sometimes' infact has a rift that reminds of 'talk' off none other then X&Y. As for one song that I would say is a wonderful expression of Illumination, I leave you with this one. 'Moon Theory'

I would highly recommend listening to Illumination (and if you got the time, a second time through) Especially 'I look to you' 'sometimes' 'holidays' 'Moon theory' 'Echoplex' and 'Ultraviolet'

Enjoy, cheers!

good bye summer, shame you never had enough time to take off your jacket..

2010-09-07T21:28:00.000-07:00

If the weather was that terrible on you too? this might help you cheer up..
I know, I know......

mind blowing, it blows your mind, think about it..... no homo...

2010-07-10T21:46:00.000-07:00

Dude..... put down the food, take off the compression socks, clean the wax out of the ears

28 minutes of mind blowing nothing but....

BAG RAIDERS MINIMIX

http://www.banggang.com.au/podcast/the-bang-gang-podcast-14-bang-gang-12-inches-Bag-Raiders.mp3

please no questions, just sit back and listen!!

pipe down, this is the gold on the crown..

2010-07-06T21:46:00.000-07:00

Much to the rest of the content on this blog I don't talk much about my training or racing, it just doesn't sit well with me, I don't like to talk about it unless I have to. Well right now I don't have to, but I'm choosing to. I guess I've always taken the backstage, not quite there, not quiet first, not quite the team. Well whatever I'm not doing out in the spotlight, whats going on in the background must not be important? well stick around because I guarantee I won't disappoint

"Walk in there like your a 40 foot diamond, you know why? No? 'cause the only thing that can scratch a 40 foot diamond is another 40 foot diamond, thats why! keep a french eyeglass, a backstage pass, and a model for a lady" -Someone who knew it

Are You?

2010-06-23T19:06:00.000-07:00

jeff: "what is this?"

me: "It's Barry Manilow"

jeff: "who is Barry Manilow?"

me: "you know? Barry Manilow... Mandy... Copacabana?"

jeff: "......"

me: "nothing?"

jeff: "nope, doesn't ring a bell"

me: "Are you kidding me! Barry Manilow! ..... if your not a Fan-nilow you can get the fuck out right now!"

A Tribute To Brook Powell

2010-06-22T10:49:00.000-07:00

To Brook Powell,

A God among men, we walk this earth within your shadow, yet you stand beside us mere mortals.

If you were to pass before your time I will forever make the world know your might and power.

I shall immortalize your image as a solid marble statue 69,000 cubits in height

(1 cubit=0.52m)

Coat it in GOLD and raise it to the edge of space.

Through those eyes I shall place a laser with diamond lenses for your iris' and reign hell upon the earth below.

I shall wipe the entire state of Oklahoma from the face of the earth, and possibly the Tokushima Prefecture of Japan, I haven't decided yet..

And from then on out for 20 millennia when someone asks "who was Brook Powell?" they shall answer

"A Great Man!"

For further reading I have included a list of my 5 favourite cheeses (in no particular order)

1 Swiss

2 Brie

3 Havarti

4 Edam

5 Gouda

Guess what?

2010-06-19T20:47:00.000-07:00

what?

chicken butt,
thats what!

so lately I've noticed training is starting to take its toll on how current information is perceived and processed mainly since when have daytona prototypes be allowed to race in the rolex GT series? seriously? I just found out today, its a kick to the nuts, now I'm starting to wonder about others things and then it hits me BAM!!!

"fuck aaron your out of it, like your spaced out like a space cadet, your a mess, you should just to go bed now, don't even bother sitting around to watch planet earth at 10pm, just walk past the compression socks, you know your not going to put them on.................douche....."

^ its not that bad, training this much is worth when you get on the start line, believe me..........douche..... :)

Sure doesn't sound like them... But I'm not complaining

2010-05-30T21:34:00.000-07:00

Apparently it was "too sexy" for viva, that might be a matter of opinion but its a great tune, turn an ear and have a listen.

Lhuna by Coldplay featuring Kylie Minogue

Schwimming...

2010-05-13T12:29:00.000-07:00

does 16:30 sound too fast? the more I think about it the less it does...

1:01, 1:04, 1:06, 1:06, 1:06, 1:07, 1:07, 1:07, 1:07, 1:07, 1:07, 1:07, 1:07, 1:06, 1:05

maybe at the right time, at the right place...

Just a thought....

why be serious?

2010-04-16T19:07:00.000-07:00

why? 'cause its for chumps, if I want the stress from workouts to follow me after the workouts, I'll do a longer warm down.

Don't..Don't even worry about it...

2010-04-09T22:07:00.000-07:00

1. concrete and asphalt have relatively similar friction coefficients when dry and warm, however concrete has a better friction coefficient when wet compared to asphalt, the down side to this is concrete is formed in slabs and placed on to the ground with the addition of expansion gaps unlike asphalt which as an oil product can be "spread" in a sense on the surface. the conundrum is whether you would want more grip with bumps, or less grip and a smooth surface in wet conditions.

2. ceramic bearings are the new "it" item, they are very dense, very round, and when used with synthetic oils have superior rolling resistance compared to standard steel bearings, less kinetic energy is converted into sound and heat energy. The top honours for bearings goes to NASA for ones used in a satellite to test frame dragging of space time, the bearings themselves being just bigger then a golf ball were to be enlarged to the size of the earth the highest peak would be 1m tall.

3. american anti-ballistic missiles are true marvels of how far rockets have come and rocket science being applied. The SM3, launched from an AEGIS battlecruiser is no longer then 6.55m yet can reach a target radius of 500km at an altitude of 250km, the kinetic warhead attached to the top of the missile searches for its targets in the form of ballistic warheads, and decoys, the temperature difference between the decoys and the warheads is what the the kinetic warhead looks for. It chooses a target based on its collected data, corrects its course, and collides at closing speeds reaching 8km/s, this whole procedure takes place all within a matter of seconds.

the above can been seen as taking something the size of a kitchen sink the distance from vancouver to kelowna, to a height the same as the distance of vancouver to seattle. then pick out something the size of a desktop computer surrounded by other items the same size from a distance of 160km away and hit it travelling at a relative closing speed of 28,800km/h, oh and all this done within less then 90 seconds.

4. Viroids are short stretches of circular, singles stranded RNA base pairs without a protein coat that is typical of viruses. viroids capable of infection are at shortest only 2000 base pairs. the viroid reproduces by using itself as a template for new viroids of assemble on the outside of its circular structure. who knew that just a couple thousand molecules assembled in a certain way can be capable of so much.

Totally forgot about this!

2010-02-15T11:48:00.000-08:00

wow, too long have I put something up, or maybe that is for the best, but enough of this extreme lack of personal opinion and mark a new beginning of more extreme personal opinion. starting with a little fact about tucson I have noticed, why the fuck is there no plain sticks of butter in the grocery stores? seriously! this is stupid, I don't want "whipped" butter, I don't want "non fat" butter, I don't want "corn" butter, I just want a plain salted stick of butter, is that too much to ask of this place?

woah... good to get that off my chest, and now something more positive.

Relatively speaking...

2009-05-19T18:38:00.001-07:00

So I travel a lot for races, I mean a lot. I swear I can recite the safety warning in both english and french while sleeping (and I almost failed french 9), but this much air time has got me thinking. I am slightly younger because of it.

Relatively speaking someone who is traveling at speed compared to a reference point it experiencing time slower then the stable reference point. This dilation is the principle of relativity. Thus because I travel a lot, therefore I am traveling at a faster speed then someone on a stable reference point i.e the ground my biological clock is a fraction of a fraction behind the said reference points biological clock, however as stated the difference is so fractionally small it pretty much is obsolete. for negligible results I would have to be traveling at, you guessed it, relativistic speeds, i.e. a percentage of the "c" the speed of light. However even in an extremely small and arguably unimportant way I am younger the the average population.... this hit me after 30 hours of no sleep

for those curious... this is what I listen to

2009-04-30T21:27:00.001-07:00

Crazy good!!!

Aprils almost up, and I haven't blogged s*** all!

2009-04-30T14:12:00.000-07:00

To anyone who might see this....

I am still alive (if you haven't noticed by the hilarious turtle video) but it has been too long and I feel compelled to write something. So in review of april everything has been well, and I am looking forward to next month. That seems to be all for the moment. I really don't have much to say in detail about it, In conclusion I will talk about a highlight of my month beside from the fact that it was my birthday, at a later point I might attach a video of this months highlight (yes the turtle was a highlight of march). so I went to the killers live at the SOFA, got a floor ticket, a T-shirt, and all I have to say for it was.... They are absolutely amazing live, they sound great. My floor seat managed to get me 20 feet back from center stage, If you ever get the chance go see them live, its well worth it.

I'm still alive!

2009-03-13T19:29:00.000-07:00

thats right I'm still here, and here is something for you.

Think about this for a moment

2009-02-26T22:55:00.001-08:00

Recently I have been reading around on the inter-tron about what started as fuel efficient cars, this lead to hybrid cars, then to plug in hybrids, full electrics, low mass vehicles, and up to hybrid bicycles. The final destination of my searching was what one bike can do. If every adult in the world rode a stationary bike for eight hours a day to generate electricity, they would crank out 80 gigawatts, the equivalence of 11 nuclear reactors, which is about enough to power roughly over a quarter of france, but still only half of 1 percent of our energy needs. However there is this new term which is called "negawatts", the effects of not using energy in the traditional form that we are used to, i.e. oil, and petroleum products. If each american driver cycled to work just one day a week, the US would cut there persian gulf oil imports in half! Now I'm not too sure on the exact numbers but most everyone knows how to ride a bike, and a majority of that own a working bike. Just looking at these numbers if two days cycled persian oil is cut out completely, three days canadian tar sands cut by a third. For five days, a standard monday to friday job, the US is no longer dependent on foreign oil. Now I think it is going to be pretty close to impossible to get every working person in america to do that. However just thinking about what is possible is amazing, and all it takes is a bike.

On a lighter note

2009-02-25T11:10:00.000-08:00

After a few posts of negativity I think it is about time for some positive news. I vaguely overheard recently that there is some break through in science which allows people who are normally allergic to peanuts to not eat them without the often fatal side effects. Personally I think this is awesome, peanuts, especially peanut butter is amazing, I could not see myself living without it. The same goes for shellfish, and the majority of seafood.

If your not going to listen to the "don't do drugs" lesson, at least give me a go

2009-02-24T14:00:00.000-08:00

So I have been sick for the past two weeks, and it absolutely sucks monkey balls. Kids! don't get sick, you'll thank me someday for this lesson, or come to the realization at the worst possible moment that "dammit, he was right, it does suck monkey balls". That is all.

luck can suck it!

2009-02-22T00:36:00.000-08:00

So over time I have realized there is no such thing as luck. Its not there, we think it is but when we are feeling "lucky" its because we did something, and if we want the "luck" to continue we better find out what it is we did and repeat it.

Case in point. Australia, it was in the relay and in a group of four on the cycle. I was looking around and its pretty fucking simple. 3 of us are getting medals, 1 isn't. I was pushing hard, I wanted a medal, and they played me for a chump and broke away 750m to the end of the bike. Now somehow you could say "aww, they are pretty lucky that they made it up to 3rd". No! coming on to the run I had one option for a medal, run down the 3rd place athlete, its not luck. Its simple are you or are you not going to change what you are doing.

From that point onward I don't believe in luck anymore, I think luck is just a term used to describe when we don't know what we did differently.

I really like this video because its an embodiment of what we perceive as luck. Its not luck that they have won Le Mans three times in a row, Its because they know what they are doing, and they have been doing it right consistently. At Le Mans you get 24 hours to figure it out, there is no luck involved. If your behind, well you got 'x' amount of hours to figure it out.

P.S. Yeah I don't understand the horse either, just ignore that part

If you noticed that this is only minutes after the first post, your looking too hard!

2009-02-21T19:41:00.000-08:00

So its been a long few minutes, but I feel obligated to inform you readers (if any) of what is going on in the NTC. Well first we are just a few weeks away from going down to Tucson, the wonderful little retirement community otherwise known as greater tucson. (awkward amount of silence) Its awesome! more on that later.

Next on the agenda. I have a wild card spot for PATCO. This stumps me, I would like to use vulgarity and profanities to voice my opinion of the situation, and you know what I will. What the hell! oklahoma! seriously. from past PATCO races south america does not show up, might be financial problems, might be level of competitiveness, might be no one at ITU told them what PATCO is and that they can come and race, but apparently we are limited to a certain amount of Canadian athletes and I could not be going! ummmm PATCO in Mazatlan we practically sent the whole freaking country down to race, what makes oklahoma any different, if anything there would be more Canadians racing, its a short jump across the border (relatively speaking). as well as the first paragraph I have more on this at a later time.

lastly that I feel like ranting on is the local senior driving populace, honestly 30km/h on dallas road, figure it out!

that is all, Cheers

First go at this, if I make it past a week, then um kudos to me I guess

2009-02-21T19:32:00.000-08:00

So here it is, I have caved and now without delay I have jumped into blogging. After much thought I see this blog as a port hole into what is going on personally with my training and day to day life, and as a 3rd person perspective of what is going on with the NTC. Along with this perspective I wish to voice my opinion of what is going on, why it is happening, and if the case does so arise why I hate the decision. So from this moment forward I declare that I have officially jumped into the "pool" of blogging, and it just so happens to be the deep end. I think this is going to be a sink or swim occasion.