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Archive for October, 2010

Beer Mile Fail

Sunday, October 31st, 2010

I’ve heard about and seen pictures and videos of beer miles across the country for a while now, but had never done one and was definitely on my athletic bucket list. So when Kim sent me an invite, I jumped at the chance.

There are a lot of rules, but here is the breakdown:

Chug a beer, run a lap on 1/4 mile track.
Repeat 4 times
Beer must be at least 5% alcohol
Puke before the finish line and you get a penalty lap.

I didn’t have any huge expectations, but at least was hoping for a respectable MOP performance. I didn’t now what to expect, and didn’t really have a strategy. I pondered over proper beer choice the week before and finally settled on Bud Heavy.

Saturday night, the crowd gathers in the bleachers just after sunset and after some muddling around, everyone stacks up their 4 beers on the edge of the track and wait for time to be called.

GO!

Everyone simultaneously cracks open their beers and starts chugging. It goes down smooth, sorta. As each person finishes their first beer, they head off on their lap. I was somewhere towards the back and immediately pass Kim who finished chugging her beer just before mine.

And then the burping started. The sort of burps that could knock the shoes off of my feet and set off a few car alarms. Surprisingly, the 12 oz of suds in my stomach didnt seem to slow me down too much. I was holding 8:30-ish pace and felt pretty good, especially after I release some gas.

Second beer: NOT as smooth as the first. I legitimately thought that I was going to throw up. As an avid beer consumer, the disappointment in my performance started here and only got worse. Once I was able to squeeze out some more window-shattering belches, I felt INSTANTLY better. Kim passed me back, I lost a few more places and the race continued.

The third and fourth beers were more of the same. Run, chug, urge to puke, cover mouth, belch, relief, chug, run as fast as I can. Pain. It was just plain ugly. For a guy that had only once since the ironman a month ago and had consumed plenty of beer in that time, I was very surprised and confused that running was somehow my strength (in comparison to my poor chugging abilities).

Each lap was slower than the next and I crossed the line somewhere around 12:37 (but I can’t really remember). The worst part? DFL.

Yeah, I was the caboose on this beer chugging train. NOT proud of that at all. Needless to say, this won’t be my last beer mile because I HAVE to improve on my crap-ass performance. If I can practice belching, I think I’ll be in much better shape. That was definitely my biggest obstacle, and one I was not anticipating at all.

Oh yeah, and chugging four beers in under 15 minutes and being stone-cold sober is a little strange, but when my BAC eventually caught up with my stomach, I was one sloppy puppy.

Tags: beer mile | Posted in Race Reports, Running | 2 Comments »

I Heart Food

Friday, October 29th, 2010

Kim tagged me in her last post, so here is my take on her list of questions, because food is important in triathlon. It keeps me going while I’m training, and keeps me happy when I’m recovering.

1. If you could eat anything without any health repercussions or guilt, what would your meal be?

Cookies. Chocolate chip cookies. I have an insatiable appetite for a good chocolate chip cookie.

2. If you could meet anyone living or dead who would it be and why?

Steve Prefontaine. Because he was bad-ass. And because I know that the movie “Without Limits” is WAY better than “Prefontaine.”

3. Why did you start blogging and what did you expect when you started?

I started blogging after I did my first my first sprint triathlon and had major anxiety about doing my first olympic distance triathlon. I got the feeling that unless I did something about it, triathlon training can get pretty lonely. Blogging solved that really quick and some of the most amazing people I’ve met (both digitally and in person) throughout my whole live have come through this blog. If you are reading this right now, there is a good chance I’m talking about you, so thanks.

4. What is the one book you could read over and over again?

To be honest, I’m not a big book guy. I only read a book every 2 years, at most. I read and write pretty much constantly at work, so coming home and curling up on the couch with a book is just not a relaxing image for me.

5. If you could travel anywhere, where would it be?

I really want to go camping and hiking in the rockies. The white and green mountain ranges in New Hampshire and Vermont are great, but I want to get out into the wilderness in some big stuff out West.

6. If you could have a TV show on the Food Network, what would it be?

I would definitely want to be Alton Brown’s co-host. I love Good Eats. He is the perfect blend of chef and nerd. I love it.

7. What was the best meal you ever had?

The best meal I ever had was garlic mashed potatoes, filet mignon with herb butter and friend onion strings on top. It was amazing.

The best singular thing I ever ate was a cup of grapes at mile 26 of the marathon at Rev3 Cedar Point. It was crack in grape form. Like a taste bud orgasm. I loved it and wish I could find grapes like that again.

8. Who has been the greatest influence on your love for food and learning to cook?

That is an easy one. My mom. She taught me everything that I know about cooking. Living in a house with four kids and doing sports all through high school, satisfying my insatiable teenage athlete hunger was a constant battle. She taught me to fend for myself, understand what flavors go well together and have the confidence to walk into a kitchen, grab whatever is available and mix it up into something delicious.

So I’m tagging:

Chloe because she is tapering for IMFL next week.

Ryan and Meg because they are two of my awesome Trakkers teammates.

Sonja and Erika because they sent my ThermaJock blog post to their moms, which alone made laugh so hard that I peed my pants, just a little.

| Posted in Life, Nutrition | 2 Comments »

Ironman Access

Thursday, October 28th, 2010

There are a lot of things that I could say about the Ironman Access disaster, but instead of me ranting, go check out check out this, this or this. Ironman is so opposed to letting athletes defer or transfer their registration or create a wait list that they’d rather charge their customers $1,000 to get guaranteed access to their races.