Frankenfish: A GoPro Design
May 11, 2012 in Ironman, Training
Life Update: May 2012
I’m packing up and moving again… for a little while at least. I have accepted a position
Life Update: May 2012
May 4, 2012 in Random
I’m packing up and moving again… for a little while at least.
I have accepted a position at Students of the World as an Entertainment/Screening Tour Manager based in Austin, TX. Students of the World is a non-profit organization whose primary purpose is to increase support and awareness for organizations who are improving the lives of others. They, excuse me, we produce media and engagement strategies for organizations who address issues in six key areas:
- Water
- Women + Girls
- Education
- Environment
- Health
- Development & Recovery
We are a group of people who believe one thing: Progress is being made everyday across the globe in even the most dire of situations, and these stories need to be told.
I’ll be starting the beginning of June and will be located in Austin up until early September when things go absolutely nuts. This is when the “Tour Manager” title begins to kick in. I’ll be in charge of booking entertainment acts and setting up screenings during a Progress Tour making stops to 25 college campuses around the United States for 2 months. I’ll be living on a bus with 12 other people who are part of SOW touring the US. The route has yet to be finalized but will be shortly and I will update everyone accordingly. Check out the Information Packet for a few details regarding the tour itself.
This is a 6 month gig and afterwards, who actually knows what will happen but I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. In the mean time, I’m going to be enjoying my last couple of weeks in SoCal and spending time with my sister and Kinsey. If you want to make a trip out here, you better hurry. My plan is to stop by Oklahoma for a few days before heading down to Austin later this month. I’m incredibly excited to be working for such an awesome organization and I’m sure it will be a great experience and am hopeful that this opportunity will lead to great things for me in the future. Fingers crossed.
Open Water
April 22, 2012 in Ironman, Training
This weekend was busy. I spent 4 hours on my bike on Friday riding just over 63 miles in the freaking mountains and then I spent both Saturday and Sunday morning at the La Jolla Coves practicing a little open water swimming. It was my first time to visit La Jolla for the sole purpose of swimming. Open water swimming is completely different than doing laps in a regular pool. You would think that it would translate over to the ocean, but not entirely.
Saturday was my first time to ever attempt an open water swim. I arrived in La Jolla not knowing exactly where to go. I drove around and saw a life guard stand. I stopped and got out to check the situation. It looked like decently calm waters but there were seals everywhere on the beach and no one swimming. I got back in my car to drive around a little more and finally I found it. There were probably 10-15 swimmers around. Some in wetsuits and some in nothing more than a speedo. Mind you, the water was a mild 57 degrees Saturday morning.
I get prepared to go into the water. I get on my wetsuit (because I’m no dummy) and swim cap and goggles and head down to the water. I put one foot in and lost my breath. It’s cold. Even with a wetsuit, it’s cold. I start heading towards the 1/4 mile buoy because I figured I could handle that. This is when I start feeling things that I’ve felt before. My first triathlon last summer, I had these same feelings. I was short of breath and couldn’t catch it and every time I put my head in the water, I would freak out and would have to immediately come up for air. After about 200m of this, I was able to string together consecutive strokes and make some progress. I turn at the buoy and head back to shore. What really freaked me out was the seaweed that I’d swim into occasionally. At one point, I swallowed a kiddie size pool’s worth of salt water. After I struggled to get back to shore, I was relieved but I wanted to do it again because I knew it could only get better.
Sunday, I get up and do the same routine. I got my coffee and headed down to La Jolla… maybe a 30 minute drive. Once I arrive, conditions are perfect and the water is a warmer 58 degrees. I get on my wetsuit and meet a man and woman that were about to head out. He asked if I wanted to join and of course I said yes because I had no idea how today was going to go. We started off and I got that feeling again of shortness of breath but this time it didn’t last nearly as long. We headed in a different direction too and we stopped for a moment and I asked where we were going. We were going to the half-buoy. That’s a half mile there and a half mile back rather than the 1/4 mile buoy where going to it and back equaled 1/4 of a mile. Once I was aware of it, I felt fine. I found my pace and just went at it. Nothing spooked me (not even the seaweed I’d occasionally hit). I was feeling great. We stop at the 1/2 mile and chit chat for a moment and finally head back. At that moment, my wetsuit was beginning to chafe the back of my neck but it didn’t bother me too much. Half way back to shore, I stop and look around and come to the realization as to what I was doing. I was swimming… in the ocean… without much else to worry about other than not drowning. It was very cool and then I saw something even cooler. To my left, I saw a seal about 10ft from me surfacing every second with a fish in his mouth. It was quite an awesome moment.
I got back on dry land and unzipped my wetsuit. My neck was burning by this time. It hurt so bad. Raw skin with the help of salt water to really set it on fire. I hit the showers immediately to rinse myself and my wetsuit off. Today was so much better in the water and I felt way more comfortable. I was really pumped once I was dry and over looking where I just swam. I can’t wait to do it again… this time with my GoPro!
New Approach.
April 20, 2012 in Training
I’ve been in California for just over a month now. It’s been a busy month surprisingly. I got to go to the zoo with Kinsey once and have been to the beach several times but have yet to take out my brother-in-law’s surfboard 
because I don’t want to put in the effort to go out there by myself and be absolutely terrible. California has been awesome. I need to get that J-O-B though.
I’ve been staying super busy with training. Between crossfit, cycling, swimming and running, I’m pretty beat by the end of each day. I’m on a somewhat regular training schedule and getting my confidence back a bit in all areas but especially swimming and cycling. Last week, I went on a 56 mile bike ride to Torrey Pines Golf Course and back. To the right, you’ll see the end result. Swimming is going smooth as well. I’ve got my strength back after that break I had a month ago and am back to my regular distance swims. This Saturday, I’m giving open water swimming a try in La Jolla. I just hope I don’t end up as Dolphin-safe shark bait. I’ll let you know how that goes.
Now onto adult talk. I’ve revamped my resume to try and stand out and at the very least, get a double take by HR and hiring managers. I haven’t had much luck in the job department thus far, but I’m not terribly worried about it just yet (thanks tax return!). Hopefully this resume will help out a bit. I went with a retro feel and am hopeful that this portrays my personality as well as my ability and fun that I could bring to a company. This week, I spoke with someone that may have an opportunity in the near future that would be quite a ride… literally. I’ll have more details on that next week maybe. HIRE ME.
I’m Ron Burgundy?
March 16, 2012 in Random
I made it!
I made it to Oceanside, California with all of my possessions minus a mini football that I left at Cole’s house. I’m somewhat upset because that football has been everywhere! Dallas, OKC, St. Louis, Cali, Turks and Caicos…. everywhere! But besides that, everything turned out just fine on my trip from Oklahoma City to Oceanside. It took roughly 36 hours, but I made it in great time!
Saturday evening, we hosted a little going away party at my friend Cole’s house. It turned out to be a big success. Everyone seemed to make an appearance at some point in the night and only one person got hurt trying to ride one of my bikes so that was fun. I got to see most every one of my friends that have meant a great deal to me all through high school and college. It was a great way to say goodbye… the way we spent the majority of our time together… not entirely sober. Here is the only picture from the evening. We’re awesome at documenting nights like these.
I started out Sunday afternoon making my rounds with my family. My mother was taking it really well….. she just had to make sure she didn’t make eye contact with me. I saw my grandparents, aunts and uncles and then for the finale had dinner at my parents where my mom made meatloaf, mashed potatoes and peas and dumplings. Everything was fantastic and I knew it would be because that’s what I asked for. I said goodbye to them around 8pm and it was harder than expected. Nothing really hit me until right then that I was actually leaving to live elsewhere. My mom packed a bag of goodies like mothers do for my road trip and I was off to go pack up. I had been staying at Cole’s since there is an extra bed at his house and he had room for everything of mine (not much). I began to pack up and things got really weird. Amanda had cooked an awesome Chicken Calzone that she got off Pinterest and of course I had dinner again. As I was packing, my emotions kept getting worse. I don’t deal with real-life situations that well as I usually I clam up and don’t talk. This happened a bit this time around as well. I just kept thinking, “Who does this? What am I going to do? I won’t get to hang out with my friends? I may, in all honesty, not see many of the important people in my life, for a good while.” Everything kept running through my head. I went to bed around 11:40 that night hoping to make it out by 6… I didn’t actually get to bed until 1 for sure.
I didn’t sleep well at all. I had weird dreams. I had too much on my mind. Then I woke up and got ready for the day. I said goodbye to Cole and Amanda and I was off. 80 miles later, I stopped in Weatherford to have breakfast with Bo and Jamie at a diner in town. Delish. After saying goodbye to them, I was off.
Fast forward with pictures…. Western Oklahoma to California…. 
I got into Oceanside at 4:30pm and was unpacked and asleep for the night at 7:30pm. Someone was tired. This has been a whirlwind the past 2 months and it has finally come down to me in California. I went to CrossFit yesterday and saw a few of the folks I met last time I was out here two months ago. They remembered me so that was cool. I’m known as the Oklahoma boy which is not. Today, I went and worked out at the local 24 Hour Fitness. I ran a few pick up games of basketball (for those who don’t know me that well… basketball is something that I love and am a huge fan of and for being 5’8″ and white, I’m not too terrible). I of course wore my bright yellow Kevin Durant’s and had to show up. I pretty much owned the place… seriously. I was on point.
Now for road trips thoughts:
- I like when rappers put the word “drank” in song titles.
- I heard “Rack City” no less that 11 times.
- New Mexico sucks.
- Arizona is exactly like you see in pictures.
- Thank you to Guy Fieri for pointing me in the right direction for all my meals. Some of the stuff was completely out of bounds.
- I really missed my cruise control that went out roughly a year and a half ago.
- My car has really earned her keep around here. Since I have owned her, she has seen both coasts… a road trip to NYC and now one to San Diego.
- I don’t know what all the fuss is about getting murdered in picnic areas, I slept just fine in one.
- Talk radio – thanks for saving my life more than once on this trip.
- LaQuinta – you think you are hot shit, don’t you?!
- To the guy who was in the bathroom at the Love’s in Amarillo… tell the guy you’ll call him back as your destroy the bathroom.
- I’m seriously glad I didn’t break down in New Mexico.
Thanks for riding along during this post. I hope to keep everyone posted as I continue on this crazy journey.
The Change Up
March 8, 2012 in Random
Sorry it has been a month and a half since I last posted while I was in California. There have a been some big time changes since I last posted so I thought I’d share everything. I’m currently sitting in the living room of my first house I bought with nothing in here except my computer and a bag full of my clothes for the next few days. More to come on this later.
Let me rewind a bit to when I was out in California. I spent two days shy of a month out in Oceanside, CA with my sister and niece. It was a nice little vacation that was unexpected after I was laid off from my job in Oklahoma. I took full advantage of being out there too. The Oklahoma City Thunder were on a West Coast road trip so I decided to join them as well. I made stops in LA to catch the Clippers-Thunder game, Oakland for the Warriors-Thunder game and trekked up to Sacramento for the Kings-Thunder game. It was awesome to see so many NBA venues. My dad went to the Clippers game with me, but I was by myself for the rest. I spent two days in San Francisco too and I absolutely fell in love with the place. It was exactly like NYC but on the Pacific Ocean. On my way back down to Oceanside, I took the Pacific Coast Highway. If you ever get a chance to drive that highway, do it. You won’t regret it. It had some breathtaking views.
After spending roughly a month out there, I decided to come back to Oklahoma to figure things out. I knew what I wanted to do so I put the plans in motion and once I did that, I caught a lucky break at the perfect time. I have had my house for sale for 8 months but it was priced a bit high just to see if people would take interest in it and maybe I make a little more money that way. Once I lost my job, I needed to lower the price in order for it to sell. I did and 3 days after being back in OK, I had an offer that I accepted. It was an incredible feeling. Immediately, I began to pack things up and post big items on Craigslist and I even had a garage sale. I literally sold all of my possessions save for a car load and 3 boxes that I have stored at my parents house. You hear about people doing this all the time, but I personally didn’t know anyone who has done what I am doing.
I close on my house tomorrow (Friday, March 9th) at 4pm, 23 months after buying the thing. I have the final walkthrough this afternoon. Everything is out my very first house. It’s definitely weird and it finally hit me this past Monday as to what I was exactly doing. It was weird timing too because it hit me as I was telling my coach at CrossFit that this would be my last week and I needed to cancel my membership.
Anyone who knows me knows that New York City has been my go-to change things up locale. I am completely in love with NYC and everything about it and I always thought that I would end up there one day. It is kind of surprising that I would do exactly what I was hoping to which is just packing my stuff up and moving…. but to the complete opposite side of the country. I have been thinking about it a lot and I think that there are several reasons that I am choosing the West Coast rather than the East. One, it helps that I have a place to crash for a while until I get my feet under me. That’s not all of it though because I had those options in NYC too. I think that a big part of it has been the lifestyle that I’m trying to live and wanting to live. I’ve taken a liking to endurance sports as you know and out west, it’s training season all year long. I’m looking forward to mix things up.
I leave Monday morning with a car load of my possessions, my only ones, and make the journey west to begin a new adventure…..
California Love
January 22, 2012 in Random
Here I am in Oceanside, California… and I really don’t know when I’m going home.
I decided to pack and fly out to San Diego. I didn’t really tell anyone. I caught the 6:40am flight out of OKC and at noon Pacific time and $7.25 dollars later (a bus ride from the airport to the train station and a train ride to Oceanside), I had to make that phone call to my sister to ask her if she’d pick me up from the station close to her house. Luckily, she was around and not at the zoo with Kinsey, my niece. She was very surprised even though we had been talking about me coming out here for some time, I just never knew when I would actually do it. The fun thing is… I don’t have a return flight booked at all.
Once arriving, I got to see my niece and we went to the beach on base. They live on Camp Pendleton because my brother-in-law is a Marine and is stationed in Japan right now. My dad has been out here since the beginning of January to help out. The tide was incredibly low and we got some great pictures.
Afterwards, I fell asleep on the couch at 8:30 and did not wake up until 8am this morning.
Today has been a busy day. Not busy in the sense that I was on the go, but I did what I would normally do at home… just with a scenic backdrop. I went to a 24 Hour Fitness close by and shot some baskets. Then I did my CrossFit Endurance workout. I broke a sweat to say the least.
Once I recovered from it, got some niece time in as my sister ran errands, I headed to the beach to get my run workout in. 2x5k with 5 minutes rest between followed by 8 rounds of 20 second sprints and :10 rest.
Turns out, I even ran part of the course for tomorrows Carlsbad Marathon in a town just down the road. I contemplated running in it to get my California marathon out of the way but I only found out about it on Monday so I was in no shape to actually run 26.2.
I’ve been having trouble uploading my run, but once I do get it uploaded, I’ll post it.
So here I am in Oceanside, CA… and absolutely loving it so far. Also, I suppose this is an open invite to go steal anything and everything at my house.
The.Long.Swim.
January 19, 2012 in Ironman
60 minutes. (semi)Constant swimming. Incredibly sore arms.
My coach has been planning out my swim workouts for me because she comes from a swimming background. She’s always said that swimming is the one thing that you have to be prepared for when entering any Ironman race and I’m only assuming this, but I’m pretty sure it’s because you can die during the swim. We’ve talked the past two weeks of a benchmark swim where I’d swim for 1 hour and just see how far I can get. That way, she could see where I was in regards to my swimming. Last night, I got an email at 9:55pm (CST):
“We talked about this. Tomorrow might be a good day to get your tempo/TT swim in, so I can see where to go with your swim programming.
Warm up with 100 kick with fins and then 100 pull
60 minutes of how far you can get.
Cool down with 100 any other stroke but free and butterfly.
Let me know distance.”
I mentally prepared, looked at the pool schedule and set my alarm and was in bed asleep before 11.
The alarm went off at 5:40am. Sidenote: If you have an iPhone or an iPad, use the iHome app as your alarm. It is the taste. I go to bed listening to Bon Iver and wake up to M83 currently. Before that, Florence + the Machine and before that, Big Sean (I’m all over the map). I was at the YMCA and in the pool by 6:20. I started my 60 minute swim right at 6:30. I need to figure out a counting system because I seriously got bored/confused just trying to keep track of my 50s. By the time I had reached 2,000 meters, 34 minutes had already passed. I took a quick breather and got back to it.
This next 1,000m was ridiculous. I knew I shouldn’t have stopped. Like any endurance sport, especially running, if you stop in the middle of a long training session, it’s tough to get back going again. This was like everything else and my arms/shoulders were killing me when I got started again. I pushed through this 1,000m and stopped to take another breather. My breathing was actually fine and didn’t really strain for breath at any point through this, but my arms were tiiiiirrreedd.
Looked at my watch and decided to hit it hard for the next 8 or 9 minutes that I had left and somehow was able to swim another 375 meters.
3,375 meters done. I WAS BEAT.
I emailed my coach right afterwards and I am looking forward to what she has to say. I’ll keep you posted. So now I have that benchmark and now know where I need to go in order to swim the 2.4 miles in open water without having to take these breaks.
UPDATE: I got that Email back from my coach:
“That’s awesome. Be sure you eat today a lot. You have to add dairy back in your diet or you will risk health problems with the volume you are moving now. After this weekend ride, you should start losing weight if you haven’t already. You do not want to lose more than three pounds a week till you get to your racing weight. Racing weight is pretty low, but as long as you are eating and staying strong, it is okay.
My caloric intake is 3700 calories a day to try to maintain my weight. Yours has to be higher than mine to give you an idea of how much you need to be eating.
I will keep you at the 10% increase on the swim and give you more time to work on skill work and pull.”
All this is good to know because I’m heading to the grocery store right after I post this. I looked in my fridge last night as I was making an omelet for dinner that I was really really low on vegetables and for the first time EVER, I was sad because of this. What’s wrong with me?! I can’t wait for that nap soon!
Have a great day!
Ironman Training: Mid-January
January 16, 2012 in Ironman, Training
Swimming and cycling are my main focuses (focuses?) right now. Running has been my thing and I feel like I can put most of my effort towards swimming and cycling for the time being and not really lose that much off my run. I still run, but it’s nowhere near the amount I was running. So far, my favorite has definitely been swimming. Cycling is something entirely new to me and I’m just now learning the ropes. I have a ways to go but yesterday’s 24 mile ride was something I was encouraged by.
I’m no Michael Phelps (I don’t do recreational drugs), but I have already seen improvement in my swimming. I’m up to 1800 yards/meters in the pool and doing so at a fairly fast clip. I say fairly fast, because I’m only 3 weeks into training and I’m comfortable in the pool but not necessarily 2.4 mile comfortable. This morning, I woke up at 6am and went to the YMCA to get in my workout:
- Warm up (400y)
4 X 75 @ 1:30, 100 drill - Main Set (1200y)
6 X 200 @ 3:45, build effort by 50s - Cool down (200y)
2 X [4X 25 @ :35]
My coach told me last week that she’s creating these workouts with the idea that I’ll be getting out of the water, come race day, right at 1 hour. That’s a 2.4 mile swim in an hour. I can only hope right now!
Yesterday’s bike ride was one for the books… partly because it was only my 2nd real bike ride. This time, I went out with my coach and 2 other guys. They were taking me through the ringer, teaching me when to be in what gear and how to approach hills. 
Hills are something of particular interest due to the fact that I’ll be racing in Louisville, Kentucky where the entire bike course is rolling hills. I learned a ton just from yesterday and this gave me a little confidence boost. Confidence is where I am lacking when it comes to cycling too.
One day, Oklahoma will not be windy and I’ll be able to enjoy my long bike ride on the weekend.
Stay tuned this week, I may or may not have some fun news (regarding training) a little later this week.
Series of Unfortunate Events
January 14, 2012 in Random
Not necessarily a series rather than just one unfortunate event. I was laid off on Wednesday morning from my job that I have had since September 15, 2008. It was the last thing I was expecting to happen when I arrived in my office that morning. The marketing department was being restructured and everything is going to be outsourced from what I understood when leaving. I worked for a bank and I am assuming because financial information of customers is on hand, I had to leave immediately after the meeting with HR. It was not a happy moment, but I did laugh when I was handed a box to gather my personal items from my office because it was happening just as you see it happen in the movies. I’m typically a glass half-full kind of person (or I just have difficulties handling serious situations) so I have been finding a ways to look at this in a good way.
This is the first time I have been released from a job but it’s not the only time that I have been unemployed. I made a difficult decision back in 2008 and quit my job in Dallas to move back to Oklahoma. I have noticed this time around I have a more positive outlook on things and I can only attribute that to my health. It’s definitely a weird feeling but in all honesty, my health is the main reason why I know I’ll make it out of this just fine. The first thing I did after cleaning out my office was head to the gym to get my workout in. A few hours after my CrossFit workout, I went to the YMCA to swim 1800 yards (just over 1 mile) for my endurance workout of the day. Just doing those two things made my day so much better. That first go-around with unemployment, I wasn’t in great shape and looking back, it made being without a job so much harder. Mentally, I was just not doing well with the whole situation. This time, things will be just fine.
If you happen to be a hiring manager and stumble upon this post, please take a look at my LinkedIn Profile to see if I may be a good fit for you!
I’m good enough. I’m smart enough. And gosh darnit, people like me.