Feedback / Injury Update

Well, I guess that foot problem that I was dealing with at the end of the season last year never really got 100% healthy as it is back. I am now on day 16 of no running and it is feeling better which is a good sign. I did go to the doctor this time and got an x-ray to make sure it wasn't a stress fracture or heel spur. The pain is mainly in my right heel and it only really bothers me when I'm running downhill as I tend to put a little more force on my heels when I'm running downhill, who knew??? Swimming was my only form of activity last week to give it a full break and I did cycle yesterday but I believe my foot wasn't too happy with me this morning so I just swam twice today. I figured this may be a blessing in disguise and will allow me to work on my swim. The next few weeks will probably be some high yardage with some quality workouts along with some cycling as the foot gets better. Cycling doesn't stress my foot too much so I should be fine as long as I'm not doing anything crazy. When I have been running over the past 2 months, the pain would be bearable during the run, but the worst part would be the rest of the day when I'm just walking around. The run would irritate it and then I would limp around afterwards. I figured that isn't any way to spend this whole season so I backed off and am letting my heel heal, ha.

 And I figured my blog needed an update. Let me know what you think.

Here is the swim workout I did yesterday just for fun. You can adjust the send off's as needed.

Main set
4 x 150 odds first and last 50 at take out/finish effort, middle 50 long and lovely Evens middle 50 fast, 1st and last 50 perfect - 2:10
4 x 50 odds easy, evens mile pace :50
4 x 125 odds 1st and last 50 at take out speed, evens middle 25 fast 1:50
4 x 50 odds easy, evens 1000 pace :55
4 x 100 odds 1st and last 25 at take out speed. Evens middle 50 fast 1:40
4 x 50 evens at 500 pace 1:00
4 x 75 odds 1st and last length at take out/finish speed evens middle length fast 1:10
4 x 50 evens fast 1:05
200 easy

And a little picture in honor of my wedding that is coming up in September.

National Champs

I know I'm a few days late, but I still can't believe that UK won its first National championship since I have attended UK. I was a freshman during the 2003 - 2004 season when we were the #1 of #1 seeds in the tourney and then were upset by UAB. It ripped our heart out and the whole campus was just in shock for the remainder of the tournament. Unfortunately, over the next few years, we struggled to make it to the final four. In 2005, we had that thriller with Michigan St in which we lost in OT. Then in 2006 & 2007 we were the #8 seed. That is unheard of for UK basketball but we struggled during the year so we were happy to make the tourney. We hired a new coach in 2007 (big mistake) and he didn't even get us into the NCAA tourney in 2008. Fortunately, Calipari came to UK in 2009 and with him, we brought in DeMarcus Cousins and John Wall along with a few other studs. That year was AMAZING for UK fans as the last 3 years of UK basketball were horrendous. We had a fabulous team and were one of the top teams in the tourney. We were upset by West Virginia in the Elite Eight and that was as heart breaking as the 2004 tourney loss. I can't remember, but I believe we were the favorite to win and we didn't even make it to the Final Four. Then we lost 5 players to the first round of the NBA draft, which we kind of expected, but were hoping to only lose 3 - 4. The 2010 - 2011 team gave us what we wanted. The team didn't seem to be as good as the year before but they got us to the Final Four. We had a terrible SEC regular season as we lost most of our games on the road. But once we got to the tourney, we upset OSU in the Sweet Sixteen on a last second shot which was one of my top 5 moments as a UK fan. Then we went on to beat UNC in the elite eight before losing to UConn in the Final Four.

This year we had a extraordinary team and were just unstoppable. To have a player like Anthony Davis, and to have great support players for him is what made our team so great. Teague developed throughout the year along with MKG and Jones. Miller played a fabulous role coming off the bench. Lamb knocked down some big shots for us and played pretty consistently all year.

We played terrible and still almost beat Indiana at Indiana (if it weren't for that last second shot) and then we played like we were unbeatable during the SEC tourney and we almost lost the first 2 games before losing to Vandy in the final. I believe this was key for us to win the Championship as it reminded the boys what its like to lose and put a little first in them before the NCAA tournament. We played great the whole tournament and won a title.

Unfortunately, our fans acted like they did after we beat Baylor (Elite Eight), Louisville (Final Four), and the big game against Kansas. We were the heavy favorite to win so why would you celebrate like that after beating a Baylor team who wasn't THAT good and then again against Louisville. We were expected to win those games so there is no need to burn couches, flip cars, and shoot guns while destroying all kinds of other property. I feel that the celebration after the Nat'l Championship game was almost the most acceptable as most people just went to the streets and enjoyed the company of other UK fans as opposed to doing a bunch of stupid stuff like after the Baylor and Louisville games.

I'm super happy to be both a UK fan and a St. Louis Cardinal fan. I don't know if I have ever had my 2 favorite teams win a championship in the same year. And on top of that, the Cards won their opening night game last night. Baseball is a LONG season, but I'm always ecstatic when the season starts.

Now that the triathlon season has officially started with some big races this past weekend, it made me wish I had signed up for one of those 70.3 races and traveled to either Texas or Cali. I'll have to look into it next year, but I'm gearing up for NOLA 70.3 here in about 2.5 weeks.

T-Bird

The Hunger Games & March Madness

Yes, I know, its been out for a while but I'm late to the game. I just finished reading this book and it was fantastic. It was a super fast read and I thoroughly enjoyed it and am super pumped for the movie that comes out tomorrow. What a great way to enjoy my "recovery" week other than watching the Cats play tomorrow night, watch the Hunger Games on Saturday, and then hopefully watch the Cats again on Sunday (assuming we can beat Indiana which we failed at miserably the first time we played them).

Training has been going great with no set backs and with race results starting to pop up, it gets me even more excited for the season. I was kind of depressed with San Juan 70.3 last weekend since I was sitting in KY not doing that race like I did last year. But the weather has been AMAZING for the past 1.5 - 2 weeks. It is 82 right now and sunny. This has allowed me to put in some solid bike miles without riding the trainer once. I had a huge bike week last week, when compared to all of my other weeks this year, and am recovering from that week this week. Its my down week this week so I have been doing some catching up on my reading and enjoying my relaxed workouts.

When it comes to reading, I believe I have done more reading in the past 3 - 4 months than I did all of 2010 and 2011 combined. I start every morning with my Bible reading (or 90% of mornings). I am currently doing a "read the Bible in a year" plan and as of right now, I am right on schedule. Obviously, I'm still in the Old Testament and it is very interesting.

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" was kind of the book that really got me reading a lot this year. I read that series of books in about 2 - 3 weeks or so. These are great books but there is A TON of info/details that has to be processed. These books go into a great amount of detail and they introduce a bazillion characters. So its hard to remember each and every character but they are definitely worth your time if you haven't already read them.

Then I went straight into Stephen King's new book "11/22/63" which was fantastic. I had trouble putting this book down. In short, its about time travel and the Kennedy assassination. This, I believe, is the longest book that I've ever read. But it went by fast.

I then read "The Meaning of Marriage" which was actually recommended to Casey and myself (since we are getting married in September) by several different people. It has some fabulous insight into marriage and how to make the marriage work while also helping each individual realize that their relationship with God is the most important aspect of one's marriage (or single life). I believe it will help our relationship and our marriage while helping up develop that strong relationship with God.

And most recently was "The Hunger Games." I am now reading the 2nd book and making quick work of it as I'm about a third of the way through it and just started it last night. This may mean I have too much down time and I need to train more???

The first 1/2 of my race schedule is now posted at www.usprotri.com I will start it off in NOLA for the 70.3 there in April. Then Rev 3 Knoxville on May 6th, Columbia Triathlon on May 20th, Rev 3 Quassy on June 3rd, and Eagleman 70.3 the following weekend. I will then return to Muncie 70.3 for revenge on that stupid run course as it destroyed me last year. After that race, there are about 6 - 8 races that I have my eyes on, but only 2-3 that I can actually fit into the schedule before the Wedding. I'll keep you updated but am focused on the first 1/2 of my season for right now.

Well, I guess the main focus for RIGHT now is for the Cats to win the big dance this year. Calipari has done a fantastic job with the team and they have been exciting to watch this year.

9:45pm tomorrow night vs. IU. tune in.

Where have you been???

Yes, I know. It has been a long time and I'm sure that my dedicated readers have stopped checking as they have given up on me. I will assure you that training is going well and that I am doing well. Wedding Planning, Triathlon training, and coaching have taken over the past few months. Casey has taken charge for the wedding planning and I'm just her support crew. I help out when I can, but mostly stay out of the way. It has actually gone very well and there is no way I could have done over 50% of the things that she has done.

My training has been very good. I haven't done anything too crazy, just putting in the work. My goal the past few months was to be consistent with my training which it has been. My run training has slowly come back as I finally got rid of that stupid heel pain that I had. I thought that it was Plantar Fasctia (spelling?) but found out that I did everything that I did to prevent/cure this disease (while taking time completely off from exercise), did not help with the pain. I never really got a diagnosis but Casey's mom (who is a Physical Therapist) thought that it may nerve related and showed me some stretches to help with this. I did those stretches and it helped and got better.

I don't have a race schedule set in stone for the year yet but I am still with the US Pro Tri team. We have picked up a few new guys and have a pretty solid team this year. It is always exciting to have a line of sponsors to help out and to be apart of such a good team. I'll have my race schedule soon.

The only thing that is set in stone is...

MY WEDDING!!!!

SEPTEMBER 2ND, 2012.

I'll post more often from here on out. I promise.

Tony

FF - Championship weekend

Unfortunately I am not apart of it. Both of my teams were denied the finals in Fantasy Football and it was upsetting, especially in my "work" league. Eli Manning's pass to a wide open Hakeem Nicks and then Nicks dropping the ball cost me my shot in the championship. I only lost by 4 points and Eli only scored me 6 points when his average is well above 20 in our league. If he would have had the one TD, that would have given him at least 6 more points. My other league I just got destroyed as the opposing team had 3 players score 30+ (Matt Stafford, CJ Spiller, and Aaron Hernandez).

Pick ups of the week:

Bear's RB - Kahlil Bell. He filled in for a Marion Barber who was not playing well and managed to score 19 points in my league and is still available. He will most likely get the start for week 16 against the Packers.

Donald Brown - Colts RB: I happened to be in attendance when the Colts got their first win of the season and Brown looked really good even if Addai got the start. Brown popped off a few long runs, and had the big 80 yard TD run to seal the deal against the Titans.

Side Note: I was really impressed with Jake Locker as I'm a Titan's fan. Hasselbeck did not have a good game and I hated to see him stay in as long as he did. When Locker came in, he drove the offense down the field and scored a TD. Hopefully the Titans have a future star in Locker.

It is the last week of the season in most leagues so most owners have stopped caring since they aren't in the finals (including myself). But if you are fortunate enough to have made the finals, good luck and look into players that are filling in for injured players if you really need to fill a hole in your line up. Pretty much the same advice I gave last week.

Tony

Christmas Movies - My Top 5

Since it is the week of Christmas, I will rank my top 5 Christmas movies with a few honorable mentions.

#5: Home Alone & Home Alone #2
These are classic movies with all kinds of quotes whether it is Kevin calling out in an empty house, "mom? dad? buzz? where are you guys?" or its the gangster movie quote "I'm going to give you to the count of 3...". Or when he is running from Rob Schneider in the Plaza Hotel, these are both classic Christmas time movies. It is every boy's dream to do whatever he wants whether he is getting room service in a hotel or just has the house to himself.

Honorable Mention: The Santa Clause with Tim Allen. I have loved this movie ever since it came out and I'm not sure why. Every time I watch it, someone gives me grief for watching a terrible movie. I don't care. I was a huge fan of "Home Improvement" when I was young so maybe I just secretly have a man crush on Tim Allen or maybe I'm just hoping to become Santa Clause one day. Then I guess I'll have to change the main topic of my blog from Pro Triathlete to Christmas posts and updates on toy making from the North Pole.

#4: How the Grinch Stole Christmas (cartoon and Jim Carrey version)
This is a classic Christmas movie so it is a must watch during the holiday season.

Honorable Mention: The Polar Express. I may have been a little old when this movie was released to really enjoy it, but it is a great Christmas film.

#3: Elf
Will Farrell is fantastic in this film (I'm not a huge fan of his). He's so naive about everything in NYC and he reaction to everything is great. And having Zooey Deschanel in it doesn't hurt. The movie helps reverse the myth about Parents actually putting out presents instead of Santa. He clearly states, "They (parents) can't do all of that in just one night. I suppose they eat Santa's cookies as well?"

Honorable mention: Die Hard. One of the greatest action films of all time with Bruce Willis. I may or may not have secretly watched this at a very young age and learned a few words I shouldn't have. Unfortunately for the terrorists that take over this large company in LA on Christmas Eve, John McClane just happened to be at the Christmas party with his wife/ex-wife.

#2: National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Chevy Chase plays a father who wants to have the perfect Christmas which turns to hell as all of the family shows up early along with his crazy brother. This movie is a timeless classic and is full of laughs. It is always a movie I watch with my family during the holidays.

Honorable Mention: The Muppets' Christmas Carol. How can you not love the Muppets?

#1: The Christmas Story
One of my basketball teammates in the 7th grade informed me of the movie and all of its glory. He asked if I was going to watch the 24 hour marathon on TBS on Christmas Eve/day. I asked what he was refering to and he just told me to watch the movie and I would understand. Ever since that first viewing, I understand. This is the best Christmas movie and clearly worth at least 4 viewings during the 24 hour marathon. I try to watch it at least 6 times and the only time my TV leaves TBS during that marathon is when a sibling/family member changes it. Now I am out and about during this time, so I don't actually watch it 12 (sleep, meals, exercise, travel, etc.) but I try to watch it as much as possible. Whether I'm googling at the leg lamp, laughing at his little brother pretending to be a pig, watching him beat up the bully, or ironically seeing him shoot his eye out, it is definitely worth watching. But that stupid rabbit suit always gets a laugh out of me.

Honorable Mention: Scrooged. A fantastic take on the classic A Christmas Carol. I believe A Chrismtas Carol also needs to be listed as it is a great movie, but I guess watching 3 movies with the exact same plot is a little overkill, even if one has Bill Murray, the other has the Muppets, and the last has George C. Scott.

Need to See: Bad Santa. I have heard it's hilarious but have never actually seen it all the way through.

I guess that's my list. I recommend watch at least 5 if not all of the movies that I've listed this week to put you in a great mood and help give you the holiday spirit.

FF update: On to Round #2

Whew. I barely made it past the first round in my playoffs, but I did successfully in both of my FF leagues. This is the 3rd year in a row for making the Final Four in my "college buddies" league, and then this is the first year of my other league so obviously its my first as well.

In the work league, I was going against my roommate who had some very solid players such as Matt Ryan, who threw for 4 td's this past weekend, Lesean McCoy, Antonio Gates, Steve Smith, and Desean Jackson. He actually had Kevin Walter go for almost 20 points as well. Fortunately for me, I had Eli Manning, Ray Rice, Marion Barber, and Rob Gronkowski all have fantastic games. Barber really stepped up for me against the Broncos' defense. But I believe what won me the game was the fact that my roommate didn't start Antonio Gates which boggles my mind. I have no idea why he did this, but he told me his other TE was projected to score more (which I question since he has a TE from the Browns). But I also had Nate Washington and Miles Austin on my bench and started Damien Williams and Anquan Bolden instead (which did not help my score). Anyways, I went into the Sunday night game losing by 12 but confident that Eli could score 12+ points as he was the only player left to play out of both of our teams. Barber was the surprise player on my team and turned out to be a great pick up since Forte is now out for a few weeks. I have another player that I'm looking at picking up this week but will not mention him until after players are cleared to be picked up from my league's waiver wire.

In the other league, we were even just about all day on Sunday but fortunately for me, he always had a few more players playing (or finished playing) than I did and I had a few player playing Sunday evening with only 1 of his WR's to play in the Monday night game. I had a solid 38 point lead going into the Rams/Seahawk's game last night and his WR definitely surprised me by putting up 23 points and making it a close game but I was able to hold on for Victory. Doug Baldwin was his WR which has played well as of late so I would recommend to pick him up if he's available in your league and need a good WR for your team. Marshawn Lynch is just amazing as he's leading the NFL in rushing over the past 5 - 6 weeks. He wasn't on either of our teams, but is definitely worth a fantasy shout out this Tuesday morning.

I had Carson Palmer throw 4 Int's for me which was terrible, but had a new member to my team score 2 td's and rush/receive a lot of yards for a total of 24 fantasy points for me. This was Ryan Grant from the Packers who is stepping in for the injured James Starks. Laurant Robinson and Hakeem Nicks both had huge games as well which really carried my team. Steve Smith from the Panthers had a good game but was overshadowed by my other WR's since he ONLY scored 19 points, ha. There are weeks that I wish I had 1 WR put up 15, haha. David Akers from the 49er's kicked his way to 13 points which I am loving. Him and the 49er's D (which I also own) have had a great year. I was just lucky that Cam Newton didn't have one of his huge scoring games as that would have been the end of my fantasy season.

I have some hard matchups this coming weekend but we'll see how it all plays out.

Ryan Grant, Marion Barber, TJ Yates, Jabar Gaffney, Toby Gerhart were definitely worth picking up this past weekend as they had fantastic games (if they weren't already owned).

Joe Webb stepped in at QB for the Vikings and put up some solid points so he's definitely worth looking at for week 15 along with Jake Locker for the Titans if you need a QB. Or it is always helpful to find the backup player for the big name guy that you just lost to an injury such as the Matt Forte / Marion Barber situation. Or James Starks / Ryan Grant. Or Adrian Peterson / Toby Gerhart. Or Arian Foster / Ben Tate. Do you get my point?????? (This works best with RB's and not necessarily with WR's and TE's but is still worth looking at if you're in dire need)

Tony