Recently in Athletics Category

TV bugs me. It's such a time sink. You don't realize it, but you waste a lot of time thanks to your TV. It's not just the time you watch, either, it's the time you think about the TV. Stop watching for a week and see what I mean.

However, I love to watch the Minnesota Vikings, and since I live in California, I don't get to see them live very often, so I watch them on TV.

Recently I needed to replace the video card on my computer, so I got an ATI All-In-Wonder 2006 graphics card (I need to convert some video tape to DVD). It includes a TV tuner. Today the Vikings are on TV locally, and my computer is acting as a TiVO. I love it. It's not perfect (I'd like to be able to set how long the forward/back jumps are), but it's pretty damn nice. I'm not sure I'm ready to recommend it to everyone, but it's working for me.

PVRs are the future. What does live really mean?

I bought a pair of Nike Free shoes today. Unlike the ones in the link, mine are blue and yellow.

These shoes are supposed to be more like running barefoot than a typical shoe.

I ran on the treadmill at NikeTown for about five minutes. When I really got into my ChiRunning stance, the shoes felt really good.

Last night, after work, I went for a run down the Embarcadero, from the Ferry building, down past SBC Park, around McCovey Cove, and then back. It was about 3.5 miles. What a great run! Lots of room, so no fear of running down pedestrians and great views of the Bay, the bridge, ships, and sailboats.

If you work downtown and go to a gym to run on the treadmills, stop! Run this route instead. You'll thank yourself.

You can see close to the route I took from Google Maps. The only thing different is that I went south just before SBC Park and ran around the backside. Once I crossed the channel, I turned east and ran to the end of the point.

At the point is a statue of Willie McCovey himself and a small ball park for kids that they call the Junior Giants. One of the other really interesting things is, along the path, a history, in stone monuments, of all the players that have played for the SF Giants. Take a look at the Giants page on McCovey Point.

I swam 1,400 yards today. It was in a pool, not open water, but it's making me a little less anxious about my upcoming triathlon. So, it's paying off in that way, but that's not he only way.

My brother was s serious swimmer in high school. I wasn't. I was telling him via IM today how good my swimming is getting. He's envious - he wants to swim more. Anytime you can make you sibling envious about your way of life, it's good.

My schedule is so much better now that I've committed to this exercise program. I get up at six, have a good breakfast, BART down to the gym, workout, and head to work clear and refreshed. I also get to start my mornings with my wife.

The last thing is probably the most important, though. My actions are having clear positive effects. It's not hard, really. Decide what you want to add to your life, make some changes, and work it into your life. Dedicating yourself to good actions pays off.

I'm training for my next triathlon (the ICE Breaker). It's been raining a lot, plus it gets dark early, so my bike training is indoors. I've been looking for an indoor training so I can ride my own bike, rather than riding some exercise machine. Now I've found the perfect indoor trainer Inside Ride Bicycle Treadmill. It's a treadmill for bikes. What can I say? Wow.