NY Times Article

Interesting article explains how body types are designed for different sports/activities.  So what you're trying to say is my short self wasn't made for swimming? 

 

HEALTH / FITNESS & NUTRITION   | September 27, 2007
Personal Best:  Bigger Is Better, Except When It's Not
By GINA KOLATA
Understanding why body size matters in certain sports can open your eyes to other possibilities, exercise researchers say.

 

Photos from Brightroom

Photos from Brightroom
Originally uploaded by john hayato

I also found a photo on their website of me after finishing the swim. i don't look very happy which goes against my rules for racing.
Rule #1 Don't do it if you're not happy.
Rule #2 If anybody is cheering, smile and say thank you.
Rule #3 Two rules are enough when you're concentrating on doing well in a race.

Revised results

revised results
Originally uploaded by john hayato

The results have been revised as I didn't run 10 km at a 6:09 pace. Someday maybe...

2007 Santa Cruz Sentinel Triathlon Results

Sentinel results
Originally uploaded by john hayato

So here are the results from my race. It appears that there were a lot of FAST people at this race since I finished 178th. Right from the start. As I was running into the water my left hamstring gave me a painful sensation. The swim definitely killed me during the race and when I was getting out of the water it felt like both my legs were going to cramp up. That is not normal as I don't use my legs much during the swim. I had trouble getting my breathing down during the bike and my feet were numb until about the halfway point of the run. Overall the weather was great for the race and I did a lot better than my first olympic distance triathlon (1.5 km swim, 40 km bike, and 10 km run). My only real complaint about the race is that there was a portion of the bike that was a narrow access road full of potholes (big ones) and it just happened to be a turnaround area so bikers are coming from the opposite direction, bikers also passing each other, and bikers trying to avoid potholes. I'm surprised I didn't hear about any horrendous accidents. The goal for this past year has been to qualify for Boston which explains my strong run. I took 10 minutes off my bike from my previous olympic distance but my swim was slower. Could be because this swim was in open water where there are waves, currents... and my first olympic was in an enclosed harbor.

Video from Santa Cruz Sentinel

Find more videos like this on Your Santa Cruz Sports

This video of the swim is a couple minutes after my wave (group) went. So at this point, I'm 10 minutes into the triathlon being caught by people who left 5 minutes after me. I'll be posting personal pics from my camera and also how I did in the next couple days. There was also an article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel today. Here are some cool pics from the website.


Find more photos like this on Your Santa Cruz Sports

Never a Dull moment.
Sept. 21, 2007 - Lunchtime

Happy Friday!

So today is not only Friday but it's also PARK(ing) Day.  Here's some background, "On November 16th, 2005, REBAR opened eyes worldwide by transforming a metered parking spot into a park. Locating a site that was underserved by public outdoor space, we installed a small, temporary park that provided nature, seating, and shade. By our calculations, we provided 24,000 square-foot-minutes of public open space that afternoon." ( http://www.parkingday.org/index.html)

 

Today as I was going to work I noticed people "setting up" their "parks" in parking spaces.  There was one that I had heard of that was located about a block from my office and on my way back from a meeting, I decided to check it out.  The spot was sponsored by a massage business, a pilates studio, and a virtual health community called TauMed.  I walked by and as it turned out, the people who had signed up for a massage were no shows so I was pencilled in :)

 

The massage really rejuvenated me physically and mentally.  One more meeting to end Friday and then it's off to Santa Cruz for a triathlon.

Good Karma, Bad Karma

What wonderful weather we had this past weekend.  With a triathlon coming up this Sunday, I spent sat. and sunday working on swimming, biking, and running.  On Sat. Pat and I went for a mile swim in the bay and then a 30 minute run.  We would have run for longer but I had a work bbq to go to in the afternoon.  Sat. night, my apartment had a little party with a theme.  People were supposed to dress like executives and secretaries.  So a bunch of people stopped by in their monkey suits while a lot of my friends decided to come in what they had been wearing all day.  I bore no ill will and actually told them that it was fine.  For s&#ts and giggles, I wore an actual monkey suit, with a tie of course.  The party lasted long into the morning but I called it a night after 2 glasses of wine around midnight.  Had a big training day planned for Sunday and those of you familiar with me know that exercise comes before partying, esp. when a race is coming up.  Woke up bright and early Sunday morning to an apt. that looked like a frat house and went down to the bay to get a 45 minute swim in with my triathlon club.  Lately seals have been known to bug people as they swim and it's not unheard of for a seal to nip at you.  This scares the crap out of me and felt blessed to not encounter a seal although there were a couple close by.  After a coffee break, a friend and I got on our bikes, headed over the Golden gate bridge, and whilst going down a hill I hit a pot hole with both wheels.  Soon afterwards, my back tire went flat and start fishtailing a bit.  Luckily my front tire didn't go flat right away and I was able to brake to a stop.  It was my first time having both tires go flat at the same time and I hope it never happens again.  Well, that was my weekend in a nutshell with little tidbits of private information left out.  Pictures of it all will hopefully follow soon enough. 

 

I have an Olympic Distance triathlon coming up on Sunday and although I've done quite a fews tris over the past couple years, this will be my second olympic distance one.  My first ever triathlon was the Ishigaki triathlon which was also an olympic tri.  I just looked up my splits and time.  My goal for this triathlon will be to improve upon all 3 areas.  So for your reference and mine, here are the stats from my first one.

Swim: 30:28, Bike 1:18:00, Run 0:52:22 = Total 2:40:50 ( 1.5 km, 40 km, 10 km)

So I live and work in a pretty expensive area. To put it into perspective, here is the median price for a house for both:
WORK -
94105 San Francisco CA $785,000
LIVE -
94109 San Francisco CA $759,000

I guess if I plan on staying out here I'll be a renter for life.

Okinawa related Greenpeace Msg

A friend of mine forwarded this to me. 

 

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Save the Dugong, Stop the Airbase

What do you do when you have only 12 individuals of an endangered species left in a country? Well, according to the U.S. military, you destroy their last remaining habitat and ensure their demise. That's what the U.S. Marines are proposing to do in Japan, home to a cousin of the manatee called the dugong. The military is planning to pave over a coral reef on Okinawa Island to build an airplane landing strip and expand its airbase.

Take Action! Tell Japan to say NO to the marines, because airplanes don't belong in coral reefs.
http://members.greenpeace.org/action/start/162/

Time is running out for the dugong and thousands of other creatures, including three species of threatened sea turtles, who call the reef and the adjacent seagrass bed home. But it's not too late.

Right now, the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the airbase site is open for public comment. It's crucial that you tell the Japanese government to put a stop to the plan for airbase expansion in Okinawa. And please, be sure to tell your friends to write too.

The local people of Okinawa have protested these plans successfully for years, but now they need your support too.

Your friend,
John Hocevar
Oceans Campaigner

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I made Japanese curry on Sunday in preparation for the week to come. I made enough to last a couple days. Even if you can't understand Japanese, you can probably figure out that I think it tastes good.

Japan related website

Not sure if it's of any interest but found a blog on Japan that I found "fun" and yet informative.

http://www.chuutohanpanews.blogspot.com/

Let me know if you know of any others that you frequent.

Plane catches fire at Japan Naha-airport - August 20, 2007

This happened a couple weeks ago but all that I'd seen were pictures. For those of us who lived in Okinawa, this is pretty freaky since we took China Air flights all the time.