tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-353960782024-03-13T18:57:53.811-07:00jonathan in the distancean ordinary ironman: stories from triathlon, adventures in endurance, and the lessons of the distanceUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger442125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35396078.post-38251635258086569832014-09-18T09:00:00.000-07:002014-09-25T18:24:38.939-07:00the day i almost died
so i almost died. in a bus crash. in Kenya. it happened around 11am on Sunday, September 7, near a town called Narok outside of Nairobi. that's the picture of the crash scene above. and there's the news videos below:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-08/two-australians-killed-in-kenya-bus-crash/5726192
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-08/Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35396078.post-69461903441226880242014-09-01T15:14:00.000-07:002014-09-01T15:15:46.312-07:00i can't forget youyou know how sometimes there are certain
memories, certain times, certain people you wish you could forget?
and
if there was a machine that could erase them from your mind you'd want
to do it?
but then you remember everything that happened,
and find yourself unable unwilling unknowing anything otherwise, and
realize that no, no, this you won't let go. because despite everythingUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35396078.post-67273448976709112802013-09-29T14:48:00.002-07:002013-09-29T22:09:06.465-07:00leaving los angeles
i'm leaving los angeles. for those of you who know me this is a pretty big deal. i held off on making an announcement partially because i haven't quite digested it, partially because i've been swamped with work, but mostly because i've been in denial about what this meant to me. of course, despite my best efforts to manage the preoccupations of packing, crating, inventory, insurance, billing, Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35396078.post-14455051295826219352013-09-05T09:17:00.001-07:002013-09-08T23:03:42.491-07:00on diana nyad
note: Diana Nyad trains at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center (RBAC) in Pasadena, California, which is the same place i swim. it's only 2 miles from where i currently live. i've seen her swimming there, and as you might suspect, it is rather awe-inspiring. she swims. a lot.
this past Monday, September 2, Diana Nyad completed a swim from Cuba to Florida. she covered a distance of approximately 110 Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35396078.post-27165855252540025382013-08-15T09:54:00.001-07:002013-08-15T10:03:54.856-07:00a long way to goa little over a year ago i spent some time in northern Spain engaged in an attempt at a different kind of endurance event called the Camino Santiago (often just called "the Camino"):
http://jonathaninthedistance.blogspot.com/2012/07/a-different-kind-of-endurance-event.html
the attempt was a bit mixed, since we made the destination that is the goal of the Camino: the Cathedral of Santiago de Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35396078.post-3303710046085635832013-08-10T09:28:00.001-07:002013-08-10T09:28:32.216-07:00a (different) swim workoutfor those of us looking for an alternative workout to break up the stale dullness of monotony that comes up w our exercise routines, i came across an article in Fitness magazine that caught my eye. it's a swim workout, but for those of us who swim this is probably not what we have in mind. most of us think of swimming as lane lines, sets, intervals, stroke count, breath count, and a pace clock. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35396078.post-60846287255761035202013-07-31T17:50:00.001-07:002013-07-31T17:51:12.923-07:00the measure of devotion, and what to do about it
recently i watched a stroke patient with disabilities so severe he couldn't sit straight fight to rise from a wheelchair and walk unassisted through the front doors of the Basilique de Notre Dame de l'Immaculee Conception (english: Basilica of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception) at the Sanctuaire de Notre Dame de Lourdes (english: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes).
it was an agonizingly Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35396078.post-62715686119579643032013-07-20T21:00:00.002-07:002013-07-20T21:01:12.634-07:00more dynamic warm-up exercisesit's not been fun dealing w these nagging injuries. it has, to say the least, put a serious crimp into my fitness level and disrupted my routine. the consequences have been physical (being a fat slob) and mental (being out of sorts for being a flat slob, and being out sorts from not being able to follow my routine).
what's been bothering me the most is that the injuries won't go away. whenever iUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35396078.post-76313093170977452492013-07-09T11:19:00.002-07:002013-07-09T11:19:42.909-07:00we're not fat! (er, well, um, maybe?)
you would hope the health and fitness movement is finally having an effect after seeing this:
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/news/america-fattest-obese-un-144341236.html
the article references a report from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which you can read here:
http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3300e/i3300e.pdf
according to the FAO, the U.S. no longer has the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35396078.post-59161048116753794462013-06-20T09:20:00.004-07:002013-06-20T09:20:51.276-07:00international surfing day 2013
today, Thursday, June 20, 2013 is International Surfing Day. happy International Surfing Day, kids!
i may be injured and out of commission, but i still love and respect the environment within which we all live our lives. so save the waves and share the waves!to learn more, i suggest the following:
Surfrider Foundation: http://isd.surfrider.org/
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35396078.post-63709629244031133982013-06-18T09:24:00.000-07:002013-06-18T09:24:10.352-07:00a nagging injury bug
i'm having some knee issues, and try as i might otherwise, it seems to have become a nagging bug. it's at the point where the soreness persists almost continuously. i'm not quite sure how this happened.
i haven't been engaged in any activity levels any higher than normal. in fact, my activity levels this year have actually been lower compared to the usual ironman training cycle, and i've Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35396078.post-21105657916639861392013-06-07T08:17:00.004-07:002013-06-07T08:18:13.788-07:00national donut day 2013
yeah, i know. my posts are a little slow. i've been navigating a bit of anomie, and charting things have been a little more challenging than usual. i also had some injuries and a double case of a cold/flu which put me out of commission for a few weeks.
but i'm back on the wagon now--or at least in the process of trying to get back. my workouts lately have been a tale of ebbs and flows, with Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35396078.post-36655890121368215732013-04-01T16:42:00.001-07:002013-04-01T16:47:35.072-07:00playlist: all my days
note: it's been awhile. either for posts or playlists. i've been doing a lot of thinking. and so while less frequent, my thoughts have been a little more deep. there's not much to be said, just experienced. so these words are a meager attempt to import some of what i've been pondering. and the playlist this time is short. but i think it's on something that runs that deep. and it's something we Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35396078.post-74228065916536869272013-03-16T10:04:00.000-07:002013-03-16T10:05:18.442-07:00understanding race risk
there was another death in a triathlon recently. it didn't get much attention in the popular press, but hopefully it caught the attention of everyone following endurance sports. like so many other times, it occurred during the swim leg of a race, this time at the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon in San Francisco. this isn't the first time Escape from Alcatraz had a fatality.
one of my favorite Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35396078.post-49391778886325453562012-12-16T11:20:00.001-08:002012-12-16T20:29:16.886-08:00living differently
we have a tendency as human beings to have trouble with perspective. it's almost pathological. we seem unable to help ourselves see the important things in life.
our inclinations are to fixate on the immediate and proximate, focusing only on that we can recognize through our senses and contemplate within our reference. and because we are limited creatures with limited awareness, that focus isUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35396078.post-42477574816942152122012-12-06T09:30:00.000-08:002012-12-06T09:30:02.909-08:00another holiday season, again
well, here we are again.
another holiday season. another year of holiday crowds in holiday panic with holiday sprees for holiday things to bring holiday cheer on holiday celebrations for holiday times.
i'm less than enthused.
in a lot of ways, i'm actually disturbed.
ostensibly, this time of year finds ties across multiple faiths originating in locations that mark now as the passageUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35396078.post-89318564458951384642012-11-13T15:03:00.000-08:002012-11-13T16:58:24.372-08:00diwali 2012
as part of the multi-cultural portion of this blog, i wanted to bring everyone's attention to the Indian festival of Diwali, which starts today. Diwali, translated into english as the "Festival of Light(s)", is a 5-day festival that falls in between the end of the hot season and the beginning of the monsoon season in India. following the Hindu lunar calendar, its date changes every year in the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35396078.post-49647810198963766102012-11-07T10:20:00.000-08:002012-11-07T10:20:43.144-08:00more on kids in endurance sportshmmmmmmm
hmmmmmmmmmmmmm
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
i don't know about this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/sports/too-fast-too-soon-young-endurance-runners-draw-cheers-and-concerns.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&ref=sports
i've written on the topic of kids involved in endurance sports before:
http://jonathaninthedistance.blogspot.com/2007/08/8-year-old-runs-2200-miles.html
my views on this Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35396078.post-56769958295845096382012-11-02T09:30:00.000-07:002012-11-02T09:30:03.165-07:00re the uses (and abuses) of power
"power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely"
--sir john dalberg acton
power in our society seems a preoccupation crossing to obsession. we think about it, talk about it, hope for it, look for it, chase after it, work after it, fight over it, steal over it. and if we are not doing any of this we are dreaming of it and rationalizing on it and believing in it.
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35396078.post-47550360995116165322012-10-21T20:47:00.000-07:002012-10-21T20:50:32.401-07:00it's time to get off the beach
on D-Day, June 6, 1944, the men of the 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, of the U.S. Army assaulted Omaha Beach with the initial waves of Allied forces.
their landing did not go well. they encountered entrenched, well-fortified, and motivated German defenders who proceeded to counter-attack with the full arsenal at their disposal. the 16th Infantry Regiment was decimated, Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35396078.post-52962297567595390722012-10-12T09:05:00.000-07:002012-10-12T09:05:00.958-07:00re Lance Armstrong, USADA, and the other shoe
those of you in the cycling and triathlon communities are probably buzzing over the news about Lance Armstrong and USADA. if you weren't caught by Armstrong's statement that he would no longer contest USADA's charges (reference: Lance Armstrong's statement) or USADA's subsequent stripping of his Tour de France victories (reference: USADA stripping of TdF titles), then you should be in the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35396078.post-7124565576468115362012-10-04T16:18:00.001-07:002012-10-04T16:38:14.292-07:00the physical toll of Ironmanif anyone has ever wondered what goes on physically during the course of an Ironman, a recent article appeared in Inside Triathlon that i think should be mandatory reading for anyone contemplating doing an Ironman, anyone associated with someone doing an Ironman, or anyone curious about Ironman. you can read the article here:
http://triathlon.competitor.com/2012/10/training/Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35396078.post-54181660586117210912012-09-28T17:32:00.001-07:002012-09-28T17:32:36.388-07:00hardening
we are told that we need to become hard, that in order to become better competitors we need to harden ourselves to withstand the suffering that we are to endure over the challenges of the distance. we are taught that we must become hard, so as to survive against the afflictions of brutal events under tough conditions involving unforgiving circumstances with vicious people all around us. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35396078.post-51042005606290362122012-09-20T10:55:00.000-07:002012-09-20T11:00:28.429-07:00aging athletes (part 1)
it's a reality all of us face, as much as we don't like to hear it: we're getting older. inexorably, inevitably, invariably older. regardless of what we do or think or want, it's a part of what we are as creatures of biology. and like all biology, we live with the fundamental truth of our own mortality, as sure as we are locked within our linear existence in time.
given Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35396078.post-21266074602905894282012-09-08T09:21:00.001-07:002012-09-20T10:57:50.512-07:00a different kind of coach, Swedish stylei'm breaking away from endurance sports for this post to comment on something that i think is relevant for sports in general. there was a news item last recently that sort of got lost in the media, but which was a relatively major event for anyone following soccer (futbol) or women's sports. Pia Sundhage, the coach of the US national women's team, left after 5 years to coach for Sweden.
you Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0