As you may or may not know, I hound internet message boards. The subject matter is mainly sports-based: triathlon, football, crossfit, NBA, topix.com, not to mention the small handful of blogs I check in on (after I hit my three cousins' blogs, of course). Anyways, I was on my CrossFit site, checking in on my Workout Of the Day, aka WOD, when I found a video tribute to a California Firefighter. He was a young man who had just returned after being deployed in the California wildfires, he had a brain hemmhorage the next day, and suddenly died.
One thing about CrossFit is that it is very popular among the military, and is gaining popularity with police and FFs (including yours truly). Anyways, there have been a couple of "WODs" named after Veterans that have died in Irag/Afghanistan, guys that were big into CrossFit, and they are exceptionally tough. Here is an example of one:
Murph In memory of Navy Lieutenant Michael Murphy, 29, of Patchogue, N.Y., who was killed in Afghanistan June 28th, 2005. This workout was one of Mike's favorites and he'd named it 'Body Armor.' From here on it will be referred to as 'Murph' in honor of the focused warrior and great American who wanted nothing more in life than to serve this great country and the beautiful people who make it what it is.
1 mile Run
100 Pull-ups
200 Push-ups
300 Squats
1 mile Run
For time. Partition the pull-ups, push-ups, and squats as needed. Start and finish with a mile run. If you've got a twenty pound vest or body armor, wear it.
This WOD took me 62 minutes to do. These workouts are really awesome, because when I started to get tired/wanting to quit, I just recall reading the story of "Murph" before I started. I envision how this guy I'll never meet literally made the ultamite sacrifice for his brothers, in one of the worst places on this Earth. It makes gutting out the last mile, or squeezing out those last 50 pushups, pale in comparison.
Here is the tale of Murph, direct from the US Navy site:
http://www.navy.mil/moh/mpmurphy/soa.html
But I digress....here is the video of a WOD that was dedicated to Kevin Patrick Prior, the CA FF that I alluded to earlier, before I tangented out.
http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/CrossFitByOverload_KevinFirefighterTribute.wmv
If you made it through this video without feeling somethign, then I don't even know what to say...
The first time I saw this video, I was really moved. The second time I watched it, I realized how many similarities I had with this guy. We are both about the same age, both have about three years on the job, both have a beautiful wife and daughter, we both crossfit, and we both really have a passion about our job. That's what got me, this guy my age and in pretty good shape, died suddenly. Sometimes it takes something like that to snap me back into reality.
Anywas, thanks to this CrossFit stuff, which is basically intense cross-training on steroids, I have gotten to touch base and communicate with guys all over the world. I truly understand the brotherhood that police, fire, and the military all have with each other, and there are Orange County FRD T-shirts in select parts of the SandBox because of it. I found this thread on an online tribute to Kevin Prior:
"To all of you who in risky jobs, military, law enforcement, firefighters, etc, you all have my deepest respect. Continue doing great things in this world. Your efforts show everywhere!!! Look around, we would not be staring at highrises if it were not for studs who challenge those heights to create them. We would not walk confidently within those walls if it were not for our military protecting the country they stand in, if it were not for the law enforcers doing just that, and the fire fighters ensuring the over-all safety of them, as well as the countless others who challenge danger on a regular basis!! You all kick ass!!!!!!"
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
First Triathlon in 18 months, or hardly any training....
6/29/08
Baldwin Park Sprint Triathlon
.75K Swim
13.4 mile Bike
2.5 mile Run
S 0:23:22.514
T1 0:01:46.204
B 0:42:16.374
T2 0:01:07.306
R 0:23:19.335 Total 1:32:17.095
Totally bad idea; actually, it would be a good idea to do some training first. Hardly any biking, 2-3 swims, and some running (no LSD runs) for my base. I get up around 5:30am with my stuff pack (or so I thought-read on), and throw on my tri suit, shorts, T-shirt, and sandals to head over to the race. About ten minutes into my 15 minute ride, I realize my racing goggles are in my other bag. No problem, I useby tri pack for IMFL, and I pulled over to make sure they were still in there....check. I kept going. Check-in went smoothly, I did a littleCrossFit WarmUp to get going, some short runs, and then I headed out to the water to get a little wet. As I start to zip up my singlet, I realize that I initially put the tri-suit on backwards! The portOjons' lines are super-long, so I head out to the water. As I strip down, and tun my suit inside out in the water, I lose my balance on a reed or somehtin on the lake floor. My goggles are lost! I finish putting on my suit, and run back up to tranisition area, thinking there's no way I've got another set of goggles in there. The Goggle Gods smile upon me this morning, as I find an old set of goggles in the bottom of my bag. I realize at this time that I forgot my towel at home, though. Anyways, the race went OK. No issues on the swim, bike, or run for me. It was hot as balls, I saw a few drafters on the bike, but me not swimming that much really cost me. My swim split was about 5 minutes slower than what I usually swim for 750m.
Still, I can't complain about 3rd place. Thanks to the Race Director for having the Super Clydesdale division this year, although the guy that won my division didn't look over 225 lbs.
Even worse is that I somehow got into a message board smackdown that ended up with me being challenged to an Olympic Distance Triathlon in exactly three months! I don't know how that happened, but it did. BTW an Olympic distance triathlon is 1500m swim, 24.8 mile bike, and a 10k (6.2 mile) run. I've always wanted to break three hours for this distance; however, I've never been able to do it. Hopefully, I can sneak in a couple decent rides to build up my aerobic base...
Baldwin Park Sprint Triathlon
.75K Swim
13.4 mile Bike
2.5 mile Run
S 0:23:22.514
T1 0:01:46.204
B 0:42:16.374
T2 0:01:07.306
R 0:23:19.335 Total 1:32:17.095
Totally bad idea; actually, it would be a good idea to do some training first. Hardly any biking, 2-3 swims, and some running (no LSD runs) for my base. I get up around 5:30am with my stuff pack (or so I thought-read on), and throw on my tri suit, shorts, T-shirt, and sandals to head over to the race. About ten minutes into my 15 minute ride, I realize my racing goggles are in my other bag. No problem, I useby tri pack for IMFL, and I pulled over to make sure they were still in there....check. I kept going. Check-in went smoothly, I did a littleCrossFit WarmUp to get going, some short runs, and then I headed out to the water to get a little wet. As I start to zip up my singlet, I realize that I initially put the tri-suit on backwards! The portOjons' lines are super-long, so I head out to the water. As I strip down, and tun my suit inside out in the water, I lose my balance on a reed or somehtin on the lake floor. My goggles are lost! I finish putting on my suit, and run back up to tranisition area, thinking there's no way I've got another set of goggles in there. The Goggle Gods smile upon me this morning, as I find an old set of goggles in the bottom of my bag. I realize at this time that I forgot my towel at home, though. Anyways, the race went OK. No issues on the swim, bike, or run for me. It was hot as balls, I saw a few drafters on the bike, but me not swimming that much really cost me. My swim split was about 5 minutes slower than what I usually swim for 750m.
Still, I can't complain about 3rd place. Thanks to the Race Director for having the Super Clydesdale division this year, although the guy that won my division didn't look over 225 lbs.
Even worse is that I somehow got into a message board smackdown that ended up with me being challenged to an Olympic Distance Triathlon in exactly three months! I don't know how that happened, but it did. BTW an Olympic distance triathlon is 1500m swim, 24.8 mile bike, and a 10k (6.2 mile) run. I've always wanted to break three hours for this distance; however, I've never been able to do it. Hopefully, I can sneak in a couple decent rides to build up my aerobic base...
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