Wasdale Half Iron Distance Triathlon.Doing this on Sunday 30 September - final race of the seasonQuoting the website: The Worlds hardest Half Iron Triathlon set beneath the towering cliffs of Wasdale Screes in the English Lake District. Wastwater, the Lake District, is where the day begins with a 1.2mile swim in the deepest and coldest lake in the British Isles.Incorporating the fearsome twin passes of Hardknott and Wrynose, covering 56 miles and climbing 7,217 vertical feet, the bike ride is... Read full post

Today I logged 140 push ups as part of our Koguma Dojo push up challenge.  It was the first week were everyday the amount was three digits.  The total of five days 650!  I am loving the challenge and seeing the results on my body.
The remain portion it is going to be a steep climb, but I am looking to successfully complete it.

The Challenge continues with each day.  As the number of daily push ups goes up, calculating in which increments you'll do them is part of the process.  I have four sets of 20 behind me and two to go, as I write this.  Doing constant push ups for weeks now has given me a new appreciation for them as a 'one stop shop' for the whole body... Ombretta and I are both feeling stronger bi- and triceps, abs, shoulders, back, etc.  My posture has improved; my shoulders drawn back by... Read full post

I blogged about our Koguma Dojo meeting the push up challenge of our California brothers a week or so ago, so for those of you following along at home today's effort is 90...  The funny thing about this challenge is not so much struggling through the last few push ups of each series that one does to amass the total for the day, rather the struggle is to make the necessary time to get them all in.  I can tell you from experience, trying to bang out 30 or 40 push ups before climbing... Read full post

So the Giants are the 5th most valuable franchise in the NFL as noted by Forbes magazine at $1.468 billion, but that is more than $600 million less than the #1 Dallas Cowboys, which have a value of $2.1 billion.  That's some amazing equity in those sport franchises!
The only sport franchise worth more is....  wait for it... 
Manchester United with a value of $2.24 billion.
That's some amazing equity those owners are holding and with the 10-year collective bargaining agreement... Read full post

This had to be one of the laziest long weekends I've spent in a long time!  Or so it felt... it was wonderful to sleep in every day for four days straight!  (Well one of us slept.  Ombra was up early to run, swim, and do her sit up routine every day.  God bless her!) 
Ombretta and I had little traffic and a smooth couple of hours ride out to Quogue (to Michael and Deanne's weekend home) and, fortunately, enjoyed the same traffic conditions coming home.  During the... Read full post

Yes I did it : cycled 112 kms (69 miles) yesterday and did not get off my bike a single time on any of those steep heights around Brussels. "De Gordel" it is called, a greatly organised Flemish annual event, and has been for 32 years, unfortunately for the last time. And unfortunately francophone extremists, again, threw nails on the roads and many people had flat tires. I was lucky and my two friends Paul and Jos too : we arrived when the nails had just been cleaned up and the police were... Read full post

Done! Last long training weekend before Challenge Henley-on-Thames (full Ironman distance) in 2 weeks - 16 Sep 2012.Yesterday evening: 25.2K/15.7 miles run. Exactly 2 hours.Today: bike from Langley to Henley-on-Thames, then 1 loop of the bike course (which is 3 loops in total), and bike back home. 148K/92K. 875m/2,870 feet of climbing.On paper it looks like a fast course, but it's really not... Long gradual ascents, poor and slow road surface on many stretches. It will probably be windy too.... Read full post

I am sooooo sad that our tennis player Kim Clijsters lost from the 18-year old Laura Robson, a girl I had never even heard of, even though Kim had won the US Open three times before. Her whole family was in New York : her sister Elke, writing for a Flemish newspaper, since she is married to Jelle Van Damme, a Belgian footballer, their father was Lei Clijsters, also a footballer. Kim's hubby is an American athlete Brian Lynch, former professional basketball player. Did you see their daughter... Read full post

Just saw this post in facebook and went to the source: Sister Madonna Buder, Oldest Woman to Finish an Ironman.  82-years-old... My, my...  
Sister Madonna Buder, Oldest Woman to Finish an Ironman
 
She does it again! How special and inspiring it was in Penticton for the 30th and final Ironman Canada race to have a new world record set by the one and only Sister Madonna Buder aka the "Iron Nun". A great inspiration to those young and old...
At the 2012 Ironman Canada... Read full post