Happy Holidays 2010!

I hope everyone is having a good end to 2010 and is looking forward to a great 2011. I am! I don't really make resolutions, however, I do have some ideas and plans I would love to see come to fruition next year but they won't be without hard work. So, cheers to hard work and accomplishments in 2011!

A few updates I've made to this blog in recent months haven't been noticeable in the form of posts so I thought I'd mention them.

• New color scheme - I like the new themes available. But, as you may have noticed, I keep playing with them and maybe I'll eventually settle on one I like! (Unless you read this in an RSS feed then you probably haven't noticed any changes here.)
• Two new tabs at the top for pages I created - About Me and Bucket List. I think they are pretty self explanatory and may be fun to take a look at and I hope to keep them updated.
• New sidebar widget for a new blog I recently setup on Tumblr - a micro-blogging platform that I like because it's great for quick little posts like sharing a link or photo. If you're friends with me on facebook, you'll see my Tumblr posts there as well.

Happy Holidays to you!!

LED Wall Project (Nerd Alert!)

As you know, I am not a nerd. But, I like to surround myself with nerds to boost my self esteem. Just kidding! Kinda… Recently, by the law of proximity, I became part of a project that became a minor internet celebrity of its own. I am now either loved or hated as the “dancing banana girl”. Not sure if I should be proud or embarrassed!

WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT

The LED wall idea came about as a thought that wouldn’t it be cool to have a display on a wall in your house where anyone in the world could come to a website and leave a drawing or message. If you’re lucky, the video may be online and you will get to make your own drawing and then see your drawing live! To learn more about the LED wall, be sure to click through the Why?, How, and Credits links.  If you have a few minutes, watch the video at the bottom of this post or the one on the How page which nicely sums up the project visually. As of a month after the video was posted, it has received well over 13,000 views!

(Beware: Not all people on the internet have the same good taste as you so some drawings may be deemed offensive. You have been warned!) 

NOTORIETY

The project was found and featured on a few popular “nerd” websites including:

• Hack a Day (Web-enabled LED pegboard)
• ioBridge News and Projects (Send Drawings to the LED Wall via the Web)
• Makezine Blog (LED Wall looks cool, is large)

MY CONTRIBUTIONS

• Tested LEDs to be sure they worked.
• Hot glued LEDs onto the giant pegboard.
• Sorted and labeled wires after they were all soldered. There were a LOT of them.
• Acted silly while wearing a banana costume.

I also brought cookies I’d made which were quickly devoured by all the male cookie monsters in attendance.

Maybe I am a nerd, at the very least I’m sure I’m one for enjoying hanging out with everyone while this project was assembled!

(LED Wall from kennyc on Vimeo.)

Triathlon Training 2010: Week 10

DAY	SCHEDULED	ACTUAL	COMMENTS
Monday	OFF	OFF	I was out of town the first half of this week so didn’t really do anything but it’s supposed to mostly be a rest week anyway so I didn’t worry too much.
Tuesday	Swim: 500 yards Run: 30 min	OFF	See Monday comment.
Wednesday	Bike: 15 miles	OFF	See Monday comment.
Thursday	OFF	DDR	I played the Dance Dance Revolution game on the computer with Kendall for a while which is definitely a workout unto itself.
Friday	Swim: 200 yards Run: 15 min	Volleyball	Played volleyball for a couple hours. A great workout and one of my favorite sports to play.
Saturday	RACE DAY!	OFF	Intended to do the triathlon today but it didn’t work out.
Sunday	OFF	Swim: 400 yards (10.5 min, 2.6 min/100 yds) T1: 3.5 min Bike: 12 miles (1 hr 8 min, 5.6 min/mile) T2: 2.5 min Run: 5k/3.1 miles (45.5 min, 14.7 min/mile) TOTAL: 2 hrs 10 min	The swim went really well, I think it was the first time I swam continuously for the required distance. The transition from swimming to biking was probably less than ideal since I had to deal with a backpack and getting out of the pool complex which wouldn’t be a factor in a real race. My legs only felt a slight bit like jello but that feeling quickly disappeared once on the bike. The biking went well too. Didn’t have to deal with traffic too many times thankfully. I could really tell the longer trail rides I’d been doing had helped. The next transition was much easier since I was mostly dropping things off and didn’t have to deal with a packing things like pool keycards and goggles into a backpack anymore. The run was more of a walk and the most difficult part as expected. Not to mention it was last. I’d trained the least for running so anticipated it wouldn’t go nearly as well as the rest but I knew I would be able to walk at the very least. I could tell my muscles were getting tired. My calf muscles got really tight and my lungs started burning and heart rate increasing when I tried to run so could only do that in very short bursts. I did it!

Overall Thoughts:

• The saying goes you can do anything you put your mind to. It’s easy to believe it when you’re not trying to do anything. It’s harder to believe when you’re working to achieve something. But, it feels oh so good when you actually do something that took work.
• I never signed up for the official triathlon because I did not feel prepared enough especially for the running portion and I also did not have a proper bike. I ride a knobby tire mountain bike instead of the smooth tire road bike. So, I saved my money and made my own triathlon around where we live. I’m lucky enough to have a neighborhood pool I could use to do this.
• It was hard BUT, at this point, I’m ready to do it again! Am I crazy? Yeah, probably. The schedule has been a great motivator for me to do regular exercise which was one of my main goals. Now I don’t know what I’m going to do because I’ve gotten used to training as part of my life. Maybe I’ll try to do an official one or start training for longer lengths! For sure I need to work on running more at the very least.

Here is the Google spreadsheet I made to track my progress.

Triathlon Training 2010: Week 9

DAY	SCHEDULED	ACTUAL	COMMENTS
Monday	OFF	Whitewater Rafting, Lake Swimming (All Day)	Out of town doing lots of non-training but great exercise.
Tuesday	Swim: 600 yards Run: 30 min	OFF	Travelling and tired.
Wednesday	Bike: 15 miles	OFF	Wasn’t feeling well.
Thursday	Swim: 600 yards Walk: 45 min	OFF	Feeling a little better but got busy and didn’t do anything. :(
Friday	OFF	Bike: 12.5 miles (1 hr 6 min, 5.28 min/mile)	Not quite as good of a time as I had been doing but it went well.
Saturday	Run: 60 min	OFF	I intended to go run but I don’t like running because it’s the most difficult and least fun for me. So, I made the worst decision and was lazy.
Sunday	Bike: 20 miles Walk: 30 min	OFF	Another good intentions day that just didn’t happen with too much other stuff going on.

Overall Thoughts:

• While biking, I tried out another exercise app on my phone called Endomondo and I really like it. Simple to use, elegant interface, but maybe doesn’t have quite as many details as the app, My Tracks, that I had been using.

Here is the Google spreadsheet I made to track my progress.

Triathlon Training 2010: Week 8

DAY	SCHEDULED	ACTUAL	COMMENTS
Monday	OFF	OFF	Hey, look I did what the schedule said to do.
Tuesday	Swim: 500 yards Run: 30 min	Run: 32 min (2.5 miles, 12.8 min/mile) Swim: 500 yards (15 min, 3 min/100 yards)	Running is hard lol. I’m finding the beginning of any exercise is the most difficult until I find a rhythm or settle into it a little then it gets less difficult.
Wednesday	Bike: 15 miles	Bike: 10 miles (49 min, 4.9 min/mile)	I had a limited amount of time to bike so I made the best of it and did pretty well!
Thursday	Swim: 600 yards Walk: 45 min	OFF	I was doing well following the schedule until today, oops.
Friday	OFF	Swim: 600 yards (18 min, 3 min/100 yards)	At one point, early in training, I remembered thinking I’d NEVER be able to swim this distance. But, I’ve done it and in a respectable amount of time!
Saturday	Run: 50 min	OFF	Got busy doing “more important” things to prepare for an upcoming trip so didn’t get any exercise in today.
Sunday	Bike: 20 miles Walk: 30 min	Swim: 600 yards (18 min, 3 min/100 yards)	Didn’t intend to do anything this day because I would be travelling. But, my sister-in-law was in town and wanted to swim so I managed to get some exercise in which was great!

Overall Thoughts:

• It’s less than 2 weeks until the triathlon that we intend to try. But, we have not signed up because we only have one bike and Kendall has been working hard without success yet trying to find us road bikes.

Here is the Google spreadsheet I made to track my progress.

The 7 Link Challenge

After enjoying first reading about this challenge on a travel blog (Life After Cubes) I regularly follow, I read about the source of the challenge and decided to give it a go even though I really don’t have a very robust blog!

My First Post: The beginning of a blog... (8 January 2009)
I had FINALLY made a blog! It was something I’d contemplated making for so long and I finally went for it. I still have so many ideas about things to post but rarely do the ideas get past the inside of my head. I need to get better at that! The photo a day idea dwindled because I generally posted my photos on my facebook account and most of the people reading my blog would have already seen them.

The Post I Enjoyed Writing the Most: Olympic Opines
This is really a series of posts but I was so excited watching the Olympics! I kept trying to make my thoughts concise enough to fit on my facebook status updates but I had too much to say and was getting frustrated trying to make it work. Also, these posts brought life back to my blog after a several month hiatus.

A Post with a Great Discussion: Triathlon Training: Week 1
Not too many of my posts even have a discussion so I went looking for the ones with the most comments. 3-4 comments was the most I found so thank you to anyone who has commented! This post was my first of several detailing my triathlon training efforts now covering two summers. I’ve really enjoyed the occasional encouraging comments that have appeared under these fairly boring and statistical training posts.

A Post on Someone Else’s Blog I Wish I had Written: My Last Day... (from Location 180)
There are many posts I wish I had written but this one is probably the most current I’ve felt that way about. I’ve been thinking about writing a similar post because I can relate very much to most everything in it. But, I am not the most gifted with words, so I spend too much time thinking about what and how to write my thoughts and not enough time actually writing. Instead of writing my own post, I think I’ll keep this post saved to go back and read in the future as a reflection of my own experience.

My Most Helpful Blog Post: Old Camera/New Camera
This category was difficult for me to decide upon because there’s not much I’ve written that would qualify as “how to” or helpful. I considered my post about how I would train for the triathlon or my thoughts on the Olympics but I already have links to them in another category. Yes, there are actually two posts, so I kinda cheated. But, I think the old and new camera comparison was helpful for many of my 2009 posts. People always like to know with what, how, and where photos are taken. BTW, I still recommend the Canon PowerShot SX110 IS to people on a regular basis. You may send me a commission via PayPal. ;-)

A Post with a Title I Am Proud of: Tropical Fish Salad
For this post, I combined two normal phrases (tropical fish and fish salad) to make one longer phrase that makes sense but also makes you scratch your head over what it might mean.

A Post I Wish More People Had Read: Rage Against the Machine
The title of this post also tied for winner of the previous category. It’s a pretty funny story and photo so I thought I’d put it under this category.

What is your favorite post of mine? Are there any blogs you read that you would recommend to me?

Triathlon Training 2010: Week 7

DAY	SCHEDULED	ACTUAL	COMMENTS
Monday	OFF	Swim: 400 yards (11 min, 2.75 min/100 yds)	I planned to do 500 yards but we arrived at the pool near closing time so decided to leave it at 400 yards so the lifeguard could go home!
Tuesday	Run: 30 min	OFF	Busy working.
Wednesday	Swim: 500 yards	Run: 32 min (2.3 miles, 13.91 min/mile)	Longest run time (14 min), length (32 min), and distance (2.3 miles) so far. This whole ~13 min/mile has got to go down eventually, I don’t like it. Today was a good example of what time you do the activity doesn’t matter, just get it done. We finished the run after 11pm I think.
Thursday	Brick… Bike: 30 min Run: 10 min Walk: 20 min	Brick… Bike: 26 min (5 miles, 5.2 min/mile) Run: 10 min Walk: 16 min (R/W: 1.7 miles)	My biking seems to be leveling off or I’m becoming more consistent anyway. I suppose that’s good. This was the easiest transition from biking to walking/running so far. Legs felt a little weird but not nearly like they used to.
Friday	Swim: 500 yards	OFF	Long day. Long week. Time for a rest.
Saturday	Run: 50 min	OFF	Lazy Saturday.
Sunday	Bike: 20 miles Walk: 30 min	Bike: 1 hr 50 min (20+ miles, 5.5 min/mile)	I found the opposite end of the American Tobacco Trail from last time and rode north this time. I intended to go 15 miles but after I missed some mile markers I realized I’d have to go at least 17 miles so just decided I would try and go for the 20 miles. It went really well until I thought I was going to die during the last 3+ miles. I found my limit I suppose you could say but had no choice but to keep going…tis the problem with a there and back scenario. But, I did it and was in pain shortly thereafter but nothing some ice couldn’t fix and I surprisingly feel fine the day after.

Here is the Google spreadsheet I made to track my progress.

Triathlon Training 2010: Week 6

DAY	SCHEDULED	ACTUAL	COMMENTS
Monday	OFF	OFF	Travelling
Tuesday	Run: 30 min	OFF	Tired from the travel so rested.
Wednesday	Swim: 400 yards	Swim: 400 yards (15 min, 3.75 min/100 yds)	I’m finding it difficult to keep track of the number of laps I’ve done. May need to come up with some sort of counting system like where I move a marble on the pool deck after each lap is completed.
Thursday	Brick… Bike: 30 min Run: 10 min Walk: 20 min	OFF	Went to REI to learn about road bikes.
Friday	Swim: 500 yards	OFF	Too tired. I know – lame excuse.
Saturday	Run: 45 min	Brick… Bike: 5 miles (26.5 min, 5.3 min/mile) Walk: 12 min (0.7 miles, 17.14 min/miles)	Got lots of sleep so back into it but aiming to take it easy since didn’t do much in the last week. Installed a cool app on my phone that helps me track distance, time, and other stats.
Sunday	Bike: 15 miles Walk: 30 min	Run: 25.5 min (1.9 miles, 13.42 min/mile)	First *real* run since nearly a month ago when I busted up my toe. Decided to alternate 1 minute running/walking, aim for 20-30 minutes, and see how it felt. Went much better than expected! Continuing to bike and swim kept up my fitness level in general I think.

Overall Thoughts:

• There are four weeks until the triathlon that I haven’t signed up for yet but plan to soon LOL. Also, briefly discussed doing a triathlon in September as a relay team. I think that could be fun.
• Learned that getting a road bike will cut down my time a LOT. That’s exciting news! I thought I was doing pretty well before so maybe I’ll be awesome later on! Kendall is looking into them for us so hopefully will have one soon.

Here is the Google spreadsheet I made to track my progress.

Here is the same week last year. It is the last week I blogged about but actually didn’t do any of the training that week.

Triathlon Training 2010: Week 5

DAY	SCHEDULED	ACTUAL	COMMENTS
Monday	OFF	OFF	Recovering from sore neck/shoulder muscles related to the long bike ride yesterday.
Tuesday	Run: 30 min	Swim: 400 yds (12 min, 3 min/100 yds)	Keeping a better pace but still stopping briefly at the end of every length (25 yds). I can tell I’m being challenged because the last 100 yards or so my body does not want to keep the proper form which starts wasting energy.
Wednesday	Swim: 400 yards	Brick… Bike: 28 min (5.5 miles, 5.09 min/mile) Walk: 19 min (1.1 miles, 17.27 min/mile)	My legs started out feeling weird after just getting off the bike. I walked 2 minutes then ran 1 minute but my heart rate felt too high so I just walked the rest. It’s good to get an idea what the transition will feel like. I made a mistake by not having water available between the bike and walk portion.
Thursday	Brick… Bike: 30 min Run: 10 min Walk: 20 min	Swim: 400 yds (12 min, 3 min/100 yds)	I’m not sure if I did 350 or 400 yards because I lost count of my laps (14 vs 16). I barely paused at the end of each pool length and when I got to 14/16 I was at 12 minutes which was the same as Tuesday so I feel like it was most likely the total I needed to do.
Friday	Swim: 400 yards	OFF	Travelling
Saturday	Run: 40 min	Walk: A LOT	Spent about 10 hours walking and standing around an amusement park. Counts for something right!
Sunday	Bike: 15 miles	OFF	Rest and recovery day

Overall Thoughts:

• If I had to attempt a guess at how long it might take me to complete the triathlon (swim 400 yards/bike 12 miles/run 3.1 miles), I think I could maybe do it in just under 2 hours.
• My toe is still messed up but think it’s healed up enough that it’s not painful to run so I plan to get back into it. Since I’ve had about two weeks off from running it might be interesting but I’m hoping since I continued with swimming and biking it won’t be too horrible.

Here is the same week last year.

Triathlon Training 2010: Week 4

DAY	SCHEDULED	ACTUAL	COMMENTS
Monday	OFF	OFF	Did a few strength training exercises.
Tuesday	Run: 20 min	Walk: 20 min	It is painful to wear closed toe shoes because I tore my toenail while swimming the other day. I decided walking in flip flops was better than doing nothing until my nail grows back out.
Wednesday	Swim: 300 yards	Swim: 300 yards (11 min, 3.67 min/100 yds)	Slow and steady wins the race…probably more like finishes the race. I think I’m slowly figuring out better technique but somehow have lost the ability to breathe from either side.
Thursday	Brick… Bike: 30 min Run: 10 min Walk: 20 min	OFF	Received unexpected company this evening so did not get out to do my first brick (back to back exercises instead of doing them at different times during the day).
Friday	Swim: 400 yards	Bike: 28 min (5.2 miles, 5.38 min/mile)	Only had time to do half of the brick but something is better than nothing. I wasn’t feeling too well when I started but there’s something to be said for endorphins because I felt better afterwards!
Saturday	Run: 40 min	Swim: 400 yards (13 min, 3.25 min/100 yds)	I’m feeling more relaxed in the water and starting to realize if I keep a slow steady pace then I don’t really need to stop and rest every time I get to the wall.
Sunday	Bike: 12 miles	Bike: 12.3 miles (1 hour 2 min, 5.04 min/mile)	I wanted to go explore the other end of the American Tobacco Trail but even though it’s only 10 miles away it takes about 25 minutes to get there. Instead I just drove several circles around our neighborhood.

Overall Thoughts:

• This is about the time I started slacking off last year. I have a busy weekend coming up but hoping to do what I can to work around it. Beyond that I don’t think I have as many plans as last year so I’m hopeful.
• I have plugged all my data from last year and this year into a Google Spreadsheet so I can get a better visualization of my progress in each of the three disciplines. If you are interested, my stats are here.
• I think I’m actually starting to believe I can do a triathlon. I don’t have 100% confidence by any means but I have greater than 50% confidence now and that’s a good feeling.

Here is the same week last year.

Triathlon Training 2010: Week 3

DAY	SCHEDULED	ACTUAL	COMMENTS
Monday	OFF	Run: 22 min (1.7 miles, 12.94 min/mile)	5 minute walking warmup and cooldown with 1-1.5 minute running alternated with 1 minute walking. Almost 8 minutes of running total. Getting better!
Tuesday	Swim: 300 yards Run: 20 min	OFF	Planned to swim but it was thunderstorming when I got home. Also, was dealing with some personal issues and didn’t feel up to snuff.
Wednesday	Bike: 8 miles	OFF	I need to catch up on sleep or take naps because I’ve been too tired to want to do much. We’ve been having lots of storms and rain so makes it more difficult to get out and do stuff. I keep forgetting instead I could do My Fitness Coach on the Wii.
Thursday	Swim: 300 yards Walk: 30 min	OFF	It appears I’m doing the opposite of what I should be doing each day. Unfortunately, it is much too easy to get off track, here’s to hoping I get back on track.
Friday	OFF	Swim: 300 yds (13 min, 4.3 min/100 yds)	Swimming is like riding a bike, you can do it after significant time off but it takes several tries before you find your rhythm again.
Saturday	Run: 40 min	Volleyball: 2 hrs Swim: 100 yds	Today was an unconventional workout day since it’s a holiday weekend and friends were involved but I still think it should count for something!
Sunday	Bike: 10 miles	OFF	My excuse (pathetic it may be) is: it was a holiday, I have many sore muscles from volleyball, I have a bruised achilles tendon from getting hit by a grocery cart, and I have a toenail torn in half from a push off the swimming pool wall gone wrong. =D

Overall Thoughts:

• I finally sign up for a triathlon and days later I get an email stating they had to change the date due to construction on the facility where the swimming was going to be held. Unfortunately, the new date does not work for me but I will get a full refund which is nice. Now I think I will aim for the one in August which Kendall will be able to do with me and it will give me more time to train too. The August one also matches the training schedule I’m following so it would work out great!
• So far it seems I am taking more days off instead of the 2 scheduled. Soon the schedule will go to 1 day off so I need to figure out how to make the schedule work better for me.

Here is the same week last year.

Triathlon Training 2010: Week 2

DAY	SCHEDULED	ACTUAL	COMMENTS
Monday	OFF	Swim: 200 yards (8 min, 4 min/100 yds) Run: 26 min (1.9 miles, 13.7 min/mile)	Swim stroke mixture for the win! I have to stop briefly after each 25 yards because I’m winded but hopefully I can get past that eventually. After I left on my run I couldn’t remember if it was supposed to be 20 or 30 minutes so I did somewhere in between. Still alternating every minute but starting to kick up a notch with longer running periods. I don’t like hills.
Tuesday	Swim: 200 yards Run: 20 min	OFF	Ugh, not a good day. Decided catching up on housework and such was more important for my sanity.
Wednesday	Bike: 6 miles	OFF	Not enough sleep means not enough energy to exercise.
Thursday	Swim: 300 yards Walk: 30 min	Bike: 6 miles (34.5 min, 5.75 min/mile)	Had my first equipment incident, somehow popped the chain off when changing gears. But, I was able to pull it back on then wiped my fingers in the grass and continued on my merry way.
Friday	OFF	Swim: 300 yards (15 min, 5 min/100 yds)	Tried applying some of the techniques I’ve been reading about. Requires more concentration but I can definitely notice how they will help once I “master” them.
Saturday	Run: 30 min	OFF	Didn’t intend for this to be an off day but got distracted doing other things.
Sunday	Bike: 10 miles	Bike: 9.7 miles (57 min, 5.88 min/mile)	Explored part of the American Tobacco Trail in Durham. It was nice to be on an actual trail intended for bikes, less traffic to look for even though there were still several road crossings. Also, since it was an old railroad path it is much flatter terrain which I like a lot! I get a workout on the roads around our neighborhood because they’re somewhat hilly.

Overall Thoughts:

• Since unplanned activities come up a lot, I’ve decided to just do something on the schedule when I have time even if it is not the right day. So when unplanned activities do come up I won’t be stressing about missing training. I’m so smart thinking ahead! ;-)
• I think I’ve convinced a friend to be my mentor/coach/motivator/fill-in-the-blanker. Words of wisdom and advice from someone that has done this before cannot be a bad thing. I kept trying to convince Kendall to do this for me but he seemed more interested in just doing the training with me than dealing with all the other stuff. Perhaps that is wisdom on his part, I dunno, lol.
• Motivational words I received: “you know what whining is like right?”, “its like a rocking chair, you spend energy but get nowhere”, “its all a mind set”, “if you feel down or not good enough, go be awesome”, “so, quit whining and go be awesome”
• I was reminded of a book I picked up last summer at a used bookstore about swimming, Total Immersion, that might be helpful for me to read. The book has been added to my lunchtime reading material pile so I’m hoping to get some tips for long distance swimming while trying to conserve as much energy as possible. Something I am failing at in general right now!
• I am officially registered for the She TRIs Wilmington triathlon. Eeek!

Here is the same week last year.

Triathlon Training 2010: Week 1

I am not starting at the true week one in the plan because my target triathlon date in August is one week less than the plan I want to follow so I’m just going to start in week two. Hopefully this will not be an issue since I have been running once or twice a week and playing volleyball for a few hours about once a week for the past couple months. Last year I had literally been doing nothing before I started in on the training plan so I *think* I’ll be alright.

DAY	SCHEDULED	ACTUAL	COMMENTS
Monday	OFF	Swim: 200 yards (10 min)	Wow, it’s amazing what comes back to you! This was so much better than when I started last year. However, I am obviously out of shape. I was slow, huffing, puffing, and had to use a mix of breast, back, and freestyle strokes. But, I have confidence I will get better and that’s all that matters. I’m excited for a good start and the good feelings that came along with it.
Tuesday	Swim: 200 yards Run: 15 min	Run: 20 min (1.3 miles, 15.4 min/mile)	More like a 5 minute run since the time includes a 5 minute walking warmup then alternating 1 minute running with 1 minute walking. I didn’t mean to go 20 minutes but I went farther in distance than I intended and also had our 2 dogs with me to deal with. Note: I did the swim part the previous day because I knew I would not get around to doing both on the same day. Learning to adapt!
Wednesday	Bike: 6 miles	Bike: 6 miles (39 min, 6.5 min/mile)	This was not as easy as I had hoped and my quads were BURNIN’! I did find a new route which helps keep me entertained with new scenery. I got tired of seeing the same stuff last summer. The mountain bike I’m using is not designed for roads plus has some technical issues like a noisy chain/gears so may need to look into getting a better bike.
Thursday	Swim: 200 yards	OFF	I was feeling lazy and my shoulder muscles near the base of my neck were feeling pretty sore so I decided to adapt the schedule to suit how I felt.
Friday	OFF	OFF	Got busy doing other stuff and didn’t do the swim workout from yesterday like I planned to. Bad.
Saturday	Run: 20 min	Run: 23 min (1.75 miles, 13.1 min/mile)	Like before, 5 minute walk warmup then alternating 1 minute run with 1 minute walking. Felt pretty good while running this time so that was encouraging! I was in Wilmington and the run was over much flatter terrain than around my usual area. Elevation changing is good for training but doing well on flat ground really gives a confidence boost.
Sunday	Bike: 8 miles	OFF	Planned to swim today but was travelling and then had a migraine when I got home so wasn’t feeling up to doing anything. Ugh. I want to try so hard not to skip workouts but I’m not off to a great start!

Here are week 1 and week 2 from last year.

Triathlon Training – Round 2(010)

Since I did not get the opportunity to suffer the abuse of completing a triathlon last summer, I am back for more! Wait…what? Opportunity? Suffer? Abuse? More? I think I meant to say I never finished what I started last summer so I’m attempting to try again this summer. =) I feel like I’m far ahead of the curve in starting this year since I have a less vague idea of what I need to do than last time.

Again, I’m planning to post my progress here to hold myself accountable and hopefully keep encouraged to continue. I am following the same plan but I am starting about three weeks later than I did last year so I may have to slightly modify the schedule to work with the triathlons I’m tentatively thinking about doing. I haven’t signed up for anything yet but the 3 triathlons I am currently eyeing are:

• Saturday, July 31 – She TRIs Wilmington (Women Only) – Wilmington, NC – 200 yard swim, 10 mile bike, 2 mile run
• Saturday, August 21 – Sportsplex Super Sprint – Hillsborough, NC – 400 meter swim, 12 mile bike, 5k run
• Saturday, September 25 – Wilmington YMCA Triathlon – Wrightsville Beach, NC – 1500 meter swim (with the current), 12 mile bike, 5k run

Here is what I had to say last year at this same time.

Olympic Opines

Alpine Skiing - Ladies Slalom:

• After the first run of two, a pair of German sisters were in 2nd and 4th and hoping to both end on the podium. Unfortunately, the one in 4th place DNF'd on her second run but her sister ended with the gold!
• The Americans did not have a great showing here, Lindsey Vonn DNF'd very shortly after starting her first run.

Short Track Speed Skating - Men's 500m:

• Apolo Ohno's descriptions of this event are much better than anything I can come up with. It really is forty seconds of all out sprint craziness. This race definitely lived up to that on the last turn with 2 racers going down, the winner staggering across the finish line and ultimately spinning around, and the other getting disqualified.
• The final consisted of two Canadians, a South Korean, and American Apolo. Unfortunately, Apolo was in fourth place immediately off the start and had a difficult time just trying to keep up with the sprinting pack.
• On the last turn, Apolo tried to cut to the inside and put his hand up so as not to run into one of the Canadian skaters who ultimately fell. Not sure the reasoning other than because Apolo's hand was on him when he fell, Apolo got disqualified and the Canadian was given bronze. Kendall said using the laws of physics and watching the slow motion replay it isn't possible that Apolo made him fall.
• Ok fine I'll be gracious like Apolo and acknowledge that I have to accept what the referee calls but I have a large "BUT". My issue is twofold. First, why is the referee a Canadian when there were two Canadians in the final, the referee should be from a country NOT represented in the final. Secondly, the other Canadian that got gold made contact with the South Korean when he fell but was not disqualified for what looked to me to be a very similar situation to Apolo's. Also, the South Korean grabbed the Canadian's skate when he fell probably not on purpose but nonetheless why was that not a cause for being disqualified as well.
• Anyway, it was a spectacular finish with the gold medal Canadian crossing the finish line first but very off balance. Apolo crossed second but was DSQ'd. After falling, the South Korean slid his feet across the finish line in third. The final Canadian got up and crossed the line in fourth so it would be considered that he finished the race.
• Fun to watch but I don't agree with the outcome. But, must say I have great respect for how Apolo handles himself. He did not sugarcoat his disagreeing opinion but he accepted the outcome anyway.

Short Track Speed Skating - Women's 1000m:

• The lone American in the final here is named Catherine so I was routing extra for her! =) Turns out she is really good too and finished with a silver. Yay Catherine and team USA!

Short Track Speed Skating - Men's 5000m Relay:

• On the same night and probably within an hour of the men's 500m final, Apolo is back on the ice with the rest of the U.S. four man relay team.
• The organized chaos was very close throughout the entire race with U.S. holding down 4th place until...Apolo. He's my speed skating hero lol! Apolo made a pass near the very end to secure bronze and pushed his foot way forward and around another skater when crossing the line in an attempt for silver. Alas, it wasn't quite far enough but the U.S. earned the bronze and Apolo earned his record 8th medal. The most medals for a Winter Olympian! The Michael Phelps of the Winter Olympics perhaps?!?

Alpine Skiing - Men's Slalom:

• Bode did pretty much the exact same thing Lindsey did in this event and DNF'd near the very top of the course on his first run.
• If anything else monumental happened, I've forgotten it!

Snowboarding - Men's Parallel Giant Slalom:

• Didn't know this snowboarding event existed, not to mention it's also an Olympic sport!
• The snowboards used in this event are a slightly different shape than the ones you typically see on the slopes. Longer and narrower I believe.
• The course is two slalom courses side by side that are mirror images of each other. Two snowboarders compete at the same time then switch courses and the times are added together.
• For the second race, there is a delayed start corresponding to the amount of time the slower snowboarder was behind in the previous race. One racer attempted to time his gate opening and failed causing him to fall spectacularly and be delayed even further in his start while he got back up. Needless to say, he did not advance.

Long Track Speed Skating - Men's Team Pursuit:

• There are two teams of three skaters on opposite ends of the ice competing at the same time. The skaters on each team stay together and take turns leading and drafting off each other.
• The American team of one veteran and two relative unknowns unexpectedly found themselves in the gold medal race with the Canadian team but ultimately ended up with the silver.

Bobsled - Men's Four Man Team:

• It had been 60+ years since the U.S. got the gold in this event and now the U.S. and the four man "Night Train" team have earned gold for the U.S. once again.

Figure Skating - Exhibition Gala:

• Probably the only exhibition of the Games allowed from any sport but I think it's partly monetary motivated and I love it and I'm glad they do it. The top 5 of each discipline got to perform.
• Not much to say but it is really worth watching the entire thing if you want to see the best of the best skate in a much more relaxed atmosphere while still doing difficult and creative skills!

Ice Hockey - Men's:

• Well I didn't really watch this entire gold medal game, only saw clips of it. But, I feel like this summary of the Olympics would be incomplete without mentioning its supposed epic-ness.
• The Canadians and Americans were in the gold medal game on Canadian soil. Both teams had decimated the competition leading up to this game and the U.S. had already beat Canada once in an earlier meeting during the Olympics. The U.S. tied the game at 2-2 in the final seconds of the game causing it to go into overtime. Eventually, the Canadians scored the game winning goal and the host country could not have been more ecstatic!

Closing Ceremonies:

• Loved how the beginning poked fun at the malfunction of the torch in the Opening Ceremonies. A very appropriate way to address and acknowledge what had happened.
• Overall I was a bit disappointed that the Closing Ceremony festivities because they did not live up to the entertainment of the Opening Ceremonies. There seemed to be more speeches, "boring" singing, and the props just seemed cheap like from a parade. It wasn't bad but it just wasn't up to what I was expecting.

Other Notes:

• The U.S. won the most medals of the Olympics with 37. This is a record for any country in a Winter Olympics. It's also the first time the U.S. finished the Winter Olympics with the most medals.
• Canada won the most gold medals with 14! This is more than the silver and bronze medals they won combined.
• I'm glad they changed the Summer and Winter Olympics back in the early 1990's to have one be every two years instead of in the same year.

Up next...Sochi, Russia 2014!

Olympic Opines

Alpine Skiing - Ladies Giant Slalom:

• The course was VERY foggy, I'm sure the cameras made it appear worse than it really was but still it was bad enough they postponed the second run until the following day.
• Lindsey Vonn crashed half way down the course so DNF'd. She broke her finger! This girl is either awesome or gets injured, seems to be no in between for her. She literally goes for broke, ok that was a bad pun LOL.
• Apparently, more than one skier can be on the course at a time. Reminds me a bit how they run autocrosses. Fellow American Julia Mancuso was following Lindsey so got yellow flagged to stop due to the safety issue with Lindsey's crash. Julia did get a re-run but it did not go as well as she hoped putting her in 18th. She was quite upset and as the defending Olympic champ I'm sure that's not the run she'd been hoping for.

Cross Country Skiing - Men's 4x10km Relay:

• Much more exciting to watch than I anticipated. It's a lot like any other kind of race but with different scenery and footwear. The sport in general looks grueling or maybe just an excellent workout!

Long Track Speed Skating - Ladies 5000m:

• The Czech woman that won the first gold for her country (either in this sport or Winter Olympics in general, I can't remember which) in an earlier event during this Olympics earned a second gold in this event!

Bobsledding - Women's Two Man (Final 2 Heats):

• The U.S. sled #2 managed 2 more clean runs to stay on the podium and finish with a bronze. The gold and silver went to two Canada teams.
• There were a few scary crashes during this event. If I had to slide down an ice track I would definitely choose bobsled because at least you have some kind of protection. Kendall proposes a lid or hatch for the top so when they flip there's more protection than just a helmet as well as it being more aerodynamic lol.

Short Track Speed Skating - Men's 500m Qualifications:

• The Americans are doing well at crashing just before qualifying so they don't get to advance. I suggest lessons from Apolo Ohno. However, Apolo does advance along with one other American.

Short Track Speed Skating - Ladies 3000m Relay:

• There are four teams in the final with all 16 athletes on the ice at once. Definitely organized chaos! When they tag the next person to go they give them a push. Each teammate must do 1.5 laps I think and after that, it's totally up to them when they trade off. That's my basic understanding but I could be wrong!
• The U.S. trailed behind after a number of laps and ended in 4th. However, a sketchy pass made by a South Korean caused them to be disqualified so the Chinese were moved into first and USA got the bronze! The South Koreans at the rink and around the world were not happy and the judge had to later be pulled from the competition for his safety! Yikes people, it's a sport, not life and death!

Freestyle Skiing - Ladies Aerials:

• The Chinese gymnastics background is so very helpful. Heard a coach say they already know how to do the tricks properly, just have to teach them how to ski! Several of them finished near the top.
• But, it was an Aussie that came away with the gold! They're pretty decent at gymnastics too.

Alpine Skiing - Ladies Giant Slalom:

• Julia redeems herself on the second run of the slalom but still no medal and finished in 8th.

Nordic Combined - Men's Large Hill/10km CC:

• This was an individual event. There were two U.S. men in the top 3 along with an Austrian all battling for gold. Everyone else trailed a fair distance behind.
• The U.S. men managed to finish gold and silver, first ever medals for the U.S. in this event and they got two!

Freestyle Skiing - Men's Aerials:

• Craziness after watching the women because they do even more flips and twists.
• Noticeably different from the women was a ton more crashes on the landings. Nothing scary, they just didn't stay vertical after landing.
• One American did a trick he calls the "Hurricane": 3 flips and 5 twists! It helped earn him the silver medal.

Figure Skating - Women's Long Program:

• Excellent job to the top ladies especially for giving it their best. Made it very enjoyable to watch.
• I was very glad Joannie Rochette of Canada turned in another great skate and held on to the bronze medal. So touching and impressive to see someone perform that well under those kind of circumstances.
• Most impressive to me was American Mirai Nagasu. If she continues to compete like this, the future of American figure skating is definitely bright! She improved from 6th to 4th!
• Rachael Flatt also skated really well but didn't score as highly as I expected and dropped from 5th to 7th which kind of surprised me.
• The Japanese did really well too, they're fun to watch. The silver medalist competed two triple axels with one in combination with another jump making her the first woman to ever land three triple axels in a competition!!
• Kim Yu-Na of South Korea is in such a category of her own and deservedly won the gold!

Olympic Opines

Ski Jumping - Team Event:

• Not much different from the individual events. They just add all the scores together.
• Americans did not make it into the finals.
• Tried to figure out why there are little plants all over the place peeking out of the snow. Maybe it is to measure distance but it's kind of odd.
• It's nice to see countries do well that you normally don't hear about at the Summer Olympics. Such as Switzerland, Norway, Finland, Sweden, and the Netherlands.

Freestyle Skiing - Men's Aerials Qualifications:

• This is like ski jumping meets diving. Crazy acrobatics! Like go up a ski jump to launch yourself high enough to do 2-3 flips with 2-3 twists then landing upright.
• A couple of Americans made it into the finals.

Figure Skating - Ice Dancing Free Dance:

• Wow, the teams were on top of their game! Lots of best scores for the season and jobs well done. I enjoyed this final dance a lot.
• The top four teams were from three different countries but all train together in the USA. Well kind of, the Canadian team trains with one American team and the Russian team trains with the other American team. So odd how sports work these days with where they train, live and who they compete for.
• The Canadians so badly wanted to win a gold at a home Olympics, well, they have 5 now! And that's half of their total medals so far.
• The standings did not change from the previous round of dances so the gold went to Canada, silver to the US National Champions, and bronze to Russia. The other American teams remained in 4th and 11th.
• This is sort of related but the 2011 US Figure Skating National Championships will be in Greensboro, NC. I want to go to at least a couple events since I did not go when I was a poor college student living in Atlanta a few years back.

Alpine Skiing - Men's Giant Slalom:

• No American medals this time but still fun to watch. Bode got off course so DNF'd. I think the physical intensity from competing in a number of events already finally caught up with him.

Nordic Combined - Men's 4x5km Team:

• A sport that I know the U.S. won it's first ever medal in a week ago in the individual version but that is about it.
• Apparently, this is the first time the U.S. has had a competitive team and was actually in contention for the gold but ultimately finished with a silver!
• I'm surprised but the cross country skiing portion is kinda fun to watch! It's kinda like cross country running but on skies in snow. Beautiful scenery!

Bobsledding - Women's Two Man (Heats 1 & 2 of 4):

• Once again the Germans were being touted as the country most likely to dominate. Also, competitive teams from Canada and the U.S.
• One U.S. team won the silver medal in the 2006 Olympics and is hoping to improve to gold. However, it's the U.S. team #2 that is in silver medal position after two heats while the prior silver medalist is several positions back.

Long Track Speed Skating - Men's 10,000m:

• The longest distance for long track and the speed skating loving country of the Netherlands was hoping for a repeat gold. However, something unusual happened. The lead skater headed for his repeat gold was well ahead of everyone when his coach told him to go the wrong direction! Since two skaters are on the track at a time they alternate between the inner and outer lanes. The skater was going the right direction when his coach pointed to him to get in the other lane which he does at the last second then gets DSQ'd! He was very frustrated and rightly so!

Freestyle Skiing - Women's Ski Cross:

• This was the last race of the cross events and Canada gets yet ANOTHER gold! They now have more golds than their other medals combined.
• No Americans made it to the final races.
• I'm glad these events were added to the Olympics because they're fun to watch.

Figure Skating - Women's Short Program:

• THE event of the Winter Olympics. I had mixed feelings coming into this event which has always been my favorite. Not really sure why but maybe because the Americans do not have much hope for a medal and I'm not that familiar with the top skaters.
• Really enjoyed that the majority of the skaters had clean programs and turned in personal bests.
• Mirai Nagasu of the U.S. was the first of the likely top skaters to go. Her score put her into first place and would actually hold for quite a while ultimately landing her in a very respectable 6th place going into the long program. Her spins caused enough force to make her finish with a nosebleed!
• The other American and current U.S. champion Rachael Flatt finished in 5th. So impressed that even though the U.S. only qualified two skaters instead of the usual three, they still finish both skaters in the top 6 after the short program.
• Joannie Rochette of Canada made me cry! Her mother unexpectedly passed away just two days prior to this event. She skated with so much heart and emotion. I'm not sure she was focusing too much on turning in a competitive performance so it was so so neat to see the Canadians support for her and for her to perform so well. She is definitely a skater that would have been competing for a medal before this sad circumstance so it was great to see her still do her best!
• The Japanese probably have the strongest team of skaters in the world and finished 2nd, 4th, and 11th. Including one woman who is the only female competing a triple axel AND does it in combination with another jump!
• South Korean Kim Yu-Na is the closest to a figure skating prodigy I've ever seen. Great talent! She's a huge celebrity in her country, so much so, that she now trains in Canada to get away from the media and pressure. If she does as well in the long program as she did in the short, she definitely deserves to win the gold.

Olympic Opines

Figure Skating - Ice Dancing Compulsory Dance:

• Don't believe I've ever watched the compulsory dance but every team did the exact same dance of tango romantica. A bit redundant but definitely a good way to equally compare the teams. This was the first of three dances each team will perform.
• Americans got off to a great start placing 3rd, 4th, and 14th so there is definitely a possibility of at least one medal!
• Dancing with the Stars has made me appreciate ice dancing so much more than I ever have in the past.

Alpine Skiing - Men's Super G:

• Go Bode! Americans are really starting to dominate the skiing medals picking up 2 more (silver and bronze).
• The more I watch the skiing events, the more I like them. Wouldn't consider myself a huge fan by any means just yet but I have a healthy respect for their speed and skills.

Skeleton - Women's:

• Not sure why you would ever do this sport but it's the opposite of luge (laying on the sled with feet first) with head first while laying on your stomach. Oh and your hands are behind you not in front of your head so my protective instincts would be going crazy!
• An American finished 4th, the worst possible place to finish in my opinion since it's so close to a medal.

Ski Jumping - Men's:

• This sport looks like more fun to do than to watch. Would love to have that feeling of flying! Not so sure about the speed and heights...

Alpine Skiing - Women's Super G:

• Lindsey and Julia are back! Probably other Americans competing too but they aren't getting the same media attention so I forget about them.
• Julia went first and made an unfortunate mistake veering almost off course so lost time and finished 9th.
• The early competitors were at a disadvantage due to the course being mostly shaded so it's hard to see the texture and other changes in the snow. I can definitely understand this from my minimal experience, it really can make a big difference especially the faster you are going.
• Lindsey had a great run. Not much emphasis on her shin anymore but I still imagine she's in pain from it. She earned a bronze to go with her gold. I think overall she has to be happy with the outcome of this Olympics especially after not knowing if she would even be able to compete when the Olympics started.

Short Track Speed Skating - Men's 1000m:

• Glad the judges watch closely the actions of the athletes and disqualify or qualify to the next round athletes as necessary according to what happens. I don't always agree but it's such a volatile sport as Apolo Ohno has mentioned. Guess you have to take the good with the bad. Don't think JR Celski should have been DSQ'd in the quarterfinals but oh well.
• Apolo Ohno is so intense to watch because he likes to start in the back of the pack and move up near the end and then really make big moves at what seems like the last possible seconds. I don't bite my nails but I might start before the Olympics are over!! A bronze medal for his effort. Think he could have won and I think he thought the same if it weren't for the nudge by a Canadian that made him slip. But, a medal is better than no medal!
• When the final race started with the 2 Canadians out front, Apolo in the middle, and the 2 South Koreans in the back, I predicted it would finish the complete opposite and I was right! Maybe I should be betting on these races. ;-)

Long Track Speed Skating - Men's 1500m:

• The leg muscles on these athletes are giant!!
• I think this sport is most similar to the longer distance track events and short track speed skating is similar to the sprint track events in the Summer Olympics.
• Go USA for getting another medal!

Figure Skating - Ice Dancing Original Dance:

• This dance was to be a country or folk dance. Quite a variety danced including Jewish, Moldovian, Aboriginal, and Indian. It was amusing to see not just an American team do a country dance but also a British and French team as well.
• USA continues to have strong performances. Placing after this dance is 2nd (moved up one), 4th (stayed the same), and 11th (moved up 3).
• Think the original dance might be my favorite of the 3 dances each team performs. They seem more lively, energetic, and entertaining.

Alpine Skiing - Men's Super Combined:

• Bode Miller finally gets gold. Nice way to work up to it: first event - bronze, second event - silver, third event - gold! He's also got 2 more races yet!
• I'm still not sure what I find so engaging about the skiing but each race I watch I like it more and more. I'd never want to ski that fast because it looks so insane not to mention painful when you wipeout!

Freestyle Skiing - Men's Skicross:

• This sport made it's Olympic debut on the same course as snowboardcross.
• I was expecting to be as intrigued by this as I am with the snowboarders but I wasn't. Not sure if it is because there were no Americans in the final races or the race just seemed more close and aggressive with the snowboarders than it did with the skiers. I still liked it, just wasn't as enthralled.

Long Track Speed Skating - Women's 1000m:

• Similar thoughts on this as to the men's 1500m above but no American medal at this event.

Bobsledding - Men's Two-Man:

• The bobsleds look huge on the track after watching luge and skeleton.
• The Germans are awesome in any sport on this track. They are dominating it kinda like the Americans are dominating the alpine skiing events.

Olympic Opines

Alpine Skiing - Women's Super Combined:

• A definition since I didn't know what this was at first. Super Combined is one run downhill and one run slalom with the times added together to determine the winner.
• The 2 American medalists from the downhill, Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso, were back to try for a second medal.
• Lindsey rocked the downhill again and Julia was also in medal contention again. Go USA!
• Unfortunately, Lindsey caught her ski tip on a slalom pole and wiped out.
• Julia was able to ski a clean slalom and won her second medal AND became the most decorated U.S. female alpine skier ever!

Snowboarding - Women's Half Pipe:

• After watching the men, I felt like this event would not be as exciting since the women do not perform skills as difficult as the men but I was pleasantly surprised.
• Even though they did not medal, the Chinese were unexpectedly good. Perhaps this is due to the face the Chinese generally do well at acrobatics.
• Thought it was cool that an Australian got the gold and she deserved it!
• There were a LOT of falls, more than I would expect at the Olympics. But, pressure did work for one American, Hannah Teter. In an interview, she said she fell on all her practice runs. However, she stayed upright for both her competition runs and won the silver!
• The U.S. got silver and bronze. Silver went to the 2006 Olympic champion and bronze to the 2002 Olympic champion!

Figure Skating - Men's Long Program:

• Glad to see the U.S. National Champ redeem himself a bit. Had a shaky start but got better as his program went along and was able to move himself from 15th after the short program to 9th.
• Florent Amodio (Brazilian born French skater) is just really unique and fun and entertaining to watch, I'm looking forward to seeing him skate in the future and hope he continues to improve.
• USA and Japan are definitely the best in the world right now. All 3 skaters from both countries finished in the top 10 and 1 from each medaled! And all of this included a meltdown, a few falls, and a skate lace coming undone in the middle of a program!
• The Russian jumping bean did his thing and jumped but had several shaky landings that I think cost him the gold. I hate to say I'm glad he didn't win but really his overall program just did not have the same artistic, quality, and "it" factor that I think a winner should possess. I have read some interesting interviews from him and his coach about the progress of figure skating and I just don't agree with them. Figure skating is about more than just jumping.
• I'd heard that Johnny Weir said he knew he couldn't win because he didn't have enough points in his program but I almost wish he could have medaled because he did so awesomely well.
• Evan Lysacek! If the Olympics ended now, I'd be happy! I've had my Olympic moment where everything happened like I'd hoped it would. It was so awesome to see hard work pay off and everything come together when it counted. Yay Evan and go USA!

Olympic Opines

I'm really enjoying these Olympic Games more than any others in the past. I feel like I know more about the various sports at this point in my life but also, I'm learning a lot about the others I didn't which makes them more interesting to watch.

Snowboarding - Women's Snowboard Cross:

• I wonder what it is like to have so much media attention centered on a "small" mistake you made four years ago. A lot can change in four years including your competitors abilities so why are you expected to win the gold and anything else is considered a failure? Gotta say I love the way Lindsey Jacobellis handled the media with a true laid back snowboarder attitude! The silver she got in Torino was NOT a failure and a 5th place finish in Vancouver is not either. I would have loved to see her win, like the media, but that's the nature of the sport and competing in the Olympics period is an accomplishment! I'm definitely a Lindsey fan.
• Yay for Canada getting their second gold at a home Olympics, maybe now they'll stop talking about how it's never been done before. It's only a few days in so maybe they can make up for others they never earned in the past.
• I used to think if I ever got to compete in the Olympics, I would want to do figure skating or gymnastics. Now that I know how hard those sports are and my own physical limitations/capabilities, I think it would be fun to be a snowboardcrosser...is that a word?!?

Figure Skating - Men's Short Program:

• Definitely one of my top most anticipated Olympic events. For the first time, I'm more excited for the men's and ice dance over women's and pairs. I'm sure this largely has to do with the talents of the U.S. athletes but I'm finding it's also because I enjoy those performances more.
• The men seem to have less falls (especially on quads) these days and are more artistic and entertaining to watch than they used to be. Quads are cool but when there are so many falls attempting them, they are not so cool to watch.
• There were so many champions (National, Olympic, World, European, etc) competing, it was hard to guess who might come out on top. But, I knew it would come down to whoever could stay on their feet and skate clean with very minimal mistakes.
• Thoughts on stand out athlete performances: I'm not a big fan of the skating style and look of the last Olympic champ from Russia, Evgeny Plushenko but the dude can skate, or at least, jump well. The Japanese men have a unique presentation I like and serious talent. The Brazilian born French skater (can't remember his name now) is still an up and comer but really enjoyed his unusual skating style. I was disappointed the super talented U.S. champ Jeremy Abbott wasn't able to skate a clean program (no falls but popped jumps) but I very much enjoy following his positive outlook on twitter. American Johnny Weir never fails to entertain and was glad he skated so well! Perhaps my favorite skater, Evan Lysacek, lived the Olympic short program I'm sure any athlete dreams and hopes to have. So fun and exciting to watch hard work pay off like that. Keeping my fingers crossed for him in the long program!

Short & Long Track Speed Skating - Men's Long 1000m Finals, Men's Short 1000m Qualifications, Men's Short 5000m Relay Qualifications:

• Another repeat Olympic gold medalist and another American gold in the men's long track 1000m. Yay!
• Apolo Ohno was back to qualify for the 1000m (and 5000m relay). He's so fun to watch because he's so good at the sport. But, I get so nervous watching because I so want him to do well haha! Bronze medalist in the 1500m from a few days ago and fellow American JR Celski also qualified.
• The relay looked a bit like mass confusion at first but was intriguing to watch. Each athlete of the three person teams go a lap and a half before switching off. So, there is a continuous chaotic motion as teammates try to keep pace to be ready for the switch.
• South Koreans are definitely strong speed skating competitors. There were 4 countries attempting to qualify for 2 spots in the relay. One country wiped out and took another country down with it effectively taking them both out of the competition. So, the U.S. and South Korea qualified without a problem and with less pressure. However, speed skating has a ton of rules that attempt to make it as fair as possible I imagine and probably to prevent it from becoming a demolition derby so the country that got taken down by no fault of its own received an advance and qualified as well.
• Looking forward to seeing the final for the relay event, well, the 1000m too.

Alpine Skiing - Women's Downhill:

• Lindsey Vonn FTW! So much hype and talk of her injury leading up to this event it was again so fun to see someone live up to their potential and accomplish their goal. So impressed by what she went through and was able to do.
• Major props to fellow American Julia Mancuso for claiming silver. Go USA!
• It's scary when skiers crash going around 70mph down an icy course! Thankfully none were seriously injured.
• What I've learned about following a racing line in motorsports has a very interesting parallel in several winter sports including downhill and snowboardcross. Apexing is important but not done as often as you would think.

Snowboarding - Men's Half Pipe:

• Shaun White...he has some serious skills!! It's one thing to win by putting the competition to shame but to do it so obviously even to inexperienced viewers is really amazing! He does crazy hard tricks and makes them look easy but what I liked best was the massive height he is able to achieve. Oh and it's really crazy that Red Bull has built him his own private half pipe to train on!
• Another double medal event for the U.S. and not who I expected to get the second medal but it was well deserved! The U.S. is definitely the best country in this event but it's good to see other countries do well too.
• I had high hopes for former Dancing with the Stars competitor, Louie Vito, earning a medal but it wasn't meant to be but 5th is nothing to be ashamed of for sure! I thought he did a great job but wasn't scored as high as I thought he should be but what do I know about scoring in snowboard half pipe!