Hi there, welcome to the BLOG of my life as a Vagabiker. Beryl calls me a 'Free Spirit' my Grandpa a B.U.M. of no fixed address. Kelly says I'm 'off the wall'. I think that the Toad is closest saying I'm the Cat in the Hat it's fun to have fun—but you have to know how.

These are the stories of my unique, home-and-job-free Natness.

Naturally, quasi-legal events are fictional. Everything else is the unvarnished truth.

Archive for the 'time wasting' Category

oh me, oh my, oh bear

Sunday, July 20th, 2008

What’s the latest?

Other than running into bears… I’m limping. Coming from non-impact sports (you’re only ’supposed’ to increase activity mileage by 10% per season) the impact of running is hurting. I have given myself the start of stress fracture… so that means riding bike, and swimming. Ideally I wouldn’t be walking even (standard procedure is to have walking casts on for stress fractures) but I’m ambling along in the woods with the dogs.  Also my friendly  neighborhood chiropractor is helping, and I’m running in the river.  If anyone  in the Chelasea area has an elliptical type machine that I could use at some point, please contact me.  Thanks. (more…)

Tour de…

Thursday, July 17th, 2008

It wouldn’t be July if there weren’t cyclists getting popped for dope. Other years I would just watch the live coverage. Doping scandals can break at any time, so it’s key tp check in regularly. Ricco, well he was too good to be true on those climbs. Not that I’m jumping on the bandwagon. But he probably used up all his stored ‘clean’ (taken out during the winter) blood during the Giro, and had to medicate here. Also I guess the tests are getting better, so that’s good for those of us who abstain. However the problem is that the drugs keep getting better. A recent study showed 8% performance increase from EPO use… so when the guys who are in 15th spot are doping, but also getting left behind by minutes… what are the leaders doing? (more…)

to win in the frying pan, train in the fire

Wednesday, July 16th, 2008

Yesterdays weather in Clermont FL : 91 degrees, and 73% humidity.

The average temperature for Kona October 11th is 86 degrees, and 50-80% humidity. Of course in Kona I will be starting my run around 1pm.

I’ve got my head down, running up the first hill on the dirt trail through the orange groves. I’m busy adjusting my hat to reduce the glare, and look up to see that I am 5 feet away from stepping on a Gator! Let me repeat that:

5 feet away from stepping on a Gator! (more…)

Quick update

Sunday, June 15th, 2008

So a few quick things before I disappear again.

Getting back to the team training house in the ‘Hammer’ aka Hamilton Ontario, it’s a great training environment, but I was a little overtrained and needed rest. This wasn’t really too surprising, as all this swimming and running was new to my body and Coach Barrie Shepley and I had to find out what kind of work loads I could handle… now we have a better idea. (more…)

The Sean Bechtel Interview.

Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008
When Nat showed up in Tucson he hardly knew Sean Bechtel, and an hour later they were sharing a bed for the first of two weeks of their training session. There haven’t been many hours that they’ve spent apart. After 2 months training together the longest separation was 2h (2x 1h massage with Mona).
2 weeks later they upped that time to just over 3h (after Seans swim start until the start of Nat’s run) at Oceanside.
I have also learned that when Nat was out on a date last week he locked the keys in the car so that he had an excuse to call Sean so that there was excuse him (and his AAA card) to come over.

(more…)

1/2 Ironman Triathlon - Oceanside CA

Thursday, April 3rd, 2008

So I have been slowly working up my training, secretly in August, and then I came out of the Triathlon closet in January to do full on training the. But this is the first of my 5 big races this season - and all those months of nerves…

I have been waking up at 5am, but not being able to fall asleep until midnight or later!
Let me sum up:

Race day 3 h sleep, a bowl of oatmeal, 2 meal replacements…. set up with 2000 other people in the dark, blast around for a bike warm up, in the dark. Short jog, watch the sunrise while Sean takes off in the Pro wave, one last long pee in TL’s wetsuit, and it’s Go-Time. (more…)

brief oceanside update

Sunday, March 30th, 2008

So I did it.

I won my age group and am headed to Kona. (more…)

Paying the ‘Nat Tax’

Thursday, January 17th, 2008

expired passportThe whole ‘life unscripted/ unplanned/ non-uneventful’ thing sounds swell on paper, but truth be told, sometimes my ‘carelessness’ (as some close to me may call it)

As I was packing to leave California it was brought to my attention that my passport was expired. It is not a requirement that you have a valid passport for entering Canada, even by plane, so, as it was a Sunday evening, I wasn’t terribly worried. Carley suggested I call Air Canada and see if this would be a problem. They told me it would, but, without other options I was hoping that… maybe they won’t notice it.

(more…)