Showing posts with label Lance Armstrong. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lance Armstrong. Show all posts
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Cheating Sucks (& so does Tony Kornheiser)
I'm currently reading "We Might As Well Win" by Johan Bruyneel. (Yea, I'm taking the time to read for pleasure--I need it.) The book provides great insight into Johan's life, and his journey with Lance before/during/after seven TdF wins. As an aspiring coach, it's a great read that comes from a coach's perspective. It's also very educational on the sport of cycling--history, dynamics and all.
Last night I was reading a part where Johan talks about some historical acts of cheating at the TdF. He prefaces it by saying the Tour is like a metaphor for life: ..."a showcase for dishonesty, chaos and cheating, right alongside virtues such as nobility, bravery sacrifice and triumph."
The cheating part had me laughing. I don't know about you guys--this may be common knowledge for some--but I'd never heard these stories. Putting aside all the doping scandals, it's pretty pathetic what people were doing way back when to get ahead...
*1904: The top four riders DQ'd for taking a train during key stages; 25 others out of the 88 total punished for riding in cars or trains, or taking shortcuts, when they should have been riding bikes on the actual course. Didn't they notice a lack of riders on the course? Or were people not following them the entire way back then? Plus, how would that be trying to disguise yourself on a train. ha!
*1905: Rider covers road in nails & tacks in stage 1 to screw over his competitors.
*1911: Brothers Henri & Francis Pelissier carried a flask during the Tour that was apparently full of cocaine, saying "we keep going on dynamite" and "in evenings, we dance around in our rooms instead of sleeping." Oh dang!! Just picture how these guys must have looked & acted.
*1937: Rider has his handlebar partially sawn off in act of sabotage. Really? Better yet, he could have just taken a club to the guy's knee Tanya Harding-Nancy Kerrigan style.
*1953: A super-lean climber picks up water bottle full of lead (25 lbs worth) at the mountain peak so he can descend faster. So, who was the guy who handed him the water bottle I wonder? Slime ball.
Unbelievable, but laughably pathetic at the same time. I just don't get how people can have such lack of morals. How do you live with yourself? I can't imagine doing something unethical or illegal to get ahead in triathlon. Hell no. If my body & mind can't achieve it, then it ain't happening.
Thankfully, at the same time you have a guy like Lance who is just purely amazing. As long as we have role models like him in our world, I will keep faith in sport, and humanity too.
Btw, in the words of Lance: Tony Kornheiser is a douche bag!!!!
***Update on Tony***... just saw Lance tweet this: ...To me this is all about a relationship. It's bikes and cars. Both will be here forever. Awareness needs to exist as well as mutual respect.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Recap
I can't even express in words how much fun I had at the Tri Expo. From the second I arrived, I was surrounded by friends and familiar faces. I also had the chance to meet some Internet/email friends in person. I swear, my mouth was yapping the whole day. I'm surprised I was able to stay coherent for it all. Didn't get home till midnight... so late for me!
One of the coolest new friends I finally met in person is Dr. Allen Lim. He works directly with Lance Armstrong and Team RadioShack and is an world-renown exercise physiologist. He's probably the best resource I could ever imagine having as I go through my master's program and do my thesis. My friend/pro triathlete Jessi Stensland put us in touch a while back, and I'm so thankful she did... Allen is not one of those weird nerdy science dudes; he's way laid back and funny but still smart as hell, and I feel comfortable asking questions and picking his brain 24/7 even if I bug him or sound like a total exercise phys novice, ha. I'm trying to get him to take me along on Tour of California and Tour de France with Team RadioShack :)
Jessi Stensland leading a MovementU seminar; Allen Lim marching at the far right:
To top off a perfect day at the expo, we had quite a random/entertaining group of people together for dinner at Costa Bravo in PB. Tatiana, Kevin Koresky & Joe of finishline-multisport.com, Jessi, Allen and some of his friends. I don't think I've ever sat at a restaurant for that many hours while having fun and eating good food (like the paella below) the whole time.
The group (ps - Allen is the guy with the giant smile haha):
I was bad again, peer pressure!:
I'm surprised I survived my Saturday long run after Friday's craziness. But 12 miles later... it didn't go as bad as I expected. I have to thank my mom for inspiring to get out there and go (she was running close behind me on our whole loop). I almost took the day off because I was so tired and was suffering in the sleep department.
I made up for all my "sinful" activity on Saturday night by cooking a healthy meal and going to bed very early.
Sunday Sara and my CSUF friend David joined me for a 3-hour ride. I had lots of hills planned, with some good ones right around mile 30... perfect training for Oceanside! I have another post planned on elevation gain stats. Some of you noticed on FB: My Garmin said we climbed 5200 feet, my iBike said 3200 feet. I do have comments/thoughts on this, but also want your opinions!
Somehow I squeaked out a 30 min/4ish-mile run after the bike. Then Sunday night, Tatiana and I met with the RAHA Cycling Team. I am so thankful to be involved with an amazing group of people who (like I said on Twitter) care about helping others/giving back on top of racing hard and having fun as a team! These "individual" sports aren't so solo after all. Check out more about the "giving back" side of RAHA here: Bahati Foundation.
Lastly: FOOD. I am a total believer that good food aids in good performance (duh, right?). I also don't mind "splurging" on certain occasions; I think it's healthy and sometimes there's no other option... except not eating. However, 95% of my life is spent eating HEALTHY. One of the biggest things I strive for is getting in a lot of fresh foods and a lot of color... like my dinner last night:
Quinoa with mixed veggies, barbecue chicken breast (with Trader Joe's BBQ sauce), steamed sugar snap peas and sauteed eggplant/bell peppers/onions. Salt on all of it (I'm a salt fiend, but I can be!). If it's not this, it's usually broccoli stir fry, fish and a sweet potato, which I had Saturday actually--all things I NEVER get sick of for dinner!
One of the coolest new friends I finally met in person is Dr. Allen Lim. He works directly with Lance Armstrong and Team RadioShack and is an world-renown exercise physiologist. He's probably the best resource I could ever imagine having as I go through my master's program and do my thesis. My friend/pro triathlete Jessi Stensland put us in touch a while back, and I'm so thankful she did... Allen is not one of those weird nerdy science dudes; he's way laid back and funny but still smart as hell, and I feel comfortable asking questions and picking his brain 24/7 even if I bug him or sound like a total exercise phys novice, ha. I'm trying to get him to take me along on Tour of California and Tour de France with Team RadioShack :)
Jessi Stensland leading a MovementU seminar; Allen Lim marching at the far right:
To top off a perfect day at the expo, we had quite a random/entertaining group of people together for dinner at Costa Bravo in PB. Tatiana, Kevin Koresky & Joe of finishline-multisport.com, Jessi, Allen and some of his friends. I don't think I've ever sat at a restaurant for that many hours while having fun and eating good food (like the paella below) the whole time.
The group (ps - Allen is the guy with the giant smile haha):
I was bad again, peer pressure!:
I'm surprised I survived my Saturday long run after Friday's craziness. But 12 miles later... it didn't go as bad as I expected. I have to thank my mom for inspiring to get out there and go (she was running close behind me on our whole loop). I almost took the day off because I was so tired and was suffering in the sleep department.
I made up for all my "sinful" activity on Saturday night by cooking a healthy meal and going to bed very early.
Sunday Sara and my CSUF friend David joined me for a 3-hour ride. I had lots of hills planned, with some good ones right around mile 30... perfect training for Oceanside! I have another post planned on elevation gain stats. Some of you noticed on FB: My Garmin said we climbed 5200 feet, my iBike said 3200 feet. I do have comments/thoughts on this, but also want your opinions!
Somehow I squeaked out a 30 min/4ish-mile run after the bike. Then Sunday night, Tatiana and I met with the RAHA Cycling Team. I am so thankful to be involved with an amazing group of people who (like I said on Twitter) care about helping others/giving back on top of racing hard and having fun as a team! These "individual" sports aren't so solo after all. Check out more about the "giving back" side of RAHA here: Bahati Foundation.
Lastly: FOOD. I am a total believer that good food aids in good performance (duh, right?). I also don't mind "splurging" on certain occasions; I think it's healthy and sometimes there's no other option... except not eating. However, 95% of my life is spent eating HEALTHY. One of the biggest things I strive for is getting in a lot of fresh foods and a lot of color... like my dinner last night:
Quinoa with mixed veggies, barbecue chicken breast (with Trader Joe's BBQ sauce), steamed sugar snap peas and sauteed eggplant/bell peppers/onions. Salt on all of it (I'm a salt fiend, but I can be!). If it's not this, it's usually broccoli stir fry, fish and a sweet potato, which I had Saturday actually--all things I NEVER get sick of for dinner!
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