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Gym etiquette: What bugs you?
We’ve had so much fun griping about what people do wrong on the hike-and-bike trail, I thought we could address some common lapses in gym etiquette, too.
My pet peeve? People who grunt and yell like stuck pigs as they hoist massive amounts of weights. OK, we get it. You’re a stud. You don’t have to draw extra attention to yourself.
There’s the gross-out factor of people who sweat all over gym equipment and don’t wipe it down before they move to the next machine. Ew. Look for an upcoming Fit City article in the print version of the Austin American-Statesman about the horrors of germs at the gym.
Somebody complained to me once about people trotting around in the changing room in the nude, but I beg to differ on that one. It’s a changing room, folks. That’s where we’re supposed to be able to strip down and change clothes. Now if we’re talking about parading around in the buff for extended periods, or standing at the mirror for 15 or 20 minutes in the nude while styling one’s hair yeah, that’s a little odd. But brief, discreet nudity? I’m OK with that.
Other possible faux pas to consider: Not re-racking weights when you’ve finished using them, leaving your gym gear strewn all over the locker room while you work out and jumping in line on the weight circuit.
What bugs you at the gym?
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Exercise for fun, not because you have to
According to a new study, women exercise more frequently if they think it’ll make them feel better and less stressed — not if they know it will save their lives.
Weird, isn’t it? We know that regular physical activity helps prevent cardiovascular disease, the leading killer of women, but most middle age women still don’t get enough exercise.
The study, from the University of Michigan’s Institute for Research on Women and Gender and published in Women’s Health Issues, sampled healthy women ages 40 to 60 years who worked full-time. Subjects answered questions about how much they exercised, what their exercise goals were, and how committed they were to meeting those goals.
The study showed that women who exercised purely to lose weight spent less time exercising than those who did it to improve well-being and reduce stress. Which reinforces something I’ve always believed — your exercise time should be the highlight of your day, not something you begrudgingly do. That’s why my swim coach never calls our morning practice a “workout.” It’s not work, he says, it’s fun!
“Unfortunately, the standard approach to exercise taken in our culture has mainly taught Americans to consider exercise as a type of medicine to prevent disease and lose weight,” says Michelle Segar, a research investigator at the Institute for Research on Women and Gender at Michigan. “It turns exercise into something they should do rather than something they want to do, something that undermines and harms motivation and participation.”
Nobody likes medicine. Mary Poppins proved that.
But it also brings up questions of how we can encourage women to fit exercise into their daily lives. Apparently, it’s all in how it’s presented.
“It’s counter intuitive,” Segar says in a press release. “Instead of prescribing exercise to prevent disease, healthcare providers who emphasize physical activity as a means to enhance women’s quality of life might better facilitate long-term participation among healthy women, making disease prevention more likely.”
In other words, find something you like to do and go do it. I’m a swimmer at heart, and will never give that up, but I love to try different things. That’s why I learned to water ski when I turned 40. It’s why I’m planning to run my first marathon in February, at age 44.
“Women are more likely to be hooked on exercise and make it a priority if their reason for doing it is to enhance their day rather than prevent an illness that they may never get,” Segar says.
Make it fun, and it won’t be a chore.
To read more about the study, go here: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?ob=ArticleURL&udi=B6TD8-4SGTS92-1&user=10&coverDate=08%2F31%2F2008&rdoc=9&fmt=high&orig=browse&srch=doc-info(%23toc%235192%232008%23999819995%23693407%23FLA%23display%23Volume)&cdi=5192&sort=d&docanchor=&ct=15&version=1&urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=b682e4194da87a9e5d2d51115986b6ba
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Nike+ Human Race: Doctor’s tips for running in heat
Just a few more days until the Nike+ Human Race! Yippie!
Packet pickup for the 10K is from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. until 7 p.m. Saturday at 24 Hour Fitness, 1000 E. 41st St. Bring your confirmation email. When you get to the check-in location, you’ll get to pick a T-shirt size. (Get there early to make sure you get the size you want.) Everyone will be asked to wear the race T-shirt on race day; it’s your ticket to enter the race venue. If you haven’t registered for the race, you can do that at packet pickup also.
Once you’ve picked your stuff up, relax! Take a day off from your training program. You want to be well rested for the run, which starts at 6:30 p.m. Sunday at Sixth Street and Congress Avenue.
The weather forecast calls for a high of 95 degrees on Sunday, so hydration will be critical. Don’t wait until the last minute. I checked in with Dr. Pierre Filardi, a local anesthesiologist and medical director of the AT&T Austin Marathon who is also a runner. Here are his tips:
Drink about half a liter of sports drink one to three hours before the race and continue to sip as the race start approaches. “The runners will be having sweat losses just while standing waiting to start,” he says. “Having to urinate in the last hour prior to race time is a good sign.”
Go light on caffeine and food in the three or four hours before the race. “If the stomach is full of food, it delays the absorption of the fluids, which are a big priority over fuel.”
Drinking sports drink is better than drinking just plain water when it’s this hot. “You do not sweat water, you sweat salty water. Put in what you put out,” he says.
Anticipate a high sweat loss. It will vary by individual, but can range from a half liter to more than a liter per hour. Remember that it’s difficult to absorb more than a liter an hour of liquid. If you feel bloated and liquid is sloshing in your belly, your stomach is not processing the fluid.
Hydrate at frequent intervals during the race with smaller amounts of sport drink. Six or eight big gulps every 15-20 minutes should do it.
Tune into how your body is feeling. No amount of hydrating will prevent overheating in high heat and high humidity conditions. If you feel “bonky” or weak, exhausted, fall significantly off your pace, flush bright red, feel dizzy or experience an overblown heart race for your pace, drink cold fluids and rest in the shade to cool down.
It’s too late this time, but remember next time to train in the same conditions of the race. If you only run at 6 a.m., you’ll experience radically different conditions at 6:30 p.m. on race day. That’s why the Olympic marathoners moved to a hot and humid climate to train for their race in Beijing.
Do this self test to weigh yourself before and post run and calculate an hourly need: http://www.usatf.org/groups/Coaches/library/hydration/USATFSelfTestingProgramForOptimalHydration.pdf
Hydrating late in the race after you have gotten behind will not help. The fluids won’t be absorbed until after you have finished. That’s good for re-hydration, but won’t help your race performance.
It may sounds gross, but check the color of your urine after your training runs. Small amounts of concentrated (darker) urine after training runs means you underhydrated.
It’s OK to finish just a little dry.
The final tip? Enjoy the race. Be sure to look for Olympic swimmers (and former Longhorns) Brendan Hansen and Aaron Peirsol, who plan to be at the race along with seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong and former Houston Comets basketball player Cynthia Cooper. Afterward, Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals will give a free concert in front of the Capitol.
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Cyclists and runners: Can we coexist on the trail?
Did you read David Alsmeyer’s letter to the editor on the editorial page today?
He wrote: “The hike-and-bike trail along Lady Bird Lake has seen increased usage in recent years primarily because of increased density in the central city. The city of Austin Parks and Recreation Department and the Trail Foundation have been studying ways to increase the capacity of the trail system. The simplest way to relieve overcrowding is to remove bicycles from the trail. In addition to the dust and erosion created by bicyclists, they are not safe for pedestrians.”
He’s right. The trail has gotten more crowded. He’s also right that a simple way to relieve overcrowding would be to remove bicycles from the trail.
That doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do. We might as well remove all SUVs from our roadways to relieve traffic congestion.
I’m still a firm believer that cyclists and pedestrians can peacefully co-exist on our hike-and-bike trails. But both parties have to take some responsibility. Walkers and runners can’t travel three or more abreast, clogging the trail to other users. Likewise, bikes can’t blast through, scaring the pants off pedestrians and causing near collisions. The trail isn’t the place to practice speed training.
I’ve said this before: Cyclists should alert pedestrians that they’re approaching. One way to do that is by using a bike bell, which seems to get better results than shouting “On your left!”
Alsmeyer says that bikes cause dust and erosion. I’d argue that pedestrians cause just as much erosion as pedestrians. I’ve seen both cut the corner on designated trails, crushing vegetation and kicking up dirt. As it is, many times more pedestrians use the trail than cyclists. And he blames bikers for erosion and dust?
But removing cyclists altogether? Not yet. Cyclists and pedestrians need a safe place to exercise. They need safe routes to cross Lady Bird Lake.
We’re all taxpayers, and we’ve all paid to build that wonderful downtown trail system. That’s why it’s called a hike AND bike trail.
I’m a runner, a walker and a cyclist, and I use the trail for all three of those activities. I just rode my bike to work from Allendale this morning. The last few miles of my commute are on the trail around Lady Bird Lake. That keeps me off busy surface streets like Congress Avenue. I feel safer on the trail. And like runners, I like that short stretch on the trail because it’s pretty — I get to see the lake, the birds and the trees instead of sucking up fumes from passing traffic.
At peak times — just after 5 p.m. during the week and Saturday and Sunday mornings, we need to look out for one another.
I think at least for now that the trail’s big enough for all of us.
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Meals on Two Wheels
Leave it to Austin to combine charitable goodness, a hot meal and a good workout in one cool program.
Meals on Wheels and More is starting a bike version of its meal delivery service. On Sept. 15, the agency will launch “Meals on Two Wheels,” sending volunteers on bicycles out to deliver food to homebound elderly and disabled residents of Austin. They’ll deliver food along 12 pre-selected routes.
Just think: The volunteers get a little exercise, the non-profit agency cuts down on gas costs, we send fewer emissions into the environment and some of the most fragile residents of our community still get a healthy, hot meal.
A company that wants to remain anonymous provided a grant to keep a fleet of three specially-designed bicycles with cooler-holding carts at the agency’s headquarters. The program kicks off on Sept. 15.
I think it’s fabulous.
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Margarita bike ride
Already plotting next weekend’s fun?
Bicycle Sport Shop is holding a Margarita Ride at 6:15 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 30 starting at the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge. The group will ride to happy hour at Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant, 301 San Jacinto St. in downtown Austin, for free appetizers, $2 draft beers and $5 margaritas. The first 50 riders will get a ticket for a free drink.
For more details, go here: http://bicyclesportshop.com/page.cfm?PageID=983
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I might run a marathon
It’s Saturday, time for a long run on the Pam LeBlanc hamster wheel of fitness.
I’m thinking about running the A&T Marathon this year. I’m haven’t pulled the trigger yet, but I get closer every day. I had such a great time running the 3M Half Marathon last winter that I officially started down the slippery path.
I’ve written before about how I used to hate running. I’ll always be a swimmer first and foremost, but I’ve come around with running. It happened slowly: I signed up for an employee training program for the Capitol 10,000 two years ago. That was fun. Suffering in a group environment is a lot more fun than slogging it out solo. Coaching made all the difference.
So did finding a few friends who ran at about my same speed. Now Marcy, Tony and I get together every weekend for a long run. At least we call it long. For the summer, we’ve mostly been running a 5-mile loop. A few weeks ago, we ramped it up a little to 8 miles.
When it’s hot, it’s brutal. But we figure that if we can hold onto 8 miles through the hottest months, running will become suddenly easy when it cools off. We’ll be that much farther ahead in our training program.
Last year, we trained ourselves for the 3M Half Marathon. And we did fine, averaging 10-minute miles through the 13-miler. I think we’ll need more guidance, though, to do a full marathon. I’m worried about the mental fortitude both the training and the actual race will require. That and the time commitment. It’s not just the 2- or 3-hour weekend runs, it’s the afternoon of lounging on the couch I’ll need after the runs.
I think I can do it, though. That’s why we’ve been perusing the training programs offered around Austin. Our city offers some good ones, from Rogue Training Systems (http://www.roguerunning.com/) to Team in Training (http://teamintraining.org/20th), Austin Fit (http://www.austinfit.com/) and Gilbert’s Gazelle’s (http://www.gilbertsgazelles.com/). RunTex offers a fairly comprehensive list of programs at http://www.runtex.com.
Now, time to go run.
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Free day of dance
Itching to put on your dancing shoes? Ballet Austin will celebrate the one-year birthday of its Butler Dance Education Center and Community School with a free day of dance classes and other activities from 2-6 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 7.
Besides four hours of open classes, the center will host demonstrations in the Pilates studio, contests and sneak peaks of the upcoming production of “Not Afraid of the Dark: The Show That Glows!” with an appearance and music by Joe Scruggs .
The Butler Community School, which opened in 2007, was conceived as a hub for movement, where everyone is encouraged to express and explore. Classes include Pilates, yoga, dance fitness and open dance ranging from ballroom to jazz and hula to hip hop.
The downtown facility, located at 501 W. Third St., houses Ballet Austin’s Community School, Academy, AustinVentures StudioTheater, and professional company along with the artistic and administrative staff. For more information about “Come Dance! 2008”, go to http://www.balletaustin.org or call 476-9151.
SCHEDULE OF CLASSES AND EVENTS:
2-3 p.m. Theatre Dance, Hula, Ballet Fit, Creative Movement (ages 3-5), Youth Division Ballet 3-4 p.m. Hula, Teen/Adult Ballet, Pre-Ballet (ages 5-7), Intermediate Division Ballet, Pilates Mat 4-5 p.m. Jazz, Broadway Fit, Feldenkrais, Creative Movement (ages 3-5), Pre-Professional Division Ballet 5-6 p.m. Hip Hop, Modern, Pre-Ballet (ages 5-7), Tap, Hatha Yoga
BALLET AUSTIN’S 2008/09 SEASON
Sept 20-21, 2008: “Not Afraid of the Dark: The Show That Glows!â„¢ at The Paramount Theatre Oct 24-26, 2008: Inaugural season opener at The Long Center Dec 6-23, 2008: The Nutcracker at The Long Center Feb 13-15, 2009: Hamlet at The Long Center Mar 26-Apr 5, 2009: AustinVentures StudioTheater Project May 8-10, 2009: Cinderella at The Long Center
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Olympic bodies: Who’s got the best?
Have you heard? Former University of Texas swimmers Aaron Peirsol and Brendan Hanson will be at the Nike+ Human Race on Aug. 31.
Hanson, who won a gold medal in Beijing as part of the men’s 4x100 medley relay, will actually run with the hordes. Peirsol, who snagged two golds (one in the medley relay and one in the 100-meter backstroke) and one silver (200 backstroke), won’t run, but he will say a few words before the race begins.
It got me thinking about how different types of athletes have different body types. While watching the Olympics the other night, my husband Chris and I argued about which athletes have the most beautiful physiques.
Actually, we didn’t argue. I told him swimmers typically have the most gorgeous physiques. He mostly agreed. He had to, though. I’m a swimmer.
But he made a case for middle-distance runners. This is not to say that track sprinters aren’t beautiful or cyclists aren’t beautiful or rowers aren’t beautiful.
I’m talking in purely superficial, general terms here. If I was going to create a statue of the perfect athlete, whose body would I choose?
I’d choose a swimmer. That ideal of broad shoulders, strong core, tall stature and big floppy feet (OK, kidding about that last one) just looks so amazing. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Greek sculptors modeled their works after swimmers.
Long-distance runners are so thin. So are cyclists. They have to be; you move faster with less bulk to carry around. Track sprinters are all powerful glutes, to give them a fast start off the blocks. Basketball players are so amazingly tall. Gymnasts so incredibly tiny. Football players are so incredibly beefy.
You get the picture.
Swimmers are just right. They’re muscled without looking too bulked up. Lean without looking scrawny. Powerful. Healthy. Big shoulders. (Oh yeah, and dry hair, from all the chlorine.)
It makes me wonder … are certain body types drawn to certain sports? Or do body types develop after years of training? I bet it’s a combination of both. Taller athletes obviously excel at basketball, where height is an advantage. The opposite is true in gymnastics. Discus throwers have powerful necks and shoulders. Marathoners don’t have any fat at all on their frames.
If you were going to make a sculpture of an athlete, what kind of athlete would you pick?
In the meantime, join the 10K race to get a glimpse of Hanson and Peirsol and decide for yourself if swimmers have the most ideal physiques. To register for the Nike+ Human Race and for information about local training runs, go to http://nikeplus.com. Registration is $35, and participants get to choose which of three charities — Lance Armstrong Foundation, NineMillion.org and World Wildlife Fund — they want to benefit.
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Winning Olympic medals in swimming is easy?
I nearly choked on my Wheaties when I read an article by Philip Hersh, who discounts Michael Phelps’ haul of eight gold medals, proclaiming that winning medals in swimming is easy.
“Could everyone please stop hyperventilating about Michael Phelps,” Hersh writes, going on to say that the swimmer is far from the greatest Olympic athlete of all time. (To read the article, which appeared in the Los Angeles Times, go here: http://cw11.trb.com/wpix-phelps0813,0,3349629.story)
Phelps may not be the greatest athlete ever, but if you’ve tried to swim across your neighborhood pool lately, Hersh’s tirade will make you want to pop him with one of Phelps’ size 14 swim fins.
“It is easy to win multiple medals in swimming,” Hersh writes. “The sport is far more forgiving on the body than track or gymnastics.”
I figured my swim coach would have an opinion, so I called him up.
“If you’re going to compare apples to oranges, you ought to at least have some understanding of what an orange is,” says Keith Bell, coach of TeamTexas swim team. I’ve trained for eight years under Bell, a four-time collegiate All-American swimmer who has set 31 world and 88 U.S. Masters national records and won a slew of Masters championships. He’s married to my other coach, Sandy Neilson-Bell, who snagged three gold medals swimming in the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Hersh asserts that it’s easy to medal in swimming because athletes can recover more easily than, for example, in track. That may be true, but what Hersh forgets is that swimmers aren’t competing against track athletes. They’re competing against other swimmers, who all train in the water, and who arguably have among the most intense training regimens of any athlete.
Most elite swimmers spend about five hours a day, six days a week, churning through the water. Some spend up to eight hours in the pool. They also do dry land work with weights.
“You certainly don’t take as much pounding, but he’s forgetting that Phelps is not competing against people running track, he’s competing against other swimmers,” Bell says. “Swimmers train harder than any other athletes in world because they can, because they don’t take as much pounding.”
“Come on,” Bell says. “If I was as ignorant about track as he seems to be about swimming, I might say ‘What are you talking about you can’t recover from 9-second race? The shortest race in swimming is going to take twice that.’ Let’s compare 9 seconds in track to 4 minutes in the 400 individual medley.”
Bell agrees that the new suit technology makes swimming world records relatively — but not completely — meaningless. But, as he points out, all the Olympic swimmers in Beijing swam in the same pool and had access to the same suit technology, and Phelps still managed to beat them.
Hersh’s article is filled with gems. He says the risk of a false start is minimal in a swimming relay, compared to a track relay.
Where’d he get that idea? In swimming, swimmers are perched on a starting block above the water, waiting for the next swimmer to hit the wall. No baton slapped in your hand to know it’s your turn to go. “You have to time it perfectly, you have to be out above the water with your feet still on the blocks, and you have to judge whether (the next swimmer’s) going to kick into the wall. It’s an extremely difficult thing,” Bell says.
Hersh says if Olympic track had an 800-meter relay, Lewis probably would have won at least two more gold medals. You could say the same about Phelps. What if Olympic swimming had a 50-meter race? Phelps could have added to his medal collection.
And here’s my favorite bit from Hersh’s article: “Three of swimming’s four strokes — everything but the breaststroke — might as well be the same. Otherwise, how could backstroker Matt Grevers say he barely trained that stroke before winning an Olympic silver medal in the 100? Nearly every good freestyler can be a good butterflyer, and vice-versa.”
That’s like saying pole vaulting and long jumping might as well be the same. It’s laughable.
Consider Austin’s own Aaron Peirsol, who specializes in backstroke and won a gold in the 100 meters. “He is very good athlete and he can swim other strokes really well,” Bell says. “He’s a good butterflyer and freestyler, too, but he can’t make finals in the Olympics in any of those.”
Phelps haul of eight medals is astonishing. Hopefully we’ll get to see him add to that collection in London in 2012. Is that what it will take to make a believer out of Hersh?
Mr. Hersh, let the hyperventilating continue.
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Ride a bike to Democratic, Republican conventions
Imagine, hundreds of political convention-goers tooling around Denver and Minneapolis-St. Paul on bicycles. Could it work?
Organizers of Freewheelin, the largest bike-sharing program ever launched in the United States, hope so. They’ve delivered 1,000 bicycles to Denver, where the Democratic National Convention will convene Aug. 25-28. The bikes will be set up downtown and around and major hotel centers for free use by convention attendees, residents and the media. To borrow a bike, all they have to do is register, head to one of eight bike stations, flash their Freewheelin card and pick up a helmet, bike and map.
When the Democratic convention ends, Freewheelin will do the same thing in Minneapolis-St. Paul, where the Republicans will gather for their convention Sept. 1-4. The idea is to demonstrate the health and environmental benefits of biking.
The bikes are equipped with an onboard computer that tracks and converts distance traveled, duration of the ride, calories burned and resulting carbon offset. The folks heading up Freewheelin say that if all the bikes were used during the entirety of both conventions, they could reduce the carbon footprint by 4.4 tons. And think of the calories burned and gas saved!
A 10-mile commute can save a bicyclist $7.50 in gas and car maintenance costs, according to Bikes Belong, a nonprofit cycling-advocacy group that is teaming with Humana, one of the nation’s largest health-benefits companies, to sponsor the Freewheelin program.
Bike sharing isn’t a new idea. When I was in Paris in October, the city had just launched it’s wildly popular bike sharing program, Velib (http://www.en.velib.paris.fr/). A station just outside our hotel was buzzing with activity, with commuters checking out bikes at all hours. Berlin, Barcelona and Rome have similar programs, and New York and Boston are working to establish their own.
Would a bike-sharing program work in Austin? With the growing density of downtown, I’d like to think so. Besides taking motor vehicles off the road, a bike-sharing program could help Mayor Will Wynn chug toward his goal of making Austin the fittest city in the country.
Those of us who ride our bikes to work already know one other benefit — a smile on our face before we start the work day.
Read more about the cool program here: http://www.freewheelinwaytogo.com/Registration/PreRegistrationWelcome.aspxB
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Hill Country Outdoors offers week-long memberships
A few changes are on tap at Hill Country Outdoors, a local recreation and social club. (That photo was taken at a club kayaking and bat watching expedition I tagged along on a few years ago.)
The club is now offering short-term memberships that cover a single week. That way, if you see something on their calendar you’re interested in, you can sign up for the short-term, see if you like it, and consider a longer-term membership later. The new one-week membership plan costs $10.95 per week.
The club is also starting a happy hour series called “Texas Two Step,” which starts in September.
“This new seven-day membership is perfect for visitors who are only here for a short time but want to explore and enjoy some of the fun outdoor activities available to us here in Austin,” Bill Talbot, owner of Hill Country Outdoors, said in a press release. “It’s also a great, low-risk way to check out the club before signing up for a longer term membership.”
The “Texas Two Step” will feature a hike on one of Austin’s many nature trails followed by dinner and drinks at a nearby restaurant. The first one is scheduled for Sept. 4 at the Bull Creek Greenbelt.
The club has nearly 600 members and hosts more than 70 events each month, from hiking, camping and biking to road trips, wine-tastings and dinners. For more information, go to http://www.hillcountryoutdoors.com.
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Zilker Relays
If it’s time for the Zilker Relays, fall can’t be far away. (I say this optimistically, as I droop in the 100-degree heat.)
The race, founded by Paul Perrone, has been kicking off the fall running season in Austin since 2002. This year’s relay is set for 6:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 29 — the same weekend as the much-hyped Nike Human Race, scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 31.
The relays are popular among the city’s running community. Last year, more than 200 teams raced. This year, organizers Perrone and Raul Najera expect close to 300 teams.
Four person teams compete in the relay. Each runner takes a 2.5-mile loop around Zilker Park, then hands off to a teammate. After the race, runners get free music and food and dinner from Tacodeli.
A team representing Gilbert’s Gazelles won the relay last year, for the third year in a row.
Runners of all skill levels are encouraged to participate. For more information, go to www.zilkerrelays.com.
The Zilker Relays are presented by The Genesis Agency and Run-Far Racing Systems. Sponsors include Tacodeli, James Allen - Private Mortgage Bankin, Wells Fargo and Rogue Equipment.
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A little Olympic obsession…
I’m obsessed with the Olympics. I can’t get enough Michael Phelps, Aaron Peirsol and Katie Hoff. I also can’t get to bed before 11:30 p.m.
Last night, I stayed up until almost midnight watching. I could barely get out of bed when my alarm went off at 6:30 a.m. to head to the Dell Jewish Community Center, where I train with Team Texas swim team. I don’t think my coach, Keith Bell, was very sympathetic.
I love the swimming best because it’s pure sport. Besides, I know how hard it is to go fast in the water.
I’m fascinated by 41-year-old swimmer Dara Torres. Mesmerized by the whole debate over the Speedo LZR swimsuits. Amazed by the Water Cube, with it’s air-filled bubble walls. Glued to the set anytime Michael “I’ve got the Longest Torso in the World” Phelps hits the pool. And hooked on watching the whole host of Austin swimmers churn through the water. (Go Aaron Peirsol!!)
The gymnastics is entertaining to watch, but I don’t like the subjectivity of the judging. There’s no question who’s won a swim race. The person who touches first gets the medal. But in gymnastics, you’ve got to rely on a panel of experts who don’t necessarily like the same thing.
Gymnastics, figure skating — amazing athletes, all of them, but I hate the scoring. It’s too emotional, too based on personal likes and dislikes. Did you watch the women’s all-around competition last night? I’m no expert, but listening to the commentators and watching for myself, it seemed that the judges gave some of the athletes higher scores than they deserved and others lower scores than they deserved.
It’s interesting how the sport of gymnastics has changed since I was a kid, and each judge would hold up a card with his or her score on it. The athletes back then seemed graceful, dainty, lithe. Today’s athletes follow the Mary Lou Retton mold — muscular little power houses that look like they could do some damage if I met them in a dark alley. Their routines are beautiful, but don’t look as fluid or artistic as they once did. It’s a different style, one more focused on athleticism.
A few random thoughts:
Did anyone see the female backstroker who raced without goggles on Thursday? Holy cow! How’d she do that?
Beach volleyball? Come on. We get hours of that and no baseball this year?
Did anyone else find the opening ceremonies, um, intimidating? I know they instructed the drummers to smile a little so we weren’t too weirded out, but parts of it seemed so militaristic. Loved the acrobats “jogging” around the perimeter of the globe, though. And many other things …
I’d like to see some of the equestrian events. No such luck, at least not on the stations I get.
Swimming, gymnastics, diving — the Olympics are the pinnacle of the sport. Basketball, cycling, tennis — the Olympics don’t compare to those sports’ premiere events.
So. Now begins the track and field portion of our event …
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New bike lane on Lamar
Even bikes need climbing lanes.
Ever notice how some cyclists sway and weave a little when they’re chugging up a hill? That makes us extra big targets for motorized vehicles.
To help make it safer for all of us, the city of Austin put in a climbing lane on the stretch of South Lamar Boulevard between Barton Springs Road and Treadwell Street. They painted a stripe and little stick figures of a cyclist in the road. That gives us room to wobble a little without darting in front of an oncoming car.
The climbing lane is the first of its kind in Austin. Famously bike-friendly cities like Portland and Seattle already have climbing lanes. They’ve also got huge numbers of bike commuters. I stood on a bridge in downtown Portland two years ago and watched flocks of cyclists cruise past. Awesome!
Annick Beaudet, the city of Austin’s bicycle program director, says the city decided to put the stripes on South Lamar because it sees high bike use. The lane will connect with existing Barton Springs bike lanes and, eventually, to new bike lanes being built through Zilker Park.
Bring it on!
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Golfing with Dad at the Butler Park Pitch and Putt
- Photos: Butler Park Pitch and Putt
I’m not a golfer, so I enlisted the help of co-worker Brandon Cobb to blog about Austin’s gem of a practice course, right in the middle of town. Read on to learn more about his experience:
It used to be that going home to visit my parents meant two things - yard work and basketball. Ever since I was old enough to shoot on a regulation rim, my dad, my brother and I have never missed an opportunity to get in a few games of 21 after cutting grass and pruning trees all afternoon. But when my dad’s worsening bone spurs ended our round-ball rivalry, my dad picked up golf and I picked up a better rake. Although I missed the friendly competition and trash-talking, I just didn’t have the time or money to follow my dad on to the links.
Recently a friend told me about the Butler Park Pitch and Putt. I was curious if this was the kind of golf I could get into. No cart, no bag of clubs to weigh you down. Just a pitching wedge, a putter and nine par three holes right in the center of town. I decided to give it a shot, so I called up the old man to see if he’d come down and give me pointers. He agreed and we hit the Pitch and Putt on a sunny Saturday afternoon.
Butler Park Pitch and Putt is located on Lee Barton Drive near the corner of Riverside Drive and Lamar Boulevard. I’ve been in the Austin area for 10 years and driven past it plenty of times without ever stopping to take a closer look. The park is in its 58th year of operation, drawing a fair mix of serious golfers out to work on their short game, and beginners, like me, out to learn the fundamentals.
“We’ve also got a lot of regulars who come out for our Two Man Scramble tournament every Monday,” said Matt Ryan, who has been with the Pitch and Putt for eight years. The club house is equipped with everything you’ll need for the afternoon with rental clubs, tees, balls and a cooler full of Gatorade.
The first thing I realized about golf was how tricky it is to hit a mid-range shot. After a brief explanation and demonstration my dad hit a high, arching shot from the first tee box that landed softly on the green 74 yards away. It seemed simple enough, so after a few practice swings I teed off on my first shot of the day - a screaming line drive that sailed over the green and landed deep in the rough.
“Home run!,” my dad yelled.
Ideally, you want to be on the green in one with two putts to make par. I thought I would be lucky to get on the green in three strokes, but after a great chip in from the rough, I was on the green and my confidence was up. This wasn’t so hard, right?
Wrong.
The second thing I learned about golf is that putting requires very little force. Although I was farther away from the hole than my dad, he decided to forego golf etiquette in order to give me a lesson in putting.
“Arms straight, no bending at the wrist, and let the club do the work,” he said as he tapped it in for par.
No sweat, I thought. I was about eight or nine yards from the hole, so I figured I’d tap it twice and walk away with a bogey for the first hole. Imagine my dismay when I “tapped” my first putt only to watch it rocket past the hole and roll back into the rough.
My dad just smiled.
Two more shots put me back on the green and I was back to putting again. This time, I was determined to reign in my exuberance. Three more short putts and I finally hit the bottom of the cup. Whew!
After the first hole, things were not looking good for the home team; my dad was on par and I was plus five; it took me eight shots to sink a par three. It looked like it was going to be a long day.
The next eight holes went very much like the first, with my dad looking like Tiger Woods and me like Goofy in How To Play Golf. Still, just when frustration set in, I would hit a solid shot and be reinvigorated. And that was the third thing I learned - golf is strangely addicting. Despite the steep learning curve, I had to admit I was enjoying myself. Until then, I’d been in agreement with Churchill, who considered golf the best way to spoil a good walk.
After nine holes, 805 yards and plenty of sun, my dad was sitting at 32 (five over par) while I was looking at a whopping 48 (21 over par). My first time out at the Pitch and Putt was not a raging success, judging only by the score card. Still, I had fun at a game that I never thought I would enjoy and managed to spend the afternoon hanging out and shooting the bull with my dad, just like we used to.
And this time, I didn’t have to rake any leaves first.
Butler Park Pitch and Putt is located at 201 Lee Barton Road and is open from 9 a.m. to dark week days and 8:30 a.m. to dark weekends. One round of golf is $7 or play all day for $20. Call (512) 477-4430 for more information.
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Running races and Austin traffic
Hey, I’m back! Sorry for the lapse in postings, but I’ve been up in Michigan for the past week, soaking up the 70-degree temps. I even ran the National Blueberry Festival 5K, posting a personal best time. That’s what cool weather will do.
Looks like I missed some interesting discussions while I was gone. Thanks, Steve, for getting us all fired up about whether or not we’re real runners if we go slow enough to chat sometimes.
Austin’s a big running town. We’ve got foot races almost every weekend. They’re great for keeping us in shape, and for raising money for worthwhile charities. But for some, they’re traffic-snarling annoyances.
I heard recently from John Conley, race director of the Nike Human Race 10K and the Austin Marathon & Half Marathon. He’s on a City Council task force that’s trying to find remedies to the disruption to downtown traffic caused by special events. He’s the only race director on the 16-member task force, and he’s worried that the task force will take a hard stance on races held in our city. He says running events in Austin are in danger of being regulated out of existence or priced out of existence if rules tighten.
“A city council member once remarked to me that after a race, she only hears from people who are angry and inconvenienced,” Conley says. “She never hears from people thanking the city or complimenting a race or the charity that benefitted from the race.”
Conley agrees that people grumbling about the races cause have a legitimate complaint and we need to come up with a compromise. “We will get there, but so far, the only public energy that has been mustered is from the side that would like to see Austin running events go away,” he says. “The silence of the runners is deafening.”
The task force’s work will take months and probably won’t end this year. Conley wants to get the word out that running events benefit the city economy and its non-profits; that they help define Austin as a fit and desirable city; and that they contribute to the health and wellness of the entire community.
What are your thoughts on races and how they impact our city?
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Free movie screening: Extreme jump roping
Jump roping as an extreme sport? Apparently.
The Austin Film Festival will host a free screening of a documentary about competitive jump roping at 2 p.m. today at Regal Arbor Cinema, 9828 Great Hills Trail. The movie follows kids on five teams from around the country who push physical and psychological limits in pursuit of winning the World Championship.
Yes, you heard that right. World Championship of Jump Roping.
So you’re kids can start down that path of jump rope obsession, a free jump rope clinic will follow the screening. All ages are welcome.
Sounds kind of fun, actually.
For more information, go to http://www.jumpmovie.com.
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Running with headphones — Should it be banned?
When I’m running by myself, I sometimes wear an iPod. Having obnoxious ‘80s music blasting away somehow pumps me up to run a little longer and maybe a little faster. At least it distracts me from what otherwise could be a boring 45 minutes of plodding down the road.
My songs of choice? Stuff I’d normally be embarrassed to admit I listen to, like “Pump up the Jam” from Technotronic, “Groove is in the Heart” by Deee-Lite, and “Gonna Make You Sweat” by C+C Music Factory. It’s all about the beat.
Someone asked me what I thought about the recent trend of banning headphones during races.
It doesn’t bother me, because I’m usually running races with friends. And when I run with friends, I’m more interested in chatting with them than listening to music. That’s how I got through the 3M half marathon in February.
I do sympathize with folks who rely on the boost of music while they run to get them through a long race. But I’ve also seen people unknowingly run down the road, oblivious to traffic, because they’re so tuned into their headphones that they don’t hear car motors.
I’m not sure a ban is the right way to solve the problem.
What do you think? What do you listen to on your iPod when you’re running?
For more on the ban and the debate over it, check out this article:
http://www.thefinalsprint.com/2007/11/usatf-delegates-debate-headphones-ban/
Last night’s Team Fit City training was a tough one. We ran hill repeats in the Travis Heights neighborhood — first forward, then backward. Hot, hot, hot!
Thanks Patrick! I’ll miss next Thursday’s practice, but the group will meet at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the RunTex annex. We’ll start with yoga as usual, then move into the regular workout.
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Nike+ Human Race
The Nike Human Race is now a month away …
Need a little motivation? Watch this video provided by Nike of people in Austin preparing for the 10K run on Aug. 31. It’ll inspire you to get out and run, even in this insane heat.
We want Austin to show other host cities how it’s done. We’re one of just four cities around the country staging the event. We’re in impressive company, too, with Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. If you want to register for the race, which includes a free post-race concert by Ben Harper, go to https://www.nikeplus.com. The cost is $35, and proceeds go to one of three charities of your choice.
Need someone to train with? Join Team Fit City for tonight’s training. We’ll meet at 6:30 p.m. at RunTex on South First Street, then move to Auditorium Shores.
If you have a water bottle, bring it! We’re trying to wean ourselves off the paper cups at the RunTex water station.
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New York police officer knocks down cyclist
Have you seen this You Tube video?
The clip shows a Critical Mass bike ride through downtown New York on July 25.
Critical Mass rides are loosely organized group rides that were originally staged to draw attention to the bike-unfriendly nature of some cities.
To be fair, not everyone enjoys a big Critical Mass rally. Drivers get irritated because some Critical Mass cyclists revel in the joy of clogging intersections and jamming traffic. I find that pretty annoying myself.
But the original intention of Critical Mass — to point out that cities don’t always create bike-friendly infrastructure — is a good one in my book.
Back to the video, which shows a mob of cyclists rolling down the street. Nothing shocking there. Folks on the sidewalk are lined up watching the parade when a uniformed New York City police officer walks toward an oncoming bicyclist and knocks him to the pavement.
Pretty crazy. And it gets even crazier.
According to New York station WNBC-TV, the officer, Patrick Pogan, accused the cyclist, Christopher Long, of steering into him, flinging him to the ground and causing cuts on his forearms. The New York Times reported that the cyclist, 29-year-old Christopher Long, was
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