Catfish Tri Race Report

Sorry for the delay in posting this. No excuse, Sir!


The good: we successfully proved that sprint tri's can hurt. A lot. Especially when your training focus is on iron distance tri's.

The bad: there are some crazy fast people out there...unfortunately, we're not among them!

The ugly: can the fast people sleep in once in a while? Please?

The excuse:  we did not "taper" at all for this race...just squeezed it into our fairly hefty training schedule as an interval or "speed" workout. We use the word "speed" loosely!  But this is probably not the best way to approach
a race and expect to do well.

The recap: This past Sunday was a beautiful morning in Central Pennsylvania. It was perfect for a day sleeping in, eating a leisurely breakfast, and doing some yard work. It also happened to be perfect for the Catfish Tri (well,
perfect minus the 0445 wake-up alarm...). Got to City Island, checked in, set up transition and walked the mile up to the swim start. A .9 mile swim sounds long for a sprint tri, but it's a fun point-to-point swim with the current. At about 80 degrees the water was warmer than the outside air temps. We opted not to wear the wetsuits figuring that the speed gain would be offset by the increased T1 time. Not sure if our logic was correct, but the fact that we're now pondering stuff like this causes Dawn to wake up in the middle of the night screaming. Dean was sent downstream with the second wave and had a very solid swim. Dawn survived the third wave and got to transition to re-discover the joy of having selected a rack near the guys...no other bikes nearby or
anyone else to compete with space for.

After a couple of speedy-for-us transitions, the fast, flat bike course beckoned. Dean rode the 2nd fastest bike split in his age group and finished it up with a solid run.  The run course must have been a bit short, since Dean's split had him running 6:40 miles which is HIGHLY unlikely.  Dawn crushed her own soul on the bike and had the fastest bike split in her age group, and the 5th fastest overall for the women! Her new bike (aka "the Honey Badger"...watch the hilarious video on you tube for more insight) apparently just does not give a $hit about the run. The Honey Badger just wants to go fast!  Nevertheless, Dawn held on and posted a solid run split with 8 minute miles (again...we think the course is about 1/4 mile short).


Both of us improved our overall times from last year - most noticeably in the swim. And while we admit to some *benefit* to slightly deeper water and more current than last year, we both tried to push during the swim, so it was nice to see the results in the form of faster than expected times.  End result was 3rd place finishes for each of us in our age groups (I know what you're wondering, and yes, there were more than 3 people racing in our age groups!). We may be number 3 but we keep trying!  Next race is likely the Cannonman Half-Iron distance out near Bedford PA in August.

Anyone else racing this year? So far, the race reports are few and far between (hooray for Will Miller!).

Mortal Man Tri Has a New Home!

We want to make sure we give the Mortal Man Tri fun its own home in order to keep folks updated. 

Here's the link to the new site:

http://mortalmantri.blogspot.com/ 

Hope you enjoy the challenge and the chaos! Happy training!

MortalMan Challenge!

We're cooking up a crazy scheme to get friends and family involved in the triathlon madness. It's looking like it's going to be a lot of fun and we're fired up about it.

Check out the Challenge tab to find out more. We're still pulling the details together but it's going to be a lot of fun.

Race Report - Philly Oly Tri - Courtesy of the CC&BW

     The RDW and I competed in the Philly Olympic Distance Tri this past weekend…wait, competed is a word that conjures up images of speed and podiums.  Rather, the RDW and I compLeted the Philly tri.  Truth is we probably had no business racing at all, since RDW's had a pretty bad summer cold for over a week now, and she graciously passed it to me about 5 days ago.  We debated not going, but at the last minute on Saturday we reluctantly decided to give it a shot.  A big part of the decision was the fact that we made the RDW's brother race sick last year at the Riverstock Tri, so we didn’t want to let down the HTFU banner and suffer the consequences of mockery.  We left for Philadelphia with barely enough time before packet pick-up closed. 

     After a very poor night’s sleep (the Indian restaurant we went to might not have been the best pre-race choice, although it was high on the tasty factor), we got up at 4:15 and began the zombie like motions to get to transition area and eventually the swim start.  Our strategy was to consider this a training event, and accept that we would not be setting any PRs. Unlike the Gulf Coast tri where we both hammered the bike and paid dearly on the run, we thought the best strategy, given our less than ideal health, would be to end up “disappointed” in our bike split, in order to save enough energy to get through the run with a negative split. The strategy ended up working well for both of us.  For the record, it’s much more fun to hammer the bike especially since we do not resemble anything in the gazelle, rabbit, or Fesler/Beck species.

     I was in the first wave after the pros (Andy Potts won the race with a course record).  The swim was a point to point in the Schuylkill River, so we took a bus to the swim start in order to swim back to transition.   Water temp was 78.3, so we missed getting to wear our “water wings” or “personal flotation devices” by 0.3 degrees.  Some of you call those things “wetsuits.” Bummer.  The only true “fail” of the day was the porta-potties.  For the love of all that is holy, race directors, please, please, please, re-stock the TP supply early and often. There was about an hour wait at the swim start location, and no TP after about the 15 minute mark.  

     The Schuylkill looked nasty, but wasn’t too funky, although after having all those TP-less folks jump in the water  -- the quality almost certainly went down.  The swim went ok for both of us, which means we survived to ride!  The bike course was two laps of 12+ miles included a long curve around the Museum of Art where Rocky ran up the steps.  There were several good climbs, but that’s where the RDW and I have a minor advantage over flatlanders after training around Carlisle.  We both held our own on the flat sections, to re-pass all the folks pushing the flats any time the road inclined. Fun.  I think I blew a couple of Schuylkill river monsters out of my nose on the ride, and yes, I checked my back-blast area first.  Since I was in the first swim wave with the old dudes, I was passed by a lot of younger folks, but I really took notice when a set of legs bristling with muscle cycled past me, with a “65” on the back of his leg.  I swear they need to start testing amateurs for steroids!  I eventually overtook my 65 year old friend (whom I nicknamed Mr. “T”) on a hill.  Bike splits and average speeds were slightly disappointing for both the RDW and I, but that was our strategy, after all. 

     The 10K run was along the river and was completely flat.   I would say I felt good on the run, but by this time the mucous monster was death-gripping the back of my throat, and I just didn’t have the extra pep in my stride that I should have felt after a neutral bike ride.  I tried to avoid fellow runners while I hocked up pieces of various internal organs.  Mr. T passed me on the run at about mile 2, but I kept him in sight, and passed him back at about mile 5.  It’s sad when I’m struggling to beat a 65 year old, no matter what he might’ve been pumped up on!  The RDW and I did negative split the run, although there was no glory on the course for either of us. Mr. T beat the rest of his age group by about half an hour…wow. Just wow.

     The effort was respectable enough for a Sunday morning “training event.”  The Philly Tri was a very well organized race, despite the porta-let-down.  It had the energy and vibe of a big (2000-ish racers) event, but the details were well thought out and executed (minus the TP supply).  They even had ice cold chocolate milk at the finish.  Yum!  We might have to return next year to give it a shot!  The next training event masquerading as a race is the Catfish Tri in a couple of weeks at City Island in Harrisburg. Who’s in? 

Episode 8 - The Zombie Hoard

Yeah, it's been a while. We're trying to get back on track with the funny movies. Hope this one scratches that itch...we had fun making it.

And yes, rule #1 is cardio!

As always, these are available through the blog, on out YouTube channel (tri4meremortals) as well as through XtraNormal, the site we use to make 'em.

Have fun watching...and then get out there and do some cardio. And if you are confused about the CDC references...check this out: CDC Zombie Preparedness Awesome work and some great emergency preparedness information!

Yikes!

We are now closer to our potential undoing than we are distant from when we embarked.

In pseudo-English...five months until IM Florida...six months since we signed up. I'm not sure what that means, but I am pretty sure that it does not bode well.

I have a feeling that this 11 month journey will not be like climbing a mountain...lots of work for the first half, magnificent scenery for a bit, than trying to hold yourself together on the descending return. (Of course, the mountain may be the event...or it could have been deciding to sign up - and since time is flying by, I should probably be paying more attention to holding things together.) We should probably be farther along in our training, but we are progressing. And since we now have less than half our timeframe remaining...time to get back to bidness.

Oh yeah, there's a video coming soon. Honest. I'd try to blame it on too much training time, but if you'd looked at our logs...only one of us can even come close to claiming that...and it ain't the one typing this.

Spectator Report!

Went down to Annapolis to cheer on a friend, ES, who signed up for the Annapolis TriRock Sprint. Waking up earlier is much easier when you're the one racing!

Aside from convincing ES that she could totally rock a tri...not sure we imparted much wisdom other than "rent a wetsuit - they're magical!" and our new race strategy: "swim, bike, run, smile!" You can find her name on our Athletic Supporter page.

Some random observations:
* TriRock provided TriTats. Pretty cool and look sharp. They seem to stick best if you accidentally put them on so that you can read them. Luckily, we were able to get them on properly, but it was touch and go for a little while. Sadly, they negate the joy that the sharpie aroma causes.
* Honey Stinger Waffles + mocha = great breakfast for a spectator! (ps-if you haven't tried the waffles, give 'em a go...much joy. And if the HSW folks happen to read this...as I plan to eat my own body weight in HSW over the next few months...please send samples!)
* People at tris need to cheer more. There's really no point standing in the drizzle silently waiting for your person to bike/run by. Just yell or cowbell or clap. The folks out there are totally busting their butts and you can afford the energy loss from cheering...trust me, you'll get more out of it than you think - esp since some folks smile back. Causing a triathlete who is sucking to smile is a *good* thing, so don't just cheer for your athlete, cheer for 'em all.  More Cowbell!!!!
* Adults see limits while kids see possibilities. I talked to a bunch of folks while standing around. The kids I talked to all said it looked awesome and that they would like to do one. The adults - had either done one and were cheering someone else on or thought it was crazy and something they couldn't do. I think I'll stay a kid for a little while longer. Age, after all, is just a number you put on the back of your leg.
* If you are playing electric guitar for the National Anthem while standing in the shadow of the US Naval Academy, and your name is not Jimi Hendrix...just play it straight. Anything amazing you might be doing musically will get lost as people try to figure out what's going on. We will all cheer for your music later when you're rocking out.
* The TriRock setup was well done. The expo was solid for a sprint tri, the announcers kept things lively, transition area had designated spaces, and it seemed well organized. I have to question the bike course - a 2 loop bike course for a 12-mile route with over 800 folks still seems like a sketchy idea, but am guessing they didn't have much of a vote. The overall race atmosphere almost makes me ponder checking out their Gettysburg offering. It wasn't on the radar prior, even considering it's basically in the backyard. It may be now.
* There really is something magical about crossing that finish line - watching folks' faces light up was awesome. If you haven't gone out and watched and cheered in a while, it's a very fun experience.  If you really want the full "athletic supporter" experience, then volunteer for a race.  You'll feel great about it and the athletes will appreciate you being there even more.
* And ES rocked it! Yay!

Long-winded race report...but it was a long race!

The Gulf Coast Triathlon. Here’s the executive summary: We went, we conquered the ocean
swim…and then the rest of the race happened (thanks to some awesome volunteers)!

This was not an “A” race for us. As the first race of the season it was a lot to bite off to chew, but we
wanted to learn a few things, so we’ll approach our race report that way.

Lessons learned:

1. Set reasonable goals. Our primary goal for this course was to gain confidence in the ocean swim
prior to returning in November for Ironman Florida. In that regard, goal achieved. Being hard-core
land-lubbers, stepping off a beach, diving into waves and then swimming about 1/2 mile straight out
into the deep blue shark-infested waters was, uh, enough to cause shrinkage, even with relatively
warm ocean temps. However, we know that our wetsuits have magical properties that protect us.
So we did our practice swim on Friday morning without them, thinking it would give us a confidence
boost on race day. The practice swim went okay; we weren’t terribly comfortable in the water, but we
neither were we completely freaked out. And the only thing that was remotely shaped like a dorsal
fin was the buoy’s, which was both funny and not right. Dawn was in the first wave (well, after one
para-triathlete (total stud) and four pros (studly, but mortal)). Going out first was, well, a first - there
weren't a whole lot of other swim caps to chase and use to sight. On the plus side, Dawn stayed with
a group of red caps and only got passed by a few pink caps. This represents *major* progress. Dean
dove into the surf about 20 minutes later, which meant he had no choice but to “man up” since all
the ladies had preceded him. We both had solid swims, learned to sight on top of waves instead of
in the trough, and survived the creatures of the deep to make it back to land in one piece and not
terribly dizzy.

2. Soak your wetsuit in the tub and then let it dry again a few days before your first tri of the season.
While still snug, it didn’t have that “oh my gosh I must’ve gained 10 lbs or my wetsuit shrunk” feeling.

3. Acclimatization (or lack thereof) will affect performance. The spring weather in the Northeast has
been cold and rainy for almost the entire month of April, which followed on the heels of an unusually
cold March. The temps in Panama City Beach for the race started out at a nice 68 (at 6:15AM), but
then rose to a balmy 85 under a glaring sun on the no-shade run course. Yup, the heat and sun
sucked whatever bit of reserve energy we had right out of us.

4. Bonus lesson from the weather: The Florida sun is real, and will find you. We applied copious
amounts of sunscreen but still ended up missing patches of skin, so we look a bit like a two-legged
red and white cross between a zebra and a cheetah in some places. Sadly, despite looking like a zeetah or a cheebra, we ran like neither a zebra nor a cheetah.

5. An early May half-iron is probably not the best choice to kick off the tri season, from a fitness
standpoint, at least for a couple of Yanks from the north. After hibernating over the winter we went
into the race knowing that we weren't in top late-season "race shape." We had done the best we
could to maintain over the winter and build to some decent rides and runs this spring, but run fitness
coming off the bike was definitely going to be a limiter. Our longest bike ride so far was only about
38 miles - not good enough to prep for the 56 mile bike leg of the half iron. The result: a painful
half-ironman run experience.

6. Pacing strategy (fancy term for holding back a little on the bike to save some legs for the run)
is important. Dawn and I decided in advance that we wanted to get the full Florida experience of
cycling fast on pancake flat terrain (something we’ve NEVER experienced before). The biggest
elevation change on the course was a bridge overpass. Hooray for the real hills of Pennsylvania!
Somehow in our minds “flat” translated into “hammer time.” Our pace was significantly faster than
during last fall's Augusta half-iron...which should've been a huge red flag. Dawn was fired up to be on her new bike (that she built herself!) nicknamed “the honeybadger.” And Dean stubbornly
wanted to learn the lesson the hard way, by experiencing it. We’ve always heard that you should
leave something in the tank for the run, especially for longer distance tris, but we had only taken that
advice on face-value. Now we’ve experienced it and can announce to all that it’s pretty good advice.
If you hammer the bike, you WILL get soul-crushingly hammered by the run, no matter how flat the
course. Add lesson 3 above with temps about 20 degrees warmer than we’re used to, and we had
the potential to become a “DNF – Medical”. Fortunately that didn’t happen to us as we both settled
into a version of the “ironman shuffle” and survived, but it wasn’t pretty.

7. A great “sherpa” and the race volunteers can make a big difference in a race. Brandie, Shawn’s
(Dawn’s brother) newlywed bride was there at every opportunity – she got up at stupid-thirty in the
morning with us and helped with gear and morale. She was there to give us courage as we dove
into the water, and to cheer us when we came off the beach to transition. She waited while we
hammered our legs off on the ride and worried about us in the Florida heat on the run. Finally, she
gave us all a huge congrats hug at the finish line, despite our nasty-salty-sweaty-dizzy bodies. The
volunteers at GCT were also awesome...they were everywhere and they were all fired up. They
even had volunteers to hold bikes near the portapotty for an, uh, extended transition break. We
thanked them at every opportunity. Those icy sponges and cups of ice they cheerfully handed out
on the run course probably kept us out of the medical tent! After the race we met a 3d grader who
participates in "Girls on the Run" who'd done a 5k and was volunteering at the tri – very cool!

Overall, it was a great race - well organized, good course, and great volunteers. We learned some
good lessons. There were some absurd age-groupers out there (the top pro came in 7th overall...cue
RCA dog head-tilt) and there were lots of mere mortals out there. We were lucky to include
ourselves among the mere mortals who embrace our new race strategy: “swim, bike, run, smile!”

Mojo Poster Posted!

What to do when you've got a tri that you're woefully undertrained for?

Use our new race strategy!

The kind folks who host the Lewisburg Area Kid's Tri (part of the River Town Race Series) have a great event and awesome t-shirts. Their slogan is pretty good too...as even better is the CC&BW's daughter "chicking" a fellow competitor!

Episode 7 - One week until the Gulf Coast Tri!

Yo! Sorry for slacking lately. I'd like to say that we've been busy training...but sadly that is not the case.

Here's the new video!

Enjoy!

Mechanical Madness

How hard can it be? A few tools, some parts, and some sweat equity...surely assembling a bike can't be *that* hard? Order the frame, order the components, bust a few knuckles - too easy.

After figuring out the pieces, parts, and with one "uncle, just fix this widget" moment...we finished the assembly. Still have to add the 'puter and the water bottle - but it's done. The "Honey Badger" has been on its maiden voyage (3 times now...each one still feels all new and shiny). She's going outside again tomorrow for a proof ride before the RDW does another in what is becoming a long list of "dumb ideas that made sense at the time." Yep, after riding the bike only four (maybe five if the weather cooperates on Tuesday) times, the HB will be running in slow-motion in action down at the Gulf Coast Tri. And yes, the GCT is, in fact, another of those "dumb ideas that made sense at the time" - in early January it seemed like a great idea to start the season with a half-iron distance race. You know, to keep it fresh and all. Besides, what could go wrong with a plan to train in the Northeast in winter and a record setting-ly wet and cold spring...and then race in the high 80s, high humidity IN FLORIDA! WTF?!  Yea gawds.

Pics will be posted later. And for the record, you probably want to buy a complete bike or have a local bike shop build one up for you. It's cheaper, less stressful, and if something isn't right - you are less likely to ponder flinging the shiny new piece of joy into a river. But, it looks like a rocket ship, and that's what's important!

These ideas brief well...and then the execution goes horribly awry.

We had a local 15K running event last Sunday. The weather was supposed to be great...mid-50s, no rain...and it's an event that helps support building and maintaining a rail-trail. Really, what could be better than a 15k for a good cause? And yes - there is a t-shirt involved, so it's practically like you're getting paid to participate!

And then we got hold of the concept and had to turn it into something epic. Since we (ok, really, the RDW) have been slacking a bit and there is no glory to be had for either of us at a running race...we decided to make it a true training event. The race begins in a park about 18 miles away that's on some of our biking routes. It wasn't much of a stretch to decide to ride out there, do the run as a solid tempo workout, and then ride home. It truly briefed well - as you read that last sentence, you thought...that's not so bad and is totally do-able for those nutballs. It was supposed to play out as about an hour warm-up ride, a solid tempo run workout, and then a leisurely ride home. Too easy!

Saturday, it rained all day. The local airport recorded a record rainfall (3.49 inches!), and the creeks were  out of their banks in some places. But, Sunday arrived and promised to deliver no rain and some sun. Sunday also brought with it a steady 20-30 mph wind, with stiffer gusts. The winds were out of the west-southwest. Our bike out to the start headed in the west-southwest direction. And the run was point-to-point, slightly uphill (~1%), from Newville to Shippensburg - yep, you guessed it, heading west-southwest. Despite all those facts, we decided that we needed a stiff drink from a nice, steaming hot mug of HTFU.

We found the bike locks, packed up our running shoes, put on our helmets and headed out the door in the name of "training." The route from the house goes about 1/3 mile south and then turned straight into the wind. We were averaging a whopping 13 mph with the CC&BW "breaking wind" and the RDW with the backpack bringing up the rear. About 6 miles into the ride, RDW had to ask, "At what point does this cross the line from crazy into dumb." The CC&BW could only respond, "About two miles ago," but continued "breaking wind" and we persevered. At one point, we slowed and watched a car pass through about 6 inches of moving water on the roadway - it was completely flooded and we slowly made out way across...a sarcastic hooray for wet socks and a serious hooray for both of us making it across with only wet socks. We got to the race check-in after 1 1/2 hours of hearty effort and nearly missed the last bus to the start line. At least we didn't need a warm up; clearly the training deities had taken some pity on the mere mortals.

We ran into one of the local serious athletes. He was going to drive to the start, do the run, then run back to his car for an 18+ mile day. The best part - he told us that he thought about riding out but decided not to because it was too windy to ride. Somehow, we've become less stable than the guy who thinks racing for 9.3 miles and then running the same distance back to his car is a normal training day.

The race was definitely into the wind. At some points, the tree lined rail trail gave way to open pasture and not yet planted corn fields. Aaaah, the smell of spring in south-central PA...bring that honey wagon around for another pass. We survived the run and the CC&BW took 3d in his age group! Hooray!

We scarfed down the BBQ chicken and fixins that they were serving, saddled up with our hard won t-shirts and headed home, excited about the tailwind. We practically flew back, making it (even with a bit of a detour to avoid the flooded roadway) in under an hour and averaging almost 21 mph. The RDW was in the lead for a most of the return trip, so to hit those speeds...clearly, the wind was blowing strong and steady.

And this, kids, is why you should never trust the CC&BW when he gets that "I've got an idea" look in his eyes.  Naturally, he blames RDW.

Best of the Season!

A local group hosts a 10 mile time trial (TT) biweekly. Last Thursday was the first of the season and both the CC&BW and RDW got personal bests for the year!

It's funny how these things progress. We first met up with this group two years ago when we were "getting started" and before any tri's. I say "getting started" bc it's all relative - most folks have ridden a bike since childhood and, well, riding a bike is supposed to be something that you never forget how to do. We thought we knew how to ride bikes and while we weren't/aren't fast...it's just riding a bike after all. Right?

The first time out was beyond humbling. We showed up, and compared to the rocket ships of the other riders, we felt like our shiny bikes were Huffy's with banana seats, streamers coming out of the handlebars, and playing cards clothespinned to the fork, you know, to make that cool engine sound as the card struck the spokes.   Really...these folks looked insane to us with their fancy time trial bikes, disc wheels, aero helmets, shoe covers, skin tight one-piece outfits...you name it and these racers had the bling and the toys... Add in the fact that RDW "conveniently" pulled a space cadet move and forgot her shoes, forcing CC&BW to go it alone - not an auspicious beginning.

A couple weeks later we were back, still on our "Huffys" giving it another go. The course is a five mile out and back, generally trending uphill on the way out and down on the way back in. Locals say it has "rollers" but in our minds and even with the local riding we were doing, those were hills. There are two significant "rollers" in each direction...and I was glad to have the triple chain ring up front so that I could get into granny gear, stand up, and get my soul crushed at least four times (out and back). Our times weren't good, but since it didn't kill us, it had to make us stronger. We are itinerant attendees but try to go when we can. There is no understatement to the notion that a rider + stop watch + known distance = sufferfest / race of truth. There is no hiding out there, no drafting, and it is humbling and inspiring to watch the other participants.

Now two years later, on this past Thursday, we both had good rides. For the first time ever, the RDW didn't need to use the triple chain ring. As I'm still trying to justify the rocket ship / tri bike we're building up, it was a necessary step both physically and mentally. And, both RDW and CC&BW (who has graduated to riding a rocket ship tri bike) rode about a minute faster than their best times from last year. Yay!

ps - now we tell folks (and ourselves) that the course has some "rollers" - it's amazing what even that little mental shift can do.   I think we're ready for the "massive climbs" along the Florida coast.  Bring on those highway overpasses!

That day is NOT today...

...check out the new Mojo Poster.

What are you going to keep doing or start doing today?

Another video!

We decided to cut the Bear a little slack, since, you know, he's getting married. He'll be featured in another video soon, but until then...here's our take on Ironman nutrition.

Mmmm....jam.

ps- Ironman is a registered trademark of the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC). 

pps-no reason. just trying to be correct. 

Well played, Bro, well played.

So, had to find out the Bear's thoughts on the new video. Texted him and asked. His response:

"Been busy haven't had time to watch...you know I'm getting married right?"

And that, my friends, is a well played line!

(Didn't want to ask if he's managed to get any training in...because, you know, he's getting married and all.)

The much anticipated introduction of the Bear

A new video! Fun and mocking! What could be better than a mid-week video to get you jazzed about training?!

The Plankies Competition is heating up!

So far, the race to 3 minutes has been fast and furious. The current "staff" record is at 3 minutes even, with a challenger making it to 3:30.

Yikes.

Keep working on those planks and core muscles...we're only halfway through March Abness!

It's time for more mojo!

Check out the mojo, mojo mom! (If you sing macho macho man...it makes more sense.)

Yeah!

(pssst - it's under the mojo poster page...see the tabs up above...yep, that's it...now get fired up!)

It's a cruel cruel world...

...and Punx Phil dialed up another snowstorm. It's not as if we *just* made a video about him and the weather or anything, so waking up to a couple inches of snow is just a coincidence.

And to think, it used to be that washing your car could change the weather. Who knew that a video could work the same way?!

Episode 4 - Inspired by Punxatawny Phil

Check out Broccoli Man and Red Panda as they discuss groundhogs and nutrition. Yum!

And if you have a chance...check out our list of athletic supporters! Page tabs are near the top.

Mojo Posters!

Peeps - don't forget to check out the Mojo Posters. There's a new one each week...find 'em under the tab/page labelled Mojo Posters.

Broccoli Man speaks!

Woo hoo! A new video! This one has Broccoli Man chatting with a friend about training and sharks (and dressing like a seal).

Fun!

It's coming!!!

The script is close to finished and we're close on actors and set. There will be a movie out soon...honest.

One of the holiday projects was to lay bamboo flooring (hardgrass flooring?) and we had been avoiding the stairs. We tackled them this weekend and got pretty thoroughly whupped. On the plus side, they look great and despite the number of miter cuts, we still have all appropriate digits. On the down side -- the first two took 7 hours and the second 3 took 6 hours - we definitely should have paid better attention in geometry class. Eight more steps to go...but that'll have to wait for another weekend. We're out of the "thinking" steps with exposed sides and now just have to contend with out-of-square normal stairs. So, we've got that going for us, which is nice.

ps-hooray for snow delays!

A new video!

Episode 2 has Red Panda out of superhero/zero garb and discussing the upcoming IM with a friend.

ps-we created a YouTube channel with the same name Tri4MereMortals where you can also find the chaos.

pps-we added a page to the blog for you to find our weekly mojo-posters.

Welcome to the Chaos!

Greetings, fellow mere mortals. We figured that since some of you find our antics amusings...we should share in a more, uh, 21st century medium than the usual smoke signals from the bbq pit. Et voile...the novel idea of a blog struck.

This will evolve over time. For now, we're glad you're here checking out the new creation.

For now, some humor to get you started: check out the first installment of our insanity.