We're going to Omaha!!! (part 3 of 3)

Continuation from the last post
see http://aggiewelshes.blogspot.com/2011/06/were-going-to-omaha-part-2-of-3.html for previous
and http://aggiewelshes.blogspot.com/2011/06/were-going-to-omaha-part-1-of-3.html for part 1


Day 4 - Monday, June 20 - Continued


After the zoo we took it easy at the hotel, but Olsen didn't nap, of course.  We decided to go eat in town while the second game of the day was going on.  We ate at Rick's Boatyard which was right on the Missouri River and looked like a nice place.  I do not recommend it.  It wasn't that great, very expensive, not the best wait staff, and the service was sub-par.  Anyways, we decided to leave the car in the parking lot and walk around.

Rick's Boatyard

The Missouri River was flooding

Big walking bridge to Iowa from Nebraska

We decided to go for a walk and take a big walking bridge into downtown.  Before we left, we heard the air raids go off (the tornado sirens) and started panicking to get back into the car.  We were in the parking lot when we heard this but we saw a family get out of their car all casually and go into the restaurant.  They told us that the sirens happen all the time and made it sound like it wasn't a big deal.  So we decided to proceed and the sirens stopped soon after.  But as we got a little ways on the bridge, we saw a group of people running to get on the other side.  Then the sky started turning black and the wind picked up a lot.  Lisa started getting a little nervous so we turned back.  The sirens came on again and we started running to get to the car.  Lisa was not happy with this since she was 8 months pregnant...

Once we got to the car, we tried to get back to our hotel.  It was a mess with cars everywhere.  The baseball game that was going on got postponed.  We got about a quarter of a mile and police officers were making everyone stop their cars in the street and get into the Qwest Center, which is a large arena in downtown.  It was full of people just waiting for the storm to pass.  It was pretty scary and we weren't happy because we just wanted to get back to the hotel and go to bed.

But luckily, after about almost an hour, they let us go.  We got in our car and went to the hotel.  No real damage anywhere and nothing really happened.  Olsen had fun in the hotel wearing his Dadda's baseball jersey.

Oh, and for the record, the t-sips lost to UNC, so they were eliminated!  Vandy and Florida will have to resume their game later

DAY 5 - Tuesday, June 21

Baseball schedule today

     Game 6 (continued in 6th inning) - Florida vs Vanderbilt

     Game 7 - Texas A&M vs California

     Game 8 - South Carolina vs Virginia

Before we headed out to the game (since we had the early one), we decided to get to downtown early and walk around a bit.  We went into the ballpark area where they had a lot of things going on.  Olsen got to do some tee-ball and some other things (but most stuff was for older kids)

Today's game had a slight threat of rain but it helped cool it down a little bit (you can see Olsen wearing his jacket).  Amy wasn't going to be at this game because she had to go back to Texas to teach a class.  Bret was there though.  This game was very low attended and wasn't a problem at all to get in (no line and no wait).

We had higher confidence for this game to beat Cal vs beating South Carolina (or USC East as they hate being called).  The outfield wasn't near as fun this time (I guess South Carolina fans are a lot of fun!) and the lower attendance made it a little less fun.  There were still beach balls and some waves.  The weather wasn't looking too good; dark clouds and sprinkles of rain here and there.

We hit a homer in the 4th inning and things were starting to look up.  The sun came out and Olsen put on his sunscreen

Then, of course, our team starts to screw up and completely throws the game away.  They ended up scoring 6 runs in the next 2 innings and our team never recovered.

All relief pitchers running to bullpen

It starting raining again and everyone ran out of the stands to find cover.  But there is no cover in that stadium (at least where we were in the outfield).  We lost 7-3 and our season was over.

Olsen said his goodbye to Bret (and gig'em)

College World Series photos
As soon as the game was over, we got in the car and started driving back to Utah.  We drove as far as we could before everyone got too tired.  We ended up stopping in Sidney, Nebraska.

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On the interstate (near where the original Cabelas store is) they have tons of big chain hotels.  It was a Tuesday night and every single one was sold out.  There was nothing around for miles and no town for at least 100 miles.  Our trust GPS smartphones couldn't get any service in rural Nebraska but somehow we found our way into the actual town of Sidney and found a piece of junk American Best Value Inn.  It was gross and had no pool (poor Olsen) but it had vacancy.

Report for the day:
Florida beat Vanderbilt
A&M got eliminated by Cal
South Carolina hammered Virginia

DAY 6 - Wednesday, June 22


We got up and hopped in the car again and drove into Wyoming.  This time we drove through Cheyenne and stopped in Laramie.

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We drove around town a little bit and found a nice park to set up for a picnic.  Olsen played on the playground.

Laramie pictures
After Laramie, we drove until we got to Evanston, Wyoming (I think we made a quick stop in Rock Springs, WY as well).

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We stopped at a little park that we had stopped at before, when we were on our way to Estes Park, Colorado 2 years ago.  Olsen had a great time kicking the soccer ball around and eating french fries.  But the most exciting thing was there were some guys playing basketball nearby and they had this dog that liked checking Olsen out.  He would come near us, and Olsen would chase him back to the court.  This went on for a very long time.

Olsen chasing the dog.  It's not the best video but he likes to watch it.

Evanston pictures

After the Evanston stop we drove straight home!

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It's good to be home and it was a super fun trip!  I hope to make the trip in the future.

We're going to Omaha!!! (part 2 of 3)

Continuation from the last post
see http://aggiewelshes.blogspot.com/2011/06/were-going-to-omaha-part-1-of-3.html for previous


DAY 3 - Sunday, June 19 continued


Finally in Omaha!  Before I talk about this, I want to list the schedule for the College World Series.

Saturday, June 18
     Game 1
     Vanderbilt vs
     North Carolina (Vandy won 7-3)

     Game 2
     Texas vs
     Florida (Florida won 8-4, which is awesome)

Sunday, June 19
     Game 3
     California vs
     Virginia (Virginia won 4-1)

     Game 4
     Texas A&M vs
     South Carolina (will discuss later)


We showed up in the middle of Omaha right before the first game of the second day was starting (Cal vs UVa).  It was fun seeing all the chaos and people milling around.  We had to grab our tickets at will call which wasn't easy.  I got out of the car and Lisa scooted over to drive it around.  We purchased a 10 pack of General Admission tickets.  We would use 6 (3 per day) and give the other 4 to Bret and Amy who we were hoping to see for the games.

This year, the CWS moved from Rosenblatt stadium (where it was for 50+ years) to the brand new TD Ameritrade Park in the middle of downtown.

Once we got out tickets we went to our hotel (which was actually in Iowa near the Omaha airport).  Olsen didn't nap but we rested and watched some of the UVa and Cal game.  We then started reading some info tickets and learned that you had to get in line 2 hours early for GA since they're all first come first serve.  This made us really nervous so we tried to upgrade our seats (for $20 each) to seated seats.  We had to make a trip back into downtown and Lisa dropped me off at the ticket window.  They didn't have seats together for us so we decided not to upgrade.  Well, 2 hours before the game we took out hotel shuttle to the ballpark area and got in the very back of the tremendously long line.  We were really nervous on getting into the game since the line was so long and it was hot and Olsen was hot and Lisa was hot (and 8 months pregnant...).

Somehow we found Bret and Amy in the line and gave them our tickets.  We didn't want to cut so we got in the back (you can see Bret in the above picture).  Well, it turns out that the late game on Sunday (the game we were going to) wasn't the highest attended game so we got in just fine and got pretty good seats in the outfield, though it was really hot and humid.

I forgot to mention that Sunday was Father's Day!  It was a fantastic Father's Day present to be able to be in Omaha and see our Aggies play baseball in the College World Series.  Somehow the local news station found us (channel 6 NBC) and interviewed us.  I thought it was pretty cool but then started thinking, every time we've been on TV for a sporting event, we've lost (Super Regionals in Baton Rouge in June '04, Cotton Bowl in Jan '05, and there are probably others I'm forgetting).  But either way, it was cool

Link to the article

Our first game was against the South Carolina Gamecocks.  They were the defending national champions and looking to repeat this year.  Sitting in the outfield, in General Admission, we were surrounded tons of Aggies, Gamecocks, and locals.  It was actually pretty fun with all the commotion.  Olsen LOVED seeing the beach balls being hit around and he thought the wave was super cool.  I can't remember the last time I participated in a wave since at Olsen Field, it's "not cool" to do things that are trendy or popular, plus the stadium doesn't wrap around (no outfield seats).  It was also really funny hearing the right field seats yelling at the left field seats:

Video of "Right Field Sucks"

Video of The Wave

Video of The Wave part 2

The game started off GREAT!  We were batting first and scored a wopping 4 runs!  We were super excited to see us dismantle their stud pitcher (with a super low ERA).  And, of course, "Texas A&M" happened and they equaled our scoring route with 4 runs on their own against our "number 2" pitcher (since "number 1" was injured for the rest of the year).  Then, nothing happened.  It was a fast game since no runs were scored for the next 7 innings.

The CWS camera guy put us on the jumbotron

Olsen doing the Wave

Olsen really got into saying Gig'em

Olsen saying Gig'em (he liked to use his finger and say "that's Olsen Gig'em").


Well, we got to the 9th inning and couldn't produce a run, so, for some strange reason, RC decided to pull our pitcher and put in a reliever.  We all knew this wasn't going to end well.  Immediately he got the bases loaded with no outs and the next guy up hit a screaming double and that was that.

Don't look at the image -- just showing the score

Father's Day picture

And for whatever reason, Bret and Amy were dancing.

Pictures from the College World Series


Day 4 - Monday, June 20

Games today:
     Game 5
     Texas vs North Carolina (elimination game)

     Game 6
     Florida vs Vanderbilt (winner's bracket)

We decided to take a day off of bsaeball (not going to watch the Longhorns and UNC play) and go to the famous Henry Doorly Zoo.  We had heard lots of good things about this zoo and were eager to check it out.  It's supposed to be a hot day but we had heard that they had a lot of indoor, air conditioned exhibits.  The zoo is right across the street from Rosenblatt stadium (where the College World Series was played before):

The most exciting thing at the zoo was the lion's area.  The male lion was really active and wanting to eat the kids.

Olsen got to feed some birds.  He had a lot of fun doing that.

Olsen liked seeing the gorillas

This gorilla was staring at all the people

We saw a lemur sitting on a turtle

The little guy was exhausted after the zoo.  He was still holding his magnet in the car

Omaha Zoo pictures

This blog post will have to be continued again...
http://aggiewelshes.blogspot.com/2011/06/were-going-to-omaha-part-3-of-3.html

We're going to Omaha!!! (part 1 of 3)

In college baseball, the ultimate goal is to get to Omaha, Nebraska (and, of course, to win it all).  Omaha is the site of the College World Series every year and only the last 8 teams left in the tournament make it.   This year, after a 12 year drought, the Aggies finally earned their berth and we wouldn't miss it for the world!  We got tickets and booked hotel rooms as soon as we had beaten Florida State University on Monday, the 13th.  I took off of work early on that Friday and we headed on our way.  We were a little weary of how long this trip would be (Google said 14+ hours) since we have an 8-month pregnant Momma and a 2 year-old little boy, but we were determined to make it and to have fun!

It may be easiest to tell this story in pictures but I'll do my best with both (words and pictures).

DAY 1 - Friday, June 17

Since we left sort of late in the day, we had hoped to make it to Laramie, Wyoming which is about a 6 and 1/2 hour drive from our house.  We made our traditional stop in Little America, WY.

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I don't know what it is but we always stop here.  They have billboard signs all up and down I-80 for this place and I think the "50 cent ice cream cone" is the one that gets us the most.  Olsen got to sit on the Sinclair Dinosaur

And got to see a stuffed animal penguin that was larger than himself

Little America Pictures

We didn't make it to Laramie.  We got all the way to Rawlins which is about 100 miles short of Laramie and stayed at the Best Western there.

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DAY 2 - Saturday, June 18


The next day, we ate at the diner inside the Best Western.  It was weird and not very good but it was free.  Then the boy and I went swimming in the pool.  He had a really good time swimming.  Until he really had to pee.  So I ran him out of the pool and into the public bathroom which was super nasty.  We then ran to our room and he was able to go...  We drove on through Laramie.  I wanted to stop but decided not to since we needed to make up missed time from yesterday.  Though we did stop right past Laramie at the Lincoln Monument that overlooks the highway.  I've always been curious to stop here but I'm usually in a big rush for time so I never have.

Apparently this spot on the highway is the highest point of any coast to coast highway and Lincoln had some aspiration for manifest destiny (I think is what it was...).   Olsen had fun running around here but we needed to get going.

Lincoln Monument Pictures

We drove to Cheyenne to have lunch and see the capitol building.

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We found a nice little area to set up a picnic blanket.

Olsen had fun chasing the squirrels there.  We then walked around the area of the capitol building.

 

We saw a bronze calf and people were riding it.  It was pretty funny and Olsen wanted to put his hand in its mouth

We then had to be on our way into Nebraska, finally.
Cheyenne Pictures

We stopped in Sidney, Nebraska; home of the original Cabelas store.  It really wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be (I think the Cabelas in the Salt Lake area is more fun and nicer).  We saw an elephant that Mr Cabela killed and Olsen sat on a four-wheeler

After we left, we went through the scariest hail storm I have even been in.  It wasn't safe driving on the highway.  It lasted for what felt like an hour but it had to have been shorter than that.

We stopped in Kearney, Nebraska (home of the famous Great Platte River Road Archway) to eat and then decided to stay the night in Lincoln since it wasn't worth driving an extra hour to get to Omaha.  It was nearly impossible to find a hotel in Lincoln because of the College World Series going on in Omaha.  It was ridiculous.  Somehow we got the last room in the "airport" Holiday Inn and had to settle there.  It was a pretty nice hotel.

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DAY 3 - Sunday, June 19

We ate the continental breakfast in the morning and the boy and I decided to go for a swim again.  Well, it was an indoor pool and apparently wasn't heated because it was super cold.  We didn't even get in past our legs...  Before heading into Omaha we made the obligatory stop at the state capitol building to walk around and check it out.

We probably stayed a little longer than we needed and it was getting hot so we decided to get on to Omaha.  I kind of wanted stop and walk around the University of Nebraska campus but Lisa wanted to get to our hotel in hopes that Olsen would take a little nap before the game.

Lincoln Pictures

This blog post will be continued...

http://aggiewelshes.blogspot.com/2011/06/were-going-to-omaha-part-2-of-3.html

http://aggiewelshes.blogspot.com/2011/06/were-going-to-omaha-part-3-of-3.html

Adrian's Summer Running 2011: Week 4 (Smart Phones)

Week 4 is through and Lisa and I finally did it: We got smart phones.  I had been thinking about getting a smart phone for awhile simply because they seem so useful, and of course, they're so cool! (which in turn would make us cool, right?)  On new years eve and new years day, Best Buy had some really good deals on phones from HTC which made the phones free.  It was really intriguing and was going to do it, but after talking with Lisa, she talked some sense into me how much this would cost us per month and she was right.  Currently we were spending $59.99 a month for our AT&T family plan which gave us 550 minutes and no texting/no data.  This was plenty for us and we never went over (had rollover too).

The phone I was looking at was the HTC Incredible which was on a Verizon plan:

It was supposedly listed at $599 but was free for the new year's special.  It's the Android equivalent of the iPhone.  But the plan we would have to get (we would each get one) would cost about $120 a month which was quite unacceptable.

So we ended up going with a real cheapo plan (suggested by a co-worker of mine) and a real cheapo phone but it had GPS and Android which is what I wanted.  It's a Samsung Intercept:

The phone is on the Virgin Mobile plan which uses Sprints cell phone towers.  Therefore we don't really get phone coverage in our house and the overall coverage is bad.  But the plan is a non-contractual plan (unlike Verizon's 2 year contract) and it gives us unlimited data and texting as well as 300 minutes for $25 a month. The other problem with a non-contractual plan is that you have to buy the phones in full and they were $170 each.  So now we're paying $50 a month for both of our plans.

The phones are really poor quality for an Android smart phone but we have found use in them and use them for various things.  One thing I really wanted to use it for was tracking my running.  Since it had GPS in it, I could use it while I was running and it would track my distance/pace/time, etc.  I didn't know what the "best" running app would be but I searched the Android market and came up with:

Adidas MiCoach.  I hadn't heard of it but I liked it right away.  I learned that there were tons of training/running apps and it was hard to determine which one would work the best.  Here is an image of my very first run with MiCoach and the phone:

(click on the image to see the workout).  The up and down nature of the run shows the varying heart rate.  This was a 34 minute run (straight from the workout sheet) that I did around my work on Wednesday.  I stopped the run on the phone as soon as I stopped running but had to jog back to work so it ended up being about 3.125 miles.

Results from Week 4 of the Juniper cardio/fitness challenge.
Week 3 of RaceRx study
Week 2 of Marathon Training

Adrian's Summer Running 2011: Week 3.1 (Marathon Training)

Week 3 is over and I had another interesting running revelation.  Last week we had a potluck dinner at Meg's house (she was leaving for good; it was very sad).  I talked with Ashley D'Antonio and told her about this weird study I was partaking in and also told her that I was signed up for the Top of Utah Half Marathon at the end of August.  She had told me that she was planning on running the Top of Utah Marathon (full marathon) on September 17th.  I don't know why but the idea was really intriguing to me.

I went home and looked up training plans on HalHigdon.com and thought it wouldn't be too bad.  I feel that I could easily do a 12 week half marathon program and the full marathon was only an 18 week program.  I mean, there were some obvious greater distances with full training versus half but I still thought it was doable.  So I half-heartedly committed to doing the training.  ...oh and it just so happened that the marathon is 18 weeks away from yesterday (which means that week 2 of my training starts today).

On Hal Higdon's website, he has a lot of free training plans to use.  For the marathon, he has 6 specific plans: Novice 1 and 2, Intermediate 1 and 2, and Advanced 1 and 2.  I decided to attempt the Novice 1 plan since it was the "easiest" and seemed to be the most doable.  The most you would have to run would be 20 miles one time which was 3 weeks before the marathon.  But you would build up to the point and then taper down.  Nearly everywhere else in the country has their races on Sunday but in Utah, they're all on Saturday.

So I created a little spreadsheet that adjusted the training to a Saturday race day and put the date of each Saturday in the spreadsheet.


Now comes the next dilemma, RaceRx study.  This study specifically says that I have to run the times that are listed by my study sheets and nothing else.  So, I asked Matt Rhea (director of RaceRx) about it, but I just asked about training for a half marathon since that was the one that I was fully committed for (paid for).  Matt said that this study that I was participating in is very well suited to get me ready for the half marathon and 99% of the runners preparing for these events run many more miles than they need to.  Although a month prior to the race he would suggest adding 1 or 2 extra runs of 6 to 8 miles per week.

So I replied to him about wanting to run a full marathon and he reiterated that people run more than they need to.  He said that I shouldn't be having "long runs" 18 weeks before the race and that I can't add much running because it would mess up the study.  But again he said that a month (or 2) before the race I can add an additional long run or 2.

So I was a little torn on this and considered quitting the study so I could do the Hal Higdon training.  I wasn't sure what was the "right" training method to believe.  Therefore I decided to consult TexAgs.com.  On this thread: http://texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?topic_id=1842182&forum_id=48 some people said they had heard of people doing the heart rate training and it working for them but no one had any real or direct comparisons, so I was still torn...

Next, I decided to ask the guy at work who announced this study since I assumed he ran marathons, etc.  He didn't run long distance but his wife and brother-in-law did and used Matt's program so he got me in touch with them.  The bro-in-law said he absolutely swore by Matt's training and suggested anyone do it.  He said it helped him qualify for the Boston Marathon, so that encouraged me some more to stick with the RaceRx study.  Though, I still had thoughts in my head of doing the long runs earlier than 2 months before the marathon because I wanted the mileage and wanted to do a long easy run as opposed to the strenuous varying heart rate runs.

Adrian's Summer Running 2011: Week 3

Week 3 is over and the heart rate training got a little more intense.  Here is an example of one of my workouts:

Though it was a shorter time, it was much more difficult to keep within my target heart rate zones.  There was another thing I forgot to mention in my last post.  Along with the heart rate monitoring, I also had to go on a diet with this research study.  We had to maintain healthy amounts of calories, proteins, fats, and carbs and log that information onto this website:

I kind of got obsessed with spark people and learned a lot about the nutritional facts of the regular foods that I ate.  This site helped me to eat quite a bit healthier as well as helped me to realize that I need to drink more water than normally drank.  It also helped me to lose some weight too.  It was nice.

Results from Week 3 of the Juniper cardio/fitness challenge.
Week 2 of RaceRx study
Week 1 of marathon training

Adrian's Summer Running 2011: Week 2 (RaceRx Study)

Well, for week 2 of this running/cardio challenge, I got involved in a different program.  A guy at my work emailed everyone and talked about an organization in town, called Race RX.  They were doing an experimental study using heart rate monitoring for training in running.

I was somewhat intrigued by this and thought that it might help motivate me to run more, so I volunteered for this study.  It was very strange and not the best defined.  Apparently there were 3 different study groups and each one was doing a different study but all using heart rate monitors.  My group apparently was the hard one where we had to run 5 days a week and the times were between 20 and 60 minutes.  At each minute, we had to be in a certain heart rate range (or zone) according to a sheet they gave us after an initial assessment.  Another group was just told to exercise for 20 to 60 minutes and maintain a wide heart rate range.

The initial assessment was at their facility at 286 North 850 West in Logan.  I was surprised at the size of this place and how nice it was.  They had a lot of treadmills and other similar machines and had a huge back of their facility where they had the rest of their equipment.  They had me run on a treadmill and increasing speeds and put this horrible mask on my face to measure oxygen.  I also wore a Polar Heart Rate Monitor that worked pretty well.  They said they wanted me to get to an exertion level of 8 (on a scale of 10) and let them know.  They recorded all of the results and sent me my detailed workout schedule before the study was supposed to happen.

For this study, all participants had to buy a heart rate monitor.  Race RX had their own (with their name on it) that they had on a 25% discount.  So I got this one:

...and it didn't really work. So I had to take it back to exchange it with another one that "worked" but not really well.  It's just a low end, piece-of-junk heart rate monitor.  (After looking up HRMs, they can cost up to about ~$400...  This was one $65, and then discounted 25%).

The night before first week of training, we got our workouts emailed to us.  They came in 7 pdfs; the first 6 had 3 exercises and the last had 2, to make 20 workouts: 5 per week for 4 weeks.  My target heart rates were broken into 4 zones: 0, 1, 2, and 3.  Here is what it looked like:

And here is the example of workout number 1.

The first workout was relatively easy and they generally got harder as the weeks went on.

Here are my results from Week 2 of the cardio/fitness challenge.  I did the heart rate monitor training on Mon-Thur and on Sat (as you can see).
(This is week 1 of the RaceRx study)

Adrian's Summer Running 2011: Week 1

Well, week 1 is complete and I didn't do as well as I would have liked.  The Top of Utah Half Marathon, that I had already signed up for, is on Saturday, August 27, 2011.  So that put it at 17 weeks away.  My training method is a 12 week training so, right now I'm looking at 5 weeks of non-structured training.

I played soccer on Sunday and wondered how I should log those miles.  I emailed our fitness guy and he suggested using a pedometer.  While that doesn't sound very accurate, I decided to make up a metric of every half hour of heavy exertion in a sport, I'll count that as 1 mile.  This way, I know I went over 1 mile but I'm safely underestimating it.

Here are my results from Week 1 of the cardio/fitness challenge

Adrian's Summer Running 2011: Juniper Systems Challenge

Before the month of May, my company's fitness guy (Steve Suhaka) decided to announce another fitness challenge to Juniper Systems employees and their families. The previous 4 months, Steve made a fitness challenge for Juniper employees that looked at how many pushups and situps you could do, as well as VO2 max and body mass index. This current fitness challenge is a cardio challenge where each person participating will track how many miles they cover in 5 different categories:

• Walking
• Hiking
• Running
• Cycling
• Swimming

Because Cycling miles aren't the same as running/walking miles, each mile cycling will count as 1/3 of a mile.  And because of the strenuousness of swimming, each mile of swimming will count as 3. Running, Hiking, and Walking will all count normally; 1:1.

The overall goal of this cardio fitness challenge was to have the participants cover 20,000 miles over the course of 16 weeks. With some rough calculations, that means the 80+ people signed up would need to cover about 15 or so miles per week; which is doable. At the end of the fitness challenge, Juniper Systems will have a 5k fun run to cap it off. A mileage sheet was emailed to the participants to record each person's miles for each of the 16 weeks (in each category of cardo).

I was pretty excited about this because I had already signed up for a half marathon and this would help motivate me to run.  And I had a feeling that they would reward people who ran the furthest, etc and I am hoping to be one of those people.  I was a little sad that Lisa couldn't do this because, at the start of this, she was about 6 months pregnant.