Alright so I’ve been meaning to do this for awhile, but I need to get a list of things I’ll be using during the triathlon. Here goes:

PowerBar Triple Threat Energy bar
Water

Yellow Tri Top
Black Tri Shorts (Yes I look like a bumble bee…)
Race belt
Race number(s)

Swim Cap (Provided by race)
Swim Goggles

PowerBar energy blasts (in a baggie?)
Small Towel

Bike
Bike wheels (oddly enough some people forget their front wheel)
Bike Shoes
Socks
Bike Helmet
Sunglasses
Bike Bottle filled with Gatorade
(Spare tube / bike pump?)

Running Shoes

Game face!

With less then 2 weeks to go until my first triathlon this year, I’ve started to get things ready for the big day. Training has been going ok, the last couple of days have been ridiculously hot (heat index ~112 deg F). I’m hoping its not gonna be that hot for the race. I’ve read a few comments on the course and am glad I’ve been doing my bike training on a hilly route… My goal is, as always, to finish but if I managed a total time around 1:30 I’ll be super excited.

Here are my goals for each part of the race:

Swim (400 yd): 8:00 (2 min / 100 yd)
T1: 2:30
Bike (20K): 46:00 (~16 mph)
T2: 1:30
Run (5K): 37:00 (11:55 min / mi)

Total: 1:35:00

I’m sure I’ll have more to say as we get closer, but I’m already getting excited!

So it’s always been an interest of mine to get a scuba diving certification.  This past weekend, I took my firsts steps in doing so.  The Clarksville Athletic Club (CAC) had a barbeque kick off for their Scuba Club and I was able to test out the gear and find out how neat it really was.  After going from one end of the pool to the other, I was ready to sign up for the 5 day training class (times yet TBD).  The best part was if you signed up that day, you got a 50% discount on the class!

In other news, I’m still commenting the 60 miles to work and back.  Things are going pretty good…  I seem to be getting things done faster then can be assigned to me…  Last Friday my boss finally gave me a project that should take some time to finish (as of writing this I’m almost half done…), so much for that. 😛  The commutes not so bad…  I figured out the traffic patterns and try to keep an ear on the traffic reports on my travels.  It should get even better when my car comes in (2012 Ford Focus).  Haven’t heard anything lately, but it should be built very soon!

We are still both training hard for the Nashville 1/2 Marathon that is rapidly approaching.  We’ve decided the CAC is not really all that great of a club and really wished we hadn’t entered a two year contract.  The big seller for me was the racquetball courts, but I soon found out having three courts and tons of people showing up on the challenge nights means not a whole lot of time playing…  maybe if I found a buddy that would take care of that.  The rest of the gym feels small for the number of people that go there, they could really use another facility (possibly on the other side of town… near us :)).  Once we finish the 1/2 marathon, and assuming I’m still breathing, I’ll start my training for a triathlon coming up in July (depending on how well that goes I’m thinking of doing another one later in the year).

Whoa…where has the summer gone, *ahem* and the updates to this site?
Last week my boss found we were heading for Nashville this year… things
will be interesting over the next couple weeks, it seems she has had it
out for me for awhile now… Both of the phone interviews lead to on-site
interviews… I already got my rejection from one of the companies and am
still waiting and hoping on the other job. We went to the bookstore to
pick up a GRE prep book for me, not sure if I see myself going back to
school, but it is something I have been thinking a lot about lately.
So far our summer has been pretty un-exciting (could be the reason for
lack of posts on here?) We had planned to go up north to stay with Susan’s
folks for the weekend of the fourth. Unfortunately I was unable to go. The
Friday beforehand I was told I needed to get a bunch of stuff done for our
client out in California. Not wanting to get sent on site again, I stayed
down and worked through the weekend. Susan took the dog and found out he
isn’t really fond of the water.

As you can see on the gym page, I’ve been able to do quite a few races
this year. My times seem to be getting better overall, but my best times
are when it’s raining out… who said running in the sun was fun? I’m
still trying to get my training in for my triathlon in September, it’s
getting closer, and I’m getting more excited. I’m getting a lot better in
the water and am pretty sure I won’t drown during the event. There’s been
talk of doing a 1/2 marathon in Nashville next year, whether we sign up is
yet to be determined.

All the extra work I put in to getting our client live, I was still sent
on site a couple weeks ago (whatever happened to restricted travel?)
Things went a lot better this time, most likely because I wasn’t sent by
myself… They actually bought lunch for us a couple times and took us out
to dinner! We went to a few different places, including a Mediterranean
cafe, an Indian restaurant, and a seafood place. It was all really good,
especially the seafood place. Our customer is finally seeing what it is to
deal with the third party company in the project and I think they realize
it’s not us that’s the problem… hopefully we will get them running our
new software soon with no problems (or I’ll have another job 😀 ).

It was our annual users group last week, and I had to give a
presentation Monday. Luckily I got there early, as my boss said her laptop
was set, but she never tested the software. I spent a good 45 minutes
getting everything set up so I would have something to show during the
demo of the software I had been working on. I spent some time talking to
one of the video vendors later in the week, and the things they are doing
was pretty slick. They were excited about the video software I had created
(…if only they were located in Tennessee!)

Things are quite busy in the Jeske household as of late. Susan found out
about a job opportunity, with Corning, in Clarksville, TN. So, my job hunt
focus will now be going south (quite literally). I’ve applied for a dozen
or so jobs and have had two phone interviews already! Hopefully, I’ll hear
something back this week. Once I land a job down there, it’s two weeks at
DICE and I’ll be heading to Tennessee. Susan still has a few more months
left to finish her MBA and will probably move at the end of this year…

Scout’s become more adventurous towards Waldo, although she doesn’t
really care for him much. She will come down stairs nowadays, usually
begging for food. Most of her time is locked away in the dark on her
“throne”. We decided to scrape the toilet training, Scout seems set in her
ways and things weren’t progressing well. Waldo has gotten a lot bigger
(probably close to 50 lbs) and has lost a lot of fur… We took him in for
a haircut and he got shaved down… he actually doesn’t look quite so bad
anymore, maybe I’ll get a picture of him up soon.

We’ve had a couple races since the last time I posted… Susan’s still
doing good, finishing in the top of her age division. I managed to improve
my time a little bit in May, but for some reason the race earlier this
month was a tough one. The Pinconning CheeseTown challenge is coming this
weekend and I’m hoping to improve my pace time (even though it is a 5 mile
race 🙂 ). I’ve officially started my triathlon training last week… I’ve
already paid, so it’s too late to back out now! If you head over to the
gym page you can see my goals for each week in the three different sports,
so far, so bad… I didn’t quite make my goals last week… by the end,
there should be a lot of green on that table! 😀

Wanting to get the most out of my bike, we went to the bike store last
Thursday to pick up some clip-less pedals. For those not familiar clip-less
pedals are actually pedals you clip into (makes sense, doesn’t it?) You
wear these really spiffy looking shoes, that aren’t very much fun to walk
in, and become one with the bike. After installing the pedals, I tested
clipping in and out in the driveway and in front of the house… I was
ready, or so I thought… We hit the trails and the first stop we come to
I un-clip the right side and somehow started leaning to the left. Luckily,
I was able to get my left foot out in time before I hit the pavement… I
wasn’t so lucky last night. We were just about done with our ride and one
of the last stops, I really was one with the bike, all the way down to the
ground. I caught myself and didn’t really scrape my knee too bad… I
guess I must not have hurt myself that bad, as when Susan asked if I was
ok, she just kept going… I got back on my bike, only thing that really
was hurt was my pride. 😉

Job update… I had a phone screening with Dow for a DB Administrator
position! They sounded pretty interested in me on the phone, so who knows
maybe I’ll get a call back for an interview… although they said they
were considering a large number of candidates for the position (keep your
fingers crossed 🙂 ). This past weekend was quite the busy one. Saturday
Susan and I went to the gym together. She wanted to break in her new
Reebok fit shoes, and I was itching to get on the racquetball courts. As I
start putting my gym clothes on in the locker room, I noticed I forgot to
pack a pair of shorts. I ran over to Dunham’s, but by the time I got back,
my fellow racquetball players were gone, oh well there’s always Monday…

I managed to get the lawn mower out and as I was finishing up the
backyard… yes… it was snowing… lightly, but noticeable. Later that
night, we went to the Midland Center for the Arts for an orchestra
concert. It was… interesting… The first half was solar system themed,
and they had a couple narrators read a passage at the beginning of the
pieces. In the backdrop they had a large projection of various stars and
planets, which for some reason stuttered a lot… The second half, a huge
choir came out and in my opinion was more enjoyable.

After checking the forecast for the hundredth time, we were almost ready
for the 6K race in Midland on Sunday (it was gonna be a bit chilly 🙁 ).
Before the race, we headed over to the Verizon store to get our phone bill
discount squared away and decided to stop into Quizno’s for a bite to eat.
No… Quizno’s wasn’t my idea nor my ideal choice for a pre-race meal, but
alas that is where we went. After picking up our packets and catching up
with Susan’s sorority sister and fiance, the race was about to start. We
headed over to the start line (runners in front, walkers in back…
runners in front, walkers in back… runners in front, walkers in back…
ok I think we get it…) Carl Lewis was there and told us the MOST
important part of the race was to not go out too fast (pssh, fun, what’s
fun?) The start seemed to come really quick… “Runners on your
markBANG”… yeah there was no pause or “Get Ready” or anything… Even
though it was my fastest pace and would have been my fastest 5K and my
first 5K under 30 minutes I was told I needed to try harder… (fun,
what?) Susan got second place in her age division, beaten once again by
her sorority sister… maybe someone else needs to try harder. 😉
Well… I finally did it, I am now committed to doing a Sprint Triathlon
up in Tawas on Sept. 11. I’m hoping to get some updates to the Gym section
so you can see how my training is going. If all goes well, who knows maybe
I’ll switch to the Olympic length. 😀