Reflections of a Triathlete

February Training Totals

2012-02-29T17:54:00.000-05:00

I had a really balanced month of training and combined with work, I definitely had my hands full. I am happy with where I am at with my swim, my run could be better and I need to push myself to go longer on the indoor bike trainer. Prior year totals for the month in brackets).

walk = 17 miles (12 miles)
Swim = 11,800 yards (2,900 yards)
Bike = 116 miles (55 miles)
run = 38 miles (59 miles) - I was training for a March 1/2 marathon lasr year

Critical Thinking In Accounting Education

2012-02-25T18:06:00.002-05:00

Today's blog post is all about teaching. Since I blew my right eye out, teaching consumes most of my day. I want to always make sure I am bringing as much value to the classroom as I possibly can. I may fall short on occasion but it isn't because I'm not trying to improve on a daily basis.

My master's student are about to wrap up a six week module on all things "earnings management". I think this module is both enjoyable and eye-opening at the same time. However, I noticed over the past two years that students think every discretionary accrual an accountant makes is "bad behavior". That is not my intent. I want the students to think more critically, which I define here as thinking about the topic at hand from all angles. Since I haven;t quite achieved that goal, I enrolled in a workshop based on the book: Teaching for Critical Thinking: Tools and Techniques to Help Students Question Their Assumptions by Stephen Brookfield.

The workshop has been interesting. I already can see that how I pose certain questions may inhibit the type of thinking I want to encourage. I also need to find some classroom techniques that get the students to more actively identify the assumptions upon which they draw their conclusions. These are subtle but important aspects that help make the accounting students at UVM that much more prepared for what's in front of them.

Cabin Fever Rules

2012-02-19T16:42:00.001-05:00

One thing I can definitely attest to: cabin fever in the northeast is much more pronounced if you do not live in a major metropolitan area...my solution: I watched Deep Water, a film about one man's attempt to circumnavigate the world.

Teaching, thinking, triathlon. I am back in the classroom. It has been a challenge for sure, mostly because of the extra effort it takes outside of class in order to bring a positive experience for the students while in class. My advanced accounting students did well on their first exam testing basic consolidation skills. So I'm pretty happy that I am conveying the material even though it can be hard to tell when you can't rely on visual feedback.

I'm also very satisfied with a new set of readings in the earnings management module in my graduate-level capstone class. Specifically, I added some readings on earnings management in China. To my surprise, the Chinese students in the class expressed complete surprise that incentives to manage earnings existed in China. It also allowed the Chinese students an opportunity to really talk about the cultural differences between China and the US. I think everyone in the class really enjoyed the international aspect of the topic. I already have some more ideas for bringing India into the conversation next year....

Teaching, thinking, triathlon. My co-authors and I submitted a manuscript to a journal this week. Here's to keeping the fingers crossed...At the same time, I am working with another co-author on revising a teaching case that we received a "Revise and Resubmit" on. As time permits, I am writing the first draft of another paper that we have some interesting results on. I am not getting my research done as fast as I did in the past but I have settled into the teaching routine and can at least get a little done here and there and keep the pipeline filled and moving.

Teaching, thinking, triathlon. I am REALLY excited about my triathlon training. Last week I swam my fastest mile in the pool at just under 40 minutes. I know this sounds slow to many people but when I first started triathlon training in 2008, it took me one full hour to swim a mile!

In addition, I am now doing all my running on the indoor track instead of the treadmill. My feet don't hurt nearly as much as they used to. I am running to heart rate and every now and then progress rears its head. I have run several individual miles at 10:30 pace though I have yet to sustain that pace over several miles. I am very interested to see where I am a month from now as I bump my long run up to 6 miles next week. My times are comparable to last year, with what I perceive to be less effort. Stay tuned....

As a side note - I was up all night Friday night with a very sick doggie. She is clearly feeling better now but I was in my own agony watching her suffer as she threw up over and over again. I hope my doggie knows how much I love her!

January 2012 Training Totals

2012-02-01T17:10:00.000-05:00

My current training goal is to go "longer". Mind you, I am far from going "long". But I'm pretty satisfied with the past month's training. I started working with a heart rate monitor so my running has been rather slow at times but I am going to stay faithful to the program and hope I see progress with the running pace in February. January 2011 totals are in brackets.

walk = 25 miles (23 miles)
swim = 10,800 yards (2,050 yards) - this is a point of focus
bike = 164 miles (28 miles) - another point of focus
Run = 33 miles (27 miles)

I had two well-deserved rest days and am ready to make February another good base training month.

Concert Review: Anonymous 4

2012-01-29T08:19:00.000-05:00

Every once in awhile - I get it right. The very non-traditional quartet, Anonymous 4, performed at the UVM Recital Hall this past Friday night. First, they sing, no musical instruments, and they don't need them. Second, I'd describe their music, in layman's terms, as a combination of choir music and gregorian chants. Regardless of how you describe the music, it is the type that touches a person deep down inside.

Going to this event reminded me that I need to do things like this more often. It really hel[s keep me balanced, especially intellectually.

As for puppy, she absolutely loved the concert. She sang three times during the performance and was licking her lips a lot. A big thumbs up to the Anonymous 4 from Cathy and Maggie!

Thoughts on IMTalk's Kona Coverage

2012-01-22T09:36:00.000-05:00

I have been a listener of the podcast IMTalk since it's inception. I am just now listening to their coverage of the race in Kona. Here are sime observations:

1. The extra long podcasts come in handy when training in the middle of the winter on an indoor trainer.

2. This is the second time these guys have gone to Kona as "press" and the improvement in what was delivered to the listener is unbelievable. As I recall, most of the coverage the first time around involved interviews, mostly done in various secluded confines. What I love about the 2011 civerage is that you can "feel" the excitement of the age-grouper. The interviews around the boat really give you a feel for the overall sceen out there. Some clearly view the Kona race as a celebration and reward for all their hard work. Everyone that goes to Kona is competitive or they wouldn't be there but I have to say hearing the excitement in their voices motivates me to just do the best I can.

And it's not that I don't want to hear from the pros. I do. But let's face it - they are under a different level of stress, trying to place high, please sponsors, whatever. Most of them give stock answers to the sane questions. Their true personalities don't shine through. Not true with an age-grouper. They are grateful, thankful, and probably going home to family and work right after the race.

3. I know we only got selected portions of the "official" press conference but is it just me who thought the guy moderating the flow of questions was a first class jerk? I get it that the press conference is to showcase the pros. But herein lies the WTC's dilemma: Their customer is an age-grouper. I can't name 5 pros who raced this race 5 years ago. But I will always remember Chrissie's responding to John's question about "within household" competition. I do want to know what goes through their heads when they see their partner on the course. I have already heard their stock answers about the race 10 times before the "official" press conference. And John, it's probably best you didn't ask the peeing on the bike question at the news conference because Crowie's answer that he should have peed on someone shows the truth - he treats his competitors with respect but clearly he was ticked off that he was going to get beat with tactics - the guy took his lumps and moved on to win the next race...a bonus nugget we wouldn't have without this podcast.

Also, that same honesty is why I'm loving IMTalk's new Legends of Triathlon series.

Overall, to the IMTalk guys, a big thumbs up for delivering a great product to the triathlon community.

Report From Remote Zentri Camp

2012-01-14T14:45:00.000-05:00

At this time last year I was in the midst of one of my best weeks of the year. I was at Zentri camp in San Diego. For a back of the pack age grouper, it was perfect for me. The timing of the camp just doesn't work for me given school starts on Tuesday and flying is such a crap shoot these days. But I really wish I was there:

Zentri campers doing some training at the beach

Instead of here:

No, this is not the beach...

So I decided to hold my own mini Zentri camp. 1st event was a run yesterday. I ran 4 miles on the indoor track at school. It felt good but it was slow, even for me. I am trying to run to a heart rate now and the garmin kept telling me to slow down. Still, I was pleased with the session.

Today's weather forecast

Today my focus was a ride on the indoor trainer. I had a nice ! hour 22 minute effort and am just trying to train my mind that a "short" ride is an hour and a half on the trainer, not an hour (or less). I still have two more days of my remote ZenTri Camp. They will be bike focused because the school training facilities are closed through the holiday weekend.

For the record, Maggie misses Zentri Camp as well.

Dreaming of the smells of San Diego

Earnings Management, Learning Case Revisions, and Simple Training Goals

2012-01-07T13:11:00.000-05:00

Teaching, thinking, triathlon. Teaching requires a commitment to learning. I had a week's worth of material in my capstone graduate accounting class that was somewhat of a mismatch for me earnings management module. So I dumped it and replaced the material with a case study on how incentives and EM techniques used by companies headquartered in China compare and contrast to those incentives and techniques used by companies headquartered in the United States. Hopefully, this will help broaden the student experience when thinking about the topic of earnings management.

Teaching, thinking, triathlon. I spent much of my research time this week on a teaching case that received a "revise and resubmit" from a journal editor. On the one hand, the reviewer comments are fairly easy to deal with. On the other hand, there are a lot of opinions in the pot - three reviewers and an associate editor who provided thorough comments. I find the best way to deal with so many review comments is just to keep my head down and tackle them one at a time. Sounds simple....right?

Teaching, thinking, triathlon. For the first time in four months, I got to do some swim training. My goals for the month include swimming twice as many yards as I did last January. It will be an easy goal to achieve. My goal for bike training over the next three months is to train my body to go longer on the bike. To keep it simple, I want to feel like a "short" rude is 75 minutes on the trainer, not 45 minutes. The indoor track is open again at school and I did a 1 mile, a 2 mile, and a 3 mile run this week. My average HR was 165, 164, 159 for the three runs. I knew I was pushing on the two shorter runs but I really though my HR was closer to 150 on the longer run. It'll be a point of focus for awhile. One thing I will say was that 3 miler felt pretty easy.

IMTalk's Legends of Triathlon

2012-01-01T14:36:00.000-05:00

Wow - after two episodes I am in love with this podcast. The purpose of this podcast is to get a sense of the history of truathlon through interviews with the "old timers" of the sport. Podcast 2 had Erin Baker and her brutal honesty, and personality, was so refreshing. Too often when current athletes are interviewed, you get the "corporate" line. I don't blame those athletes for that approach, I have the same problem with my own blog. There are opinions I'd like to express but refrain from doing so.

Anyways, it looks like this will be a monthly podcast and I'm fine with that. Life is better when you have something to look forward to.

Sunday Morning

2012-01-01T09:20:00.001-05:00

I have a real fondness for Sunday mornings. Sunday mornings are meant to be spent in a home library, in a comfortable chair, with the New York Times Sunday Newspaper. Sunday morning was always a time for the writer's at the New York Times to challenge my thinking. I still love Sunday mornings but they involve a home office, a computer, and an iPad. My observation is that listening to news and research doesn't allow for as much reflection as reading does.

Over the last couple of months, I have been sorely disappointed with the quality of my blog posts. The turn of a new year allows me the opportunity to refocus my writing efforts. We'll see how that goes!

Teaching, thinking, triathlon. I just finished reading a book on fair value valuations. I decided to read this book to supplement the accounting for fair value concepts that I teach to the Masters in Accountancy students. We do several fairly simple fair value cases but I wanted to see if I could extend the content to deal with the difficulties of estimating fair value. The book, The Dark Side of Valuation, represents a microcosm of what I learned in graduate school: everyone struggles with the same stuff. Valuations o f assets and liabilities represent nothing more than an "educated best guess." The book's title is misleading: it is really a good book about valuation techniques and issues to consider. But there is no "dark side" to valuation. It is what itis.

Teaching, thinking, triathlon. I am fortunate enough to be working on an earnings management teaching case that has received a "revise and resubmit" decision from a journal. We have several reviewers with a wide range of opinions on the case. So, over the past several days, I have been digesting the comments and thinking about changes that need to be made. The task of revising a manuscript can be daunting. I find it best to just deal with one change at a time.

Teaching, thinking, triathlon. I posted the training and racing totals for 2011. I was surprised to see that December was my second best biking month. My focus on the indoor bike trainer is to extend the duration of my rides so that a short, easy ride is around 75 minutes instead of 50-60 minutes. In addition, I hope to increase the number of rides I do that are 2 hours or more. These are two fairly easy goals that I know I can achieve over the course of 2012. That being said, for the next two weeks I hope to have a bit of a swim focus and start running again after a short break from that discipline.

Yes, earplugs are the best.

As for my eye trauma, after multiple surgeries, I have been pain free for almost 6 weeks. I'll never see out of my right eye again but I have adapted and life is good. Plus Santa stopped by this year and it ain't the dog he left!

The Highs and Lows of Training

2011-12-31T15:53:00.000-05:00

The three highlights of this year from a sport perspective were doing the Shelbourne 10K in March, The Armadillo 1/2 Marathon in March and the Minneapolis 1/2 marathon in June. For various reasons, I never toed the line at a triathlon but I hope to do so in 2012. I want to focus on two very simple concepts in training this year: (1) bring more intensity to my shorter workouts, and (2) focus on going longer more often.

Here's what I did this year:
                          Walk (miles)         Swim (yds)        Bike (miles)          Run (miles)
January                    23                        2,050                     28                          27
February                  12                        2,900                    55                          59
March                        5.5                     3,950    11    56
April                        24.5                   11,250                    93                          40
May                          34                           750                  131                          45
June                          31.5                     5,950                    98                          35
July                           48                      15,050                  333                         26
August                       25                      11,500                  131                         29
September                   7                        5,600                    30                           8
October                     47.5                         0                       87                           0
November                  19                           0                       41                          12
December                   24                          0 233    24

Annua; tptals
Walk = 300 miles
Swim = 35 miles
Bike = 1,320 miles
Run = 357 miles

I've lost 35 pounds since I became interested in triathlons. And I gained some very good friends along the way. I look forward to improving my training numbers and race performance.

Weekly Training Totals

2011-12-26T17:40:00.000-05:00

Easy Wee. Prior week totals in brackets.

walk = 8.25 miles (7 miles)
swim = 0 yards (0 yards)
bike - 20.8 miles (65.1 miles)
run = 5.9 miles (5 miles)

Happy Holiday From My Awesome Fidelco Guide Dog

2011-12-22T16:25:00.000-05:00

Presents!...I like Presents!

Weekly Training Totals

2011-12-18T16:34:00.001-05:00

I wanted to get my bike miles up and I did. Just trying to increase my level of fitness after 3 months of little or no training. Prior week totals in brackets/

walk = 7 miles (6 miles)
swim = 0 yards (0) yards
bike = 65.1 miles (43.4 miles)
run = 5 miles (8 miles)

The next two weeks will be pretty moderate but come the first week in January, I'll be looking to really start training in all three disciplines again. Yeah!

Garmin Forerunner Product Review

2011-12-17T13:57:00.000-05:00

Take this product review for what it's worth - I am a back of the packer who, for various life circumstances, hasn't even done a truathlon since June 2010.

Pre-purchase view of buying a Garmin: Exactly why do I need to spend big bucks for a watch to tell me I'm running 12 minute miles?

Post-purchase view of Garmin: Alternately, grrrrr and huhhhh (with a grin)

Let's first address the grrrr. The Garmin Forerunner was not made by Apple. That is, it is not user friendly AT ALL. The ONLY reason I am able to manage is because I have friends who talk me through all the various settings and options on the phone. Garmin support sucks. Support is available from 8:00AM-5:00PM CST. I guess their target market is either a pro athlete or unemployed. I am quite computer literate but have already had to "reboot" the watch once because it was in an endless loop trying to upload data to the computer. I could go on and on about the difficulties in learning to operate the watch but I'll leave you with this thought: "be prepared to not be able to use the tool "out of the box".

Let's next address the huhhhh: When the watch is collecting data, it is a great training tool. Personally, I have been "training" for short course triathlons for 4 years now. I usually finish in the last ten percentile of the pack (translated - I suck at swim, bike, run). So why do I do it? Because I've lost 35 pounds in the process and need to lose 35 more. I'm sick of finishing near last in races. In the past I was training to be able to finish the race, now I actually want to improve my performance. Here's what I've learned from the Garmin data so far:

1. My perception of a hard effort wasn't even close (heart rate was only 125-130 range)
2. It didn't feel all that much harder to get my heart rate to 140 or 145, and I was running faster
3. It hurts to run at 155-160 but here's the revelation - that's called "RACING". The light bulb has gone off regarding race performance. You need to get out of your comfort zone. I know this has been written a thousand times over but before when I was tired at the end of a bike or run I thought that meant I worked hard. But I didn't push it hard enough to improve.
4. The Garmin keeps you honest - data doesn't lie
5. While I haven't used 1/10th of the tool's capability, I'm thankful my friend has the patience to help me with the learning curve - I already see im[rovement in my training
6. I am glad I did not buy the Garmin earkier. I needed to become confident that I could run 3,4,5,6...13.2 miles before I started to worry about running long distances faster.

Weekly Training Totals

2011-12-11T15:22:00.000-05:00

Yes, I really am a working dog...

I was pretty happy with my effort this week, though it looks lame by most standards. Prior week numbers in brackets.

walk = 6 miles (12.4 miles)
swim 0 yards (0 yards)
bike = 43.4 miles (38.8 miles)
run = 8 miles (5 miles)

My Puppy

2011-12-09T19:10:00.000-05:00

Yes puppy, I love you too...

Weekly Training Totals

2011-12-04T17:13:00.000-05:00

Prior week totals in brackets.

Walk = 12.4 miles (9 miles)
Swim = 0 yards (0 yards)
Bike = 38.8 miles (0 miles)
Run = 5 miles (6.6 miles)

A Face in the Mirror

2011-12-03T20:15:00.000-05:00

There is a face in the mirror, unseen
There is a voice in the room, unheard
There is a tear on my cheek, inching downward
and I swipe it away before it reaches my heart.
I'm drowning in frustration because I'm now almost completely blind
I can see, I can see
how much more there still is to do
deep down inside, I know I'm still alive
and I silently move forward.

Monthly Training Totals

2011-12-01T14:28:00.001-05:00

Still fighting my eye trauma but at least I can do some activity, even if it doesn't look like much...it it pure joy to be doing anything. Prior month totals in brackets.

walk = 18.75 miles (47.5 miles)
swim = 0 yards (0 yards)
bike = 41 miles (86.5 miles)
run = 12.3 miles (0 miles)

the importance of fundamentals

2011-11-28T19:19:00.000-05:00

An interesting issue arose today during a conference call with one of my co-authors. We are working on an interdisciplinary project combining accounting and strategy. In a discussion about what can be published in a high quality accounting journal versus a high quality strategy journal, my co-author suggested that accountants seem to accept research designs that are "less sophisticated" than those strategists use. The comment was not meant to be offensive, nor did I take it as such. But it did remind me that methods are based on the research question being asked. I use a lot of 2x2 ANOVA designs because I am interested in individual behavior. This requires holding many factors constant in order to isolate the influence of a variable of interest. Strategists seem to prefer to model multiple factors in order to understand why firms end up where they do. They do this with structural equation modeling.

The conversation with my co-author was a good reminder for me. Research methods should not be judged on whether they are "superior" or not. But they should be judged on whether they help answer the research question posed.

Movie Review: Mugabe and the White African

2011-11-18T17:11:00.000-05:00

Whenever I think I'm even close to having a bad day, I will try very hard to remember this documentary. There is much more suffering and injustice in this world than I will (hopefully) ever see. Thankfully, I live in a country that allows for a relatively easy life. This film makes you think deeply about how you live your life, and what good you are bringing to others.

Posture Prep Cross Fiber Groomer

2011-11-13T18:19:00.002-05:00

It's time....

My guide dog Maggie engages in three activities every day that keeps her healthy, happy, and sharp with her skills every morning she gets groomed with a rake. This keeps her coat silky smooth and, without fail, every time we go outside somebody makes a comment about what a beautiful dog she is. Maggie also goes through 5 minutes of obedience every morning. This keeps her skills sharp and keeps her attentive to my commands.

But her favorite routine comes at the

Let the lip smacking begin

end of each day. This is when I use the posture prep cross fiber groomer on her. With the use of this groomer I'm able to massage her muscle mass as well as work across her spine. Maggie absolutely loves it when I groom her with this tool. In fact, if I'm sitting in front of the TV and the groomer is off to my side on the table, she will come sit beside me, then back up into me and point her nose towards the groomer suggesting: it's time, it's time, don't you know it's time?" I always start with her hind quarter. I know I've hit the right spot when she starts smacking her lips loudly. Then she shudders and moans and otherwise expresses pure joy when getting her massage. But it's a two-way street. She takes great care of me and I want to keep her healthy and happy. If this is the one thing I can do every day for her, I'm more than happy to do it. I never thought something as simple as the posture prep cross fiber groomer would mean so much to maintaining the health of my guide dog.

seacoast half marathon race report

2011-11-13T12:25:00.000-05:00

I think every race report of ever read involve somebody who actually started a race. For the second consecutive time, I did not start a race I was registered for. I am at wits end with my situation. It's been 2 1/2 months since I had a major trauma to my eye. my recovery was going well until about two weeks ago. While most of the pain had subsided something changed. I'm now experiencing a high level of chronic pain every minute of the day and night. As a result of this change in my situation, I'm going to have one more surgery to try to rectify the situation. If that surgery doesn't help, it is a real possibility that I will lose my eye. Oh what I would've given to have been at the start of the seacoast half marathon this morning.

I have been distracting myself with with some teaching responsibilities some research responsibilities and almost no triathlon or running activity. I have very mixed emotions about the possibility of losing my I. On the one hand it seems so drastic. On the other hand I have no vision and that I. There is zero likelihood that I'll get any vision back and that I. So the thought of having the eye removed is really just a general fear of what that might entail. The fact of the matter is that my eye dying. And I just want it to be over with. I want to get on with my life. I want to start doing things again. I want to get back into the classroom. I want to get back to my research. I want to get back to running. I want to get back to biking. I want to get back to swimming. I want to get back to living my life even if it means doing it in relative darkness.

My seacoast half marathon race report is all about missed opportunities. I missed one more chance to be outside, active, happy, and living life.

Weekly Training Totals

2011-11-06T11:59:00.000-05:00

Prior week totals in brackets.

walk = 7.25 miles (16 miles)
swim = 0 yards (0 yards)
bike = 20.2 miles (19.2 miles)
run = 3 miles (0 miles)

Sunday is not a work day

2011-11-06T10:48:00.000-05:00

So says my guide dog Maggie. Here's her response to "come on, it's time to go to work"...

Maggie (and I) Get Some R&R

2011-11-05T21:03:00.000-04:00

Maggie and I had a chance to get some relief from the day to day grind related to my eye trauma by taking a trip to visit friends on Cape Cod. We both enjoyed the opportunity to run outdoors -what a treat!!!

Back to Basics

2011-10-31T19:12:00.001-04:00

Teaching. Thinking. Triathlon. I started reading a new book on valuations today. I'm reading this book as part of my class preparation for space the fair value accounting Module space in the capstone accounting course. About one third of this class is devoted to fair value accounting and I am dedicated to reading as much as possible about the topic so that I can be as up-to-date as possible in delivering material to the students. the title of the book that I'm reading is "The Dark Side of Valuation". Chapter 1 pretty much sums up the quandary of using accounting data to do valuations. Accounting data tells us what already happened while valuation techniques require data that projects what will happen.

Teaching. Thinking. Triathlon. By any triathlete's

Hey, that's not Maggie!

measure, my workouts over the past three or four weeks have been nothing short of lame. Thankfully I'm not measuring those workouts against any other triathlete's measure. Now that my body Has recovered from all the eye trauma, my doctor finally gave me the go-ahead to do as much as I want when I work out. Of course, there was one caveat: I still can't go in the pool. In thinking about what I want to accomplish during my winter training this year one thing is for sure: I want to increase my running speed and I want to increase my biking speed. So while I'm sure I'll do my share of long slow runs, and long slow bike sessions, on the weekend, I am dedicated to really trying to increase my speed by focusing on more, short intense workouts during the week. We will see how that goes.

Two Steps Forward

2011-10-30T19:19:00.000-04:00

A lot has happened in the last two months. There's been a lot of down time because the healing process has taken almost all my energy and, as projected when I first got my eye infection, very very long.

As I gained more and more energy I started to work with a lot of the software that am going to need to use going forward. In this blog post, I'm going to recap some of the things I've been doing.

The first thing I did was install Kurzweil software on both my home computer and my work computer in my office at school. I picked this software to start with because I'm actually familiar with it. When I was first declared legally blind I actually use Kurzweil software for a while when I was in the PhD program. This software is great for doing research and reading any textbooks then I use class. The software is text-to-speech software so essentially it reads to me. I can download a PDF copy of someone else's published research paper into the software and and an Electronic voice will read it to me. I have family name that voice "Chester".

The next piece of software that I learned to use is called "text aloud". I use this software to read webpages. Webpages can be tricky for voice to text software. For example, some websites such as CNN.com have a lot of garbage all over the webpage. This garbage really makes it difficult for any kind of text reader to function correctly. So I try to avoid those types of websites. however, for the websites I like to access when I'm doing my accounting research or when I am prepping for my accounting classes, well those websites are usually maintained by accountants and accountants don't like a lot of clutter so those pages actually tend to work very well with the text allowed software.

Over the course of the last three weeks, I have to say I'm actually starting to adjust pretty well to these new tools. When I first started listening to these readers, it was extremely difficult to focus on just listening to what a mechanical voice was saying. and it was very difficult to adjust to not being able to multitask while you are reading. For example, when you're reading somebody else's research, you might scan through the article to look for specific cites or the methodology used or the conclusions drawn you might not necessarily read every single word at the same time he might be taking notes at the same time you also might be thinking about the research question that you're trying to develop. It was all very very difficult to just focus on listening to what the mechanical voice was saying. But each day the task got easier and easier. At first I could listen for an hour then two then three. now I can listen for as long as I want to, or need to.

The final piece of software I'm trying to master is Dragon, a speech recognition software. I'm actually using the software right now to write this blog. It's been tough. When you write a blog usually you are typing away and if you change your mind you backspace. Or, as you develop your thoughts you just make modifications accordingly. But now you have to speak in an organized manner so that the words come out like like the writing is natural. This is my first attempt at writing anything with Dragon software. I'm sure like everything else as time goes on it will get easier and easier.

Needless to say I'm glad to be back blogging. I still have not even come close to achieving what I expected to when I first started this blog. It turns out it's a lot easier to blog about being a triathlete than anything else. But the fact of the matter is I'm not just a triathlete. In fact being a triathlete is really only about 20% of who I am. As much as I'd like to dedicate more time to training and racing, it just doesn't lead to the type of balanced life that I want to lead. I want to be a good teacher and I want to be a good researcher. Hopefully I can continue to work on this blog in a way that reflects just that.

Weekly Training Totals

2011-10-30T16:25:00.000-04:00

Prior week totals in brackets

walk = 16 miles (9.75 miles)
swim = 0 yards (0 yards)
bike = 19.2 miles (21 miles)
run = 0 miles (0 miles)

Who Am I?

2011-10-27T20:20:00.000-04:00

The material for this post has been incubating inside me since I fully understood the reality of my eye trauma back in September. It all came together for me when my brother from California came to visit at the end of a business trip to the east coast last week.

I love my big brother. More importantly, he's my role model for someone who really seems to live a happy life. He is very balanced: a husband, a father, an engineer, a builder, a wine maker, a friend, and someone who generally has more hobbies than anyone I ever met. I am totally not at all like him. My identity is very much tied to challenging my intellectual self on a daily basis. For the most part that describes my lasr 25 years and I've been okay with it because I think I am now happier with myself than most people are.

But losing all my vision in my "good" eye has challenged my concept of self. I feel as though I am now just a set of "ears" - getting 100% of my stimulus by listening. Listening is a passive activity and takes some getting used to. I am adjusting. I know this because of the progress I'm making in being able to master work-relared activities. The problem is when I'm done working, I feel as though going home at night provides no relief from the "work" day because my hobbies mostly entail listening activities (i.e., podcasts, books, blogs, etc.). It was hard to deal with that reality.

Not one to ignore the my dilemma, I have come up with a couple of solutions that should help:

(1) I vow to become active with Achilles International, an organization through which I can get a guide for ANY race I want (that's a dream come true). I had eight weeks of down time and am more than ready to get the body moving again. I'm doing light stuff as I do not yet have the medical okay to "crank it up".
(2) I vow to expabd my cooking skills since I do cook more healthy food at home than ever before. That will allow me to use my hands and get tactile stimulus instead of just auditory stimuls.
(3) I vow to play my guitar again. I have a beautiful Washburn accoustic electric guitar that I bought when I was living in Manhattan. That is an activity that is just good for the soul.

I know I have handled my situation as best as anyone could have. Doing the things I noted above are another important step in recovering from my eye trauma.

Finally, I am excited to announce that while I missed the Westchester Triathlon because of the eye infection, I will participate in the Manchester Road Race on Thanksgiving. I'll probably have to walk it but at least I will be there. That's a big win for me. A Big thanks to my neighbors who will be walking alongside me!

So who am I now? The same person I was before: a teacher, a researcher, and a triathlete - I just doing those things a little differently now.

Weekly Training Totals

2011-10-23T15:28:00.001-04:00

Prior week numbers in brackets.

walk - 9.75 miles (12.50 miles)
swim = 0 yards (0 yards)
bike = 21 miles (17 miles)
run = 0 miles (0 miles)

Weekly Training Totals

2011-10-16T12:00:00.002-04:00

Prior week totals in brackets:

walk = 12.5 miles (8.75 miles)
swim 0 yards (0yards)
bike = 17 miles (12 miles)
run = 0 miles (0 miles)

The picture is a "self-portrait" taken at the end of Saturday's "easy" training ride. Nothing is easy when you have had no exercise for 6 weeks. As you can see the right eye is closed - it doesn't want to open most of the time though I can open it if I want to....

Looking Forward, Looking Backward

2011-10-15T08:35:00.001-04:00

The good news is my eye is healing. Skowky, but it is healing. I have some pretty constant low level pain to deal with but relatively speaking, it is not nearly as bad as it was those forst couple of weeks afyer my eye got infected.

As one would expect, the psychological healing has really only just begun. I don't feel like I'm the same person I was six weeks ago. I mourn for the person who was just "visually-impaired" versus now almost completely blind. I'm scared - that I will be less than I can be, that I will be less than I want to be, That I will give up because this new obstacle is just one too many to deal with. I cry in those dark moments, never for long, but I do. Then Maggie sneaks up on me with a toy in her mouth and tail wagging. And I know it may take a little more time but I'll be okay.I need to move forward, I will move forward, but I need one last moment to remember the woman that's now in the rear view mirror.

This blog is about me being a teacher, a researcher, and a triathlete. I will be all of those again. It is who I am.

Movie Review: In Search of Beethoven

2011-10-12T08:24:00.000-04:00

Watching this movie while recovering from the complete loss of vision in my right eye represents one of life's many ironies.

I miss going to Lincoln Center to see the New York Philharmonic. So I figured I'd get my classical music fix through this movie. Well, no doubt, I did that but somehow I was totally unaware that Beethoven went deaf during his lifetime, and still continued to compose music. The movie itself was a tough watch because it felt as though someone was reading a biography to the viewer. That made for a "dense" movie experience but if you don't know Beethoven's story, it is worth a watch.

Weekly Training Totals

2011-10-09T12:12:00.001-04:00

This is my first week doing some very limited activity...baby steps forward...it's all good. I'm still constrained as my eye heals, so I am happy that I can report any numbers this week.

walk = 8.75 miles
swim = 0 yards
bike = 12.3 miles
run = 0 miles

Triathlon is about meeting your own challenges as best you can and I am doing just that.

Emerging From My "Dark" Place

2011-10-07T15:11:00.000-04:00

The pun is unintended.

But I am emerging from what has been one of the most challenging times of my life. I have almost no vision left after an eye infection took away what little I had in my "good" eye. Now that I am on my way toward physical recovery, I am working to build a functional life despite the additional hurdle trown at me. I will admit, I was in a bit of a dark mood for a day or two last week and that wasn't helping me move forward so I'm back to my normal "cheery" self!

So here's where I'm at. I have bee working with text-to-speech software all week so I can get used to listening to books and articles instead of reading books and articles. In the course of a few days, I'm already adjusting to the change and feeling like I can eventually work effectively this way, though I still need time to adjust to the dranatic change in the way I process information.

I also started to work with a piece of software that reads web pages. That is a bit messier to deal with but again, everything is new and represents movement forward. Next week I will start working with some speech to text software that I'll need to master for purposes of grading essays.

I walked downtown today on my own, or rather, with just Maggie. I can tell you - it is a tough adjustment from having limited vision to just about no vision. But we managed fine and it felt good to be out and about on our own again. As always, I'd be in a much worse place if I didn't have Maggie by my side.

Maggie Taking Care of Me 24/7

2011-10-01T18:27:00.000-04:00

Maggie has been by my side 24/7 as I recover from my eye trauma. I couldn't ask for a better canine companion.

Putting Life in Perspective

2011-09-27T19:03:00.000-04:00

I don't know if I will continue to blog or not but I felt it was important to document some of what has happened to me over the last three weeks.

I had an eye treatment for wet macular degeneration and got an eye infection that required several surgeries and will likely cost me my vision in my "good" eye. Needless to say, my life has been hell though I am lucky to be surrounded by a bunch of good people who helped me through this mess.

I am just starting to recover physically and know I still need to deal psychologically with my new reality. All in due time.

Finally, my beautiful guide dog was by my side through my trauma and she is now more attentive to her responsibilities than ever. I am so lucky to have her....

Weekly Training Totals

2011-09-04T16:14:00.000-04:00

I'm pretty sure every workout I did this week was painful because my gas tank is empty but I did get the mileage in. That's important because my training usually falls off about three weeks before an event because I am mentally spent. While I am tired, I hung in there on getting every workout in. The prior week (a travel week) numbers are in brackets.

Walk = 9 miles (2.5 miles)
Swim = 5,600 yards (1,600) yards
Bike = 40.4 miles (0 miles)
Run = 13 miles (15 miles)

memories of 9/11

2011-09-04T11:10:00.001-04:00

For those of you who may not be aware, I lived on the lower east side of Manhattan when the World Trade Towers were struck. I was actually at work in New Jersey that day, about 10 miles west of the GW bridge and we had a view of the World Trade Towers burning from our office location. It was a sad day then, and a sad day now thinking back to the devastation. There is an excellent article about the rebuilding of Cantor Fitzgerald, the firm who experienced the most loss of life that day.

Thinking back to the events of 9/11 keeps the whole "I had a crappy workout" thing in perspective.

Maggie While I'm Working at The Office on a Holiday Weekend

2011-09-03T12:33:00.000-04:00

Seriously, the smart people are out playing today...

Thinkers Versus Doers

2011-09-02T19:12:00.000-04:00

Teaching, thinking, triathlon. Something came across my desk today that made me start thinking about the concept of "thinkers versus doers". First, think of the categories where this paradigm exists:

1. Coaches - athletes
2. CEO's - front line workers
3. Academics - practitioners

The thousand year old question is who is more valuable? I think we all recognize that one cannot exist without the other.

But rather than focus on the traditional philosophical question, I prefer to focus on those who were once doers and morphed into thinkers - like me. I was once an accounting practitioner and now I am an academic. Should I be more valued in the academic community because I have crossed the line or less valuable. Some might say less valuable because as a thinker I don't have years of rigorous scientific training behind me to qualify as an "academic" (though I am slowly acquiring that skill set). Some may argue that academic thought is only useful if practitioners can understand and apply the concepts put forth and that I should have an advantage if that is the case. Sometimes I feel as though because I was once a "doer", I'll never be narrow enough in my thinking to be stellar as a thinker. But then on other days I really feel like I have something to offer to the academic community because I have a sense for what matters in the "real" world, and what doesn't.

Ahhh, to do, or not to do, that is the question....

Back Into The Daily Routine

2011-09-01T18:41:00.000-04:00

I have not written a proper blog in quite a few weeks, mostly because I didn't really feel like I had anything inspiring to say. I'm excited to sit down and write my tradition Teaching, Thinking, Triathlon format blog.

Teaching, thinking, triathlon. I am in my fourth year at UVM and I have to say I looked forward to having the students back on campus more this year than any other year I can remember. I think one reason for that is that I just know more of the students. In fact, several of my students were offered full-time jobs from various internships that they worked at during the summer. It is an exciting time for these young people and it's a thrill to see their hard work rewarded with a job offer.

I have my hands full with my 110 sophomores in Introductory Financial Accounting and I have 30 more seniors and graduate students in an upper level financial statement analysis class. I need to be on top of my game if I am going to deliver UVM quality in the classroom. So far, so good, especially in Financial Statement Analysis. where I've already pulled much of my supplemental lecture material from Dealbook. We had a nice discussion about the value proposition for investors in the recent Oaktree Capital IPO. Students got to see what a form S-1 is and for many this was a first. I do take it for granted that my students know what an S-1 is, when in fact they don't. So much is learned with experience....

Teaching, thinking, and triathlon. The month of August was a research-focused month for me. It started out with a trip to Denver to present two papers at the American Accounting Association Meeting. When I got back from that trip I worked on a paper revision with two co-authors for the rest of the month. The revision required serious focused effort and we should be shipping the revised paper back to the editor within the next few days. I'll be glad to have that paper back out the door. I also picked up the strategy paper to continue the manuscript writing process. I have about 15 pages of a first draft of that paper written and need to just keep my head down writing up the results next. That will be where my research focus is over the next week or so.

Teaching, thinking, triathlon. About the only way I know how to describe the last couple of weeks of training is that it completely sucks. My swimming is my best workout right now - a little on the slow side and boring as all get-up but I'm almost as fast as I was during peak training about 4 weeks ago. The same cannot be said for my biking or running. My biking legs feel strong but my mental strength to continue to endure indoor workouts is just not there for me. I have no excuses. And my running is even worse. My effort to get my runs in this week was effective, I think I got 13 miles in, but the quality is just not there. My running legs feel dead. And there really is no reason for it. I have not done a ton of running since the Minneapolis 1/2 marathon, instead focusing on my swim and bike workouts. I am hoping my legs start to feel better over the next week. I'm going to do a longer run this weekend after a couple of track sessions. Usually when I get to the track, I see improvement in the long runs....

All in all, I'm happy to be back to a more balanced life with teaching, thinking, and triathlon all having their place in my life. Now if I could just score a date once in awhile!

Monthly Training Totals

2011-08-31T18:03:00.002-04:00

I knew August would be a light month because I did a lot of travel but I thought I'd feel more "rested" because of that and I don't. Hummm....Prior month totals in brackets.

Walk = 25 miles (46 miles)
Swim = 11,500 yards (15,050 yards)
Bike = 131.2 miles (332.7 miles)
Run = 29.25 miles (25.9 miles)

Sure Sign School is About to Start

2011-08-28T18:26:00.001-04:00

This is why I teach: students give you the best stories to share with people! School was supposed to start tomorrow - turns out we will start on Tuesday because of Hurricane Irene but clearly that news was announced after I got this email: "Dear Professor, I can't tell you how excited I am that the semester is starting. I am so looking forward to learning everything about accounting in your class. Due to a family wedding, I will not be able to attend class on Monday....." I gotta give my student credit for going all out on trying to make missing class sound so good...:)....got any good stories from college you want to share?

Movie Review: 180 Degrees South

2011-08-23T20:54:00.000-04:00

This is a very cool movie about two adventurers whose travels drove them to really look at themselves, their values, and whether a world built on consumption is really the best we can do for ourselves. This movie really makes you think about your own value set and the music is perfect for generating reflective thought.

USAT Age Group Championships - Spectator Report

2011-08-21T07:55:00.000-04:00

The USAT Age Group Championships came to Burlington, VT this weekend and while I will say up front I prefer to actually do a triathlon than watch one, I still had a lot of fun watching Zentri Guy compete. here are some observations, lessons learned, and other general thoughts:

1. I blew it right out of the box on the spectating thing. First, I didn't think I'd be able to see much on the swim so I didn't go down to the swim start and instead staked out a position about a 1/4 mile into the bike. I was surprised by how much huffing and puffing was going on by the athletes at the beginning of the bike. Lesson learned: These guys were RACING.

2. After I saw Zentri start the bike (I was lucky, he was in the first wave so he was easy to follow) I went back to the swim start. It turns out that the Burlington venue is an awesome place to watch the swim. You can see the triathletes come in along the water's edge and the announcer calls out people's name as they are coming out. There was a nice buzz around the swim venue for sure.

3. Next I went to the bottom of the biggest hill on the run, which also happens to be right after the bike transition area. The funniest thing I saw was a guy come running out of transition, get to the bottom of the hill, take one look up it, slow down, put his hands on his hips, turn around and walk back to transition. I don't know what happen but seeing that in the middle of a championship race was just...unexpected. I did see Zentri hit the hill.

4. Next I found a spot just before the finishing chute. I stood next to this really nice couple. I knew Zentri was about the 100th person on the course so I was counting people as they entered the chute. Then at about 80 I asked these nice people next to me to watch for #103, when they saw him coming, they told me so I could cheer for him as he finished. Then I went to the finish area and caught up with Zentri for a few minutes.

5. All in all, I saw Zentri for 5 seconds on the bike, and about 15 seconds on the run. Wow, anyone who watches their spouse/friends do triathlons deserves a spectator medal. You give up a lot to see very little.

6. Dinner with Bill from Suunto and Brett was awesome. All triathlon talk and lot's of back and forth on what works and what doesn't seem to work for me in training. But the best was saved for last. The triathletes from Full Throttle Endurance joined us for beers after dinner. There are two reasons this made my night: (1) they are good, and (2) they are New Yorkers (read NY Metro area). There is just something about New Yorkers that I miss sooo much....! One woman qualified for the world championships in my age group (her time was around 2 hours, 15 minutes), three or four of the guys had times that were the same as Zentri's (all around 2 hours, 20 minutes). There was a woman who qualified for age group championships and had been doing triathlon for less than a year - okay genes are important! You could tell there was a lot of good chemistry happening with this group. On the ride home Bill was giving me some good information about a tri group in this area. I actually feel like I am ready to find some training partners. I've always been hesitant to do so because I am so slow but I think I've improved enough where something like that may actually be doable...we'll see...I don;t want to do anything new until after the Westchester race in September but I am intrigued by the idea...

7. I have been scared to death about the Westchester race coming up for me. My last race was almost a year ago and was only a sprint distance race and my performance there was less than stellar, even by back of the pack standards. I have had no real success in triathlon in well over two years. That fear has had me training hard and I expect to finish around 3 hours 45 minutes, which would be a PR for me. And I am starting to feel okay about the fact that I toe the line regardless of the fact that I'll finish at the back of the pack...in my heart I still want to try (as in "tri"!).

Anyway, all in all it was a great day for the Age Group Championships in Burlington. And I am again reminded of the cool people the sport has brought into my life. I look forward to next year's race.

2011 American Accounitng Conference

2011-08-10T18:57:00.001-04:00

Probably in the most unusual 5 day stretch in the past year with respect to triathlon, there were no workouts, no thoughts of triathlon, and very little regret about that fact! I was completely focused on being an academic researcher, a teacher, a colleague, and a friend of non-triathletes for the past few days. I was at the American Accounting Association conference in Denver. Here are my thoughts and observations around the conference activities:

1. The University of Vermont has a job posted for an accounting professor so my colleagues interviewed approximately 20 folks at this conference. I participated in 8 of those interviews and was happy to see that there are some really quality folks out there that seem to be interested in working at UVM. More importantly, I realized how darned happy I am to no longer be a Ph.D. student. Life AFTER receiving the big degree is a heck of a lot better than life before getting the degree. Some of the Ph.D. students we interviewed are in the process of proposing or defending their dissertations. Anyone who has been through this exercise knows that angst that comes along with it.

2. I presented my paper, co-authored with two others, titled "The Impact of Ethical Leadership, the Internal Audit Function, and Moral Intensity on a Financial Reporting Decision." I think the presentation went pretty well, not perfect, but good enough. What was nice about the presentation is that the session (I presented with two other people presenting ethics-related papers as well) was well attended. In fact, I'm pretty sure it is one of the bigger audiences that has listened to me present my work (perhaps 30 people).

3. I also presented another paper, co-authored with three others, titled "Agency Theory and Role of Culturally-Based Management Style on Chinese Managers' Discretionary Accrual Decisions." This was an interesting session because two of the bigger-named experimental accounting researchers also had papers that were being presented in this session. Luckily I have trouble reading program information so I never realized this fact until I showed up at the session (i.e., no time to obsess about how "good" or "bad" I may do in their presence). I was the third presenter. As I sat waiting for the session to start I began to realize that many of my dissertation chair's friends were in the audience (i.e, until this session my dissertation has never seen me present work at these conferences - he makes me nervous so I generally remind him it would be easier for me if he didn't attend). So I'm thinking if I screw up - it's getting back to him. Okay, now I'm a little nervous. The first two presentations move along uneventfully. Both interesting papers. The session is even better attended that the prior day. People are lined up against the back wall. Whew! Remember, I pretty much can't see my slides well anymore so I have to memorize my presentation. I can't see faces in the audience real well either. But I knew that audience was stacked with some good researchers. I was sailing through my presentation. Then about halfway through I realized my dissertation chair was in the room. I am pretty sure I blanked out on what I was saying for a moment but I continued on without much of a hitch. Then good old Maggie decided to get up from her spot and go for a little walk. I caught her movement out of the corner of my eye and in the middle of a sentence said to her: "You need to go sit down", and then continued on. Well, I am sure not everyone in the room knew there was a guide dog at the front of the room, so that must have sounded a little strange. I continued on with my presentation without missing a beat. Then there is a brief Q&A session and my dissertation chair has to be the first to ask a question: "For those of us on this side of the room (i.e., unable to see Maggie), exactly who were you asking to sit name, then insert name of big time researcher here..." It got a good chuckle out of the audience and gave me a chance to introduce Maggie to the group.

Though the presentation was far from spectacular, it was again good enough. I received some nice compliments from some of the better known researchers in the room as they probably only realized my visual limitations at the end of the presentation. Thanks Maggie, you came in handy on this day!

Hey, that does not look like Mexican food to me!

4. If you've been reading my blog over the summer then you know it has been a tough summer for me. I have been struggling with more vision loss and I have been having trouble managing my stress around getting my research moved farther along so that I will be in the best position possible for the looming tenure decision (okay still a couple of years off but close enough for purposes of creating stress). All that stress melted away after two days in Denver. I got to see all my mentors and cohorts from my Ph.D. days and let me tell you - when you are part of a good cohort, it's like old home week. Those relationships mean a lot to me. Monday night there was a huge reception where probably a thousand people attend. I can't see well enough to recognize anyone but everyone I knew in that room called out to me so that I would know I was walking by them. I felt like someone wrapped me in a warm blanket on a cold winter night. Then on Tuesday evening a nice group of folks that I know went to dinner at the Rio Grande at 16th and Blake - an awesome Mexican food joint. Reservations were for 7:30PM and we closed the joint down around 11:00PM. There were lot's of laughs and my soul definitely feels like it has some life again. The 4:00AM wake-up call for transport to the airport hurt like the dickens but I realized yet again how lucky I am to have such good people in my life.

Making Progress in The Pool

2011-08-05T19:51:00.000-04:00

I cannot believe my swim times today. I finally got under 45 minutes for 1,600 yds, coming in around 42 minutes. This is no wetsuit, no flip turns but also no current or waves smashing me. Then I continued on to post 2,000 yds in 53 minutes and I did my longest swim ever at 2,100 yds in 55 minutes. I wish I had confidence that I can repeat these times on a regular basis but I have no history of doing so. I REALLY need to remember these swim sessions when I'm standing at the start of the Jarden Westchester Triathlon in September.

Movie Review: Running the Sahara

2011-08-01T19:59:00.004-04:00

This was an interesting documentary because of its focus on the potential costs, in terms of friendship, that one may incur when single-mindedly setting out to accomplish a goal that requires the help of others. The film also emphasizes the mental anguish that occurs when physically challenging yourself in ways that the human body is not meant to be challenged. At the same time the movie reminds us that the limitations we have are only the ones we set for ourselves.

Monthly Training Totals

2011-07-31T13:45:00.000-04:00

I wanted to increase swim and bike focus and boy did I ever. My walk, swim, and bike totals are highest ever, plus there was a lot of quality in the workouts. August will be a high travel month so training will be scaled back but that's okay. I accomplished as much as I could in July. Prior month totals in brackets.

Walk = 48 miles (31.5 miles)
Swim = 15,050 yards (5,550 yards)
Bike = 332.7 miles (97.9 miles)
Run = 25.9 miles (35.25) - that's okay, I have a lot of 1/2 marathon training miles behind me

Bumps In The Road

2011-07-30T07:57:00.000-04:00

I have been thinking long and hard about publishing the contents of this particular blog. Most blogs contain all the positive stuff that goes on in life, especially around the whole swim, bike, run lifestyle if you are a triathlete. I try to keep my life as balanced as possible but most times I am not that successful in doing so. I usually work much more than anything else. However, I have been training really hard for the past month and I have to admit, I don't know how anyone works a full-time job and trains for iron distance races. Just training for an Olympic distance race drains me of the energy I like to have when doing my research and teaching. I am fitter, and probably lighter, than ever, and yet, I am struggling mightily with maintaining my normal level of happiness this summer.

I think there are two major reasons for this. First, my work environment is completely different this year than it was for the last two years. There are just less people around the university this summer. As a result there are days when I go into the office and there are only one or two other faculty members there working on research. So all my motivation has to come from within. Also, my coauthors and I have been dealing with a particularly troublesome review comment on a paper we have, and it is the kind of review comment that just dampens your enthusiasm for doing research. The paper is a good paper and will get published somewhere but it just seems like I can't get the break I need to get my work recognized in the very top tier scholarly journals. Everyone has an ego, and so do I, so this is something I can't help but want to happen in order to validate my worth as a researcher. Just bein' honest about it.

The second reason I am struggling is because of my poor eyesight. I have surrounded myself with a lot of very cool people who every single weekend are doing some very cool things. When you can't drive, can't ride a bike without a guide, can't run outside without a guide (I know some blind triathletes do but I am afraid of breaking an ankle on a curb or pothole) and all you can do is train indoors, well when everyone else is outside doing all kinds of cool training, racing, and meeting unique challenges, well it is lonely and frustrating to be on the sidelines.

In thinking about whether I was going to post my thoughts in this blog or not, I thought about how what I'm going through mirrors the emotion of doing a triathlon. There are times during the race when people just blow by you and you are gutting it out by just putting one foot in front of the other until you get your second wind.

Right now, I need my second wind.

Movie Review: Chops

2011-07-29T06:47:00.000-04:00

This is a documentary film about a high school jazz band competition sponsored and hosted by Lincoln Center and Winton Marsalis. This film is awesome. Talk about a bunch of high school kids that have their shi$% together. Relatively speaking, I am envious that I was so lost as a person in high school. The music is great, it is a Duke Ellington competition, so there is lots of big band swing music and it reminds me how much I miss ballroom dancing. A must see film for anyone who is a music lover and wants to be inspired by young adults doing their thing.

Movie Review: Dare To Dream

2011-07-28T07:33:00.002-04:00

This is a great documentary about the USA Women's Soccer Team and the "91ers" (Hamm, Foudy, Lilly, Chastain, and the rest). This movie is an HBO produced film and was very inspirational. It covered these women coming together as young teenagers and how they worked in anonymity until the 1999 World Cup. It covers their failures after the Word Cup and the culmination of a return to success at the Olympics.

What I really liked about this film was that it was structured around the last game for three of the players and told their story from that viewpoint. Very moving film and as a female athlete I absolutely enjoyed every minute of it.

From the Today Show

2011-07-27T13:59:00.002-04:00

Cake honors "Rubics Cube"

Reality Check: Not Everyone Has a Great Race Day

2011-07-25T15:23:00.000-04:00

Wow - what a weekend. Two of my guides for 1/2 marathons this year accomplished great things. Tammy completed a 100 mile fundraising bike ride in the oppressive summer heat and Brett completed a swim across Lake Tahoe (22 miles) in some pretty cold waters.

Many of you may not be aware but a third guide of mine, the guy who got me into triathlon in the first place, Tom, also raced at Ironman Lake Placid this weekend. Unfortunately, his day did not go well. He had a good swim, coming out of the water in about 1:12 but three miles into the bike he went down. He said that there were about 900 first time triathletes, and when you are at the back of the pack, things get ugly. So he came upon two triathletes who were "socializing" on the bike (his words, not mine). He moved over to the left to pass them and someone came up between him and the two "chatters" and clipped them. Tom road over one of the "chatters" then flipped over the handlebars and broke his collarbone. Game over. Day done. No happy ending here.

Meanwhile, I was following Tom via live tracker, as I always do. Tom is a 2-time Ironman and I have watched him cross the finish line both times via the internet. This year there were a lot of timing problems with the website. I was also following the progress of pro triathlete John Hirsch and most of the day, his times were not being posted. So when no bike time for Tom was posted I was concerned, but also hopeful it was a technical problem with WTC. Unfortunately, around 6:00PM everyone's times were updated and there was no bike split for Tom. My heart sunk and I knew he was out of the race but didn't know why until today.

My heart goes out to Tom. Like every Ironman, he gave up a lot to train for this event. This is a reminder that the race doesn't always end in happiness and high fives. But he commited to racing again next year (initially he thought this was his last Ironman) and I'm so proud to say that I will be joining his family for the week in Lake Placid next year. I will likely never race an ironman (70.3 is my realistic goal) but I do want to experience the event just once. So Tom already commited a spot in the house for me next year. I already can't wait.

Weekly Training Totals

2011-07-24T15:37:00.000-04:00

I had an excellent week of training. I had my longest swim of the season followed by back-to-back 30 mile bike rides on the indoor trainer. I feel good and next week my goal is to get some extra swim sessions in and back off the bike a little and run just a bit more. Prior week totals are in brackets:

Walk = 12.5 miles (9.5 miles)
Swim = 3,800 yards (3,800 yards)
Bike = 78.8 miles (84.8 miles)
Run 3.25 miles (8.4 miles)

Add "HITS" To The Growing List of Triathlon Series

2011-07-21T19:42:00.002-04:00

I love the business of triathlon.

We have the WTC, TriRock, Rev3Tri, Life Time, Leadman, the Challenge Series, TriStar, and 5150. And new to the portfolio of event organizers is "HITS", an organization who has proven a core competency in delivering big events, specifically horse shows.

When I did my first triathlon in June 2008, Kona and Roth were the two races everyone dreamed of, and WTC and Challenge were competing in the triathlon event delivery space, though not head to head. In addition, a large number of individual events were locally delivered. Rev3 did a nice job coming into the picture and branding themselves as the "family" destination race. The pro's speak highly of the REV3 series because they paid more prize money than WTC was known to do. But to "Joe Blow", the consumer of triathlon events, I think it was more akin to: "we used to only have a pizza joint in town, now we have a pizza and a burger joint." Do I want a pizza or a burger, it just depends what day it is...

But "HITS" is doing something I think is REALLY smart from an event delivery standpoint. They are delivering all the different distance races from "sprint distance to iron distance all in the same weekend. As an athlete, I love this because I can go do an Olympic or 70.3 distance race and then stick around to watch those that choose to go really long! Or any combination thereof...As a consumer, I like it. As a business person, I LOVE it. All that fixed overhead that goes into putting on one race is now spread over 5 races. Yes, there are some incremental variable costs but this model of delivering races makes a lot of sense to me.

I did some quick, back of the envelope estimates of the revenue potential for triathlon in the United States. Assume there are about 400 races a year (all distances) in the US, and each race draws, on average 1,500 participants (ok a little low maybe, but I think there a lot of non-WTC races that don't draw the big numbers). Assuming the average entry fee is about $315 ($100 for sprint races, $200 for Olympic distance races, $350 for 70.3 distance, and $600 for the iron distance), then the total revenue pool in the US is about $160,000,000. Assume a profit margin of 20% (which is hard to sustain in the long run), industry profits are about $24,000,000 annually. That assumption is based on 2.4 million race registrations per year. I have no idea how accurate these numbers are but I doubt there are more than a million people racing each year and many are like me, racing only once a year, and some are racing multiple times a year. Those profits seem awfully small for private equity firms to be in this game. Yet both REV3 and "HITS" have connections to private equity firms. Maybe those firms think they can make the numbers "look better than they are" in order to package these companies for sale in order to recoup their investments in the future (would that really happen - ohhh my!).

As a triathlete, I'm never quite sure how I really feel about all this. On the one hand, I loved my first PhillyTri because it was kind of a hometown race. The last time I did this race it was part of the ITU series. Bigger, yes, better, I don't know...Also, because I can't see well, I like the smaller races. Being on a tandem with lots of cyclists bent on crushing everyone around them is a bit nerve wracking. But the "buzz" jacks me up as well. So, for me, it's a push, and it doesn't really matter because I frankly don't race enough to have it matter.

My last thought on this matter is that as much as we have seen new players enter this game over the last five years, the next five should see the business landscape change again, and probably even more dramatically. This is going to be fun to watch!

A Simple Poem About Words, and So Much More

2011-07-17T16:07:00.000-04:00

Words slip and slide through my puffy fingers,
the page is there but the eyes are not.
Like droplets of bath water that shamelessly caress the skin,
words wrap around me, tightly, securely.
I place my palm on a book's slick cover
and know inside validation waits.
Perhaps no longer.
Perhaps never again.
I mourn the appearance of shadows that now replace the clear black ink.
I mourn the loss of words.
I mourn a true love that quietly left me to face darkness alone.

Weekly Training Totals

2011-07-17T11:33:00.002-04:00

I increased my bike focus this week. My goal for next week is to maintain this level of biking while also getting a few more swim yards in - this will be tricky as I have a lot of miscellaneous travel to do which will conflict with pool hours...prior week totals are in brackets

walk = 9.5 miles (16 miles)
swim = 3,800 yards (4,200 yards)
bike = 84.8 miles (67.5 miles) - with a lot of hill work
run = 8.4 miles (9 miles)
yoga = 1 session (0 sessions)

Book Review: The Paris Review Interviews, Part I

2011-07-13T11:56:00.001-04:00

It has taken longer than I care to admit to get through this book. Basically, the book is a collection of interviews with various writers and the interview topic was always around how they approach the craft of writing. I love these kind of books because in my heart of hearts I have always wanted to write a novel. Someday...

Right out of the gate was an interview with Dorothy Parker. I'd never heard of her before but I can tell you one thing: she is someone I'd like to meet. Here is a sampling of quotes from the book:

From the person who interviewed her: "given the opportunity to comment on matters she felt strongly about, she spoke almost harshly, and her sentences were punctuated with observations phrased with lethal force."

From Dorothy: "we had no money, but jesus, we had fun"

The interview with Truman Capote suggests that he is one strange dude. Jorge Luis Borges was interesting because he lost his eyesight much the way I am losing mine, he said: "I live in a gray world...", I know what that's like...He also said:"A writer should be judged by the enjoyment he gives and by the emotions one gets." That why I love words, it's one way to allow emotion into my life. Another quote:"Intelligence has little to do with poetry. Poetry is something deeper..." - I won't tell you who he was talking about but he did name names!

A quote from James Cain that I liked and related to my research:"Writing a novel is like working on foreign policy. There are problems to be solved (in the writing). It's not all inspirational."

I absolutely enjoyed the interview with Robert Gottlieb, long time editor of books. The chapter was set up to contrast the thoughts of the writers he edited with his own thoughts on their work. It felt very much like you were reading about parent/child relationships, in a good way. But I did not care for the interviews with people who wrote plays. There is something fundamentally different about writing or editing books (a solo venture) and the writing or editing of a play (a group venture with the producer, actors, etc.).

In the end, I am reminded that I don't read enough of books for the pure love of it these days. However, I truly savored the bright moments this book gave me.

Reality Check: I'm Goin' Racin'

2011-07-12T18:23:00.000-04:00

Oh my god, I just got off the phone with Coach Adam, my guide for the Jarden Westchester Tri. I am now sufficiently scared that I could potentially humiliate myself at this race - nothing like fear to motivate good workouts! Luckily, in the past 10 days I have ramped up my training, especially the swim and the bike, and have had some of the best sessions of the year. I sure hope it's good enough. I have worked in more hill work on the bike this year but after hearing from Coach Adam that this race has a lot of hills, I need to focus on doing some 1 leg biking drills and I need to make the hill efforts a bit more strenuous.

I'm really glad I kept my head down and did a ton of research and teaching prep over the last 6 weeks. I actually feel like I have the luxury of backing off some of the time I put into that and put some extra time into training over the next 6 weeks. I'll also be doing a lot of traveling so each time I do a workout, it's all about high quality stuff now. I just wish I had some more confidence at this point - oh well.

Weekly Training Totals

2011-07-10T15:41:00.002-04:00

This is by far one of my better training weeks , at least over the last couple of months. My hamstring is a bit sore so I need to be careful with it next week. Prior week totals in brackets:

Walk = 16 miles (15 miles)
Swim = 4,200 yards (2,350 yards)
Bike = 67.5 miles (29.3 miles)
Run = 9 miles (1 mile)
Yoga = 0 sessions (1 session)

Training With A Purpose

2011-07-09T18:01:00.001-04:00

It's not secret that I had the wind taken out of my sails when I couldn't find a guide for the Philly Olympic Tri this year. My friend Tom tried like heck to get one of his tri buddies to guide for me but he was surprised to find most were too "intimidated" by the responsibility of being a guide. But I'm 99% certain things will work out for the Jarden Westchester Olympic distance race this September. And I'm starting to feel like I'm training with a purpose again. Frankly, it feels good. I did FIVE double sessions this week, either swim-run or bike-run, and though the second session was always the run and they were slow, things are starting to come around.

I, for one, will NEVER take doing a triathlon for granted.

As Simple As Happy Gets

2011-07-09T07:41:00.000-04:00

It's going to be a perfect weather weekend here in Burlington and I am going to enjoy it.

My Own Biking Hero

2011-07-06T08:12:00.001-04:00

Now this is my idea of biking!

Movie Review: Wit

2011-07-05T07:37:00.005-04:00

This is a real tear-jerker of a movie. But the writing is fantastic and the message hit home for me. In retrospect, this movie it is about what I think is a univeral truth: everyone can understand, and wants, love but not everyone understands, or wants, to possess a thirst for knowledge. Because of that, most times people that have a thirst for knowedge (for example, me), are judged to be somehow less of a person than someone driven primarily by love. So in the movie we have an intellectual who is "respected" for her knowledge but not her compassion. Then she must face this reality in the face of death.

I have often told my friends I could have never been an academic at an earlier age. I am really starting to understand why. Academics are judged much more often than others. They are judged daily by their students and they are judged regularly by their peers, not their bosses. Accordingly, I have to face my weaknesses on a regular basis and that is not an easy task. I can only hope I am becoming a better person for it.

Movie Review: They Came To Play

2011-07-03T19:31:00.000-04:00

I forgot how much I love the arts. The movie "They Came To Play" is a documentary that follows the 2007 Van Cliburn Contest, a piano competition for amateurs held in Fort Worth, Texas. The spirit of the film is the universality of competition, something every triathlete, front of the pack or not, can understand. This film shows how with each competition you learn something about yourself. This is a must see film for anyone who just likes to challenge themselves to perform their best, and doing so in the context of living an otherwise every day normal life.

Monthly Training/Racing Totals

2011-07-03T07:01:00.000-04:00

The numbers are slightly down from last month but that's what happens when you don't have a race goal to motivate you - looks like things are solid for September triathlon so I need to get some good training in during the month of July. Prior month totals in brackets:

Walk = 31.5 miles (34 miles)
Swim = 5,950 yards (750 yards)
Bike = 97.9 miles (130.5 miles)
Run = 35.25 miles (45.1 miles)

Accounting Research: Who Cares? - Such A Simple Question

2011-06-30T22:14:00.000-04:00

I had a chance to hit the Jersey shore with a friend of mine from Philadelphia last week. Now I love doing research but I really don’t talk about it much to my “non-academic” friends. My experience has been that people generally roll their eyes when I tell them I do accounting research. But at dinner one night my friend started asking questions about what type of research I do and I responded in the usual manner: I look at how accounting changes peoples’ decisions. And then I explained some of the research I was working on. My friend then asked the most obvious of questions: “Well, who cares?” Mind you, this was not a cynical question. She is a chiropractor and thinks of research in terms of medical research that eventually gets disseminated to the medical community. But ohhh did the question hit a raw nerve on my part.

During my first year of my Ph.D. program I began scratching my head because I saw all this accounting research being done yet it never reaches the hands of practicing accountants. The problem seemed so basic to me: there was no distribution mechanism to get information from academics to practitioners. Harvard Business Review and Sloan Management Review are two publications that I regularly read when I was in industry. The CPA Journal publishes some stuff that’s based on accounting research but that’s about it. I used to talk about this “distribution” issue with my friends at school. Everyone pretty much nodded politely at me and went about their business. At one point around 2008 the Journal of Accountancy ran a couple of articles that disseminated some recent research in auditing for practitioners and I had hope that this would continue. It did not.

While there is no real mechanism in place to get research from the hands of researchers to practitioners, there is a mechanism in place to get useful research into the hands of the standard setters. In 2008 some very high profile researchers partnered with the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) to begin something called the Financial Accounting Standards Research Initiative. The Mission of the Financial Accounting Standards Research Initiative (FASRI) is to help the FASB achieve its standard-setting mission by
• Raising awareness of standard setting issues that may be of interest to the research community;
• Working with researchers to facilitate the design and completion of research that can inform Board deliberations; and
• Facilitating communication between researchers and the FASB Board and Staff

This group held bi-weekly round table discussions that one could attend “on-line”. These discussions usually involved a high profile researcher presenting their current research, or a high profile person from the FASB giving updates of various projects. I attended several of these sessions but found it difficult to participate and got very little out of the sessions because of that. So over the last year I followed the FASRI blog but do not attend round table discussion sessions. Recently, FASRI has made a noticeable change to how they are using their blog. It is obvious that the folks at the FASRI are using different tactics to engage the research community. I applaud the effort and, while I still feel like it is a reach for me to engage with these folks, I am getting a lot of information from their new blog format that I can actually use in the upper level accounting classes that I teach.

When I first started this blog, I really wanted to utilize it as a mechanism to distribute my little world of accounting research to the general public. The confluence of recent events (i.e., the simple question from my friend and the noticeable change in the FASRI blog) has reminded me that I have not even moved the needle an inch in terms of achieving this goal. Just like it takes effort to do my daily training, I need to refocus my efforts on my goal of disseminating accounting research in a way that makes sense to practitioners. If I do so, maybe someday someone will actually care to read my work on this blog!

Weekly Training Totals

2011-06-27T17:53:00.000-04:00

Part of this week was a vacation week. Prior week totals in brackets:

walk = 3.25 miles (11.25 miles)
swim = 1,200 yards (2,100 yards)
bike = 0 miles (64.6 miles)
run = 9.75 miles (3 miles)
yoga = 1 session (1 session)

Only in Triathlon Are "Black-Out" Glasses Required

2011-06-23T08:31:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I wonder why the sport of triathlon is "managed" the way it is. Don't get me wrong, I think it is great that just about any weekend of the year, depending on my ability, I can race a triathlon. But this one gets my goat: as a visually-impaired (i.e., legally blind) triathlete, I have known about a new rule recently instituted that all visually-impaired athletes must wear "black-out" glasses at championship events. These are glasses that take away any residual vision a visually-impaired athlete may have. Since I am hanging on for dear life at the back of the back, I don't think anyone is worried about fitting me for a pair of these babies. But seriously, if you have a leg amputated at the ankle and I have a leg amputated at the knee - you gonna tell the guy that has more leg he needs to cut part of it off to "level the playing field"? Just sayin'...

For the most part, I never really gave this issue much more than a glancing thought until I read the following article on xtri.com. Basically, an attorney is going to file a lawsuit on behalf of Aaron Scheidies to get the rule rescinded. I'll be interested in the outcome.

I know a little about Aaron because he is a world class, visually-impaired athlete. My hat goes off to the guy, mostly because I'm jealous that he always has top triathletes who are willing to guide him. Lucky for me, I have done 4 triathlons (2 sprints, 2 Olympics) and 3 half marathons, and 1 10K race in the last five years with a total of 7 different guides. I am grateful to all of them for making the race experience possible for me. This is one sport where being "disabled" really doesn't matter.

Weekly Training Totals

2011-06-20T22:11:00.000-04:00

I backed off the run training this week and focused a bit more on the bike. Prior week totals are in brackets.

walk = 11.25 miles (6 miles)
swim = 2,100 yards (750 yards)
bike = 64.6 miles (22.9 miles)
run = 3 miles (18.75 miles)
Yoga = 1 session (1 session)

When I'm on the indoor bike trainer, doggie takes her position as follows:

Movie Review: Note by Note - The Making of Steinway L1037

2011-06-19T07:41:00.000-04:00

This was a fantastic flick. Mind you, this is not your mass market, entertain me kind of movie. It is so much more than that. It is a movie about the lost art of working with your hands. It is about "craft". It is about the hands, ears, and heart of the instrument builder coupled with the hands, ears, and heart of the musician. It is about how each piano has its own personality, its own character, its own strengths, and its own flaws. Five stars for this film.

A Picture Says 1,000 Words

2011-06-18T10:38:00.000-04:00

I rather be here:

Than here:

It takes a lot of commitment to be professionally successful. Today is a hard day to have that commitment. But it is as important to me to be successful in this realm as it is to train and race. Today is a day where I need to constantly remind myself of that. And doggie and I will get to go out and play in a couple of hours...

Signs of Recovery From 1/2 Marathon and Other News

2011-06-17T22:26:00.004-04:00

Teaching, Thinking, Triathlon. This week I continued to prep my new Financial Statement Analysis course and that meant thinking about mergers and acquisitions. I found a great blog called Dealbook and have been using a lot of the articles as the basis for some of the analysis we will be doing in class. Fun stuff if you like the "action" of business.

Teaching, Thinking, Triathlon. I'm happy to say I made some headway on the research that has been piling up. Here's a taste of what I did on a daily basis this week:

1. Worked on revising the paper dealing with earnings management issues in China. I took a first pass at making all the changes requested by our reviewer and sent it along to my co-authors for their input.
2. Worked on a theory paper related to ethics and earnings management. This is by far the most challenging piece of research I've attempted and the amount of energy it takes to think at that level for long periods of time is just amazing. I have been exhausted for the last two weeks but feel like I'm "coming out of it". Yeah! I expect to hand this off to a co-author to read and make comments on sometime next week. This paper has a long way to go but I have made good progress and am happy with it so far.
3. Did a small amount of work on a teaching case. This case is close to being submitted to a journal so I may not have much to do on this work for awhile.
4. Input some newly collected data on a financial systems/strategy project I have going with two co-authors in stat software package. Also did some preliminary analysis that suggested much more intensive analysis will be required. The pending work has been shifted to the short-term "to do" and I hope to work on this over the weekend.
5. Ran lot's of regressions on some pension data I have - already have two pension papers published and this work compliments those papers. Still have several more regressions to go but hopefully my co-authors will have enough data and results to start putting together a paper sooner rather than later.
6. Started collecting qualitative data for a risk project I have going. This is the last thing I do late at night when I can't think anymore because it's just task orientated work right now.

Yes, I have a lot of projects going on but that's the life of a tenured-track, but not yet tenured, accounting professor. Oh yeah, in the midst of all this, I am supervising an intern who is helping my friends with a start-up company they have. I hope to write a case study on this operation in a couple of years - seriously.

Teaching, Thinking, Triathlon. The best news is that I FINALLY feel recovered from the Minneapolis 1/2 marathon. I had an excellent swim session yesterday and an excellent bike session today. I need to remember that when I train tomorrow - it needs to be a long slow session - not every training session is better than the last. Also, it really is starting to look like I may have a guide for an Olympic Distance race in September. Actually, I may have a tag team of guides throughout the race, and frankly I think that is so cool just to even think about, so here's to hoping it all hangs together for me. On the "bummer" side of things - it looks like I will lose my $175 for not being able to race Philly. I emailed the race director to explain that I thought I had a guide for the race but then they couldn't do they race. All I wanted was to get this year's entry fee applied to next year but I can't get a response from the guy. Live and learn, I took my lumps on this one. I need to remind myself that I can't be too made at the race director. The folks in Philly have always been good with the logistics of getting my guides in the same heat as me, etc. Just hate giving away the hard earned dinero.

I think this is going to be a great weekend to be outside here in the north country. Maggie better lace up her paws 'cause we are going to be out walkin'...

Lunch at the Lake

2011-06-15T21:02:00.001-04:00

Today was one of the picture perfect, gorgeous days. Because of that, Doggie and I did lunch at the lake. Well, we walked down to Stone Soup, our favorite health food spot, ate lot's of greens, purples, and oranges and then strolled to the lake for a few minutes of sunshine.

Given the fact that I've been working every minute of every waking hour of the day since I got back from Minneapolis, it was a welcome break from the research grind.

So here is the best part: While I was sitting on the dock and looking across the lake to the Adirondack Mountains, I got to listen to a "Two Gomers Run a Marathon" podcast. But this wasn't any old podcast, this a podcast of their race report for running the Minneapolis marathon. And let's just say I don't feel so bad about my own performance in Minneapolis anymore.

In order to understand where the 'two gomers' were coming from, their motto for the past year was the "Strive for Five"; that is, to run the Minneapolis marathon in under 5 hours. I think last year they did a 5:40 (their 1st marathon ever). So these guys understand struggling, back of the pack style.

Here's how their day started: one of the two gomers was in the porta poddy doing #2 when the gun went off to signal the start of the race. He said he could hear everyone running past him at the start line. So then, after doing his business, he had to run hard to catch up to gomer #2. Do you get the feeling the plan is already going down the tubes?

The 'gomers' were confident going through mile 9 that they would hit their goals. In fact, they noted that those first 9 miles are pretty easy if you are marathon ready. I would agree, I'm just not a strong enough runner to feel good after 9 miles yet. They also noted how hot it was this year. In fact, they were with a big group of people and not one of them PR'd that day. They noted that everyone they knew struggled on the course this year because of the unrelenting sun (not a cloud in the sky all day), the heat, and the humidity. Okay, now I'm feeling a whole lot better about my race.

The short of it is, the 'gomers' blew up somewhere between mile 16 and mile 18. They ended up walking more than running at that point. And they noted that everyone was walking the hills at that point. In the end they finished in about 5:30. They spoke of how the physical deterioration played with their minds. One of the 'gomers' admitted to crying at one point. The other 'gomer' admitted he cried in last years race. But to their credit, they did not give up, and they crossed the line regardless. One of the 'gomers' said he felt nothing but embarrassment when he crossed the line because he missed the goal by so much. I KNOW that feeling.

But I also know I am out there doing something not a whole lot of other people do. And I am living a healthy lifestyle and meeting some very cool people along the way.

Weekly Training/Racing Totals

2011-06-12T17:49:00.000-04:00

Here are my weekly training totals: this week is a recovery week from half marathon and last week was a taper week so the numbers are low by design. Last week numbers are in brackets.

walk = 6 miles (4.50 miles)
swim = 750 yards (900 yards) - I'm glad to be back in the pool
bike = 22.9 miles (0 miles) - I was in Connecticut for most of the prior week without an indoor trainer
run = 18.75 miles (6.75 miles)
yoga = 1 session (1 session)

Dreaming of Ironman - Literally

2011-06-12T07:39:00.000-04:00

I woke up this morning and realized I had just dreamed that I biked 5 hours as part of doing an Ironman. And I was exhausted when I woke up. My legs were so sore!

I have been working 8-10 hour days on my research this week in addition to my modest training schedule. Since it was a recovery week from the 1/2 marathon, the training was definitely light. But the mental energy I'm expending right now is huge. And I am just drained. I have a backlog of work I need to get done and on this Sunday morning it's time to get to it even though I'd rather just go find a park bench and chill!

Recovery Week

2011-06-10T19:45:00.000-04:00

Wow - what an action packed "recovery" week this turned out to be.

Teaching, thinking, triathlon. I am prepping for a new course I will be teaching in the fall. It is a Financial Statement Analysis class and it is just stuff I love. Sure I need to teach the basic fundamentals used in the analysis but I like thinking about what supplemental materials I'll be bringing into class as well. Here are some things I'm thinking about:

1. Yandex, the Russian version of Google, is listed on the NYSE. I have their financial statements. It think it will be interesting to compare the two companies.
2. BuyaBeer.com tried to use the internet to raise money much the way Obama used the interest to reach lots of individual contributors for his political campaign. The SEC didn't like the approach and it is an interesting case study in what constitutes a registered security.
3. Chinese companies are using reverse mergers to list on the US Stock exchange - these companies have come under scrutiny of late and it will be interesting to do some financial analysis on these types of companies.

Teaching, thinking, triathlon. I have been working like crazy on my research. I continue to move along a pension paper I have been working on for almost a year now. I got great news on a paper I have with three other co-authors that looks at how management style based on cultural attributes influences the accounting decisions of Chinese managers. This paper has been conditionally accepted at a journal. We have a little bit of work to do to address some reviewer comments but that is some welcome news. I have also been working on a theory paper that is as challenging a project as I have done to date. In fact, it is very hard to do my training when I am expending so much mental energy on a daily basis. There are worse problems to have....And my co-authors and I have been collecting data on a financial systems/strategy paper we have in the works. I should be able to do the analysis on that paper over the next week or so.

Teaching, thinking, triathlon. I finally made it back to the pool for a nice recovery swim the other day. I also did a short bike and two runs all while my legs are still pretty much dead after the Minneapolis 1/2 marathon. I was supposed to do a 7 mile recovery run today but only got in 4.25. I also started my workout off with some running drills. I really need to focus more on my form for the next couple of weeks. I also need to work on my glutes and getting my knees higher.

As always, I am extremely motivated to get back to training after seeing my weaknesses in the half marathon I just competed in.

What better way to end this blog than with a picture of doggie taking in the smells of Minneapolis during her "free" time.

Minneapolis 1/2 Marathon Race Report

2011-06-06T20:46:00.006-04:00

I love writing race reports. Before I start getting into the details of this trip/race, I need to remind myself: one year ago I could not even come close to running a 10K without walking about 20% of it. That's why I started running 1/2 marathons. So trip/race report - here we go!

Without any reasonable explanation other than I wanted a race experience the first weekend of June and wanted to go out of town, the biggest reason I chose the Minneapolis 1/2 marathon was because I thought the San Diego Rock and Roll marathon was too hilly for me. Whoops. Minneapolis was HILLY. Okay, not afraid of San Diego any more. But let's start at the beginning.

My guide Tammy and I arrived in Minneapolis separately on Friday morning/early afternoon. God bless Tammy's soul, she had a 2:00AM wake up call to drive 75 miles to the airport on her end. And she was all perky at the Minneapolis airport, just ready and raring to go when I arrived. We headed downtown, got some lunch, walked around a bit and hit the hotel pool. Tammy is doing a Sprint Triathlon on Cape Cod next weekend and I know she doesn't have access to a pool. Our little swim session motivated her to get some swim porn, more about that later. After our swim we headed out for a yoga session. My doggie LOVES yoga. After that we did some more walking around, had dinner and hit the sack.

On Saturday we got out of the city and went to Whole Foods. We had a great breakfast of fresh fruits and hard boiled eggs. Then we went to Dick's Sporting Goods and loaded up on all kinds of gear. Tammy needed a new swim cap, swim goggles, and nose plugs. I think she added some mini shorts and shorts because she is one of the smallest people I know. I added some running shorts and shirts because I don't have enough non-cottony stuff for workouts.

We went over to race check-in and then headed to the hotel pool one more time. This time Tammy got in a swim that was longer than what she needs to do on race day and she did it NO PROBLEM. This is important for her since she really only recently learned to swim! Needless to say, my guide was a happy camper after that swim session. And the blind woman thought she looked great...:)

It was off to another lunch. We went to Spoonriver Restaurant and it was some of the best food I've ever eaten. Tammy and I shared a rice and nut veggie burger and a black bean quesadilla. We also got dessert because Tammy said it was okay (as in healthy ingredients).

From there we drove the course. Oh my god, that's when I got my first glimpse of all the hills. Biggest "whoops" I've run to date. I felt that pit in my stomach and tried to get used to the idea that I was not going to come close to running PR at this race. I seriously was hoping I would survive without looking like a fool in front of my guide. And I'm not joking. Finally, we cruised over to St. Paul and then very unsuccessfully looked for an independent movie to go see. Oh well, can't have it all.

We had a 5:00AM wake up call on Sunday. I got the dog ready, ate breakfast, and did all the things I needed to do to avoid the port-a-poddy at the start. I handed doggie off to one of my students who lives in the Minneapolis suburbs and thank god for her fetish with tennis balls. I didn't have to listen to any doggie cries on the way out - yeah! Tammy and I headed down to the start line and hung out in the back of the pack with the walkers. If you are ever looking for a low key race - this is it. There are just not a lot of stressed out people at the start of this race.

The gun went off and we headed out. By the way, the weather was perfect. Almost too perfect. Sunny, not a cloud in the sky, probably lower to mid-70's, not too humid at all. But still within the first 1.5 miles or so I could already feel the heat. I knew the route so I just settled in to my 12 min mile pace. The first problem came when we hit a quarter mile or so of brick instead of asphalt. That hurt my feet more than I wanted it to.

I haven't seen the dowload of Tammy's Garmin yet but I am pretty sure I stayed on 12 min mile pace for at least the first 5 or 6 miles and hung in there probably until mile 7. After that I was toast. First, my right hip was very sore after 5 miles, probably because of an on-going IT Band issue. And the course was like the letter P. We did the top part of the P first and then the bottom part as an out and back in the park along the river. It was beautiful but I just kept wondering where the turn around was. I honestly felt like I was running forever and we weren't there yet. Psychologically, I was much better after we hit the turnaround but by then I was surely slower than 13 min pace and my legs were hurting. And through all of this there were about 6 or 7 pretty hefty hills, 2 of which were in the last two miles. I had to walk them, I had nothing left in my tank. I have to thank Tammy who was going to get me to the finish in under 3 hours and by golly we did at 2:59:02.

BTW - the best line of the day follows:

Cathy (around mile 9): Uggghhhh, it feels like my leg is going to fall off.
Tammy: Well, it isn't (implied: so just keep freakin' going)

On the surface, the 2:59 is "granny slow". But I would have quit this race after doing the top part of the P at this time last year. And the reason I started running 1/2 Mary's was to improve my 10K - well I'm pretty sure I can rip a 10K in just under 12 min pace at this point, again something I couldn't do last year. So I'm keepin the big picture in mind here - I AM IMPROVING. The Minneapolis 1/2 Mary is not for the faint of heart. There were 1,750 finishers and I was one of them. By comparison, I think close to 6,000 people finished the Hartford 1/2 Mary last year and that course is pancake flat in comparison. I have the lungs to do the racing but I still do not have the muscle in the legs. And my racing definitely reflects my training efforts. I am good in training for around 6 or 7 miles. But I have still only probably done a dozen training runs over 7 miles and have still only done 1 training run as long as 10 miles. I'm going to make some adjustments to my training and I think I will be motivated to continue to work hard to improve. Baby steps...just need to keep taking baby steps...

Notice that my guide still looks "perky" as ever, and was. She ran back to the hotel to get doggie for me. I, on the other hand, am smiling in between groans.

As always, thanks go to my guide for this event. It takes a special person to want to hold the other end of the "magic rope". It was a great day and I'll remember it forever.

Monthly Training Totals

2011-06-01T21:37:00.000-04:00

I've been off the grid for the past week but I'm back and ready to see what the month of May looks like for training totals. I'm not beating myself up over the swim numbers - I was deflated knowing I'm not going to make it to the start of the Philly Tri this year. But I decided today that even if I don't find a guide for some summer racing, I am going to do one or two self-supported Olympic Distance races on my own this summer. The idea hit me because Zentri does a self supported Ironman every year. I may have to make some modifications but I'm going to make it happen.

Prior month numbers are in brackets.

Walk = 34 miles (24.5 miles) - this makes for a happy doggie
Swim = 750 yards (11,250 yards)
Bike = 130.5 miles (93.3 miles) - nice improvement
Run = 45.1 miles (40.5 miles) - my goal is to get 50 miles minimum for June/July/August and it will not be easy

Movie Review: Touching the Void

2011-05-25T21:05:00.001-04:00

This is a movie about climbing in the Andes. It makes doing triathlon seem like child's play. I need to remember what happens in this movie whenever I think that I am tired or hurting. I can assure you that comparatively speaking, I am not...I don't know if I can ever be as strong as the guy in this movie, but I can try...

If you need a little inspiration, this movie is for you.

Graduation Day!

2011-05-25T08:39:00.002-04:00

I love graduation day. This is a picture of me with one of UVM's accounting undergrad's. He also does an internship with a start up farm operation that one of my friends is working on.

Next year doggie wants to have a robe too. After all, she sits in class all day long with everyone else!

A Thought of the Day

2011-05-23T12:31:00.003-04:00

I just read a quote that really hit home for me. I am always trying to be a better teacher, but sometimes I feel contrained by whom I am. That is, a no nonsense, black and white kind of person. But this quote from HBR.org really hit home for me:

"Great leaders," wrote Marcus Buckingham after surveying 80,000 managers in a Gallup poll, "discover what is unique about each person and capitalize on it." This creates a positive feedback loop. Valued employees engage, and engaged employees are more likely to innovate and to propel a company forward, according to another Gallup study.

Somehow, every day that I walk into the classrrom, I need to remember this as it equally applies to how I should be interacting with my students!

Weekly Training Totals

2011-05-22T18:07:00.000-04:00

Here are this week's training totals. Again, I did not swim this week because I doubt I'll be participating in the Philly Tri in June. I have contacted several people trying to find a guide but have come up empty so far. I know at some point I'll find someone but it took me three years to find my first guide and getting someone to give up their own race is not an easy task. I just remind myself, I have a good life, that's the way it goes.

Prior week training totals in brackets:

Walk = 11.50 miles (1.25 miles)
Swim = 0 yards (0 yards)
Bike = 39.0 miles (38.2 miles)
Run = 11.55 miles (16.5 miles)
Yoga = 2 sessions (2 sessions)

My Day Following Zentri at Ironman Texas

2011-05-21T08:18:00.011-04:00

I thought I'd have some fun documenting my day following Zentri at the Ironman Texas race today.

1. I got up, took doggie out, and went an had breakfast at Sneakers (two scrambled eggs, fresh fruit, 1 blueberry pancake, and fresh squeezed orange juice). Came home, logged onto the website just in time to see the pros hit the water.

2. Pulled up a 60 page research paper that I need to read for a research project I'm working on. The paper is a working paper by Campbell et al. (2010) and examines the information content of the risk factor section of the MD&A portion of a company's 10-K filing. The authors find that firms facing greater risk disclose more risk factors, and that the type of risk that a firm faces (i.e. systematic, idiosyncratic, financial, legal, or tax) determines whether they devote a greater portion of their disclosures towards describing that risk type. They also find that market participants incorporate the information conveyed by risk factor disclosures into their assessments of firm risk and stock price, and that the disclosures decrease information asymmetry amongst firms’ shareholders.

Betcha Zentri will be out of the water before I finish reading this paper!

3. At about 1 hour and 5 minutes Zentri is out of the water. These guys are frighteningly fast...

About ten minutes later I finished a read of the above research paper. The last 20 pages were all tables and I only needed to read the paper because I am using some of the same methodology in my research that these guys used in theirs. So I didn't need to spent much time on the tables. Next up for me - I need to work a little bit with some qualitative research software - Atlas-ti. I am still learning some of the functionality and I need to figure out how to efficiently get counts on word strings in a document.

In case it isn't obvious, doing research is a lot like training for triathlons. It is putting the hours in day after day, nothing incredible happens but it builds up to success on race day (or in my case publication day if I'm lucky)!

4. The good news is that I now have figured out how to do all the things I need to in the Atlas-ti software. This is no small feet. I have been going through the software for the past two months trying to figure out its functionality. In retrospect, it seems pretty simple. But the learning curve was a lot steeper than I wanted it to be. Next step is to get a bunch of company MD&A files on my computer so I can go at it! I also just finished reading the last article in the August 2009 Journal of Accountancy. Yes, I am behind in my reading!

Next up for me: I need to read another research paper for another project I am working on.

5. Just saw this picture on the Ironman website: Someday I'm going long....

6. Read the following paper: Automatic Ethics: The Effects of Implicit Assumptions and Contextual Cues on Moral Behavior by Reynolds et al. published in the Journal of Applied Psychology in 2010. This research suggests that implicit assumptions can be activated by social context to influence immoral behavior independent of cognitive and deliberate attempts to justify one's actions. This suggests that organizations bear more responsibility for the actions of their employees and this paper fits nicely with some work I'm doing in an accounting context.

Zentri is still on the first half of the bike. Next up for me: take doggie outside and then do my own scheduled long ride on the indoor bike trainer.

6. Zentri is now on his 2 loop of the bike course, looks like he averaged 23 mph for first 55 miles; holy batman! I had my own Zen-inspired training session on the indoor bike - I managed 25.9 miles in 110 minutes. That's the longest I've gone on the bike in over a year. I'll try not to compare my effort to Zentri's...yeah, right...:)...next up for me: a shower and something green for lunch.

7. Zentri is now out doing his marathon. I am showered and fueled up and about to do some preparation for a new course I'll be teaching in the fall: Financial Statement Analysis. It'll probably take me 10 weeks to design the course, make sure I have good assignments, know what I might test, and design the major project for this course. No rest for the weary, but then again Zentri knows all about that right now!

8. Looks like Zentri is almost half way through the marathon. He's gotta be hurting right now. I finished my week 1 class prep and then did my version of a brick session with my doggie; that is, we just walked 3 miles outside. I'm done working for the day. It's time for a beer and then a movie. I'll check the website to see when Zentri finishes his race but as far as this blog is concerned, that's it for today. As Zentri says when he signs off....OUT.

9. Epilogue - Zentri is about 16-17 miles in and from the splits it looks like he is really trying to hang on. I know I'm spent from my day, I can only imagine what's going on in the Zentri body right now. BTW - I wonder if ZenTriNurse got another tattoo while ZenTri was racing today...:)...

Savoring A Training Session

2011-05-18T18:28:00.000-04:00

I am still on the training roller coaster. I had a great bike ride today. It wasn't long, only 50 minutes on the indoor trainer. But I had real power in my legs and was able to maintain 15.7 mph, something I haven't done since last August when I was training for the Fairfield Sprint Tri. Some days it just feels good. Today was one of those days.

Training Run

2011-05-17T07:21:00.001-04:00

So I'm wondering if I am ever going to have the heart and courage to become a good runner. I did a training run this morning and it wasn't awful by "back of the pack" standards but it wasn't all that great either. I did a 4 mile run in about 47:20 or so. Now I've only had two or three 4 mile runs that have been faster in training, ever. But I thought I would be just a bit faster/fitter at this point. But I looked back and I'm pretty much about the same place that I was for the Armadillo 1/2 marathon in College Station, TX back in March. I'm hoping all the base training I've done over the past year will eventually start paying dividends.

In the meantime, it's time to work on my research.

Weekly Training Totals

2011-05-15T13:19:00.000-04:00

The weekly training totals reflect two facts: (1) I had a crazy schedule with finals this week and several school related obligations outside of the normal routine, and (2) I'm not motivated to get to the pool since in my heart of hearts I don't think I will be able to find a guide for the Philadelphia triathlon in June. I'm not going to dwell on it and I have managed to keep my training focus on the Minneapolis 1/2 marathon coming up at the beginning of June. Prior week totals are in brackets.

Walk = 1.25 miles (11 miles)
Swim = 0 yards (0 yards)
Bike = 33.2 miles (38.2 miles)
Run = 16.5 miles (15.55 miles)
yoga = 2 sessions (0 sessions) - these basically replaced the swim sessions
strength = 0 sessions (1 session)

Settling Into The Summer Routine

2011-05-14T15:22:00.000-04:00

I was lucky enough to spend my afternoon yesterday at a BBQ with about 20 accounting students who are about to graduate. And there was a triple bonus: the sun was out, we were at a house overlooking Lake Champlain, and my TA/RA for the past year just accepted a job with General Electric in their Moscow office (yes, the Moscow that is in Russia). I couldn't be happier for the guy and he will do well at GE, I am sure of it. After all the activity yesterday, I woke up today still glowing from the experience.

My last final exam was also yesterday morning and final grades are now in. So this is the first weekend since spring break that I don't have to do class prep! I did my morning run, nothing spectacular but I did it. Next I hit the grocery store and then I settled in to doing some research. On that front I just found out that an ethics paper I'm working on got into the ethics symposium of the American Accounting Association academic conference this summer. So I will be presenting three times at that conference.

On the R&R side of things, I just saw the movie "Sling Blade". Wow, what a movie. I'm not big on suspense/thriller type movies but I found this to be "gripping". The juxtaposition of the characters was excellent. There were times when I got a little squirrelly about the whole thing but I managed to hang in there until the end. On the literary front, I just finished the next section of the War and Peace read along. I am now through Book Two, Part Three so I don't have a heavy reading load for that over the next couple of weeks. I will say that given all my frustration with the level of detail given to the reader in this book, this last part was by far the best for my taste. A little more suspense has appeared and I'm almost looking forward to where it will go next.

I have a lot of work to do in the next 10 weeks but I am starting to feel re-energized for the intellectual work that lies ahead.

My Thoughts on the Cancellation of Ironman China

2011-05-13T19:31:00.000-04:00

As some of you know, I am always interested in the business side of the WTC, mostly because I'm just generally interested in all kinds of businesses and business models. But when I read today that the WTC cancelled the China Ironman and 1/2 Ironman, I had several reactions:

1. No kidding - nothing good has happened related to Ironman races in China for a couple of years now...
2. Do you really think there is a market in China for Ironman racing? That is, other than for non-Chinese athletes?
3. Can't get the paperwork done - are you kidding me - you just found out you don't have the right buy in from Chinese authorities...what's really going on here?

These are typical growing pains of a company trying to expand but I have been saying all along, this is the stuff that is going to kill the WTC in the long run. Of course, I'm guessing the current owners don't much care because they are looking to turn their investment over in the short run. I have seen more bad press about Ironman races in the past year than I have in the prior five years. And all the bad press is around new races that the WTC introduces. For example, the new 70.3 in Texas this year...the run was basically around the beach parking lot...better do some serious shopping when signing up for Ironman races in the future...of course, you need to take this all with a grain of salt since I've never actually done a WTC event...

Training Check

2011-05-12T14:21:00.000-04:00

This is finals week and many of my students are graduating so the schedule has been flipped upside down and training is all over the place. My biking is coming along and I am feeling much stronger on the bike this year at this time as compared to last year at the time. And I'm doing a lot more hill work on the bike this year than I did last year.

My running has been more of a mixed bag. I had a training schedule that really wasn't working for me. The runs during the week were a little too short relative to the distances I was supposed to be doing on the weekend. So I kept having failure after failure on my weekend runs. I found that very frustrating. As a result, I've made the adjustment to slightly longer runs during the week and while I'm not tearing up the treadmill, I am very comfortable going longer at this point. Since the university gym is going to be closed on the weekends for the rest of the spring and summer, I need to start doing anything over 5 miles during the week instead of on the weekend. Since tomorrow the accounting faculty is hosting a BBQ for our accounting students, my long run for the week was at lunch today. I am happy to say I cruised through 6 miles at an easy pace and then walked/jogged/ran another 2.5 miles and am feeling more comfident that I can go long again. The biggest problem I have now is a good one: just fighting the boredom of the long run on the treadmill. If that's the hardest part of my day, then I'd say that's a darned good day!

Lake Champlain Flooding

2011-05-09T07:20:00.001-04:00

After a really tough winter comes a very wet spring. I found some pictures but you still really can't get a feel for how high the lake has gotten. Reports say about 500 homes along the waterfront have been damaged or lost so far. I believe it. This first picture is of the downtown dock area.

The second picture is of someone sitting on a bench down at the waterfront.

The third picture is taken on the road to Grand Isle.

The fourth picture is just another one taken at the waterfront.

Weekend Recap

2011-05-08T20:13:00.000-04:00

Teaching, thinking, triathlon. I am already settling into my summer routine, easing myself into research mode. This weekend I got a draft of a paper that has a "revise and resubmit" status at a journal back to a co-author. My UVM co-author and I have been working on various revisions over the past two weeks so we'll see how our third co-author feels about the changes we made. I also started back working on a theory paper that I began working on two years ago and am now picking back up. And finally, I also picked back up a qualitative research project that I proposed to two co-authors earlier this year. These projects plus a teaching case should keep me busy for the bulk of the summer.

Teaching, thinking, triathlon. I had a good weekend of training. I did a long run on Saturday and a fairly long bike today with no ill effects due to my neck problems. I am going to head back to the pool this week and see how it goes. I have also made a decision that regardless of whether I do the Philly Tri or not, I am going to start training for a half ironman distance race beginning in July. I don't expect to race this distance until next year but it is time to start increasing the base mileage.

Finally, I saw two more movies this weekend. The first, Up Close and Personal, was okay. It is a "chick flick" all the way with a young Robert Redford stealing the show all the way. But the movie had a surprise ending that I did not see coming at all. I also watched The Damn United, a movie about the English soccer leagues. This was an all testosterone flick that had the story of how bad decisions hurt friendships and how it takes a lot to overcome that.

Weekly Training Totals

2011-05-08T16:04:00.000-04:00

This was a "recovery" week, especially since I had problems with my neck last week, so I am very satisfied with the numbers. Prior week numbers are in brackets.

Walk = 11 miles (3 miles)
Swim = 0 yards (4,600 yards)
Bike = 38.2 miles (28.1 miles)
Run = 15.55 miles (6.25 miles)
Strength = 1 session (1 session)

Catching Up

2011-05-07T07:52:00.002-04:00

Spring semester classes are now finished. The only thing I have left on my plate is to administer a final exam at the end of next week. I have been consumed with my teaching responsibilities for the past couple of months and fit my training in as best I could. My research productivity definitely suffered but I'm ready to shift my focus and up the training effort a bit and refocus my energy on my research agenda (because it means I must challenge myself to really "think" again, not just "do").

I have some miscellaneous items to blog about today. First, I am still painfully on target with the War and Peace read along. I am not really enjoying the book but I saw someone I know from a book group I used to attend and we got to talking about the book and his opinion is that the book does get better and so I'm going to stick with it a bit longer. Again, my biggest complaint is that stylistically the author gives the reader every possible detail about the story so absolutely nothing is left to the reader's imagination. That is, the reader is not left to think on his/her own.

I also saw two more movies that I did not post movie reviews on (yes, I am a new netflix member!). I saw Invictus, which I enjoyed but much more for the story of Nelson Mandela than for the sporting aspect of the movie. I had difficulty believing Morgan Freeman was Mandela but the story was strong enough to keep me in the game anyway. I also saw Mrs. Brown, a movie about Queen Victoria and her life after her husband died. This is a period movie and I couldn't see a lot of the detail involving the scenery and costumes, which I think are a big part of the movie, but I still liked it anyway.

I've had a couple of disappointments on the triathlon front as well. I had to take a break from swim training this week because my neck has been sore from the stress on my neck from trying to use my eyes when they don't work so well. And my heart was pretty much broken when I lost my guide for this year's Philadelphia Triathlon (Olympic Distance). But I got the word out to some of the guys that have guided for me before and while they all already have their race schedules set for the next couple of months and can't guide for me this year, they have been putting the word out to folks they know who might be able to work that race with me. So I will continue to train hard and if I don't make it to the start, I'll still wake up the next day knowing I have a good life regardless.

Finally, I want to thank all those people out there that made donations to the Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation on my, and doggie's, behalf. By the end of the weekend I expect to have raised about $5,000 this year. I love my doggie and she is the best thing that could happen to someone who struggles to see and still wants to maintain the most active and normal lifestyle as possible. I would not be in the position I am today without the help of the people at Fidelco.

Movie Review - Without Limits

2011-05-03T19:41:00.001-04:00

I just realized that movies are my own version of chicken soup for the soul. Since my soul needs some soothing right this moment, I figured I'd post a movie review on "Without Limits", a movie about Steve Prefontaine. For my non-triathlete friends who read this blog, he was a long distance runner back in the 70's and was killed in a car accident while he was still a young man in his 20's.

This is a great running story. I've seen other movies about "Pre" and this is by far the best. This movie puts a nice focus on his coach, allowing for a second strong character to follow throughout the movie (turns out he was one of the original Nike founders, a fact I did not previously know). And the music was right up my alley.

This is a line that has just stuck with me from the movie: "The purpose of running is not to win a race but to test the human heart."

My own heart is being tested dearly today.

Last Week of Classes

2011-05-02T06:57:00.001-04:00

It has been both a long winter and a long semester (only because of a huge grading load). But spring has sprung and we are now in our last week of classes. I'm not feeling that "last week of classes" relief yet, probably because I woke up with another headache due to neck strain (finished grading yesterday and that always puts strain on my neck, trying to see...).

Then I found this picture and thought if I posted it, I just might feel better. Emily, this one's for you!