Doesn't this look like fun?

I finished my first triathlon of the year, a sprint triathlon at the YMCA in Richmond's Shady Grove area, and, as luck would have it, about two miles from my sister's house.

The tri was a 300M indoor swim, a 20K bike ride, and a 5K run. All in all, I'm pretty happy with my effort. I beat my goal time by about 3 minutes (total time of 1 hour 23 minutes 56 seconds), with my swim time exactly as targeted, a minute quicker in transition#1, and two minutes better than targeted on the bike. The run wasn't fun, and I can definitely improve, but I pretty much hit my goal time for that portion of the event.

Relative to the rest of the competition, I was in the top 30-40% of all competitors on the swim and the top 20-30% on the bike, meaning I was definitely in the top third going into the run, where I either laid an egg or performed as expected, depending on your point of view. End result: I finished 19th of 28 in the Clydesdale category (>200lbs, all ages), and 297th of 493 finishers.

I've continued my training, as I have two more triathlons in June. I expect to perform at least as well in the swim and bike, and to pick up significant time in the run. My two races this month include:

- a very cool (but long) race in Washington that finishes at the steps of the US Capital, and includes a swim in the Potomac, and a bike leg in front of the White House.

-the Charlottesville Sprint Tri, a repeat of the event that was my first triathlon ever.

Doesn't this look like fun?

Pics from the annual spring training trip this past weekend

This year in Florida. To view the album, click here.

A couple off interesting things.....

First, check out this chart of true government debt levels ad consider its' implications. It's become accepted based on the work of Reinhart and Rogoff that real problems occur once government debt exceeds 90% of GDP, based on a measure of government debt outstanding.

However, the US government has made a variety of long-term promises (mostly mortgage guarantees (Fannie & Freddie) and health care for retirees and federal employees) that dwarf the amount of outstanding debt. As you can see in the chart, the US is basically "next in line" after Greece, prompting one of my favorite authors, Niall Ferguson to predict a Greece-type crisis for America, while another writer that I admire, Martin Wolf, argues otherwise. The Ferguson-Wolf debate is summarized here.

(I think Wolf is more in the right, meaning that government will just print whatever money is necessary to cover the debt. Unfortunately, this means certain inflation.)


Other interesting things that I've read recently:

The earthquake in Chile moved the city of Concepcion 10 feet! I find this absolutely incredible. Imagine the force required to an entire city 10 feet to the west!

The phenomenon was observed all across the continent. Even Buenos Aires - 800 miles from the Quake's epicenter - moved an inch.


Last interesting fact of the day (I can't find the story online): Google (and it's businesses, like YouTube) currently accounts for 10% of all internet traffic. I'm both stunned and gratified by this number. Stunned that any companyhas so much market share in such a large space, and gratified, because this figure proves the distributed nature of the internet and that even at 10%, Google is not in any position to dominate.