Happy Birthday Justin

Sunday was my grandson Justin's second birthday party. His birthday is today. Happy Birthday Justin. Here he is eating his birthday cake.

Training wise, I got a short ride in yesterday of 25 miles since I had to drive 2 hours to the party. I feel like I say the same thing every weak, I just don't seem to get enough training time in now that I have moved north. So my goal for this weak is to be consistent in my training.




Here are this weaks totals:

Bike: 100 miles
Swim: 4,000 yards
Run: 24 miles

So Use Your Sunscreen

Today's PSA is from WEBMD


Melanoma Skin Cancer Strikes Again
Study Shows 8% of Patients Get Melanoma Again within 2 Years of 1st Diagnosis
By Miranda HittiWebMD Medical News
Reviewed By Louise Chang, MDon Monday, April 17, 2006

April 17, 2006 -- Melanoma skin cancer may return more often than expected, experts report in the Archives of Dermatology. Melanoma is the most serious type of skin cancer. It's much rarer than nonmelanoma skin cancers. The study included 354 melanoma patients living in New Hampshire. The findings include:

27 patients (8%) had recurrent melanoma within two years of their first diagnosis.
20 patients (6%) had recurrent melanoma within a year of their first diagnosis.

Atypical moles upped the odds of recurrent melanoma. Melanoma didn't always return in the same spot. Melanoma patients should be closely monitored, and past studies have shown lower melanoma recurrence rates, note Linda Titus-Ernstoff, PhD, and colleagues. Titus-Ernstoff works in Dartmouth Medical School's community and family medicine department and the Norris Cotton Cancer Center at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H.

Interview and Skin Check

The researchers interviewed each patient by telephone for 40 minutes. In the interviews, participants disclosed their family history of melanoma, natural hair color at age 20, eye color, and sunburns starting when participants were 10 years old. Patients also got skin exams by doctors. For comparison, the researchers also studied 327 people with a one-time history of melanoma who did not have a history of another new melanoma. All participants were about 53 years old, on average, when they were first diagnosed. Almost all participants in both groups had at least one benign mole (96% of past melanoma patients and 94% of the comparison group); most had less than 15. Benign moles weren't associated with greater risk of melanoma recurrence -- but the same wasn't true of atypical moles.

Warning Sign

In the new study, atypical moles were linked to a higher rate of recurrent melanoma. Atypical moles have at least three of the following features: diameter larger than 5 millimeters, redness, varied colors, irregular or ill-defined borders, and a flat portion of the mole. The more atypical moles a past melanoma patient had, the greater the odds of having recurrent melanoma. Past melanoma patients with at least three atypical moles were more than four times as likely to have recurrent melanoma, compared with those with no atypical moles, the researchers write.
Atypical moles were also more common with recurrent melanoma than in the comparison group. Of the 27 patients with recurrent melanoma, 63% had at least one atypical mole. So did 37% of the comparison group.

New Location

Melanoma often recurred in new areas. Of the 27 patients with recurrent melanoma, nearly half had all their melanomas in roughly the same spot. For example, they may have had their first melanoma on the upper back and recurrent melanoma in the middle of the back. In four other patients, melanoma returned a bit farther away. They may have gotten their first melanoma on their back and later tumors on their front, or above and below the waist. Melanoma recurred in more distant locations in the other 10 patients. For instance, they may have had their first melanoma on their trunk (midsection) and recurrent melanoma on an arm. The bottom line: Melanoma can come back in new locations, so melanoma patients need close surveillance, the researchers write.

Sunburn Surprise

Excessive sun exposure has long been linked to skin cancer risk. For unknown reasons, the study showed a lower risk of melanoma recurrence in people with history of blistering sunburns
That finding should be interpreted "cautiously," the researchers write. They warn that "the association should not be construed as suggesting that sunburn protects patients with melanoma from developing additional tumors." The study doesn't track melanoma recurrence beyond two years after first diagnosis and wasn't big enough to detect subtle patterns in melanoma recurrence, note Titus-Ernstoff and colleagues.

Lance and NYC Marathon

The AP is reporting the following story:

Associated Press

ROME, Ga. -- Look out, New York. Lance is ready to run.
Lance Armstrong told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he plans to compete in the New York City Marathon on Nov. 5.
"We were looking at the Chicago Marathon, but a conflict arose with the date, and New York seems to fit our schedule better," Armstrong said in a telephone interview. "I've been training some, but I wouldn't call it serious. It's just something to fill a void in my life after I quit competing as a professional cyclist."
Armstrong, who is preparing for his first marathon, retired from cycling after winning an unprecedented seventh straight Tour de France last year.
Before committing to become a full-time cyclist, Armstrong competed in triathlons as a teenager. He indicated he has no plans to run marathons or enter triathlons professionally, at least not at this time.

OLDMAN - Does Lance run as a mere mortal or with the elite runners? Does he stand in the sea of runners or.... Can Kona be in the future?

Gatorade vs Powerade

Well boys and girls we have all had debates about hydration for the Ironman but here is a different view on Gatorade vs Powerade. Slate.com has the video proof of the differences between G and P as shown in an Amish drag race. Unfortunately due to legal reasons the ad was pulled.... but then you'll get the point. Click here.

Monday Update

This has been a difficult weak to train living now in the Philly area and traveling back to Florida on Thursday returning to Philly on Monday. So here is a quick recap of my training weak. Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday were ride days. I've yet to "find" a route here in Pa but on Friday and Sunday I rode in Florida on the ole Steel Monster. It made me appreciate clipless peddles and aerobars. I rode Sunday with Tony for 50 miles but I found it hard to keep up with him and maintain a steady 22 mph pace. No way was I even close to 30 mph on the straight-a-way. My run days have been less that great, running Tuesday and Thursday in Philly and Saturday in Florida. I was able to get a long run in on Saturday of 14 miles. Swimming has been a little difficult. I'm trying a local pool within walking distance of my office but I can't get use to their odd schedule. So I have only swam 2 days.

Weakly totals

Bike 110 miles
Run 28 miles
Swim 5,000 yards

I flew back to Philly this morning so hopefully I'll get a ride in after work. I haven't sold my Florida home even though I've had a lot of people looking. That also means I haven't found a house here and I'm still living in my temporary apartment. So if you want to buy a house in Florida, let me know.

Good luck to everyone doing the Boston Marathon today...Especially Jeff!

HILLS!

One thing Florida doesn't have is hills, unless you go to the north, but in Southwest Florida there are no hills. It's flat! The only hills that I ever encountered were overpasses. The overpasses over golf courses or the 5 bridges on my ride around Estero Island. The last bridge on the around the island ride is 130 ft tall! But one thing that Philly does have is plenty of hills!

This mornings ride was getting my legs in hill shape. Since I'm not sure of my route I've been riding for time. I have 60 minutes to ride so I go out 30 minutes turn around and head back. This morning I took a new and improve route. This route was one where I thought I wouldn't have a soccer mom talking on her cell phone while beeping her horn at me to get out of the way because she is late for work after dropping the kids off at school and day care. So the first few miles are down hill then up hill then flat then up hill again. It seem more up hill than down on the way out. I didn't have 10 miles on the speedo so I road a couple of loops around a neighborhood to get to 10 and started back. (Actually I got a little lost). Did I mention that on the way out I saw 37 mph? That should have been a clue but hey I'm from Florida.

The ride back started down hill, 27 to 30 mph then a nice uphill followed by some more uphill then a brief down followed by a huge hill. I thought my heart was going to come out of my chest hill. At the top was a traffic light and thankfully it was RED! It was good to stop take a drink and get some air. Then on to a downhill followed by a flat the a GIANT HILL worse than the first! I was afraid I was going to have to stop when I saw the speedo at 8 mph. But with burning legs, thumping heart, grasping for air I made it to the top! I made it back to my apartment in my allotted time of 60 minutes but I did feel like I got a good workout. Tomorrow I'm going to run that course so I can get my running legs in hill shape!

I moved!

Well boys and girls I didn't fall of the face of the earth but I'm now in beautiful Ardmore, PA a suburb of Philadelphia. They actually had snow for me on Wednesday! While the house in Florida hasn't sold, the Firm is putting me up in a furnished apartment.

This morning was a 20 mile ride and it was cold! I need some kind of warm jersey to keep my upper body warm. It is a lot different training here than in Florida where all you have to worry about is sweating. I have found some good hills although I haven't found a regular riding route. This morning I had a lady in an suv talking on her cell phone while blowing her horn at me because I was going to slow.... 26 mph! There was no bike lane so I had no place to go but take the right side of the road.

I plan on getting a swim in at lunch time and then next week is I will focus on getting back into the groove of training with a minimum of two workouts a day.