Engine 2 Diet and Gold Medal Mel

Engine 2 Diet and Gold Medal Mel

Hey Everyone -- apologies for being off radar for so long.  I have been incredibly busy at work, treading water in these difficult economic times.  So just haven't had time to stay on top of the blog.

And that said, I only have a few minutes right now, but I wanted to share a couple quick thoughts.

First, I wanted to share this clip from the Today Show last week in which Rip Esselstyn shares some recipies from his new book The Engine 2 Diet.  In short, Rip was a stud swimmer back in the day, tearing up the backstroke for the University of Texas Longhorns.  Although I didn't know him, I knew his prowess well and followed his fantastic career.  After his swimming career, he was a stud pro triathlete for years.  These days he's a fireman in Austin and still tearing up the pool in masters swimming competitions.  I had the honor of having a few interactions with him via Facebook and he gave me some props on Ultraman, which was very cool.

In any event, Rip became a vegan, then inspired his fellow firemen to follow in his footsteps.  He helped some of his peers get healthy, particularly a few who were staring at looming heart attacks.  Its a great story he captures in his book and speaks about in this clip.  His person, his story and his book have inspired me and I hope it does the same for you.

Secondly, I shared the Today Show clip with Mel Stewart the other day.  If you follow my blog or Mel, you know that he is a former Olympic Gold Medalist in the 200m butterfly, World Record holder and 14 time national champion that now covers all things swimming via his Gold Medal Mel blog and video interviews.  Mel interviewed me a while back about Ultraman and I send him articles or things of interest from time to time.  Glad to see he enjoyed the clip I sent him and he just blogged about it, so check it out!  Great guy that Mel -- he is doing a huge service to swimming and I encourage all of you to follow his blog, as well as his Facebook and Twitters.  He is a social networking machine.

I promise to be more active on the blog, so look forward to more posts in the upcoming days and weeks.  I'm looking for a great 2009 season in endurance sports!

Click HERE to order The Engine 2 Diet

Click HERE to visit Rip on Facebook

Click HERE to visit the Gold Medal Mel blog

Click HERE to visit Mel on Facebook

Click HERE to visit Mel on Twitter

Social Networking / LA ULTRA!

Social Networking / LA ULTRA!

I'm becoming a bit obsessive about social networking.  Let's just say its starting to get a bit obsessive.  But like I've said, that's just how I am.

I have loved being active on Facebook and have re-connected with so many people from my past and made countless new friends, especially in the endurance community.  But Facebook aside, my new obsession is Twitter.  I am a total convert.  

In addition to posting news about my training, I love throwing up interesting articles and insights throughout the day.  But what has been really cool is following some of my favorite inspirational people.  And as far as athletes, its the cyclists that have really taken to the medium in a huge way (due I'm sure in large part to Lance's fascination with the tool).  Many of the top names in the sport have really jumped on the Twitter bandwagon in a big way.  Lance is on fire, twittering and posting photos several times a day, on everything from his training, drug tests, travels and race reports to iChats with his kids.

And it seems like he has recruited his peers -- everyone from George Hincapie, Christian Van de Velde, Dave Zabriske (by far the funniest tweets) to Michael Rogers and even Ivan Basso are all over it.  Its pretty cool.  As for triathletes, they are fewer.  You can find McCormack, but Chris Lieto seems to be the guy who is most active.

Twitter can be so intimate -- it almost makes you feel like you are buddies with these guys, which is a little weird.  In fact, Hincapie tweeted that he was in LA training.  The next morning, I was pulling out of my driveway and saw him fly right by my house on his bike -- I assume this is some sort of good omen?  Who knows.

Anyway, this leads me to thinking about how I can use these media to help promote endurance sports, as well as plant based nutrition.  So I have become more active on Twitter myself.  

And along these lines, I just created a new group on Facebook called LA ULTRA!  A place for all LA based ultra-endurance athletes to build community -- through sharing insight and info on training, racing, nutrition, etc.

I hope you join me on the journey.  

You can find me on Twitter by clicking HERE.

You can find me on Facebook by clicking HERE.

And you can find the new Facebook Group LA ULTRA! by clicking HERE.