Our baby has started sticking her feet and hands out, hard. When she starts moving, my wife's entire belly starts shaking and you can see feet and hands moving across the inside of her belly. Its so cool, but it drives my wife nuts. Our baby is super active sometimes, she is also apparently going to be large. She is in the 90th percentile. My wife and I are both 5'11", so I suspect we are going to have a tall kid. Hopefully she gets my wifes looks, and my passion. We got the nursery all set up and we are ready for her arrival. I can't wait for the new challenge of raising a daugher. It should be fun.

 

I've had the best two weeks of training I've had my entire life. I've been up around 18 hours a week with about 9000 yards of swimming, 250 miles of biking and 28 miles of running both weeks. I ran 16 miles this morning in 1:58 and felt awesome. That was my last long run before Canada. I really feel great. I can't wait to race. I really feel like there is a possibility to have the best race of my life up there. I'm more healthy prior to an Ironman that I've ever been and my training has been perfect. I think something special could happen. I've been in search of that perfect Ironman for a while and maybe this will be it. My picture of a perfect Ironman is a nice easy, smooth swim, around an hour, a bike leg where I don't blow my wad in the first 50 miles. I need to keep it steady and relaxed and go faster the second 56 miles than the first. I should be right around 5 hours. Keep the heart rate low, like 145 the first half, then maybe 150 the second half. For this race, I desperately want to have a perfect run. The perfect run is hard to come by, but when its happening, its a beautiful thing. Its what makes up for the 50 other runs that all felt like shit. For my run in Canada, the perfect run would be, to take the first 6 miles easy, like 8:30 pace, then steadily pick it up until about mile 20, and then just hold a steady pace of something like 7:30/7:45 to the finish. Its not as much about pace though as it is about effort. Sometimes a 7:30 pace feels easy, other times it feels labored. I hope it feels easy and that I'm running balanced, head up, arch in the back, eyes forward, and pushing off with my toes. I know there will be pain, lots of pain the last 10 miles, but I swear, that I'm not going to let it affect me this time around. The race doesn't last forever, and the pain really only exists for the last 10 miles, so how hard can it be to push through this? I sometimes get mentally weak and pussy out when the pain comes. It isn't going to happen this time.

Well I got the news about Floyd and his B sample as my friend Chris Whyte and I were out Saturday morning on a 100 mile ride. I expected the B sample to be positive, as did everyone else. Its weird, but I find myself thinking about this doping situation A LOT. I don't know why. Maybe because I'm such a huge fan of cycling.

 

Here are some scenarios that could have happened. Which one is more likely?

 

1) Floyd did NOT dope and there is some flaw in the test.

2) Floyd did dope and the test was done correctly. He is guilty.

3) Flod did NOT dope, but the French lab is in some conspiracy to prevent Floyd from winning the TDF.

4) Floyd doesn't think he doped, but someone, somehow got synethic testosterone into his blood.

5) Jack Daniels causes you to test positive for synethic testosterone (I'll volunteer to be a case study :))

 

Which is most likely?

 

#1 - of course no test is perfect. All types things exist that could mean that a positive test doesn't mean that Floyd took drugs. Take the Rutger Beke example. He tested positive for EPO at the 2004 Hawaii Ironman, but successfully fought the case and won, and cleared his name. Apparently he proved that he had some genetic issue the confused the test. So, there is a precedent that the tests are not perfect. I would rate the chance of scenario #1 as fairly high, maybe 5%. The labs will of course argue that all tests are 100% accurate. Of course they would say this. If they didn't, they are basically saying their whole industry is a sham. the world anti-doping agency has to say that the tests are 100% accurate, or else the whole process will fall apart (hmmm, seems like things are already falling apart).

 

#2 - Lots of people ask why Floyd would dope, then go on to win, knowing full well that the winner would be tested, and he would be caught. Well, obviously, this would be totally stupid and you have to assume that there is more to #2. I personally beleive that the likely situation with #2 is that Floyd doped, but tried to take covering drugs towards the end of the stage to try to hide the synethic testerone. I've heard that these drugs exist when I was at the Tour in 2004 from an "insider". Again, I have no proof that these drugs exist, but if you assume that he had a drug to remove the synetic testosterone, then why not risk it? If these drugs exist, then I think #2 is the most likely scenario.

 

#3 - This one would play out well and maybe seem likely because everyone knows the French hate Americans, and likewise. I mean LanceA has not done a whole lot to improve our relationships with France. Shit, at the Espy's he said that the French Soccer team tested positive, for "Asshole". Nice Lance. Go back to Texas, and your new girlfriend, and your hollywood friends, and your fight with Greg Lemond.  Anyways, where was I, oh yeah, conspiracy theory #3. Well, I give this one a low possibility. Why would a French lab risk its entire business to strip Floyd of the TDF title. I know it sounds like a good plot to a book or something, but I just don't think that a large business and a country like France, would do something this stupid. I think it would be dumber than Floyd taking the drugs.

 

#4 - I actually think this is a high possibility. It could happen. It would only take one individual to do this. Maybe his directors did it without Floyd knowing, and then boosted his mental spirits and created the perfect combination for Floyd to win. Of course, his directors would only do this if they knew they could give Floyd drugs to cover and hid the synethic testy towards the end of the stage. The other culprit might be an enemy of Floyd's. I don't know if you can get this through creams or liquids, but maybe a fan on the road did it. We don't know how much synethic testosterone Floyd had in his blood. That would be useful to know, if its possible to know. Anyways, I think this Justin Gatlin defense is also not that likely. Why would you dope up your competitor, when he just blew the whole tour the day before and you are pretty certain that there is no way he would win the TDF. This scenario is really not likely.

 

#5 - not likely