Jeff's Zone 2

Ironman Arizona 2008: Mission Accomplished!

My second Ironman! What a great experience.

Here’s how it went...

The water was murky, but actually quite comfortable. I took the time to look around and see all the people lining the bridges and shore cheering set against the deep blue sky-- it was a real sight to behold. It was perfect.

I had been working very hard on my swim this winter and had high hopes to improve my time from IM Wisconsin 2006. The canon sounded and we were off. Whoever said the Ironman swim start is a contact sport was wrong… this whole swim was outright combat. I was hit in the face five times, kicked, pushed under, you name it, all the way to the final turn into the finish. I tried to stay clear at times but wanted to draft so I got back into the mix. I was a little worried that I had burned too much time but when I got out of the water the clock read 1:03!!!! A 10 minute swim PR!!!!! Ok, the work so far had paid off. I was stoked.

The bike… Hot and windy up hill, fast down hill. I was hoping to ride around 6 hours and finished the first loop at just under 2 hours so I was on track but knew I had a lot of work ahead of me.

Loop 2 was tough. The heat picked up (rising to 95 degrees for the afternoon), as did the wind (22 mph sustained winds). Loop 2 was slower than I wanted by about 15 minutes, yikes. Not all of it was from cycling pace (special needs, etc.) but I was possibly a little too cautious on the up hill saving my legs.

Loop 3 was much better, perhaps because I knew I had one more hard effort up and then it was a sprint to the finish. I pushed uphill in the big gear and flew downhill all the way to the finish and it felt great. Loop 3 was about 2 hours for a total time of 6:19. Overall slower than I had hoped but I was ok with it given the conditions.

I got out of T2 in the blazing heat (still 95!). My legs felt decent, but I immediately felt a sharp pain in my left knee and I was very bloated, making it hard to run. For the first 5 miles or so I had to run/walk and hope I could pull it together. At the same time I was doing everything possible to manage the heat… ice in the hat, in the back pocket of my tri jersey, everywhere. I drank plenty of cola and it really seemed to help the stomach and the energy level.

Around mile 6 I was able to run without walking and realized I was going at a pretty decent pace. I used extra time at each aid station trying to get cool. I have asked myself a few times in retrospect whether I spent too much time at the aid stations and probably could have had a faster run, but I can’t second guess the call at the time. I took the time I needed and ran as hard as I could between the aid stations.

With 10 miles left I was really hurting but I also knew that I could go sub-12 if I could just hold it together. With 6 miles left I picked up the pace again and bet that my efforts had kept me cool enough and that I could go through the aid stations much faster.

There was nothing left in the tank when I finished in 11:53, a PR by almost an hour and a half!

I am ecstatic with the result. But, more satisfying in many ways was sharing the whole experience, starting last summer, through the winter, in Training Bible Coaching Tucson training camp, and at the race, with so many friends/teammates from Multisport Madness who supported and encouraged me every step of the way! Thanks of course to my family, friends, and coach Jenny Garrison!

Master's Swimming

For years some of my friend's encouraged me to join a master's swimming team. I always hesitated. Big mistake.

I finally joined Naperville Waves one last Fall and I have to say it has been an amazing experience. Waves is one of the better teams around and working with the coaches (I won't name names for privacy reasons-- but you can see who they are on the website) has helped my swimming and fitness tremendously.

I would encourage anyone who really wants to get better at swimming, whether for competition reasons or just fitness, to go joint a team. I am swimming twice the yardage per week than I did preparing for IM Wisconsin, and every workout is better.

The reason I hesitated at first was that I was concerned that I would be out-classed. Well, I was pretty much right about that! ;-) There are some amazing swimmers on this team-- former college swimmers that pretty much put the best triathletes I know to shame (really-- you should see some of this!). But, where I was wrong was that it didn't matter. There are also plenty of swimmers at all levels getting in the pool, getting fast, and getting fit.

When I first started, the coaches got me to change my stroke immediately..... a combination of bad habits and old techniques (learned from my HS swimming days 20 years ago) were taking a toll. I am completely rebuilding my stroke... working on front quadrant swimming and longer distance per stroke. Faster, more efficient, and more fun. I am also being forced to swim different strokes. I am actually swimming butterfly with reasonable technique! I am *far* from where I need to be but much better than where I was. I have no doubt that I will take serious time off of my last IM swim at IM Arizona come April.

But even if you aren't planning to race, the nice thing about swimming... it is great for fitness and doesn't create the same amount of stress on the body that running and other sports can. You can get a lot more intensity in per week and recover faster.

So, for those of you who have been on the fence or wishing they could get back in the pool.... do your research on the best teams in the area and go join one.

If the government really wants to stimulate the economy...

... don't give out rebate checks. Give out gift cards.

Social Network Proliferation

Irwin Lazar commented on the recent influx of invitations to link to people on a new social network, Spock. I couldn't agree more. As soon as I got the emails I was turned off by the tone, and after visiting the site I couldn't figure out how this would do anything but further clog my inbox.

Right now I utilize three social networks: Facebook, Plaxo, and LinkedIn. In my view they serve distinct purposes and command different levels of attention.

Because I view these sites differently, I am trying to be very careful about how I view a "relationship" (or, friend). When Plaxo first introduced their "Plaxo Pulse" service, I noticed a massive increase in the number of requests to link to people ,similar to the "race" we have all seen by some people on LinkedIn to create massive relationship lists. While I like the new Plaxo Pulse service, I have avoided createing too many relationships on it because I use it differently than LinkedIn.

Here is a quick summary of how I use these sites and what to expect if you invite me to connect:

1. LinkedIn: I find this very useful for finding contacts through existing relationships. And, contrary to the original intent of only establishing "trusted relationships", I do tend to link to people I barely know (and accept link requests from the same). At the end of the day, the larger the network the better the chance of meeting someone that might be a valuable relationship in the future. So, if you want to link to me in LinkedIn, by all means do so!

2. Plaxo: I think Plaxo's ability to keep my address book current is fantastic. I am also loving the new ability to create synch points and synchronize address books across machines and platforms. I literally keep my address book at work, my work cellphone, my home computer, a personal cellphone, a yahoo email, and a google email all in synch automatically. It is truly a great service and enormously helpful. However, when it comes to linking (connecting) using Plaxo Pulse I am a little more selective than with LinkedIn. Why? because it seems that when you connect to someone they get added to your address book (and then synched with every other address book). I suspect there is a way to manage that using synch groups but that is more trouble than I am willing to go to. Bottom line: when I get a connection request, if I don't know you well enough to have you on all of my address books (including my cellphone) I wont accept it. Better to use LinkedIn if you want to connect to me.

3. Facebook: Other than the fact that my Facebook news feed is becoming so packed with sponsor adds and viral spam from applications that I haven't even loaded (but have been loaded by friends) I love the ability of Facebook to keep me connected to my friends (more on that in future posts). because of Facebook's security and privacy model, it is pretty much the only place I will upload photos and information about my family so I can share that with friends. Thus, the bar for me connecting to someone on Facebook is much, much higher than Plaxo. In fact, if I don't know and trust you well enough to let you know when I am not home, see pictures of me in triathlon gear, and see information about my family, I won't connect or accept a friend request on Facebook. I think this also has ramifications for the use of Facebook at work, but more on that later.

Not sure if others use similar guidelines but I thought I would share mine.

As for whether there is room for other social networks... I think so, but they have to serve a very specific niche IMO and ideally extend the other networks, not act as silos. I can think of a few areas where I would love to build a social network that would not overlap with the ones I mention above (and could even add value) but they would have to have a very specific purpose. To be frank, I am going to leave it at that... you never I know, I might try to build one of them some day. :-)

Whew!

Well, I know. It's been a long time since I last posted. I have been completely swamped with the transition after Microsoft acquired Parlano (the acquisition officially closed at the beginning of October!). But, while there is much work to be done, we are well on our way now and I thought I could come up briefly for air. So, a few catch up items:

1. I know many people follow my blog after I spoke at the SLAM Conference last June on the subject of blogging for the enterprise. Yes, I have to admit I broke my own advice after not posting for so long. But, I thought I would fill you in on an interesting stat... without going into details, the acquisition announcement exceeded coverage predictions (if you had a web search alert on "Parlano" you would have seen a lot of coverage). While I believe there are many factors including the product, loyal customers, and hard work by the deal and announcement teams, the fact is that a lot of primary and secondary (ongoing) coverage came from reporters, Parlano fans, and analysts in the blogosphere. Another proof point that blogging can make a difference even if you aren't a top-rated blog (for those of you who missed my presentation, that was the theme).

2. I am happily settling in at Microsoft as part of the Unified Communications Marketing Team to help get the power of persistent group chat fully baked into the UC story and offering. Out of respect for a lot of the fantastic work going on in Microsoft surrounding UC and the vastly different approach the team needs to take to roll out products to the market, I am going to avoid discussing specific products and plans in this blog (unlike my days at Parlano). I assure you this has nothing to do with anything anyone asked me to do-- in fact Microsoft is well known for having an open blogging policy. It's just what I think is right. That said, I do plan to pick up where I left off and talk about the opportunity for Enterprise 2.0 (I am compiling some thoughts on Facebook for the enterprise) because I remain as enthusiastic as ever about the trends we are all seeing and for the real benefits product like MindAlign provide customers. Keep in mind that my opinions are my own and most likely not at all in line with what most people think. ;-)

3. I am deep into my training for Ironman Arizona 2008. Still haven't gotten to the really long weekend rides, but I am beginning to pick up the volume. I am going to raise money for a cause.... still deciding on which one! Stay tuned.

That's all for now!

Exciting News! Microsoft to Acquire Parlano!

Today, Microsoft announced that it is acquiring Parlano. Everyone at Parlano past and present has worked hard to make persistent group chat a mission-critical part of how many, many people conduct their business every day. This acquisition will take the combined products to the next level and onto tens of millions of desktops. Nick has some great thoughts in this post. There will be much to say about this in the next few weeks and months as we move towards the deal close and eventual product integration but for now I just wanted everyone to know, and to thank you all for the continued support!

Ironman Arizona 2008

Many of you know that I have been debating what kind of events to focus on in 2008. I love training, but need big goals. I guess not unlike work.

Last year, my focus was Ironman Wisconsin. This year shorter distance events with a goal to get faster (and it seems to be working!). Next year was the big question, but no more. I am registered along with 15 or so fellow teammates in Multisport Madness to race Ironman Arizona 2008.

Yes, long distance training through the winter in Chicago is tough, but that's what the team is for (support and company on long indoor rides!). And, we are planning to do several training camps where we can get in the outdoor cycling hours.

I promised my family that if I did another Ironman I would use it to raise money for a cause (or causes) and I have yet to figure out the details on that yet, but stay tuned! 

Risk versus Reward

I know many of you follow my blog to get news about Parlano, but I also know there are many of you who like to keep up with my recent sports/fitness endeavors. So, I thought I would share a lesson/decision I made a few weeks back at a triathlon that I think has applicability to work as well… the balance of risk and reward.

A few weeks ago I woke up at 3:30am to drive up to Lake Zurich for a triathlon. Half way there, it started to rain. By the time I got there it was a downpour with lightning. Now, in situations like this race directors are pretty smart and they won't have you go out (especially for the swim) if conditions are dangerous (lightning, heavy winds/waves, etc.). But at the same time, they are pretty motivated to do some sort of event and will often wait it out and/or modify the event.

In this case the race directors were pretty sure the race would go on at some point. But, for the first time ever, I turned in my chip and left (I wasn't the only one). Now, those of you who know me know that is very atypical behavior. I would normally tough it out. But, in this case I had to asses risk versus reward. Even if the race went on, the roads would be slick and dangerous (IMO) and the run would be miserable (wet mud-soaked shoes? No thanks.). Now, if it had been my "A" race I would have stuck it out, but it wasn't. I just didn't see the upside… but there was plenty of downside! I got in my car, grabbed a coffee, drove home, and did a good workout on the bike trainer. Much better use of my time IMO. Don't get me wrong… many people stayed and raced later that morning and I am sure had a good time. I have no issue with that. Everyone has to make the risk/reward decision for themselves.

Risk/Reward is also a decision that we all should be making in training, not just races. Joe Friel (well known cycling and multisport coach) recently wrote a blog on the subject that I found useful. This is the time of year that many of us (in the Northern hemisphere) are peaking for races and feeling invulnerable… now's when we really have to pay the most attention to how we are training. I hope those of you who are training for events/races/fitness are having great seasons!

P.S. Thanks to my buddy Howard Solomon for hosting me in SanFran last weekend. We did some awesome workouts…. Friday evening swim, double brick (20 mile ride, 4.5 mile run, 20 mile ride, 3 mile run—yes, all back-to-back) on Saturday on a fairly hilly bike route (The Paradise Loop in Marin County), and a master's swim (1.5 hours) and trail run on Sunday. Good times! J

 

Persistent Group Chat in CRM

Here is another article published by DestinationCRM by Nick Fera on the value of persistent group chat in a Unified Communications solution. This time a little more focused on the CRM (sales, marketing, support) use case. We are seeing a lot of demand from global organizations looking to improve global, cross-functional, team communications in customer-facing roles as well as IT so this article is timely.

 

Article on UC by Nick Fera

Nick Fera has an article on TMC.net about ways that persistent group chat can help organizations get started with unified communications.