Have you ever gone running and had your headphones fall out of your ears? It’s happened to me so many times that I’ve questioned whether or not it’s even worth running with music. It’s not only annoying that the music is interrupted, but every time they fall out I feel like my whole run is sidetracked while I struggle to get the ear bud back in my ear.

This past December I bought a pair of Yurbuds. This has been one of the best $50 purchases I’ve made. Not only have they never fallen out of my ears (I’ve done my best to try and make them shake out) but the sound produced is high quality. They’re water proof, so sweat won’t damage them and the cord is wrapped in a woven material that keeps them from getting too tangled up when tossed into a gym bag.

There is a new version that has a built in iphone/ipod control on the cord so you don’t mess around with your device to adjust the volume, change the song or answer the phone. I wish I had known this version was coming out when I bought mine – I would have bought this pair for sure.

One of the nice unexpected things about the rubber ear bud fittings is they help to block out a little bit of the crappy music your gym plays through their sound system outside noise. This means you don’t have to keep the volume of your music up as high and you’ll be able to hear all the low tones in the audio better; podcasts are much clearer. One note of caution: if you’re running in traffic, don’t turn the music up too high or else cars can sneak up on you easy.

$50 for a pair of ear buds you’re going to sweat in may sound a little pricey, but this was a great purchase and definitely worth the money. No more frustration and distraction from fumbling with ear buds that wont stay in during a workout AND I get to hear my music more clearly. Check them out at http://yurbuds.com.

I really want to go to Kona. And I really want to win my age group at Ironman Texas next year. But, since I had surgery in December and I’m rebuilding my aerobic base from almost zero, that leaves very little time for screwups if I’m going to accomplish both of those. Screwups like letting myself get injured again because I didn’t rehab the knee fully just can’t happen. I know what I need to do. I have to follow a training plan that’s really tough. I mean really tough.

That plan, in its simplest form has only one major objective: check my pride at the door every time I go work out. Of course, there are plenty of structured workouts every week in the plan, but none of it will do me any good if I can’t get myself to take it easy and forget about how slow I feel like I’m going. Being prepared for the type of training I’ll need to win my age group will require an exceptional aerobic base. To get there, between now and then end of June, I need to slowly build up a lot of really easy, low heart rate miles on the bike, in the pool and on the run. Pride doesn’t want me to do that. Pride wants me to focus on how fast my pace looked when I log the workout afterwards. And, unfortunately, it’s really tough to get Pride to stay quiet.

Training for Ironman Texas last year taught me that I have the discipline to accomplish just about anything I really want to do. These next 3 months will be a serious test of that discipline. Going slow, is a lot harder than going fast.

A while back I decided to take a break from social media. I was trying to define its value back then so I thought if I quit, I’d realize what I lost – if I lost anything at all. Upon my return, I realized the obvious: social media is what you make it. The perceived value is different for everyone depending on how they use it. Since then, I keep coming across blog posts from industry experts that showcase how to find the value in your social media network. The problem is that many of these posts view value from the perspective of only one type of user. Most fail to mention the importance of understanding value from the perspective of the majority of users in social media.

I believe most people fall into the description of two types of users in social media. For the purpose of this post, I’ll refer to them as Consumers and Providers. Consumers are users that probably started out in social media because their friends/family were there. They were joining into a social conversation, consuming and spreading information in an open dialogue with the community for no major reason other than to be a part of the conversation. Consumers make up the majority of people using social media and the value they get from it comes mostly from the people they follow.

Providers are users that join in social media for a purpose. They are usually marketing types looking to spread the word on their product/service/organization. They understand the power of the referral. When we have a need for a product, and a trusted friend or family member makes a recommendation on a specific brand, we’re many times more likely to buy the brand that was recommended. For this reason, Providers strive to increase their follower counts with Consumers. They know that when a Consumer believes in a product, they’ll talk about it and recommend it to others. Because of this, the value of social media to a Provider is in their follower network, not necessarily in the people that they follow themselves.

Make no mistake, I understand there are many users out there that are a mixture of both Consumer and Provider, but I believe the majority fall into either camp, not both. This is why the dollar value of Facebook is measured in billions. Mark Zuckerberg and crew recognize what the Providers know: to get the most bang for your buck in social media, you need to be able to get into the conversations of Consumers. Facebook’s 700 million users are almost all Consumers.

Many of the blogs written by industry experts talk about how to find the value in your network but fail to mention the importance of understanding the value of social media from the Consumer viewpoint. They showcase great tools for measuring the effectiveness of your messages and following its reach but rarely explain why the Consumers you want to attract, would ever follow you. Perhaps this is why most Providers know they need to be in Facebook, but many still don’t quite understand how to capitalize on it.

I’m no social media expert and I certainly don’t have all the answers, but in general I believe that Providers can benefit a lot from simplifying their social media marketing strategy to focus on helping their customers. People (Consumers) prefer to do business with those that treat them well and listen to them. By serving those that follow you, your message will spread and your Consumer follower count will grow naturally.

What is the value of social media? It’s actually pretty simple. If you’re a Consumer, the value is exactly what you make it out to be. -That’s not a cop-out answer. Truly, whether you’re using social media channels to find out about current events, post pictures of your lunch or just keep up with your friends, only you can say what the value of that is to you. For my personal use of social media, I found much of the value for me lies in being able to see a constant stream of new information from sources that I wouldn’t have otherwise discovered.

If a Provider wants to find the value of social media, they first need to find out what they’re solving for by being in social media at all. Is it for lead gen? Recruiting purposes? Improving brand recognition? Find the reason(s) you’re in social media and it will be simple to find the value of it. Also, understand that value may not be a dollar amount (finance teams that dole out money to marketing teams hate to hear that). Certainly, you can put a dollar amount value on a clicked link from a lead gen campaign, but there is great value in just listening to your customers talk about what they like or don’t like about your product. Volunteered information can be driven back into the business to change or enhance products for the better, which could lead to higher sales, longer customer retention, more referrals, etc. It would be tough to find an exact dollar value of that volunteered information, but without a doubt, it’s valuable.

So, again, what is the value of social media? You tell me.

As I mentioned in this post yesterday, the theory behind the high heat method is that because the brisket is normally such a lean and tough cut of meat, it doesn’t start becoming tender until after it reaches an internal temperature somewhere in the range of 160 – 170 degrees. At this point, all the fat and connective tissues start to render to juice. High heat cookers suggest that the time it takes to bring the brisket up to this temperature range is insignificant – fast or slow, the magic happens after this point is reached. Thus, the high heat method of cooking can give the same results as low and slow, but save a bunch of time.

One point of clarification: The high heat method is not really using a high heat; it’s more of a medium heat of 325 – 350. The phrase “high heat” is relative to the very low temperature range normally used of 200 – 235 degrees.

My results yesterday surprised me. I have had a lot of success cooking low and slow and was very skeptical, but hopeful, of bringing such a large cut of meat up to temperature so fast. At just about every check point during the cooking process I wasn’t confident that this method would work. However, the results were amazing. This was one of the best briskets I’ve cooked! It was juicy and flavorful all the way through and was extremely tender. Something else that surprised me was how well the fat cap rendered into the meat. The whole process was very effective and extremely efficient and I’m really happy this worked out! -Now I can sleep in a little on BBQ day!

Here’s the recipe I followed:

Follow your usual recipe for injecting and rubbing the meat. Mine is pretty simple; if I inject anything it’s usually a mix of butter and apple juice. The rub I use is just coarse sea salt and coarse ground black pepper on top of a layer of yellow mustard (used as a bonding agent to hold the rub in place). I don’t use a lot of spices because I like the flavor of the meat and the smoke to stand out.

I used an extra-large Big Green Egg with oak hardwood lump charcoal and once the fire was going I sprinkled soaked oak wood chips all over. I put the ceramic place setter (feet legs up) in position and a drip tray on top of it filled with apple juice. I put the grill on over the drip tray and placed the brisket (fat cap down) over the tray when the dome temperature gauge reached 350. I only had the brisket out of the refrigerator for about an hour at this point so the internal temp was very low – about 46 degrees. Normally I would have the brisket sitting out for a while so the whole thing is at room temperature before cooking, but since this high heat method would bring the temperature up faster, I wanted to maximise the amount of time the meat was exposed to the smoke. So it was still cold when I closed the lid of the Big Green Egg.

At 30 minutes into the cook , I cracked open the lid to check the drip tray. I wasn’t sure how quickly the apple juice would evaporate at this higher temp, and if it was gone I wanted to refill it. No need – there was plenty of juice.

At 1 hour the internal temp of the meat was 113 degrees. I added some more apple juice to the tray and sprayed the brisket with a fine mist of apple juice.

Two hours in, the internal temperature was 153 degrees. The drip tray was fine so I just sprayed the brisket down again with apple juice.

At 2 hours and 40 minutes the internal temperature hit 165 degrees. The brisket looked really moist at this point and had developed great color from the smoke. I wrapped it (fat cap up) with foil and added some of the juices from the drip tray and then placed it back on the grill.

At this point, I deviated from my plan a little. I was skeptical of how quickly the meat had come up to temperature so I decided to slow it down some. I shouldn’t have done this as it only added more unneeded time. Once I placed the foil wrapped brisket back on the grill I closed up all the vents to let the fire start slowly dying out and to let the brisket get tender in the slowly dropping heat.

Thirty minutes later the dome temp was 300 and the internal temp of the meat was 177 degrees. I had planned on removing the temperature gauge at 180 and start fork testing for tenderness every 30 minutes until done.

By 3 and 1/2 hours cooking time the internal temperature was at 182 and the dome was at 275. I fork tested but the meat was still pretty resistant.

At 4 hours the dome was at 235 and the fork test was still resistant. I was getting skeptical of this high heat method at this point.

Four and 1/2 hours into the cook and the dome was at 225. This time the fork test found a tender area but most of the meat was still pretty resistant.

This process continued every half hour with the brisket slowly getting more tender and the dome temp falling. From the 5 hour mark to the 5 and 1/2 hour mark there was no change in tenderness and the dome temp was lower than 200. Worried that the brisket wouldn’t continue cooking, I decided to bring the foil wrapped meat inside and finish it in the oven at 325.

Thirty minutes later, at 6 hours of total cooking time, almost the entire brisket was completely tender – it had really responded to being back in the heat. There was one small area that was still a little resistant so I left it one more time for 30 minutes.

At 6 and 1/2 hours the brisket was done. It was fork tender everywhere. I wrapped it in new foil, then wrapped the whole thing in a towel and placed it in a cooler (no ice) to wait until we were ready to eat.

It waited in the cooler for us for about 2 hours or so before I cut it up. Notice how the fat cap on top has almost completely liquified!

This was by far one of the best briskets I’ve cooked. I also learned my lesson about sticking with a plan. If I had left the BBQ pit going at 350 after foiling I would have probably finished with a total cook time around 4 and 1/2 hours instead of 6 and 1/2. -Even so, I’ll take 6 and 1/2 hours to cook an awesome brisket any day instead of waking up at 4am and cooking for 15 or 18 hours!

EDIT (March 15, 2012): I have smoked 3 more briskets using this method since this was posted and all three turned out great. I never let the temp go down below 350 at the dome (about 325 at grill level) and there were a few instances where I accidentally let the heat spike up to almost 400 for a short time. All three came out really tender and moist all the way through. Total cook time for the 3 briskets ranged from 4 hrs to almost 5 hrs (the cut of the meat has a lot to do with cooking time).

My only complaint with this method is that there isn’t a great crust or bark layer on the outside. After foiling, the juices tend to wash off some of the bark that developed while the meat was open to the smoke. There is still a great smoke ring and the rub I use, combined with the smoke, still leaves a crust (see the pics to the right) – but not the dark black intensely flavorful crust you get from smoking meat for 18 hrs in a pit.

Probably not going to win any competitions using this method due to the presentation being a little off, but as far as taste and tenderness go, I’m a fan of the high heat method.

In the world of barbeque the Low and Slow method of cooking brisket is the most accepted and practiced form of producing a tender, juicy piece of heaven. Since the brisket is a tough, and often lean, cut of meat, it is difficult to cook well. Long periods of time (15 – 18 hrs depending on the size) and low heat (200 – 235 degrees) are the crucial pieces of a recipe that many insist is _the only_ way to cook a brisket. Today I decided to try to prove them wrong.

Recently I happen to come across a blog post from a guy using high heat (350 degrees) to cook a brisket in 4 – 5 hrs and the results were the same as if he had gone low and slow – the meat was tender, juicy and flavorful. After more searching I started finding a lot of posts from people doing the same thing. One common thread in all of them was wrapping the brisket in foil right as it reached an internal temp of 160 – 170 degrees. As the brisket approaches this temperature range the small amounts of fat and connective tissue in the meat start rendering into juice. By foiling the brisket, most of the juices are kept inside the meat and as the temperature rises the meat is able to turn from tough to tender and stay moist the entire time. These people argued that the amount of time taken to get the brisket up to this temperature range doesn’t matter – fast or slow, the brisket starts getting tender and juicy after this point.

The theory makes sense to me. I’ve always used the low and slow method with good success, but if I can cook a brisket in 4 – 6 hours instead of 15 -18, I’m happy to give this a try (and also be able to sleep in a little on bbq day).

Yesterday I bought a fresh 8lbs brisket, and this morning I fired up the Big Green Egg to 350….

Right now, I’m about 15 minutes away from cutting into the meat. Total cook time was 6.5 hours. From the outside, it looks juicy and a fork test feels like it’s real tender all over. I’ll post my results tomorrow after sampling a bunch tonight!

It’s mid February. Two months ago I had knee surgery and two weeks after that my wife and I had a new baby girl! Today, it’s time to post my plan for 2012 and get started.

At this point, my knee is still a little weak and stiff from the surgery but I have no pains from the area where the meniscus had been torn. Right now, it looks like the surgery worked! I have been cleared to run, but I don’t feel comfortable putting that kind of impact on the joint just yet. Rehab has been a little inconsistent for me and has been dependent on how tired I am from the night before with the baby. -Admittedly, I’m not the one doing most of the work at night, but even so, I’m not getting the kind of sleep I need for fast healing. In the last week, however, longer sleeping hours started to get more consistent so I got back on the bike (on the trainer) and ramped up the exercises for my core (abs, lower back and hips) and legs.

My plan for the rest of 2012 is pretty simple – get back into competition shape for the half Ironman in Austin at the end of October. There are a couple of other olympic distance races I’d like to do during the summer, but my focus until mid July is all about building my aerobic base back up. That means lots of low heart rate  biking, swimming and running.

The ultimate goal I’m working towards with this plan is to qualify for Kona in 2013. I want to come out of 2012 with a solid aerobic base and healthy legs (knee) so I can really gear up training for Ironman Texas which will be in May, 2013. That’s the race I where I want to qualify. And, I not only want to qualify for Kona, I want to try to win my age group! That’s a pretty tall order just coming off of knee surgery, but I know my work ethic and I know how quickly I can build myself back up coming off a break. With a healthy knee, a great aerobic base and a solid plan, I think I can do it.

So, for the next few weeks I’ll work the trainer on the bike, keep building up my core and work towards putting my running shoes back on. This is how qualifying for Kona and winning my age group at Ironman Texas in 2013 begins.

My decision was made based on only a few things: 1. I want to continue to train and push for success in triathlon, but I can’t do that without fixing my knee. 2. Three different periods over the last 10 years have been specifically focused on strength training to fix my knee and avoid surgery, but none of them have eliminated the pain completely or prevented it from coming back eventually. 3. I’m tired of being stressed about this knee. I’m ready to put this behind me and start looking forward.

Surgery wasn’t the route I wanted to go, but looks to be the best option for the goals I want to achieve. The operation is a meniscectomy. Instead of trying to repair the torn cartilage they’ll simply cut out a very small amount around the tears so when my knee moves and flexes the torn sides don’t rub any more. That rubbing is what causes the pain. It will only take about 15 minutes and they said that I’ll walk out of the building and be up walking around the next day. They want me on a stationary bike a few days later. The rehab plan will be slow and steady but by the time it’s finished I’ll have a fully functional, pain free knee to train and compete on!

After I made the decision I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed but at the same time I felt a lot of relief. No more worrying about the knee pain coming back during my peak training time. No more frustration from holding back during a race when I know I could push harder with a healthy knee. I can focus on bigger and better things now. First, rehab the knee. Second, Kona in 2013!

Frus·tra·tion: A deep chronic sense or state of insecurity and dissatisfaction arising from unresolved problems or unfulfilled needs.

I am frustrated. My current state of mind is completely and accurately defined by the definition of that word. Frustration. The source isn’t my knee. I mean, technically the knee is the source, but the frustration actually stems from the inconsistent results in my plans to avoid knee surgery.

After what appeared to be significant gains, the pains are coming back. I’ve followed my rehab plan (even extended it from 2 to 3 months), I haven’t been too aggressive when working out and some days my knee feels brand knew and other days it feels like I’ll never run or bike again. I’ve been here before too. Many times, in fact, all the way back since I was running in high school. That is frustrating.

Today I called in and pushed up my doctor’s appointment to talk about how the plan went, what has or hasn’t changed and what the recovery process from surgery looks like (if it’s decided that I need it). Last time we met he told me to prove to him that I needed surgery. “Follow the plan and if you can’t get back to the pain free point you want to be at, we’ll know.” I never wanted surgery in the first place so I’ve followed the plan and put in the work and here we are. That is frustrating.

After 3+ months of rehab it’s time to make a decision. Choosing surgery means I’ll be able to compete again the way I want to at the expense of possibly getting arthritis when I’m much older. Is that risk really worth my desire (sometimes it feels like a need) to push myself and compete? -But not just to compete, to continue doing something that I really enjoy? Choosing not to have surgery, being realistic, means I will never be able to compete at the level I know I can with a healthy knee. It would mean no more Ironman distance events for sure, but would also mean an end to true competing at any distance and not even being able to just minimally participate in long distances. Having to make a decision that will lead to either outcome is frustrating.

Being able to take advantage of an opportunity at the time it presents itself has always defined me. The opportunity that is staring me in the face right now is the potential of success in triathlon and the ability to continue to participate in something that makes me happy, but ultimately leads to the possibility of arthritis at an older age. The fact that I had to add a ‘but’ at the end of the last sentence is beyond frustrating.