Body Atoms

I've Moved

2008-11-21T12:04:00.002-07:00

All of my posts are now going here.

Back To Running

2008-11-17T07:07:00.001-07:00

The month of indulgence is officially over. This past month I took off from running to do two things; take a break from the past 11 months of training and two, allow my plantar fasciitis to heal. The foot pain has come a long way but is not completely healed. I think it turned into a form of tendonitis along the way as I was compensating for the plantar fasciitis. Ice has helped immensely. I put ice packs on the bottom of the foot three or four times per day and it was amazing how much it helped. I used ice for my shoulder after pitching oh so long ago but never applied it to the tendons in the foot or associated with it with running. It makes sense though.

I've put on an additional seven pounds the last few weeks. It could have been worse, much worse. I still ate good meals and no junk food--well occasional junk food cravings were allowed. After all, it's indulgence month, but I ate a few salads and went low-cal on several meals. I think I would have been even if it hadn't been such a drastic drop in cardio workouts.

I packed my running clothes for an afternoon run. The weather should be great. Something around 60 degrees and sunny with low humidity.

Just When

2008-11-15T07:32:00.001-07:00

Just when I think I know quite a bit of a certain subject, I'm reminded how little I do know. It's very humbling.

The Day's Energy

2008-11-14T19:11:00.005-07:00

Slipstream made its debut today with my 14-mile commute into work. Although the weather was perfect, my gut was telling me to drive in for some reason. I should have listened to my gut. It's correct 99.2% of the time. And if the gut was wrong then there's usually a foretelling event early enough in the morning to sway me in another direction. Experiencing something out of the norm or uneventful early enough in the day allows me to see where I jumped off track and to quickly get the day back on the rails it's supposed to be on. A flat tire within the first mile of the commute is an example of such an early event. One, if you notice it as such an event and two, you act on such an event. Within the first mile you can turn around, go home, change clothes and start the day over by driving to work.

I ignored the sign. So flat one was fixed and that left one air cartridge left with one spare tube and some patches.

As I had a meeting scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Looking at my watch I still had plenty of time, even with the flat to make it to work, get some breakfast tacos and coffee and make it to the meeting. And then I took a wrong turn. My gut said to go east for another two blocks and then catch S. 5th Str going northward. Except I went left and tried to take a sort cut through a neighborhood. It sent me five miles in the wrong direction.

I regrouped after I saw the street I used to take into work. A little busier traffic-wise but doable. I wasn't five minutes on the road and I had another flat. I parked the bike at the bus stop and changed the second flat. I used the remainder of the second air cartridge but it wasn't enough. I had to ride out of the saddle until I could get to a bike shop.

As I approached the bike shop there weren't any cars in front of the doors. Noticing the hours posted on the front window the shop didn't open until 10:00 a.m. So much for supporting the commuters. I decided to ride another mile over to Lance Armstrong's shop called Mellow Johnny's. As they support the commuters I knew they'd be open.

They were open. Bought some air. Bought a tire. Broke a tire iron. Used one of Mellow Johnny's tire irons. Paid the equivalent of a full tank of gas. Packed up and went on my way.

I looked at my watch and it was 9:45 a.m. Late for the meeting I reajusted my expectations of getting to the meeting, of eating breakfast tacos or making coffee. I just wanted something positive to manifest itself in front of me. To have something to laugh at, admire, aha at. Something. Anything.

I arrived at the office parking lot with loose handlebars. That was not my sign. It was more of the same. I took it as a sign not to burst into the meeting late. I sat at my desk while cooling down and knocked out a quick article for one of the publications. As I sat there I knew something had to be done to change the energy of the day. This was definitely the most expensive commute I'd ever had and quickly hovering close to the worst commute, except for getting hit by the truck or the lady who ran me into the curb where I cut my ankle up pretty bad. No, those were way up there as the two worst commutes and three flat tires weren't even close to knocking them off their pinnacle of bad commutes.

I got a phone text request for lunch. That'll do it I thought. A good lunch can always change the energy. It did. The whole afternoon was bliss. The second meeting of the day went well. People were good to work with. The day had the Friday energy back. The commute back home was going to be tremendous. Until.

Until I heard a sound. It sounded like something fell off the shelf and there was the sound of air at the window. A minute later my coworker says, "Tony, I think your tire just went flat. I felt a breeze in my hair, I looked around and watched the back tire go from full to flat."

Crap. So much for a change of energy. I called for an extraction. Packed up Slipstream into the SUV. Took it home. Crawled into bed.

Sometmes the only way to change the energy of the day is to change the day.

BTW, Slipstream is the newest old bike added to the fleet. It's a freewheel single speed on a an old steel Schwinn frame.

Week Two Off of Running

2008-10-31T09:06:00.004-06:00

It's been a tough second week off of running. The foot still hurts so it's going to take at least a couple more weeks to heal. This is the best time of year to run but there's just no way.

What a Shame

2008-10-23T06:51:00.001-06:00

I'll let you form your own opinion on this one. It's a shame the race is now suspect as it raised $18 million for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Arien O'Connell, the real winner of the race, is not recognized on the official site. I should be cheering for the Austinite that was recognized as the winner, but the whole thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Is this enough for you to switch brands?

Sidelined From The Run

2008-10-22T08:10:00.002-06:00

I'm on the sidelines for a period of time until my plantar fasciitis in the left foot gets better. I ran 10 miles on Sunday and then iced the foot, massaged it, stretched it and could hardly walk the rest of the afternoon. Rather than do permanent damage, it's time to lay off.

Xterra and I Need New Bike

2008-10-21T18:13:00.005-06:00

So it's official on two points.

I hate riding long distances on roads. Let me restate that. I enjoy the fast pace of the sprint or Olympic triathlons. I dislike the slow pace of the 70.3 triathlon, 56-mile bike portion in 88-degree heat. But then again, I hated the century race when I did it, the 80-mile tour when I did it and also last year's 56-mile portion of the half iron race. So, I've done a couple 40-mile races that were enjoyable. Shorter is better, even if the bottom bracket is working or not (see the race report below).
Off road trails have always been more enjoyable to me. The exception being the Ho-Chee-Min Trail in Memorial Park in Houston where I missed many one-foot bridges on a 100-foot-7-degree-descent, tumbling my bottom, end-over-end into a body of water. I don't think I'll enjoy the same today, 15-years later but if the trails are less sloped on the descent, then I'll definitely enjoy it more. I also enjoy running on dirt more than asphalt or concrete.

So, it's a done deal. Get a new/used mountain bike to try an Xterra. Or if you know me, build one. The Frankenbike swap meet is this weekend. ;)

Two Weeks After the Longhorn Ironmn 70.3

2008-10-19T12:34:00.004-06:00

It's been two weeks since the Longhorn Half-Ironman 70.3 race. Each day of the last two weeks I've meant to sit down and write a race report but haven't. My heart wasn't into it. My heart wasn't into the race as well. The last month before the race I missed a lot of my workouts as I was taking care of my mom, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She passed the Wednesday before the race. Each day after her passing I went back and forth in my mind whether or not to show up.

I showed up not knowing what to expect. Last year, I went through all types of emotions. I was happy, sad, mad, elated. What would happen this year with so much that happened in the last week? Nothing happened. I was so emotionally drained by the time of the race I felt nothing for the six-plus hours on the course.

I finished which was the main goal of the day. Get out there and complete. But it wasn't easy. While the heat was a little less than last year, the temperature was still in the 80s and the UV Index was intense.

Nutrition-wise, I changed course a little this year. I downed gels on the bike with water and they seemed to work. They caused my stomach to be a little upset but it usually subsided within minutes. On the run I took between 2-4 endurolyte tablets each aid station. This really helped with the cramps. Those things worked fast. I also didn't take Gatorade but instead took water and flattened cola. For the run this worked great.

The swim was faster than last year and without much time in the pool. The run was faster as the nutrition was better. The only problem came with the bike section. My bottom bracket started to fail at mile 40. It would make a grinding noise. When I stopped where a bike support wagon was the guy sid by the time he could get me a replacement bike or fix it the race would be over. It was best if I could continue so I hopped back on and grinded out the last 16 miles.

I think I may have experienced my last 70.3 half ironman race. It's not that I'm displeased with the race. The organizers and volunteers do a fantastic job. I'm getting to where the bike portion of the race is my least favorite, even if the bottom bracket holds together. For this reason I'm going to switch over to Xterra-type events in 2009. Trail riding and running suit me more I think. I'm hoping for a more organic feel to the race.

2008-09-17T13:54:00.005-06:00

Seeing the images of destruction from Hurricane Ike are a little too much to handle. Surfside Beach, where I ran my last marathon looks devastated. I hope the marathon organizers have a beach to work with for next year's race. It was such a cool event.

All My Bikes Are Trashed

2008-09-16T13:51:00.002-06:00

I finally finished stripping the paint from the frame I bought for $30. After all the Dremel Tool buffers and brushes I used, I could've had the thing sandblasted cheaper and I woul've kept a lot of crap out of my lungs. Not only that, as pieces of wire brush came off the bit, they eventually wound up in the bottom of my foot as I walked across the garage for my beer.

The bikes are all taken apart as I'm rebuilding the fixed gear up from the frame up, taking parts from each of the bikes and then will reassemble them with what works best for each.

The half ironman triathlon is looking real iffy at this point. The hip is taking longer to get well, as is the plantar fasciitis. The knee has healed up but my workouts have been less than required preparing for a half ironman with mom in the hospital. I've also strayed away from my diet and so the planned ten pounds of weight loss came off and has since reappeared in the last week eating in the cafeteria.

With that said, the best thing may be to plan for a season of half marathons and let this triathlon and bike time trial season go.

As We Age At Some Point We Should Not Jump Off Of Second Story Party Boats

2008-08-28T08:29:00.002-06:00

Yeah.

That was Sunday and as soon as I did it, it felt like my right leg was pulled away from the hip. Ouch! It wasn't like I was trying He Chong the dive or anything. It just shows that as we age body parts work differently than they did before.

With the hip business going on, I tried to run on Tuesday and got about 20 feet before turning around, went back into the house and grabbed my swim gear. Outside of no runs, all the other workouts have been the same.

The neighborhood pool has been filthy the last two Tuesdays, which is the day after the cleaning, so I don't know who's dropping the ball there. I couldn't even get into the pool this morning as my access card wouldn't work. Maybe they cut my access for complaining about the filth. I might have to go to plan b and swim at another pool for the rest of the season.

Just Found

2008-08-22T09:16:00.003-06:00

I just found this gold nugget of information.

"Since muscles which go through growth in size but not in length, when one muscle grows through hypertrophy its opposite side muscle (the antagonist) will have to lengthen, and absolute flexibility is the term to describe a muscle's length, in and of itself, where relative flexibility is the flexibility of a joint, as compared to its antagonistic movement[1]."

"For example, the calf muscle extends the foot towards the ground (plantarflexion) and the shin muscle flexes the foot in the opposite direction (dorsiflexion). If a person's calf is overly strong it will not be as flexible as the opposite shin muscle, and plantarflexion will be exhibit relatively inflexible as compared to dorsiflexion using the person's weaker, but more flexible shin muscle."

So as I've been strengthening the calf muscles, I've been increasing the likelihood of plantar fasciitis. I either have to increase the strength of the shin, or reduce the strength work of the calves.

Still Learning

2008-08-19T12:49:00.003-06:00

Long time, no post.

I was sick for a week and I've had plantar fasciitis since April. I finally licked the PF with some new Dr. Scholl's Heel Pain Relief Orthotics. I've been transferring the one pair of orthotics to each pair of shoes I wear so they're constantly with me. They have made a huge improvement in the PF pain. It's almost non-existent at this point.

When I looked back I had quit wearing my orthotics in the spring when I got some new shoes. In the new two or three pair I received, I didn't place orthotics in the heal and subsequently felt intense heel pain. I blamed it on one 10K I ran on hard roads and not on removing orthotics from the shoes.

The pool's chemicals were jacked up the day before I got sick. It didn't help that I had almost no sleep the night before and woke to do a swim, bike and run to exhaustion. I didn't get the flu but a bad sinus infection where I'm still slingin ' snot rockets as I run. I think most people just call it "The Crud."

Outside of the congestion, training got back to a serious level last week. I don't think I'll be ready for a Sept. 1 Olympic, but I just may be ready for the Oct. 5 Half Ironman, here in Austin.

Recently

2008-07-24T12:10:00.000-06:00

The new image up above came from my commute in last week. It's taken from a section of the Shoal Creek trail, underneath one of the bridges. You can smell and hear the bats living within the bridge's crevasses as you pass through. For over a year I missed this section as I took another route past retail shops, hopping back and forth onto the sidewalk, depending on the traffic and the temperament of myself and the drivers. I no longer go that route, instead trading it for the Shoal Creek trail.

As Poi Dog Pondering said in their song, The Ancient Egyptians, "...you get to know things better when they go by slow."

Point in fact... swami bike man. I call him that as he rides with his arms extended over his head and his hands together in prayer position. I have yet to see swami bike man lower his arms. I mean he has to when he gets to an intersection. Right?

I also found myself crossing paths on my commute with thong bike man. The guy had nothing on but a thong. He walked his bike across the intersection. I knew that's what you wanted to know. Right? Heh heh.

I'm really getting to enjoy the Tour this year. It's definitely easier with Versus showing the stage thee times per day. Yesterday's L’Alpe d’Huez was absolutely everything it should've been. And best yet, was no news of drugs during the day.

I finally got my time trial time back to what it was at the end of last year. To the tenth of a second I tied my best Tuesday night. I just bought a Limar Crono Time-trial carbon helmet a few days before the race on eBay. I'm sure it helped to reduce the time but there was also a ten mph head wind coming back the last four miles of the course. So I cut a minute off the front four miles and gained a minute, ten seconds on the way back. And it was also 100 degrees at the time. So the conditions weren't the same as a few weeks ago to really get a gauge of whether I'm faster or the helmet made me faster.

Dara Torres

2008-07-01T14:46:00.003-06:00

What a great article in the NY Times this past weekend. It's about the 41-year old swimmer, Dara Torres that's competing for a spot on the Olympic Swim Team. There are little gold nuggets of information throughout the article plus a stretching video with some new ones in there.

Mornings Are Fresh

2008-07-01T07:55:00.001-06:00

Changing over to the morning run wasn't easy. I got into waking up early last year but for some reason, this year I like sleeping later. So if I had any doubts about it, today the air in Austin will be more polluted by the afternoon. Not only that, the CNN broadcast this morning had a report about how many of the sunscreen products got failing grades. Mine was one of those listed. Ug! So in the wee hours of the morning the air is cleaner, the UV is less or non-existant, the pool water is cleaner and the temperature is cooler. All will be well once I embrace 4:30 AM once again.

From Bicycling Magazine's August Issue, "According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, as many as 64,000 people a year in the United States die prematurely of causes that are related to air pollution. One of my neighbors passed a week ago. He was 71 and cycled every day for a couple of hours. The autopsy showed high levels of pollution in his lungs. I guess cycling in the middle of the day is a bad idea.

I have to get into the habit of looking at the pollution levels as I have been with temperature and humidity. it just makes sense.

Summer Pollutants Are Forcing Me To The Morning

2008-06-30T13:48:00.003-06:00

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of heat index--and ozone--and carbon monoxide--
And why the air is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."

I was just getting acclimated to the heat. I had my NUUN tablets, the amount of water intake, the colder shower, the post-run Accelerade and potassium drinks working and getting me back to normal. Nooooooooooooooo. It's all gone. The friggin' ozone levels and the carbon monoxide levels are reading at unsafe levels for sensitive groups. It's not like it's a one day out of the week thing. It's forecasted for tomorrow too and with the way this weather pattern goes, so goes the air.

Get this. In my August Bicycling Magazine Dave Zabriskie says, "...but Zabriskie laughs when news shows characterize moderate air-quality days as unhealthy for "sensitive" people. 'It's unhealthy for everyone.' he says."

So rather do more damage to my body than the good I'm receiving by running, I'll just push the runs to the mornings again when the air is clean, or as clean as it's going to get.

Bike Fit

2008-06-26T08:06:00.000-06:00

I was reading Chris Carmichael's book the other night and it mentioned Greg LeMond's formula for seat height (inseam x .883). I took mine which came out to 28.25 and then went and ran the ruler on the three bikes. The fixxie was closest at 30" and that's after I kicked it up an inch last week. So it was really close. The tri bike and the road bike were both set to 33". The considerably over the 28.25 with the LeMond formula. I drug out my bike fit measurements that Jerry at Castle Hill Fitness did last year or the year before and it was 75.3 cm or 29.6". Crap. No wonder I have no power on the flats. I was overextending the legs big time.

Feeling Hot Hot Hot

2008-06-26T07:28:00.003-06:00

We've been under a high pressure system for what seems like weeks now. I've tried to run in the mornings when it's cooler but it's just so humid. I forgot the woman I got this from but she said she wouldn't run when the temperature and humidity numbers summed were over 125. So if the temperature is 90 and the humidity is 36% she's at the point where she won't run. Her point was that once it got to that point, the body took too long to recover. Experimenting with this I find it's true for me as well.

The morning weather has seen temps in the high 70s with humidity in the 80% range. This combines for a total of 150 and clearly over the 125 threshold. I've included a few morning runs but the afternoon runs, even with temps at 100 degrees, are more comfortable. The humidity is around 17% and with a temp of 100, the combined total is below the 125 threshold. Comfortable, given I have electrolyte tablets with me, sunscreen, run at an easy pace and then cool off in Barton Springs or with the outdoor, cool water shower at the end of the trail.

I took the fixxie into work with me yesterday. At lunch I rode down to Mellow Johnny's, Lance Armstrong's new bike shop at 4th and Nueces. I expected all the merchandise to be expensive but was pleasantly surprised that their were ranges of prices. Yeah, you could spend $50 for a pair of gloves but I found a pair of Trek gloves for $12 that were just fine. Looking at the bikes the same range applied. There were entry-level Treks for around $700 while a Pinarello Prince for $8500 sat right next to it. They provide free showers for commuters and a coffee shop at the back of the shop.There are so many bike shops in Austin I don't know how they can all survive but I hope Mellow Johnny's is around for a long time to come.

Bad news for Da Fish. I saw him limping down the hall yesterday. It seems the same injury to his knee he felt while running six months ago, happened again while he was cycling the other day. He may be sidelined for some time. he said he's just going to swim for the next few weeks. I think he needs to get it scanned to see if he has a tear or worse and then get it fixed or rehabbed.

June Workouts

2008-06-24T07:30:00.000-06:00

Here are the June workouts, along with a revision to the Strength Workout #1.

Back

2008-06-23T13:49:00.003-06:00

Everything would have worked if the service provider hadn't dropped my page every week or so. I'd come onto the page only to find it was 0 kilobytes, meaning there was nothing there. For those that don't know, I had dropped this blog for a free consolidation of all my Web properties. It was ok but lacked the simplicity that Blogger offers. So I'm back and blogging here again.

To catch up I've only really had one event since leaving. That was the CapTexTri, Olympic distance. Long race report short, it reflected my training to a tee. The swim was almost as good as the end of last season with only one or two swims before the event. The cycling, which is was I did most over the winter months, increased 3 mph over my best time last year. My run was horrible as by the time I got to the run, it was blistering hot. Overall I was pleased.

I took three weeks off of running after that event. It's the only time of the season where I can take that much time off. My knees thanked me. they feel much better now. They also feel better as a result of my Saturday yoga sessions. Yoga for runners every Saturday morning at 8 o'clock. It's amazing how much of a workout it entails and how much my hips, hams and quads get out of it. My legs feel much more rubbery afterwards.

Another change for this year is staying off the concrete and asphalt. It's only trails, grass or dirt from now on unless it's for a race. I've been cycling on the fixed gear bike to and from the trails. The legs aren't as stiff by staying on the trails.

I'll post the new schedule for the summer in the next day or so.

Working On The Weaknesses

2008-03-07T13:19:00.003-07:00

After the marathon I kept lifting regularly up until last week. I don't know if I'm burned out, in transition between running season and triathlon season or just fooling around with different workouts.

This week I decided to change gears and do a workout that, a) doesn't require a gym and b) works on my weaknesses of abs and chest while c) still keeps some fitness going with the legs. The workout in the image reflects an hour workout that also includes a 20-minute warm-up on the stationary bike. This is replacing my gym workout. I'm still running three times a week with much less mileage. Cycling is whenever I have some free time.

Surfside Beach Marathon Race Report

2008-02-18T06:24:00.002-07:00

It's been over a week and the race report is not finished. I don't know if it'll ever get finished. I don't have much enthusiasm to finish it. I can sum up the race in that it was great for the knees and ankles, bad for the quads and it may have been great for the quads if it hadn't been so hot. Either my stomach shut down, it was too hot and I underestimated the amount of fluids to take in or I'm just not cut out to go 26.2 miles in a short amount of time.

This was supposed to be my last marathon. I'm not saying never again but I will be looking at shorter running races this year and specifically in the ten-mile or half marathon length course. The marathon monster spirit may get into my head again but it's gone for now.

I worked the medical tent of the AT&T Austin Marathon yesterday and seeing the battered and fatigued marathoners just reinforced my decision to go with shorter distances from now on.

Surfside Beach Marathon Race Report

2008-02-10T19:49:00.000-07:00

The top photograph is how the marathon started. Sixty-one or 62 degrees, a nice breeze, a picturesque sunrise and a total field of runners at or about 500.

The bottom photograph is how the marathon ended. That's not a sand storm in the background but fog. Seventy-degrees, 95% humidity, a very slight tail wind and about 50-feet of visibility.

...more to come

Thai Soup (Neua Tun)

2008-01-31T08:10:00.000-07:00

Nothing like a little pho soup to give the immune system a kick in the pants. But yesterday I changed from my traditional Vietnamese Pho Soup to a Thai soup called Neua Tun. A little thicker broth, but other than that it was just like my beef pho soup. Mmmmmmm. I could just feel the germs retreating in fear.

The Germs Are Everywhere

2008-01-29T07:27:00.000-07:00

I had to go get K at school right before my noon workout today. The school nurse called and said she was sick and needed to go home. Half of her class is out with a bug, the bug or some combination of bug, cold, flu, or allergies. A lot of sneezing going on in our 30' x 30' office. Boxes of Kleenex sitting next to each one. ARGH! This is what happened in 2006 and I got the flu ten days out from the marathon. It's time to start downing the Emergen-C product Immune Defense and plan on sleeping on the couch. I've invested four months of training and it's so close to not take precuations.

I read last night that getting to mile 20 is half the race. I'd disagree and change to the starting line is the half way mark. Too much injury-wise or health-wise can screw up getting to that starting line. Then the 20 mile mark is 75% done. It's the last 6.2 miles that takes up the last 25% of the race.

The legs feel great. Actually, they feel better than ever before I can remember when running. I'm working on the mental aspect of the race now. Short mantras, running in unfavorable weather and running past the feel-good point is helping.

Spirit of the Marathon

2008-01-28T19:14:00.000-07:00

I went to see Spirit of the Marathon last week and wasn't disappointed at all. It's a great documentary to see if you're a marathoner or a significant other of a endurance athlete. The movie followed six athletes, from beginner to elite, as they prepared for the 2006 Chicago Marathon (the one that didn't blow up). It was very interesting to see others point of view on training, eating, nervousness. I especially like to watch the Kenyans running. When I've seen them on the trails I thought they all used the same basic form but in the movie it was apparent they were different. At least the Kenyans in the movie were. If you didn't get a chance to see the movie, there will be another showing in February.

Let's See....Uh..No!

2008-01-14T07:24:00.000-07:00

I received an email this morning from the triathlon race directors from the race that was cancelled last year. It's been almost a year since the cancellation of the spring event and this is the first I've heard from them. They have offered a discount to this year's event and planned for a rain date. I was intrigued. A little late but I wanted to find out how much of a discount for athlete's that payed the money only to not be able to race and not hear where the money went. Did the race beneficiary get their money?

It looked like the fees were more than last year. I checked the discount versus the regular price and it's a mere $20 discount. Wow, why bother. The regular fee is $120 and the discounted fee is $100. Big deal. And the price is really high for not being an Ironman distance or Ironman event.

I Googled other events in the area and found a few that are around $50. Half the cost. I think I'll be skipping the expensive spring race and adjust the schedule to find another one for half the cost. I'll put my money in support of the events that are a little more communicative with their athletes, support worthwhile causes and put on a kick-ass race.

No Damage Done

2008-01-08T19:33:00.000-07:00

I was dreading what the holidays could do to my weight and eventually to my race weight come Feb. 9 but even though there were quite a few parties and each one had an extended buffet line, the damage was kept to a minimum. Same weight going in as coming out of the holiday season. The bad news was there was no progress to get down to race weight. Given the buffets, I'll take breaking even.

Here's a summary of a few things that have happened since mid-December.

I've banned margaritas and mexican martinis from the house, the neighborhood, and south of the river until the day after the race.
It's a good thing that I've entered long runs of 20 miles the past few weeks or the added weight would've been depressing.
Pretzels and Twizzlers have worked on three, 20-mile runs so I can bank on them working for the marathon.
While it sounds good to wear light weight Nike Frees for 26.2 miles, they caused four large blisters and caused my calves and quads to cramp by mile 16 of the last 20-mile run.
When the temperature is above 70 degrees and the mileage to run exceeds 15 miles, electrolyte replacement (more than pretzels) is required.
Not icing the legs in cold water adds another day to recovery after a 20-mile run.
Not massaging the legs post race adds another day of recovery after a 20-mile run.
Cycling the day after a long run is a must.

Besides coordination of some Austin Marathon logistics, this spring I'll be coordinating the 5K training program where I've been a coach for the past two years. Add onto that the coordination of the 10K program as well, which started today with a different location and different employees. Things got so busy this past week I missed three workouts in a row which then got me a little bitchy. Not too bad as last weeks 20-mile run, although not run in the proper shoes, was completed without coughing up a lung or having cramps. It felt the legs were good for Feb. 9.

There might be an additional training program or two. I went to a luncheon today where there was discussion of recruiting some of our employees to run a certain fall marathon and half-marathon. This could turn into a full-time job, just coordinating these things.

This week is a recovery week of sorts with a 15-mile long run this weekend and then next week finishes the last of the long weeks and then a slow taper towards the race. I've decided to bypass the 3M Half Marathon this year. I think it's too close to the marathon on Feb. 9 and I'd want to run it as an A-race and try and PR which could be bad for the marathon. It's better to bypass it and come back to it later next year.

A Seagull's Eye View

2007-12-18T07:37:00.000-07:00

Here's a seagull's eye view of the Surfside Beach Marathon route I'll be running Feb. 9. You can click on the image above to see a larger view or this route URL to be able to zoom in and out. http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1502934

Nailing the Four Aspects of Training

2007-12-17T07:13:00.000-07:00

My motivation to get a good 18-mile run in was stronger than my weakness for not getting out in the cold. Instead of starting at 7:00 a.m. though, I made it onto the trail at 10:00 a.m. so the freezing weather the night before had a chance to warm up to a balmy 40-degrees. My plan for the day was to get through 18 miles without stopping and on top of that, feel good after the 18 miles. In past runs the wheels had come off by mile 16. Whether it was due to extreme cold, wind, improper nutrition, shoes wear or whatever, I'd never felt good for a complete 18-mile run.

My run of last week felt bad. I started off feeling great but by the time I hit the 16-mile-mark, I was done and had to walk the last four miles to get the 20 in. I was determined to break it down and analyze what had gone wrong. If you believe running is a combination of physical, mechanical, nutritional and mental aspects, and that you need all four to achieve success, then you need to REALLY look at what's going on with every run and listen to the body. Last weekend I disassociated with my music player and it didn't work for me. Not only was I not able to get back into the mental state once I turned it off, I wasn't able until some time later to figure out what went wrong.

A number of things went wrong on that run. Later in the week I identified a pain in the heel, caused by less than adequate cushioning. I placed a couple of Heal My Heels in the shoes and they worked great! I realized that during the Longhorn Half-Ironman that even in the heat that I was able to keep going by eating Twizzlers and pretzels and water. I packed up two plastic bags full of the red candy and long breadstick-shaped pretzels. I layered my clothing for the cold weather and decided rather than run two, 10-mile loops, I'd run 4 x 4.5-mile loops and that would allow me to drop off clothing or to pick up more nutrition at the car. Lastly, I decided to go music free for the run.

By looking at the run from all four aspects, the changes I made contributed to the first 18-mile run I've done with continuous running and no walking, plus, that I felt great afterwards. I didn't walk like a 100-year-old grandpa. Granted the weather was 35-degrees cooler and that played into things, but the nutrition helped, the lack of music helped, the mechanical changes to the shoes helped and with last week's bad run, there were still 20 miles completed so the body did adapt in some form or fashion to the stress placed on it.

I didn't get a chance to ice the knees so that caused some inflammation throughout yesterday and today. I didn't drink enough water yesterday so I had a strong headache throughout the afternoon and evening. If I can nail down everything...all four aspects and everything within, then the marathon should be a great experience come Feb. 9.

Goodbye Austin Marathon, Hello Surfside Beach Marathon

2007-12-12T14:26:00.000-07:00

It's with a little disappointment that I'm leaving the Austin Marathon behind. I had to realize that I just can't coordinate all that I'm planning for, in terms of medical team media materials and alike, and then run 26.2 miles at the same time. It might be that I have others take over most, if not all, of the race-day activities. And if that's the case, then I'll run but just in case I have a Plan B. Plan B will consist of running the Surfside Beach Marathon, which I already registered for as it was filling up and had only 80 slots left.

The Surfside Beach Marathon is the only marathon and half-marathon in the U.S. run entirely on a beach! That means it could be the most wise decision of my running career or the most stupid. I looked at photographs from previous events to see if the sand was hard-packed or not and it was. I also read other runners feedback on hard-pack sand running and it was complimentary. So will it give my knees a break, compared to asphalt and concrete? Will it cause other muscles to compensate and cause fatigue? Who knows? I plan to go down and do a test with various pairs of shoes. It may be that the Nike Free is the way to go.

Training has been going well. I haven't posted daily about it because I hate to get on here every day and say, "The run was good, legs felt good, yada, yada, bling blang." The program I have is making me faster as I reached 7:01 minute miles last night for the five-mile speed workout. The 20-mile run last weekend felt like crap once I reached the 17th mile but that could be from a lack of nutrients, but more likely that I need to do it a lot more to get the body to adapt to the distance. There's another 20-miler for this weekend and the weather will be cold...maybe around 30 degrees. This week I'll take some food with me to simulate what'll happen on race day and then see how I feel.

I ran with tunes last weekend and may leave them at home this week for the long run. I felt with everything I had I was loaded down and I don't like that feeling. I found my mantra doesn't work well when music is blaring. It didn't work well after turning the music off either. maybe I'd listened to too much music. Music gets me through some workouts and I tend to like it for hills or speed workouts, but the long run it didn't apply. I think because the long run is slow and the music I have on the player is at a high number of beats per second.

My training group finished their race last Saturday night. About 60-70 showed up for the pre-race warmup and a little smack talk between the teams. Although our team clearly should've won the trophy with three-times as many people as the other hospital, the trophy is sitting in a neutral office until the results can be verified. There were way too many people signed up, the person singing the national anthem forgot the words, it was too hot but the Trail of Lights were fabulous, the margs afterwards were tasty and my running students were great! The next round of 10K training starts Jan. 7 and the 5K training in Feb. I got spoiled with two other coaches helping me out this session. For the spring session the program will go back to a single coach per 10 or 20 people.

Opossum Temple of Voodoo Pew

2007-12-04T20:23:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine who reads this blog sent me the link to an article reflecting on a guy at the local trail. He's seen at a point on the trail I was unfamiliar with. When asked where that point was she said it was near a bridge I ran past every day. I mean every day for the last 2 1/2 years and never knew it was there. It's called the Opossum Temple of Voodoo Pew and there's a HUGE concrete red couch there to sit and look at the view (see photo). Wow! We walk, run or drive past jewels every day and don't know they're there. Amazing how that works out.

Well tonight I dropped by Opossum Temple of Voodoo Pew took a snapshot with the camera phone and marveled at the sunset where Barton Springs joins the Colorado River, otherwise known as Lady Bird Lake. It was the best run I've had in my life. Not because I found Opossum Temple of Voodoo Pew, although that contributed, but because of the feeling I had for the entire run. I was able to maintain a 7:21/minute pace for the entire five miles. This was a first. The temperature was 64 degrees which felt great. The legs felt great. The pace felt great. To have felt that run made the last two and a half years of training all worth it. Even more than the Half Ironman Triathlon or running a marathon. This is what I was shooting for when I got off the couch and first went for a jog. To feel good while running at a good clip. Not as fast as the elite runners but as fast as I wanted to achieve at age 46. Hell yeah, it was all worth it.

Intervals To A New Level

2007-11-29T12:17:00.000-07:00

I received my latest issue of Bicycling Magazine in the mail yesterday. The only part I've absorbed from the issue was Chris Carmichael's interval workout called Bust A Gut. It's basically like mine but the intervals are based on time (2 minutes) rather than reaching a certain heart rate and then sustaining it for a certain time. I think it works out to longer intervals and more of them. I definitely hurt more, sweat more and felt like I had ridden harder with these changes.

Bust a Gut!

6 minute: warmup
1 min.: fast pedal, spinning a light gear as fast as you can
1 min.: recovery spinning
1 min.: fast pedal
1 min.: recovery spinning
5x2 min. @ max intensity, w/ 2 min. recovery spinning between each
6 min. recovery spinning
5x2 min. @ max intensity, w/ 2 min. recovery spinning between each
8 min. cooldown
TOTAL TIME: 60 MIN.

Paces

2007-11-12T06:24:00.000-07:00

Here's a breakdown of the current running paces. This week the mileage is pushed up to 34 with a long run of 15 on Saturday.

	speed workout	tempo workout	long run
mileage	5	7	15
minutes/mile	7:30	8:30	9:30
heart rate	160-170	150-160	135-145
% of max HR	86 - 92%	81 - 86%	73 - 78%

Working Out The Glitches

2007-11-07T09:43:00.000-07:00

I'm getting the glitches worked out of the new running program. As the miles were increasing the knees held up, although the left knee has an issue with the lateral patellar retinaculum, patellar tendon or the meniscus. There was a sharp pain for just a second and then it was gone. It felt like a guitar string being thumped. Once it did it's thing everything was fine. One really bad workout happened on a tempo run where all bones and muscles ached. This has happened at least once every year and I have no idea what causes it. The Sunday following the bad workout, I felt fine getting through 15 miles. No issues.

Since I'm in a strength building phase I've been really hungry, eating a lot of protein and gaining weight. I don't know if all of the weight is additional muscle mass. So to make sure I'm logging all of my calories burned against caloric intake. I've never had to do this in the past but with new cravings it's the only way I can really determine if I'm really in a deficit of calories by the days end, while also monitoring whether or not I'm taking in the proper nutrition to rebuild.

Last night's speed workout went great. I ran 7:33/mile for five miles and then three easy before soaking the legs in Barton Springs. I think my legs would feel a lot worse right about now if I hadn't found out about soaking the legs in cold water.

Homemade Energy Drink

2007-11-01T13:00:00.000-06:00

Just as I learned that there are better, cheaper forms of sodium and electrolyte replacements than what can be found in a gel or gu, I've now discovered the same thing with energy drinks. I'm not talking about the ADES, namely Accelerade, Gatorade and Powerade. I still believe in Accelerade with it's 4:1 ratio of carbs to protein for a post cardio workout or race. No, what I think is a rip off are the energy drinks like Red Bull, Full Throttle and alike. Don't get me wrong. They work very well. One of my coworker's boyfriend works for one of the energy drink companies and she brings in samples. They get me through the day just fine allowing me to do two or three days worth of work in one. No, they work. It's just that they cost too much. You have to pay $2.99 per drink and I think that's taking advantage of the hype.

Well today we ran out of the free stock of energy drinks at the office. I've been mixing them with creatine, glutamine and whey protein as a shooter before and after a lifting workout. Today, for some reason I refused to pay the $2.99 per can of energy so I decided to make my own.

1 12 oz. can Diet Big Red (30 mg sodium, 38 mg caffeine) $.69
1 .3 oz packet of Emergen-C Immune Defense fizzy drink mix (6g Sugar, 1,000 mg Vit C, other) $.18
1 tspn Creatine Monohydrate $.17
200 mg caffeine $.11
1 scoop (24 g) Designer Whey protein Strawberry (1 g fat, 2 g Sugar, Protein 18 g + Potassium, Magnesium, Sodium, and others.) $.40

Great taste, less sugar, more of the good stuff my body needed and a lot cheaper. Total cost was $1.55 for all of the ingredients. And at 238 mg caffeine, it contains more than most of the energy drink products on the market.

Ice Bath

2007-10-29T08:56:00.000-06:00

I'm a big fan of cooling down the legs after a long run, but not a fan of sitting in an ice bath. The last time I tried it, I lasted all of three seconds. For some reason it took me a a year to connect the dots between a long run at Lady Bird Lake and the cold water at Barton Springs. All I had to do was to park the car across the street at the springs.

Let me tell you that the feeling is incredible. My legs have never felt better after a long run.

Here are a few photos of the place.

Frankenbike #26

2007-10-27T20:10:00.000-06:00

I'm glad I went to the 26th Frankenbike on Saturday. The weather was perfect and the location, a fairly new warehouse, made the traders come out of the woodwork to sell their treasures. All three of my bikes are basically complete but I could always use an upgrade here and there. Here's what I came away with.

Two cycling jerseys. Value = $120. Paid $10
One long-sleeved wool jacket. Value = $140. Paid $15
Pearl Izumi Cycling Bib Short. Value = $80. Paid $5
Pair of Look clipless pedals. Value = $70. Paid $10
One Specialized saddle. Value = $99. Paid $15
Pair of Rudy Project sunglasses. Value = $140. Paid $5

Some of the items I was looking for were too high or not available at Frankenbike. No worries as Nashbar.com had the items I needed for 50% off.

Running Guru of the Southwest

2007-10-25T15:08:00.000-06:00

Last night called for an easy five miles. Da Fish and I ran an easy five at the Lady Bird Lake trail before I headed down to train my Seton/Runtex University runners. The workout called for intervals @ 85%. I was hesitant as I'd already done a speed workout the day before trying to keep up with Da Fish who through the smackdown that he completed the five miles doing sub-eight-minute-miles. I had no way of knowing whether he did or not but that didn't matter. Whether he did or not he was more than capable and I had to meet it. 38:38 which came out to 7:43 per mile.

So my legs were a little sore from the night before and I then had an interval workout @ 85%. 10 x 250 meters with 50 meter light jog between each one. I took off running with the Running Guru of the Southwest to what seemed like a little faster than my speed workout pace the night before. I flipped on the HR monitor to check out the output and WHOA!

Me: "My HRM says I'm clicking off 180. Last night I did 7:43 miles at 171 HR so we must be at 7:30 or 7:15 now."

RGSW: "Oh, this seems faster than 7:15 pace."

I didn't know if I'd bust a lung, puke or just pass out at that point. I kept working in my head the maximum heart rate formula of 220-age=max HR, which is bogus, and really had no bearing on reality.

I realized at that point that I needed to go to the next level of training. That I'd held back a little not really knowing what my max HR was and tended to hold back.

Run Schedule

2007-10-22T14:00:00.000-06:00

Click on the image to zoom in. The letter S represents a Speed workout, T = tempo, L = long, E = Easy and M stands for Miles. The speed and tempo workouts will vary as intervals, Fartlek, or other.

Compared to the last time I trained for a marathon, this schedule will get more 20+ mile runs under my belt by race day. It'll increase the amount of weekly miles by about 20. It'll incorporate weight training for strength, as well as speed work. Two additional changes will be a weekly soaking of the legs in Barton Springs to cool them down. I tried it out yesterday and outside of slipping on the algae, it was fabulous. My legs don't even feel like they went for a long run yesterday. I'll also be massaging them at least once a day and sometimes twice with my new powerful massager. And last but not least, I'll be stretching with yoga on a daily basis in the evening with core work in the mornings. The abs are in good shape but the lower back needs a lot of work.

Tri Season is Closed, Run Season is Open

2007-10-22T13:32:00.000-06:00

I took a couple of weeks to reflect on the 2007 triathlon season. It didn't start out that well with a cancellation of the CapTexTri but beat expectations with two great triathlons; the Austin Tri and the Longhorn Half Iron. I especially reflected on what worked and didn't work, making notes for next season.

Last week I started training for a marathon, but without much of a plan. I got in a speed workout, a tempo workout and a long run but hadn't planned on much of anything else. So this past weekend I put pencil to paper and sketched out the workouts for the next 17 weeks leading up to the AT&T Austin Marathon on Feb. 17, 2008. Surprisingly, it came out looking a lot like Amby Burfoot's Intermediate Schedule located in his book, Runner's World Complete Book of Running. The mileage will climb to a max of 55 miles per week on Dec. 31, and then coast into the 3M Half Marathon, one last long run of 20 miles and then it's tapering up to Feb. 17. I'll post the exact numbers later today.

Strength work in the gym worked well last year and definitely improved my times so I'm going to repeat it. Swim and bike workouts will be kept to a minimum in the next month. I'm tired of both and need a break. I'll add some more cycling as soon as it feels right.

Not even a week into the weight room routine I had to switch to the strawberry-flavored whey protein, as compared to the chocolate or vanilla flavors. I mixed it with some water and bluebrry/cranberry juice and some creatine and it wasn't bad.

This year, I'm involved with planning some of the marathon logistics so I hope to be able to run it and not be on a walkie talkie. I'm training as if I'm running the thing.

Race Nutrition

2007-10-09T08:14:00.000-06:00

Here's the breakdown of what I ate and drank during the race. Turns out that the total calories came in exactly the same as my BMR. Also interesting was the amount of sodium ingested at 4753 mg. I get sodium headaches real easy and not a hint of one during the day of the race. If I ate four small pretzels during a normal day that would be enough to give me a sodium headache. I estimate that 4753 mg is about double my normal intake.

See the race report below to see what form the food or drink was in and brands used.

calories: 1754
ounces: 101
caffeine: 78 mg
calcium: 223 mg
fat: 10 g
magnesium: 49 mg
potassium: 904 mg
protein: 33 g
sodium: 4753 mg
sugar: 179 g

Bike Route - Longhorn Half Ironman

2007-10-09T07:06:00.000-06:00

Here's the bike route with elevation. Once on the page, you may need to click on the display elevation button to see it or click on the image above. The distance was longer than the 56 miles due to some construction.

The last 6.3 miles included a steady climb of 172.5 feet. That same elevation was later used for a portion of the run, which was on grass trail.

If you're into the nitty gritty of the elevation, you can click on the RAW data (CSV) link in the elevation window and open it in a spreadsheet reader. The link here may or may not work.

Longorn Half Ironman - Race Report

2007-10-08T08:05:00.000-06:00

What a great race! They just need to rename it the Hotter-than-Hell Longhorn Half Ironman. If you read of the closure of the Chicago Marathon yesterday with 88-degree temps (heat index of 91), we had our share of the heat with 92-degree temps and a heat index of 105. This made for a long afternoon and you couldn't skip any of the water stations. Several athletes were seen on the side of the trail or rode with cramps. After the race I saw about 20 people on IVs or covered in ice.

When I ran my first marathon a couple of years back I had doubts during the second half of the race. Why I was out there? Clearly I had overstepped my fitness in that case. Yesterday, even with the heat, I felt as good as I could have. While my legs approached cramps several times, I knew I was going to be able to finish and be just about on predicted time. 38 minutes over the estimate but within reason. I ended up finishing in sub-seven hours and that was my main goal plus I didn't end up in the medical tent as a bonus.

The race organizers and the volunteers were to thank for me not being in the medical tent. Two misting tents, one misting blower, water sponges throughout the course, water cannons and hoses at one stop, and a complete athlete's grocery store at each rest station made it possible to keep the heart rate down and get a boost of energy throughout the day. I had loaded up on about $25 worth of gels and other product and it came down to simplicity yesterday. I've now learned that I do best on pretzels, Twizzlers, water, Accelerade, NUUN and Thermolyte capsules. Anything with too much sugar, like a gel, my stomach went through periods of pain.

During the race yesterday I took in the following;

Accelerade 40 oz.
Pretzels 6 oz.
Twizzlers 2.5 oz
Pepsi 12 oz.
NUUN 4 tablets with 40 oz water
Clif Shot Bloks - 1 package
Enlyten Sport Strips 1 package of 18 strips
Thermolyte 3 capsules
water 30 oz.

The Swim

Other than white swim caps instead of bright pink swim caps, there's not much to report. There was a little bit of a hydrilla problem when we first left the start area. The feeling of entanglement from the hydrilla made it impossible to get any flow going. Once away from the weeds, everything calmed down. This time I didn't swim on top of anyone, nor did they swim on top of me. Compared to the sprint and Olympic distance races, I didn't have a kick.

The Bike

Caliente did great throughout the ride. I'd even bought a multi-tool the day before the race just in case but I didn't need it once. Mavic provided SAG support and they had full bike and wheels for any mishaps along the way. Mavic rode yellow and black motorcycles with four wheels splayed on the back. I also purchased the day before the race a Profile Design double water bottle cage for the back of the seat. This really came in handy as it gave me access to two, 20 oz. bottles of NUUN. I ended up keeping one water bottle cage, of the four, with nothing in it so I could grab water along the way.

The course was tough. Not easy and flat but not all hills either. A good mix of both with some tough hills at the last mile before entering the park. I haven't plotted the elevation changes so maybe I'll do that for homework next week. My bike computer never really got going even though the battery was good. I put it on at the last minute and didn't really give it a good test. I tried once during the race to adjust it but gave up when my fingers glanced the rotating spokes. I thought it better to ride with fingers than know how fast I was going.

Although the road bike felt good, I still longed for aero bars that I could ease the elbows down on. One of the reasons I took Caliente was to ease the work on the hamstrings, which it did but the quads took the brunt and I payed for that choice in the run. So Salsa Verde will be the bike for triathlons and Caliente for more road-type rides.

RANT- A few athletes on the course were tossing bottles and everything else on the side of the road, even when they'd been told to toss it at a station. That's not too much to ask to carry garbage until the next stop. So quite a few athletes turned 56 miles of nice countryside into a trash can, strewn with gel wrappers and bottles.

The Run

One word...BRUTAL. It was just so friggin' hot by the time the run came around. This was at noon and the clouds had parted go from partly cloudy to mostly sunny. I had taken the sunscreen out of my bag but for some reason decided not to use it. I suspect as there was a huge cloud overhead while in T2.

Early on in the run I passed people walking. I soon would start walking myself as the heat coming off the asphalt was just too much and my quads were toast. And so it went for 13.1 miles, walk, run, walk, run, stop for ice, gatorade, pretzels and Twizzlers. I started out stuffing a glass of ice down the back of my tri suit. By the end of the race it was a cup of ice for the front, a cup for the back, a cup of water for the head, a cup of water to drink.

Quad pain, cramps or heart rate; if any of these three were to a certain boiling point, I started walking. Unlike the marathon though, after a couple minutes of walking and some nourishment, I was ready to go again.

One of the best pieces of advice I heard the last few months was from Peter Reid, past Kona World Ironman Champion. When it would get tough in the Hawaiian lava fields, he'd repeat a simple mantra of counting to 20. Once at 20 he'd repeat over and over again. I did this yesterday and it got me through the last ten miles of the bike and through the entire half marathon. I mixed in a few of the "legs feel great" and "no pain" mantras as well. With the race yesterday, it was the first time I'd experience the mental side of triathlon. I got just a taste of the mental mind game that I'm sure goes on with a full Ironman distance (140.6 miles) race.

I did a No No this race that could've proved disastrous. I wore a slightly broken in pair of Brooks Radius 7 with about 20 miles on them. The last time I did something like this I had big blisters but not during this race. The shoes worked out very well and were very comfortable throughout the run. I only did this as my worn out pair of Asics did wear blisters in two places the last outing so they weren't going to make another 13.1 miles.

The Numbers

Bib: 148
Place: 474
Age: 45 - 49
Age Group Place: 34
Gender Place: 332
Swim Place: 343
Swim Time: 44:03
Swim Pace: 2:17/M
T1 Transition: 04:55
Bike Place: 504
Bike Time: 3:19:34
Bike Pace: 16.8mph
T2: 05:33
Run Place: 442
Run Time: 2:39:57
Run Pace: 12:13/M
Final Time: 06:54:04

The Longhorn Half Ironman was a great race! It was the combination of great sponsors and great volunteers that made the race so special. I can't say enough good things about the Jack and Adam's guys. They really know their stuff and how to put on a great race time and time again. I wanted to stick around and camp out until the last bike had been picked up in the racks but I was sunburn and needed to call it a day. I had a blast. Thank you. You know the event was good when you still come away positive, even though the heat index is 105 and there's a bee problem with them covering the park. A last note. More people got stung on Saturday during and after the sprint and Olympic triathlons than had heat-related problems. On Sunday, it was the heat with the bees making an appearance but for the most part behaving themselves.

The Things I Learned

Keep the nutrition simple. Pretzels and Twizzlers are better for me than gels and goo. And cheaper.
Don't attach the bike computer in transition.
Don't try to adjust the position of the bike computer transceiver while moving on the bike.
A minimum of two pairs of socks are required.
Cheap flip flops to walk to the swim are nice, even if you never see them again.
Wear sunscreen.
Use the tri bike for tris. Aero bars are good things.
Putting on padded bike pants for the bike portion of the race worked really well.
Improve lower back strength before the next long race.
Improve shoulder strength before the next long race.
Knuckle down and drop those last five pounds before the next long race.
A beer tastes best after covering 70.3 miles by way of swimming, cycling and running. Even if it is Budweiser.

Pho Soup is in the Belly

2007-10-05T12:18:00.000-06:00

It's Pho Soup Friday and the #2, Brisket Pho with a cafe Sua Da has been acquired and it's in my belly.

The weather forecast has changed again with a lot more rain (50%) in the forecast for Saturday and Sunday. There's something about me registering for a race and then unGodly conditions prevail for the race. 103 degrees, been there, 30 mph winds during a 20-miler, done that, torrential downpour and flooding enough to cause cancellation, uh, yeah. Even ice during the marathon. So I go in wanting ideal conditions but know that it may be brutal. I'm up for anything except cancellation. I easily say that in the air conditioned comfort of the office with a belly of pho soup.

The legs felt better this morning than in a long time. Very springy. I wanted to go further than the four miles but cut it off.

ARGH!

2007-10-04T07:23:00.000-06:00

The cold front that was going to bring a high temperature on Sunday of 80 degrees isn't going to impact Central Texas as much as was earlier predicted. 90+ degrees is back in the forecast for Sunday. Argh! That means electrolyte replacement is going to be key.

The taper's going well. It's funny how my legs felt all tingly and fidgety during the taper. The added weight from last week's beer bash at the tailgate party came off. I'm glad UT's game this weekend with OU is in Dallas. Plus, with both teams losing last week, there's less weight, no pun intended, on this game, mentally for me. I'll be in mandatory pre-race meetings and racking my bike during the game.

It looks like I may be cheering for T-Mobile more next year. Two of my favorite riders, George Hincapie and Erik Zabel have recently announced they would ride for the team in 2008.

Whew! No Pink Swim Cap for Longhorn HIM

2007-10-02T07:46:00.000-06:00

There will be no hot pink swim cap for me come this Sunday. It'll be white. As some of the organizers were the same as the last triathlon, I thought there may be a chance that the swim cap color coordinator had it in for Men 45+ and was going to again designate the magenta hue on all men participating 45 years and older. Whew! Dodged that bullet.

Taper week started with a good 40-mile ride from Zilker Park, over some of the rolling hills of the inner city and then onto some good climbs to finish within couple of hours. As I proceeded to get cleaned up and head to the UT tailgate party with free beer, margaritas and BBQ, my training partner did a brick. That's a brick after a swim and a bike. I guess you could say she did a whole triathlon actually. I decided it was taper time and to make sure I would take the taper seriously, I forced myself to consume more than enough beer and BBQ so that my legs wouldn't spontaneously get up and decide to run 10 miles. Just to really make sure I wouldn't get up and head to the pool I took a couple of shots of Blue Tarantula.

I woke up Sunday and ate a whole plate of migas con chorizo to balance everything back out. It worked. Since then the taper has been going well. The stroke in the pool has felt great, the knees and the runs have felt great, as has that bike. After Saturday's ride I think I'll definitely take Caliente (road bike) for this weekend's triathlon. It'll make the 56 miles so much better, especially if there's rain which is in the forecast, along with a high of 80.

Caliente Has Arrived

2007-09-26T07:19:00.000-06:00

Da Fleet is complete! "Caliente" is the third and final bike to be built. It's a basic rode bike to be ridden for longer rides this fall and possibly some road racing or crits next spring.

I took my time for this bike build and surprisingly everything came together well. I was dreading the adjustment of the brifter's index cabling but it took no more than the tri bike. Until I find a great deal on some wheels, Caliente is sharing the wheelset from the tri bike (Salsa Verde).

Last night I couldn't wait to get on it so I took it for a spin. It was very smooth and seemed fast. The index shifting was dead on. I'll have to take it out this weekend to see how comfortable the geometry is or where it needs a tweak or two but for now it's very nice.

Here's the breakdown of parts and costs;

Cannondale frame and carbon fiber fork - $75
Bontrager carbon fiber Race Lite seat post - $20
Nashbar brakes - $30
Cabling - $30
Brake/Shifters (Brifters), Shimano Ultegra - $90
Shimano bottom bracket and Bontrager cranks - $30
Handlebars - $20
Stem - $20
Seat - $30
Rear derailleur, Shimano 105 - $20
Front derailleur, Shimano Ultegra - $25
Chain, SRAM - $14
Tape - $10

Total Cost: $414* * The wheelset will add another $120 when purchased.

You Get What You Need

2007-09-24T07:20:00.000-06:00

You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes, well you might find
You get what you need
Oh yea-ay

Another Frankenbike was scheduled for Saturday but at first it looked like it was going to be a bust. A bust meaning all buyers and no sellers. Something was not right with the 11 am start time. Even the pizza parlor, the location of this month's Frankenbike, wasn't open at that time. Four or five buyers sat around on the front deck enquiring what everyone else was looking for. One other guy was looking for a road bike rear derailleur as I was. The others kept their cards close to their vest. A couple of sellers finally showed up and I had about 20 minutes until my cycling guru friend arrived at my house, from out of town, so if this thing was going to happen it needed to happen quick.

Long story short. I went to pee, came out and one table was set up. Looked down and spotted a Shimano 105 short cage rear derailleur. How could this be. Where is the other guy?. I spotted a front derailleur and then a Bontrager carbon fiber Race Lite seat post. Pull out a few dollars and I was done.

If I'd shown enough patience with the brifters I would've been able to score some Shimano 105s which were attached to a light handlebar for $85.00. Again, this has taught me to wait for Frankenbike and if it's not there then go to Craig's list, then eBay, and then finally online retail if I have a couple of days and local retail if I need it immediately.

I started to build the road bike last night. It should take a couple more days and then I'll show you the fleet.

Breakthrough Swim Workout

2007-09-20T07:49:00.001-06:00

It's bound to happen at some point and all you really have to do is be patient. That's what I told myself over and over again about making progress. This morning's workout was one of those breakthrough workouts where something finally clicked and clicked in a BIG way.

I listened to countless podcasts of Endurance Planet and The Competitors Radio Show. I read Triathlete Magazine, Runner's World and several other online pubs and blogs each month absorbing countless factoids and info snippets. I'd probably heard everything I needed to bust through and make some great progress except it didn't happen that way. Either I didn't hear the right snippet at the right time or it wasn't presented in the right way. Even my gurus more than likely told me how to do it but it didn't feel right or I wasn't listening.

A couple of months ago I heard or read where a runner should engage their core by pulling the belly button towards the back and then scrunch/squeeze the glutes. This little piece of information radically changed my form and made running easy. A BIG WOW that day of running. A breakthrough workout.

Today, it happened again, but for the swim. I was reading 623's blog and saw the Japanese animation of Grant Hackett's swim stroke. Something pulled me into it. My animation background or the simplicity of the application, where you could really get in and analyze an Olympian's swim stroke from every angle possible. I studied it for a good hour and came away with a key difference between what I've been doing in the water and what Grant Hackett does. Actually, with him being a gold medal winner in the 1500, there's tons of difference between our strokes but here's the first one I noticed. At one point, both of Grant's arms are forward over the shoulder plane (see image above). AHA! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I could not wait until the next swim workout to try out my new found knowledge. This morning, I swam a few 25-yard lengths to warm up and start counting strokes per length (SPL). Most laps were in the 17-to-18 range with the old stroke. I then tried the new stroke with trying to reach a little further and keep the arm forward for just a tad longer. The first length produced 14 SPL. Ah, that was a fluke, I thought to myself. The second length produced a 15 SPL. Hmmm. 14, then 14, then 15, then 14, 14, 14, 15, 14. It was the first time I felt like a swimmer or at least a boat with a hull, compared to a barge.

That one change produced two other changes. First, for some reason I went from head up and feet down, basically non-horizontal, to a true horizontal position. It felt right and comfortable. Next thing was the feeling of wrapping your arms around a barrel. I'd heard of this, read of this, but I'd never felt it until today. For some reason that feeling clicked as well. All three things contributed to cutting the number of strokes from 18 to 14. A breakthrough workout. Now I have to get into the pool more in the next couple of weeks and really commit this to muscle memory.

Note 20090408! If the above animation link doesn't work, try this one.

Last Time Trial of the Season

2007-09-19T07:04:00.000-06:00

It wasn't pretty but it was a PR, even if by two seconds. 22:27.6 or 21.4 mph for the last Run-Far cycling time trial of the year. Given a side stitch halfway through the course, I'll take the PR. At least this time the handlebars stayed on the bike. ;)

Check this out. "It's also possible that food itself may add to the diaphragm's distress. A meal of less digestible, fatty food before exercising will make the stomach heavier and increase the tugging on the diaphragm."

I guess a double dose of pop tarts and Red Bull fell into that category. I only did it to compensate for the three beers I had at the pub on the way home with some soccer friends, which I agree, was a total disrespect for the sport. I don't even like soccer.

Peak Phase - September

2007-09-13T13:44:00.000-06:00

Here's the last of the half Ironman distance training schedule (click on the image to make it larger). It's been modified from its original form to place the Olympic distance event in the right spot with recovery, etc.

What happens on what day of the week is the same as it was for August and September.

This carries me through the race, which will be Oct. 7. That's just when the temperatures get a little cooler and the shift will be to outdoor running and maybe some long rides.

Pink Caps Just Don't Work For Me

2007-09-12T14:37:00.000-06:00

I thought I could deal with it. But after looking at the Austin Triathlon photos (#149) it's pretty apparent that the pink swim cap was a bust.

I totally look like one of the smurfs. I thought it was even ok when they gave the older wave the gray/silver swim caps. If the Longhorn Half IM folks do pink again, I think I'll bring my red, green,yellow, or silver cap and insert myself into the proper colored wave.

Brrrrrrrrrrr

2007-09-12T07:54:00.000-06:00

I stepped outside for this morning's run and was very happy. The temperature was in the 60s with a slight breeze. it wasn't perfect as the humidity was still in the 80ish percent area, from yesterday's two-inch rain but it was the best we've had to run in since the spring.

With the lower temps my minutes-per-mile times dropped down into the 7:xx range at the same heart rate. That felt good to get back to those times.

And the best news of all is that I scored some brifters (shifter and brake combination) on eBay the other night. It happened as all the other auctions I've won. I put in a bid and left it alone, not looking at it, not checking the email alerts, nothing. I then came back to find I'd won the auction without all the stress of refreshing the page and the anxiety that goes along with that routine or the stress from not winning the auction. I lost two auctions before it, earlier in the day, by ONE DOLLAR.

Anyway, the brifters are in the mail so I'll have the last piece to put the new roadie together and take it for a spin. Just in time for some long fall rides.

Blessed

2007-09-10T15:14:00.000-06:00

I was listening to the latest Endurance Planet, the Friday edition, and heard an audio excerpt from "First Triathlons" by Gail Waesche Kislevitz . In this chapter, they heard the story of age-grouper Rich Donnelly who had to overcome the effects of a hit-and-run accident to become a triathlete. Inspiring stuff. Take a listen if you have the time.

I really feel lucky that my accident on Friday wasn't worse. It was so easy for a bus or a car to be where I landed in the road and they would've been going 40 easily. Even flying the ten feet that I did, didn't cause long lasting damage.

Rode Saus and I are Back to Normal

2007-09-09T15:41:00.000-06:00

I woke with a pain in the middle of my back this morning. It subsided as the day wore on. I decided to go look for another wheel and stopped at a few bike shops down the road from where I was hit on Friday. The first shop had nothing for less than $109. As Rode Saus's entire cost may be around $50, I thought a single wheel at $109 would've been excessive. I then stopped by Bicycle Sports Shop. The guy I spoke to about wheels took a look at Rode Saus rear wheel and said it might only need a truing for $12.00. Hah! And indeed that's all it needed was to be put onto the stand and adjusted. The guy who did it said the next time I'd need to get a new wheel. No problem. And to add to that, he didn't charge me a nickel.

I put the wheel back on Rode Saus and it's good as new. All headaches and back pain are gone as well.

On another note, the race athletes are competing today at Ironman Wisconsin. It looks like the weather is great this year for a triathlon.

Commute Home Friday

2007-09-08T20:07:00.000-06:00

The commute home from work Friday night took a nasty turn when a truck pulled out from a stop and hit me in the side. First off, I'm OK and the bike, well, pretty much OK.

I made eye contact with the driver of the truck before pulling in front on the sidewalk. He later said that he thought I was going to ride behind him. I was lucky and it made me more aware of the cagers and their lack of a thought process.

As I started to pass his truck I heard the acceleration and immediately I tensed up. I then felt a hood touch my left cheek and a bumper on my calf with a sort of bump. The acceleration continued and I was being pushed out into the main artery of traffic. The bike gave, I flipped over the bike and I landed on my left cheek and on a backpack I was wearing. I lay there and looked back seeing a woman driving a van with her mouth wide open. The next I remember is an elderly man shouting Oh my God and looking over me. Traffic came to a stop. I got up and picked the bike up and moved to the curb. I seemed OK, the bike seemed OK and I told the elderly man that it would be OK.

When that situation happens, reality is far from the scene. A form of shock took over and nothing really made sense. I remember straightening my handlebars checking the tires and telling the man not to worry that I was fine. I mounted the bike and started back on my commute. A couple of miles in I thought pedaling was more difficult and I must be hurt somewhere. In fact, when I looked back at the rear wheel it had been bent in the crash. It was wobbling and no longer true although it could still spin.

Today, the next day, the left cheek is really sore, there are muscles in the back that are sore but not all at once and not at the same time. It's like the soreness moves from muscle to muscle.

Getting in a wreck in the SUV on the expressway last year caused me to sell my motorcycle that same week. This event will make me more cautious but not make me sell my bikes. I'll still commute to work but I may take a different route or maybe do something different. Sell them, not ride them, no way.

Commute Solutions Month - September

2007-09-07T09:11:00.000-06:00

Commute Solutions Month starts Sept. 9 but I got a jump on it this morning with a ride on Rode Saus to work. Other than riding it on the trainer, this is the first time I've taken it out since replacing the bottom bracket, the cranks and a few links on the chain. Of course it threw the chain four times in the first four miles but I eventually got the correct tension to the chain and the rest of the 15-mile commute was great. A couple of people actually let me have the right of way.

And yes, the beater bike has a new name. It's still Red Sauce, but instead of translated in Spanish, it's now Dutch, which is where my ancestors came from. So from now on or until I change my mind again, it's now know as Rode Saus.

I opened my blog this morning and noticed that my Google ad was for Accelerade. Happy Friday. Not only that, Accelerade is offering a 2-for-1 coupon on their premixed drinks. HEB, our local grocer has just started stocking the premixed drink on the shelves. Life is good on this Friday in Austin.

Lessons Learned from Austin Tri

2007-09-06T06:23:00.000-06:00

Listening to a podcast yesterday morning reinforced an important point. Final results are not immediate. Incremental results can be. It may take ten years or 10,000 hours of training to get where we want to be or to become the best that we can be. And that's clean without EPO, testosterone or any other banned substances.

Given that pearl of wisdom, and checking in with my gurus post race, I've come away from the Austin Triathlon feeling better about the race. Namely,

The swim felt good until the cramp and was as fast as last year's sprint, which was half as long.
The bike time was faster than last year's sprint, which was half as long.
The run was as fast with half as much training.
Strength work increased power and removed any back pain from the bike ride.
Starting slow, finding a pace and finishing strong with a kick on all three legs of the race proved doable and felt good.
Intervals and hill work built strength.

Lessons Learned

Gels without water upset my stomach or at least the brand or flavor I took did.
I need to take all the tools I'll need with me.
I preferred to drink my nutrients rather than use the Bento Box.
Don't forget to pack the Body Glide. Ouch!
More race pace work is needed.
More flexibility work is needed.
Mounting the bike with shoes in the clips needs more practice to insert feet while still pedaling.
Padded bike shorts for any ride longer than eight miles is a must.Ouch!
Get to race weight and get the calorie intake dialed in.
I lost more electrolytes than I originally thought.
Learn to suffer more.

Austin Triathlon Race Report

2007-09-03T16:03:00.000-06:00

Things didn't look good around 5:00 p.m. last night. The skies opened up, much like they did back on Memorial Day with the CapTexTri. That triathlon got cancelled and it was hard to believe this one was also in jeopardy of doing the same. The difference was the amount of rain. While there were strong showers they were brief, and while it would make for a muddy tri, at least it would go on. Luckily, I had wrapped the handlebars and seat.

The Austin Triathlon was using the same real estate as the CapTexTri. So it felt weird walking up to body marking this morning wondering if the weather would rob me of my first Olympic triathlon. It's a little strange doing my first triathlon of the season in September. I thought I would've been more excited but I was mellow about the whole thing. It could have been from lack of sleep, which was a first for any event. Normally, it'll take a while to fall asleep but eventually I do. Last night I didn't. Gathering my stuff felt like I was going through the motions. This held true all the way until the countdown to the swim wave start.

The expo had substance. The Hyatt Regency provided the venue and much of the same venders were there. The Austin Triathlon hit all the bases with the giveaways; a nice TYR bag, something to read (Triathlete Magazine), something to eat (Clif bar) along with some pretty good coupons and a great water bottle. Accelerade was the drink of choice at this race so I was extremely pleased. Oscar from Accelerade gave me a couple of temp tattoos so I ended up placing them on my upper arms above where my race number would eventually be inked. The only thing that was out of place was the color of my swim cap....BRIGHT PINK. I didn't get that one. I did buy a Bento Box for my gels, along with the Easy laces and some Clif Shots.

Last night at about 8:00 p.m. I checked the Austin Triathlon Web site and they had posted the official water temperature for the race. With the increased release from the dam, the water temp had dropped from 82 to 78 degrees, making the race wetsuit legal. I had a problem though. Both of my wetsuits were giving my shoulder problems. The constant pushing of the rubber material was causing shoulder tendonitis. I decide to chop the sleeves. After marking the cut lines, mirroring my Speedo tri-suit's lines, I took the scissors to the suit, knowing that if I messed up, that maybe the sleeves and legs could be used as arm and leg warmers on a cold, winter day's ride. The suit went back together just fine and my shoulders were free to move around which would free up my stroke.

Just before the swim start the officials announced a course change. Because of water currents, the course was adjusted from one bridge to another. No biggie. As I listened to Shawn Colvin sing the national anthem, and what an awesome job she did, there was a black swan at the end of the pier we were about to jump off of. I didn't know what to make of this. Was this a good omen? Was it bad? Did it not matter in the least?

It was our turn. Those that wore the pink swim caps. The last men in the water. There was supposed to be three minutes in between waves but it felt like 30 seconds. There was really no time to jocky for position. I put my head down in the water and started for the first buoy. The washing machine began with legs and arms hitting me from both sides. I looked up to try and move a little left. Systems check returned check on the wetsuit. It was working great. Check on the clear goggles. These were much better than my dark pair I'd worn many triathlons before. Check on the pink swim cap. Still there.

Following us oldtimers were the women's open wave, meaning the really, really fast women. I knew a few would come through our group, cutting like butter. Sure enough, a couple swam over me and kept going towards the first turnaround buoy. They were hauling ass. I tried to get behind and follow but they were motoring too darn fast. I settled back into my pace and kept going. Just after the second turn, oh maybe 700 meters into the swim I caught a large guy from the wave ahead of ours. A green capper. I accidentally swam up from behind and when he rolled and I kicked, I felt my left hamstring knot up. ARGH! Not now, I was just getting the feel of this swim. Relax. Relax the muscle. Tighter. Ouch. Ouch. OUCH!. The muscle finally gave a little and I started back into the stroke. I was a good thing I decided on the wetsuit so if the leg was going to be non-productive and I'd have to drag it, at least it'd float. And that's precisely what happened for the next 300 meters. It was a good thing the arms felt good. By the time I reached the last buoy the hamstring had calmed down enough to get some kick from the legs. I tried to make up for lost time and cranked it up a bit.

Looking back on it I don't know where that cramp came from. I mean it was early in the race, I'd taken in plenty of Thermolytes and salts before the race knowing it'd be hot and humid. The only thing I can figure out was the placing the leg in such a awkward position maybe caused it.

Transition one went well. I got everything and got on the road. However, in the first five minutes the handlebars had a problem. They weren't just loose, the bar ends would've dropped into the wheel if I didn't hold them up. CRAP!. I thought it wouldn't be so bad as I had planned to hold on for the entire ride anyway. The problem came with every bump or pothole in the road. They caused the allen bolts to come a little looser each time. I debated whether to go back to the bike mechanic, go back and get my allen wrench, stop on the side of the road and hope someone stops to help or throws an allen wrench my way.

The bike was getting hard to steer. Instead of only moving vertically, the bars were now moving horizontally and throughout 3D space. I debated what would happen if the bolts fell to the pavement. I knew what would happen. I'd hit the pavement so hard it'd make my wetsuit rubbed-raw area look like a mosquito bite. By the third lap I decided to stop and find something that I could use to brace the bars. Nothing. lesson learned. Carry the bloody allen wrench in the bag. ARGH! I hopped back on the bike and decided to make do for the remainder of the last lap. A couple of people said, "That ain't right" while looking at my situation. Somehow, I managed to get to the bike dismount line in one piece.

I was never so glad to get to T2 and then start the run. All of the emotions on the swim and bike legs exhausted my brain. I sat there in front of my transition equipment not knowing if I had everything. My heart rate was around 160 so I let it subside and drank some NUUN and Accelerade. Race number check, shoes, socks, check, hat, shades, check. Then get your butt in gear!

Given everything that had already happened, I decided the run would be uneventful. Run with a heart rate below 159 and enjoy the race and that's what I did. I stayed at about 153 and the legs felt surprisingly good, despite the earlier hamstring cramp. I could still feel the hamstring wasn't 100% so I just backed off of it a bit. It was just so humid (97%) and 75 degrees that I was losing a lot of fluids. Each water stop I grabbed one or two cups for the head. Some cold water sponges and the kids with cold water squirt guns were a big help.

The race ended with a little kick, cross over the timing mats and I was done. Put this to bed. Nothing left to do but grab a Fat Tire, some Accelerade and listen to the band on stage, while cheering some of the last few folks to cross the finish line. That's one of the great things about this triathlon. The spectators were given close access to the athletes and with three loops on the bike and two on the run, spectators could see all of the action.

Jack and Adam's really outdid themselves with this one. While I had my own problems, J&A did everything right, as did the volunteers. There wasn't anything lacking.

The end time was 3:06:35. I wanted to get under three hours and probably could have, not for the cramp and stopping on the bike, but it didn't matter. Next up, the Longhorn Half Ironman in about a month.

photos

I Missed The Springs

2007-08-28T07:20:00.000-06:00

I haven't been back to Barton Springs since my last open water training prior to the CapTexTri in May. I don't exactly know why but I suspect it's the constant 68-degree water temperature. I don't like cold water. I tried to ice my legs after a long run once and stayed in the tub exactly five seconds. But this morning 68 degrees didn't feel so cold. It felt refreshing in comparison to the sauna my neighborhood pool had become.

Leaving Barton Springs after a swim put me in such a better mood. Although I didn't recognize anyone at the springs this morning, each one had a big grin on their face like they knew a secret. The secret may be that starting your day with a dip in the springs puts the heart in the proper cadence for whatever stress may come its way throughout the day. I stopped at the dam spillway at the end of the pool and glanced over the edge. The swans and ducks were enjoying there time alone, away from humans. Moving from one bank to the other and with the current.

I couldn't believe it this morning. I looked up at the bougainvillea and saw pineapple plants with pineapples between each of the pots of bougainvillea. The springs and grounds will go through a renovation that will supposedly return the springs back to their old glory. Be sure to read the master plan and make comments to make this jewel better than it is today. Hopefully, things like the pineapple plants will remain.

The days .... come and go like muffled and veiled figures, sent from a distant friendly party; but they say nothing, and if we do not use the gifts they bring, they carry them as silently away. --Ralph Waldo Emerson

Tiny Bubbles

2007-08-27T07:47:00.000-06:00

Frankenbike was in a much smaller venue this time around. As a result, only one or two people were selling bike parts. I was able to pick up a bottom bracket, a crankset and front and back derailleurs for $30, all of which were Shimano. Luckily, Performance Bike had just opened a new shop in South Austin and sent me a $20 off coupon. I was able to pick up a chain, a Richey seat post and a stem for $35, as they were having a Grand Opening Sale in addition to my $20 off. The handlebars were too much and not on sale at Performance, as well as two other bike shops so I went online when I got back home and ordered the brakes and handlebar. Both were on sale at Nashbar.com so all told savings for the day turned out to be $210 off of retail. All that's lacking to get riding on this bike are the shifters/ brake levers, cabling and a seat. As the shifters/brake levers can get kind of pricey, I'll have to be patient and watch some eBay auctions or wait for a bigger Frankenbike.

Today marks the first day of the taper period. I cut the number intervals this morning for the run. Although sluggish at first, the legs felt good by the end of the morning. It could've been they were just getting rid of the Blue Tarantula tequila from the other night. I wasn't planning on a tequila evening but then again I didn't plan on dancing to Don Ho's Tiny Bubbles with four Hawaiian hula dancers either.

No more beer or Blue Tarantula until after the race.

4:30 a.m.

2007-08-24T07:30:00.000-06:00

4:30 a.m. came too early. It always does. You never heard the opposite that it took forever to get to 4:30 in the morning. But with sacrilegious 8:00 a.m. Friday meeting, I needed the extra hour to get the miles in. Friday's are long run days and today was scheduled for a 10-miler. I like that it was cooler at that hour but there are a couple of things I can't get used to.

There are parts of the trail that can't be seen. It's pitch black and feet feel weird landing on the dirt.
Things move in the bushes that you can't see but can hear and you know they're much bigger than a cricket.

One of those things made it's way to the middle of the trail and before I knew it, was under my feet. I don't think I stepped on it because I literally went Michael Jordan into the tree. Eight and a half feet in the air yelling all kind of explicatives. This was at the five-mile mark and it made me hesitant the remaining two times I passed that point in the trail.

The temperature was ok at 77 degrees but the humidity was a balmy 92% which made things miserable. It should be only a few more weeks of this until things start to change for the better.

I got to the office and under my right arm, on the bicep it was stinging like crazy. When I went MJ into the tree something must have landed on my shirt like an asp. That's why meetings on Fridays are a bad idea in general. And especially early morning meetings on Friday.

New Frame

2007-08-21T07:07:00.000-06:00

I just love Craig's List. Just when I thought all hope was lost in finding another sweet deal on a frame to start my next bike project, Voila, another one shows up. And not a beater bike 25-pound steel and granite lugged frame but the almost exact frame that I purchased to make Salsa Verde...a Cannondale R1000 CAAD 4, 2.8 pound yellow sweetness. And this one came with a carbon Slide fork and a Cane Creek head set and for next to nothing. Not only that the Frankenbike swap meet is this weekend!!!

The new Cannondale frame will be used for a new road bike. Instead of using the other C-Dale frame and spending half the year as a tri bike and half the year as a road bike it made more sense to have two bikes.

Status report on the wheel covers. They made it to Round Rock, north of Austin this morning in the wee hours. It's slated to be delivered this afternoon!!!!

Last Hard Week Before Taper

2007-08-20T17:02:00.000-06:00

After last week being a recovery week my muscles, as well as my head, were back in the game today. I looked forward to today's workouts (5M interval morning run, noon bike intervals for :45 with brick run :15) and afterwards felt great. I also felt like I didn't lose anything with the lighter activity last week. I felt stronger today than I did at the end of the last interval run and bike. It's weird how that works with rest.

My new Wheelbuilder disc wheelcovers should be arriving tomorrow. The Fed Ex Web site shows them in Fort Worth this afternoon. There's a time trial tomorrow night if I get the covers in and on the bike in time. I could see if they make a difference. We're not supposed to get close to 100 degrees tomorrow so it may not be that bad.

Recovery Week

2007-08-17T18:14:00.000-06:00

This week has been different, that's for sure. In my planning of an Olympic and half-ironman triathlon I didn't plan off days as I knew my body was better at telling me when than I could plan for a month ahead of time. I had planned recovery weeks into the schedule and this week was to push the envelope a little and next week was going to be a recovery week. My body thought different and dictated that this week was going to be a recovery week. I should've guessed when I arrived at the pool before sunrise Tuesday morning and saw all the bugs in the pool. Apparently kids were playing the night before and left their tubes which then clogged the filters. I sucked it up and skimmed the bugs and started to do some intervals. I should've known something was up when I had no energy for the first interval. A pre-muscle pull feeling in the small of my back on the third interval had me call it a day. I went to the gym later at noon and started some pushups. The same muscle gave me a hint to knock it off so I did and really called it a day. I officially labeled this week a recovery week and will start back on some intervals next week.

The body always says when it's time to take a break. I should recognize it and not push through it.

Wednesday night I went and listened to Brandon Marsh (photo above) at a Tri-Facts clinic for those that self-coach. It was the second time I heard Brandon speak his words of triathlon wisdom and this time he didn't disappoint. He reinforced some things I had worked into the plan this year, namely year-round strength work and four running days a week and some advice on some brick work. Brandon's also started coaching so if any of you need a coach he'd be a great one.

I've been concentrating on my running form lately. After reading reading this article it's amazing how sucking in the deep abs and crunching the glutes helps with the form. From sluggish legs to light legs. Amazing!.

There's the Shape You THINK You're In

2007-08-13T07:48:00.000-06:00

and then there's the shape YOU ARE IN. This is pointed out to you by others you're running, cycling or swimming with. For those that train in a group, this may be an everyday occurrence, but for those of us that are self-coached, this only happens in races or maybe some other gathering. The some other gathering was the Austin Marathon/Half Marathon Kickoff Event on Saturday. I woke up and drove down to Runtex and did a kickoff run with Francie Larrieu Smith and Austin's own Olympic Hopefuls: Cassie Henkeil, Lance Parker, Chris Kimbrough and UT Assistant Coach Steve Sisson. Granted, these were very fast people but they barely broke a sweat as I maxed my heart rate. At least it didn't happen until the second half of the run. I would've been fine if I didn't have the hills and which took my heart to the max at the 7:30/7:45 per mile pace. The heart rate wouldn't come down so I was forced to slow down the last ten minutes.

Even at 7:30 a.m., the heat and humidity were brutal. I sweat a puddle sitting there listening to the Runtex and Rogue reps talk about the upcoming Distance Challenge and the Austin Marathon. It was a good thing Accelerade was there with coolers full of the lemonade flavored drink. By the way, this was a new flavor in the powder form. Very nice. Not too sweet and it should be a favorite on the course. We were also treated to some free breakfast tacos from Taco Deli. I had never seen liquid potatoes but they were good. A few organizations had booths so it made for a small expo of sorts.

Next year may be the year that I enlist a coach or group to help me. Rogue sounds like a great program and one that would get me to the next level but it'll have to wait until next year. This year I'll be self-coached. And really self-coached is no longer self-coached in the sense of the word as it applied 30 years ago. I mean with so much information in books, on the Web and form others that help out, I'm really not self-coached as I am without a formal relationship with a coach or group. And I wonder if I'd run faster or better with a coach. I know I'd run faster if I ran with faster people. Anyway, it's something to ponder for the next year.

Incredible Amount of $$$ for Brake/Shifters

2007-08-10T19:52:00.000-06:00

I'm watching eBay auctions on a Friday night, sipping on a Miller Lite, and can't believe the price the 8/9 speed Shimano brake/shifters are going for. I would expect cratchless, near perfect pieces to fetch close to $100, but $90 for a pair that the owner said don't work and are missing some cosmetic plastic sounds like too much.

I've been debating whether to build another bike...this time a road bike from scratch. I've decided to modify Salsa Verde (tri bike) during a few months of the year into a road bike. So it'll be cheaper to buy a good set of bars and brake/shifters than a whole new bike.

Heading out tomorrow morning to the marathon season kickoff. I shouldn't be thinking about marathon training until I get my next two triathlons done with but I can't help it. I've really enjoyed my runs lately and my head is constantly debating whether to do another full marathon or stick with the half. Pride and enthusiasm have me doing it while logic says no way. I'm sure the battle will continue until I register. As of this evening, pride and enthusiasm are winning.

Revised Base Phase II

2007-08-09T07:01:00.000-06:00

I had to repost the Base Phase II as the workouts really didn't reflect what I was doing. The first instance reflected what was taken from the Triathlete Magazine and not how I had modified it. So here's a revised Base II. A little more intensity in certain areas and longer weekend swims. Instead of predetermined lengths of swim, run and bike intervals, it's all based on heart rate. The swim intervals are at race pace, rather than heart rate. You'll find the explanations of the bike and run intervals a couple of posts back.

August

2007-08-07T07:42:00.000-06:00

Baseline Numbers Heading into Build Phase II

2007-08-06T18:56:00.000-06:00

I started Baseline Phase II in earnest today. The main change was inserting intervals for swim, bike and run. Today was the first day I seriously did the run intervals in the morning followed by the bike intervals at noon.

Run - warmup, one mile.
Run to lactate threshold (159 HR for me) and maintain if possible.
Light jog until HR returns to below 135.
Repeat until arrival at fifth mile.
Cooldown jog at 136 HR.

Bike - warmup, approx. eight minutes.
Cycle to lactate threshold (149 HR for me) and maintain if possible.
Light spin until HR returns to below 120.
Repeat until 50th minute.
Cooldown spin for ten minutes maintaining 90 rpm cadence.

I also did the 80-80 Steady State Power Fitness Test (PDF) to provide a benchmark measure for watts. it came out to 205 for the five-minute session with cadence at 80 and heart rate at 80% of max or 144 HR.

A note on my running benchmark, today's time for the first mile has come back down to 8:30/mile. When starting over after the CapTexTri training, it started at 10:00/mile. Hopefully, it'll get back down to 7:xx before the next tri (Aug. 5).

I forgot my index cards today so I'll have to post what Baseline Phase II looks like tomorrow.

Morning Nutrition

2007-08-03T07:37:00.000-06:00

A fellow blogger emailed me yesterday and asked what I've been eating in the mornings. It varies, depending on what phase I'm in. I just started the Build 2 Phase which has me adding intervals to the routing in all three disciplines. I've dropped weight lifting except for some light lifting for maintenance so for the most part, all of my activity is cardio at this point. I start the morning with two Emergen-C packets. One is the tangerine for its vitamins and the other is Joint Health, which includes 500 mg of Glucosamine and 400 mg of Chondroitin for my joints. These packets come in powder form and you mix them with water. With these I'll throw down a piece of whole wheat toast and honey. I'm then out the door for the run, the bike or the swim. Post exercise I'll then drink an Accelerade and as of last week, my favorite was Citrus Grapefruit. They have four flavors and I drink the other three flavors at work after my noon workout. I drink a cup of coffee while getting ready for work and while driving to work I down a V-8. A lot of liquids but it seems to work for me. Each drink does something that helps me get going, helps me recover or supplements what I'm missing.

If I feel I need a little more to eat, I'll boil a couple of eggs and some turkey bacon but that's usually on the days I'm doing the light lifting, pushups, squats and lunges.

If I get out the door for a run too late and it's hot and humid, I'll have to take some Thermolytes or NUUN tablets.

When The Temperature + Humidity = 125+

2007-08-02T19:54:00.000-06:00

Those of you that have read my blog know that I promote the products I use but I'm not a zealot about it. I use what I use because I've tried it, it worked, and it was at the right price. Once I found something that worked I stuck with it until something better came along. The something better last year was running in the wee hours of the morning rather than in the evening, although that's not a product. What's changed this year is I realized I still have to supplement my nutrition even in the wee hours of the morning. Take this morning, weather-wise it was 76 °F and 87% humidity and when both numbers add up to over 125, I need something or I'm going to get a headache as a result of depleted electrolytes. Not only a headache but I'll feel like crap for six-to-eight hours afterwards. I've tried replenishing with water and it works but it takes the six-to-eight hours and there's no guarantee that I won't get a headache.

I've experimented with various products and the cocktail that works best for me is a combination of Thermolytes, NUUN and Accelerade. On the trail I can get water so that's where the Thermolytes and NUUN work well. Then after the run I down a full bottle of the pre-mixed Accelerade. With this cocktail mixture I have yet to experience a dehydration headache or any headache at all post workout.

So I've been asking the people I run with whether or not they need a NUUN tablet or some Accelerade. They always come back with, "That's ok, I'm good with water." Like I said, I'm not a zealot but I'll ask a couple more times on other runs in case they were just being nice the first time. Last week I got one my running buddies a NUUN tablet after a 95-degree run. "Wow, I thought you were nuts. This really works." Yesterday, on evening run with a friend I had an extra bottle of Accelerade. "This isn't bad. Not as sweet as the others. I don't think there's a peach drink alternative out there." Not that I know of either. I think of all the people running this time of year and drinking nothing but water. For some I'm sure water is enough, but I suspect the majority need more than water to recover from the increased heat and humidity or just from the amount of exertion.

Calorie Burn

2007-07-31T07:11:00.000-06:00

It turns out that I burned more calories than I thought or didn't consume as many calories as I thought. Either way, I lost weight while on the trip.

One of the more interesting observations while on the trip came last night in O'Hare Airport. I took K down the terminal to get something to eat. Within 50 feet of each other was a McDonald's, a juice bar with beets and vegetables in the display case and a Starbuck's. The McDonald's restaurant had possibly 30 people waiting in line while the juice bar and Starbuck's each had a couple. Not a couple of dozen, just TWO PEOPLE. Totally amazing to me that given that there was a healthy alternative, people chose the Mickey D. I guess not totally amazing as I saw a lot of large people this past week.

Equally amazing was the $72 million pulled in by the Simpsons movie. These two events say quite a lot about our society but I'm not ready to absorb or understand what that is right now.

A Week in Chicago

2007-07-30T17:14:00.000-06:00

I just got back from Chicago attending the ISI World Recreational Team Ice Skating Championships for K. She came back with two first-place medals and one second. She did really well and was so calm about all of the events. She showed no pressure before each event. I wish I could learn to play it that cool.

I took my stretchy bands as I thought that may have been my only workout option. Come to find out I had plenty of options. First the hotel had an agreement with Bally Fitness as they didn't have any kind of weight room or exercise facility. It opened at 5:30 am and had everything I needed except a track and a pool. By the second or third day I found out that the skaters and their families were able to gain access to the natatorium across from the rink (see above image). It was nice and clean and nobody was using it except for a family of four in the non-lap lane area. One of the youngsters threw up in the pool just as I was leaving.

Although I didn't get much running in, I got a ton of walking done by checking out the Navy Pier, Millennium Park, South Lakeshore Blvd and a few other hot spots. Besides the cycling at Bally's I got a couple of hours worth on some rental bikes for pedaling down the lakefront. I also did a few hours of footbagging to get a little better with that (more on that later). So calorie-burn-wise I did pretty good. I endulged on some calorie-rich food and drink but heck, it was a vacation too. I had to try out the Giordano's deep dish pizza. Man, I could live on that two or three times a week. I'll get serious on the diet starting tomorrow with one month left to go until the Austin Tri (Olympic).

I'll try to link to some photos in the next couple of days. In the meantime I have to say that the people of Chicago were fabulous! They were courteous, sincerely warm and very helpful. The city was clean and it was amazing how much landscaping with flowers were everywhere, even down by the river. It had been 22 years since I'd been to Chicago and so much changed. I wasn't looking forward to going but I have to say I had a great time and wasn't at all disappointed.

Time Trial Tuesday - July 2007

2007-07-17T20:37:00.000-06:00

I almost forgot about the Run-Far time trial tonight. Work piled up and I had a video to download and edit and just happened to glance at the calendar. It hasn't been a normal summer here in Austin and we weren't even close to our normal 100-degree temperature for this time of year. In fact, it was another day of rain that started this morning during my swim. The rain cooled everything off for the day and it never had time to get too steamy. The rain did make for some heavy humidity though.

The unofficial time was 22:29 for a new PR by about 18 seconds. I wanted a little better time but the bottom bracket may need to be looked at. It was grinding the whole ride. No telling whether it slowed anything down or not. It may just need some lube.

I was wondering why my shoulder and knee were creaking and remembered that I hadn't taken any glucosamine in over a month so I'm back to taking that daily. I'm also back to NUUN for hot weather workouts and Accelerade after all workouts. So far just these three products, along with rest and eating regularly have had me ready for the next workout refreshed and no headaches or body aches to speak of.

I still need more time to digest the Tour every day.

Perfect Practice

2007-07-10T07:36:00.000-06:00

Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect. --Vince Lombardi

Yesterday, I listened to the Endurance Planet episode titled, Breakaway Friday - The Swim and dated, Friday, July 6, 2007. A great comparison was made during the program between running strides and swimming strokes. The commentator also discussed the number of strokes for triathletes compared to true swimmers. As I had a swim workout focusing on technique I decided to scrap the drills and spend the entire workout on counting strokes. Repeating thousands of strokes the wrong way reinforces the muscle memory to keep doing it the wrong way. Drill, drill, drill and more drills until the muscle memory changes. Then build endurance. Yes Vince, you were correct, only perfect practice makes perfect.

I started at 20 strokes per 25 yards at the beginning of the morning and by the end of the workout, the number got down to 14. I kept changing the form and the amount of rotation until the number came down.

Yesterday, I began the Build I phase of the training. Less weights and more cardio. Here's the breakdown.

The Tour has been exciting so far with some great sprints for the finish. Yesterday's spill with 2KM to go looked pretty bad and Tomas Vaitkus (Discovery Channel) ended up breaking his thumb in five places. Through the VeloNews live coverage and the Tour's page and Versus' television coverage in the morning and a replay at night, I feel like I'm not missing much. In fact, there's so much information, I can't get through it all.

Tour de France Days

2007-07-07T10:32:00.000-06:00

The Tour is finally here. After spending the last 12 months reading about drugs and problems with the sport, it's great to see some riding again. Full coverage on the Versus channel with morning and evening programming. Hincapie just finished the TT in second place so a nice start for the Discovery team.

Personally, this was a recovery week as well as a transition week. The left knee and the right shoulder both had some recovery and soreness to work out. Light running and swimming with more cycling made sense. Next week I'll drop the second weights workout for legs and start injecting more cardio workouts into the week. I liked how the 3-4 running days made my legs feel with recovery days between so I'll keep that but on recovery days do some elliptical. Cycling miles will jump, with swimming still concentrating on the drills.

My brother flew in from North Carolina so we found a couple of hours between rain storms to ride some veloway miles. He was on Salsa Verde (tri bike), me on Salsa Roja (single speed commuter). Salsa Verde was so fast that I had to get out of the seat and really pedal to keep up at times, but it made for a great workout.

Frankenbike #22

2007-07-02T07:20:00.000-06:00

I was looking forward to Saturday's Frankenbike swap meet as I really needed a rear derailleur. When I got there, most everyone was already set up with their treasure chests spilling over with good loot. My coworker was on his way and had me looking for pedals. Score! A semi-used pair of Look pedals and get this. The guy had some slightly used SIDI shoes with cleats in his size in the FREE Box. I picked up a brand new very light saddle from the free box and made my way across the patio. Score! Branded cycling shirts for $5 a piece. I picked up two for myself and gave the brewery cycling jersey to my coworker. I then scanned all the tables for rear derailleurs. I came back to where I bought the jerseys and the guy had a Shimano 105 on the table. "How much," I said. "Five dollars," he said. No friggin way! I could not get the five-dollar bill out of my wallet fast enough. Bought new, it would've cost me $67.99.

That's the thing about Frankenbike. Nobody's out to make a fortune. We all piece together our bikes and what's worth $5 to me is worth $50 to the next guy. I sold my Bianchi frame for $3 to get another beer. Hopefully, the guy will take it and make a sweet bike from it. That's what it's all about. People wandered past the booths and found one nice bike part they couldn't live without. They then went and built an entire bike around that one part. Now that I have the tri-bike and the single speed all finished, I need to go find a single part at Frankenbike and build a hot, fast road bike around it.

Little Adjustments

2007-06-28T07:00:00.000-06:00

I'm in the third week of the half ironman program I've cooked up, using the Triathlete Magazine HIM program as a base. It's going pretty well except for the left knee. Even though the running at this point is real slow, there's something going on with the knee. It's like it needs to popped into place upon waking in the morning and if it doesn't get popped and then I run....well, it's uncomfortable. Getting on the bike seems to get it in alignment so I think I'll do a few miles on the trainer until everything gets into proper position. It's probably a better warmup than I've been doing anyway.

I read where a couple of friend's half ironmans imploded last weekend. From what they wrote or told me, it reinforces how negative thoughts can really pull the athlete down or how positive reinforcement can really elevate the athlete beyond their abilities. In both cases the athletes finished the race when they could've blown it off and raced another day.

I'm reading a lot of cycling materials, mostly from the web lately. Maybe it's the Tour that's about to start next week or that I'm obsessed with watts and my power output these days. "Jufre Pou, who weighs 147 pounds, averaged 388 watts for 32-minutes. His maximum 10-minute value was an astonishing 400 watts." This clip was taken from VeloNews. I've got a long way to go.

When the 2006 Ironman World Championships aired a few months ago I missed it. I was so mad turning on the TV and seeing the last two minutes I couldn't stand it. But, as luck would have it, I get to see it as it'll air again on Aug. 5 from 2:30 - 4:30 ET.

Time Trial Tuesday

2007-06-20T06:55:00.000-06:00

It was hotter than hell last night for the Run-Far time trial. Actually it was under a 100 degrees which is good for this time of year and hovering around 91, with 55% humidity and winds around 8 mph. If I had waited until 6:45, they calmed down to 0. It still felt really hot out there and it seemed a constant stream of water was pouring off my body.

Good news though as I reached a new PR on the course getting up to an average speed of 21.1 mph. I was really excited last month getting past the 20 mph barrier and now I think I'm just as excited for 21 mph given the heat and wind. I also had some rear derailleur problems. I couldn't get in the upper three sprockets using either chain ring so my cadence suffered at times on the hills. There was also some chain skipping. It's time to replace it. Frankenbike, June 30 is on the calendar for some shopping!

Right off the bat a couple in matching team kits with solid disc wheels passed me on the first descent. It was sort of demoralizing as I felt like I was standing still. However, looking at the results today he came in 3rd overall with an average speed of 27.9 mph and she came in 1st in her division with an average speed of 24.1. At the end of the first half of the course two younger males passed at a pretty good clip. I kept within five bike lengths of the second guy and as we approached the turn where the wind would be at our backs he seemed to have run out of gas. I passed and to my surprise the other guy that had passed earlier was in reach. He too ran out of gas. We were pedaling about 22 - 23 mph at this point with a couple of hills coming up. As hills aren't my strong point and the derailleur wasn't on it's best behavior I didn't quite catch the first guy, crossing the timing mat right behind him by about five seconds.

Time: 22:47.9 (15 seconds better than last month) | Average speed: 21.1 mph

Raul from Run-Far mentioned they are going to two TTs next month.

New Program - Saturday, Sunday

2007-06-18T07:02:00.000-06:00

Not much to explain for the weekend workouts. A long swim or technical swim and a long bike. Yoga is also incorporated where it can fit into the weekend schedule.

I picked up a Homedics massager over the weekend. It hurt me sooo good. My calves were stressed and sore for the last week and the old massager wasn't doing the job to loosen the tendons. This new massager works great. It really pounds the crap out my legs.

I was able to get downtown for the ATT Crits, running all day and tied to the Keep Austin Weird Festival. The 35+ crit was motorin' around the four square blocks or .52-mile course in about 1:14 for an average lap or going 25.36 mph. They did this for an hour. The pros later in the evening had an average lap time of 58 seconds or 32.5 mph.

The location of the crit on Second Street with the new cafes and lofts felt like another place, not Austin.

It seems though if I'm going to get into this type of riding, I'll need to build another bike. :)

New Program - Friday

2007-06-15T07:37:00.000-06:00

Wake up to a glass of Emergen-C and an xFit morning workout. Sets and reps will increase over time.

pushups - 3 sets x 25 reps
crunches - 3 x 50
floor sweepers - 3 x 25
lunges (without weight at this time) - 3 x 20
squats (without weight at this time) - 3 x 25
bicep/tricep curls - 3 x 12 with 20 lbs for R & L

Long aerobic run keeping at 75 - 80% or 135 - 145 bpm.

Evening Workout (Gym Lower Body - Strength) Sets, reps and weight amounts will change over time.

10 minute bike warmup - maintain 150 watts
leg press - 6 sets x 12 reps x 360 lbs
calf raise - 6 x 23 x 200
squat with weight - 6 x 12 x 150
inner/outer thigh machine - 3 x 12 x 85
leg curl - 3 x 12 x 80 for L & R
leg extension - 3 x 12 x 140 both legs together
10 minute bike cooldown - maintain 150 watts

New Program - Thursday

2007-06-14T12:50:00.000-06:00

At this time, the Thursday workout is similar to the Tuesday workout. The mornings will include swim technique with drills and little else. This will last until mid-August at which the workout will include more interval speed work.

The evening bike workout focuses on technique. Riding on the trainer and paying particular attention to keeping still, knees in, cadence and pedaling form.

New Program - Wednesday

2007-06-13T12:25:00.000-06:00

Wake up to a glass of Emergen-C and an xFit morning workout. Sets and reps will increase over time.

pushups - 3 sets x 25 reps
crunches - 3 x 50
floor sweepers - 3 x 25
lunges (without weight at this time) - 3 x 20
squats (without weight at this time) - 3 x 25
bicep/tricep curls - 3 x 12 with 20 lbs for R & L

Then run 4 miles. This run is with the Nike Free shoes and concentrating on technique and form. The run will include 100 meter sprints (Zone 3) on the straight postions of the track with Zone 2 recovery on the curves. The lengths and overall durations will lengthen over the course of the program. Concentration will be placed on keeping this workout aerobic from June until mid-August. From there it'll become the interval, anaerobic workout.

Mid-day Workout (Gym Upper Body - Strength) Sets, reps and weight amounts will change over time.

10 minute bike warmup - maintain 150 watts
bicep curl - 6 sets x 12 reps x 25 lbs for R & L
tricep extension - 6 x 12 x 20 for R & L
cable standing fly - 6 x 12 x 40
cable front raise - 3 x 12 x 25
standing military press - 3 x 12 x 50
lawn mower - 3 x 12 x 35 both for R & L
10 minute bike cooldown - maintain 150 watts

New Program - Tuesday

2007-06-13T08:17:00.000-06:00

I originally slotted a Barton Springs, open water swim in for Tuesday mornings but seeing how I need more technique work than open water experience right now, I subbed the pool for the springs until August.

A mid-day or evening bike interval session is scheduled. Over the summer this will include the Run-Far time trials or a criterium or two. If not, then riding the time trial course will work. I go out on the course and the rear derailer fell apart causing me to call for a lift. I went back and finished the miles on the trainer. So no long test ride of the new and improved Salsa Verde yet.

New Program - Monday

2007-06-11T18:33:00.000-06:00

For the next week I'll outline the basic program day-by-day. Certain amounts, intensity and duration will change depending on what phase I'm in, but basically the jest of the workout remains. June will be a base month and strength-building month with lots of weight lifting. This worked in the winter so I'm repeating it here. I could run a lot of hills and bike a lot of hills but with 90+ temps here there's no way I could build the same strength in the heat.

I'll be recording more information throughout the next five months that may not be reflected on the blog. This week will be used to gather the base information. I'll post results, as monthly time trials or tests will be done to see if progress is being made.

Instead of scheduling recovery weeks, they'll be inserted based on waking heart rate and perceived sluggishness. I tend to not want to workout, have a raised temperature or elevatd heart rate so pinpointing this time and scheduling around it shouldn't be a problem. I think most people who put these plans together state to base it on personal inputs and not say, "Oh it's week four, time to take a break." Maybe they do, I don't know.

Monday's Workouts

Wake up to a glass of Emergen-C and an xFit morning workout. Sets and reps will increase over time.

pushups - 3 sets x 25 reps
crunches - 3 x 50
leg lifts - 3 x 25
lunges (without weight at this time) - 3 x 20
squats (without weight at this time) - 3 x 25
bicep/tricep curls - 3 x 12 with 20 lbs for R & L

Then run 4 miles. This amount will increase over time.

Mid-day Workout (Gym Lower Body - Strength) Sets, reps and weight amounts will change over time.

10 minute bike warmup - maintain 150 watts
leg press - 6 sets x 12 reps x 360 lbs
calf raise - 6 x 23 x 200
squat with weight - 6 x 12 x 150
inner/outer thigh machine - 3 x 12 x 85
leg curl - 3 x 12 x 80 for L & R
leg extension - 3 x 12 x 140 both legs together
10 minute bike cooldown - maintain 150 watts

Nutrition Guidelines

don't eat after 7:00 pm
eat more protein and vegetables for dinner and less carbohydrates
NO beer
feed multiple times per day and immediately following the workout
increase fiber and volume
10:30 am, oatmeal with blueberries and mangos, 2:30 pm, fiber cereal with banana, dinner of protein and veggies

A Danskin Morning

2007-06-10T16:21:00.000-06:00

I noticed on the Runtex Web site Friday that the Danskin Women's-Only Triathlon was short some volunteers. I used the online form and signed up for the kayak, swim patrol. Scratch that, the run course. I got down to the volunteer tent about 6:30 am and the coordinator sent me to the kayak area. Crap, I'd worn shorts instead of a suit and brought no ziploc bags. After the horror stories of tipping kayaks from previous years and a matching of local lifeguards with a kayak captain the boats launched onto the course. I hesitated thinking they would run out of boats and I'd be sent over to the swim exit area but it didn't work out that way. There was one lifeguard and one kayak left. The director instructed us to head out. Let's just say the new pair of Brooks got sopping wet instantly. My butt, wet as well.

The lifeguard and myself had both heard most of the panicking occurs in the first 50 yards. We didn't want to be there so we eased the kayak down by the first buoy and between two kayaks. The self imposed guy in charge on the water quickly came over and pointed us toward the other side of the course. We got there and settled into the last open gap before the end of the swim course.

There was relatively little action for the first 30 minutes. Nobody needed to hold onto the kayak. We didn't need to get anybody back on course. Then it seemed like a whole wave of newbies were released into the water and at one time we had four swimmers holding on while paddling toward a fifth.

Outside of swimmers out of breath or anxious we had one woman with leg cramps. Pretty good for 3,500 swimmers. No tipped kayaks. No lost cell phone. Just a few soggy ones and fives.

It was a great way to spend a Sunday morning and also get psyched to start the half-ironman program tomorrow. This week will include getting a handle on the baseline numbers and measurements. Like last time I'm following the Triathlete Magazine HIM plan with my modifications, which means adding weight lifting, some xFit strength work and some yoga on the weekend.

I just saw on News 8 Austin where they had a great story on the triathlon and they got a shot of Justin and I moving to a swimmer and extending a noodle.

Almost Ready To Start

2007-06-07T12:20:00.000-06:00

The swelling in the legs has come down. It should after having to sleep with them elevated every night and with the steroids causing a little acid reflux action, my head had to be elevated as well. With the legs and head needing to be elevated, that meant my body was bent in a "V" position for most of the night. The poison oak is working it's way out of the body with little itching now. The high contrast between red and white skin is going back to normal. That's why I didn't even bother going to the pool as it would cause all kinds of stares and unwanted conversations.

So in the meantime, while I'm on my last steroidds to clear this crap out of my body, I've been putting the finishing touches on the next program that'll get me through the half-ironman distance in October. I think I've worked out all the kinks and next week I'll be starting on some more strength training. I read the other day Chris Carmichael's column in Bicycling Magazine where he discusses the PWR (Power-Weight-Ratio) rating and how to calculate it. He also provided some figures where he thought Cat-5 and Cat-3 riders should be and let's leave it at I'm a little short. I should be ok once I get to race weight but that's about fifteen pounds down the road. I should be striving for at least 225 or 250 average watts for 30-60 minutes. Besides looking at the bike numbers, I'm going to be working on swim technique so drills and more drills will be the order of business for June.

Not that there's any blessing to having poison oak but during this time my new Macbook Pro came in which means there's at least three days of downtime for everything else in my life until everything is transferred to the new machine. So Monday the new triathlon training program will start with some seriousness.

The Only Thing To Do

2007-06-04T07:53:00.000-06:00

The poison ivy spread to the left leg and both legs are swollen. The right shoulder feels hyper-extended and while jumping on the trampoline the left knee felt all whackadoodle and hurt like crap. Rather than go against the laws of nature I decided I needed to take a breather. And what better to do during a breather than drink some beer and bake, bake and more baking.

If things occur in threes, then this is it and half ironman training can start in earnest next week.

This Just In

2007-06-01T17:50:00.000-06:00

From the CapTexTri director...

Capital of Texas Triathlon Update
Written by Administrator
We are very sorry and understand the amount of training and resources that you committed to participate in the 2007 Capital of Texas Triathlon, however race management's number one concern was your safty on race morning.

We have collaborated with all of our partners and determined that logistically and economically rescheduling the 2007 Capital of Texas Triathlon is not a possibility. Due to the cancellation we are exploring the possibility of holding the 2008 Capital of Texas Triathlon on Sunday with a rain-out day on Monday, Memorial Day.

Not even mention of a discount for next year's race. That makes for a very expensive water bottle and t-shirt. Argh! At least I have closure and can direct my training in a meaningful way.

That also means seven months of training without a race at the end to show for it. Now the process starts all over for the late summer and fall races.

Visit to the Weekly Crit

2007-06-01T17:29:00.000-06:00

I stumbled across information on this gem yesterday. There's a local crit run out in East Austin on a car/kart path every Thursday night. All ages and levels of riders. I don't know if I have the legs yet to get out there but I definitely will be out there for the scheduled June events as an observer.

Video #1, Video #2, Video #3

Kenny Hill Autowerks Austin Crits Information
Team Hotel San Jose
AT&T Downtown Austin Crit - June 16

More Changes

2007-05-31T16:51:00.000-06:00

My cycling co-worker (Cycling Dude) bought some newer brakes to replace the new brakes on his relatively new Trek 1200. Don't ask me why, he just did. Anyway, he gave the oldish-but-new Bontrager brakes to me for free. Well, almost free...$10 is all he'd take as I couldn't take brand-spanking-new brakes for absolutely nothing. I put them on Salsa Verde last night and they shine bright. They're also much more aero than what I had on there before. Not that it's going to cut that much time but every little bit helps. Thanks Cycling Dude! Very nice bling for Salsa Verde. That brings the cost up to $515.

I rebuilt the bottom bracket while I as at it. I thought it was rusted and I'd have to get a new one but the rust came from the Bianchi frame and not the pieces of the bracket. Whew! cleaned it up, regreased it and put it back together. Very smooth.

The temperature is now past 90 degrees for the afternoons so it's time to revert back to morning workouts. I probably could hang in there for another couple of weeks but I'm relying on the NUUN tablets (electrolyte replacement) too much and they ain't cheap at $6.50 a tube. I ran the neighborhood route (5M) going up to the Costco crushed granite track this morning and 70 degrees feels a hell of a lot better than 90 degrees. No NUUN required.

Keep On Keeping On

2007-05-30T07:46:00.000-06:00

Regardless of what the CapTexTri officials do with the cancelled triathlon, I decided to keep up the workouts to maintain fitness for a couple of weeks. That means intervals and speed work. It's really just to the end of this week and then they should've posted what's going to happen. This morning I dropped into one of my bike guru's spinning class at Castle Hill Specialized Fitness at 7:00 am. Fifteen like minded people were spinning already on their stationary Tomahawk bikes.

An hour's worth of sweating while climbing imaginary hills.

Triathlon Cancelled

2007-05-29T11:30:00.000-06:00

It was a very triathlon-like weekend even though no triathlon took place. Rained out. Flooded out is more like it. At 5:30 am, my temp tattoo #139 was still drying, I sat next to the transition area with my yellow raincoat top hood pulled over my Nike cap, watching my cell phone in a zip-lock baggie for a text message stating the swim was cancelled. It never came but another athlete sitting next to me got one. "The swim is cancelled. We'll evaluate and inform you at 7:30 am." I left to go back to the car and at least warm up a little and drop off the wetsuit. I knew what had happened before the text message came and before 7:30 am arrived. People started walking past my car with their bikes. One person and a bike could've meant he'd had enough. Ten people with their bikes and walking to their cars meant the event had been cancelled. It had been.

At that point I was ok with the cancellation. I mean I didn't sign up to do a duathlon. The swim had to be part of the event. I also wasn't so sure of my bike at that point. See, I bought a used Cannondale CAAD4 Road frame for $35 on Saturday and then proceeded to see if I could get all of the components transferred to the new frame and re-cabled in time for bike check-in. Kind of crazy but it all worked. I got the new bike set up by 3:00 pm, Sunday and checked it in to the transition area. For the first time, my bike blended in with the other tri bikes. It wasn't a pawn shop bike with serious components. It now was a tri bike that looked like the others. By the way, not only did I get the 2.8-pound frame for $35, but I also got a carbon seat-post for $5.

The bike swap-meet went well. The above bling-bling was paid for by selling all the wheels and spare parts I had putting the last three bikes together. The "Lawsuit" wheel was the first to go. The Shimano front wheel was next. The swap-meet brought out all types of cyclists; hairy legged, no hair, old schoolers, Yellow Bike Project wrenchers, and of course a couple of triathletes. Go to Frankenbike.org for more information.

So today my mind and body are out of whack. They don't know what to do. I was supposed to be recovering today with a break from exercise for the rest of the week. Now, I have to wait and see if the event will be rescheduled, cancelled altogether or some other option. So I guess I'll keep the workouts scheduled until I hear what's going on. I wouldn't imagine they could reschedule for this coming weekend so it would make sense not to continue to taper but go back to full interval/speed training and the corresponding diet. I was so looking forward to being able to eat and drink anything I wanted this week, but it's not to be.

BTW, I couldn't resist the suds. Who could unless they didn't drink at all. Sitting in a beer garten and not having a beer. Who was I kidding?

Frankenbike Photos

Frankenbike

2007-05-26T09:51:00.000-06:00

The day has come to attend Frankenbike and sell some of the spare parts that went into making Salsa Verde and Salsa Roja. I debated on whether to cancel until next month, as this month's meeting place is Scholz Beer Garten. I think I can resist the suds. I think I can, I think I can.

John Wayne Movies UFC 71 Paul Simon Macaroni Salad Dog Training Surf Reports BBQ Sauce Baseball Stadiums Coen Brothers Grilling Recipes

Pho Soup is in the Tank

2007-05-25T20:13:00.000-06:00

Three people around me were not feeling well and it's the Friday before the race so the only thing to do was to down a big bowl of pho soup with lots of peppers and sprouts from the Vietnamese restaurant next to UT. Mmmmm, that'll boost the immune system to thump any germs that come around.

The weather forecast now has over a 50% chance of rain through Tuesday so it could be a very wet triathlon. Some estimates are for three-to-ten inches of rain between now and Wednesday morning.

I watched an interesting program on FitTV last night. Gabrielle Reese was interviewing Barry Zito for the show Insider Training and Barry went through some of his routines for warming up and training. Let's just say very inspirational and eye-opening. The yoga inclusion, the elaborate warmup before throwing a single pitch or even a single toss of the ball. I checked the FitTV.com Web site and they're going to rerun the episode a couple more times this weekend.

Interesting NY Times article on interval training and the impact on fitness. I agree with the research, I just don't know if it's the thing to do year-round. I would definitely do an interval workout once a week each for a swim, bike and run for six-to-eight weeks prior to the event.

Last Three-Workout Day Until August

2007-05-24T07:13:00.000-06:00

Yesterday wrapped up the last of the three-workout days before the Capital of Texas Triathlon on Monday. A swim in Barton Springs for distance, a 38-minute cycling session with countdown intervals of hills versus cadence, ending the day with a 3-mile tempo run at Town Lake. Three workouts turned into four workouts while I was cooling down from the run, my next door neighbor called and said he was heading to the veloway for a couple of laps. I couldn't pass that up.

When I got back from the veloway, FedEx had left a package from Nashbar.com. It was my new 12-21 cassette. I put it on and took Salsa Verde for a spin. OH, OH, OH what a difference. In the Jan/Feb 2007 Bicycling Magazine Kenneth Acklin, a bike mechanic for 36-years, stated that lube and air were the two best things you could do for your bike. Not to disagree, but I think getting the correct cassette for the terrain would be a strong third, if not after air and before lube. The new cassette worked better than the old with the bar-end shifters. Just a little adjustment on the derailer and voila, a smooth riding machine.

The new diet started to kick in and the second ten pounds is being shredded before Monday. No telling how close I can get to race weight but it'll be closer than any other race the past few months. That is as long as I can stay away from the suds for the next few days.