What Does Chris Do All Winter?

Answer: Freeze his toosh off.  No, seriously, this whole triathlon lifestyle I'm living makes me a regular freezy cat.  I've had the electric mattress pad rolling for more than a month now.  Long sleeves and sweaters have been in the wardrobe rotation fro just as long.  Maybe body fat does keep you warm.  Who knew?

 

As for training, I've studies my last few years.  Looked at some race results.  Not all mine, mind you.  And come up with some goals for the upcoming twelve month period (that is a year for those readers who are not so quick).  I will, most likely, write down those goals here in a few months.  But, for now they reside in my head.  Remember that my goals and mine and should not affect your life in any way, shape, or form.

 

Any who...  How to get to those goals.

 

Here is the general plan that I'm looking to follow until mid-January:

 

2 basic bike workouts every week with a FTP type workout every second week thrown in just for fun.

 

3 interval based swim workouts every week.  My "test" interval will be 6 or 7 x 200m.

 

1 long (read painfully boring) swim workout per week.  I do get some of my best thinking done during these swims, so I may become a dunce if I completely forego them.

 

4 solid runs per week with one at or below my goal race pace every two weeks, or so.  Weekly mileage should be above 30 miles during "work" weeks and around 20 on a recovery week.

 

I am an avid stretcher so yoga and stretching are just part of my life.  So, that will be there.  But, I don't count it for anything.

 

About the bike:  A typical training workout for me would be 4 minutes easy and 1 minute hard.  "Easy" and "Hard" will be by feel.  My intention is to do a little sleeping in and just keep on friendly terms with the old bicycle.

 

About the swim:  This is my new project.  Had I known I could get faster with just a little real work, I would have done this years ago.  Anyhow...  Now I do a warm-up, a drill set, two work sets, and a cool down.  This has also reinvigorated my desire to swim.

 

About the run:  This is still the third that I like best.  I intend to do about the same total mileage that I did in 2010 in 2011.  But, I intend to do a lot more speed work and even some track workouts.  These next 6 weeks, or so, I will just be getting my body ready to go a little faster than it is comfortable with.

 

Unfortunately, my personal (read "my family's" and really "my wife's") training schedule will not allow me to attend too many of the Brent Emery lead training sessions at the Milwaukee shop.  But, I will make attempts to make as many of those as I can in order to be in shape for the spring road races.

 

Send me an e-mail if you want to get together for some winter training fun.

Tachyon Team Emery's Third Coast Meeting

Our Tachyon Team Emery's Third Coast is meeting next Thursday Dec 9, 6pm to see what we want to do as a triathlon and road team for next year. Plan is to meet at the Lisbon Ave store. Bring your bike and trainers. We'll be riding easily while chatting. Movie for the night will be Breaking Away or American Flyers. Invite anyone you know who has been riding with you/us or that we can suck into the vacuum of common sense.

 

All are welcome come on out and join us.

 

Yes, even if you are only a little interested, come and join us.

 

No, really, you are welcome to come.

 

Hope to see you there.

Winter Training!

On Tuesday, last week, winter training began! Hooray! Who does not love spending hours on the trainer, staring at the wall, working on technique, building base, power, speed and endurance? I know I love my trainer. Well, not exactly. I just keep remembering that all the work I am putting in now will be worth it when the race season begins.

Last year, I entered winter training weighing close to 230 lbs. While I was building power into my legs, I was also trying to lose weight to get to my race weight for 180-185 lbs. Not the ideal situation for preparing for the upcoming season.

This year, I entered winter training at my race weight 180 lbs. Instead of having to worry about cutting weight, I only have to focus on building power, a much easier task at hand.

For winter training this year, I am incorporating the things that have been successful in the past for physical growth and performance. The winter prior to my shoulder injury, I spent one day a week riding my trainer for 4-6 hours, in addition to the other rides that Brent had. I have never felt that strong on my bike. Unfortunately, I destroyed my shoulder on my first ride back on the road of that season, which sidelined me for several weeks. In addition to the long rides, Brent added yoga to last year's training regime and I noticed huge gains in flexibility through that, something I plan to continue to do. After talking with Brent, the game plan he has me on has me doing the three training sessions at Emery's each week (Tuesdays 5:30-7pm, Thursdays 6-8am, and Saturdays 7-10am at the Milwaukee shop), one long ride of 3-6 hours (probably on Sundays), and lifting on Mondays and Wednesdays. It has been a while since I consistently lifted, but I always had huge gains in the past and know that it will help get those extra few mph in my sprints.

After the first week of winter training, I am definitely excited about where I can take myself this off-season. The legs feel great and are anxious to spend more time on the bike.

Word of warning: Regarding my training schedule/plan, each week and workout has a different purpose that repeats every 7 weeks. I am also not going 100% to allow my body to get used to what I'm asking (telling) it to do before I really ramp it up in about 6 weeks for the second cycle of the program. The first cycle is more about building base than killing myself. Also, while I took a week completely off my bike, I was still riding over 100 miles a week through mid November (thanks to our unusually warm Fall).

Now that the warning is out there, come join on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at the shop. And if you're interested in joining on any of my other workouts, just comment to let me know.

Happy training!

Where have ya been?

Back by popular, or at least regular, demand, here is a blog post. Now, stop asking me, "When are you going to update us?" You can still e-mail me any questions. I just have not been in hyper-training mode. Actually, i forgot about the blog a little. Don't tell anyone. OK?

I've had a chance to unwind after the triathlon season. I've done a bit of running, biking, and swimming just for fun and fitness. That was actually kind of nice. Friday afternoon runs have been peaceful to say the least.

Now, the meat of today's topic: Reviewing the year's results/accomplishments and thinking a little about 2011. Overall, 2010 was a good year. Other than High Cliff, which kicked my a$$, I improved my times (Note plural here. It is called foreshadowing) from last year. Well, kind of and we'll get to that.

Over the course of the year I intended to run a little more than I did last year which looks like I will do.  Last year I ran just under 1,200 miles and this year I'll be over that for sure. For this year, as opposed to last year, I only ran 4 times each week. Basically, I cut out those 2 or 3 mile "short" runs with the intent to put those minutes in on the bike.

On the bike, I really had two main goals for the year. One was to get a solid tempo ride and a solid "long" ride in every week. The second was to complete the bone ride and be functional the next day.

My bike training consistency was more than I could have hoped for. Darn near every Monday I did a solid tempo ride and just about every Friday I, and the gang, got a good 60+ mile ride logged. I do have to note, and challenge some others, that I did most of my tempo rides alone. I quickly learned that when I got into pedal, pedal, pedal mode I quickly could leave others behind if they were not willing to push a little. Even when I did all the pulling, I would sometimes get into a zone where I would forget to look back every once in a while. Not wanting to be a jerk, I just figured that tempo ride was a day for a little alone time. Hint: Ben and Steve get on your trainer now so you can keep up;)

The Bone Ride this year saw more great weather and completing it was not even near the exhaustive effort it was in 2009. I can only credit this to the stupid number of 3+ hour trainer rides I did in February, March, and April.

Well, those are the two sports I did better in during 2010. I would really say that consistency of training allowed the gains I saw. I plan to do a very similar program in 2011 with a little more specificity. How's that for a fancy word, huh? Basically, I hope it means I'll have a power meter for next year to turn my engineering mind onto. Also, I have been experimenting with low heart rate running and have found that very interesting. That may find its way into my early season training too.

Now for sport number three: Swimming.

I will admit that, before about six weeks ago, I was a pool slacker. I read in some book somewhere when I started triathlon that swimming in a triathlon should be an aerobic effort and that I should be doing long distance workouts. So, off to the pool I went to reacquire the skill of swimming I had in my youth. With a solid eighteen years out of the pool I started training myself to swim longer and longer distances. As my swim fitness grew, my times got faster. But, as my race results show, my swimming speed stagnated (I have a word of the day subscription if you didn't know). I also found swimming, as I was doing it, bring with a capitol "B". I would often, turn a 2000m swim into an 800m swim just because I couldn't look at that stupid black line any more.

What did I see that jumped at me from my race results from the past three years? My swim times were all about the same. My swims didn't improve at all let alone in relation to my bike and run times.

Verdict: Get serious about swimming. Or is that a sentence?

Being college educated, maybe overly so, I looked into what kind of training I should have been doing and got myself started. Heck, I even went out and bought a pair of paddles. I have to admit that I will not buy a pull buoy because I don't want to be labeled as the tri guy at the pool. Everyone knows that triathletes go to the pool and stick that thing between their legs just way too much. Anyway, I have been using the paddles and actual drills (Yes, I am doing swimming drills) to reestablish proper form and intervals to work on going faster. So, far it has been so good. Let's see what happens in 2011.

That is what has been on my mind. Swimming faster and just logging a few rides and a bunch of base aerobic runs. Oh, and I might have been playing husband and father too. Now you know why I haven't posted anything.

One final thought. I really want to log a least one outdoor ride a week this winter. I'm not sure how that will work. So, far I've bailed on a bunch of Ben's morning rides. Now that I am skinny (or at least close to it), I have a hard time staying warm. Heck, I have the electric mattress pad on the bed already.

OK. A second final thought. One of my ideas for 2011 is to race about eight or nine pounds lighter than in 2010. For most of 2010 I went between 175 and 178 pounds. I have a feeling that being in the high 160's may pay dividends come race day. Editor's Note: Julie thinks this is crazy and this may make riding outside in the depths of winter even harder. The Wii Fit in the family room says I should weigh 166. Can you take training advice from Nintendo? I just want my Mii to look better.

 

Route Page

Note the new link to the side titled "Routes". Over time, we will add more routes that we enjoy (and name) to help spread the joy of pedaling with others. If you have any good routes that you would like to share, please drop us an email.

It has been a while

Well, gentle reader, I didn't want you all (ya'all to the folks south of the Mason-Dixon line) to think all I have been doing is sitting around and eating big hamburgers.  Sidebar: Big hamburgers are delicious.

 

Now back to the story at hand.

 

The Jayhawk Latebird Tri.  Ben did a great job explaining his side of the story.  Now for the truth.  Or, at least my rendition of the events.  Yes, yes I know that the race was a month ago.  I've been not being a triathlete for a while.  So, you just had to wait for this gripping tale.

 

The whole Emery's gang was there.  Brent, Julie, my Julie, Ben, Kari, Matt, Andy, Scott (my hero), Anna, and I were all in attendance.  Ben's Steve (actually Anna's Steve but he was Ben's Steve first) was out due to injuries and or other commitments.

 

I have to admit that it was my hope that all the fast guys like Scott and Andy would be exhausted from IM WI and other training to allow me to contest for an overall win.  Not so.  But fun was had.

 

Leading up to the race Ben and Kari started swimming again.  From our conversations, it was learned by me that both were definitely faster that I was.  This made me happy because Kari was in my lane for the swim.  I was planning on drafting off her for the entire swim.  Well, that didn't happen either.  I started first in the lane and Kari right behind me.  Throughout the swim she was right behind me, but never passed.  So, there I was stuck actually swimming.  I saw Ben get out of the water as I started my last 50m.  At that point I knew I has him.  Not only was I starting about 2 minutes behind him, but I knew my transitions would be faster than his.

 

Sure enough, as I exited the pool into transition, there was Ben messing with his wardrobe.  I understand that fashion can influence speed on the bike.  But I'm not sure whatever Ben was messing with was worth it.  I believe he was color coordinating his earrings and nail polish.  I'm not sure, but that is what I am going with.  So, I passed Ben while he was standing still in transition.

 

On to the bike I went.  Pedal, pedal, pedal.  At the first turn, which might be about 1.5 or 2 miles in, I glanced back and saw nobody.  I continued to pedal, pedal.  I did finally see Ben after the turnaround at about mile 7 or 8.  By my computer's clock I had a bit over a minute on him for sure at this point.  I kept my pace nice and even figuring that he would have to seriously blow himself up to catch me on the bike.

 

In T2 I had a good transition and was not able to see Ben at all.  Figuring transition time, etc. I figured I had over 2 minutes at this point.  I didn't think Ben was going to run 6 minute miles, so I went on to concentrate on my run and hopefully a decent overall time.

 

Mr. Garmin kept me at 6:45 pace through the whole run.  Which had me feeling quite good.  Sidebar again: Mr. Garmin had my average pace as 6:48 min/mi for 3.24mi but timing and scoring had me at 7:11 for 3.1mi.  I finished the run strong and feeling pretty good.  What was really cool was that I was the first person through the forest section and I was able to run with a family of deer for a little bit.  Not exactly a normal race thing.

 

In the end, I think I was 6th overall.  Andy beat me this time where I beat him in the spring.  Ben, although he was looking really good (earrings and nails you know), came in a couple of minutes behind me.  It was really, really cool to see all the Emery's folks finish. 

 

My Julie really did well.  She wound up 3rd in her age group and with a personal best course time.  I have to admit that her accomplishment far outweighs anything I did that day.

 

End of the race season.  That was the last of the races for 2010.  I might do a couple of running races yet.  But, we'll see.

 

I made it through the Monday and Tuesday after Whitewater without working out.  By Wednesday the ants in my pants required some feeding.  Since then, I've just been working out for workout's sake.  No real goals, just staying in shape.

 

I've taken a look at my results this year.  Although my swim times have not been poor, they were not front of the pack kind of times either.  I, to date, have really only done aerobic swim training.  I'd go swim 800, 1500, 2000, 2500 meters straight.  If I ever did pace work, it was rare.  And, I mean rare.  Like, maybe, 10 times in the last 5 years.  My race plan has always been to not work too hard on the swim, catch the fast swimmers on the bike and try to run as fast as I can.  I think my strategy may need to change a little for next year.

 

I know what I was capable of swimming in my youth (yut south of M-D line).  I also know that I am not 20 years-old any more (even though I try to act it).  So, my "until new year's resolution" is to swim like a swimmer for a bit.  I should be able to get my aerobic swimming pace into the high 1:20's over the next few months.  Maybe coming out of the water with the lead pack will allow me to conserve a little on the bike to allow my runs to be stronger.  Come along with me and we'll see.

 

So you've been warned.  If you see me in person I'll smell like chlorine, I might have marks on my hands from my paddles (which are way fancier now then they were in 1989 the last time I used paddles), and as usual I'll have a new goal to be working towards.

 

If you're looking to school me in the pool, give me a shout via e-mail, etc.  I am more than will to suffer if you can get this old man any faster.

Chris and his quad

So that there is proof he ate a large burger, here it is! Doesn't that look delectable?

LateBird Tri Race Report

This past Sunday a group of us from the Emery's squad competed in the J-Hawk LateBird Triathlon. It was an absolute blast! I almost forgot how much fun (and frustrating) triathlons can be, since it has been over two years since my last race. Anywho, I figured that I should detail out the day from my perspective for our captivated readers.

Kari, Matt and myself started off the day loading up the car, completed the first pre-game dump, ate breakfast and left to pick up Sarah on our to the triathlon. It was a fairly uneventful car ride. Sarah complained a little for being awoken from her slumber at dawn. That's ok. We had several missions to accomplish: Matt's first triathlon ever along with Kari and my ambitions.

When we got there, we checked in with registration and I asked for a brief run-down of the bike course. I wanted to try to get out on the course for a bit of a warm-up. After we were set up in the rack, we got changed and I headed out for my warm-up. It was a little more brisk than I was anticipating, so I made the decision to go with arm-warmers after all. I got inside just a little before my wave started for the triathlon to eat my last few calories and hand some to Kari before I jumped in the water. I also was able to discuss swim speeds and how we'd handle passing in the lane if the need arose. Then my wave was summoned behind lane 1 to begin our swim.

I felt a little more sluggish in the water than I was hoping for. I still knocked out a 6:52 for my 500. While that is not bad, it was not what I felt capable of doing. I climbed out of the pool and raced to my bike. Then I began my frustrating struggle with my arm warmers. It took me a while, but I finally got them on (Chris passed me in transition to only piss me off further). He started in wave 3 and I am a faster swimmer, so I had about a minute lead vanish because of my arm-warmers (really pissed me off). I took off on my bike chasing him and trying not to lose sight of him. Unfortunately, the course is winding enough that I lost track of him fairly early on in the bike course and tried to settle into a rhythm.

As I made the turn for the turn-around, I saw Chris (only about .25-.5 miles up the road). This motivated me to keep powering on, now that I had him in my sights again. Prior to the race, I asked Andy to give me time updates on any potential time gaps between myself and Chris, since I knew he would not start before we finished. As I entered into transition for the run, Andy told me that Chris had about 3 minutes on me. Basically, when Chris and I saw each other, it motivated both of us and he took a little more time out of me.

Off on the run course I go. Thankfully, the first water volunteer at the top of the first hill gave me a cup of water and directed me along to the off-road run course. It was not as challenging as I had prepared for, but it was definitely a difficult course. On the section of the run course that was next to the road, I saw Kari trucking into transition (she also started a wave behind me and I figured she was about 10 minutes behind me). She was doing awesome and looking strong! It was also really weird to never see another competer throughout the run. The volunteers were also a little shocked to see me show up, since I was only the third person on the course. I knew Chris was in front of me, but I had no idea where I was (no mile markers like on the bike course). As a result, I was really struggling with determining how much I should try to pour into the run without blowing up early. When I finally saw the finish line, I had a load of gas left and tried to finish as strong as possible.

At the end of the day, I ended up having a lot of energy in my reserves. While finishing close to my goals (swim=7 min, actual=6:52 min; bike=37 min, actual=38:38 min; run=21:30 min, actual 23:00; top 10 overall, actual 9th; win age group, actual 3rd), I was really pissed/motivated/frustrated that I had a load of energy still in the tank when I finished and only had 1 minute separate myself from 6th position overall. It definitely inspired myself and Kari to set goals for the EarlyBird and plan to race come May 1st.

On a happier note, all of the Emery's squad kept their IT bands in check to be able to bring in quite a haul of medals. Matt finished his first ever triathlon after only 3 weeks of training! Kari placed 5th overall for women and won her age group in only her second triathlon ever! Chris won his age group and took 4th overall for men! Julie took 3rd in her age group! Andy won his age group and took 2nd overall for men! Brent won his age group! Finally, I got 3rd in my age group and took 9th overall for the men. There are more details about the results on the Race Results page and photos on the Race Photos page.



Last but not least, following the triathlon, Chris, Julie, Kari, Matt, Sarah and myself headed over to Sobelman's for a delicious meal. Chris was peer-pressured into eating a quad. I believe that he enjoyed it! It is definitely a wonderful place to go for a post-race meal!

An awesome journey

Over the past few months, I really stepped my weight loss up a notch. While I was never fat (6'3" and 225-230lbs in December), I was definitely getting a little chunky over the winter. If you are not careful, stress and inactivity will do that to you. As some of my stress was dissipating and I was able to get back into some routine of a training program, the weight started to come off.

I participated in a running study, which gave me an opportunity to see where my weight was during the end of March/beginning of April (212lbs). Basically, my training regime was helping me shed some weight, but my goal racing weight is in the 185-190lb ball park. I believe that I raced each of the last few years between 190-195lb. I am still a big guy, but I need to be lite to try to keep up with the mountain goats in some of the hillier races.

At the end of April, Kari found an app for our iPhones that would allow us to track our caloric intake and expense. Perfect! I immediately plugged in my goal weight of 185lbs and weight loss plan of 2lbs/week. I quickly learned how bad some foods are for you and how much I was theoretically burning on my workouts. I took things a little extreme and would typically underestimate how much working out I was doing and overestimate how much food I was eating. As a result, I am currently sitting at 181-182lbs (depending on the time of day) a mere 4 months later. I have not switched the program into maintenance mode just yet, because I would like to get it down to 180lbs prior to the Fall when my activity decreases. The goal would be to maintain that weight for the winter by recording calories in and out, so that I do not have to cut weight during the race season.

Probably the roughest part of the whole weight loss thing was dealing with off/recovery days. They were days that I typically did not do anything physically active. Unless I saved calories from hard workout days, I usually did not have a whole lot available to eat on my rest days. Oh well. It is almost over!

Ok, so the purpose of my post was to highlight a youtube video that my podcast informed me of. I subscribe to a few podcasts, one of which is the Best of Youtube podcast. Today's video was very good and fit my story a bit. Here was a guy who was in a lot worse shape than me who changed his life through action. While I have not been on this planet long, I have learned that if there is something that you want, you need to go for it. Success does not happen to those who sit idly by hoping for a change in circumstances. It comes to those who are actively pursuing it. One definition of success that I've heard and like quite a bit is: Success is where opportunity and preparedness meet. My question to you is simple. Are you preparing for success so that opportunity does not pass you by? Or are you just waiting to get all of your ducks in a row? (Hint: Ducks never get in a row without the help of a string)

Enjoy the video!

His blog is pretty good too

J-Hawk Latebird

Wave start times for the J-Hawk Latebird are available. As of now, I will start in wave 2, Chris and Kari will start in wave 3, Matt will start in wave 4, both Julies will start in wave 7, Brent will start in wave 8, Andy will start in wave 36 (the fastest wave!), and Anna will start in wave 45. If there are any other Emery's people out there who I missed, please comment when your start time is. We want to be sure that we are there cheering each other on, if possible! There are also plenty of spots available for those who have not signed up yet (i.e., Steve).

One more week! Train hard!

Let's Talk Overtraining

The big "O".

 

Get your mind out of the gutter.  I mean "Overtraining".  First, I am writing it as one word.  I'm not sure it is, but I am too lazy to look it up.  So, one word it will be to me.

 

I've been thinking and promising these thoughts for a while.  A real world example has prompted me to actually write it down.  Or, in this case type it down.

 

Second, a brief review.  We train so that our body will adapt.  Some train to just make it without dying.  Other train to make it in less time than it took last week, last year, last decade.  Adaption is our goal.  By training we stress our bodies, expect them to repair themselves, and then expect them to get better.  Here is the formula (Forgive the engineer/scientist thing it will not last long):

 

Training=Stress

Repair=Recovery (Active or Inactive)

Result=Faster or Stronger

 

Training + Repair = Result

 

Simple substitution yields:

 

Training + Recovery = Faster or Training + Recovery = Stronger

 

Without going into a bunch of Gaussian Elimination, I will tell you what that silliness yields.

 

We all know what training is.  And, we probably all know how to do.

 

We all also know what our desired result(s) are.

 

That leaves us with recovery.  I would actually argue that both training and results are a function (fancy calculus term here) of recovery.  Thus:

 

Results f(Recovery)

 

Training f(Recovery)

 

Note two things are linked to recovery.  IT IS NOT Recovery f(Training, Results).

 

The amount of recovery needed will depend to the volume and intensity of training.  But, it will also depend on what you are trying to get out of your training (results).

 

Enough talking in math circles.

 

You can train all you want.  Or, you can try to.  At some point you have to allow your body the time and ability to heal itself in order for it to adapt.

 

What does that mean?  It means all your workouts can't be at warp speed.  It means that you can't do three-a-day workouts for six months straight.  Without recovery, be it moderate/slow paced workouts or complete rest, you will very quickly see results flushed down the toilet.

 

What do I do?  I make sure my workout plan involves some active recovery, and I make sure that my plan included one complete off day a week.  I do at least one swim, bike, and run workout a week at about 60% effort.  That means a nice swim for the sake of swimming, a bike ride where I suck wheel most of the time, and a jog.  Side note: while jogging I look for dead bodies.  It always seems that joggers find dead bodies all the time and I log enough miles that I should find one soon.

 

What is/are the sign/s of overtraining?  Google it yourself. 

 

Here is what I have seen recently.  When Ben started "Tri Training" again he added all kinds of stress to his happy training routine.  He started running and even started some swimming.  I'm not Ben (He is much younger than I), but I would call that added stress.  When you go from just riding your little bike to being a triathlete, you are upping the ante as they (I still don't know who "they" are) say.  What he didn't do was add recovery at the same time.  He really added a lot of running and swimming.  But, like I noted, he is younger than I and knows his own body. 

 

How do I know?  Well, we went for an easy Sunday morning ride.  We don't usually ride on Sundays.  But, I had taken off to attend some family chores (see below post)on Saturday, so 60 miles of no work fit in both our schedules.  To fast forward, Ben had a bad day on his bicycle.  He had more issues than I could pay attention to.  Granted, I have a short attention span.  But, he did not have fun.  I actually thought he was practicing for marriage or something.  I'm not sure how many days in a row he worked out previously.  I was coming off a complete day off, so I was fresh as a daisy.  Or the sweaty male equivalent of a daisy.  I was tootling on my bike and Ben was working way harder than he should have been.  What Ben found was the point at which his body could no longer repair itself from the training that he had been putting it through.  Ben, very quickly, figured out that he overtrained himself.

 

Now, everyone's limit will be different.  There is diet, sleep, life stress equations all that to add to the above equations (Gaussian elimination is really necessary).  Once you've been there you will not quickly forget it.  I try to, but sometimes fail at, being 5% undertrained rather than 1% overtrained.  Sometime training is too fun to stop.

 

Your mileage may vary.

There is More to Life than Triathlon

Yes.  Believe it or not.

 

Now, I'm just as OCD about my tri training and participation as most others.  I think it is important to have as plan, stick to it, and be constant in your training.  But, let's face it, most of our chances of going pro as slim.  Triathlon is a great way to get, and keep, one's body healthy.  It is a great group of people to hang out with.  And, it is just plain old fun.

 

But, there is a point of diminishing returns.  What I am talking about here is both over training and about negatively impacting one's non-triathlon life.  The second, of course, assumes that you have a life.  If you don't, that sucks for you.  Get one, you'll like one.

 

First, to the second.  With Ironman Wisconsin around the corner, I have witnesses a lot of triathletes not talking about tapers, runs, or bike rides.  They are talking about how their families are all looking forward to when, "Ironman is over."  Now, I don't know what their family dynamics are like, but I can speak to mine.

 

I would like to do Ironman.  At least one, but I know myself and one would probably start a trend.  My wife knows this too.  I've sat down with the numbers and with my training schedule.  For me, personally, to do an Ironman would require about an extra eight (8) hours of training a week.  Side note: When I say "do" an Ironman I speak to maximizing my personal performance at one.  I would not like to "just do one to finish it".  That is not to say that just finishing an Ironman is not an accomplishment.  I just feel that if I am going to do that volume of training, I want to maximize whatever my performance would be at that race distance.  Back to the story:  So, I need about eight more hours a week for about three months.  For Ironman Wisconsin, that would mean for the months of June, July, and August I would have to keep my training schedule about the same as it is now during the week, but would have to add Saturday and Sunday training.  See, right now, I only train for two hours on Saturday.  I do a kind of long run and a short swim on Saturday and Sunday is my off day.  I think for Ironman I would need Saturday for a long bike and medium run and would have to add a long run on Sunday.  I would make Monday an off day, but still.  Now, what does that have to do with the subject?  In order for me to change my training as such, I would seriously impact my family's schedule.  And, I would make seeing Daddy on the weekend more difficult.  Believe me, Julie and I have discussed this at length.  She understands that I want to do Ironman.  And, I understand what function I play in our family unit.  Together, right now, I remain content to race one Half Iron distance and a bunch of sprints.  Maybe next year I'll do a couple or three halfs (not halves).  We'll see.

 

So, to the second point from above, I have a lot of fun training for and racing triathlons.  But, I have a lot of fun being a husband and father.  I do what I can to prioritize and get in my tri training done.  But, through much negotiation with Julie and some actual understanding, I know that husband and father are better life titles than triathlete.  Some of the guys I've recently overheard talking along with what they are saying about their families, have lead me to think that either one, some, or all of the following may have taken place in their lives:

 

1.  They did not really understand how much training is necessary to do an IM.

2.  They did not express how much training is necessary to do an IM to their family.

3.  Their family did not really understand how much training is necessary to do an IM.

4.  There was not a family discussion about doing an IM.

5.  Real life priorities were not kept during IM training.

 

I can definitely see how any or all of those above could happen.  A couple of those are holes that could just keep getting deeper if you let them.

 

In the end, as non-professional athletes, what are those fifteen minutes off your Ironman time worth?  If you want to go to Hawaii, I'll bet just about any travel agent will book the flights for you.  Heck, what is that silly piece of tin with an attached ribbon from your local tri worth?  What are they worth when you weigh them against your life outside of triathlon?

 

As for over training.  I'll touch on that in an upcoming post.  I have to admit that I am just tired of typing right now.

 

See ya.

 

 

More wonderful photos!

For those of you who love pictures, I am adding one more of the Sobelman burger from the other night.



Some photos from this morning's race in Kansasville are already up on my Facebook page. That majority, in high resolution no less, will be available on my photography company's webpage. Perhaps we will be lucky enough for Brent to write his first post and give a race recap! We can only hope! He did do awesome today, clocking a 57:09 on his computer! Wicked!

Chris and I are planning on going for an approximately 40 mile tempo ride on our time trial bikes in the morning! Come join us! You know it will be fun!

Double Bong 40k TT

Brent and I just arrived at the double bong 40k time trial in Kansasville, WI. I am just here to take photos and be race support while Brent is actually racing. It is really cool to see so many cyclists out early on a Sunday morning excited about punishing their bodies on a solo effort against the clock. There are even 11 people over the age of 70 racing today! Holy cow! Definitely makes you question the weenie voice in your head. Check back later for more photos and race results!

Some pre-race photos:

Gluttony is delicious

Chris, his two boys, Daniel and myself found ourselves at Sobelman's celebrating my weight loss and enjoying a wonderful meal. I chose to go for the quad. It is the only natural decision. I have only gotten a burger smaller than a quad one time and finished the quad, 5 and 6 patty burgers numerous times. They are wonderful! Brent always told me to maximize my calorie to dollar ratio. The double is $9 and the quad is $13. Who do you think has the better deal! I hope you enjoy the photo of my over 4000 calorie meal!



Yum!

Why we are idiots

Chris and I had another one of those great realizations today that we truly are idiots. To preface, he and I both work jobs that some people might believe require some semblance of a brain; however, we are here to prove that is not necessarily the case. Chris is a civil engineer for the City of West Allis and I am finishing up my PhD in neuroscience and biophysics at the Medical College of Wisconsin. I typically describe my job as "being paid to play with brains" to which most people respond that I must be smart. I usually politely respond that that is what they say. Please believe me that I am not trying to be arrogant, just proving a point.

Anyhow, back to our story. A few weeks ago, Angie on the Cafe Hollander Bicycle Team joined us for one of our longer rides. On this ride, we stopped at a McDonald's attached to a gas station. Mind you, Chris and I have been stopping there about once a week for several months prior to this ride. Angie, her first time stopping at this location, immediately went for the bike rack. Now I know what you're thinking, "what's so special about placing one's bike in a bike rack?" Here's what special about it, Chris and I had never noticed the bike rack before and had just been placing our bikes on the railing by a door a mere 20 feet away. That's pretty sad for us, but it happens. We have been using that bike rack ever since. Thanks Angie!

This brings us to our ride today. We decided to hold off on stopping until the McDonald's in Mukwonago to minimize our number of stops. When we get there, trying to be smart, I decided to take a quick ride around the McDonald's searching for a bike rack. During this time, Chris decided to just place his bike by a trash can near the front door. (Note how nice our bikes look next to the trash can below.) After failing to find the bike rack, I parked my bike next to Chris' and we went inside, muttering how the Mukwonago people must not be as classy as the Waterford people in providing multi-modal parking situations.



After releasing some bodily fluids and filling up our bottles, I consume my banana. While discarding my banana peel, I glance out the window and see the thing that eluded us earlier. I mention to Chris to come here and look out the window. There it is. The bike rack! We chuckle and mention how dumb we are and how we should document our stupidity to share with others.



Following the pictures, we get back on the road and finish our ride. We saw some turkeys and gorgeous skies. It was a beautiful morning for a ride. On the way in, we both decided that we earned a sausage mcmuffin from McDonald's Dollar menu. It is a wonderful 383 calories of nutrition!



Come join us tonight at Sobelman's for a quad at 6:30pm! It will be quite delicious! By the way, here's the data for those of you who are curious.

Happy Riding!

Waupaca Area Triathlon Race Report

I have to say that the Waupaca Area Tri is my favorite.  Sure, I do some other well run races.  But, this one is the best.  The level of volunteers and the fact that the whole community comes out to watch and cheer makes for a great event.

 

Anyhow, Julie and I arrived early Saturday morning and got ourselves set-up.  The swim is 1/2 mile, the bike a little short of 20 miles and the run is supposed to be 3 miles (it is 3.22 according to Mr. Garmin).  The long swim and little longer bike plays well into my strengths without making me run any more than necessary.  Julie, on the other hand, was not thrilled with the 1/2 mile swim.

 

Standing on the beach before the start of the elite wave, there were two young guys doing very vigorous warm-ups.  They were both wearing red "guard" Speedos and Swedish goggles.  I looked at them and said, "Self, those are the feet to follow."  My thoughts were confirmed as I over heard them planning on taking turns at the front every big buoy.  Yeah!  The horn went off and into the water we all went.  The Speedo guys did not disappoint.  They went out fast and I was just able to stay in their draft.  I thought that I would be able to stay with them and maybe get a PR on the swim.  Well, the best laid plans of mice and men oft go astray.  At about the 200m mark, I was forced to swim over set of Speedo feet one.  I don't know what he did, but I think he just stopped or slowed way, way down.  Anyhow, I sped up a little to catch back on to Speedo feet number two.  I was not on his bubble for more than 100 meters when he too fell off.  He actually grabbed the lane line.  So, around him I go.  I had to hammer a little more than I would like to catch the lead group which had put about 20 or 25 feet on me by the 1/4 mile turn around.  After the turn, I was able to find a good pace and a couple of feet.  But, the feet I was finding were a little on the slow side.  I wound up swimming the last 300m by myself.  Not my plan, but what can you do.  I got out of the water in 3rd or 4th.

 

I passed one or two in T1 and onto my bike I went.  This year's bike route was a little different from the last few years.  Luckily, Julie and I were able to ride the changed portion of the course on Thursday, so I had a good idea of what to expect.  The new course has a bunch of little hills rather than the two on the previous course.  Anyhow, on the bike I worked just off my cadence.  I've found a way to disconnect the speed sensor (remove the wheel magnet, duh) so I just get my cadence and nothing else.  My goal was to spin 90 to 100 rpm for the race distance and see what I get out of it. 

 

At about the 10 mile mark, I was passed by another guy on a pretty P2.  I have to admit to being partial to the white and red Cervelos for an unknown reason.  I was able to stay with him for about 2 more miles, but those young guys are pretty fast.  While I was still with him, a course marshal indicated to us that we were 2 minutes behind the leader.  That put me in 3rd overall.  Knowing this and being able to hear the sound of two disc wheels echoing down the country road made me very happy with life at the time.  After a while, I was not able to keep up the pace that my new friend was keeping, so I slowly lost touch with him.  With around one mile to go, I was passed again going up a hill.  I repassed this guy after a 90 degree corner (which he must have used his brakes going around) and a little down hill section that I was willing to hammer on just before T2.

 

In T2 my new Nike Lunar Racer 2's went on way easier than the ones "lost" at Tri-ing for Children.  Plus they match my Emery's kit better too.

 

The run course is flat and fast.  This is not good for me.  The guy I repassed on the bike re-repassed me at about the 1/2 mile mark and proceed to run about 30 seconds per mile faster than I was able to.  Forth overall.  Let me remind you, gentle reader, that I really enjoy running the most.  I am just not the fastest runner out there.  I know this.  So, when on the run, I am in "just try to save the time you gained in the water and on the bike" mode.  I thought I did a pretty good job of that.  Another fast guy passed me around the 2 mile mark.  Fifth overall.  I was able to up the pace a little within the last 1/2 mile, or so, and finish strong.

 

It turns out that the overall winner came from wave number 4.  So, my 5th was actually 6th.  But, hey I'll take that.  Final result was 6th overall and 1st in my old guy age group.

 

After I was done, I was able to see Julie and her friend Jen through T2 and then catch them both out on the run course.  I have to say, I'm really getting into the whole cheering out on the course.  It is way more fun than I would have thought.

 

Overall, it was a great weekend.  Julie and I were able to get a good race in.  The kids got some solid time in the lake with grandma and grandpa too.  Heck, the dogs even got a bath.  So, life is good.  Fluffy puppies and tired kids are always good things.

 

Over the next couple of weeks, I am planning on posted some stuff about training plans and equipment choices.  I've been looking at new toys, their prices, and what they might do for my race results.  I've also been noticing that although I do like racing (a lot), I may actually like training better.  More to come...

Riding Your Bike: It Does the Body Good!

For those of you have not spent a whole lot of time with us on rides (we highly recommend you join us), you may not have noticed that I've dropped a fair bit of weight the last few months. All of this weight loss can be attributed to my cycling and use of an iPhone app Kari found for us called Lose It!.

Two years ago, when Kari and I met, I had just completed my first marathon, Grandma's Marathon, and I was at my lowest weight since my junior year of high school. I am a fairly big guy, 6'3", and at the time we met, I was weighing around 190 pounds. Running hours a day will help shed weight like nobody's business, but it is not super friendly to the joints. By the end of the summer following my marathon, I was running 5k's in sub-7 minute pace, wicked fast for a non-runner, such as myself, but I also irritated my plantaris in my left knee a little. While this was no serious cause for alarm, I backed off my running significantly.

Around this time, I also trained a kid through his first ever triathlon. He had approached me during my marathon training and asked if I would help him prepare for a triathlon. I said that I would love to as soon as my marathon was done, I do love coaching people through things they believe are impossible and helping them get out of their own way. I told him to pick a race, and that we would train as much as possible together and do the race together. He chose Tri-ing for Children. We had a blast training and racing together. He did very well. He was 57th out of 302. Pretty awesome for a first-timer! My high result was also partly the reason behind why I decided to race again the following weekend at the race where I met my future wife! It is a cute story that may be shared another time. Triathlons definitely do the body good!

Ok, that is enough of a tangent/back story. During the last two years of dating Kari, my weight started to creep up. Until she got a good road bike that we could rely on being available to ride together more often, we did not always work out while we were together. Combine less working out, more eating out (she lives at a distance, so cooking good meals for ourselves can actually be more expensive than just grabbing a quick bit at a restaurant), and the stress from trying to get myself graduated from grad school, did not lead to a very conducive lifestyle to maintain a healthy weight. Needless to say, I ended up ballooning up to the largest I've ever been this last December at around 225-230lbs! Yikes! I knew that riding my bike would help pull it off, so I got really committed to indoor workouts and really pushing them hard.

When April rolled around, I had dropped some of the weight, but I was still tipping the scales at around 212lbs. This is rather large for a cyclist, especially when the road points upward during a race. During my visit to Kari in the last weekend of April, she happened to find the Lose It! application, because she also wanted to cut some weight. We both installed it to our phones and began the process of cutting weight. I set my calorie budget to lose 2 pounds a week and my goal to drop down to 185 pounds, a little smaller than I was at the time of my marathon. That first weekend of use was a little rough. We had never been super disciplined with our food, and now we have a device telling us how much we can eat! Crap!

Over the last 3 and a half months, I have been really disciplined in recording everything I consume and all of my time working out. I try to be as conservative as possible by over-estimating my food and under-estimating my exercise. I have been very impressed with the results. Currently, I am sitting at 186 pounds, so I only have one more to go for my goal weight. It has been going so well, that Brent, Chris and myself think that getting it down to the upper 170s-180 would be good to prep for the few pounds I may gain during Christmas time. I am comfortable racing in the 180-185 range, but it would be nice to be closer to the low end of that before I hit the off season weight training to be able to add muscle where I deem necessary.

I believe this is enough rambling about my diet for now. One word of warning, I do not recommend trying to cut weight while in season. It sucks! On my rest days, my calorie budget is ridiculously low. It is also tough to properly prepare for a race while keeping the calories down. I have found a way to get some decent results this year, but I realize that my results will be better next year because I will not be trying to cut weight. The application also has a maintenance mode, which is a very nice feature. As soon as I call it quits on the weight loss, I can just flip it over into weight maintenance mode and keep recording for that purpose. I have already developed the habit of keeping close tabs on my nutrition, so I might as well keep it up. For those of you interested in joining, Brent, Chris and myself are hitting up Sobelman's as soon as I hit 185 (so some time next week) to celebrate before I continue cutting to 180. Also, both Brent and Chris will be racing this weekend. Brent will be at Race the Lake and Chris will be at Waupaca Area Triathlon. If you find yourself in either of these locales, be sure to cheer them on!

Southeastway Park Crit and Upgrades

For those of you who are also fairly new to the sport of cycling, I just learned a rather valuable tidbit this past week. When you have completed enough races or earned enough points for an upgrade, all you have to do is ask for one. It costs no extra money (something that I thought it might) and USA Cycling makes a little print out available to show race organizers that you are allowed to race the new category that is not on your license. That being said, I am now a Cat 4! I realize that this is not a gigantically huge accomplishment, since I only had to survive and finish 10 mass start events, but I was rather excited. This new upgrade has already opened some doors for me. The first being the ability to race more than one category at a race, something that was previously not allowed for me.

On Sunday, I did just that. The Southeastway Park Crit had Juniors, and Cat 4/5s race together at 10:45 and Cat 3/4s race together at noon. I figured, and checked with Brent and Chris to get their take, that this might be a good, albeit it crazy, idea to race both. Granted, both races were an hour long and I was only going to get at most 15 minutes rest between, but why not? We only live once. Let's crush our bodies to the max!

On the morning of the race, Kari and I were running a little slow, so we got to the race a little later than I wanted. There was also a rollerblade marathon occurring on the same course we were going to race on, which delayed us getting on for warm-ups and the first race a little. At the registration tent, I found out that not only would I have to switch bottles between races (something I had planned on), but I would have to switch race numbers (both on myself and my bike). Yikes! Where was I going to find the time to recovery, relax, rehydrate, refuel, and re-number myself? Thankfully, I had Kari with me to help! She was awesome! She also took some great photos (some are on this site on the photo page and the rest are on my website).

Time for the race re-cap. The first race (Cat 4/5s) felt really good. My legs were responding well and I kept myself at the front for almost the entire race. I also got into a couple breakaways. Unfortunately, with approximately 8 laps to go, my pedal touched down in the technical corner and sent my rear wheel air born. Thanks to Brent Emery, I have become a fairly decent bike handler, so I managed to stay upright (was congratulated by some of my fellow racers) and kept going. Needless to say, I was a little rattled and lost my momentum going into the slight uphill grade. While glancing at my bike to survey any damage, I started losing contact with the field (they happened to really be ramping it up at this point). After chasing for a couple laps and noticing that I was not gaining or losing ground, I decided to start recovering to prepare for my second race.

As soon as I crossed the line, I searched for Kari to swap bottles and numbers. I asked the official to make sure they wait because they were already having the Cat 3/4s line up and beginning the pre-race instructions. Great! My heart rate was definitely not going to drop much in the 5 minutes they gave us to try to get back on track. Oh well. I got into the bunch about 1 minute before they sent us off. Bang! The Cat 3/4s went off like a cannon! In the first pass of the technical turn, two guys went down right in front of me, causing me to go off course to stay upright. Now I'm chasing the field again! Awesome! My legs were not quite ready for the next few laps of suffering while the race was getting sorted out. I ended up falling off pretty early and accepting my fate to ride solo for the next 50 minutes. During this time, one racer jumped off the front and started to work to lap the field (he succeeded). Eventually, I found someone else who was suffering and did not want to quit, so we worked together for the majority of the race. It was nice to not have to suffer alone.

All in all, I survived my first ever double. My legs were not happy with me, but I definitely learned a lot. For one, the Cat 3/4s were slower than the Cat 4/5s. Granted, I was more active in the 4/5s and was driving the field, but it was interesting to see that the overall average was slower with the 3/4s. There were some high points with the 3/4s that were higher than the 4/5s, but they were not outrageous. Very good to learn that I can hang with the Cat 3s, when my legs are not trashed! I also learned that doing hour long races back-to-back with almost no rest is quite painful. While my legs felt ready to go at the start of the second race, they did not have enough left to go for that long. I definitely needed more calories going in.

Here's a sample picture with more at the above posted links. Come join us for some of the fun on the roads before the madness of cyclocross begins!

Everything is Something and Other Random Thoughts

Well.  I guess I stepped into something with my last post.  I wish I could say that I am sorry that some readers did not enjoy my thoughts.  But, alas, I cannot say that.  I really do believe that if you work towards something then you own whatever it is you have created.  Whether the creation is a home-made airplane (A stupid example, but I am trying to make a point) or a personal best time at the Pewaukee Triathlon does not matter.  You are the one that makes such things exist or happen.  Sure, you are assisted by family, friends, the wrenches at Emery's, etc., etc.  But, you are the one that "creates" the idea and then puts it into reality.  You own it and you deserve the rewards that come from what you create.  Let's just leave it at that for now.  If you want to discuss this more, you will have to meet me for a bike ride or a run (It is hard to have a conversation while swimming and my swim workouts are usually less than a half-hour.  And, this requires more time that that).

 

On to random thoughts...

 

The brake system on your bike can hold a lot of calories. 

 

Here is the back story:  A few weeks ago, the rear brake on my TT bike stopped releasing.  It was gummed up with the following:

 

Dirt

Energy gels

Energy drinks (various types, but orange Gatorade seem the most prevalent with green a close second)

More dirt

Lubricant

 

After removing the brakes and cleaning them, I was amazed just how much stuff can sit on a set of brakes.  I had two full paper towels covered in crud.  I like to put ice cubes in my watter bottles, but with the recent humidity, I think the volume of condensation this causes added to this issue.  Using a gel pack as an example of 100 calories, I would say the rear brake had 150 and the front a little less than 100 calories.  I would bet that with my between the aero bars bottle mount, I could get more on the front brake.  But, I also use my front brake way more than my rear.  So, the front probably has less opportunity to build up.  I train with, but do not race with, two behind the seat bottle holders.  Putting two sweating bottle right over the rear brake and using it only every other ride or so must account for the large volume of crud accumulated.

 

The more you ride, the better your bike handling skills will get.

 

After cleaning my brakes on the TT bike, I put the brakes back together and went out for a ride with Ben.  Just a usual ride with me (because I was on my TT bike) pulling for the first two-thirds of the ride.  About 20 miles in, Ben says, "Hey man (he says that a lot), your rear brake is rubbing."  Upon examination, it was.  So, I pushed it over but in swung back to rubbing.  Then I adjusted the cable tension to minimized the force of the rubbing that was unfixable (is that a word?) without a pliers (which we did not have).  The cool part about this was that we were going 24mph down Racine Ave. while all these repairs were done.  I'd like to say that I stayed in my aero position as I did these repairs, put I did have to use my base bar to turn the cable tension down.  Anyhow, a few years ago I would never have thought about monkeying with the rear brake while moving.  In this case, it didn't even cross my mind to even slow down let alone stop.

 

Riding with Brent Emery will make you a better bike rider.

 

I have to admit that my life has made it difficult for me to train with Brent as often as I would like.  But, the last Thursday I was able to make the 6am ride.  Bent had recruited a new guy for the ride and I was able to sit back and watch the new guy and Brent "discuss" (I use this word for lack of a better word to explain Brent's normal intensity) the new guy's riding.  Now, let me say that the new guy was definitely a life-time athlete and really was on the ride to learn.  The guy that finished the ride was not the same guy who started it.  In the span of a little more than an hour, he went from a 53x12 pedal masher to a high cadence spinning, pace line member.  Very cool to watch, very cool to be a part of.  Heck, I learned more than a little too.

 

You can train too much.

 

Overtraining exists.  Where it starts, I'm not exactly sure yet.  But, I think I was there.  I took three full days off after the Tri-ing for Children race and came back to training like a new man.  My guess is, like tapering, this is a very personal thing.  My goal for the rest of the season will be to go even harder on my hard days, but go much (read as much, much) easier on my easy days.  I'll report back on my results.  So, you might just see me at some group rides I usually would not do.  My hope is that other groups will force me to keep my pace in check, or accelerated, as needed.

 

And finally, cycling gloves are nice.

 

So, I bought a pair of gloves from a fellow Slowtwitcher for really, really cheap.  And, I had sold some old aero bars, so I had some money sitting in the PayPal account just burning a hole in my CPU.  To date, I have not worn gloves.  I never liked gloves while lifting weights and generally don't wear them in the winter if I can get away with it.  Fast forward, the gloves arrived, fit, and were as advertised.  On the first ride, an easy fifty miler, they were a distraction for at least the first hour.  By the last half-hour I had to agree they were nice.  What I really liked was their ability to absorb the volume of snot that I threw at them.  For the road bike, gloves are a plus.  I actually took Julie to Emery's that very night to get her a pair.  She came to the same conclusion: Gloves make riding nicer.

 

I did try them with the TT bike, but the jury is still out on gloves and the TT bike.  I actually felt like I was not as connected with the bike with the gloves on.  I'm going to try more in the future, but I have to admit that my tempo ride on Friday morning was done sans gloves.

 

Now, the above paragraph needs to be read with a grain of salt.  I am real touchy, literally, about my contact points on my TT bike.  I have a really good "feeling" while on that bike.  Not to say I don't feel good on my road bike, I just feel better on the TT bike.  I have even kept the old bar tape on this bike, when I got replacement tape for Christmas last year, for fear of messing with my feelings (yes, this is me talking about feelings) on this bike.

 

See ya.  Drop me an e-mail so we can get together and ride or run.

Be Proud of What You Do

Well.  This might be a little off.  But, it may be right on too.  You can be the judge.  In the end, I don't care.  Your, gentle reader, opinion matters little to me.  Some people's opinions matter more than others.  That is just the way it is.  That is the honest truth.  With that out of the way, on with the blog.

 

The following may have something to do with athletic endeavors, which is why it is here.  But, I am afraid that its ideas are much farther reaching than that.

 

On Tuesday night, last (I just love writing like that), my lovely and loving wife asked me, "Don't you ever get tired of being exceptional at everything?"  I, of course, said, "No."  I have found simple, one word answers the easiest and the most communicative.

 

The thing is, I said it as just a quick response.  Or so I thought.  But, the more I thought on it (you see, my iPod took a dump and I was forced to run with my own thoughts - THE HORROR!) the more I realized that I actually meant it.

 

What she was referring to at the time is not of consequence.  What is, is that I am proud of the things I have done (and do) well in my life.  I know that it is popular, and socially expected, to be ultra humble about most things and that putting one's self above society is not in vogue.  You know what?  Forget that!  Let's start celebrating the things we do well.  I am going to come out and say that it is OK to succeed.  It is OK to do something well.  It is also OK to do something better than someone else.  It happens.  That's a fact.

 

Somewhere in the not so distant past we stopped, or were told to stop, celebrating individual accomplishments.  Why?  I can guess.  But, I think that is my big question.  Where, and when, did the individual's accomplishment get vilified?  I know that is too deep of a question for most.  But, the next time you are without your iPod, give it a think.  Or, maybe throw away your iPod and just think about it.  This might just be that important.

 

Now, for the time being, be proud of what you have done.  Did you set a new PR?  Good for you.  Did you get yourself out of bed to train (on a treadmill or bike trainer even) when it was easier to push the snooze button and listen to the pitter pad of the rain?  Even better for you. 

 

Just because the rest of society puts no value in those things does not mean they have no value.  Heck, I would even argue, that because they do put no value upon those things is exactly why they have great value.

 

Summary:  Get out there and do what you want to.  Do what makes you happy.  Set a goal, believe in that goal, and work to achieve it.  No matter what others say or think of the goal, it is yours to have.  Remember it is you that places value on the things you do.  Do the things that have value to you (Not like the dishes.  Those have to be done so you don't live in a pig sty).  And, do them well.  You will be rewarded.  This I am sure of.

 

Don't apologize for your accomplishments, whatever they may be, and do not apologize for the rewards that your accomplishments reap.

A Pair of Dueces the Tri-ing for Children Tri

Again, sorry for not posting recently and for not returning any e-mails. I guess I've just been letting the real world get in the way of my play. I'll try to stop that in the future. We'll see how that works for me. I will get a few e-mails out tomorrow, but some will have to wait until Thursday evening. Sorry again.

Anyhow, here comes my Tri-ing for Children race report:

First off, how did I wind up doing this race that I was not planning on doing? Well, my wife, Julie, had planned on doing this race since the beginning of the year. I was going to bring the kids and cheer her on. A couple of weeks ago, my cousin volunteered to watch the monsters, err kids, get up really stupidly early in the morning, and allow me to race with Julie. So, onto the race calendar it went.

The morning came around bright and clear. I walked into transition with no real expectations other than to push myself past my comfort zone. I left the heart rate monitor, bike computer, and spare tubes at home. I was just going to go all in and see what the cards had in store. I was going off in wave eight which is not where I usually would want to start, but I had no expectations.

Prerace I saw a bunch of the local fast guys and figured, because they are real athletes, that they would be doing the Olympic distance race. That might just leave us mere mortals to race the sprint distance. As a side note, I saw Scott Bowe's new Trek Speed Concept that he got from Emery's. And, I have some serious bike envy going on. They have one just like his in my size at the shop now. Maybe Santa will find me on his nice list this year. A guy can dream you know.

The swim started and, like I usually don't do, I went out hard. I made no attempt to find anyone's feet. I just swam hard for the first buoy. That actually seemed to work. At the first buoy someone passed me, but for the rest of the swim I was just weaving though the previous wave's members. Whilst I was a weaving one of my competitors shucked when I thought they were going to jive. The result was a right goggle without a rubber gasket. Rather than fight trying to fix it in the water, I just did the last bit of the swim like Popeye. Note to self: sighting with one eye is harder than Popeye makes it look. Sorry to the lifeguard who asked if I needed a floaty thing after getting knocked in the face. I think I just backstroked over her. I really should have said, "No thank you." I don't really know because she approached from my, then, blind side. And, as soon as I felt I was alone in the water, I went back to freestyle.

Sidebar (OJ trial flashback): The guy (Paul) at Sable Water Optics is setting me up with new gaskets for my goggles. If you have not tried these goggles, you are missing it. I have been using this particular pair of 101's for more than three years. They are just the clearest goggles out there. And, as I just learned, their customer service is more than excellent. You can get them right over at Emery's (surprise, surprise). If you don't like them, I'll buy them from you. Really, they are that good. I have two pairs and Julie has a pair too.

T1 was a little slow. My helmet just did not want to go on, but on it went and off I went for a bike ride.

On the bike I usually wait to get my breathing under control before hitting it. This time I just went right from the mount line. Other than the larger than usual volume of snot on my face (haven't seen the pics yet, but they will be good) from the summer cold I seem to have found, I would say it only took another minute to a minute-and-a-half to get my heart rate down to biking levels. I proceeded to pass a lot of people on the bike. I thought I could see the guy in a blue tri top that passed me in the water, but I could not catch him. Overall, the bike was pretty good. The course is not as flat as some would have you believe, and the wind was definitely more than I would have expected standing on the beach. Anyhow, no one passed me on the bike and I only wondered what way to go once while on the course. I only had cadence information while I was riding. No clock, no speed, no average speed. I have to say it is nice to not have a computer sometimes.

T2 went well. Nothing to report other than running is my favorite thing to do, but is not what I do the best. I had run two miles on Saturday morning at 6:36min/mile pace. So, I had an idea what I wanted to feel like while running. The question remained whether I could do it for three miles.

I got on the run course and promised myself to not look at the Garmin until it told me I was at mile number one. I did that and was happy to see it saying that I was going at about a 6:30 pace. By then I was out on the nice flat and fast road. Other than being a little on the warm side, I felt pretty good going the speed I was. One nineteen-year-old passed me on the run, other than that I was just out there on my own. There were a lot of others on the road, but either I was passing them easily or they were going in the other direction. Before I knew it, the finish line was there. Who would have thought that running faster got it over with sooner? That must be science or something.

Swim came in at 6:29, T1 1:04, Bike at 38:14, T2 1:01, and the run at 20:04. Not too bad for an old guy. 2nd overall and 2nd in my age group. Unfortunately, the other old guy that beat me, beat me by 4 minutes. Translation: I need to go a mile-per-hour faster on the bike and a whole minute per mile faster on the run. Not bad goals to set for one's self. Again, we'll see.

After the race I was able to go cheer Julie on as she got off the bike and through her run. I have to say, as much as I liked racing, seeing Julie do her thing was a lot of fun. Cheering on all the triathletes that I don't know was really fun. I hope all those (other than the one crabby guy with some fracture excuse) that I convinced to stop walking and resume running were able to set PR's.

After Julie finished we had a nice lunch with the guy who beat me (maybe crushed my dreams is a better phrase, but he may have set a few dreams too) and his friends and family. Heck, maybe he'll let me tag along on some of his training so I can grow up to be as fast as he is. It turns out we have some mutual friends and our wives actually know each other. We'll see (that seems to be a motif).

While hanging out waiting for the awards (which were so big they don't fit on the shelf dedicated for such things) many new friends were made.

Overall, Julie and I had a great time. If anyone accidentally took a pair of 11.5 neon yellow Nike Lunar Racers, drop me an e-mail. They are mine.

Superweek Final Update

After 17 days of glorious racing in Northern Illinois and Southeast Wisconsin, we now have to go back to normal civilian life. Many congrats to Brent Emery winning the Masters 35+ 1/2/3 overall award. If you missed the action this year, be sure to be there next year as the Emery guys will continue to bring the firepower to the course.

Superweek - Kenosha Race Report

First off, I would like to say that I hope all of you and your friends and families stayed safe during the storms that rolled through last night. We were fortunate enough to not have any flooding here at my house. Hallelujah!

Ok, on to the report! This morning, knowing that it was going to be storming/raining all race, I woke up and began prepping my Jamis. It has been a very sturdy and trusty stead; however, he does not get much time to play outdoors with the Cervelo living the in the stall next door. You may be asking, "why would you ever ride the Jamis when you have the Cervelo". That is a rather simple answer. When conditions are gross and potentially treacherous, I choose the Jamis. It is not safer than the Cervelo, but it is a lot cheaper than the Cervelo, incase the worst should happen.

Once I got to the course, the rain was still coming down fairly solid as I walked to check-in. Then, I got back to my car to pin up my numbers and set up my trainer. Thankfully, I left my jersey in the car and kept my jacket on to try to stay warm while warming up. After about 20 minutes of riding on my trainer, I packed things up, slipped on my jersey, ate some food, and headed to the course to finish my warm up. While riding around the course before the race, I was able to see how the corners were going to be with all the rain and wetness. Turn 2 was definitely the most dangerous, but luckily, there was not much paint on the roads to increase the slipperiness.

Due to the inclement conditions, only 22 riders lined up for the start of the Cat 4/5 race. The race also started slower than normal while everyone was working out the nerves and testing the corners at speed. After a few laps of the race, I was slowed in Turn 2 by a guy in front of me not knowing how to corner well. This caused enough of a gap that a few riders slipped off the front. Without taking too many chances on the turns, the chase group worked well together to try to latch back on. The weather was not helping our case, since the conditions favored a breakaway over a group. The spray and corners were making it difficult to work well together in a pack. With a few laps to go, the pack reformed, and I was split off again by following a guy who did not know how to corner in Turn 2. I was about out of gas, so I eventually conceded and rode the rest of the way solo.

Now for the results, I ended up 16, so one position out of the money. Oh well. My legs have not felt that good during a race in a while. I am looking forward to my races in August and see what firepower I can bring to them. Brent also did great. He has tightened his grip on his overall lead for the Masters 35+ 1/2/3 and took third in today's race by winning the bunch sprint.

Chris has a tri this coming Sunday out in Eagle, WI, so be sure to send some "Dream Crushing" vibes his way. Brent also has two more races in Superweek before he can claim the winner's jersey for Masters 35+ 1/2/3! Happy riding!

Superweek Update

We are currently on Day 7 of the 16 day stage race known as Superweek. Currently, Brent is tearing things up in the Masters 35+ category. He is ranked 2nd overall in the 35+ and winning the 50+ category! Congrats to him and keep up the good work!

For any of you interested in joining us for some riding or racing, please drop and email or swing by the shop for more details!