Internal Mono(b)log

Gertie is, as you well know, my new bike.  I’ve never raced her before and as such, never had to put a race number on.

This evening while prepping to put her into the bike check tomorrow, I started pondering where to put the number…  this proved to be an issue.

There’s nowhere on the frame that a big race number fits well… So off to the dollar store I went and I have to say, I’m pretty happy with my MacGyver-ing™

• 2 flexible gel rulers (I was looking for hacksaw blades, but these work and have no risk of marring the frame or seatpost)
• some black electric tape
• a few zip ties

This will do for this event, but it has a few issues:

• the rulers, even taped together, are still a bit flexible
• the rulers are too wide (tall?) and impinge on the Di2 battery release track

I was thinking that the frame has a hole for a traditional brake set and so utilizing that and maybe a plexiglass sheet could make for a better and less flimsy solution.  For Sunday though, this will definitely do

Is 1244…

Weeee!

Just got an email from the New Orleans race organizers.  Due to impending questionable weather changes to the swim, bike and run portions of the race have been made.  The “bad news” is that the race may become a duathlon if the lake is too crappy for the swim, the “good news” is that it looks like we’ll have a race in any event.  Phew! That’s a relief.

Ochsner Ironman 70.3 Course Update COURSE MAP CHANGES FOR THE 2012 OCHSNER IRONMAN 70.3 NEW ORLEANS  PLEASE READ!   PLEASE READ!   PLEASE READ! Due to weather and wind concerns for this weekend’s Ochsner Ironman 70.3 New Orleans, race management has made several changes that will go into affect for this weekends event. The entire swim course—if possible—will be held on the beach front behind the UNO Research and Technology Park.  With a forecast of high winds out of the north for Saturday night and Sunday morning, we have decided to bring both swim start and swim exit to one location.  This move also allows us to hold a duathlon format with the event if the swim has to be canceled because of wind conditions. DOWNLOAD THE REVISED SWIM MAP (PDF) If the swim is canceled, then all athletes will be racing a two-mile run before the bike portion of the event.  Athletes will be sent off in their swim start wave order on the run course, with professional men starting first followed five minutes later by professional women.   Age group athletes will also be starting in their swim wave start order beginning five minutes after the professional women with waves going off every 3 minutes. The bike course has been altered to avoid storm debris on the far western section of Lakeshore Drive.  To avoid this debris, the bike course has been shorten to 52 miles in length. DOWNLOAD THE REVISED BIKE MAP (PDF) The storm debris on the bike course has also affected the run course on the far western edge of the half-marathon course.  Race management has moved the event to a double loop run course that brings athletes on every lap back towards the finish line area, so friends and family members can cheer you on during this section of the run.  Note: Timing mats will be placed on the run course to ensure that two loops have been completed. DOWNLOAD THE REVISED RUN MAP (PDF) On both the bike course and run course water stops and portable restroom facilities will still be in locations to assist you at each stop along both courses. None of these changes in course design or distance will affect your qualifying for the 2012 Ironman 70.3 World Championships or the Professional Points System set up by World Triathlon Corporation. Premier Event Management and its entire team would like to thank each and every athlete, volunteer and race official for their support as we head into this weekend’s event. Bill Burke Race Organizer/Owner

Copyright © 2012 Premier Event Management. All Rights Reserved. http://www.pem-la.com

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I’m down here in New Orleans, suffering through my taper, and prepping for the Ochsner Ironman70.3 New Orleans on Sunday.

Yesterday was a total rest day, and had me climbing the walls.  Today I got to do a few light workouts: 1 hr light bike, 30 minute light swim – definitely helped to manage the pent-up energy.

Tomorrow, I’m doing a short run (45 minutes) and then I’ll head down to the race hotel to checkin, get my race packet and perhaps see a little of the French quarter.  Generally, other than my minimal proscribed work-outs, I’m trying to stay off my feet, stretch, meditate and visualize the race.  I’m also trying to not fixate on the weather too much.

Yesterday they were forecasting a terrible storm that put the swim or potentially the entire race in question.  This morning, the anticipated impact to the area is 40% chance of showers on Saturday and clear Sunday (a huge improvement).   The weather will be what it is, and I don’t mind racing in bad weather, but from what I understand, bad weather can and likely would wash-out huge sections of the bike and run course and make the swim impossible.  Obviously, having trained and prepped (and spent) to be here to race, getting screwed by bad weather would be a heart-breaker.  But… I guess, it’ll be what it is.  Cross your fingers and toes and pray for good weather for me on Sunday

Tomorrow is also carb loading day.  I’ll follow my normal protocol which I outlined in my Panama lead-up.

Definitely feeling the taper… angst, irritable, almost vibrating… come on Sunday!

Outstanding Pro Fields to fight it out in the Big Easy » IRONMAN.com.

Wow big (tentative) pro field racing on Sunday.  Lets hope we get reasonable weather!

Last night I finally got time to take my Rogue wetsuit for a test-swim, but before I get into the in-water performance, let me give you some of my thoughts on initial unpacking and comparison with last year’s Frequency model suit.

Here’s a pic of the Rogue beside last year’s Frequency:

Unpacking and Initial Design Thoughts

Here is the suit as it arrived: carefully bagged and with paper folded into the suit protecting the zipper and reinforcing it’s basic shape so that it didn’t get mangled in shipping.  On top of the suit is Nineteen’s silicon cap in crazy neon “see me” green.  You definitely won’t be missed swimming in open water with this cap on – it’s bright!  Thanks to Nineteen for the cap – it’s not included with the rogue (and it clashes rather badly with the red) but with all the open water solo swimming I do, it’s nice to know I’ll be seen out there

Unpacked and stretched out on my deck:  Initial, purely cosmetic, thoughts: “Wow! This is one sexy suit!”.

But of course, I already knew it was a pretty awesome looking suit, and it looks so much better on Angela Naeth:

Starting to examine the suit, I first checkout the updated zip design.  Note that this zip starts at the top and fastens going down.  Strikes me that this may be easier to self-don.  I’ve frequently found the Frequency, with it’s bottom-start zip difficult to zip up by myself.

Here’s a pic of the Rogue’s zip compared to last year’s Frequency:

After checking the zip, I looked at the seams and internal taping.  This is top-notch, as I’d expect from Nineteen.  The stitching is very consistent and smooth, with seam tape reinforcing stress points.  I love this attention to detail: definitely the mark of a good suit and a thoughtful manufacturer.

As you start looking at the design of the suit, one of the most immediately apparent differences in this suit is the forearm, catch area design.

Not easy to see in this pic, but the forearms are a bit more stiff than the Frequency (perhaps offering some compression) and have integrated thicker neoprene panels that make the catch area on your forearm just a little wider.  There’s also a thicker piece of neoprene near the elbow to help reinforce a high elbow during your stroke.  Looking at how small these changes are, I’m a little dubious about whether they have any real impact in the water, but more on that later.

I spent a bit of time comparing the Frequency’s neoprene panels and design compared to the Rogue.  Things that I noted on visual (and tactile) comparison:

• zip design
• catch panel changes
• thicker (more buoyant) neoprene in the crotch area
• anatomic matching of body panels improved over Frequency
• similar super stretchy neoprene under arms and in shoulders
• similar (super comfortable) neck seal

The biggest changes in the Rogue from other suits in the World (not just Nineteen) is how we sourced our neoprene and jersey linings separately so that we could control the exact feel we want to achieve in each panel of the suit.  We use two different kinds of neoprene, in six different thicknesses, and with three different jersey linings, all in different permutations in order to create extreme stretch, stability, and even compression where it is required.This kind of design and engineering is not obvious to an observer or tester.  It does, however, speak to the engineering invested into making the World’s fastest and best fitting wetsuit.

Wow!  I could tell that there was material differences between the Rogue and the Frequency, but 3 linings and 2 types of neoprene in 6 thicknesses… I thought I went over the suit in pretty tight detail, but that’s amazing!

With the unpacking done it was time to head off to the pool.

In the Pool

Putting the suit on in the change room of my local YMCA definitely got some attention, I expect a lot of folks were wondering why this guy was putting on a wetsuit in the Y change room, but hey!  You have to test these things right?!  Lake Ontario is just *way* too cold to be swimming in, so, the pool it is

The suit goes on well, and you can definitely feel the slight compressive design built into the torso and forearms.  Because of the catch panel design, a little more care needs to be taken when putting this suit on to make sure that the panels are properly aligned on your arms.  The firmer design of the catch panel area also requires a little more effort to don, not crazy, and a sport-glide-type product may make this a bit easier.

Starting and closing the zip took a few attempts, but was eventually successful as a solo endeavour. Definitely easier and smoother than the Frequency suit zip. Of course, the top-down zip design also means that if it gets tugged by someone in the water, it’ll just serve to make sure the zip is closed, and not unzip your suit

In the water this suit felt fast! The flotation panel design had me flat in the water.  I felt like a kayak skimming across the top of the water column.  I swam my 1st 1000m in the suit before it’s warmth was too much in the pool, this was enough to get a feel for the suit in the water though.  It swims really well!  Super comfortable, stretchy in the right places.  Nicely buoyant (I don’t usually have sinky-feet, but the extra buoyancy was really noticeable – better than a float-buoy for sure).

The catch panels and high-elbow float were surprisingly noticeable in the water.  They cosmetically seem very small; however, the impact to your stroke is big.  I could really feel the difference in my lats and speed with the suit on.  It may be psychosomatic (or because I was paying attention), but I felt that the high-elbow floats also helped maintain my form during the stroke.  Nice additions!

After the 1000m I hopped up on the deck and doff’d the suit to finish my swim.  The suit came off easily: the zip quickly unzipped and with the lubrication of the water the suit seemed to almost slip off, only really needing extra encouragement over my hands and feet (as one would expect).

Summary

This is a very nice suit.  Definitely improvements over Nineteen’s Frequency suit from last year, an evolution so to speak, of the suit design.  I can’t wait to get it in the open water at Lake Pontchartrain in a few weeks for a pre-race shake-down and then for IM70.3 New Orleans.

I’m still having a hard time believing it’s here, but tomorrow afternoon I board a plane and head South to “Big Easy” for the 2012 Ochsner Ironman 70.3 New Orleans.  I guess it started feeling real a week ago when I dropped caffeine from my diet, and a little more so on the weekend when I picked up the bike case, but today I started day 1 of pre-race taper and tonight I pack.  Of course, landing in New Orleans and being issued my bib number will definitely bring it all home.  Heh! Writing this I feel the pre-race tummy flutter and skin flush.  Funny!

It’s also funny: I spent so much time training and specifically prepping for IM Panama that NOLA seems minor by comparison – I had mentally put a lot of emphasis on Panama, perhaps a little too much, and ended up injured and not completing.  I’m coming into NOLA with a much more relaxed feel, I still plan on going out and pushing hard, but a lot of the inappropriate self-stressors seem to not be around this time, which is good.  Ian’s been working me hard and I’ve continued to build on the fitness I had going into Panama.  Coming into this race I feel really solid: my health is good, no injuries, my new bike is amazing(!!!).  I just need to get myself down there, recover from the travel, continue my taper and then on Sunday, go out and have a blast!  I’ve already connected with some locals, so, with luck, I’ll have some company for taper runs, swims, and rides.

For Panama, just a few months ago, I did a big pre-race blog build-up, I won’t repeat all that material here since so much of it is the same (diet, carb loading protocol, etc.).  Packing a little lighter for this trip since I’m only down in NOLA for a few days and because the odds of finding anything I need in NOLA are much higher than they were in Panama.

I’ll post my bib number and results tracking link as soon as they’re available.

Wish me luck!

I’m on a roll it seems… really enjoying playing with flavours in these energy bites.  Love having complete control over what I’m putting in my engine.

Here’s the latest version from this afternoon’s Mad Kitchen Scientist:

Apricot, Almond, Cranberry Bites

• 25g dried apricots
• 50g craisins
• 250g dates
• 100g almonds
• 25g raisins
• 20g chia seeds

Course cut the apricots, then put the apricots, craisins, almonds, and raisins in a food processor and process to course meal.  Add about 1/2 of the dates and the chia seeds and process until well incorporated.  Then add the last of the dates and process until a “dough” ball forms.

Instead of dehydrating these I tried baking them.  I pressed them about 1/4″ thick onto a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet and baked for  15 minutes at 375 (a you would a gingerbread house wall), but it was too hot.  Next time I’d do 325 for 15 and see how that works.  They’re still pretty good, but a little crispy around the edges.  Cut into 44 bites.

Here’s the nutrition info:

Enjoy!

Made this tonight, took less than 5 minutes!  My blendtec blender even warmed it as it blended it.  The only addition I made was a few pinches of smoked ancho chile powder.

Creamy Tomato Soup | Raw Food Home Recipes.

So good!  Wow!  Assuming the recipe makes 4 servings, here’s the nutrition breakdown.

You’ve probably heard me yelling it from the building tops (via twitter, facebook, etc.) but in case you, somehow, missed it.

I’m riding the 75k route in the 2012 Ride for Heart.  I’ve set a personal fundraising goal of $5000.00 and a time goal of sub 2:00:00.  I’d really appreciate anything you can offer to help fund this amazing cause.  Every 7 minutes a Canadian suffers from heart attack or stroke.  1 in 3 Canadians will be impacted by heart attack or stroke in their lives (either themselves or a loved one).  These are crazy stats!  The Heart and Stroke foundation uses the funds raised by the Ride to fund research and education.

Please give generously.  Click on the image below.  Thanks in advance!