Posted on Jan 06, 2011 under etc... |
Did my 1st ride/run “brick” today. Yea, not really a brick, more a transition since I only did 1 bike, 1 run and didn’t cycle back… but anyhow…
Rode on the magtrainer for an hour this morning, then as quickly as I could, changed into running clothes, stuffed my work clothes and a towel into a napsack and ran 5k to work. (Direct is only about 2k so took an intentionally indirect route 😉 .)
Wow! I now understand what people say about the transition leg leaden-ness. The 1st km of my run my legs felt all gimpy, like they didn’t know how to respond to my brain anymore.
Pushed through and found myself gliding along. The air was cold this morning and it, combined with my cold, made breathing a little difficult, but all good.
Got to the office, had some food and a shower and now sipping some coffee and pushing into the day.
Hurray for me! 😉 LOL
Posted on Jan 05, 2011 under fitness |
I’m starting to catalog my scuba gear that I’m going to sell off and hope that it raises enough money to buy a nice time-trial bike and still have some left over for paying down other debt, maybe taking a vacation with my honey, and/or paying for some house renos.
While I’d dearly love that Argon-18, I’m facing reality that it’s highly unlikely that I’ll be able to afford it and that retrofitting my Trek 1.5 is likely the “way to go”.
Desired Upgrades
So roughly in order (though cheaper things like seatpost and saddle will probably happen out of order):
- Upgrade groupset to Shimano Ultegra or better
- Carbonfiber aero wheels
- Speedplay pedals and better shoes
- Aerobars
- Carbonfiber seat post, saddle and seatpost bottle holders w CO2 cartridges and tube bag
Now, that all said, I’m not beyond charity – in any of the forms of gift, loan or amazing deal – on any of this stuff. Wanna pay it forward? I’m your man 🙂 I promise to do the same for someone else someday. 🙂
Posted on Jan 03, 2011 under etc... |
Posted on Jan 01, 2011 under Raves |
Whoa! These look like some seriously cool wheels: http://triathlon.competitor.com/2010/12/gear-tech/introducing-madfiber-wheels_17696
Almost 2x as expensive as my street bike, but pretty innovative use of carbonfiber!
Posted on Jan 01, 2011 under fitness, nutrition |
My favorite time to swim is “1st thing in the morning”. On weekdays this usually equates to 6am, on weekends, 8am. At either time, before I swim, I only eat something light and (hopefully) easily digestible to fuel my 4km swim.
I’ve frequently found that mid-way into my swim, I start getting food “repeats” bordering on slight (sorry) regurgitation. Now, if I were a cow, rechewing my breakfast may be pleasant and completely normal, but, well… I’m not and the digestive upset is annoying.
Typically, in the past, my route has been:
- wake
- make a cup of instant coffee or mate tea to drink while walking to the Y
- eat vitamins (multi, b, c, d, e, zinc, magnesium, 369 omegas, etc)
- eat Cacao Monkey Ginko Energy bar
- eat banana
- walk to Y
- swim
I’ve tried:
- vitamins after swimming
- replace banana with dates
I’m going to try swapping out the energy bar next as, based on (sorry again) the tastes of the reflux from my last swim, I’m starting to think some of the herbal components in the bar is causing my stomach distress.
But it’s made me wonder:
What do other swimmers eat before they swim that’s light and easily digestible but gives them some energy for their morning workouts?
Posted on Dec 31, 2010 under etc... |
Good article on what to choose to rehydrate during and post workouts here.
Posted on Dec 30, 2010 under etc..., fitness |
…I’ve put up a “donation can” to try to raise money to buy a triathlon/time-trial bike. Why? Well, simply because these bikes are engineering marvels, but also marvelously expensive.
I really like the Argon-18 E-114. It’s a beautiful bike, has great aerodynamic characteristics and, above all, fits me well.
I’m looking to sell my scuba gear (regs, tanks, suits, rebreather, etc…), some HAM gear (radio, amp, tuner, power meter) to raise money, but I’m not too proud to take donations too.
Donations can be made on the blog, here. All donor’s names will be painted onto the frame of the bike as thanks for their contribution and as a reminder to me of their part in my triathlon adventures and successes.
Thanks in advance for anything you can do!
Cheers,
Rick…
Posted on Dec 27, 2010 under etc... |
Posted on Dec 26, 2010 under fitness, Raves |
When my swim lap counts started to get into large double digits, I found too much mental effort was being spent trying to keep track of the current count, and not enough was left to focus on technique. I also found that if I got distracted I’d loose count and over/under count laps. Kinda dumb I know, but frustrating too.
My initial solution was to use my Timex Ironman watch – it has a 50 lap memory, but will count over 100 laps (never exhausted it to see where it stops counting). So at the end of each lap, I’d reach over and hit the lap button, spin around and keep swimming. Cumbersome, but it worked.
I recently had the opportunity to pickup a Blue SportCount Combination Lap Counter/Timer. This is a smart little device that sits on your index finger and has a super simple interface that allows you to click-up laps with your thumb and not lose your rhythm or flow.
The SportCount is great! It does exactly what you’d want, it’s so light and well positioned you can’t even really tell it’s there. The lap button provides a nice click response to let you know it’s pressed. I’m generally pretty happy with the blue model, but, in hindsight wish that I’d grabbed the red model. There’s a comparison chart here.
The red provides you with a “pause” function, which when you need to run for a bio break or some other extended stop, doesn’t artificially extend your times.
Definitely worth every penny.
Posted on Dec 25, 2010 under fitness |
This morning I arrived at the Y for a nice quiet distance and tempo swim. I wanted to do 4km and push my pace and figured that the Y on holiday hours at 8am on Christmas day would be a ghost-town.
I arrived and looked at the pool as I walked by: Heaven! Completely empty, save for the lonely-looking lifeguard. This was going to be amazing. 😉
A few minutes later I was walking out onto the deck of the pool. Swimp3, lap counter, water bottle, swim cap, all ready to go. “What the F#$@!” I think to myself. 3 of 4 lanes are suddenly occupied! Well at least I get a lane to myself to get my hustle going.
About 30 laps into my 110, another person shows up and hops into the “fast” lane (i.e. where myself and 1 other person had been happily splitting the lane), time to swim in circles. Oh my, this is going to be painful.
You see, I’m not a fast swimmer, by any stretch of the imagination. (Today I did 3780m in 85 minutes = .74m/s = not fast.) But I’m significantly faster than an old lady slowly doing breast-strokes or some guy who’s thrashing around in the water, trying to crawl, but his face never hits the water.
I figure “ok, I’ll just slowly (slowly) work on technique”. Long strokes, puppet elbow on recovery, good corkscrew, kicking in the right place, etc… “What the @#$!!” I nearly swam over the other 2 people in the lane (multiple times), but I can’t swim any slower… I’m trying to swim slowly, very slowly, very mindfully, and I just can’t go slower.
Fortunately the other guy gives up after 20 minutes or so and we go back to splitting the lane. Ahh! The lack of frustration is wonderful! 🙂
A few other people come and go during my 85 minutes, but they quickly move over to the slow lane when they realize that I’m going to be lapping them on every other lap.
Then just as I think it’s clear sailing to my 110th lap (around the 105 mark), 3 people show up. 3 _slow_ people show up, hop in the fast lane and bogart the rest of my workout. I just gave up. I had lots of steam left, lots left in my body for doing 5 more, but not the will to fight the frustration of splitting lanes with plodders.
So, I ask, how do you handle plodding people in the fast lane when it’s clear (at least to you and it’s unclear how it isn’t to them), that they really should move over?
FWIW, if the slow lane hadn’t had a lot of people in it, I would have just moved over there and split the lane with whoever was there, but it was even more slammed than my coveted fast lane…
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