Chris Westall

Wow... has it been that long?

2009-04-14T09:30:00.000-07:00

Ok... So I know it's been like 4 months! But can you really blame me? Remodel, Kid coming, Trying to get everything organized, Work is fast and furious... yada yada yada.

Well... it just doesn't leave time for many long posts. I have been updating my status on facebook / twitter (mainly facebook via twitter). I like getting both in one.

I do make the time to read the blogs of my fellow Triathletes... and I'm rooting for all of them this season!

As for this blog... I'm going to officially say that I'm going to stop using this site at least for a while.

For now you can follow me on twitter (cwestall) or you can look for me on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1044705454)

I think micro blogging is more up my alley these days w/ all the stuff I have going on... Kid, Wife, Work, House, Train...

Hope to see all of you soon at some races!

An Update on things & a random thought or two...

2009-01-22T07:17:00.000-08:00

Well here I am 18 days after my first post of the year... and trying to get something else down on the "page".

I ran this morning for the first time in a month. I've been taking time to rest my knee because I've had some pain on the side (most likely IT Band). I was able to run 3.25 miles before the pain set in at which point I stopped. I don't want to press it to hard... but I have to keep on it because I have a race in 8 weeks for which I have to be able to run! Without the run... there's no triathlon or triathlete.

I'm pretty set on finding a physical therapist that is open on Saturdays and can give the knee a thorough look to tell exactly what's up. We'll see how it goes.

Other things... my remodel is still going on but we are hopefully nearing the end! I've said that before but this time I can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel. It's going to be really great when it's done! It's been pretty tough to live through because my wife has pretty much been pregnant the entire time which makes eating healthy pretty hard to do. But we've managed to figure it out to some extent.

Work has been really busy... I had another late night last night. I was there until 9pm but you have to do that sometimes to get everything done. It's few and far between and I don't mind it that much, I really like my job and the people I work with. So working a bit longer and putting out quality work gives me a sense of satisfaction.

I got back on the bike a couple of weeks ago and have been riding about 75 miles a week. That pales in comparison to some of my Tri friends... but I think they have a little more time on their hands.

Swimming has been steady... twice a week at Masters Swimming (@ USF). I really like swimming and I've come to know the people in my lane pretty well. I'm always in a good mood after swimming.

Ok... I have to jet for now. They day is calling.

'09 and stuff.

2009-01-06T17:33:00.000-08:00

Wow... '09 is here already! Training in the winter sucks... but that's what makes us a bit crazy to begin with... our love of the sport and knowing that if we don't train, on race day someone who shouldn't be kicking your butt is making you feel like a total idiot.

I'm going to get back on the blogging again after taking some time off... I think it gives me a good outlet to just get my training life out of my head and to let Loren know that I'm still hammering.

Over the holiday I did manage to get quite a few workouts in but it was probably a net zero gain with all of the food I ate... but the holiday are about family and food.

I've also begun doing Bikram Yoga which I really like. 90 min of stretching in 105 degree heat really loosens up the joints. I wish it would loosen up my right knee! I've been having some real trouble with the IT band. I can get to about mile 5 or 6 before it starts to tighten up on me. I'm hoping that my new Ascis will help that. I did a stride analysis over the holiday and the Brooks Trance 7, while a good shoe was proabably forcing me to much to the outside which could be the cause of the IT band problem. But it's only on my right side so who knows!

Other than that... things are good. I'm seeing the end of the remodel coming. They say End of January, but I've heard dates before that just seem to come and go. I think this one could be real though... thankfully!

I've picked a couple more races to add to the calendar but this year is going to be a bit sparse for me... May and June are Shot because my wife and I are expecting our first child. So I'll have to get my racing in March (Golden Bear), July (vineman), Sept (swim race) and I'm hoping for one more tri in Nov (Marin). Shitty part is that I'll have to keep up the training but won't have the fun of racing very much. I'm sure I'll be glad for that when I'm only getting 5 hours of sleep and can barely think let alone race.

Well... off for now... but I'll be back much sooner... even if it's just short little posts to keep you in the loop.

Blogging... there's never enough time. Aaarrrrrg!

2008-12-11T15:53:00.000-08:00

Things are Super busy... but I'm sure you're all tired of me saying that. I've been swimming and running a lot... not biking (still under a pile of furniture in the extra bedroom).

Julie and I went to Loren and Greta's anniversary party and had a good time last Saturday... met a bunch of new folks. I actually got to talk to some of the blogging world in person... Finally!

Not a whole lot to say I guess... I just figured I'd post something.

If you need a laugh go to failblog.org I laugh my ass off everytime I go there.

Is She the Dumbest Person on the Planet?

2008-11-21T15:20:00.000-08:00

Some videos you just have to see to believe. On Thursday, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin appeared in Wasilla in order to pardon a local turkey in anticipation of Thanksgiving. This proved to be a slightly absurd but ultimately unremarkable event. But what came next was positively surreal. After the pardon Palin proceeded to do an interview with a local TV station while the turkeys were being SLAUGHTERED in the background!! Seemingly oblivious to the gruesomeness going on over her shoulder, she carries on talking for over three minutes. Watch the video below to see for yourself. Be warned, it's kind of gruesome.

A Video that Always makes me Laugh!!!

2008-11-14T14:28:00.000-08:00

Triumph the insult comic dog - bon jovi
Uploaded by AC310DC

Random things...

2008-11-13T09:19:00.000-08:00

I managed to get a swim in today yeah... that's actually been the only consistant part of my workouts lately. No time in the saddle and running has hurt around mile 4 because of a Really Tight IT band.

I really enjoyed the Masters swim progam at USF... It's nice to get to know the people in your lane a bit more each week. Today we had a new guy George. Probably mid 20's and FAST... I'm guessing that he won't be in my lane for long. I like that you have to really push yourself in the workouts.

hmmm What else...

Oh the remodel is still going on and totally screwing up my workouts and my sleep! I find myself coming home, scrutinizing every little detail and then firing off an email to the general contractor to rip him a new one on the shit they fuck up. Then by the time we talk the following day, I'm a bit calmer and we work through it. But I HATE having to feel like I watch over each step to make sure they're not pulling the "You Can't See It From My House" shit. They usually fix everything the way I want, but at this point I'm annoyed that the project is running long and I can't get my routine back until it's done.

I suppose that's it for now... thanks for reading!

Keith Obermann... Well Said!

2008-11-12T13:41:00.000-08:00

You have to watch this video by Keith Oberman on Prop 8

Proud!

2008-11-07T11:31:00.001-08:00

So my posting has become very spuratic lately as have my workouts! I'm am totally thrown off by this remodel thing. Get out early because contractors are coming, stay in a hotel because they're doing the floors, guests in town... will the insanity and my weight gain never end!

On a better note... the Election stuff is FINALLY OVER! And I am Proud of America. We came out in droves to vote, we (IMHO) elected the right person and as a nation we took a GIGANTIC leap forward and elected a black man as our President.

The best quote I heard on this was from a woman on the South Side of Chicago (like 98% black if you're not familiar).... "Today I can look my kids in the eyes and tell them they can be what ever they want to be in life and actually mean it".

I know Obama won't solve all the issues... but I'm very proud that we took such a huge step in dotting the i of Civil Rights.

Brilliant!

2008-10-30T14:27:00.000-07:00

If you don't follow Mark Cuban ... You should. He is So on point sometimes.

Here's a good example of something he posted and is involved in Bail Out Sleuth .

Synopsis:

Transparency is key to the success of the Bailout and related loans and investments the government makes with our tax dollars. Without complete transparency, we will get from our government what we always get when it comes to finances, confusion. To do my part, I’ve worked with the folks at Sharesleuth.com to create Bailoutsleuth.com

Its job is simple, keep an eye on our taxpayer dollars and call Bullshit when necessary.

if you take a trip over to Bailoutsleuth you can see that its already time to call BS. In the first contract handed out, in this case to Bank of NY Mellon Corp, the compensation section is blacked out.

Sad. So very sad, that we couldnt make it a week without being afraid of the very taxpayers who are footing the tab for all of this.

Bailoutsleuth will try to publish every day in keeping up with how our taxdollars are spent and the people and companies that are impacted by this program. We are still a work in progress and look forward to your comments , feedback and tips.

Stupid IT Band...

2008-10-27T10:21:00.000-07:00

In one of my races this season I was wearing my brooks ST3 racing flats, which I found out make me pronate and led to a sore IT Band after the race. It was from that point forward that I had issues. I love my brooks Trance 7's... they are probably the best running shoes I've had.

I really haven't done a ton of running but it's continually hurting. Granted I haven't stretched religously either.

I'm sure it's just a matter of getting back in the swing of things... Getting motivated again is going to be the harder part. I've really enjoyed sleeping until 7am lately; the 5am wake up call in the dark has been a bit taxing.

Good IT Band info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliotibial_Band_Syndrome

Pumkin Pie!

2008-10-17T11:19:00.000-07:00

I have called 8 places looking for pumpkin pie with no luck. WTF... it's October already. Don't people know that they are supposed to start carrying pumpkin pie on 10/1.

I would really like some pumpkin pie!!!

Update... I went to Whole Foods and they had Pumpkin Pie. T minus 5 minutes to Pie :-)

To blog or not to blog

2008-10-13T17:39:00.001-07:00

I’m a bit torn lately about blogging. I guess I’m just trying to rationalize the amount of time it takes to sit down and write a meaningful post that will be witty enough for those who care to return or potentially post.

Do I really have that much to say that’s worth reading? How about we all just get together for a monthly ride followed by lunch where we can catch up a little? I know a bunch about a lot of people that I’ve only met 2 or 3 times. They seem like they are truly great people and would be good to sit and talk with.

Now I realize that Life is busy. Mine epitomizes that and maybe a blog is just a way to keep everyone up to date without actually having to talk to them? I suppose that’s good for people you’ve only met a couple of times. However, there does seem to be something missing in that interaction; the shared laugh, the memory of something done together, etc.

The way it stands today is mainly just the pieced together experiences of the people writing the blogs and their friends. And if that’s what it comes down to should we allow the casual acquaintance into the world of our friendships? Does it Matter? How would the people we’re living life WITH feel about their moments being posted?

I do like our little blog community… I want to participate… I think there might be / should be more. Does Blog Friend = Acquaintance? In some cases you may follow the blog of someone you’ve never met before… voyeur?

The best example I could find to show what I mean is from Ben’s site. I chose him for 2 reasons: 1 because it was a post by him a short time ago "Red Alert" that made me think about How Personal blogs are without potentially meaning to be (I hardly know him but could relate to what he was going / went through) 2 because he probably has the largest following of all of the people in the circle of bloggers that read each other, met each other a few times, post to each others blog, etc.

This is a picture of what Ben’s blog / site universe looks like with ben at the center:

This shows all of the links in and out of Bencollins.org as well as the peripheral touch points to that site.

Does Ben know all these people.... probably not but being professional Triathlete there are sponsors, people that link to the site, those who read because they are interested in what he has to say and some that have met him a couple of times (me via Loren) who just started reading his blog along with the other people in our blog world circle.

Should all of those people be let into his world, myself included.

Circling back to what got me thinking about all of this is Ben's very serious heart felt post / plea "Red Alert" when his Cat went missing. And then Ben's update. I was SAD after reading both posts (I love my cat too).

I thought... Do I know Ben well enough to be this close to his thoughts on a topic that if we were sitting in a bar (even with a mutual friend there) he would probably Not share this story with me.

I think it's like reality TV to some extent... we get sucked in and then we can't wait to see what happens next. That's Shitty! These are Our lives and they should only be viewed by the people we want to view them. And if we limit the content of our blogs to the basics of our days without allowing people to far inside (The place only reserved for the people we trust, love care about) then why post at all... No one will read it.

It's an interesting question that I've been pondering for a while now... I'd love your thoughts.

First Masters Swim Practice

2008-09-30T13:46:00.001-07:00

I didn’t know how this was going to go… but I have to say I Really liked it. The people in my lane were really nice and I felt like I got a Great workout.

It was kicking my butt for the first few laps but I adjusted quickly and found my groove. I was even able to do some of the butterfly stroke (which I had never done before).

I’m stoked about this and really think this was a good idea. I’m going to be Faster next season for sure!

btw: I hate the kicking drills

Sentinal Race Report

2008-09-22T18:10:00.000-07:00

This was a late add to my calendar because a guy who I work with (Mark) said he was doing the race and it was his first Triathlon ever... so I said WTF, I'll do it too.

I was doing all the normal taper stuff... hydrating like crazy, adding in the necessary carbs, lighter workouts, I even watched Invincible the night before to get all motivated. I love those sort of movies (Rudy, Remember the Titans, etc...)

As usual, I have the 3:45am wake up call to start get the body going, eat, hydrate some more and get in the car to drive to Santa Cruz. I was Wide Awake and really ready for this race as it was the last one of the season for me.

I get there in plenty of time, get my packet from Mark (Saturday packet pickup only) and get a Killer spot in transition.

Light Run... Stretch... Visualized my transition location from each entrance and exit... I'm ready.

I head down to the water with Mark... I dip my foot in for a second and it's REALLY COLD! Some say it was wamer then normal but 63 degrees is COLD. I warm up a little and get ready to go; we were the second wave.

We're Off... I'm not really thinking much about the cold as much as I am about the people around me. There were 79 guys in the 35-39 and I felt like I grappled with half of them. The swim started on the left side of the pier out and around and then back to shore... kind of a cool swim course. I don't like swimming in the ocean though... I hate how the sea water makes my throat all raw.

It was an average swim for me; 28 min. I was a little slower than I wanted but I think that because of the grappling (it's surprising how much time you lose on that crap).

** Side note: I have a tryout on Thursday for a masters program so I'm hoping by next season I'll be much faster and won't have to deal with that as much.

Ok, I'm out of the water and Thankfully someone had their thinking cap on when they put a FRESH WATER station right at the swim exit. Then it was a run up hill back to transition. I had a little motivation when I ran by a 6 or 7 year old spectator who yelled "Go zTeam"... I laughed and kept running.

T1 was ok, not great by any means but I felt like I was in and out in a decent time.

Then I'm off on the bike... I got a very loud EEEEWWWWW when I blew a snot rocket rounding the first corner. LOL!

I'm moving along at a good pace 21.5 mph and was really feeling good! I was at mile 3.8 when I heard.... Wait for it

PPPPPPPPPPPPPSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!

FUCK!!!!! Flat Tire!

As soon as it happened I yelled Fuck at the top of my lungs... stared at the bike in disbelief... punched the saddle and walked back to transition. Yes Walked back. They have a van that I saw at mile 2 but it was only to shuttle race workers. To add insult to the situation, I had to walk back in bare feet 3.8 miles!

OH... And this is something worth mentioning. I haven't had a flat tire in a training ride or race since last October. Can you believe that! Crazy and I'm so pissed that it happened in my last race of the season. At least it wasn't at mile 12 (that walk would have sucked).

I got back, turned in my chip, packed my bag, packed the car and drove home!

2 beers and some wings later, I felt ok. But have EXTRA motivation for the off season.

WTF... Can one person have a crappier run?

2008-09-15T10:11:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Julie and I had to stay in a hotel because they were leveling our floors for the remodel. A bit of a pain in the butt because we have a cat and finding a pet friendly hotel that you actually want to stay in can be a bit challenging! Luckily the Kimpton Hotel Group allows pets and they have a hotel right around the corner from us, Hotel Monaco (we live only a couple of blocks off of Union Square). It was nice and we didn't feel to displaced because we were so close to home. Ron (our cat) on the other hand, wasn't happy and spent most of the time under the bed. Poor little guy... he's been out of sorts since we began the remodel.

Anyway... on to the real post. On Saturday morning I got up and went for a run. It was my normal route, pretty quick and short; 6 miles along the Embarcadero by the ballpark.

I get to my half way point and my calf was a little tight so I stopped to stretch on a garbage can (the only thing around) and as most of you know, when running your nose runs. So I blew a "snot rocket". And some guy crossing the street walking his dog gets near me and says "did you have to blow your snot rocket right there... I walk here every day". I thought he was kidding so I asked; "Are you kidding"? He says: "No... did you have to do that right there!". So I ask... "when you walk your dog and it shits on the sidewalk do you pick it up?" He say's "yes". I follow up with "Do you scrub the ground with soap so there's No Shit left on the sidewalk?" He say's "That's not he same" I said "Your right... my snot vs. your dog's shit are not the same. So go Fuck Yourself" And then I turned and finished my run.

Now I'm running back to the hotel and just a little thrown off because of the guy I just encountered... that kind of crap really gets under my skin. I really Hate San Francisco some times... who the hell to these people think they are. I won't get started... I could go on for days on this topic.

Anyway... I'm running along and I'm almost at the hotel, running right by Macy's on Union Square when some kid in his 20's, just as I'm about even with him jukes toward me. It startled me a bit so I jump out of the way and Immediately call him a Fucking Asshole. Looking back I wish I would have moved into him and layed him on his ass! It'd be the last time he ever did that. But I suppose I have to admit it would have been kind of funny to see that take place. Although it pissed me off when it happed.

I'm calking it up to the worst city run I've had... I bet Loren or Ian don't have to deal with that crap in Tiburon.

Ok… Are you Serious!

2008-09-11T10:01:00.001-07:00

Sarah Palin has to be the best example of pandering in the History of politics. Did you know that 9 out of 43 Vice Presidents have become President due to Presidential Death? 21% of the Time!

McCain is not the healthiest guy around you know.

Should this woman be our next VP and have a 21% chance of being President?

Based on this picture she seems 21% likely to give a lap dance.

Finally... Folsom Race Report

2008-09-10T10:07:00.001-07:00

The quick and dirty... 2:39. Not great by any means but this was a "training race" for me because I have Sentinal on 9/21.

Longer version:

Wake up 3:50 am to get my body going, eat some oatmeal and start hydrating. I don't like getting up this early... but it saves money on staying in a hotel by the race. I can't justify $150 or so just to get an extra hour of sleep. Anyway... the day started ok until I had to go from my car in the garage of the my building back to my place on the 20th floor TWICE! Forgot clif bars then forgot cellphone... aaarrrrggghhh!

Finally out the door and driving to the race.

I get to the race and Every rack was full... so I just set my stuff up by a pillar in the trasition lot. It ended up being a good spot. No one around me and I was by the bike and run exit. It seemed like I was running just a bit behind all morning but I kept thinking "don't stress, it's a training race". The with 12 min before I'm supposed to go off (2nd wave)... I get the oh man... I really have to use the porto-potty before I race. We've all been there and there's nothing worse then waiting in line when you know you should be warming up. I'm in... I'm out.

I run get my wetsuit on as I see my wave is pretty much lined up and I have 2 minutes before the gun... Shit!!! I hurry up and put my wetsuit on, eat a gel, grab my cap and goggles and run to the water. I suppose that could be deemed my warmup. I litterally go into the water with 30 seconds to spare. HORN... and we're off.

Mental thoughts: Training race... don't stess. Training race... don't stess. Training race... don't stess. What the Hell is wrong with that guy... he's swimming zig zags and has run into me 3 times... Verbal: I yell at him. Mental... Ok get back in your groove. Shit here he comes again. I slow down, let him get in front of me and grabbed his ankle and pulled him backward as I moved forward. I didn't see him the rest of the swim.

Other than that... I swam straight. Felt like I had a good stroke and finished in 25 minutes which was a Great time for me.

As I came out of the water I stubbed my toe on my right foot on a rock ... Ouch! 2 steps later... I stubbed my toe on my left foot and broke it! Son of a........ That really hurt!

Then as I'm running to T1 some guy decides to cross my path and I run right into him even though I'm yelling "heads up" 30 yards before I get to him. Idiot!

T1 was a little crappy at 2:10 or something close to that.

On the bike, I was just cruising along and pushing but not to hard. Again Training race... don't stess. Then some tool tries to cut in on my front tire so close that he almost takes me out... I yell at him let him know he's a Stupid F@#K!

Back to cruising along... I really enjoyed the bike. It was relatively flat with one exception and I just went along at about 20 mph. I also thanked Every volunteer on the course. And like Loren Yelled at the Drafters... I hate that crap. Cheaters!

T2 was just over a minute

The run was pretty nice too... it was a paved trail run; out and back. It was nice because it was lots of shade and water every mile. It was a bit undulating but not so bad that it was painful. But here I am "Training race... don't stess". Pretty easy run... I went Slow!

Overall... I actually had Fun. I know it's crazy to think that you can have that kind of thought during the race but I did. On several occasions... I actually thought "I'm having a lot of fun today. I know I'm not going to win and I'm not trying to so Just continue to have fun".

Crossed in 2:39.

Got my broken toe taped by the EMT, packed my stuff and drove home.

Later that day I went to a birthday party and felt great. I had a couple of beers, a couple pieces of pizza, some cake and hung out with some friends. Did I mention I felt Great! There just might be something to this Have Fun thing.

Next Race Sentinal on 9/21. Last one for the season... I won't be having fun in this race; I'll be pushing Hard!

Could things get any busier?

2008-09-06T07:07:00.000-07:00

For some reason... I suppose just naturally things in life keep getting busier. Whether it's work, home (remodel), dealing with home stuff, did I mention things around the house. Ok, I suppose that most of the work is self inflicted right now but it's a lot.

I'm selling a Pottery Barn dining table w/ 6 chairs and a Manhattan Leather Sofa on craigslist and have been showing those.

Our dining room and kitchen are totally gutted and the dust is ridiculous.

It seems like there a never ending pile of stuff to do and I get less time to do it.

And I throw in a bunch of training too which takes of even more time.

Such is life... I wouldn't trade it. I have a Great wife, I live in a place most would kill for and it's going to be another beautiful sunny day. Oh... and our cat Ron is sitting next to me while I write this post.

There were a couple of things I read a while back that I've been doing lately and I've really seen a difference:

Focus on the thing that your doing no matter what it is... talking to someone, riding your bike, working, whatever. Stay present in what you have in front of you... your mind may try to wander but be in the moment of what you are doing Now.
Learn the difference between what you can and can't control and accept the things you can't. Because we live very busy lives we tend to get annoyed at many things around us. Many of which you can't control. I've been trying Very hard at this one... it's made my days better. I still hate traffic, but there's not much I can do about it so I crank the tunes and try to enjoy the moment. And relate back to my first one Being Present in what I'm doing now.

Well that's enough of a rant for this morning... I have to get going on my day.

Good luck to everyone racing this weekend.

The Whalers Live… at least in my memory

2008-08-28T16:29:00.001-07:00

I don’t know how many of you remember the Whalers… probably not many unless you grew up on the east coast or if your a Hockey fan from way back. If you ever had the pleasure of seeing the Whale at the Hartford Civic Center (a.k.a. The Mall), I’m sure you either loved it or hated it… or probably a little bit of both. But as I look back… the seats were all good, they were cheap and I loved it.

It was always one of my “standard” dates because tickets were cheap and there was plenty of stuff to do nearby.

When the Whalers left Connecticut and went to North Carolina to become the Hurricanes (BOO!) a lot of people wandered around as Lost Hockey Fans for a long time. We couldn’t go to the Boston Bruins… We Hated them. Although I worked for them in college and it Ruled! I had Center Ice Press Box Seats for Every home game in the ‘93 season. And even saw Cam Nealy’s last fight… it was Awesome!

For me… I a San Jose Sharks fan now and the last few years have been good for me. Although I hate the Fog Horn after a goal.

Anyway… I was thinking about them today and I remembered their theme song; played before the game and when The Whale scored a goal. So I looked for it online and found a place to get it as a ring tone! SWEET!!!! The song was called Brass Bonanza, you can read a little more about it here on this Cool Whalers site.

You’ve got to hear it… Man it brings back some good memories!
(The first 33 second of this link is what they used)

It is Soooo Super Sounds of the 70’s… it’s Awesome!

A Real Blog Post :-)

2008-08-25T09:15:00.000-07:00

As many of you have probably seen I've been "micro-blogging". I don't know if I like it or not yet... It doesn't seem that it provides the same sense of blogging fulfillment. I think Kelly put it best.. "Micro-Blogging is for the Moments between the Moments". I'll probably try to post a "real" blog once a week and do a few micro-blogs if it's something I find interesting... It'd probably be better if I had a camera on my phone.

Other than that... I'm in the middle of a remodel, living in a dust bowl, eating out of a microwave and thinking that 10 weeks can't go by fast enough... 8 more to go!

My next race is Folsom on 9/7 and I've been working my nutrition plan during my training; it's definitely paying off. Practice make perfect.

2008-08-24T17:17:00.001-07:00

FRS. There's just something I can't put my finger on yet. But I love this product! I have such great workouts when I use it. Today 10 mile run (piece of cake)

2008-08-23T15:17:00.001-07:00

What a Great day in SF. Sunny & 70. With the remodel we've been out pricing appliances and a new TV :-) I'll probably go for a 1.5 hour run later.

2008-08-20T18:33:00.001-07:00

I asked my dad once why he didn't tell me it was going to be this hard... He said he did but I was to busy chasing girls.

2008-08-20T07:30:00.001-07:00

Off to work... Super busy these days! Thankfully I really like my job.

2008-08-19T18:49:00.001-07:00

Indian food it is! Mmmmmmm

Dinner?

2008-08-19T18:19:00.001-07:00

Its hard to figure out what's for dinner when your kitchen is being remodeled!

MicroBlogging

2008-08-19T18:14:00.000-07:00

I've been having trouble posting lately... so I figured I'd try microblogging. Lot's of little posts. We'll see how it goes.

Race Report: Tri for Real

2008-08-05T10:12:00.001-07:00

So the title of this race report could have been so many things: “Bonked”, “Great Planning / Poor Execution”, “Lesson’s Learned”, etc… (There’s your foreshadowing) but I’ll stick with the basics and get this over as fast as possible.

It all started off so good… my wife Julie and I drove up to Elk Grove to spend the night, so I didn’t have to get up at an even more UnGodly hour to get to the race by the time transition opened. We had a great meal the night before and I was completely ready.

I arrived just after 6:30 to the event which was being held at Rancho Seco Park in Herald just sound of Sacramento. I liked the venue a lot, it was tucked in w/ some vineyards and of all things a Decommissioned Nuclear Power Plant. A little eery but pretty cool (Julie didn’t think it was so cool).

Anyway I ate a Clif Gel I went down to the man made lake that was originally used as a back up water supply incase of fire at the plant. The water was really warm and I probably didn’t need the wetsuit (but I’ll take the buoyancy any way I can get it). The swim was pretty uneventful, I plodded along doing my best to go as fast as I could. Thinking about trying to be as efficient in the water as possible. I didn’t feel like I was hammering but I also didn’t feel like I was slow either. I was just about the same pace I am most every swim I do. Although it is a bit discouraging when a super fast swimmer from the group behind you goes by like your dog paddling. I did the mile in 28 minutes.

Next up the Dizzy Bat Race, a.k.a. the exit to T1 where Julie was waiting and cheering me on. She’s been so great about this and I was Super Happy to have here there. It really is a confidence booster when you have someone rooting for you. My bike was strategically positioned and got out fairly quick.

The ride was pretty easy on the way out… rolling hills but mostly flat and you could pound away. I thought it was a nice ride although the road was a little choppy, it was loose rock w/ oil that had probably been laid down early in the summer. I felt like I was successfully hydrating but for some reason I didn’t eat another Clif Gel, I have no Idea why I wouldn’t have (very stupid). Then we get to the turn around and start back. Holy Crap I didn’t realize the wind was so strong! The entire way back was into a head wind and I was really feeling it… I suppose that’s why again on the way back, I didn’t have a Clif Gel. Nutrition Plan down the Toilet! What the hell was I thinking! How do you expect to do an Olympic distance Tri on a Clif Bar, A Clif Gel and 1 Bottle of Clif Shot. You CAN’T!

So I make it back into T2 at what I had was 1:15 but they had me at 1:19.

Anyway… I get out of T2 quickly and head off into the run and I’m feeling fine… Really I was OK. Julie was on the Run exit and I gave her a high five as I exited.

The run goes out away from the lake but follows it’s curve and then on the way in you switch back along the lake then back to the fire road. I was moving right along and again feeling perfect. My HR was up a bit but that’s to be expected. My first mile was 7:40, Mile 2 I slowed down a bit to 8:10, Mile 3 a little more 8:30. The things going through my mind were “Dam it’s Hot out here” and “Stupid Rolling Hills”. I figured it was a combination of the two of those that were slowing me down. Then it Hit like a Ton of Bricks… My HR spiked, My Stomach was sloshing and I basically wasn’t processing anything anymore. I would push myself until I thought I’d be sick, then I’d walk until the feeling went away… then I’d run again until I thought I was going to be sick… walk… repeat, repeat, repeat! DAM IT!

If I kept my initial pace on the run I was on track to hit my goal time of 2:30 but my Lack of Nutrition (very stupid) somewhere in the neighborhood of 700 calories, put me in a place were my body couldn’t take it any more.

I finished the race at 2:45 and 133 out of 277. I suppose I can chalk all of these learnings to “it’s my first season” but like most of you… I wanted to do better. And I Hate feeling like I could have done better if I did some minor little thing that is Totally in My control.

And to Top it all off… my body was all F’d up and I caught a F’ing Cold!

Anyway… I have 2 more races this season, both Olympic distance and I Won’t make the same mistakes again!

Lastly I want to thank my wife Julie again for being so supportive and such an amazing part of my life. She’s always telling me how proud I should be of my accomplishments and in the end she’s right.

Why it’s good to be the boss…

2008-07-31T16:43:00.001-07:00

I’m not posting this for any other reason than I found it funny. I actually have a pretty dam good boss who I’m learning continually learning from… It’s about time! I’ve had a lot of Really Crappy ones. (No Pun intended)

Maybe we could generate a little comment action: Tell me your Worst boss story.

Mixology

2008-07-29T10:23:00.001-07:00

When I look back to my days as a bartender there are a lot of things I really liked about it; free alcohol, the community of people at the bar and the ability to make as many different drinks as I could think of as well as play around coming up with my own concoctions.

I suppose that’s why when I look at all of the drink supplements that I have Nutrition 53, FRS, Clif Shot, Accelerade, Base Amino and Base Water (holy crap! I have a lot of these) that any one of them on their own is very good and All serve a purpose. But after a while my bartender roots started coming out and I was mixing and matching different flavors. Beyond that I’d come up with what I thought was the best thing for my workout / hydration plan.

Here are a few of my favorites:

AcceleShot (pre and during workout):
20oz water
1/2 cap of Base Water
2 scoops of Clif Shot (I like lemonade)
1 scoop of Accelerade (again Lemonade)

FRShot
Same as above but I use FRS instead of Accelerade
*I love this one before a workout, totally wakes me up and gets me motivated!

Base-Ade (post workout)
20oz Water
1/2 cap of Base Water
1 scoop of Accelerade (lemonade)
2.5 scoops of Base Amino (Cherry)
*Add Base Amino last because it floats on the water until you mix it.

Nutrition 53 Smoothy
1 pack of Neuro 1 (Mocha Latte)
1 scoop of coffee frozen yogurt
A handful of ice
10 oz of skim milk (could substitute similar liquid – Soy Milk)
Blend

Nutrition 53 Smoothy (I cheat a little on this one)
1 pack of Neuro 1(Orange Cream in this case)
Head to your local Jamba Juice
Order a Citrus Squeeze and ask them to put the Nutrition 53 in it

That’s a few for now but if I come up with some others that I really like… I’ll post them. In the mean time test out your mixology skills.

Vineman: Spectator / Cheerleader Report:

2008-07-21T10:44:00.001-07:00

On Sunday I headed up to Vineman and because I wasn’t racing I didn’t stay in some local hotel… So I had a 4:30am wake up to see everyone I know go off in the swim.

Here are a list of the people I was there to support:

Anyway… after waking up and making my way to Guerneville, struggling to find parking and a bathroom, I was on my way to the swim start. I got there just as Loren went off in the swim.

I mainly hung out at the swim exit (a.k.a. dizzy bat race) cheering for pretty much Everyone; mostly for the people who looked like they were struggling and needed a few words of encouragement or which side their wetsuit strap was on (I hate when it goes over my shoulder and I can’t find it). I also rallied the crowd of people who were there mainly supporting their own athlete to participate in rooting for others too. I always appreciate the words of encouragement when I’m racing.

After the final group of people came out of the swim I grabbed breakfast at a local cafe and headed to Windsor High.

Parking was easy there… I opted to pay some guy who lives across the street $5 to park in his yard.

I thought I might catch Loren on the way in on the bike but as it turns out I missed him by about 15 minutes. Anyway, I hung right at the corner where the bikes were coming in and the runners were going out. I saw everyone including Frank Keen (zTeamer) who I called Ian by accident and he gave me a funny look (made me laugh when I realized what I did).

First in was Loren (nice work 4:56)… who I tried to give some words of encouragement to “Come On Loren… Solid run. Let’s go, you can be in pain when you’re done”. He was already in pain.

A bit later I saw Sarah, Soda and Ian come in and go out… I think I actually threw them off by cheering for them because I’ve never met Soda or Ian and Sarah only once up at the Sac Intl. Tri (I suppose like the rest of you who will read this post, I guess I feel I know you a little because we read about each other’s lives/training lives). A funny moment was when Sarah was exiting the run (and finally recognized me) I was cheering her on “Lets go Sarah, positive thoughts out there you’re looking good” and as I turned around Soda was coming in on the bike so I yelled “Come on Soda nice work on the bike” and Sarah screams at the top of her lungs “WOOOHOOO… LETS GO SODA”. It’s one of the primary things I like about this sport is that we’re all in it together.

After I saw Ian come in on the bike and out on the run… I headed toward the finish shoot and to find Loren. I saw him almost immediately. He was sitting talking with Kelly and Courtenay. It was good to see them too, I’d only met them once before as well… Courtenay and I ate lunch together after “Ice Breaker” and I met Kelly at Sac Intl. Tri. We only chatted for a second before they took off to find some other folks they knew.

I hung with Loren for a while and then headed off to the shoot to see other come in and root for several more. Lot’s of great stories out there… a husband and wife raced together the entire way, a 65 yr. old guy finished by almost crawling over the line and lots of dads racing down the shoot with their kids.

I saw everyone finish and have been thinking about doing the race next year… we’ll see (I probably will).

CONGRATULATIONS to All of you! It’s a big accomplishment and I’m really happy for you.

A couple of Great workouts

2008-07-15T13:59:00.001-07:00

There’s nothing like a Great Swim! Especially when you’re working on a few things; really exaggerating the motions to engrain it into your muscle memory. Then on that glorious morning at 5:45 am (ok, only glorious after you have the great swim) when all the hard work pays off… The lengthened stroke, great body rotation, a strong glide and the feeling of the water just rushing past you. All of this makes the hard work worth while.

And then there’s the run. I was out of town this past weekend doing some fly fishing with my buddies. I grew up in western central CT (Thomaston) and did a ton of fishing, camping and pretty much any other outdoor sport you can think of, so I really dig getting out in the middle of nowhere, standing in a river and catching beautiful trout and summer run steelhead. But knowing that I have a race in a couple of weeks, I didn’t have any beers on Friday night so I could get up early and go for a mountain run through the woods around Castle Crags. It wasn’t going to be a long run only 6 miles and I wanted to push it a little so that meant the run would be over quickly. I set out at a good pace and didn’t really notice that the entire way out was uphill until I was returning and was running downhill most of the way back. I had good strides, my breathing felt perfect and I just could have gone on forever. But I stopped at 6 miles as planned. I ended up running 6 miles at 7 minute miles.

Things are lining up for my race on 8/3

Castle Crags

Some FRS Love

2008-07-11T09:13:00.000-07:00

So lately I’ve been talking about Nutrition 53 but I want to give some love to another one of my favorites FRS. I’ve been drinking it every morning about 10am and I can tell the difference in my energy level. Sure it has a little caffeine but that’s not what I’m talking about… I have sustained energy that keeps me going way past lunch when I would normally go into a food coma. It’s made my afternoons much more productive, which is good (I have a Lot of stuff to do at work).

I also have to tell you that a few weeks ago a random FRS package arrived at my door. I had ordered the free samples which is how I originally got the product… but then out of no where I got a New Package with even more stuff! I Love You FRS (keep it coming :-)).

And I’m not just pimping them for some more free stuff, I have morals you know! I really do like their product. So does Lance by the way.

The only thing I’d request is that they have a non caffeinated version too. I really only like to use caffeinated products during my races.

Holy Nutritional Discounts Romo

2008-07-09T14:40:00.001-07:00

So quite a few of the blogs I read have been talking about Nutrition 53 lately. And we’ve all posted:

Me: nutrition-53-give-it-try-free.html
Ben Collins: 53-reasons-why-independence-day-rocks
Courtenay Brown: neuro1-product-review-a-great-pre-race-drink/
Loren Pokorny: new-nutrition-nutrition53.html

There’s definitely a consensus on this and we all Really Like the products. A few people have mentioned to me that they’ll be buying based on our reviews.

And to top it off… I was told about a 50% off (YES I SAID 50% OFF!!!) coupon code: “Triathlete”

I think in a future post I’ll come up with the 53 reasons I like these products (Neuro 1, Lean 1 & Sleep 1) but until then start with this one… THEY WORK!

My New Favorite Snack

2008-07-08T14:12:00.001-07:00

Family

2008-07-07T14:04:00.001-07:00

So, for the last couple of weeks I’ve had family in town, which has been amazing. My wife and I don’t really have any family in CA so when we get to see them we really take advantage of it. An example of the last 4 days goes like this:

Thurs:
SF Zoo (Mom & Kerry on their own)
Lunch (Park Chalet)
Botanical Garden (GG Park)
rest
Bar (Bourbon & Branch)
Dinner (Colibri)
Dueling Piano Bar (MicX - surprisingly fun)
Bed by 1am

Fri:
light breakfast
Marin County Fair
Eat at fair (Chicken on a Stick, 3 ears of corn, 2 corn dogs & ice cream cone) I know it’s bad but I had to do it!
home and rest
light dinner
Movie (Atonement)

Sat:
Breakfast
Fillmore St. Jazz Festival
Eat at festival (Chicken on a stick ~ so big it seemed like an entire chicken… I ate the whole thing!)
home and rest
Dinner (Salad & Pizza at Littlestar … Best Deep dish in SF)
home
Movie

Sun:
Breakfast
Alameda County Flea Market (So Big!)
Lunch (Indian Burrito ~ Chicken Tikka Masala & Rice in Naan) :-))
More walking at flea market (I can’t believe how big this is!)
home and rest
Dinner (shepards pie ~ mom’s recipe)
Olympic Trials
Mom & Kerry to Airport
Sleep, Sleep, Sleep

See what I mean! We did a Ton and that’s just the last 4 days and I’m sure there’s stuff missing.

We had an amazing time, I was super stoked to get to spend time with my mom and Kerry and I wish they lived closer!

Special Call Out for my wife Julie: She has been so GREAT for the last few weeks. First I had my cousin from Australia and family in town for 4 days and then my Mom and Kerry for the last 10 days. She is the consummate host and always worried about what we are doing next so our guests have a fun time. Beyond that she’s also making sure there’s plenty of food around (embedded into her Italian blood) and Overall that no one wants for anything.

I’m really lucky to have a wife like her… she puts up with a lot of my shit (trust me there’s a lot) and (mostly) only loses her cool when I’m being more of a shithead than one person should stand for.

Thanks Julie (you’re a rock star)

And now… it’s back to Normal eating (I loved every minute of the bad stuff), a Normal training schedule and still wishing my folks lived closer.

Nutrition 53… Give it a try (FREE)

2008-07-01T09:35:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone (especially Courtenay) … this morning I was listening to the radio on the way into work and I hear Bill Romanowski talking about Nutrition 53; his company that makes Neuro 1, Sleep 1 and Lean 1. I was very impressed with what he had to say about the time and effort he puts into the product and Always trying to make it better. Mainly because after 16 years in the NFL he knows a little something about sports drinks / aids and thinks there has to be something better… So he created these.

I have to say that I did get a free pack of Neuro 1 at one of my races and I just tried it last week. It wasn’t bad… but it did have a little bite to it (openly admitted by Bill Romanowski that it does… and their working on that). But most of these sort of drinks do have a little twang to them when you first try them and then it goes away after drinking it a few times.

Anyway… if you want to try it for FREE for 30 days (*you do have to pay for shipping) go to Nutrition53.com and type in the promotion code VIP. This will bring you to a page were you can select 1 of the 3 products. I don’t know if you can game the system or not and try to do it 3 times… but I suppose it’s worth a shot. I really want to try All 3 products.

oh… one thing to note. Like most of the products similar to this, it has some caffeine in it. For me, that's the one drawback, I know they use it as a delivery mechanism but I don't really have any caffeine in my diet other than what I use in my races (see previous post). Anyway... I wish they'd come up with 2 versions; one with and one without caffeine. I've sent this same feedback to FRS too (I really like their product too)

**** Correction: They do have a decaffeinated version.

Check it out and let me know what you think.

Houston… we have flip turn

2008-06-27T11:46:00.001-07:00

Yesterday at the pool… I asked my swim coach if instead of doing rotation drills etc… if he could teach me to flip turn instead. Luckily, he said yes.

(Tangent) If anyone needs a swim coach, I can put you in touch with him… he’s been great. His credentials include:

2004 & 2008 Olympic Trials qualifier
NCAA Division 1 National Champion
NCAA Division 1 All-American
UC Berkeley Men’s swim team five year member
World Sprint Team 2004

So… the flip turn. Surprisingly not all that hard. There are 3 main things to remember.

hand position entering the wall: your hands should be by your side facing the bottom of the pool. When you want to turn, tuck your chin and initiate rotation by pushing down and raising your hands above your head.
Go out directly the way you came in.
Blow out your nose so you don’t get water up there (ouch)

I need a little practice… but I know this’ll make my swim workouts a lot more productive.

Here’s a really good video I found on showing the flip turn.

Giardia… Yuk!

2008-06-25T15:33:00.001-07:00

Ok… so I don’t know if I mentioned this in one of my posts or not but I know Loren did. About how he and I have been sick with the exact same symptoms; stomach cramping, nausea, dizziness and diarrhea (I know TMI).

Anyway, I finally went to the Doctor and my labs came back that I have Giardia! If you don’t know (I didn’t) what it is, it’s basically a parasite that you can get if you eat food or drink water that is tainted with human or animal waste. HOW GROSS IS THAT!

here’s more from WebMD.com.

After some thought on How the Hell could I get this… I boiled down to one place… UVAS. I don’t know if anyone else who did the race got it or not, but I did and I think that Loren (who also did the race) got it too.

I wrote to Andrew at J&A Productions who puts on the race, but I haven’t heard anything back from then yet.

If you know of anyone who did that race, let them know that they are most likely infected and should get checked out because the parasite can lay dormant for a while.

So… now I’m on a pretty strong anti-biotic to get rid of it. Thankfully it’s not anything worse and I can get rid of it quickly.

I wonder if there’s a way to check the water before you race (hint hint J&A).

Technorati Tags: Giardia,UVAS,Loren,Poo

Training again & Trying Live Writer

2008-06-19T16:57:00.001-07:00

After about 3 weeks of being sick (you don’t want to know the details) but it’s the same thing that Loren and Ian have/had. Let me just say that it hasn’t been fun, I’m not entirely over it… but I’m tired of not working out and I needed to exercise again.

So this is my first full week of training and I’m glad to say I haven’t really lost a step. My heart rate is a little higher than normal but I’m sure that’ll go down.

I also just got my new toy a Garmin 405 and I’m really excited about using it. I’ve been training without a HRM for a few months now and it’s killing me! I’ll finally be able to get back on track and do some really good tracking of my workouts.

Also I’m using Live Writer for the first time to write this post. It’s pretty good. All the basics and I’m sure more that I don’t know about. Loren seems to dig it, so I’ll give it a try and see how it goes. I suppose I can support MSFT for one more product :-)

And lastly… I found this Funny.

Bacon Flowchart...

2008-06-18T17:36:00.000-07:00

I was emailed this today and I had to pass on. Who doesn't love Bacon!

I wish I could have a BLT. Stupid Salmonella!

Image from http://incredimazing.com/page/Bacon_Flowchart

Batter Blaster

2008-06-10T09:12:00.000-07:00

Ok... so how many of you like Breakfast for dinner? Most of you probably said you do so check this out.

A woman I work with showed me this Cool New product; Batter Blaster! "Batter Blaster™ makes organic light and fluffy pancakes and light and crisp waffles in minutes!"

You know the whip cream in a can? Change the whip cream for pancake batter and you have Batter Blaster!

So... in thinking about this you probably already have some preconceived notions about it:

Completely laden with chemicals
It's -10 on the healthy chart
Gross... pancakes in a can

Well... You couldn't be Further from the truth.

It's Organic (I know, I couldn't believe it either)
See first bullet... Good for you!
I admit it's a bit odd... it's Very clever

Here are the ingredients:

Filtered water
Organic wheat flour (unbleached)
Organic cane sugar
Organic whole egg solids
Organic soybean powder
Sodium lactate (lactic acid from beet sugar)
DiCalcium phosphate and Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) (leavening agents)
Organic rice bran extract propellant

Ok... after I saw this, I ran out at lunch and bought some Batter Blaster so I could make them for dinner.

I get home and pull out the non-stick pan, the butter, the real maple syrup and the Batter Blaster.

Heat the pan, spread some butter around, shake can vigorously, depress batter dispenser... Houston we have Pancakes!

Super Easy... And let me tell you... They were Really Good!

They aren't the super fluffy pancakes you get in a diner... they are a thinner pancake. But I wouldn't hold that against them, they were delicious.

I can't wait to break this out on my next camping trip... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Wilderness Pancakes!

Everyone Please Be Careful!

2008-06-03T16:50:00.000-07:00

I know... 3 posts in 2 days can you believe it.

I had to post this... Everyone Please Be Careful when you are out riding! There's no telling what can happen.

This is just Horrible!

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1239294.ece

FRS - 30% off

2008-06-03T11:07:00.000-07:00

I just got a sample pack from FRS (Free Radical Scavenger). I'm on my second day of using it and I can see a little energy boost after taking it... I'll post again after more use.

Their main thing is around this stuff called Quercetin (supposedly a super strong antioxidant)

I just got an email for 30% off. Use this code to get the deal too. "FRSHEALTH"

I got my sample pack as a Free Trial. Pretty sweet deal; $50 buck worth of stuff for $7 (shipping cost).

Check it out.. it includes:

Low-Calorie Ready to Drink Can
--one 11.5 oz. can, 25 calories per serving

Low-Calorie Powder
--14 packets, 10 calories per serving

Soft Chews
--30 chews, 40 calories per serving

Low-Calorie Concentrate
--one 10 oz bottle, 20 calories per serving

Wow... it's been a long time.

2008-06-02T12:39:00.000-07:00

So... once again it's been a long time since I've posted. No wonder I can't garner a steady group of folks to read my blog... they never know when I'll post again ;-)

But... I have a list of excuses this time.

I was in NYC for an extended Memorial Day weekend where my wife and our friends Jaa and Tom. Great Food and Shopping.
Extension of NYC... I caught a cold on my last day there and I've been fighting it for 7 days now. AAAAAAhhHHHHH! Stupid Germs.
Busy at my new job at Art.com

So, with NYC and the Cold pretty much behind me... I figured it was time to post again.

Today was my first workout in 8 or 9 days. It was killing me not to workout but I tried to enjoy the extra sleep and to let a few injuries heal.

One other thing to note... My stomach has been acting up. Everything I eat makes my stomach cramp up and I feel a little sick. It's been this way for a couple of weeks now. Odd. I think it's time to see a Dr. about it. Soda... is that how yours started?

And Lastly... It's My Birthday Today. Man I'm getting Old. And fortunately...I have Loren to point that out to me. Thanks Loren. I'll remind you that I'm only 38 and I'm guessing that it's all perspective. Heck to an 80 year old, I'm a young guy.

My amazing wife Julie put together a Great dinner party on Saturday night. She made 2 pans of Lasagna (Really good), Anti-pasti (assorted meats and veggies), salad (which I didn't eat and went for more lasagna), good Bread, strawberries w/ aged balsamic vinegar & Cream Horns (which I use to get as a kid from Helen's Bakery... Man are they good!)

and with that... I'll leave you with a great quote I saw in a Tri article in the NY Times.

"Sweat streamed down my forehead, and all I could see were random neon dots floating in the corners of my eyes. I was deep in the pain cave. We got to the top of the climb, and I stopped to catch my breath. I was euphoric: I pushed myself that hard?"

“Nice effort,” Jacobson said. “And the good news is, you’ll always pass out before you die.”

That's good to know!

Push Hard and Rest When Your Dead.

I promise to post again soon

Adamo for "Pleasure"

2008-05-21T12:18:00.000-07:00

Well... I've been riding on my Adamo Racing Saddle for a few months now and I have to say it's the best thing I've done for "my equipment" since getting married :-)

No more riding with the big prong of a traditional racing saddle between my legs. No more having my "my equipment" go numb during the ride. No more praying there aren't any bumps on the tail end of a long ride.

Yes it's kind of funky looking and it weighs about 100 grams more than traditional saddles but it's well worth the trade off. There's also the added benefit for triathletes of having a "hook" on the back of the saddle to allow for easy racking at races.

I did however have a recent problem with the saddle. One of the prongs was a bit higher than the other and it would also rotate out on me. It wasn't all that painful but it was noticeable, visually noticeable as well... Loren, who also rides the Adamo racing saddle saw it right away.

Anyway... I contacted Steve at ISM and sent him some pictures. He wrote back that they would take care of the issue for me and replace the saddle. So, I took it down to my local bike shop (PacBikes) and they sent it back for me. And had it back in time for my next race!

It turns out that the guy who was making that part of the seat quit and there was a batch or two that went out a little messed up. I'm glad they stood by their product and replaced it with only a question or two.

I recently came across a post by Joel Friel who has recently started using the saddle too and wrote a post on his blog. And don't worry Ladies you weren't left out of this comfort zone... there's a comment or two from some women who love the saddle as well.

Anyway... do yourself a favor and buy an Adamo Racing Saddle. And you can get the special Olympic version if you want.

Here are a few specs on it

Lightweight foam padding with GEL inserts
Lightest weight saddle – 280 grams
Titanium rails; 100mm fore-aft rail adjustment
130mm at widest point
Available in 7 colors: Yellow / Red / White / Blue / Dark Grey / Black / Pink / Olympic
Built in tri-hook for quick bike racking (patent pending)
240 mm in length
MSRP $ 159.95 / Olympic $ 169.95

UVAS Race Report

2008-05-19T06:30:00.000-07:00

10pm (night before) I leave a good friends wedding where I have been a very good boy all night; only 2 beers (I probably shouldn't have had any... but it's a wedding!)

11pm finished packing the car, printing directions, setting up my breakfast and filling my water bottles.

11:15pm sleeping!

3am: Alarm goes off (Planned Snooze)

3:15am: Alarm goes off again. This time I'm up. Even though it's only 4 ish hours of sleep, I've been getting some pretty good shut-eye this past week. It's still Brutally early but I wanted to eat my standard pre-race oatmeal and start hydrating. I felt fine.

4am: I'm in the car and heading out to the race. I'm usually early to most everything... I can't stand being late. I left a little earlier for the race because the race confirmation directions said it's a little over 2 hours to the race (odd but I went with it)

5:14am: The race email lied! It only took me an hour and fifteen. Whatever... I have plenty of time to get ready (and I'm not the only one there)

5:40am: (ish) I head over to the transition area and pick up my packet.

5:50am: There is a welling of emotion in the transition area and all Hell is about to break loose. The race organizers, who said it was going to be "first come first serve" made a game time decision to section the transition by age (fine) and then again by printing your reg number on a sticker and putting them on the racks. So you had to rack in transition where your sticker was located.

Now for me... this wasn't so bad, I was there early enough to avoid a lot of the ciaos but I saw A Lot of people freaking out. One woman that stands out to me (on many levels) was in the mid 40's group, 6 foot 2 and reminiscent of a 1960's East German Olympian. I swear she almost grabbed the race organizer by the nuts and marched him around until her spot was located. Overall most people weren't happy with how this was done but most got over it pretty quickly.

6:45 - 7:30am: I'm all set up and I see Loren and Chris (another zTeam guy... who BTW won the 35-39 age group). Loren and Chris register and then get into the fray of trying to find their rack space. It didn't happen. And they both just grabbed a spot near me... which worked out pretty well for both of them; they were on the ends. Other than that there was some stretching and BSing until we needed to head to the water. The only other notable is reference to the balloon that I duct tape on my rack each race. Let's just say it's phallic (not intentional... they were the only balloons at walgreens). Lots of people besides me where using the balloon as a marker. Loren said if I keep it up I'll be known as the dick balloon guy... "Oh look the dick balloon guy is racing again". LOL. I don't really care much... I haven't been lost in transition yet.

7:35am: At the water warming up and getting ready for our division to start.

7:50am: We're OFF! As usual Loren and I are in the back walking along until we have to swim also trying to avoid the frenzy of kicks to the face. So... now we're swimming along. Loren and I are about the same speed in the water so we're next to each other for most of the race.

As with most races, funny things pop into your head while your trucking along. One thing that struck me as funny was that because Loren and I were on different breathing interval it always looked as though he never took a breath, which for some reason struck my as funny. Anyway beyond the random thoughts... I kept at a good pace and just kept thinking to myself to stay as aerodynamic as possible and keep feeling the water on the pull.

At one point around buoy 2 I saw Loren slowing and on one of my breaths I choose to yell "Lets go Loren!". I think it totally shocked him.

Other than that... about 1/2 way through I was thinking "Man... this swim feels Long!) and then quickly got rid of that thought and just swam buoy to buoy trying to keep my mind quiet.

The swim felt long... but I felt pretty good overall.

8:14 and change am: I exit the water and head to my bike. T1 Sucked for me, 2 min 24 sec. DAM IT!!!! I just couldn't get coordinated.

8:16 +: I head out on the bike and feel Really good. I kick it into gear and begin my work. There's nothing to special to report on the bike... I liked the ride and I felt Really Strong; better than I have in previous races.

Only somewhat funny thing that happened is that my right shoe began to squeak and it was annoying me. As I was passing a few people on the steep hill I yelled at the shoe "Dam It... Stop Squeaking"! There was a laugh or two and in other areas riding with the same people I wouldn't have to say anything when I wanted to pass... My shoe did the talking for me.

9:03 ish: Into T2. This is always a good transition for me, I was in and out in 50 seconds.

9:04 ish: I head into the run at a good pace and feel pretty good. It was getting hotter out now and you could definitely feel it. I knew the first 1/2 of the run would be tougher because it was mostly uphill, but that means the 2nd 1/2 would be fast.

Because I Still don't have my HRM (it's on the way) I've been using a trick of counting strides based on a previous count on the treadmill. It worked really well for me in Sacramento. Anyway... so I'm doing this and somehow based on my count I completely F'd up my breathing! By mile two I'm totally cramped up and doubled over in pain! I try to go slow and recover. I'm doubled over again!! And then this girl asks me if I'm ok... I say yes and then try to pace off of her until I get back on track. I stop trying to count, I don't think about anything except my breathing and getting rid of the cramps.

I finally get going again but between being stopped and doubled over in pain and the pacing slower to recover... I lost about 5 Minutes!

Basically the Run sucked for me. I ended up running 8 min miles but I know I could have done better. And the 2nd 1/2 of the run Never felt like I was running downhill (that was pretty much the sentiment from most people I talked to).

9:44 am ish: I cross the finish line totally wiped! I head straight for shade, food and water!

Final: 1:55:21 :: 35 in my age group 172 OA

I'm Not Happy with the result. I F'd up in T1 (lost a 1 minute) and lost 5 min on the run due to cramping. Sure we all have bad races and I have to chalk it up to that. Mostly this is just motivation for me to do better next time.

I really enjoyed the venue... very pretty! And as usual pretty much everyone was there having a good time and being friendly. I also got to meet a couple other zTeam Tri members... Now if we could only get together for a Saturday ride sometime.

Next race... Windman Triathlon (6/22)

Wetsuit Stripping...

2008-05-12T17:32:00.000-07:00

ok now maybe it's me and that fact that this is my first season... but I've never seen or heard of "Wetsuit Stripping". I just randomly came across it when I was looking for something else on YouTube.com.

Check this out... it might be one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lns2eibBFps&NR=1

Random Rant....

2008-05-08T17:11:00.000-07:00

Slacking... It certainly hasn't been on my training. But it has been in my blogging.

I read a bunch of blogs (Loren, Courtenay, Soda, Ben, etc...) and I always see post after post after post. Maybe it's the fact that I'm working a new job, have been training a lot or by the time I have time I'm pretty much beat from the day and I just go to bed (9:30 - 10pm). Speaking of bed time, I can actually remember a time when I would think that it was Really Weird that my parental-units would go to bed that early and how I'd be up till all hours of the night. Odd how things change.

I suppose it's like a few years ago when I said to my dad "Why didn't you tell me it (life/being an adult) was going to be this hard"? His reply "I did!, you were just to busy chasing girls and playing baseball."

But... I suppose that's what kids do and we all think our parents are Full of It... Until we get to "Approximately" that same age and realize that we didn't know what we were talking about.

As for other things going on in my with me... I'm taking a trip to NYC w/ my wife and some friends over memorial day weekend. My wife call it "The Mother Ship"... As she's a women's clothing designer. Me, I'm not all that fond of it. I mainly like it for the Food... whether it's a good high end restaurant or just a good sub or even better REAL Pizza! In my opinion Pizza in San Francisco is marginal at best.

OH... I also might get to go to see the Yankees while I'm there too. I'm from CT so I'm a Yankees fan and I haven't been "The Stadium" since 1994 when I was a partial season ticket holder and the year that if it wasn't for a baseball strike and the cancellation of the World Series, I probably would have seen the Yankees battling the Expos (no longer in existence) for the championship. This is the last season for Yankee Stadium, they are building a new ballpark... So I hope to revisit the place where I saw my first professional ballgame (Dave Righetti's rookie year) and where I saw Don Mattingly hit a game winning home run against the Royals, where my friends and I were razzing the crap out of the right fielder (who flipped us off after the home run that went directly over his head).

Anyway... I guess that's enough w/ my Rant (thanks for reading it).

My next race is UVAS on 5/18. I'm feeling pretty strong and w/ my newly found race enhancer (Caffeine), I hope to have a good race.

OH... One last thing. Surfing last night I found this t-shirt that made me laugh! I might have been pretty tired. but it's still a great T.

Caffeine?

2008-04-29T18:19:00.000-07:00

I was recently talking to Loren about caffeine use for racing and he said there was a ton of info out there on the subject so I started to check it out. I'm trying to understand what benefits can be had by using it during a race.

I don't really have any caffeine in my diet, except for what's in chocolate (Dam Sweet Tooth!). I don't think it's a conscious thing against caffeine, it's more the fact that I don't drink coffee (long story I'll tell some other time) and I have maybe 1 Coke every couple of months based on a craving.

And with that... I wonder if the caffeine would adversely affect me because I don't have any in my diet. What I do know is that "real" caffeine, the kind in coffee makes me a bit jittery and "manufactured" caffeine , the kind in Coke just gives me a wake up call.

I have a bit more investigation to do before I see what it can do for me... I'd love some input, advise or whatever you can offer. And for now, I found this article done by someone at Rice University that I found fairly interesting.

http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/caffeine.html

Sacramento International Triathlon :: Race Report

2008-04-28T21:57:00.000-07:00

Hi All... It's been a couple weeks since I've written a post; I had to travel back to CT.

So this past weekend I did the Sacramento International Triathlon. My wife Julie and I went up on Friday and spent a couple of days out of good old San Francisco and headed up to Sacramento. Even though it's fairly close... it's good to get out of the routine and do a little something different.

It was all pretty mellow because of the race, but we had a great time. I never knew that Sacramento (at least downtown) was was a nice as it was. We had a couple good meals and the weather was great. It was great having Julie at the race with me, she's been very supportive of my newly found Triathlon addiction and I really appreciated it.

As for the race...

Because we were up there early... I took the opportunity to check out the course on my Saturday workout. It was nice to be able to get familiar with the little twists and turns and go into the race knowing exactly where to go.

The Swim: The swim started late because they didn't have the buoys in the water and when they did it was still a bit out of whack. Regardless, they made due and everything got underway about 1/2 late.

It was an in water start in a deep water channel that runs into the American River, not a bad venue because there's very little if any current and the water temp can get a bit higher because it's not really getting any of the snow runoff.

So there we are all in the water, I went to the other side of the channel to get out of the fray and to take what I thought was a more direct line to the buoy. I felt like I got a pretty good start but that seems to be the last thing that goes through my mind in the swim other than trying to maintain fairly good technique so I can optimize my strokes. My swim coach basically told me that when I try to go harder / faster, I lose some form which works against me. That I'm better off maintaining my form and I'll get better times. So that's what I did.

I suppose it worked out ok, I came out of the water 41st out of 100... to me that says (Get Faster... you are slower than 40 other people in this race). I have more thoughts on the swim but I'll save them for another time.

The Bike: I think I got out of transition pretty quickly, I'll have to analyze it closer some other time. But what did surprise me was that people weren't running to the bike mounting area; basically at the end of the gravel as it meets the tar. Most people were running on the tar paper that was laid out (one 3 ft wide strip of roofing tar paper)... It was so Odd. I think I passed 10 people in that area alone and never saw them again once I was on the bike.

Because I rode 1/2 of the bike course the day before, I knew what to expect. It was pretty flat the entire way, but it was pretty bumpy; I actually have a bruise on my left forearm where I was on the aero bars.

I also took the opportunity in this race to use some caffeine which I hadn't done before but have been reading some really interesting stuff about caffeine masking pain; which allows you to go harder in a race (I definitely think it worked).

The Run: I really enjoyed the run at this race. I saw Julie on the way out of T2 which gave me a little boost and I was using another technique I read about to keep my pace (get on a treadmill and get to a pace you want to run at. Count your foot falls 1-8. And then in the race count at the same pace... it keeps you on pace and your mind off of the pain. Another side affect is that your breathing follows the cadence too which also helps maintain the pace). Oh and it works!

Overall I felt really good in the run. I definitely have some faster times in me, but I hit my goal for the race.

I think I'll do much better overall once I get my new Garmin 405! I'm really excited about that... I've been training w/out a hrm for 2.5 months now and it sucks.

Overall... I'm stoked about my performance in my 2nd Tri... 23rd overall and 8th in my AG. Time: 1:32

Some Highlights:

Julie being there to support me.
Loren finished 5th OA / 2nd in his AG.
Kelly and Sarah Rocked... 2nd & 4th respectively in the Olympic distance (Nice work!).
There was a teacher and his students from Daly city that did the Tri. What a great way to promote health and fitness.
I got to meet Kelly (fellow ZteaM Tri member) and Sarah (One of the few readers and commenter's on my blog... Thanks Sarah)
The announcer at the Tri said as Loren was approaching the finish line "And the first female to cross the finish line for the Sprint distance is Loren Pokorny from Tiburon". Loren promptly corrected him ;-)

Some Lowlights:

As a rider was passing and I didn't see him, I blew a snot rocket on him. Sorry #216.
The way that SIT handled All of the Triathlete's gear when bringing it from T1 to T2. Seriously, they must have just thrown it all in the back of the truck and then just threw it on the ground in a big pile! It was Total BS. We pay a lot of money for our gear and they just chuck it on the ground like it's a pile of junk. If you can't tell... I'm pretty ticked off about that. If you didn't lose anything you are lucky.

UVAS is up next on 5/18

From Training ... To Triathlete

2008-04-14T14:35:00.000-07:00

Well... yesterday I did my first ever triathlon; "Ice Breaker"! And I went from a guy training for triathlons to a Triathlete.

So here's my version of what happened...

I'll start with the Wednesday before when Loren said, "hey, I'm doing Ice Breaker up in Folsom, you should do it... it's short". My response was something like... I've been training for Sacramento and trying to peak for that race And it's my First Tri, I don't know if I'm mentally prepared (I still had 2 weeks to do that). And I hadn't practiced transitions at all!

After a day or so, I figured "What the hell... I might as well give it a shot and I'll get some real experience". And I had been training hard, I was pretty much ready.

So there I was the night before packing all my stuff (with checklist I found online and then added some stuff). Wetsuit... check, Goggles... check, Tire pump... check, etc... Finally I had it all together and the car was packed. I didn't want to do any packing at 5am, it was going to be bad enough that I had to be up at 4:30 to eat oatmeal and begin hydrating.

Time for bed... Right! Now I'm sure sleep isn't all that great the night before a Tri anyway... but the night before your first Tri; Horrible! I think my mistake here was that because I didn't know what I didn't know I was trying to rehearse the transitions in my head. Out of the water, find my spot, spray sand off feet w/extra water bottle.... And so it went for T1 and T2. Overall it was just restless sleep.

I arrive at the parking lot just after 7am (it's about a 2 hour drive from San Francisco). At this point I'm just making it up as I go along. Ok go check in and get whatever it is that they give you. Then go back to the car and get all your stuff together.

From there I get into the transition area and pick a spot that's 1/2 way between the Bike exit and the Run exit and set up shop. One of the things I discovered is that for all of the stuff I brought from the checklist, which was mainly things like duct tape, athletic tape, new skin, advil, headlamp, etc... I didn't really use much of it. I needed my towel to lay on the ground, bike shoes, helmet, sneakers, socks, number belt, sun glasses, goggles, swim cap, wetsuit and a visor. Not really all that much stuff considering that in all my reading (50 or so back issues of Triathlete... thanks Loren) there really wasn't much about how little you really need, maybe it's because there's always a new this or that to buy. I guess looking at it now, it's the training that makes you have the most stuff... racing is very straight forward (sort of).

Now I go and get my number put on my body. When there I asked if it was ok to have anything other than number and age on your body and they said yes... so I had "K.B." put on my left calf which stands for Kathy Bilcz. On Saturday I found out that one of my closest friend's mother passed away. She was diagnosed with cervical cancer less than a year ago and they caught it pretty late. I was home for Christmas and went to see her and she was looking pretty good and had good spirits... I think that actually helped me not to cry when I saw her. When we left that day, I gave her a big hug and told her "I love you". It was the last time I saw her. She was like a mom to me and I'm Very Sad that she's gone now. I think about her often and putting her initials on my calf actually gave me some motivation in my race. I'll put her initials on every race. I miss her!

(Sorry... I'm having a hard time dealing with that and I'm sure I'll write more on it later. back to the race report)

Anyway... Loren and I are down at the swim start. We go in to check out the water and it's actually not that cold. As our division starts Loren and I walk about for about 80 yards or so as some of the people are swimming in front of us and we're keeping up with them. Eventually we have to join the swim too. As we near the buoy I noticed sand in the water and when I looked up to sight the buoy I see people walking again! So, I stand up too... Loren is right next to me. I'm sure this isn't a normal occurrence but it was nice to have it happen in my first Tri; it gave me a chance to gather myself again and power through the last 2/3 of the swim.

The swim wasn't as brutal as I thought it would be... and by brutal I mean kicks to the head, slaps to the feet, etc... All the stuff that comes with swimming in very close proximity to a lot of other people. I had a few collisions by people swimming of course but nothing to major. Luckily I swim pretty straight.

So now I'm done with the swim, get out of my wetsuit at water's edge (as recommended) and begin a loooong slow uphill run in sand to the transition area. I'm sure it wasn't intended to be such a long run, but the water in Folsom Lake was so low... that's where the race had to be. Anyway the run was brutal and my heart rate was through the roof!

T1... I'm feeling good here and I think I was actually pretty quick (we'll see). I get my stuff on and I'm off!

Luckily for my warm-up I went out and rode the first 2 miles of the course so I knew what to expect and I felt good on the bike. I used the bike to get my bottle of water down, I'll probably drink more water earlier in the bike next time. It was a little hard to drink on this course though because of the twists, turns and undulations. Nothing too exciting here... I felt strong.

T2... It sure was nice to be able to ride into the transition area; I think that's pretty unheard of. I felt really quick in T2. I came in w/ 5 people and I was the first out. Helmet off, shoes on, race belt on... Off and Running!

The run started out as expected, because you could see it from the transition area. Then... All hell broke loose. I was basically on an Xterra run course. Luckily I grew up in Connecticut on a bunch of land and ran in the woods a lot. But, this run was Tough! There was one part of the run that was Really tough, it was essentially 80ft straight uphill around mile 3. Now the uphill part was tough and it definitely took something out of you... but the downhill was treacherous; it had water gully's and roots which would make easy work of a broken or sprained ankle. I'll tell you what, if I sprained an ankle this early in the season on what's being call an "Ice Breaker" Triathlon I would seriously be Pissed!

On the run I had to be very opportunistic about passing people on the run because it was a single track trail and even when I said I was coming through, there wasn't anywhere for the other runners to go. I was certainly tired and my calves felt like they weighed 50 lbs each but I felt good overall.

Out of the woods (literally) and I could see the tents. I gave it a little extra (which I didn't have much of) and crossed the finish line! I was officially a Triathlete!

Water, cool down and some pasta and I was good as new. Until about 9pm when I fell asleep on the couch... it was a long day!

Some highlights:

I cheered on a bunch of people through out the race that looked like they were having a rough go of it and one of them was with me at the end and came up to thank me for pushing him harder.
I met Courtenay, who's blog I read because Loren is linked to her in his blogroll. And she finished 2nd overall.
T1 & T2 were better than I thought they'd be

Things to work on:

Getting into a groove on the swim and staying relaxed. If I do that, I think the swim will take care of itself.
Early pacing on the run. Start slower... finish stronger.

Sacramento in 2 weeks.

Alergies = Tough Training

2008-04-11T12:00:00.000-07:00

I have to say that my training this week has suffered significantly... I've been on the rollers, did a short run and had a swim lesson w/ Evan but my allergies are reallying getting the best of me this week.

I'm allergic to juniper / mountain cedar which blooms mainly in Feb., Mar. & April. It's during these months that I can barely breath and I sneeze my head off. Today's pollen count is pretty high and I'm dying!!! http://pollen.com

If you suffer from allergies and have trouble breathing / sleeping try breath right strips. I swear without these, I'd be a zombie due to lack of sleep for these months. You've probably seen some professional athletes wear them in games... I don't go that far, my sinuses are pretty clear when I'm exercising.

Which... Now that I think about it might be just what I need to keep in mind. My nose runs a lot when I'm working out, which in turn keeps the sinuses free of the pollen (at least for a little while).

Anyway... I guess this was more of a venting session.

I'm going up to Folsom on Sunday to do the Ice Breaker Tri (last minute decision). It's short (.5, 13, 4) so it'll give me the ability to work out some kinks before the Sac Int. Tri.

Swim Lesson...

2008-04-04T15:32:00.000-07:00

Today I had my first swim lesson. I looked on Craigslist first (as I do for a lot of things) and came across a compelling ad for swim lessons by a former Cal swimmer who had some pretty good stats to back him up; Evan Lane.

I am pretty stoked to finally get some good swim instruction. I've spent time looking at instruction video, reading articles and then trying to put those into practice at the pool. But like anything, if you're told the proper way to do something and can practice it, you'll get better. As opposed to practicing something you think is right and potentially (most likely) ingraining bad habits.

Evan and I met at my usual pool (Rossi pool) and to Evan credit, he met me at 6am. God knows that at 25, I only saw 6am if I had a tee time and there was beer involved or I hadn't gone to bed yet.

After chatting a bit I hopped in the pool to swim a couple of lengths while Evan watched, probably thinking... "crap, what have I gotten myself into". He was really diplomatic as we began to talk about the things I need to work on.

We stared with the Kick. I'm tending to kick from the knee instead of the hip (think scuba diving kick). And Evan confirmed what Ben had said about the type of swim briefs I should be using (which I knew about a la a blog that seemed pointed directly in Loren's direction); the TYR polymesh trainers. The main reason for this is so I'll feel the water on my thighs, making me kick more from the hip. Adios to my Speedo Lycra Jammers.

The next thing we talked about and then worked on was a side drill. This is essentially getting my arm in the proper position for the proper catch and so I don't drop my elbow and pull. It goes like this... put your arm straight above your head and then stretch it higher until your shoulder touches your cheek; your shoulder should rotate slightly inward.

Now for the drill:

Keep my arm in previously mentioned position
Head in the water looking down but slightly forward
Body on my side
Non water arm... shoulder out of the water
Kicking from the him (not the knee)
And... comfortable/relaxed enough to rotate my head and breath when I needed to
oh... and up the right arm and back w/ the left arm

LOL.... RIGHT!

Needless to say... I'm paying Evan AND I want to be a better/faster swimmer so I'm going to do what he tells me.

The first 2 lengths I sucked. I did everything mostly wrong but managed to make it up and back struggling for air (mainly just holding my breath as long as I could before I had to pop my head up for a Gasp). Evan gave me some good feedback and I kept doing this drill. After a while, I started to feel comfortable and things actually came together by the end of the session; especially being able to easily/comfortably turn my head and take a breath. I still have a long way to go...

It should look something like this: (although I didn't use fins)

Well... that was lesson 1. Practice, Practice Practice!

Thanks Evan, See you next Thursday (6am).

Wicked Sweet Tooth!

2008-04-02T15:24:00.001-07:00

ok... I've been meaning to ask this of the very few people that read my blog.

Since I started training... I have a Wicked Sweet Tooth! Does this happen to you?

My craving usually tends toward dark chocolate and more specifically Ghirardelli dark chocolate squares w/ caramel filling.

When I'm eating them (almost by the bag full) I know I should only have 1, but I can't help myself... they are Good!

I wonder if they sponsor people? :-)

My New Toy...

2008-04-02T14:43:00.000-07:00

Check this out... a buddy of mine (Chris Christensen) is letting me use his rollers! I'm totally stoked about this because I have to do high cadence workouts. But in San Francisco where there are a lot of hills; which is what most of my rides tend to be (headlands and most recently Mt. Tam).

I set them up and put my ironing board next to it so I'd have something to grab onto instead of doing a floor face plant (thank God I did, I came close to falling the first few times). Oh... and this will certainly straighten out your riding, seeing that you have 2 ft to ride on.

After about 10 minutes of trying, I got the hang of it and did pretty well. I rode for about a 1/2 hour and will ride about an hour a day. I was also surprised that it was actually a pretty good workout... I was sweating up a storm.

I'll post again later to give a 1 week update on how it's going.

Happiness :-)

2008-03-26T15:45:00.000-07:00

Five components of happiness

Happiness is a personal choice. Many people wrongly believe that happiness depends on what we get in our life, such as money, social status, or love relationship. The fact is that we are using these things to fill what is missing inside.

There are five basic pillars for happiness.

Self-respect
Our self-respect is the core of our existence. Lack of self-respect or self-love is the major reason of unhappiness. True self-respect comes from within instead of from outside. It is based on unconditional acceptance of self.
Assertiveness
Being assertive means we can say no to others without feeling guilty. Assertiveness creates a boundary so that our basic value and resources are protected. Lack of assertiveness leads to people-pleasing or failure to stand up to our rights. This further leads to feeling of inferiority.
Letting go the past
Most sadness or unresolved anger come from our attachment to the past. Given that our life moves only forward and can never turn back, we will experience deep agony if we are haunted by the past. You can never re-live the past. It is gone, forever. Accepting this fact is the only way that we can live in the present, which is how we can enjoy life.
A meaningful goal
Humans are purpose-driven beings. Lack of a meaningful goal leads to boredom, which is one reason of excessive need for entertainment, food, or addictive substances such as alcohol or cigarettes.
Human connection
No one can live without meaningful contact with others. Caring for or giving to others is fundamental to our beings. Without connection with others, such as family members, friends or colleagues, we will experience loneliness and deep void.

If you are unhappy, which piece of above is missing?

* This comes from a site I came across today ilifecoach.com. There's some interesting reading here; I liked the "tools" section best.

BTW... Training is going great this week!

And... Good Luck to all those doing Oceanside (Loren, you're going to crush!)

A Day Off...

2008-03-24T13:25:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday was Easter and it was a great chance for my wife and I to get some quality time together. We went down to Half Moon Bay and had brunch at Cetrella. The food was very good; they were doing a special Prefix menu for easter (with a couple of options). I had an onion & goat cheese tart w/ arugula and wildflower honey followed by grilled salmon with asparagus over cous cous and dessert was a warm molten chocolate cake w/ orange caramel ice cream. My wife (Julie) had a French style cream of broccoli soup with truffle oil drizzled on top followed by on interesting twist on the classic "steak & eggs". It was a mash of potatoes, spinach and very tender steak with two poached eggs on top And on top of that was a very light lobster hollandaise sauce. Her dessert was a lemon Creme Fraiche ice cream macaroon napoleon (not easy to say), very interesting but not quite what you'd expect.

Overall, the food was Very good. The hostess was pleasant and the guy who I can only assume was the manager was very nice to us. Our server, though a bit quirky was attentive and pretty on top of things. They need help with their runners though... almost spilled the soup, mixed up the position on food delivery for every course, tried to give my ice tea to the table opposite us and us their take home bag and didn't provide me with a dessert fork. Like I said, they need a little help... But the Food was very good and I thanked the cooks in the open air kitchen as we exited. I would definitely give them another try.

After brunch we drove down to the beach to take a couple of pictures and then over to the Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay (a.k.a. the poor mans Pebble Beach). We mainly just walked around took a few photo's of the beach and I oohh'd and aahh'd at the golf course.

After that we took a back road from the main road in half moon bay up to skyline blvd. We drove by some cool little houses and then up a road where we saw some roadies. Let me tell you... these people (women and men riders) were EARNING their dinner! When I mapped it on mapmytri.com it was 2170 of relentless climbing. Small road through the redwoods and I'm telling you, while I was driving up it I was thinking these people are getting their butts handed to them right now. Luckily it was beautiful and it was in the redwoods so there was very little sun to beat down on them. Oh... the road is called Tunitas Creek Rd. and it starts on route 1 and ends on route 35.

From route 35 (skyline blvd), we headed home to relax for the rest of the day.

Here are a few pictures:

Julie, Chris & Ron

Beach at Ritz Carlton

Beach Flower

Golf Course at Ritz Carlton

Spring Wild Flower

Training Philosophy :: Solo vs. Group

2008-03-21T16:40:00.000-07:00

So... in my morning swim today (which had it's highs and lows), I got to thinking about the potential advantages of training with a group. I thought back to when I was playing any sport, it's always your teammates who you don't want to let down, so you push yourself harder. Or it's your teammates who are pushing you because they know you have it in you; maybe just not on that day. There's also the camaraderie that comes with a "team"... I always loved that part.

What is it about the solo workout that you're able to justify why you should take it easy or stop all together. It's like when the alarm goes off and you do some crazy formula in your mostly asleep brain that allows you to cut something out of your morning schedule and gain even 5 more minutes of sleep (we've all been there).

But with your training, it should be different! You should be more motivated and go Harder when you get that feeling. Someone else is training harder than you at that moment and is going to kick your Ass on race day because they didn't take it easy or stop.

I talked briefly about this with Loren today (I saw him when I was picking up my wetsuit - Thanks Ben! I'll send the check right away. Address?). He raised a good point that Tri training is very specific to the individual; what's good for me wouldn't be good for him or any other person unless you are at the same fitness level and/or the same training schedule.

He's totally right. So Unless you have the same fitness level And your schedules match up to peak for a race Or you're dong speed workouts ... you're on your own (at least from my perspective).

To avoid the pitfalls of the "oh I'll just go easy" stuff, I'm going to try and put together a workout schedule (with Loren's help of course ~ he's coaching me a bit) that has me doing Very specific workouts, at specific heart rates zone, specific intervals, etc... Essentially spelling out every detail of the workout so I know that what is laid out for me, will accomplish my goals and if I don't do it, I'm only cheating myself.

And as much as I loved the camaraderie, I want to do well in my races which means my training has to be specific to me. I guess I'll get the bonding done over beers ;-)

Here's an interesting article from Endurance Lap on the topic.

Thoughts?

Workouts, Dreams and a cool Picture

2008-03-18T14:24:00.000-07:00

Well today was my first day back from my cold. I went Super Easy (ran 2 miles at 9:13 pace and then lifted). Total workout 1 hour. Although I'll probably go for a bike ride tonight... Again Easy or coach will yell.

I've actually been looking at being sick as a motivational factor. When I get sick, I feel like I'm falling behind in my training (which I am) because I'm not working out and my lungs are taking a bit of a beating. So I have to get things back to steady state and then keep improving. It helps me mentally to have an additional goal in my training.

As for the dreams... maybe it was the NyQuil or the Afrin but I had some nasty Tri anxiety dreams. The first one was that Everything was going wrong; I was late, I was lost in transition and overall had a shitty race. The next one (back 2 back nights) was signifcantly better... I kicked ass! I was fast and doing great in all areas of the race. Whether it was the drugs or me reading to much, I need to use positive thinking to get me out of the bad place.

Lastly... Check out this picture I created. I'm doing a contract gig for Roxio (Flash based eLearning) and have been playing with the software; it's pretty cool. I created this picture by putting 6 picutures together. More like uploading six picture and the software pretty much did everything for me; order, alignment, contrast adjustments, etc... The software is Easy Media Creator 10. It does way more than photos (that's just the section I'm on). Anway check out this picture, it's the view out the east side of our condo.

Stupid Cold!!!

2008-03-12T17:42:00.000-07:00

Ok... I'm officially Pissed that somehow I got a chest cold. I have no idea how since I'm working at home these days, But I'm sure some infectious SOB touched something that I then touched and transferred their germs to me!

Now... this is going to affect my workouts and I'm NOT HAPPY about it. Do you know how hard it is to run 8 miles w/ a chest cold? Let alone get out of bed when you feel like shit.

Here's some info for all you people out there training that don't want to get sick. And for all you dumb ass's out there who don't know how to keep your germs to yourself.

Keep your germs to yourself:

Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when sneezing, coughing or blowing your nose.
Discard used tissues in the trash as soon as you can.
Always wash your hands after sneezing, blowing your nose, or coughing, or after touching used tissues or handkerchiefs. Wash hands often if you are sick.
Use warm water and soap or alcohol-based hand sanitizers to wash your hands.
Try to stay home if you have a cough and fever.
See your doctor as soon as you can if you have a cough and fever, and follow their instructions. Take medicine as prescribed and get lots of rest.

Keep the germs away:

Wash your hands before eating, or touching your eyes, nose or mouth.
Wash your hands after touching anyone who is sneezing, coughing or blowing their nose.
Don’t share things like towels, lipstick, toys, or anything else that might be contaminated with respiratory germs.
Don’t share food, utensils or beverage containers with others.

Don't spread your Germs!!!

An Interesting Observation.

2008-03-10T21:10:00.000-07:00

Well... It's been a little while since my last post. I got totally bogged down w/ several projects I have going.

So here's a little something funny that I observed in my run yesterday. As you run in the city you obviously run past a lot of people and to avoid colliding with them (mainly because they don't pay attention to where they're going) you have to let them know you are coming and which side you're going to pass on.

Yesterday I would estimate that I ran past 75-100 people and when I got about 10 feet from them I'd either say "on the left" or "on the right". I swear NOT ONE of them looked to the side I said. I say left, they look right. I say right, they look left. I even tried "coming through" and they would either move closer together or further apart

I basically just stopped saying anything and went around them... It worked much better.

More later this week.

Swimming..... Aaaarrrgh!

2008-02-27T11:32:00.000-08:00

Today I had an Easy swim... just working on form and breathing for 45 min (no breaks). I did a few calculations for today's swim and I figured out that at an Easy pace, I swim 2 feet per second (100 ft in 50 seconds). I also know that in an All Out Sprint I do about 4 feet per second (but that's not sustainable for more than a couple of lengths).

With these numbers, I calculated that in my Easy 45 minute swim, I swam a mile (remember my pool is 100 ft/length). Now I know today was an Easy swim, but numbers like that Piss me off! It's SO SLOW!

If I put that in terms of my first race (Sacramento International) which is 3/4 mile swim and I go at 3/4 speed (3 ft/sec), it means that I'll finish the swim in 22 minutes (or so) which lands me in 19th - 24th (swim) in my age group based on last years results. This is fairly respectable if I keep up a good pace and can make up time on the bike and run.

I think I'm just looking at things overall and thinking that I need to be FASTER! I want to do well in the race and just landing in the middle of the pack isn't my way. Now don't get me wrong, I'll have a good time and we're mostly just weekend warriors out there... But Dam it, I'm competitive and I want to kick some ass!

I guess I need realizations like this now and then because it motivates me and this is a good time to be motivated, I'm coming into March and I have to decrease my times.

Here's couple of swim technique improvement videos I thought were interesting; hopefully they work ;-)

Good Friends... A Long Ride.

2008-02-23T12:27:00.000-08:00

Last night we got together with about 10 of our friends; hosted by Marc & Chelsea. They do such a great job of gathering everyone up and making it look effortless. We had a really good dinner of stuffed shells, Kona Kampachi (a new breed of fish being farmed that is high in Omega-3's and NO detectable Mercury), salad and an apple tart w/ vanilla ice cream. Prognosis... DELICIOUS!

Thanks Marc & Chelsea... you are amazing friends!

This morning when I woke up... there was an Spectacular Sunrise. This is the view from our bedroom.

After the sunrise, I started to prepare for my ride. I originally thought I was going to ride to Nicasio... that was until I looked at it closer and realized that it was a 90 mile ride there and back; Maybe some other day.

I ended up looking on MapMyTri.com and found a ride to Tiburon and back that was 42 miles... much better!

It was a really good ride... not to many hills, which has been my Saturday M.O. Overall I felt good at the end, however my hip flexors where in some pain in the last 4 miles. I was stoked that I did the ride... it was my longest on the bike. And my pace was pretty good considering that I have the city to deal with on both ends of the ride.

Tonight is the Chinese New Year parade with Jaa & Tom (if he makes it, all nighter bringing a data center online).

Tomorrow... a long run.

Good Swim Instruction Video

2008-02-22T18:42:00.000-08:00

Narration by Dave Scott
(Six-Time Ironman World Champion)

Tentative Schedule

2008-02-20T17:50:00.000-08:00

April: Sacramento Int. (sprint)

May: UVAS Southbay (long sprint)

June: San Jose International (Olympic)

July: Shot! between the 4th, a fishing weekend, a trip to Chicago & a birthday (it's Toast)

August: Folsom International (Olympic) or Chicago International (sprint)

Sept: Los Angeles (Olympic)

Oct: His Tri ~ Napa (sprint)

Coyote Encounter... Brick (Bike/Run)

2008-02-17T08:07:00.000-08:00

On Saturday morning I woke up early and started to hydrate, get some oatmeal into my body and stetch... It was going to be a hard workout for me. I was doing my normal Marin Headlands ride but I addeding some hill repeats today (Total ride: 26 miles).

Anyway... My day started out pretty normal, I left the house at 7am and headed up Polk St. where people hadn't really arrived yet (still sleeping), through the Marina / Crissy field (lots of runners) and then over the Golden Gate Bridge to my final destination the Marin Headlands.

Once here, I begin climbing!

You can see where the headlands start pretty easily. It's up that climb, down a pretty steep, fast road and the climb again! And then hill repeats. The section I for the repeats is the first hill the area above the top horizontal line; I did a few of these.

And this is where my day got a little sketchy! My second time up the hill I saw, what I initially thought was a dog and quickly realized that it was a Coyote. It was pretty cool. I'm use to seeing wildlife in it's full glory, as I fly fish in some pretty remote areas. So this wasn't really a big deal, it was actually pretty cool At First.

Coyote:

The coyote was off on the side of the road but as I road closer, it basically shoulder faked me and took a few steps toward me. I put it in gear and road past with no problems.... Ride back down and do it again.

This time (my last time) as I'm riding up I see the coyote again having his picture taken by some tourists who were about 10 feet from it... it seemed fairly calm at this point. And the photographers weren't having any trouble w/ it.

I decided to take a few moments to enjoy the scenery this time... mainly because I needed the rest; my heart was Pounding out of my chest from the climb.

View:

Ok... so now I'm rested and I start heading down the hill and then back to the city. I don't see the coyote at the top anymore, so I figured he'd gone on his way. And then about 50 yards down the hill, I see the Coyote again. And he spots me!

We're about 75 feet from each other at this point and he's on the far side of the road. I shift into gear and get up some speed so there will be no problems And I take as wide a berth as I can.

He takes a few steps. I get closer, he gets closer, I get closer, he gets closer... I'm peddling as fast as I can, He's running as fast as he can! We get right next to each other and I bend down slightly and yell as loud as I can hoping to make it back off just slightly so I can fly by.

Luckily my plan worked! I ended up about 1 foot away from the coyote and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little nervous about what could have happened. I gain my composure and proceed to tell most of the riders coming up the hill to watch out for the coyote at the top.

The rest of the ride home was fairly uneventful, although I get really pissed when rider on the bridge (GG) don't go single file! More on that some other time.

After the bike I did a 5 mile run at a pretty slow pace; 9 min miles. And I actually found a run that was flat almost the entire way!!!! I really needed one of these for brick workouts (note for my dad: a brick workout is when you do 2 exercises back to back). The run was evenly paced and my lungs felt great.

Oh... side note for the sneakers (previous post). They were great! I really like them a lot... Asics has lost a customer if the Brooks keep me satisfied.

As for the rest of the day: Dentist, Lunch at the crepe place w/ Julie, Beach w/ Marc, Chelsea and Madeira, home, out to a nice Italian dinner w/ Julie, home, watched 1/2 a movie before falling asleep.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Swimming Mental Challenge

2008-02-15T08:41:00.000-08:00

Well today I learned a valuable lesson... Swimming with a lot of people can be mentally taxing and throw you off your game a bit.

I showed up at the pool this morning (6am) for my normal swim (warm up 4 laps, swim 45 minutes continuously, cool down 4 laps) and unbeknownst to me, a local swim team was there doing their workout. What this means is that they put 4 lanes in the pool instead of the normal 3 and the swim team gets 2 of them. And all of the other swimmers share the remaining 2 lanes. This poses an interesting problem beyond congestion, its that the slower swimmers think they are faster and therefore swim in the faster lane. When in fact the reality is that if your 70 years old and doing the backstroke; You are Not fast.

Anyway... the bottom line is that I not only had to contend with the slow swimmers I had to work in with the faster swimmers trying to do their workouts. This essentially equated to 10 people per lane all at different paces and strokes.

So what was the lesson you ask? For me is it was the realization that as congested as I thought this was... it was going to be Nothing compared to what I'll face on race day. I imagine the kicking, arm slapping, etc... that comes with race day will be a rude awakening, so dealing with 10 people in the lane (although initially stressful) was good for me to begin working on my focus.

I do have to admit that I didn't do so well with it. So once I came to this realization, I did more of a speed workout to focus on my lung capacity and burst speed (as I passed people); 66 meter and 132 meter sprints (my pool is 100 ft).

There was one really cool thing about the day; I finally got the sensation of drafting. There's a guy who swims pretty fast (and makes it look effortless) and I hung right on his feet for 6 laps. It was interesting to have read a ton about it and then be able to practice it a few times.

I wouldn't say lesson learned just yet... but I would say lesson recognized and I have some work to do.

New Running Sneakers!

2008-02-10T22:05:00.000-08:00

Ok... So, I was reading one of my Tri Mags and came across an ad for Road Runner Sports and it had a 15% off discount which was cool because I needed some new sneakers (mine had about 300 miles on them).

One of the cooler things about Road Runner is that they do a running analysis to make sure they put you in the correct pair of running sneakers. You can do it online, but if you can go in-store like I did they do the strike pad analysis and put you on the treadmill and video tape you (Very Cool).

Oh... I should mention that they really know their stuff! The girl who did my analysis said that everyone who works the floor has to go through 80 hours of training before they can even talk to a customer.

Next came working with one of the guys on the floor to find the shoes that work best for me. My analysis put me in a "stability +" category. Normally I wear Asics and they've worked just fine, but I wanted to see what else was out there. I also went in looking at the Brooks ST 3's for my races (but you can't train in these unless you want to buy several pairs of them).

I looked at Asics, Brooks, Saucony and Mizuno. And when it was all said and done I went with Brooks Trance 7. I was very surprised by this... I've been a pretty loyal Asics users but the Brooks just felt right.

-------
Day 1 w/ the sneakers: I went out on a run today. It was a light intensity run w/ a distance of 4.29 miles. The run was ok... nothing really to write home about. I did notice right away that the shoe was much stiffer and had less cushion in the heel. I think that's going to take some getting use to, but I'm confident that it's the right sneaker for me based on the analysis and the fit. The down side of today's run is that the tendon behind my right knee is bothering me... it may be because I'm not use to the stiffer sneaker and there was more pressure / tension on my legs during the run. Or I was just a little tight from yesterdays' Brick (bike / run) workout.

We'll see how it goes... I'm sure there's another post or two on the topic.

Good Ride... Crappy Run... Crappy Run

2008-02-10T21:36:00.000-08:00

So... On Saturday I set out to do a fairly standard ride for me. I head from my house to the tip of the Marin Headlands and back through the Presidio. It's a really scenic ride and has some tough climbs. Sounds sick in the head... but I'm really starting to like the climbs.

You can see the ride here (make sure to check the elevation tab).

After the bike, I set out for a 5.5 mile run around the city. Pretty basic run that I've done before. It can be challenging but not as challenging as it seemed to me on Saturday. Mainly I think it's because I haven't done much outdoor running lately; the weather has been shitty. I know, that's no excuse, get my ass out there and run.

Well... after Saturday's performance, I'm going to try and run outside almost exclusively.

FYI... Sunday's run wasn't that great either. Lesson Learned!

Awesome Swim!

2008-02-07T09:10:00.000-08:00

I just had to get something down today... The last few days I've felt like I was slacking, but looking back, I only took one day off.

I had an Awesome swim today. I just felt great... good speed, breathing felt right, stroke was relaxed; I was non-stop for 45 minutes. And had a 5 min worm up and cool down.

I recently watched a swimming analysis video on youtube and something about it just clicked for me. It just really made sense with the elbow position. Check it out.

I'm going to try and get out later today for a run or hopefully a ride to the headlands... we'll see (I'm in a full court press to find a new job).

Week Ending: 2/3/08

2008-02-02T19:35:00.000-08:00

So... I'm sitting here on a Saturday night while my wife Julie cooks dinner and I figured I'd get my weekly blog writing out of the way.

I had kind of a shitty week, so I figured that I deserved a nice wine tonight. I'm drinking a Very Nice 2003 Reserve Syrah from Justin Vineyards in Paso Robles.

Training was good, but fairly light. I followed the same schedule but I went a little bit lighter. My swims for the last couple of weeks, now that I have my stamina back, haven't been quite as good as I thought they would be. My first 10 lengths are pretty crappy and I'm a little winded.

(TANGENT)... I should note that the pool I swim in (Rossi Pool, San Francisco) is 100 ft long, all of the city pools are that way. I know... what an odd size for a pool. I was recently talking to my accountant who is a masters swimmer and he said that when the pools were built (during the war), that size was optimal for holding airplane fuel. Really strange.

Anyway back to my swim... the first 10 suck and then I get into a groove and feel like I could swim for days. I'm doing on average 45 seconds for every 100ft (1 length), so that puts me at 18min 22 sec for .75 which is my race length in April (Sacramento Int. Tri). I usually swim for 45 minutes. I'd be happy with that time, but I'd like to get faster. net/net, I have a little work to do.

My runs have been great and my bike riding has improved. I need the most help on the bike. However, now that I got my shifting all straightened out, I hope to be better... It was really screwed up. The guy at the shop said "I wouldn't want to do any sort of ride with the way that was", that gave me a little boost given the fact that I did 2 rides around 20 miles or so w/ some serious hills.

I'm just hoping that the rains go away so I can get out of spin class and back on the road, Although today's spin class was Tough! I hate the high rpm in/out of the saddle thing. But I Love to climb. I'd definitely go for the polka dots!

This week will be much more intense... I'll have some extra mental fuel this week to burn off some angst!

Until next week... Train Hard and when you don't want to get out of bed, just remember that the guy who beats you probably got out of bed when he didn't want to.

Week ending: 1/27/08

2008-01-27T19:39:00.000-08:00

Well... this week was a pretty good one from a training perspective. I stuck to the workout calendar that I set a couple of weeks ago and it felt pretty good.

I got a couple of new pieces of gear, rain gear that is... it's been pretty nasty here all week and will be most of next week as well. Funny part about it is that even though when I woke up on Saturday morning and it wasn't raining, I put on the neoprene shoe covers and the rain jacket just the same. It was cloudy and I didn't want to get caught in a down pour without the gear. Let's just say my strategy will be a little different next time... by mile 6 I was sweatin my ass off but my brief attempt at taking off the rain jacket (full of moisture) made me quickly realize that my arm warmers were soaked and I'd rather be warm and wet than cold and wet. Easy decision.

The highlights for the week where:

My Bike / Run Brick on Saturday (regardless of the rain jacket thing)

It was a great ride (here or you can just look at the picture below). Funny thing about this ride though... Loren said... "you need to do FLAT. High rpm's and flat." So I thought... I'll go ride out toward the beach that's flat. Just about the time that I was thinking of taking off the rain jacket... I was also coming to realize "hmmm flat... Yeah, Like I'll get that in San Francisco!"

The run was interesting too... I only did a short 4 mile run. I was shocked at mile 1 when I looked down and saw that I was running 7:45 pace. And not really straining at all after the bike. I kept this up for most of the run w/ exception of the small hill getting back to my house.

A good swim session early in the week... nice easy pace, but my lungs felt great

and to top it all off on Sunday I took my first Spin class at the gym (I really didn't feel like riding in the rain). Yeah, I know I just got the gear but it was pissing pretty hard and I just didn't feel like it.
- The spin class however, was Awesome! I was shocked at how good a workout I got and I was dripping w/ sweat and my legs were burnin. I'll definitely go back.

The lowlights were:

A crappy swim on Friday. I just couldn't get into it.

The leg workout I did at the gym on Thursday made my Ass hurt so bad I could barely walk. Squat Lunges are great for you, but they'll make you pay for days.

All in all, I think it was a good week and I'm looking forward to my swim in the morning.

Weekend :: Bike, Swim (Brick) / Run

2008-01-20T21:00:00.000-08:00

This weekend is the first that I've been able to get out and ride... mainly because it's the first full weekend that I've had my bike (Kestrel Talon SL). I was pretty pumped up to do a 20 plus ride to the Marin Headlands and then cap that with a .75 mile swim at the Rossi Pool. I got up around 6am and started to hydrate and get some oatmeal in my system, it was going to be a fairly tough workout day.

My plan was to get out of the house a little before 7am, but as it turns out the sun wasn't set to rise until 7:25am... so I waited a little and read a little. Finally the time came for me to get going, here's a look at my ride...

As you can see from the elevation chart I got from mapping at MapMyTri.com, the ride has a few pretty steep elevation changes, a little more than I expected, but it felt great to be out riding.

Almost at the end of the ride, I did my swim, it was at a fairly relaxed pace; .75 miles in 23 minutes. Although I really don't like the city pools on the weekend, they are way overcrowded. Before I left I powered down a gel and a clif bar, I needed them. I got back on the bike and continued home (3 miles).

On Sunday, I took it pretty easy... I did a 6.2 mile run at a really slow pace (which is killing me) but by going slow and build up endurance I'll be able to go much faster on race day.

This going slow things has been tough to buy into but, it's been working so far and my endurance, heart rate and pace have gotten better in the short time I've been training.

I really like this run, it's along Crissy Field to the Golden Gate Bridge and then back to Fort Mason where I park the car. The scenery on this run definitely keeps me going, although running into the wind is a pain in the ass (but good for something I'm sure)

I have a long way to go in my training, but I'm definitely making progress every week. One of the main things I have to concentrate on is hydration and post workout eating. But with every Triathlete Magazine article I read, I learn a little more.

1st post / Training Schedule...

2008-01-18T15:26:00.000-08:00

So, today is the first of many posts about my Triathlon training as well as other rants and raves that I can squeeze in here. I doubt I'll be a diligent as "Coach" a.k.a. "The Lorpedo" a.k.a Loren who somehow finds time to write almost daily.

Today, we came up with my training schedule for the next month or so:

I've got a bunch of new gear and I've been geekin on it, so I'm sure I'll have plenty of fodder for upcoming posts.