Steve Mark - Pushing the Envelope

Training Report

2009-01-27T16:31:00.000-08:00

Swimming today had an unexpected twist at the end.

I went to the gym to swim in the indoor pool being as it was 55 degrees outside. The workout today called for a 200 yard warm-up, 900 yards of ascending difficulty, a 500 or 1,000 yard T-pace trial (getting an average pace over 1000 yards as a benchmark), then a 400 yard cool down.

I swam the first two parts, then did the 500 t-pace trial (in 10:45) then did another 500 (I felt good and had time left) (in 11:20), and cooled-down for 200 yards by doing some focus drills on technique.

I was very happy to have finished the workout (2,300 yards total!) and then found out that based on this my time to finish an Olympic-distance tri swim would be about 38 minutes. I reviewed the Malibu Olympic Tri results and found, for my age group, that would put me pretty-much dead last. Not a good thing.

Hoping against hope, I called the gym and asked how long their pool actually was, as I assumed 25 yards. 25 METERS was the answer. Not yards, meters! Recalculating, that put me at 33 minutes for the swim (solid middle-of-the-pack) and means I swam about 2,515 yards today! Holy smokes! Converting that to the Braemar Club pool, that would be 105 lengths!

This was definitely much better news! My goal is to swim 1,000 meters in 20 minutes (a 10% decrease) putting me at a 30-minute race swim. Of course the first race isn't until May, so by then I will hopefully be able to swim it even faster. (can you hear the whip cracking?)

BYO Lane Markers

2009-01-16T21:21:00.001-08:00

For the first blog entry of the new year (is it the 16th already????) I thought you might be interested in this (if you're a cyclist): Light Lane

In other news, tomorrow I'm riding with a group from LATC starting at the LA Zoo parking lot and going up the hill to the Hollywood sign then back down again (I'm guessing the return trip will be a bit easier). 24 miles or so, 1:45 projected time, first major ride with the tri setup. As an added bonus I'll cruise on over to area "C" and say "Hi" to my TnT friends from last season.

First Post-Bike Fit Report

2008-12-30T20:29:00.000-08:00

It took an extra day but I got a ride in today. This morning I rode up to the pool (2.6 miles each way), swam, and rode back. My house is part-way up a pretty steep hill.

When I first started training 8 months ago I couldn't get a quarter of the way up it (I actually packed running shoes in a backpack and switched at the bottom of the hill so I could walk my bike up). A couple of months later I was able to ride all the way up, albeit huffing and puffing and standing up on the bike.

Today, for the very first time, I made it all the way up the hill in a seated position! I haven't ridden the hill in 6-8 weeks, so it's not from practice that I accomplished this.

The only thing that changed was the bike fit, and Ian assures me that the extra power I was able to use during the climb is from the fit, and that there will be more changes, such as an increase in average speed, in store for me.

My recommendation? Get a bike fit!

p.s. Another new personal best today: 40.5mph on the bike. I can remember way back to the summer of '08 when 24mph scared me silly.

Zombie Apocalypse

2008-12-29T20:47:00.001-08:00

Just got a copy of Left4Dead - this year's "Doom." I haven't played a first-person shoot-'em up in, whoa, 10 years?!?!?!?!? Very cool game, more of a review to come.

2008-12-29T09:04:00.000-08:00

Now that I've got Facebook pretty much under control, I'm turning my focus to LinkedIn. I picked-up the book I'm on LinkedIn, Now What??? A Guide to Getting the Most Out of LinkedIn and it's got some great tips.

If you have any suggestions or tips for using LinkedIn, or would like to connect with me, please do so! You can click here to see my profile.

Training Happenings

2008-12-28T21:49:00.000-08:00

It's been an interesting weekend!

Aside from four holiday parties in the last five days (seriously, if attending those doesn't make for a good reason to train hard, nothing does), I finally caved-in and got a bike fit, from Ian Murray of Triathletix here in LA.

The fit consisted of taking a look at my current position on the bike, discussing a number of things, and then "aero converting" my bike and adjusting from there. By "aero converting," which is Ian's specialty, I mean changing the seat tube for one that increases the forward angle of the seat (more vertical), lowering the seat and handlebars a bit, and attaching aero bars (they look like horns coming straight out from the front of the bars). By doing all of this I will decrease drag significantly while riding, which should make riding easier and faster. Of course, this was all adjusted for optimum positioning on the bike, which Ian tells me will help relieve my IT Band pain and some upper shoulder pain while riding. I'll be on the bike tomorrow to really give it a workout.

I also got a run in today. This is notable because I haven't really run at all since early November. My left knee was giving me some trouble so I've been patiently rehabilitating it and today, while wearing a strap, I ran 5 miles (at a 9-minute average pace) with 1/4 mile warm-up and cool-down walks. My knee felt great! unfortunately, my IT band did not. I think it's time for a follow-up visit with my ortho doc.

Happy New Year everyone!

Why Didn't I Think of That?

2008-12-26T14:04:00.000-08:00

What a concept: a calendar covered in bubble wrap!

Dream Stealing

2008-12-15T16:59:00.000-08:00

And so it starts...

My friend Joe just sent me this link about a group in Japan that is able to record simple images from the human brain.

Increase Test Scores for Free!

2008-12-15T08:20:00.000-08:00

Just read an article about the daily wake/sleep rhythms of teenagers and how adjusting school start times yields more attentiveness and fewer car accidents.

Certainly our society has the common sense to change things when it benefits society as a whole, as a number of states have already done. Without changing budgets, changing teachers or acquiring new equipment/training, we could increase the testing scores of high school students overnight. So why don't we do it?

Years ago when we were looking for schools for our son, we found one with a policy that really resonated with me. The school had researched and concluded that boys have a much shorter attention span than girls (ya think?) and that getting them up and moving at regular intervals allowed them to concentrate better. So, every 20 minutes the kids would switch classes. It seemed to work with them.

As a country, and a state (California) we have a huge education problem. So why not take the low-hanging fruit, so to speak, and make things easier for everyone? For young kids, start early and get them moving more. For older kids, start an hour later. There will be issues with after-school programs and timing, but we'll adjust. After all, the first priority should be our kids' welfare. We've adjusted to the current schedule, we can adjust again.

Pre-Season Halfway Point

2008-12-08T17:17:00.000-08:00

It's back to pre-season pre-training starting today. I took the last week off to let my body get itself back together and let me tell you, it felt good to be pain-free! I did miss the endorphins though.

Today was my first day back and I continued the "anatomical adaptation" phase of my strength training with the "B" program (based on the program put out by TTS). I'm getting used to the gym again and my legs are definitely getting better.

Over the next 4 weeks or so I'll go through the program, then take a break, and head into a real strength building phase in January, which will correspond with the beginning of actual tri-training for the Wildflower Olympic tri in May and possibly the Solvang Century in March (I'm now debating doing this as it has become apparent that it will throw a significant wrench into my tri-training plans).

Warm and Fuzzy: Multiple Kill Vehicle

2008-12-08T17:09:00.000-08:00

This link will take you to a video of a test of a "multiple kill vehicle."

Sound like something from The Matrix? You bet!

A bunch of these will be launched in a carrier vehicle straight into the path of an incoming ballistic missile. When it reaches some predetermined point, the carrier will release a bunch of these nasties and they will be guided in to intercept all the anti-nasties released by the missile, detonating them in flight.

Wow - all those ideas in sci-fi books I read as a kid are coming true...

Business Question Poll

2008-12-04T10:48:00.000-08:00

I'm evaluating a new business opportunity and need some feedback. This will take 30 seconds of your time. If you can help me, please click below and answer the question. Thanks!

Poll

Nikon Thanksgiving Sales

2008-11-26T10:55:00.000-08:00

If you are looking for a camera there are some great deals this week on Nikon equipment where you can save $300 and more:

Abe's of Maine

Nikon Black Friday

Crazy-Fast Computers for 2009

2008-11-20T14:00:00.001-08:00

Check out this article on Engadget. 24GB? That's insane - but I still want it!

Sign of the Times

2008-11-20T11:40:00.001-08:00

Looks like the local Lamborghini/Lotus dealership is gone, gone, gone... Now what am I going to get?

Swimming Update

2008-11-19T15:48:00.001-08:00

In today's swim practice I was able to swim a length in only 12 strokes in 24 seconds. I then increased it to 15 strokes and put a little speed on and got my time down to 21 seconds. The overall exertion level is still much less than it used to be for the same distance. I like this Total Immersion stuff.

Halfway to Ironman 2010

2008-11-19T15:43:00.000-08:00

I last posted that I plan to do a full Ironman (2.4/112/26) in 2010. I'm thinking it would be nice to ramp-up, and so today I registered for what will likely be one of the most difficult things I've ever done: the Vineman Half-Ironman in July. That's right: 1.2 miles of swimming-goodness, 56 miles of biking goodness and 13 miles of running goodness. In one day. In Sonoma. In July 2009.

Coming to a training center near you this January!

Ironman 2010

2008-11-18T12:47:00.000-08:00

I went to a talk last night put on by Triathletix. The speaker was Cherie Gruenweld (author of Become an Ironman) an incredible lady who completed 21 Ironman races - her first being in Kona. Listening to her speak and watching several videos tipped me over the edge: 2010 will be the year I do a full Ironman race!

Save the Trees

2008-11-18T12:42:00.000-08:00

Plastic Logic in early 2009 will release what may be the first real, usable version of electronic paper. Check it out here. The upsides are numerous, including not having to carry tons of books around and not having to print, distribute and trash billions of newspaper pages a day (world-wide), decreasing the demand for paper and therefore the number of trees that need to be cut down to supply this demand. It's compatible with a wide range of document formats (PDF included) so this may turn out to be a very viable product.

Swimming Update

2008-11-14T16:32:00.001-08:00

I've hit the pool three times this week as swimming is my "limiter" and in the off-season it's good to concentrate on your limiter (so as to unlimit yourself, I guess). So I'm swimming and doing strength training (to get all those little, atrophied muscles that aren't used in swimming, biking and running back up to spec).

Today I swam for an hour, painstakingly (boringly) working on technique and trying to maintain a constant, low stroke count over varying distances. I was able to keep the count between 14 and 17 SPL at up to 100 yards. Not too bad! The exciting part, if you just missed it, was that I actually swam a 14 stroke length (multiple times in fact)! The other nice thing about using the Total Immersion technique is that after 100 yards I'm only a bit tired/winded, and actually much less than I previously was after only 25 yards.

Minority Report User Interface

2008-11-14T16:27:00.000-08:00

From Engadget:

If you've been waiting for that Minority Report-style interface to really come to fruition, you can finally exhale. One of the science advisors from the Steven Spielberg film -- along with a team of other zany visionaries -- has created an honest-to-goodness, real-world implementation of the computer systems seen in the movie. Dubbed g-speak, the mind bending OS combines "gestural i/o, recombinant networking, and real-world pixels," to deliver what the creators call "the first major step in computer [a] interface since 1984." There are some things that need to seen to be understood, so watch the video...and prepare to have your mind thoroughly blown to bits.

You can see the video here

"Will work for homeland"

2008-11-11T17:05:00.001-08:00

And we think we (the US) have problems! Apparently the Maldives, a group of islands south-southwest of India, is sinking and the newly elected President is seeking to move the entire nation. Read more here. Maybe I should start a moving company specializing in entire countries...

Tough Transition

2008-11-11T14:47:00.000-08:00

This is my "rehab month" training-wise: my foot, knees, IT band, back and left arm have issues so I'm just doing PT exercises, rowing, swimming and giving myself a break. While I'm not really working out, I'm spending the "extra" time I normally would be spending training by trying to figure out how to train for next season.

There is no shortage of advice or resources out there, that is for sure! When I was training with Tnt, it was very easy: just follow the instructions, show-up twice a week, and all was good. On my own though, with goals exceeding just completing a race, it's difficult.

I've found sites that track workouts, give you workouts, charge you for workouts, evaluate you, and even one that tailors a season-long training program based on all of the races you are going to be in (unfortunately I lost the link to that one and am still trying to re-find it). There are plenty of sites and coaches available, from $200 to $700 a month for training, but that's a bit pricey considering I'm not quite in "podium range" yet.

So, how do *you* train effectively? Do you do it on the cheap or pay for it (directly or through raising money)? Any tips?

Calabasas Classic Race Report

2008-11-10T18:01:00.000-08:00

Bright and early yesterday I woke my son up and we headed out to Calabasas for the Calabasas Classic 5K/10K. It was a very cold morning (especially considering it was very warm the day before) and we shivered our way over to the LA Tri Club tent to wait for the start.

At the tent we met Lawrence Fong's father and picked-up a "Team Fong" t-shirt in support of Lawrence, who suffered multiple minor strokes last week and is in very serious condition at UCLA Medical Center (for more info on Lawrence, click here) (we're on the far left in the photo above).

Ryan and I ran the 5K. His knees started hurting after about 1 mile so we mostly walked the rest of it. As I was more interested in just having some quality time with my son and ensuring he had a good time at his first race, it was no problem to just take it easy for once.

The course was nice and slightly hilly through the city of Calabasas. A short run, we completed it in about 40 minutes, got our medals, hung out at the LATC tent a little while, and then headed home where it was nice and warm. Ryan said he liked the race, will likely do it again next year, and even mentioned doing a tri with me in a couple of years. That, I think, means this was a great morning!

Presidential Transition Resources

2008-11-10T17:56:00.000-08:00

Here's an Operations Manual for the United States. One thing I found particularly interesting was the org chart - check out who (or what) is in charge of the whole country...

New President

2008-11-05T13:30:00.001-08:00

For better or worse, we have a new President. And while I don't know how things are going to turn out, I'm optimistic since things can't get much worse. It's time for a change, let's hope it's enough of a change to get things back on track.

Another Strike Against Static Stretching

2008-11-05T13:00:00.000-08:00

“They’re stretching, touching their toes. . . . ” He sighs. “It’s discouraging.”

Yet more advice on NOT stretching before a workout (but you should still warm-up).

Click here to read the article.

Hardcore Jogger

2008-11-05T12:18:00.001-08:00

I always figured triathletes in general were hardcore, and even gave myself a pat on the back for doing the Muddy Buddy in the rain on a cold day, but there's a whole level of grit and determination that I don't think I really comprehended, as evidenced in this story out of Arizona from the AP:

PRESCOTT, Ariz. – Authorities in Arizona say a jogger attacked by a rabid fox ran a mile with the animal's jaws clamped on her arm and then drove herself to a hospital. The Yavapai County sheriff's office said the woman told deputies she was on a trail near Prescott on Monday when the fox attacked and bit her foot.

She said she grabbed the fox by the neck when it went for her leg but it bit her arm.

The woman wanted the animal tested for rabies so she ran a mile to her car with the fox still biting her arm, then pried it off and tossed it in her trunk and drove to the Prescott hospital.

The sheriff's office says the fox later bit an animal control officer. He and the woman are both receiving rabies vaccinations.

Swimming is Getting Fun

2008-11-05T11:23:00.000-08:00

So for my first official "rehab" workout of the month (i.e. no running or strenuous work - my body is feeling pretty broken in spots) I went to the gym and did the usual PT stretching and strengthening exercises followed by a round of "Triathlon Training Series" "Adaptation-A" exercises. All good. Given that I can't workout tomorrow, I hit the pool for a little over 20 minutes and that is where things got interesting.

Last week I was able to get my SPL (strokes per length) count down to 17 bare-handed, 19 with fist gloves. Today, after only 10 minutes, I got the fist glove count down to 17 and my bare-handed count down to 15! 15 strokes to swim 25 yards! And I did it in 25 seconds - which is 5 seconds faster than usual, and it felt *very* slow (but in reality was not), and I wasn't huffing and puffing at the end.

Total Immersion swimming rocks!

Time to Feel No Pain

2008-11-04T14:13:00.000-08:00

Went for a run with muddy-buddy Craig today. I lasted about 3.5 miles (at a really great pace) when my left knee was hurting so bad I could only walk. This knee has been diagnosed with "runner's knee" and it's pretty much at its worst at this point. Therefore, I'm going to shift to swimming, stretching, walking and resistance training for the next couple of weeks in the hope of giving my legs a break so I can ramp up in December and really hit the training in January.

Muddy Buddy Race Report

2008-11-03T10:22:00.000-08:00

4AM the alarm goes off. Thank god for the extra hour of sleep coming off of Daylight Savings Time here in California (aka GST-8). I rolled out of bed and into a pair of black tri shorts, dark blue swimming shirt, and black cycling socks. In the bathroom I flipped on the light and was greeted by monster eyes: red, puffy, itchy, watery, stinging. What the heck? Pink eye? Great, how am I going to crawl through mud with pink eye? Well, a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do, so I headed downstairs to mix hydration drinks and pack things up.

I opened the garage door just before 5AM and 30 seconds later my neighbor Craig (who you may remember from the Father's Day Mock Tri and the Malibu Tri) came walking up my driveway. We loaded up and into the night we drove.

First stop: Long's Drug Store where I picked-up a bottle of eye-drop anti-histamine that did the trick.

Next stop, 50 minutes later: Bonelli Park in San Dimas, this morning's home to the Muddy Buddy race series and 2,398 of our soon-to-be closest friends.

Parking wasn't nearly as bad as we had feared and was made all the more enjoyable by the site of two girls in flourescent pink tights and tops over which they had reflective silver bikini outfits. The day was looking up!

We unloaded, got our jungle-man outfits ready, and headed down to the main race area. There were guys dressed as prisoners, 6 people dressed as Crayola crayons (with different colored soccer cones on their helmets), the "Team in Trannies" guys dressed in drag, the "referree" girls, and a whole lot more. After the race announcements we all lined-up by wave, bikes in front, ready to go. Craig and I, dressed as jungle men complete with leopard print togas (our team name was "The Boys from TZ" - we live in Tarzana - get it?), were in wave 4.

Craig's a stronger mountain biker than I am so we put him on the bike first, which of course meant I was running first. The countdown hit and he was off. Two minutes later the runners were released and we started the trek up the initial hill. Thinking it was time to walk, I looked down at my watch to find that a whole 2:50 had elapsed. Wow, this was going to be a long, rainy, wet morning. I kept plugging along however.

The first psuedo-obstacle was to go around a fence that jutted out into the lake about 5 feet. So, at 1/2 mile into the 5.5 mile race, our shoes were soaked through. This made the first real obstacle, a short climbing wall with a cargo net on the other side, insanely difficult due to wet shoes sliding off the grips. The trick was to get your hands over the top and pull yourself over. Whew, 1 down!

I ran to the bike pile and found our bike in 2 seconds flat: we had attached a big mylar balloon to it. Off I went, Craig already ahead on his run of this leg.

First up was a medium hill which I rode up, passing a guy who was peeing over the edge (heretofore known as the "pee guy"). Down a hill I went, being very careful as the brakes were slipping when I caught-up to Craig, who told me the brakes were slippery. I got to the transition area and parked the bike, standing up for easier visibility and pick-up by Craig, at the second obstacle: a set of bars in a triangle shape that we had climb, weaving ourselves through and over the bars on both sides. Completing that, I was off on my second run leg.

Wow - this leg (3rd) had a lot of hills. By this point 99% of the people were walking up hills, including the bike riders. I caught up and passed the pee-guy. I ended-up walking next to a guy on a bike and his daughter (a teen) walking next to him. He was trying to reassure her that this was the last hill and that the top was "just around the next corner." I and the others around me gave him a hard time about that: we all had friends who motivated us with talk like that, and we had a great time educating his daughter about how full of it he likely was. She smiled and groaned, but trudged on with the rest of us. If it sounds like this leg felt every bit like a death march, you'd be right on.

The next obstacle was walking over a metal beam. We were allowed to use two beams (wide legs) and that proved to be the fastest way (for me at least) to get across. Miraculously I had beat Craig who was on the bike, and waited for him in the transition area. I grabbed the bike, told him to use the two-beam method, and off I went.

This leg was much easier: a bit of uphill and then a long downhill ride on a paved road. The leg ended-up in a grassy area where we had to climb a rope ladder and slide down one of those kiddy blow-up slides. Fun! Given that I knew I was way ahead of Craig, I downed the "emergency" gel in the saddle bag and availed myself of the facilities.

Having done the slide thing a few weeks earlier with my kids and suffered through "slide burn" on my elbows for a week, I threw my legs and arms up in the air as high as I could and took the plunge. Of course doing that with tri shorts and a polyester shirt meant I was nearly frictionless and I sailed through the bottom into the far side of the "landing pit." Fortunately it was padded, so I got up and hopped over and started running.

The last leg to the mud pit was short and easy with a slight uphill. As I had to wait for Craig to arrive before we could crawl through the mud (teams had to cross the finish line together), I meandered into the transition area to wait for him. It was literally a forest of upside down bikes!

Craig showed up and off we ran to the pit, first leaving sunglasses and bike gloves with the bike. We were forced to crawl under a heavy rope net and then on elbows, stomachs and knees to swish our way through 50 feet of mud, egged on by army/ROTC guys who delighted in throwing mud on our backs while yelling "get down!". We made it to the end, stood up and slogged through the last 20 feet and we were done!

The "Beer Garden" overlooked the mud pit and for $5 you got a couple of beers (at 9 in the morning!). One of the funniest parts was the crowd of people yelling "wrestle! wrestle! wrestle!" every time a pair of girls came through the mud and cheering or booing depending on the outcome. Here are some shots of the pit (not us, obviously):

After getting our picture taken we headed to the "shower area" where about 30 hoses were available (but all being used of course) to get cleaned-off.

Following that we went to the car, changed clothes, threw away our shoes and costumes, and went to take some pictures and soak-up the post-race vibe. Our final time was 1:10:55, coming in 23rd of 24 teams in our combined age group (at that point at least, we're hoping there was an extra page that wasn't posted yet) but overall, from the looks of things, we did average.

This was a great time, we'll likely do it again next year, and I encourage everyone to give it at least a try - it's really a ton of fun.

Keep in mind though that it is decently difficult: the hills are tough, the obstacles are easy, it is uncomfortable in spots, but overall it's a great deal of fun. Definitely train for a 4 mile run and a few miles of mountain biking, up and down loose/muddy hills, before attempting this. You will share the path with runners and some of the trails are relatively narrow and steep, threading through trees. We witnessed several wipe-out's, including a 3-person crash at a road/trail transition.

More pictures here

Next up: the Calabasas Classic 5K with my son then either the Turkey Tri at the end of the month or the Solvang Century ride (100 miles) in March.

Swimming Progress

2008-10-30T12:42:00.000-07:00

I've started following the recommended exercises for Total Immersion swimming. I agree with the logic that I'm not swimming in Tri's so much to win the leg but to do it in a reasonable amount of time and have energy left for the other two legs. With that in mind, I hit the pool today to work on technique.

Fist Gloves ON.

The first 10 minutes I spent getting an average SPL (strokes per length) number at a comfortable pace, with fist gloves. The number worked out to about 25.

I then did 10x50 repeats with a goal of 23 SPL, making me pay attention to form and slowing down a bit. I was able to do that successfully, with flip turns, for the first few repeats. I decreased to 21 SPL's for the next 3, and then 19 for the following 3. 19! This is what I was doing without fist gloves last week!

Fist Gloves OFF.

Bare-handed I got down to 17 SPL! 17!!! I was swimming at decent speed, silently, saving energy, breathing correctly. It felt great and when I got out, I felt like I could do the whole workout again! This is going to really affect my race planning as I feel, with more work of course, that I can swim much longer now. Time will tell.

Fist Gloves

2008-10-23T11:22:00.000-07:00

Today I swam for an hour at the club. What an experience!

One goal was to briefly review the different stroke components and then swim my "new" stroke, which I did. It was taking about 20-21 strokes-per-length, about 2 higher than usual, but I felt good.

The next goal was to try out my new fistgloves. These are basically rubber mittens that you put on and swim with for about a half hour. It takes away the water feel from your hands and you learn to use your arms and body rotation to swim - which I did. The really interesting part is swimming once you take them off: your hands feel *everything* in the water - you feel so much more powerful and "right" it's a bit of a rush, actually.

From the TI site:

After wearing the gloves for 15 to 30 minutes, swim with open hands. You'll immediately experience what we call the fistglove® effect – a rush of information from your previously "ordinary," but now highly sensitive, hands to your brain that immediately helps you become more discriminating in how you apply hands to the water, instinctively choosing angles that give maximum purchase on a highly elusive medium. You'll also become ultra-sensitive to the importance of "gripping" the water instead of "slipping" through it.

The third goal was to learn flip-turns. Mission accomplished! I ended-up swimming 50's and 100's instead of 25's which I can already tell will help my endurance immensely. I think not teaching flip-turns right off the bat does people a disservice as you get used to swimming 25's only, and when you're out in the open water you must go much farther than that. Learning 50's and 100's, and even 200's, gives you a much more realistic feel for your stamina.

Tri-and-a-Half-lete

2008-10-22T16:35:00.000-07:00

My buddy Craig (one of the six people who happen to read this blog) and I are going to race through the mud at the Muddy Buddy race on 11/2 in San Dimas. This entails alternately riding and running a mile, then going over (or through?) obstacles, then doing it again 6 times, culminating in a run through a huge pit of mud. Then we get washed-off with fire hoses. Sounds fun right?

Right. Except, of course, for the part about riding a mountain bike, which I have, but haven't ridden in the mountains! In fact, I've even put on "smooth" tires (knobby on the sides, smooth down the middle) to make road-riding more comfortable (of course, this was long before acquiring an actual road bike).

In preparation for this dirtfest, Craig and I headed up to Mulholland to ride 3 miles to the Nike missile monitoring base and back. Of course, when Craig said "3 miles" he really meant "4.6 miles, mostly uphill, through sand and gravel." Well I did it (with only a bit of whining). I didn't get mountain biking at all until we hit a long downhill.

As my daughter would say, "OMG!" What a blast! The downhill rides made it all worth it: it felt like skiing and even sounded like skiing! I was riding just barely in control at times, getting up to 20mph at some points. Too much fun.

Now I just need to get a shock absorbing fork for the front of the bike, switch the tires back to knobbies, and I'm good to go!

We are going to DOMINATE the Muddy Buddy!

Swim Update

2008-10-20T12:38:00.001-07:00

In my swim last week the goal was to change my stroke slightly to the "total immersion" way and I think I was successful: I was able to cross the pool in 19 strokes, and in almost half the time as others in the pool (who were taking 50 strokes, no joke, to cross).

Now, usually I swim in a pair of board shorts, but last week I decided to swim in a pair of tri shorts. What a difference! I felt like I was just gliding through the water. Highly recommended. I picked-up a couple pairs of "Jammers" (basically bike shorts without the pad) for future swim practices.

Don't worry, Speedos are NOT in my future (out of respect for everyone else in the pool)!

Corner Bakery - Highly Recommended

2008-10-20T12:30:00.000-07:00

I order food from the Corner Bakery restaurant in Calabasas, CA a couple of times a week.

Today I walked over to pick-up my usual order (a chopped salad and a green tea) and realized, at the counter, that I had left my wallet in my desk. I explained the situation to George, who apparently knows me by name now, and told him I'd go get it and come back. He graciously told me that as I'm a regular, not to worry about it.

This is remarkable in a number of ways. First, the guy knows me by name and sight. This is a busy restaurant, a chain restaurant, and to be "known" just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. Second, to comp me a lunch, easily, at a chain restaurant, just feels...well...good! I urge you to try out Corner Bakery if you haven't already! (just remember to bring your wallet)

90 RPM

2008-10-20T11:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I rode 25.6 miles - a big jump with moderate IT-band pain afterward, but bearable. The goal of the training was to stay at or slightly above a 90RPM cadence - which proved more difficult than expected early on, and for the second half of the ride actually pretty easy. In fact, I started pedaling too fast very frequently and had to shift to slow myself down. My heart rate never went above 75% though, so I count it as a very successful workout.

Next bike workout: perfect circles!

Tonight is cross-training in Sherman Oaks with LA Tri Club - always a fun time and a great workout (except for the trying-to-walk-for-the-next-three-days part...)

4th Try at a Tri

2008-10-13T06:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the "Day at the Beach" sprint triathlon at Hermosa Beach, CA. I was late getting there and parking was filled, so I ended-up 1/2 mile away from the transition area at 6:30am; the first wave was scheduled to go out at 7am with a "mandatory" pre-race meeting at 6:50am.

In a rush I chowed down a tupperware-bowl of corn flakes standing in the street, pumped-up the bike, threw the tri bag on my back, and pedaled to the transition area in my flip-flops. First time for that!

I setup during the pre-race meeting (me and about 6 other people among the 1,000 setups) and being in wave 4 (going off at 7:28 as my new friend Derek told me) I headed down to the beach.

The sand was so cold that my feet got numb! I hit the water, which was warmer than the sand, and got in up to my knees. I looked over and saw a bunch of blue caps getting ready to run in and realized that Derek's estimate was 7 minutes too late so I ran and joined my fellow wavemates and the gun went off!

Not having warmed-up, the swim (1/4 mile) was atrocious. The water felt very cold and it wasn't until the second buoy (and heading in) that I started to feel comfortable. From start to the first bouy, about 100 yards out, took me 5 minutes! Awful.

The bike was a 3-loop course (10 miles) in a single, small lane. Billed as a "tri designed for beginners" it was tough to pass and get passed. Constant yells of "Left!" were the norm as people kept passing each other. Guys with $8,000 bikes shared the road with women on beach cruisers - in small lanes and some tight turns - it was crazy. As far as I know nobody got hurt though so all was well.

The run stared off badly: it felt like I had something wedged in my shoes. I finally stopped at around mile 1 to see what was up and all looked fine, so I threw them back on and continued to run. At about mile 2 everything started to feel good in my shoes, and it was at that point that I realized that my toes had been numb from the cold on the bike and swim! The "stuff" jammed in the front of my shoes had been my hypothermic toes!

Of course, after the fact I find out that either I missed the mat or my timing chip was malfunctioning as my split times were either missing or garbage (I wasn't the only one). I was timing myself on my watch, but as I've got a new watch I'm still working on figuring out how to retrieve the times!

I completed the ordeal in 1:18:06.5 (apparently the chip worked at least at the beginning and the end, which is good), 51st in my age group out of 66 and 294th overall. Top male time in my age group was 0:51:23.3. Obviously I've got some work to do. It's going to be a long, hard, indoor winter of training!

Total Immersion

2008-10-10T13:46:00.001-07:00

Since today is part of my taper for the tri on Sunday, I did an easy swim this morning. Since it was easy, I decided to work on some new techniques from the book "Triathlon Swimming Made Easy: The Total Immersion Way for Anyone to Master Open-Water Swimming" by Terry Laughlin.

Most of the exercises in the book I did as part of my training with TnT (same drill names, so I'm guessing they got it from this school of thought), however this book goes into more detail and theory, and also adds some new things that weren't covered in my initial training.

One of those things was "Front Quadrant Swimming" where, if I understand correctly, one starts the pull of the front arm only when the lagging arm passes the head and the lagging hand enters the water just past the head, not when fully extended. This creates the strange situation of having two hands in front of your head for a brief moment but also means you maintain an "extended vessel" (i.e. length) for a longer period of time.

How did it go? Well, it took about 6 lengths for me to finally get the timing down, then another few lengths to get the hang of the timing while breathing.

The result? I swam much easier, didn't have a need to breathe as much (although once I picked-up the pace I was back to breathing every 3 strokes), and felt less fatigued. My very first lap in the pool, after diving in, required 29 strokes to complete and I was out of breath when I got to the end. My very last lap required 19 strokes to complete in 25 seconds (most of my laps take about 32 seconds) and I felt just fine.

The verdict? I'm going to practice this like crazy! Once I'm done with the tri this weekend, I'll be doing the drills as they describe in the book and trying to get my stroke count down to about 15 or 16 with the same speed across the pool.

Brainwave Games

2008-10-07T17:06:00.000-07:00

I thought I was on the "edge" getting an iPhone, then I read about brainwave-controlled video games. I have to get one of these!

Thursday Workout and LA Tri Club

2008-10-03T09:10:00.000-07:00

Given that my foot is still painful (heading to the doc this morning, it's been almost 3 weeks now) and that I swam and ran on Wednesday, I hit the gym yesterday for a stretching and strength workout.

It went really well - spent about 45 minutes doing stretching and core and back strengthening exercises, did a full leg circuit on the machines, then hit the free-weights for some upper body, presses, rows and deadlifts. Great workout - and I slept very well last night!

This morning, however, every muscle in my body hurts. The ones I forgot (leg abduction and adduction) I'm going to exercise in a few minutes so I'll be in complete pain!

Last night I went to the LA Tri Club First Thursday mixer in Santa Monica. It was a fun time! I met a few people including a coach (Jamie) who gave me a few tips and I may just email him with some questions and maybe get a coaching session here and there. I had raffle ticket #690 and just my luck they ended-up calling 698, 697, 695, 694, 693, 692 and 691, over the course of 10 minutes, but never made it to 690. Bummer - there was a great set of aerobars donated that I would have loved.

Anyway, let's see what the doc says - hopefully it's just a bruise or something and I just need to take it easy - if he puts me in a cast for a month then my season is pretty much over. Crossing my fingers!

100 Lengths

2008-10-01T16:15:00.001-07:00

In my quest to prepare myself for the upcoming sprint (1/4 mile swim, 10 mile bike, 3 mile run)on the 12th, I went for a ride yesterday. At mile 9 my IT band was very painful and once home I hit the ice immediately. Doc says I have "IT Band Syndrome" and for the past two weeks I've been stretching and strengthening and trying not to ride or run. Yesterday was a test. I failed.

Not to be outdone, I hit the pool today. It's a 1/4 mile swim (around 400 yards) and since that is actually about the distance of my warm-up, I figure I'm there. Like our friend Forest Gump, after a gel I tend to just keep going, and going, and going. This time I went 100 lengths (7,200 feet or 2,400 yards). My shoulders are sore.

So, now that I've got sore shoulders, and sore legs from cycling, what should I do? Why, go for a run! That's right: at 6:30 tonight I'm going to try a 5-mile LA Tri Club run at Balboa Park. If all goes as planned, I should be in a wheelchair by 8pm tonight, which gives me a great excuse to watch the "Dirty Sexy Money" premier tonight.

Race Day!

2008-09-19T14:07:00.000-07:00

Whoa - it's been two weeks since the race and I haven't updated this yet - sorry for that! Here's the play-by-play:

2,000 people competed on Sunday, September 14, 2008 in Malibu, CA for the Nautica Malibu Triathlon Presented by Toyota. It consisted of a 1/2 mile swim parallel to the beach, an 18-mile out-and-back bike ride along the Pacific Coast Highway, and a 4-mile run along the walkway next to the beach (known as "The Strand").

To cut a long story short: I did it! Really! I did a full triathlon. Longer than the Castaic sprints, shorter than an Olympic. Pretty much in the middle. I did it! And I only drew blood from two wounds, but more on that later.

Now for the long story.

Sunday morning the alarm went off at 4am. 4am. The team was checked-in to the Holiday Inn in Santa Monica and told to meet at 4:50am (yes, 4:50am) in the lobby to board buses for the 30-45 minute ride to Zuma beach in Malibu, a short distance north. I arrived in the lobby, late as usual, at 4:55. Turned out to be a good thing as I was last on the first bus. Why a good thing?

Think about it for a sec: how do you get 65 people on 3 school buses, with their bikes? Really, get creative, because our staff sure did. We sat one person to a seat (two per row) with the bikes stacked two-to-a-row across the aisle. These were long school buses. Being last on, I sat in the front row, not in the claustrophic, bike-barricaded, prison-like dark of the back of the bus, or even the slightly less cruel second row, for that matter.

We arrived at Zuma at about 5:45 and headed into the transition area. Dark, subdued noise, spotlights, sounds of waves crashing. 2,000 people unpacking and setting up. Chilly out, but not bad. My rack was in the middle. Nice.

My family (wife, daughter, mother and Craig my next door neighbor) showed-up around 7:00 and I met them in the Expo area to hear the pre-race talk.

I was in the 40-44 age group, wave 9, which went off at 8:00 (first wave went off at 7:20). The picture above doesn't show my wave as I was in a navy blue swim cap, but does show what it was like running into the 64 degree Pacific Ocean at 8:00am with 150 other guys going through their own mid-life crises.

Prior to jumping in, and hitting the bathroom "one last time" (so I told myself) I took a warm-up swim (well, as warm as you can be in 64 degree water). It actually felt good! I swam out about 100 yards and back in, giving me a great feel for the water and more importantly, something to do while I waited for our wave to go in.

I completed the swim in 00:18:56.9. Not bad. Not good, but then again, no panic attacks and no hanging onto a surfboard for dear life. I actually drafted in behind two guys I was trying to pass, when I figured out that I might as well take it easy and let them do the work.

T1 went very well, after I stumbled out of the water. Gotta work on that. T1 took only 00:02:23.4 as it also included running in and out of the (large) transition area. I was easily as fast on the change as I was at the mock tri, so all was good there. And this time I had my family cheering me on!

The bike ride was great! I mounted using a skateboard mount and enjoyed the ride, passing a bunch of people (ok, not all of them had flat tires), and getting passed by guys with woo-woo wheels (rear discs make a woo-woo sound as they go by). The guy playing drums at mile 10 was awesome. Total bike time: 01:04:34.2 Again, fair to middling, but completed almost without incident...

I came back to the transition area and underestimated where the dismount line was. Fortunately I was already out of my shoes but had to dismount going too fast. I banged-up both feet, my right losing a bit of flesh, dinged my finger, lost a shoe, but otherwise got off before the line. I hobbled to my transition area for T2.

T2 went fine, given that my feet were on fire. T2 took 00:02:22.2. Not too bad considering I was hobbling around with my feet on fire most of the time.

The run was great too! Saw tons of TnT people, all of us yelling "Go Team!" every time we passed. I ran the whole thing, no walking or stopping (except for a 45-second bathroom break at the beginning - gotta work on that). Three guys ran by me in pink speedo's with the text "Deb Won" (or something like that) written on their chests (ooooh, bad bet to lose!)

I dinged my finger on the dismount. Turns out it bled all over my hand. So as I'm running out of the area and see my coach, he yells "Hey Steve!" and I return-yell "I drew blood!" and hold up my hand - laughs all around.

The run was otherwise uneventful and I made it back in 00:37:14.0 (really about 00:36:30 as I had the 45 second bathroom break). Wait a minute, that's pretty much a 9-minute mile, for 4 miles, after swimming and biking: awesome!

Here I am crossing the finish line. Total time was 02:05:30.7. I was number 608 out of about 1,400 age-groupers, 113th out of 164 in my age group. Not too shabby for a first, big tri. Next year I'm going to kick it up several notches, that is for sure!

And here's the medal we all received for participating.

How did the fundraising go? Amazing:

I raised $2,850 with your help!
The three teams, Eastside LA, Westside LA, and Orange County raised $250,000 for LLS, just for this event.
The Malibu Triathlon ended-up raising $950,000 for the Children's Hospital of LA.

I ate 3 Roctane gels and about 32 oz. of Gu20 during the race.

Thank you to everyone who donated to make this such a charitable success:

Bruce and Elaine Mark, Michael Berns, Kevin and Michele Berns, Greg and Patty Bourdon, Gerry and Cary Philpott, Robert & Dalia Messinger, Willie and Lois Sakai, Alicia Calvo, Michael and Lisa Nocita, Rick and Diana Mark, Yan Huang, Josh de la Cuesta, Craig and Ellen Rubin, Keith & Lisa Breton, Rob Cohen, Chris and Jennifer Hardin, Kevin Lasky (Big O Tires/Tarzana), Antoine and Carmen Gabriele, Neil Einbund, Karen Van Tassell, Andy Brauer, Scott Sachs, Kevin and Nef Bromber, Darryl and Deanna Silver, Steve and Robin Ligerman, Darryl & Lisa Ballin, Phyllis & Sandy Beim.

I'd also like to thank my family for putting-up with the wacky training schedule and endless talk of triathlon training and equipment.

My "home team" of competition-training buddies: Craig for being a running-buddy and egging me on in our Father's Day Mock Tri, and Kevin for providing some great competition in the Castaic tri's.

Of course, I couldn't have gotten to this level without the help and encouragement of my Team-in-Training team and our awesome coaches and staff: Scot Harvey ("One more thing..."), Alison Jensen, Joy Rosenstadt ("Seriously, 65 degree water is warm!"), Peter Chandler, Kim Katz, Felix Dacumos, Debbie Robbins, Dominique Bianco, Hector Alfaro ("Thai or tacos?"), Louis Provost ("Write my age, not A-G-E!"), Nadia Valliani ("No refunds!") and my mentor, Gerry Philpott, who got me into this mess to begin with.

What an amazing experience all-around. I highly recommend it! And this is just the beginning...

------------

So why did it take so long to post this? Monday I came down with what must have been food poisoning. Medium-level case, but debilitating as all get-out. My outer right leg and knees were hurting, and the orthopedist says I now have two runner's knees and a strained/tight/whatever IT band. I've been given some exercises to do and am making room in my week to handle that. Tuesday wasn't much better, but I got a lot of rest. Wednesday was work-catchup day, Thursday I backslid, and that brings us to Friday, at which I was feeling almost normal. Then I just delayed things a week, no real excuses other than that.

Thursday Update

2008-09-11T06:48:00.001-07:00

Team In Training, originally uploaded by eyllom.

Wow - weird week! This is week 17, the final week, of training. Well, training isn't quite the right word as we are "tapering" and that means reducing our workouts prior to the race.

What's weird is that we're wrapping up a lot of the things we've done over the past 4 months. We've gotten all the clothing and wetsuit orders worked out. We've reached the point where we can comfortably do the triathlon. We've had our last Saturday practice, our team send-off party (pictured above) and our last Wednesday night practice. We've had our last post-swim dinner.

At swimming practice last night we did about half our usual drills and then met in the shallow end. Another TnT team (training for the Treasure Island tri in SF) joined us. We formed two lines and everyone got a paddle and started making waves. Then, two-by-two, the people on the end ditched their paddles and swam down the middle. We did this about three times. It was actually pretty intense - everyone was yelling and whistling and the water was sloshing terribly. Quite the send-off!

Now all that is left is to do easy exercises to stay loose and meet-up on Saturday to maybe do an ocean swim, pick-up our packets, and head to the hotel in Santa Monica, then meet at 4:30am in the lobby for the bus ride to the Tri. A bit sad really that it's all coming to an end.

But this weekend will Rock!

Holy Floating Data Centers, Batman!

2008-09-09T06:53:00.001-07:00

I just read an article describing a patent application by Google for a "floating data center." This would take the form of a boat, using wave generators for electricity (see the video on the link), ocean water for cooling, and with stacks of servers and communications gear in it. Their mobility makes them perfect for crisis and military situations where more local data processing power and Internet access is needed. Cool stuff.

Of course, if it springs a leak your data will get all soggy and need to dry out (you wouldn't want salt water coming into your house through your modem, would you?). Viruses, salt water, hurricanes, what will they think of next to base a news center around?

Weekend Recap

2008-09-08T17:34:00.001-07:00

What a weekend!

Saturday we did a "brick" at Griffith Park: 9 mile loop, including a monster hill, then a 15-minute run. Nothing to it.

Sunday we did an 800m swim at Zuma (same as the race should be this Sunday) then a 12 mile bike (short of the 18 on race day). Everyone packed-up to go eat something, but I stayed and ran 5 miles (end-to-end of Zuma) - no stopping and with 6 sprint intervals! The new shoes were a smart move as today I'm really not hurting too much.

Of course once everything was done and I was ready to go, the car wouldn't start! So as I waited for AAA to give me a jump, I practiced bike mounting and dismounting. I'm still not comfortable with the flying cowboy but I picked up a little speed with the skateboard mount.

Today is a rest day - if by "rest" one means cleaning and lubing their bike, which was called for on our schedule. 30 minutes and it was done.

This week is a "taper" week - light exercising, no workouts that really tear your body up, so that we're ready for the race on Sunday. Tomorrow will be a 5-mile run, Wednesday a coached swim, then a rest on Thursday, a very light all-around workout on Friday, and then it's race weekend!

I just planned out the next three months. I'll be competing in the "Day at the Beach" triathlon on 10/12 at Hermosa Beach, in the Muddy Buddy race on 11/4 in San Dimas, and if we don't have anything else going on, the Turkey Tri, also in San Dimas, on 11/30.

I'm a Swimmer

2008-09-05T15:19:00.000-07:00

This has been one exciting and educational week.

It's been educational because I took yesterday off: I wasn't feeling well. I felt terribly bad about not sticking to the program but I had a headache and felt tired and just "not right." Boy, did it pay off!

Today I went swimming. I got to the club via bike in a record time of just under 15 minutes (prior record was about 20 minutes). Boy did that feel good, but not as good as what was yet to come.

Facing a time crunch, I found I had about 1 hour to swim, so I chose a plan about midway between the Malibu (sprint) and Pac Grove (olympic) workouts and set to it. First was a 400 yard warm-up. I swam 472 (after converting from a 27-meter lane length). Next was 200 yards in drills: I did 236. Then came the biggie: 900 yards of straight-out swimming. At this point I also committed to seeing how far I could swim without stopping. I was hoping against hope that I could swim 300 (minimum needed for LA Tri Club swim practices).

So the goal was 900 yards. I swam 1,417. The sub-goal was 300 yards without stopping. I swam 1,417 without stopping. The high I felt after completing that was unbelievable.

Then another 236 yards of drills and 472 yards of cool downs.

Overall, the Sprint program called for 1,600 yards, the Olympic program called for 2,200 yards, I swam 2,600 yards (1.35 miles). In one hour. After a 3 mile bike ride.

The icing on the cake (as if there wasn't enough yet)? I rode home in 12 minutes - yes, 12 minutes! Also reached a personal best top speed of 38.3mph going down the big hill from the club.

What a great workout!

But at the beginning I said this was a great week. That's because on Monday I rode over 35 miles (another personal best) and on Saturday I ran 6 miles with stopping or walking (another personal best).

I can only hope this all repeats itself next Sunday at the Malibu Tri!

Thursday Update

2008-09-04T17:42:00.000-07:00

Swam last night - over a mile - then gorged on Thai food. I'm actually going to miss Wednesday night swim-and-eat fest's!

Which brings me to the point of what to do after 9/14. It's been almost 4 months now that I've been in training with TnT and it has really been a lot of fun training with the same group of people. I'm already feeling the "void" of not training with them after Malibu.

I guess I have a few ways to go after 9/14:

- Do everything on my own/through online training plans
- Sign up as a participant again and get on another team
- Sign up as a mentor and train with another team
- Get much more involved in LA Tri Club

At this point I'm thinking of going the LA Tri Club route and maybe signing up as a Mentor for TnT, but I need to see what the commitment is for that. While raising money for a cause is great, it's a lot of pressure and right now there are enough other things going on in my life that I think it would just be too much.

Also, I'm trying to devote more time back to photography, which also suffers during the winter months.

Decisions, decisions, but all good ones!

100MPG Cars are Here

2008-09-02T15:48:00.000-07:00

The continuing debate as the whether or not we can ever truly get to 100mpg cars is over: it's doable now, it just costs a bit more due to the fact that auto manufacturers aren't using the latest battery technology.

See the CNN report here

Run - Run - Run - Walk - Dang!

2008-09-02T14:30:00.000-07:00

Went for a run at Balboa Park today with high expectations of completing 7 miles without stopping and with 5-8 sprints thrown in. At mile 2.5 I started walking. Ran a bit, then walked, and that's how it went all the way back to the car at mile 5.

What happened? I think I'm just plain tired out. I worked-out a decent amount over the weekend. Even though I took Sunday off, I still walked with my wife up some hills for 45 minutes. Yesterday was the monster bike ride. Saturday was the 6 mile run. Coupled with the fact that we started after 10am and it was pretty hot, I just didn't have it in me.

Also, yesterday you may remember that my right knee was hurting. Today it started up again at about mile 1.5. I think it's time to rest my lower body for a few days - which works out because, as a triathlete (grin) I can go swimming instead!

T Minus 12 Days to Malibu!

2008-09-02T08:28:00.000-07:00

Week 16! Impossible, no way, unbelievable, no chance! Yes, I've made it to week 16 in training, and there are only 12 days to go until the big race. To kick off this milestone, let's play Jeopardy (ok, a very small subset of Jeopardy):

The Answer is: 35.25.
The question is: how many miles did Steve actually ride on Labor Day?

35.25 miles - a new personal best! Took approximately 2.75 hours (there were a lot of lights). Here's the path: house to Balboa Park, around Balboa Park three times, out along bus/bike path to Canoga Park, back to Reseda Blvd., up Reseda and back to house.

At about mile 28 my right knee started to hurt so I favored my left leg, but I was able to make it back and get up the hill to the house.

Of course, to really complete this and help Tri training, I needed to hop off the bike, quickly get into my running shoes, and run around the block a few times. This helps the body get used to switching from riding to running, which, unless you've actually done it, really throws the body for a loop. So yes, I did that too! And let me tell you, after 35.25 miles, running down a driveway without falling on your face is very difficult! Your legs simply don't work for the first 30 seconds or so.

As a reward we went to our third swim/bbq party of the three-day weekend and I ate without worry.

Nutrition-wise, I had a Chocolate Outrage GU gel before the ride, two more gels during the ride, 48 ounces of Raspberry GU20, and a Bonk Breaker bar. Once home and finished with the mini-run, I downed 12 ounces of mocha-flavored Cytomax Recovery.

Week 15 Recap

2008-09-01T07:02:00.000-07:00

Happy Labor Day!

Thursday I took the day off - logistics just didn't pan out for going for a ride. It was tough though - my body has gotten used to constant exercise and when I take a day off I'm really not that fun to be around. Guess I'll just have to train 7 days a week (not!).

On Friday Ryan and I headed up to the club and I swam 1600 meters (over 1700 yards) - I would have gone for 2,000 meters but we ran out of time.

Saturday was the coached open-water swim at Santa Monica. We got in at lifeguard station 28 then swam out, over, and back in at station 29, ran back to 28, and repeated the swim. A light current pushed against us but we managed to complete 3 swims.

I then went for a run (see image below) up the running path, 3 miles each way with 5 1-minute sprints along the way: no stopping or walking the entire 6 miles! A personal best for me. I also maintained the pace of a 10-minute mile for the whole hour (so well that when I returned back to my starting location I was only 8 seconds over the entire hour). One very nice part of the run was passing 3 other LA Tri Club members (they were wearing LTC apparel, as was I). As we each passed each other, we waved and shouted "Go LA!" What great camaraderie!

Sunday (yesterday) my wife and I went for a 45-minute walk up the hills near our house - I was just hurting too bad from the exertions on Saturday. That was my day-off.

Today I'm hoping to get in a 30-mile bike ride, with hills, but we'll have to see as it is a family day.

Training this Week

2008-08-27T17:43:00.000-07:00

Monday I swam 1,850 yards (or meters - I still haven't measured the pool) - either way over a mile - and felt great! Tuesday was a 22 mile bike ride from home to Balboa Park and back.

It's exciting to me and I get nods of disbelief from friends when I tell them that my average/minimum workouts consist of either a 20+ mile bike ride, a 5+ mile run, or a 1+ mile swim, and sometimes a combination of the above. I am definitely in the best shape of my life - now I just need to get back to some resistance training and all will be golden.

Tonight is our coached swim - I'm expecting the usual few hundred yards of warmup, some drills, a cooldown, and some relay games. Then it's off for Thai food for a late dinner to ensure that nobody loses any weight (haha)!

Mock Tri

2008-08-27T17:33:00.000-07:00

The Mock Tri on Saturday went VERY well!

The swim was in the form of a short loop, where we had to get out of the water, run back to the entry point, and swim the loop again (twice total) for a total of about 700 yards (a little shy of the actual Malibu Tri amount). The first lap was tough, I didn't warm-up for it. The second lap was much better. I used the wetsuit and while it was much better than before, it still felt constrictive. I'm now thinking that wearing the tri-top under the suit is part of the problem. I have two suits en-route to try out that are sized a bit differently, so we'll see if those help.

My practice on the bike mount and dismount paid-off handsomely as my T1 time went from over 3 minutes to just 27 seconds! It was no problem riding without socks and with sand in my shoes. I did put on socks for the run though. My T2 time was very short as well (I'm guessing under a minute). My Timex Ironman Triathlon watch didn't survive the day though - it got some water in it and died a very slow, painful death (it's now on the way to Timex for warranty repairs).

The run was difficult in the sense that after the first mile my blister, sore calf, and sore right hip started hurting, so I was hobbling along (smiling all the way though). I managed to run the entire 4 miles without stopping. Made a new friend: guy named Brian from the Westside team - we ran together for a couple of miles before one of the women started getting close so he took off - me, well, she passed me, but only because I just couldn't go any faster at that point.

I completed the whole thing in 1 hour 58 minutes - much better than my goal of 2.5 hours! I felt great afterward and the TnT coaches and mentors had medals for each of us and a carb spread that was like a holiday dessert (which I'm starting to figure out is why nobody seems to lose weight in this program).

All in all a great time and a great experience - I am so looking forward to the "big day!"

Blog Twiddling

2008-08-22T09:28:00.000-07:00

I was about to put on my swimsuit and head over to the pool when I found that it was still wet from Wednesday night! Apparently swimsuits don't dry out very quickly in humid bathrooms. While it's in the dryer for a few minutes and I'm waiting, I thought I would write.

Last night after dinner I got some serious practice time in with my bike mount. I've decided that for tomorrow's mock tri I'm not going to do a "flying cowboy" mount (as it still scares me a bit) but instead to a "skateboard" mount, where you put your left foot on the left pedal, kick with the right foot, then swing your right leg over.

However, the problem usually is that you can't do this with clipless pedals/shoes as you can't run in them. So, I'm going to do a hybrid: clip the shoes in the pedals, then do the skateboard mount barefoot. Worked fine last night!

One hitch I had was getting my feet into the shoes while riding. After practicing about 20 times and working out a pre-buckling strategy for two out of the three straps on each shoe, I think I've got it down. I'll do a few run-through's tonight to make sure I'm ok with it and then we'll see how it works out tomorrow.

The other problem I have is that I get a blister if I run without socks. So I'm going to "hybridize" that too - I'll ride without socks, which should allow the sand and everything to wash off my feet while I ride (so I'm told), saving me "cleaning" time when I get to T1, and put socks on in T2 prior to the run.

Yesterday I rode 15 miles at Balboa (flat). I was supposed to do 18 but I was getting pretty tired and I didn't want to go overboard before the tri. When I got home I found that my front tire was partially flat: #2!

Ah - that's the dryer beeping - time for swim practice...

Triathlons are Tame

2008-08-20T13:09:00.001-07:00

If you think training for and competing in a tri is crazy then you haven't attemped to kite-surf in a hurricane.

The Flying Cowboy

2008-08-20T12:34:00.000-07:00

There are 5 major parts to a triathlon: swimming, biking and running, of course, but also transitions (between swimming and biking, called "T1" and between biking and running, called "T2") and nutrition.

T1 usually takes longer than T2 as you have to get out of your wetsuit, get your bike gear on, get your bike, and go. Anything one can do to speed up their T1 time is a great way to effortlessly remove seconds, or even minutes, from their race time, as transition time counts!

A couple of weeks ago I took a clinic from LA Tri Club on transitions where they taught us the "flying cowboy" bike mount. Basically, you pre-click-in your shoes to the pedals, use rubber-bands to keep them top-up (and not dragging), and then when you are ready to ride, you run with the bike, plant your foot, jump in the air, land on the seat, and start pedaling on top of the shoes. When you are settled and able to breath, you reach down and slip your feet into the shoes. Voila: tons of time saved, and if you don't kill yourself in the process you look mucho cool.

So this morning, after doing some core exercises and a bit of resistance training, I got the bike and some rubber bands out and practiced flying cowboy mounts in the street. I did it about 20 times and I think I've got the hang of it. I still need to work on getting in (and out) of the shoes while riding, but I've got 2 more days to get that down (our mock tri is on Saturday).

If you have any tips on this let me know!

Gelrilla Deal

2008-08-19T11:01:00.001-07:00

I have made a deal with Lyramid, the company that makes the GelRilla Grip. Use the coupon code "TNTSM" (no quotes) when you order and you'll receive $1.50 off AND they will donate $1.50 to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. What a deal!

5 Miles......YEAH!!!!!!!!

2008-08-19T10:58:00.001-07:00

Today's training update is brought to you by.....my left calf. Ouch!

Grabbed the kids, a couple of bikes, a lot of water, and off we went to Balboa Park for today's run.

Goal: flat run, 4 miles, with two 1-minute sprints.
Outcome: flat run, 5 miles, with two 1-minute sprints and 1 30 second sprint

If that weren't good enough, I ran the whole thing - no stopping, no walking!

And as a bonus, my daughter, age 8, completed the whole 5 miles on her bike, no (literally, none) sweat!

Vacation Training

2008-08-18T16:36:00.000-07:00

Vacation...Training...Vacation...Training... and so the debate went on.

We went to Laguna Beach for the weekend, and I was debating whether I was going to take the weekend off and really relax or try and get some training in. The argument was settled when I realized I actually like swimming, biking and running, so into the car the bike and tri bag went.

Saturday we drove down and hung out at the beach. Finally screwing up my nerve to be the only person on the beach in a wetsuit and yellow cap, I got dressed and headed out. I swam from one side of Main Beach to the other and back, out past the surf, and it was great. The water was very clear, the suit adjusted itself accordingly, no panic, and I was able to swim just fine! I was very happy.

Sunday morning while everyone was still dragging themselves out of bed I got dressed, wheeled the bike downstairs, and set off for Dana Point, about 8 miles away down PCH. I ended-up going all the way through Dana Point to hit my turnaround at just under 10 miles. Somehow though, on the way back, I ended up on an end-segment of the freeway. That was entertaining, trying to move between off-ramps and the breakdown lane, until the freeway ended and I was back on a normal street. Scared the sh*t out of me.

Sunday afternoon, after lunch but before heading out, I donned the wetsuit again and repeated the prior day's swim, albeit a bit faster, and with that our vacation came to an end and we drove home.

I was especially psyched that I could handle the waves and the wetsuit (from f2r.com) and the suit kept me nice and warm.

Practice Practice

2008-08-14T16:14:00.000-07:00

Last night was our regular Wednesday night coached swim. Nothing too special except that it felt a bit "light." We did a tire-relay at the end, using a pool float that looked like a tire and 2-4 people pushing or pulling it at one time - lots of fun but difficult to move around in a lane. Great exercise though. As usual we ended-up at the Thai place for dinner where everyone wolfed-down their food. Good times!

This morning Ryan and I embarked on a 6-mile run around Tarzana (Ryan of course rode his bike). I ended-up with a blister the size of a quarter on my right arch, started on Tuesday when I tried running without socks so I could see if I could race without socks, which would save a minute or so from my T1 time. I'm going to see if I can fix the problem in my shoe. Irrespective of that, I ran the best ever - very little walking, very little fatigue. The only thing I did differently this time was to have a GU gel about 10 minutes before we left, and to keep sucking down GU20 every 10-15 minutes (I usually use Gatorade). It was even decently warm out as we left late, which usually slows me down. I'm liking the Gu more and more.

After the run I did some full-body weight training at the house for about 15 minutes, followed by a recovery protein drink. Then it was back to work.

Tomorrow morning we're going to swim (should be interesting after the weights today). I'll also try some "flying cowboy" bike mounts to see if I can get that down (saving another 20-30 seconds of time in my T1 transition).

Fundraising-wise I'm $75 away from goal! Hard to believe but I'm just about there. A few people have pledged to donate and I'm waiting for those to hit.

Just a month to go until the big day!

For your entertainment, check out this video on YouTube of a guy surfing a 66 foot wave 100 miles off the coast of California (in open water): Crazy Surfer

Training Update

2008-08-13T08:54:00.001-07:00

So far this week I have swum 1600 yards (Monday at Braemar) and ran 5 miles (Tuesday at Balboa Park). Both times Ryan joined me. On Monday he helped me train for the swim by randomly blocking, hitting and kicking me while I did my laps (not hard - no bruises) and on Tuesday he pedaled behind me the whole way (his longest ride yet!). I think the other people in the pool were very curious as to what he was doing to me on Monday.

Tonight is our regular coached swim, should be 1600 yards at a minimum, and tomorrow I should be riding but we'll have to see as the kids are still at home in the morning. Friday will be another swim and then the weekend hits.

We have our Mock Tri at Malibu on the 23rd, so I'm considering that a race and gearing-up for it accordingly.

For those of you who are interested, I'm using GU20 for my hydration and electrolyte replacement, GU gels for fuel, and Cytomax Recovery or chocolate milk as my recovery drink/food. I'm also eating a banana every day or about an hour before a workout to help avoid cramping. I've found the GU brand to be very easy on the stomach, same with the Cytomax Recovery.

I'm also giving FRS a try for a "natural" energy boost - I'll tell you the results in a couple of weeks.

Castaic Tri II

2008-08-13T08:46:00.000-07:00

The first tri had 104 people competing - the second had 214 - a vast difference!

It was most evident in the swim portion, where over 100 guys ran into the lake at the same time, all going for the same point/turn. I decided to swim with my new wetsuit (provided by LLS) and within 100 yards was in a full-blown panic attack. It was tough to breath, I was getting pummeled and kicked while swimming, and forward motion was very difficult with all of those bodies in the water. After hanging onto a lifeguard's board for a few minutes, I was able to resume and complete the swim portion. Whew!

My transition to the bike wasn't bad and I flew - my recent training was having the desired effect.

I also did much better in the run this time, walking far less.

Overall, I completed the race in just over 1 hour and 14 minutes, 4 minutes better than my first race. This would have been better by a few minutes if I didn't freak-out in the swim.

Alas, I did not beat Kevin this time. He overtook me in the run and beat me by 24 seconds, a stinging defeat for sure!

The next day, Sunday, I joined the team for an open water ocean swim in the wetsuit and things were a bit better. I've taken to putting on the suit for 30 minutes every couple of days around the house to try and get used to it - hopefully I'll be ready to go for another swim this weekend.

Also on Sunday I participated in a "transition clinic" put on by the LA Tri Club. Very cool stuff - I can now get my T1 transition (from swim to bike) done in under a minute, as opposed to the 2-3 minutes it was taking me before. Really great clinic and great tips.

Tuesday Shmuesday

2008-08-05T14:26:00.000-07:00

Dragged the kids to the pool yesterday. Actually, drag isn't the word. They were really excited to go to the pool. Why? What would make kids excited to go to the pool and watch their old man swim? Well, I promised them each a sundae if they swam 15 full laps (30 lengths). That's about 750 meters. And you know what? They did it. Ryan of course chimed in with "That was tough, I thought it was going to be a piece of cake! I'm going to do that every day so I can earn a sundae" to which I responded "Great! Just so you know, since you completed the 15, you'll have to do 20 next time!" He groaned, but I could tell he was going to go for it.

Today he wasn't feeling well and refused to pedal along behind me while I ran so I ended-up on the treadmill. I really hate the treadmill. Next to being on an airplane without a book it's just about the most boring thing in the world. But I did it, however I gimped out and didn't do the full workout because, well, on a treadmill you don't have to. You just push that little button for a few seconds and the whole world slows down. And if you know me, you know I have the willpower of a 3-year old. I made up for it a bit with 5 minutes on the rowing machine, which hopefully will help my back a bit.

Castaic Tri is in 3 1/2 days!

First Ocean Swim

2008-08-03T19:27:00.001-07:00

Today, bright and early, I packed-up and headed over to Zuma Beach in Malibu, site of the forthcoming Malibu Triathlon, to join about half the team and Joy, our assistant coach, in an open-ocean-water swim. At the last minute I borrowed a wetsuit and into the freezing Pacific we dove. We did a small swim out past the waves, up the beach about 100 yards, then back in. Then we did it again.

I've swum in the ocean before so it wasn't a first for me. What was a first was going out that far and swimming without a boogie board, in a wetsuit, with goggles. The water was so clear you could actually see the bottom! It was still a bit disconcerting though, but the second lap we did was much easier than the first. I'm very happy we did this, the ocean is as different (or more) from a lake as a lake is from a pool.

We all got out, warmed up, and hit the bikes for a 25 mile ride along the route to be used in the triathlon. That went pretty well, and I was amazed at just how many hills are on PCH. I noticed while I was riding that I was getting chain noise when in the low-front gear and low rear gears, more than before. When I got home I took the bike in and Kevin told me that there's a trim adjustment for the low front gear as well as the high front gear (which I did know about). That fixed the problem - guess you learn something new every day.

The bike by the way is holding up very well.

We came back and talked for a few minutes, and I drank 12oz. of protein as a recovery drink. Someone then suggested going for a 2 mile run so I switched shoes and off we went. At about 1 mile I had some pretty bad heartburn, and 1.5 miles I could taste the drink, so I slowed to a walk. After a few minutes I picked-up the pace again to the end. Feeling sick to my stomach I rested for a few minutes and everything settled down, so I jumped in the car and headed home.

Total time: Arrived 7:50am, departed 12:30pm. What a great training session! Special thanks to Joy for organizing and running it and Ali for loaning me the wetsuit!

Bike: 2008 Giant TCR C2
Recovery Drink: Cytomax Recovery (Mocha)
Hydration: GU20 drink and gel

Morning Swim Practice

2008-08-01T15:41:00.000-07:00

Nothing exciting: 1,450 yards (29 full laps) in the pool this morning, in 45 minutes, including 400 yards (8 full laps) of drills. Haley, however, did 12 full laps! Maybe we'll see Haley running a tri in a few years....

Quote of the Day: If your relationship is going well, you're not training enough!

Tough Morning

2008-07-31T15:42:00.001-07:00

Last night was our swim practice. Simple really: swim 50 lengths (25 yards each). About 3/4 mile total. 50 minutes. Tiiiiiiiiiiired! Then we played Sharks and Minnows...

This morning, given that the kids were either at camp or sleeping over elsewhere, I had the house to myself. Went for the 15 mile, constant movement, 90rpm bike ride at Balboa Park, which proved to be difficult for the last 5 miles but I did it. Much fewer idiots out on the bike path during the week - have to remember that.

Not to be outdone, I hopped off and stowed the bike in the car and then went on a 20 minute run to turn this morning's training into a brick! The run went surprisingly well - no wobbly legs!

Going by the plan, tomorrow is another swim, Saturday a run, and Sunday a bike. Instead, I'll probably swim tomorrow, take Saturday off (or use it for stretching) and on Sunday we (most of the team) are going to Zuma to practice ocean swimming and then ride the Malibu Tri bike route (another brick!). Monday better be a day off because I'm going to need it.

2008-07-30T15:46:00.000-07:00

Here's the workout plan for week 12:

Monday: Day off!
Tuesday: Run 5 mi with some hills Try to do a “negative split” (run. 1st half fast, 2nd half faster).
Wednesday: Coached Swim 8-9pm
Thursday: Ride 15 mi flat, all in Z3 after warm up. Get power from each moment of pedal stroke.
Friday: Swim 1400’ yards. Include: 300y WU, 200y drills, 500y swim, 200y drills, 200y CD
Saturday: TBA
Sunday: Ride 20 mi in hilly terrain

Earthquake!

2008-07-29T13:33:00.001-07:00

"Oh my god, did you feel that?" my wife said coming into the house from walking the dogs.
"Feel what?" Ryan and I reply.
"The earthquake! I looked up and saw windows rattling!"
"We didn't feel a thing. When did it happen?"
"About 20 minutes ago."
"Oh, we were still out running." I reply.
"Well I was out walking and I felt the ground move!" she says.
"Must have been Ryan and I tramping up the hill after our run/ride." I say, smiling.

Just another day in too-sunny SoCal!

Monday Swim

2008-07-28T13:45:00.001-07:00

Not much to report today. Ended-up taking yesterday off as I spent the morning recovering from the party the night before (Tequila - ta-kill-ya). Swam 45 minutes at the pool this morning, ran through all the drills and went home really worn out, so it must have been a good training session!

First Flat!

2008-07-26T14:36:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I dragged the kids to the pool (honestly, who really complains except kids about hanging out at a pool and reading for 45 minutes?) and swam about a mile in laps. Based on my time I figure I've now doubled my swimming ability from when I started - which of course rocks!

Today the team had a practice in San Dimas. Two-hour bike ride followed by a 30-minute lake swim. I passed. Not because I didn't want to do it, but because I didn't feel like driving two hours that would be better spent working at home or training. So that is what I did.

I hopped on the bike (and by "hop" I mean 20+ minutes of getting dressed, preparing hydration, eating breakfast, prep'ing the bike, putting on shoes and helmet, etc.) and rode 5 miles to Balboa Park where they have a nice bike/running/walking path. Rode around that four times (5 miles each loop) and then back home for a 30.5 mile ride! Should have taken me 2 hours, but it worked out to three because - I got my first flat!

On the fourth time around the bike started riding really jerky and I looked down and saw it - flat rear tire. So I found a grassy, shady spot next to a fence off the path and set to work. Twenty minutes later I had a new tube on that was nearly fully inflated (apparently I need to use 1.25 CO2 canisters) and I was off again. On the way back I stopped at Custom Bicycles in Tarzana (18424 1/2 Ventura Blvd., Tarzana, CA 91356, (818) 344-2806 - tell Kevin that "Steve sent me" and he'll likely ask "who's Steve?") to get the bike checked-out and my work was pronounced "good." Home I went, the hill getting even easier than last time, and proceeded to crash (given the topic of this post, that is not the correct word. What I meant is "pass-out") before heading out to the dentist to get a crown reattached (yesterday was quite the day).

So I got my swim and bike done and tomorrow, if I'm still able after the party tonight, I'll do my run, and Monday will be the day off, then it's back to dragging the kids to the pool for a week (poor kids!) Have a great weekend!

p.s. Current fundraising total is $2,675 - goal is $2,800 - how cool is that ?!?
p.p.s. I guess getting my core back in shape is working - my back didn't hurt nearly as bad as it did at Castaic

Auction Success - Part II

2008-07-24T10:26:00.001-07:00

We received our distributions from the Wine Tasting and Silent Auction event last weekend and I'm overjoyed to say that the four of us who put it on each received $799 (after costs) that we will immediately donate to LLS. Thank you everyone for a great event and for providing the funding that will help so many people!

Swim Practice Update

2008-07-24T10:19:00.000-07:00

Given my performance at the tri last weekend in the swimming leg, and the fact that I'm home watching both kids in the mornings for the next couple of weeks, I decided to focus on swimming as much as possible to get that up to a satisfactory level.

I swam Monday morning, Tuesday morning and last night (coached practice). I was told that I had visibly improved and to be honest, I felt better in the water. I had more strength and endurance, and getting into a good planing position took about 10 minutes as opposed to 35 minutes of weeks past.

Now the downside: my back is killing me! It hurt quite a bit on the bike and run legs on Saturday and I didn't quite know what to make of that. I'm going to restart my physical therapy exercises since I haven't been to the gym in weeks, and sporadically for weeks before that since starting tri training. I'm thinking I've lost core strength and am basically, from a musculature point of view, softening up too much. So back to stretching and the gym to lift weights. This of course means my endurance training will decrease a bit, but I'm not sure of any other way around it.

My Boy is Back!

2008-07-21T14:36:00.001-07:00

My son Ryan just got back from a month away at camp. I'm so happy he's back, we really missed him. He had a great time and (shocker) his voice dropped even more. Ah, they grow up so fast...

Auction Success

2008-07-21T14:12:00.000-07:00

Our "Wine Tasting and Silent Auction Fundraiser" was a great success - we made over $2,000 in sales of auction items and another $1,000 in ticket sales. We have a few more things to collect and sell which may bring in another $500-$700, we'll know by the end of this week. The party was fun and easy-going, everyone seemed to have a good time, and we've raised a good deal of money for a great cause!

This morning I went for a 45 minute swim up at the club. Took my daughter Haley with me and she was grumpy from the start as I had to wake her up to get going. Once we got there she became the favorite target of a bee or two and was constantly in motion, moving from chair to chair once they found her again. She finally settled down at the deep end side of the pool and they left her alone. Needless to say I didn't get much uninterrupted swimming in as I was watching and suggesting things between laps, but it was good to get in the water.

And the best news of all: I finally found some goggles that don't leak and are reasonably comfortable: Speedo Vanquisher Plus's. Got 'em over at Sports Chalet which has a huge selection of goggles at reasonable prices - I wish I had gone there first instead of the three other places I've tried.

I'm a Triathlete

2008-07-20T14:35:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted so let's catch-up.

Tri-camp was a lot of fun. The Eastside and Westside teams camped together at Lake Lopez. Most arrived Friday evening, I drove up Saturday morning. At 10 we cycled down to the lake for our first open-water swim of about 500 yeards. That was tough but educational. The lake was a bit chilly but other than that and the reeds poking us near the bank it wasn't bad. I got all the way out and then decided my arms were dead so floated and swam my way back. No problems.

After the swim we got on our bikes and road out of the area into town, about 8 miles away, and back. On the way out I needed a "rest" break and while stopping, unclipped my left foot and proceeded to fall over on my right side. Not my proudest moment, but I did get some great gear-gashes on my left leg (still healing...)

That afternoon I went for another short ride (falling over in the parking lot on the way back) and another swim. The swim scared me as I got out in the middle of the lake and realized I was tired, but I floated and calmed down and made my way back to shore safely. Still, a very nerve-wracking experience.

This weekend of course was the Castaic Tri. My brother-in-law Kevin and I did this one. 400 meter swim, 10 mile bike (through the prison in Castaic), and a 3.2 mile run. Kevin is an ex-marathoner so knowing he would kill me in the run I poured it on in the swim and bike, finishing 6 minutes ahead of him overall. Great experience and learning - looking forward to 8/9 for a repeat and better time. Missed the top 5 in my age group by 1 spot (the top 5 all received medals). And with that, I am officially a triathlete!

Tri Camp Weekend

2008-07-11T15:40:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I leave at 5am for a 3.5 hour drive up to Lake Lopez near Pismo Beach to partake in a team camp out. Just me and my bike in a tent along with 62 other triathlete wannabe's. We'll be swimming in the lake, then riding and running for two days. Should be fun and exhausting and a good workout all at the same time. Wish me luck!

Swim Practice

2008-07-10T14:49:00.001-07:00

Wow, what a practice. Must have swam a mile. The pool was a bit chilly but after a couple of laps it felt warm. We did sprints, worked on pacing, and then, at the end, worked on staying on target. We lined up at one end of the pool and started swimming toward a red cone. Since looking up causes you to stop, we could only look and check our bearings every once in a while. Now, it's easier in the pool because there aren't any waves, so to make it more difficult the coaches moved the cone around as we got closer, and closer, and started bumping into each other, until finally we all got to the other side.

Everyone got out hungry and we headed over to the local Thai place for a post-workout snack.

11 Days Until First Tri

2008-07-08T16:59:00.000-07:00

Registration went out in the mail today - I'll be competing in the sprint triathlon up at Castaic Lake on the 19th. I'm treating this as a "practice" tri. They have another one on 8/9 which I also signed-up for - that one I'll take more seriously. On 8/16 we have out "mock tri" in Malibu and on 9/14 is of course the "real tri." So it looks like I'll actually be participating in 4 triathlons this summer - crazy!

Depending how all these go I'm considering PumpkinMan in Vegas (Lake Mead) in October.

I just figure that since I'm in shape and trained, I might as well go for it!

Try a Tri

2008-07-05T14:07:00.000-07:00

On July 19th there's a mini-tri (short sprint) up at Castaic Lake in Valencia put on by one of the local high schools. Looks like my brother-in-law is interested and possibly someone from the TnT team. It would be great practice on a small course so I'm leaning heavily to trying it out.

Today at practice we ran for 50 minutes. I had the opportunity to run alongside one of the coaches (Scot) who very patiently and nicely answered all of my n00bie questions ranging from "how do you clean your feet once you are out of the water" to "what do you do after the race?" to "how do I setup my transition area?" I'm feeling pretty good about the whole thing in two weeks. I've got the ability, the equipment and the motivation, so I guess all that's left is just to go do it, right?

Independence Day

2008-07-05T14:06:00.001-07:00

Truly a great day: not only are we celebrating the US's independence, but we're also celebrating my independence from having to carry sneakers around with me! That's right, I made it up both the hill at the club and the hill on the way back home when I went swimming yesterday. My legs were burning, my lungs were on fire, I almost couldn't see straight, but I made it up!

Week 5 - Done

2008-06-22T06:06:00.000-07:00

Good morning! Ran yesterday with the group and about halfway around Griffith Park my right leg started hurting and got worse. Ended-up walking back to the parking lot. Feels like it's time to get back to stretching! This morning however most of my body hurts - I got the bright idea on Friday of going to the gym on my "day off" from training and I'm sore from head to toe. It's a good pain though, really! However, due to the heat and soreness I'm going to take today off, resuming tomorrow with an early morning swim.

Training Week 5

2008-06-17T09:03:00.001-07:00

This week is starting off a bit slow due to STILL being sore from working out so much on the weekend (actually, I think it was the Father's Day pool party where I overdid it). However, today I'll be swimming, if I can get there before it gets too hot. Just sent around 40 emails asking for donations to help reach my goal - I thought training was tough, it's nothing compared to asking friends and family to donate! I appreciate all the help and support you care to give and your consideration in helping with this very worthwhile cause.

Father's Day Mock Tri

2008-06-16T06:33:00.001-07:00

Saturday, my neighbor Craig and I went to Balboa Park and rode around for about 16 miles. Not to be outdone, Craig suggested we go for a run afterward but I couldn't due to time constraints. However, out of that conversation was born the "First Annual Father's Day Triathlon."

Sunday: 7am Craig and I are in my driveway packing up the car. We head over to Braemar Country Club (I play tennis there) and unload our bikes, chain them up by the pool and start to spread our things out over multiple cubbies in the locker room. At 8:13 we start our 25 minute swim ending up with me at over 1/2 mile and Craig at over 1/4 mile then go change into bike clothes. We head out and take a very long route to Balboa Park and then through Tarzana, 18.22 miles in all before making it back to the club. Changing once again, we head out for our 4 mile run (which was actually half-run, half-walk at this point) and complete that. 3.5 hours from start to finish (transitions took about an hour total), we were done. WE DID IT!

Now we've got to start working on time...

40 Minutes of Bliss

2008-06-09T20:08:00.000-07:00

More like 40 minutes in a water-logged, out-of-breath, gatorade-swigging liquid hell. Yes, of course I'm talking about swim training today! But I did it, and I'm proud. I'm also half-full of pool water...

Saturday was our first coached bike session. Rode 13 miles on the new bike and loved just about every minute of it, even the minute I almost fell over because I didn't get out of my clips fast enough, but I recovered and avoided disaster.

Training Day

2008-06-02T14:42:00.000-07:00

I figured I'd try to push things a little, so I rode the bike to the pool (2.6 miles one way), swam 30+ minutes, then rode back.

Positives: good workout, my legs are burning, my upper body is worn out, bike was great (butt still hurts from the hard seat though - gotta get used to that)

Negatives: legs are still burning, backside is still hurting, can't ride up steep hills.

Knowing the hills would be a problem, I packed a pair of running shoes in my backpack and when I got to the hills at the pool and on the way back to the house I just switched shoes and walked up.

Total time was 1.5 hours which I've got to work on getting down, likely via using Tri shorts (no changing time) and getting better so I don't have to walk up the hills. Top speed: 28mph.

Training Week 2

2008-05-30T10:08:00.000-07:00

On the left is my new racing bike. Yup, a Giant TCR C2 all-carbon light-weight great-component amazing bike riding machine. Aaaaaah.

I'm in the second week of training for the triathlon and it feels like I'm starting all over again in not 1 but 3 different sports. Seriously. Let's take a look:

Swimming: apparently I'm a lead-legged, energy depleting swimmer. We have now learned, after two coached-swim sessions, to balance better in the water, keep our bodies very flat (still working on that one as my legs like to sink), rotate our whole body when coming up for air, keep your arms and hands close to the body on the "down" stroke and how to drink maximum amounts of pool water in 45 minutes (yeah, hopefully I'll get better at that last one...)

Bike Riding: I figured this would be the easy one. It's just a bike, right? Well... Not only will a decent bike help by the nature of it's light weight, but the components should be upgraded for durability, smoothness and weight. Let's not forget the seat-post, brakes and wheels. The bike above is what I ended-up with and it's a beauty. I stretched a little and got the next model up from my initial target, but it was well worth it. The fun part? Learning how to get on and off the thing: I'm now using clipless pedals. Spent an hour between last night and this morning holding on to the couch and practicing getting in and out of the things, and finally screwed-up enough courage to take it on the street. First time stopping: got it. Second time stopping: didn't get out in time, slowed to a stop, and tipped right over (ouch on the hip and knee). No worries though, the bike made it through the ordeal unscathed. Next 20 times: nailed it. I can even clip-in on the downstroke now. Oh yeah! This weekend I'm going for a RIIIIIIIIIDE.

Running: Another easy one. I can already do the 4 miles that are in the race, but apparently, once again, I'm doing them wrong. Yikes. Last Saturday I learned to run on the front part and balls of my feet, using little to no heels. Sound weird? Feels weird. After a 40-minute run doing this my calves were so spasmed that I couldn't walk for 4 days. The kids had a terrific time laughing at me walking down the stairs backwards because going down forward was, literally, going down: on my face.

So there you have it: I am officially a triathlete-in-training and pretty much learning how to do three sports I wasn't bad at much, much better.

My team by the way is great! Everyone is super friendly and helpful and this really helps with the motivation.

The obvious question: why am I doing this?

The answer: it's one of those things in life I decided I wanted to do and now is the time to do it. My friend Gerry did it last year but I was too busy and promised to do it this year so here I am. To make it a bit easier, I joined Team-In-Training which is run by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. In return for the training and some equipment we all pledged to raise $2,800 by August. 75% of that goes directly to helping cancer victims and research, the other 25% covers race, training and equipment costs. A pretty fair shake I'd say. You can help me and the LLS by contributing at my donation page.

Took the Plunges

2008-04-18T16:11:00.000-07:00

As of 10 minutes ago I am signed-up for the Malibu triathlon in September. Training starts next month. Woohoooooooooooo! (I won't be saying that in a couple of months, so I'm told).

My friend Gerry, who competed last year in Pacific Grove and is a mentor this year, and who will be my mentor, is already promising that he is going to "break" me. Yeah, good times in LA happening soon...

Does anyone know if you can compete in a triathlon AND carry a DSLR to take shots at the same time? Didn't think so. I'll have to start training Deb how to use the beast.

In other news, I'm signed-up for my first ever group photo shoot, next month at a studio in LA. Should be a ton of fun, and my new friend Kim is going with me. We're really psyched and if anyone has any tips or knows any models that want to attend our practice shoot on 5/4 (TF*), let me know!

Accomplishing the Impossible

2008-04-06T11:37:00.000-07:00

We just completed our daughter's 8th birthday slumber party. If you have never had 10 little 7-9 year old girls sleep over you don't know what you're missing, and honestly, you probably don't want to know! They got to sleep at a relatively early midnight, and woke up at a relatively late 6:30am. It was interesting seeing all of the different personalities, quirks and attitudes yet, for the most part, they all got along exceptionally well. Alright, enough typing, time for some more birthday cake and a nap...

Seaborn

2008-04-05T08:55:00.000-07:00

Chris Howard, a friend from the early days at Vyou.com is turning into quite the author and artist. He's releasing a new book, Seaborn, and I urge you to check it out. If you pre-order he will send you a complimentary print of one of his paintings which are really well done. Software architect, writer and painter all rolled into one, Chris is the man!

Find out more at his blog.

Chapter 1

2008-04-05T08:48:00.000-07:00

It's about time I started my own blog so here it is and I hope to provide something funny, something interesting, something helpful, who knows, just something!

I'm interested in music, photography, technology, fitness, tennis, triathlon, networking, family and more, so there's plenty of blog-fodder to be had - stay tuned and let's see what develops!