Training Report

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

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

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

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.

LinkedIn

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

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?

What a concept: a calendar covered in bubble wrap!