I’ve been training for Ironman 70.3 Florida since mid-January, and so far training has gone great except for a couple of weeks of illness. Even then I didn’t miss any of my long workouts. But… I’ve been putting off actually registering for the race. Part of the reason is that I’ve had a string of injuries (real and phantom) for the past couple of years and didn’t know how I’d Read More ...
Deciding who to ask to share their lane. Our gym has a four lane, 25 yard pool, and it’s very rare to show up there and find an empty lane. If you do, chances are you won’t finish your workout before someone else comes in and needs to share with you. No big deal…I don’t mind sharing a lane. But I’d rather be the one who does the asking instead Read More ...
I’ve been doing a lot of my cycling at night lately, and I’m fortunate to be able to do that. The only problem is that riding the bike really wakes me up. I’m typically very alert and awake for at least an hour after getting out of the saddle. It’s like the anti-swimming. And that’s great for morning rides, but when I finish a workout at 11:30 pm, I just Read More ...
This is a dang good ‘un. Also known as “The Vicious Cycle”, I learned this one back in the late 90s from a sadistic South African rugby coach. For any former teammates who are reading this, let me apologize in advance for the nightmares you’ll have tonight. I know you’ve done your best to repress any memory of being put through this. The only equipment you need is a place Read More ...
There aren’t that many high profile professional triathletes, and I don’t think there necessarily need to be. But I have a few ideas that could really make amateur triathlon participation grow by leaps and bounds. I think what is needed is the introduction of a team concept, and maybe some rule tweaking. I think triathlon clubs membership would grow tremendously if there was a really compelling reason to belong to Read More ...
I skipped this morning’s swim, and I’m not even going to think about making it up. It’s a recovery week anyway, and I definitely needed the rest. If I have to choose between making a swim and making a run, I’ll choose the run every time. I’m considering even waiting until late tonight to do that, just to soak up more rest.
I thought you were supposed to get better when you practiced something? I hadn’t spent any time in the pool for a good stretch up until a few weeks ago, so I wasn’t too tough on myself for swimming like a fish out of water. But it’s been 3 weeks…I should be getting better by now. My technique is so jacked up I don’t even know where to start to fix it. I just know that it’s bad all over.
Think I may be headed for a masters class or a swim clinic next month. This is supposed to be the easy leg of the race, and I want to keep it that way.
I know the general rule for missed short workouts is to just move on without worrying about picking them up. I usually follow this to a fault. I’m rethinking this a little right now though, at least for the swim. I usually don’t place a huge amount of importance on the swim anyway…those are definitely workouts I don’t stress about missing since it’s the shortest leg of the race by Read More ...
My name is Scott, and I’m a mileage junkie. The first step is admitting you have a problem, right? It feels good to say it out loud…like a weight off my chest. Now if I can just get some weight off the rest of my body. I’ve been reading “Be Iron Fit”, and while it’s mostly a collection of the same advice and information I’ve read before, I think I’m Read More ...
I’ve shared plenty of photos from my phone on Google+, but in the last couple of days I’ve started uploading larger albums there. The display of photo albums within Plus is very nice (waaaaaaaay cleaner than Facebook), and if you upload through Plus instead of Picasa, your photos get auto-resized and don’t count towards your Picasa limits: If you’ve signed up for Google+ Free storage limits Photos up to 2048 Read More ...
Emily has a pretty funny post about mixed-gender running and talks about guys who lie about planning on an easy run only to come out and try to race their female running partners. Most of the time I’ve spent training has been with women, so I guess I have something to say on this. I’ve trained with all sorts of girls. A couple have been a little slower than me, but Read More ...
I’m going to break this down to levels beyond scientific, based on my test data. I’m proposing a “bust-yer-aise” scale similar to the wind chill factor or the heat index. 80 feels like 88, provided you’re working hard enough. If 80 degree water in your backyard pool is too cold for you to cool off in, you need to increase the intensity of your run/bike/walk/row/rugby/training. Or mow/landscape harder. Whatever. And Read More ...
It looks like Hurricane Irene is going to miss us for the most part, although I’m sure we’ll get plenty of rain and some good surf out of it; more surf than I could handle anyway. Unfortunately, the rest of the east coast may not be as lucky as we were this time around. We did the usual things to prepare over the weekend when it looked like we were Read More ...
During yesterday’s market tumble, I saw this tweet from @lokibeat… It made me chuckle, but it also made me think of a couple of things triathletes and runners can hopefully relate to. First of all, the practical… I prefer to think of dips in the market the same way I do water stops. At first glance, water stops cost me time in races because I walk them. But the truth Read More ...
Don’t “sweet potatoes” sound so much tastier than “yams”? I posted this to our network this morning, but it’s also worth stating publicly. My new favorite thing about Yammer: It’s so much more convenient to come back from vacation and read what people wrote in groups/threads on Yammer over the past couple of days than it is to try to sort through all the messages and replies on email. I Read More ...
