Scott Adcox

Doing More With Less Since 1972

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Children’s Books Now Available on Kindle!

June 14, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Here’s some great news!

There are over 1,000 new titles available, with support for pop-up text and highlighting the artwork in individual panels.

Ana and I were just talking at lunch today about how to keep one kid occupied while another is having one-on-one school time, and one of our main options is to use a tablet and some apps for some self-directed educational endeavors. Now Kindle with children’s books is a great option!

I loved my Kindle Touch with e-ink (until it got misplaced), but never really cared much for the Kindle apps for mobile devices. The way e-ink is so easy on the eyes was the big seller for me personally. But for children’s books that are heavy on illustrations, iPads and Android tablets are absolutely perfect and intuitive for kids to use.

We may have to get another device now! The Kindle Fire is pretty reasonably priced, and there are some other options out there like the Archos Arnova Child Pad that are both cheap and kid friendly.

Finally Training Out Of The House

June 14, 2012 / / 0 Comments

One of the downsides to telecommuting is that it’s very easy to become withdrawn, especially if  you are a natural introvert like me. I find myself going days on end without leaving the house unless it’s for a quick trip to the gym,and I’m usually under water for most of the time I’m there. I do make it off of our street quite often to go out running and riding, but that hardly counts as “going out”.

The upside is that training solo makes racing solo a little easier. The downside is that you don’t get that little extra push on the tough days when you’re training alone, and you don’t get little nuggets of wisdom and information from other athletes. I was really lucky to find out about an open water swim/run brick group that meets close to the house, and I was able to actually go out last night and participate, which was awesome!

The Running Zone sponsors this workout every Wednesday night at Pineapple Park near the Eau Gallie causeway. There are a couple of swim options, and all kinds of athletes swimming a variety of paces show up. Lots of people do a quick 0.4 mile out and back swim, but there’s also the opportunity to get a full 0.8 mile (~1400 yards) swim without doing two laps of the .4 course.

See how close that is to the 1500 meters you’d swim in a Oly? See how easy it would be to do the 0.8 + 0.4 for a total of 1.2, which just happens to be the exact distance you swim in a 70.3?

Dang. I wish I’d known about this when I was training for the Haines City 70.3. I did one short single solitary open water swim before that race, and I really paid for it.

The great thing about swimming here is that when you’re done you are in the perfect spot to get a run that includes the causeway. That’s the closest thing we have to a hill here. It’s not very steep and not very long, but it’s the the best we have, and it has a very nice pedestrian walkway that is safely protected from traffic by a bike lane and concrete dividers, so it’s very safe.

Now for the best part…all the added information you get by going to where people are and actually talking to them. I met a couple of good dudes last night who gave me all kinds of information on local and semi-local races. Better than that, I got information on even more organized open-water swims and group runs. There are all kinds of opportunities for long runs with Gatorade/water support and social runs throughout the week. I’m going to make it out Sunday for the group long run, and this Wednesday night swim is going to be a staple of my weekly schedule!

 

Choosing Curriculum – The Never Ending Story Of History

June 11, 2012 / / 0 Comments

At our house, “school” starts at birth…at least that’s the way we look at it. But things are shifting a little these days because “real school” will be starting soon. That means paperwork has to be filled out to declare that we’re officially home schooling. But there’s more…

Curricula must be chosen.

We may have a different approach than others, but here’s what we talked about and decided on for kindergarten/first grade history.

In our estimation, reading is the key to everything. The most important thing we can teach our children are the skills to read and comprehend, and (most importantly) to love it. A love of reading opens up every other subject. We’re easing the kids into this with the stories we read to them at bedtime. Pea (the 5 yo) has moved past the Dr. Seuss type books for bedtime stories since she’s able to read them herself now, so we have been increasing the density of what we read to her, continuing to model good reading habits and challenging her with tougher content and vocabulary.

Her current favorite is the Magic Tree House series, and it’s been great for introducing a little information about the histories of different parts f the world, although it’s fictional, and getting her to ask questions and wonder about different time periods and places. Admittedly, Bug (the 3yo) says that “Jack and Annie awe boawing!” There aren’t crazy pictures to look at, and they don’t do silly things like grow daisies out of their heads. That’s ok…she still listens to the stories, and she still gets her turn to pick books that are more appropriate for her.

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What we’ve decided to do to introduce history more formally is use the Story of the World books. All the reviews we’ve read lead us to believe this is the right choice for our family because it will let us introduce history as a story. What kid wouldn’t love that? We also have friends with older children who rave about these books and the results they’ve seen with their own kids. We’re hoping we can begin reading this book simply as a series of bedtime stories and letting Pea work through the accompanying activity books during the day. She loves when things “magically happen” during the day that she’s been learning about someplace else. That really helps her learn to make her own connections between what she reads and things that happen in her own life.

Feel free to share your own experiences with these books, especially if there are unseen pitfalls we need to look out for!

If You’re Healthy And You Know It, Give Munch Money!

June 7, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Ok, hope that got your attention…

My buddy Munch is in need of a heart transplant, and right now he’s in desperate need of assistance paying for the drugs to help him survive until a new heart comes through.

His condition was caused by a virus, not lifestyle–definitely not the kind of guy who got here because he wasn’t taking care of himself if that’s what you are wondering. He’s a rugby player, surfer, and sometimes professional fisherman who was still showing up for training wearing a pacemaker when I met him. He just made sure we knew he wasn’t available for tackling. Plus, the guy already gave ass cancer a beat down, so you know he’s a real fighter.

I know many people who land on this site appreciate their own health and live active lifestyles. Let’s show our appreciation by helping a guy like us get back to doing what he loves!

Circle of Death Revised – Zombie Sprints

June 4, 2012 / / 3 Comments

I worked up a re-vamped version of the Circle of Death Workout for The Missus to try out at the gym yesterday, and she said it was pretty tough. I’m trying to make it a little more focused on sprints instead of distance. I still like the version I posted before which began and ended with a two mile run that was completely wrecked by the exercises preceding it, but doing the Crossfit 1/2 Murph the other day was a little too similar, so I looked for a way to make a variation.

In the spirit of recent events, I think I’ll call this one “Zombie Sprints”.

The running track at my gym is 1/10 mile, so it’s built around that, but you can change the distances for the run to fit your needs.

10 Reps For Time

Rep 1: Run 4 laps (.4 miles) then perform 10 pull ups, 10 pushups, 10 squats, 10 burpees, and a 1 minute plank

Rep 2: Run 4 laps (.4 miles) then perform 9 pull ups, 9 push ups, 9 squats, 9 burpees, and a 1 minute plank

Rep 3: Run 4 laps (.4 miles) then perform 8 pull ups, 8 push ups, 8 squats, 8 burpees, and a 1 minute plank

And so on, down to 1…

The planks are 1 minute as long as they aren’t broken, but every time a plank is broken you add an extra 15 seconds of plank (2 minute max). So you can drop it if you want, but it will mean 15 more seconds of plank. Not worth it to me.

The total run for this workout is 4 miles, just like the one I posted before, but the miles are broken up to encourage a faster pace.

We’ll see how it goes.

[Image Credit]

A New Racing Blueprint

May 25, 2012 / / 0 Comments

I’ve had some time to do some reading, thinking, and listening to podcasts since I wrote my IM 70.3 FL race report, and it has me thinking I need to change some things for the future with hydration and nutrition. As much as I ate, and as much as I drank, I’m now thinking it may not have been enough. I’ve never used salt either.

A fall marathon is going to give me a good opportunity to try some things out on a race that’s a couple of hours shorter (hopefully), but still very physically demanding.

I still think my bike pace was dead on, but maybe my run expectations were unreasonable for a variety of reasons. I’ll figure it out. In the meantime, I’m going to try to tear through an Oly distance race in a few weeks and redeem myself a little.

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2012 IM 70.3 FL – Haines City Race Report

May 22, 2012 / / 7 Comments

It usually takes me a couple of days to digest a triathlon and what happened during the race. The longer it takes me to complete the race, the longer I need to stew over it. “Stew” is appropriate term for this race, because I got cooked. I have a feeling many race reports will read similar to mine, but here’s my take on it…

Friday

Arrived at the expo at around 1 pm. The plan was to get there early while there were no crowds, which I did. The first thing I did was check out transition, where I was happy to see assigned spots on the racks. Nobody wants to worry about stuff being moved after setup, so I’m sure it put many minds at ease. I was also happy to see that I had a pretty good spot–third from the end of a rack. Next, I walked down to the beach to check out the swim course. The water didn’t exactly look inviting, but the ‘M’ shape of the course made it look shorter and less intimidating than courses this long usually appear. On to get checked in, which went very smoothly. T-shirts were good quality and were not covered by  sponsor logos like NASCAR vehicles, which I also liked. Also included in the SWAG was a very nice swim/run bag. It’s not really big enough for a tri bag, but it is sturdy and has a nice zippered bottom.

After checking in, I headed up towards the Disney area to check into our place for the weekend, made a quick trip to the grocery store and Pollo Tropical for dinner that night. The rest of the family arrived about ~5:30, and we wolfed down dinner and headed to Hollywood Studios for a couple of hours. I learned how to draw Pluto there. It’s seriously the best drawing I’ve ever done, and that’s sad.

Also, it’s probably the most impressive performance for the weekend, which is even more sad.

Saturday

I stayed away from the race and everything involved with it, which was a good decision. I did see some photos of the expo on Twitter that afternoon, and there were big crowds, making me glad I’d taken care of everything the day before. The Missus had a baby shower to attend, so she took the infant with her while I sat poolside (in the shade) while the oldest two went nuts for the afternoon. Some Orlando friends come over with their kids, which was awesome. I spent the entire afternoon, dinner, and evening hanging out with people who don’t do triathlons and don’t give a crap about them. So there wasn’t the usual time spent obsessing about the race and talking about training–very relaxing. Even the usual stress over packing was avoided because I was given an awesome gift–a great new transition bag that zips open and lets you see everything…no more packing and unpacking 100 times  making sure you have everything. Was asleep by 10:00.

Race Day

Got up at 4:00 am and headed towards Haines City. Parking was no problem, and getting everything set up in transition went very smoothly. I made sure my tires were properly inflated and spinning around without rubbing on anything, grabbed a Gu and a bottle of Ironman Perform and went down to the beach to relax before the swim start. A lot of people were pretty caught up in the fact that Lance Armstrong was in the race, snapping photos in transition and standing up on the beach all morning to try to get  a glimpse of him in the swim warmup and start. I’m not saying it wasn’t exciting that he was in the race (and man…did he kill it or what?), but I decided he was just Competitor Number 4 and to focus on what I needed to do. That meant sitting down and relaxing as much as possible before the start.

Swim (42:38)

The biggest advantage of doing a WTC event (this was my first) is that the organization is incredible. Everything happened on time. I was in the 9th wave, about 35 minutes after the pros started. One big difference I noticed on the swim from other open water tris I’ve done is that it wasn’t a 300 yard washing machine and then clear swimming–it was pretty crowded the whole time, at least for me. When I got out of the water I glanced down at my watch and was very disappointed to see I was in the 40s. I was really expecting ~37 minutes, and 39 at the worst. I noticed that even the pros swam a little slower than normal though, so I guess that could translate into a few minutes difference for a guy like me. Either way, I’d decided months ago not to let the swim affect what I do later because it’s such a small part of the race overall. I don’t really put much into the swim, so I don’t expect that much out of it. My goal up until now has always been to just glide through it with as few strokes as possible and expend minimal energy. More on that later.

T1 (3:12)

Very happy with my transitions. No issues at all, even with putting on my HR strap. I decided to put my bike shoes on before mounting, and I’m glad I did. The start was on a slight uphill and there was lots of traffic. I passed several people in the first half mile wrestling with their shoes.

Bike (2:47:43 / 20.03 mph)

Right at the start I felt like I had my breaks on. I jumped off and found that my brakes were rubbing my back tire. Yes, I checked this before the start, but things get bumped around in transition, so I didn’t sweat it. A quick fix and I was going again. No significant time lost. The first half of the course was really fast, but I made sure not to fall into that trap. I took  it easy and didn’t let the heart rate float above 140. I was still passing a lot more people than were passing me (thanks slow swim), and made sure I took in plenty of fluids and food on schedule. I made it to the big hill at mile 27 at over 21 mph, and average HR under 140. I was really saving up for the upcoming rollers and the run. I did attack on the hills, but made sure to recover at every opportunity. The second half of this course is definitely more challenging than the first, but if you conserve in the beginning it will pay off. I was passing a lot more people at the end of the ride than at the beginning, and my heart rate was still where I wanted it to be.

This bike course is nice! Except for a really bumpy stretch on Masterpiece, it’s pretty smooth. It was a really fun ride! For the first time ever in a race, I didn’t want to get off the bike and run. However, I was looking forward to what I’d set myself up for, having saved up all that energy and riding according to the plan.

T2 (2:33)

As smooth as I could have hoped for. Removed my shoes while I was still on the bike, which helped speed things along. I did forget to grab another Gu, but no worries since I could grab one at the aid station. One thing I’m happy I did was leave a water bottle for myself to take on the run exit. It’s about a mile from the run start to the first aid station, and I heard some grumblings about that during the first mile of the run.

Know the course.

Run (2:20:58)

Aside from the typical transition legs, I left T2 feeling good. My heart rate immediately jumped up to the mid 150s, but I wasn’t too worried about that. I knew was probably running a little faster pace than I felt like I was, so I tried my best to slow down. That’s usually the case when I get off the bike–any pace feels slow just because the scenery has been going by so fast for the last couple of hours. I fought up the first hill, even though my HRM was beeping and telling me to walk. I listened halfway up the next hill, but my heart rate never dropped very much; about 157 was the best I could get it to. But I could still run and maintain that, so I did. I finished the first lap with a 9:48 pace, which was just a tad faster than I wanted to be. I started calculating in my head what my finish time would be if I could do that one more time and possibly speed up for the last 5k. The first hill won the battle the second time around, and by the time I got to mile 5 I was at 10 minute miles. I started doing the math and trying to hold that pace.

Then the wheels started falling off.

The last 8 miles turned into the hardest run I can remember doing. The real race of the day for everyone was against the weather and trying to finish before it got too hot. I lost that race, and once it got hot it kept getting hotter. About the only way I could get any relief for the heart rate was to fill my jersey with ice, but that didn’t last very long. It was also tough for me to take in enough fluid to replace what I was losing and continue to run without some serious sloshing.

PR hopes were fading quickly, so I focused on calculating what I needed to do for a sub 6:00:00 finish. That kept my mind occupied for a while because I was run-drunk, but I knew it was getting really bad when I couldn’t remember what mile I was on. At that point, I stopped my watch. I was tired of hearing the HRM alarm anyway, and I decided to focus on going as fast as I could in the moment and let the chips fall where they may. I was somewhere in the last 5k, and that’s all I needed to know.

I looked at the results for some other people in my wave, and it looks like many of them have similar stories. There were a lot of people walking up those two hills, not just me. Yeah, it was really only one kind of big hill and one medium hill, but on a three lap course in that heat, it turned into six pretty big hills.

This run course is deceptively difficult in hot conditions. Don’t underestimate it.

Finish Line and Post-race

I picked off one last person just before the finish, and I got picked off by one last person just before the finish. I’m not sure if I just looked horrible, or if they’d been pulling a lot of people to the medical tent (maybe both?), but I was immediately asked if I was ok. Now I have an idea how boxers who’ve been knocked down 2 of the allotted 3 times in a round must feel. I’m just happy I didn’t get knocked down that third time, and I was glad to preserve my 5:57:04, getting a finisher’s medal and hat as a bonus.

I was greeted by my 4 biggest fans immediately.

Then I crawled to the nearest shade I could find and took my shoes off.  They were soaked for most of the run, and my feet took a pretty good beating.

After a couple of bottles of water, I’d recovered enough to walk the oldest young’un to a porta-potty and hold her a few inches off the seat so she could do her thing–everyone who does stuff like this needs to be reminded that it’s not really about them–then I crawled back to my cave. The family headed back to the resort to get out of the heat while I headed over to the Athlete’s Lounge to get refreshed. Now here’s my only real complaint…not a single cold-cold beer to be found! I think a fella ought to be treated to at least one cold-cold beer after something like that. I can handle a limited selection of food. In fact, that burger was mighty tasty and the soda (which I never drink) was amazing. But it left me thinking that a cold-cold beer could have been that much better.

I will go on record here saying that you get what you pay for with WTC events. It was the biggest, most organized, and smoothly operated triathlon I’ve ever done. Bonus points for pulling it off so successfully at a brand new venue. I was at the same race at Disney a couple of years ago as a spectator, and this venue was much more spectator friendly. The aid stations were very well stocked and staffed as well, and the volunteers were amazing. It was also great to see so many people out along the bike course to watch the race and cheer. That’s something you usually only see at bigger marathons. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a spectator on a rural bike route like that during a tri, so thanks to the good people of Polk County for coming out and making us feel so welcomed in the very first year at this location.

The Day After

We had an 11:00 am character breakfast reservation at Chef Mickey’s to celebrate someone’s successful potty training (not mine), and I was ready to tear into it. Pro tip: book character breakfasts as late as possible here and you won’t feel rushed to get out to make room for other people. You’ll also be so full that you won’t need to pay Mouse prices to eat again…it’s basically a huge lunch.

We saw the crowds at Magic Kingdom were going to be nasty, so we opted to go back to Hollywood Studios. It was already looking to be another brutally hot day, and there are lots of things to do in the shade and air conditioning there and at Epcot. We stayed until 8 pm, and this is the first time I’ve ever left a Disney park feeling better physically than I did when I arrived. I did just enough walking to loosen my legs up a little, and there was lots of sitting in the shade and relaxing–the “Honey I Shrunk The Kids Playground” rocks.

I had some time driving home to think about what I could have done better or differently, but most of it is simply training. Initially, I was a little bummed about my time, but not enough to beat myself up over it. I don’t think there’s a whole lot more I could have done on race day. I executed my plan, but the weather didn’t want to cooperate on the run. There’s nothing I could have done to control that other than get waaay faster on the bike. And there’s not much I could have done differently in training based on the program I was using. I was as prepared as I could have been given where I started from. I did all my long runs in the heat of the day, but it didn’t really get hot here until a couple of weeks ago. Again, I couldn’t change that.

And Beyond

Tuesday is P-90x stretching and 15 minutes or so treading water. Wednesday is an hour on the bike. I’ll swim Thursday, rest Friday, run semi-long this weekend, and plan on starting some CrossFit endurance stuff next week.

I’m thinking a June swim clinic could help change some things for me. I’m a reasonably efficient swimmer with a slow turnover, but I think I’ve gone about as far as I can with that and need to learn to turn over faster with efficiency. That will take coaching. My run isn’t where it has been before, which means it’s not where it can be. I’m thinking a fall marathon will help remedy that. I don’t ever want to go into a 70.3 (or longer) again without having done the full run distance within the last 6 months. It had been almost six years since I’d run 13.1 before this race, and that just didn’t have me where I needed to be physically or mentally.

More weight loss is definitely part of the plan as well. That glutinous breakfast was a last hurrah…at least for a little while.

Here are some race reports other people have posted. If you come across any other good ones, let me know in the comments and I’ll link to them!!!

Iron Bob’s Race Report

Phil Castello’s Race Report

KC’s Race Report

Silver Jade Deutch’s Race Report

JC’s Race Report

FST’s Race Report

Libby Bergman’s got a really good, honest race report with a happy ending.

Mauricio Sanchez says it’s the toughest race he’s ever done

Half Triing recommends it!

Beginner Triathlete Race Reports

May 15, 2012 / / 2 Comments

T1

Not counting running from swim exit and to bike mount line because I don’t know how long that will be: 15s

T2

Not counting running from dismount line and to run start because I don’t know how long that will be: 30s

Amped.

Practicing Race Plans In Training

May 10, 2012 / / 3 Comments

My race plans usually aren’t very complicated. I’m just a regular ol’ MOP’er. I don’t have the latest equipment or a coach. I don’t race very often, and I don’t live and breathe triathlon. It’s just fun for me, and I actually enjoy the training more than the racing. I’m not racing anyone but myself anyway…no realistic chance of placing in my age group.

But I loves me a PR.

So here are some of the things I’m thinking about for my upcoming race, and how I work on them in training.

Swim

The course has changed to an ‘M’ shaped swim. Sort of unconventional, and I’ve never done one. As usual, I’d I’d like to take it easy for the first “out” part. I plan for what I want to happen on race day in my training swims by overcompensating for an easy start, swimming the first 500 yards as “long” as I can. This means really reaching and gliding with each stroke; usually about 11 strokes for the 25 yard length, breathing every three strokes. I then do at least 500 with a little faster turnover, breathing every two strokes. Sometimes I’ll go another 500 at that pace. I know I can handle that, and I’d like to pick up the pace a little on the diagonal parts of the ‘M’ on race day. From there, I like to take it easy on the way back, almost a cool down, because I don’t want to transition with a jacked up heart rate and body/mind that isn’t as relaxed as possible.

Now, I know realistically that the adrenaline is going to be a factor at the start, and I also know myself well enough to know that it takes me a couple of hundred yards to settle into an open water swim. And if I find some good feet, I’m jumping on them and riding as long as I can.  But the swim is negligible for my overall time, so I just deal with whatever happens there on race day. I won’t be worried if I swim a little faster than planned, and I won’t be worried if I swim a little slower than planned.

Bike

There are some rollers on this course, and winds could be a factor as well. I have a pretty old bike that never was the latest and greatest, and I don’t have multiple cassettes and wheel options to change based on terrain or what the wind is doing. I keep my strategy here simple. Fight the wind and fight the hills, and relax a little on the downhills and with the wind at my back. I practice this in training all the time. The rationale is pretty simple. When an object, in this case a fat guy on a bike, is going slow it doesn’t take as much energy to increase it’s speed by 1 mph as it does when the object is going fast. It’s tempting to ride harder when the wind is at your back because you can look down and see your mph jump on your computer, but physics says it’s a foolish thing to do. It sucks fighting to stay over 18 mph in a headwind, but it beats giving up and going 16.5.

I stay in aero all the time, or as much as possible. If any sitting up is going on it needs to be standing to power up a hill or, if seated, with wind at my back. Even then, only for a rest. Stay aero.

I like this course for my plan because the course is a loop that starts heading south, then heads back north. The biggest hill is at about mile 27, and there’s a good chance winds will be out of the south. That means I can put a bigger effort in at the beginning going generally uphill and into the wind, and get more of a rest at the end, going generally downhill with wind at my back. That will help with my plan to fight for a pre-determined average speed on the bike and (hopefully) get a chance to try my run strategy out.

Run

I’m doing something here I’ve never done before. Maybe it will work, and maybe it won’t. Either way, it’s a better plan than “just survive”, even if that’s what I end up doing. I’m breaking this run down into 3 separate pieces: 2 five mile sections followed by a 5k. I have paces I’d like to run for each of them, but the hard part is going to be holding those paces. For the first 5, the challenge will be getting up to speed getting off the bike. There will need to be some split differences in these miles. I know from experience that it takes me about a mile to get my legs back from the bike.

For the second 5, the challenge is going to be getting to the right pace in the first mile and then holding it without speeding up. I’m not really concerned with what will happen if I slow down during this section. If I can’t hold the pace for the entire 5, there’s no way I’d be able to race the last 5k anyway, so I’ll be better off saving myself whatever gas I can to get through it. But I don’t want to go faster than my predetermined pace, so I can have as much as possible available for the 5k.

If I make it through the second 5 on pace, it’s a 5k race with whatever is left in the tank. Again, there’s a course advantage here. The course is three loops, and the first part of the loop is uphill. If I can make it to the top of that hill on pace  in the last lap, what I’m left with is a mostly downhill 3 miles or so. That should help with the pace. Again, if I can’t keep on the pace schedule for the first 1o miles, then whatever happens happens.

To train for this, I’m going out and doing short runs and trying to hit those paces. For instance, I’ll do a one mile warm up, then try to do my first mile at the pace I plan on running the first 5 during the race. For the second mile, I’ll try to hit my planned pace for the second 5 during the race. And for the last mile, I go at the 5k pace I’d like to hit on race day. I’m actually doing my long run this weekend with the same strategy, but using 2 miles instead of one for each planned section.

It’s worth noting that this entire, detailed, thought-out plan is a product of two things: (1) Not listening to music when I run, so I have nothing to do but think about this and (2) Tapering right now, so I’m obsessed with thinking about this race. If you are using this plan as advice, keep in mind that it’s free advice, and it’s worth about what you paid for it…if that.

In a way, I’m looking forward to this all being over with so I can go back to worrying about what new features Google is pushing out this week. Or maybe I’ll keep up with the Kardashians for a day or two until I’m so repulsed that I want to train for something again.

 

 

Saving Time During Taper Time

May 9, 2012 / / 0 Comments

70.3 tapering doesn’t drive me nuts the way marathon tapering does for a few of reasons. First of all, the taper is two weeks instead of three. I think I’d actually do better with a two week taper for the marathon as well, but I’d have to train for another one to prove that, and I’m not that interested in it right now. Ouch.

Also, the taper doesn’t provide much rest for the training program I’ve been using. The workouts let up a little, but not that much until the second week. It’s just a slight drop off for the first week, and I’m so eager to be lazy at this point that it doesn’t feel like enough. I can’t wait until next week when the real drop off happens. At least for the first couple of days anyway, then I’ll start freaking out and thinking my fitness is going to disappear.

The biggest sanity saving factor for triathlon tapers is that you can use up all that extra energy practicing transitions and freaking out over how you are going to pack. Inevitably, this leads to searching the internet, reading blogs, and watching people give transition advice on YouTube.

Here’s what I’ve learned so far: 90% of the people on YouTube have no idea what the hell they are talking about and pack way too much crap.

I saw one video that was touting a 30 second transition. Now, after the guy got his wetsuit off (that doesn’t count for transition time?) there was 34 seconds of edited video showing him transitioning. He didn’t have his shoes in his pedals and spent most of his time on that. I do give them props for using music that sounds like it’s from “The A Team” or “C.H.I.P.S.” though.

And the bags people pack are amazing. I’ll admit to packing two pair of goggles, but that’s about where my excess packing stops. And I eat a lot during one of these events, but I get as much of that as I can from the aid stations. I’ve even cut back on the things I packed for my last race. Not bringing my own post-race beverages this time. No HRM either.

That’s right homie…I’m going for broke on the bike. I’ve decided on a minimum speed I need to hit my time goal, and I’m going to maintain it. If I bonk the run because of it, so be it. Bike is my best opportunity to meet my goal.

Speaking of the bike–a bento box with a couple of GUs, one sports drink bottle and one water bottle are all I bring with me on the bike, and the water is mostly used for, ahem, “flushing”. I’ve seen bikes with gallons of liquid on them and GUs taped all over the frame. I do have one other bottle on my bike, but that’s packed with a spare tube, tire change tools, and CO2.

I plan on picking up a couple of minutes off my last race just by practicing transitions.

T1 should be pretty fast, it’s basically three actions.

  1. Put on helmet
  2. Fasten race belt.
  3. Unrack bike

I’ll be wiping my feet while I’m doing these and will use my water bottle to clean any remaining sand off my feet out on the course before putting them in my shoes. There’s no problem having enough food and liquid to get to the first aid station at 18 miles.

T2 will be take a little longer–six actions, and I’m wearing socks for the run.

  1. Rack bike
  2. Sit down
  3. Remove helmet (while wiping feet)
  4. Put on socks
  5. Put on shoes
  6. Grab visor while standing up

The biggest hiccups I’ve had in my practice transitions so far have been not leaving my shoes wide open enough (on bike and run) to get my feet into them easily.

And I won’t leave you hanging. Here are two videos that are actually helpful from Dave Scott, who knows a little bit about going fast.


On MCA

May 4, 2012 / / 0 Comments

My reaction to MCA’s death: Wow…on top of it being really sad that he’s gone, it makes me feel old.

Her reaction: Well, at least you’re on the young side of old.

Droppin’ science like Galileo dropped the orange and expanding the rhymes of sucka MC amateurs.

One Run = One Spin?

May 2, 2012 / / 0 Comments

I’m opting out of running for the rest of the week to let my calf heal up, but I’m trying to make up for it on the bike. Last night I went to a spin class at our gym for the first time.  I thought I could push hard for an hour there and basically substitute the affects of an hour long run.

I averaged HR 141 for the duration, with more time that I’d usually like near my LT, but that’s still a higher average HR than I’d usually keep on an hour bike ride and about what I’d register for an easy one hour run.

The spin bikes at the gym have power meters too, which is probably not a good thing for me three weeks out from a race. I always want to get a high score when I see something like that being measured. I was able to maintain 300W for a few intervals, but I’d really like to ride paying more attention to it. And I’d LOVE to have a power meter on my bike.

I forgot to check at the end of the ride and see what my average power was for the ride, but I’m guessing somewhere ~250. Does that seem reasonable? I’ve read good amateur cyclists should be able to do 3W/kg for an hour, and I’m 92 kg right now.

I’ll definitely be going back to these classes often when the race is finished and I can start collecting that kind of data. I still think I’ve got a lot of time to pick up on the bike in the future.

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