Yes,
I am here. For the few of you who email back and forth with me, you have known what I have been up to. Last week was my week 9 in my now 19 week training program (was 20, and then after I started the program for my race, they rescheduled the race a week earlier this year), and I decided to make it a rest/recovery week due to scheduling. I only got in two workouts, and I worked every day including 4 doubles last week, three of which were back to back to back. Kinda like "wash, rinse repeat." Except mine was "Bank, Wolfgang, sleep."
I have some updates on my race schedule for this year. I have officially signed up for the West Point Triathlon that is on Sunday August 26th. I will be racing with Wes in this event. I had to rack my brain on how I wanted my season to progress with my last race of the year I am anticipating to be the South Carolina Half. My schedule calls for one Olympic race and one Sprint race in the latter part of my training program. There was really no other option as far as a "local" Olympic distance race. However I think this will work out really well considering that while I am having to reschedule my training by 1 week for my taper, putting the shorter distance race seems to work well with my taper period. I will follow up the West Point Triathlon with my regimented annual race now (this is my 3rd season, and I have participated every year), the Tri-PTC. This is a Sprint distance triathlon two weeks after West Point, and one of my more favorite local races.
Tonight was pretty crappy. I was supposed to do a late night workout at the pool, and when I got there, I noticed that there was no one in the LA Fitness parking lot. I went up to the front door and there was a sign saying that it was closed due to Renovations until Friday. Well that sucks. So I came home and made some dinner, and started watching some of Stage 16 of the Tour de France. Vini sucks!!! He is one of the better cyclists in the world. He did not have to screw up his career by cheating. Sure he might not have done as well, but just to be known as one of the better cyclists in history, as well as one of the better cyclists of the Tour de France would be good enough for me.
That is about all I have for now, I want to get some reading in before I go to bed, as well as watch some more of the Tour. If I can think of anything else, I will post it tomorrow.
Murtha...
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Rain, Rain Go Away (At least for my bike training days)...
So,
Three out of the last four "bike training" days that I have had, it has rained. Now, as bad as Georgia needs the rain, it has all day and night to rain outside the few hours of each workout I have on my bike. Oh well, at least it keeps everything cool. It was probably only 70-75 degrees during and after the rain, and it would have been 85-87 degrees without the rain and humidity. Mallie jinxed me up here in Atlanta, I think ;)
There were only 20-25 people that were there for the ride, I think due to weather (c'mon people, a little rain will not hurt you!). James was out there tonight with me. Start was a bit slower, and this time I sucked his wheel going through the first hill. I stayed up with the group until the golf course, and then I began to lose them. As I was catching up with them through the first series of hills after the golf course, well, you know the "hill effect." And what makes it worse is that I am already a bit more cautious than the best riders there. Henceforth, the DROP.
One of the riders from team Cycleworks was in charge of the "second group," which I was leading. Well the funny part is that everyone behind me in the second (last) group decided they did not want to do the Oglethorpe Univ/Silver Lake area, so I was by myself. Except that the rider from the team decided to stay with me. We chatted for awhile, and I did not get his name ( I will next time). We traded places, and I think that when he got behind my wheel it was to let me set the pace and push me. When we got towards the last 1/4 of the ride though, I began trying to push the hills (not 110%, but more like 95%) and I turned around and he was not there. I got to the light at the top of the first ascent, and then he caught up. I did not say anything, but I was thinking, WTF??? The second ascent before we got to Chastain park (pretty much the final stretch with my dreaded large rollers). he got dropped. You must be kidding me. His chain must have broken or something. There is NO WAY this guy dropped. I finished up and James was waiting on me. As I was packing my bike, the guy pulled in and was talking to his teammates. I overheard, "yeah I have a Velodrome race tomorrow, and I was taking it easy tonight..." Well there you go.
With the rain, and not pushing it 110%, I finished in approximately 1:37:00.00. I am ok with that.
I will hopefully be signed up for a race in August after the weekend is over, and I have it narrowed down to two races. I am kind of excited. I also need to sign up for South Carolina half by the end of the month to get around the price increase. Crap. Yet another month of spending. IT NEVER ENDS.
In other news (on the topic of spending) I need to get new work pants for Wolfgang Puck. Holes are starting to form in the seams (in certain places) and they are just looking nasty, no matter how much I clean them. I also have not bought new "bank" clothes for work in almost 2 years. Why, well, because I am a guy, and because it costs money. But it is needed. I will use some Clark Howard tactics though, and try to shop around and save a few dollars.
I think I am going to skip my Thu night ride to ensure that I get some more running/swimming in this week. I am only working Sunday lunch shift. This means I have ALL day Saturday to train, and then Sunday morning early and Sunday afternoon/evening.
I'll keep you posted. Let's see if it rains on Thursday, since I will be training, but not on my bike.
Murtha...
Three out of the last four "bike training" days that I have had, it has rained. Now, as bad as Georgia needs the rain, it has all day and night to rain outside the few hours of each workout I have on my bike. Oh well, at least it keeps everything cool. It was probably only 70-75 degrees during and after the rain, and it would have been 85-87 degrees without the rain and humidity. Mallie jinxed me up here in Atlanta, I think ;)
There were only 20-25 people that were there for the ride, I think due to weather (c'mon people, a little rain will not hurt you!). James was out there tonight with me. Start was a bit slower, and this time I sucked his wheel going through the first hill. I stayed up with the group until the golf course, and then I began to lose them. As I was catching up with them through the first series of hills after the golf course, well, you know the "hill effect." And what makes it worse is that I am already a bit more cautious than the best riders there. Henceforth, the DROP.
One of the riders from team Cycleworks was in charge of the "second group," which I was leading. Well the funny part is that everyone behind me in the second (last) group decided they did not want to do the Oglethorpe Univ/Silver Lake area, so I was by myself. Except that the rider from the team decided to stay with me. We chatted for awhile, and I did not get his name ( I will next time). We traded places, and I think that when he got behind my wheel it was to let me set the pace and push me. When we got towards the last 1/4 of the ride though, I began trying to push the hills (not 110%, but more like 95%) and I turned around and he was not there. I got to the light at the top of the first ascent, and then he caught up. I did not say anything, but I was thinking, WTF??? The second ascent before we got to Chastain park (pretty much the final stretch with my dreaded large rollers). he got dropped. You must be kidding me. His chain must have broken or something. There is NO WAY this guy dropped. I finished up and James was waiting on me. As I was packing my bike, the guy pulled in and was talking to his teammates. I overheard, "yeah I have a Velodrome race tomorrow, and I was taking it easy tonight..." Well there you go.
With the rain, and not pushing it 110%, I finished in approximately 1:37:00.00. I am ok with that.
I will hopefully be signed up for a race in August after the weekend is over, and I have it narrowed down to two races. I am kind of excited. I also need to sign up for South Carolina half by the end of the month to get around the price increase. Crap. Yet another month of spending. IT NEVER ENDS.
In other news (on the topic of spending) I need to get new work pants for Wolfgang Puck. Holes are starting to form in the seams (in certain places) and they are just looking nasty, no matter how much I clean them. I also have not bought new "bank" clothes for work in almost 2 years. Why, well, because I am a guy, and because it costs money. But it is needed. I will use some Clark Howard tactics though, and try to shop around and save a few dollars.
I think I am going to skip my Thu night ride to ensure that I get some more running/swimming in this week. I am only working Sunday lunch shift. This means I have ALL day Saturday to train, and then Sunday morning early and Sunday afternoon/evening.
I'll keep you posted. Let's see if it rains on Thursday, since I will be training, but not on my bike.
Murtha...
Monday, July 09, 2007
Weekend Events...
I hope all of you had a good weekend...
Short recap and then on to bigger and better parts of my post.
Saturday: Nothing - and there is nothing you can do about it :-b
Sunday: 50 mile Ride with Wes and his wife on the Silver Comet trail.
I got home from the Bank at about 1:00p on Saturday afternoon, a basketcase. I told myself that there are more important things to do rather than a workout, so I got some stuff done around the house, watched some of the prolouge of the Tour de France, and chilled out. Then it was back to work at Wolfgang Puck Express by 5:30p. This weekend at the restaurant was rough. They were high on labor costs, so they kept cutting people early (and of course it got busy). The HVAC broke on Saturday as well, so we were only running Air Conditioning in half the restaurant. Fun Stuff.
Wes posted to my blog earlier in the week wanting to know about working out at the SCT on Sunday morning (50 miler). It was supposed to be his peak bike workout before his taper (I think) for his Olympic Race in August. Hmmm, let me think.... yes! I must be crazy, because I worked a double with 5 hours of sleep on Friday, then a double with 5 hours of Sleep on Saturday, and then get up at 6am Sunday for this crazy ride. We all went a a training pace for the first 10 miles until Dee Dee turned around and headed back to the car, then it was soooooo on!
I don't know how Wes felt during the entire ride, but I felt like we were pounding it the entire time. It seemed like we were trying to make up for warm up time during the ride. I took in some nutrition during the ride in the way of Gu and Accelerade, and had some Nuun in my "water" bottle. On the way back in my legs seemed to be tiring, but I somehow found that extra bit of "oomph" that we all search for late in our workouts, and most of the time we do find it. We had another small group on the way back in the last 5-6 miles where we took turns pulling. At that point it was which group of us was going to hammer harder.
When we got done I told Wes I would call him later in the day about the swim, and then it was off to take care of cats and work! The kittens are hellions right now, and so you have to have paitence with them (which I had none of last night, I was exhausted). We were short yet again on Sunday, and so by the time I got off work at the Sauana, uh I mean very hot restaurant, it was going to be too late to hook up with Wes and Dee Dee for their evening swim. So I called Jackie to see what was going on. We went and got some dinner and then it was off to my sister's apartment to spend the night with the cats. I will say a definate positive was that it only took me 10-15 min to get to work this morning from her apartment, rather than the usual 45 min or more from Austell.
This week should be good.
There we go, positive mental attitude on a Monday morning, I love it.
Murtha...
Short recap and then on to bigger and better parts of my post.
Saturday: Nothing - and there is nothing you can do about it :-b
Sunday: 50 mile Ride with Wes and his wife on the Silver Comet trail.
I got home from the Bank at about 1:00p on Saturday afternoon, a basketcase. I told myself that there are more important things to do rather than a workout, so I got some stuff done around the house, watched some of the prolouge of the Tour de France, and chilled out. Then it was back to work at Wolfgang Puck Express by 5:30p. This weekend at the restaurant was rough. They were high on labor costs, so they kept cutting people early (and of course it got busy). The HVAC broke on Saturday as well, so we were only running Air Conditioning in half the restaurant. Fun Stuff.
Wes posted to my blog earlier in the week wanting to know about working out at the SCT on Sunday morning (50 miler). It was supposed to be his peak bike workout before his taper (I think) for his Olympic Race in August. Hmmm, let me think.... yes! I must be crazy, because I worked a double with 5 hours of sleep on Friday, then a double with 5 hours of Sleep on Saturday, and then get up at 6am Sunday for this crazy ride. We all went a a training pace for the first 10 miles until Dee Dee turned around and headed back to the car, then it was soooooo on!
I don't know how Wes felt during the entire ride, but I felt like we were pounding it the entire time. It seemed like we were trying to make up for warm up time during the ride. I took in some nutrition during the ride in the way of Gu and Accelerade, and had some Nuun in my "water" bottle. On the way back in my legs seemed to be tiring, but I somehow found that extra bit of "oomph" that we all search for late in our workouts, and most of the time we do find it. We had another small group on the way back in the last 5-6 miles where we took turns pulling. At that point it was which group of us was going to hammer harder.
When we got done I told Wes I would call him later in the day about the swim, and then it was off to take care of cats and work! The kittens are hellions right now, and so you have to have paitence with them (which I had none of last night, I was exhausted). We were short yet again on Sunday, and so by the time I got off work at the Sauana, uh I mean very hot restaurant, it was going to be too late to hook up with Wes and Dee Dee for their evening swim. So I called Jackie to see what was going on. We went and got some dinner and then it was off to my sister's apartment to spend the night with the cats. I will say a definate positive was that it only took me 10-15 min to get to work this morning from her apartment, rather than the usual 45 min or more from Austell.
This week should be good.
There we go, positive mental attitude on a Monday morning, I love it.
Murtha...
Friday, July 06, 2007
Weekday workouts, My encounter with Get Fit Atlanta, and a bad time to take Excedrin
I am feeling somewhat recovered today. I'll go through the motions first, but without stats, I don't have any of them with me.
Monday was a track workout where my main set was a 6x400
Tuesday was the Sandy Springs ride. James came with me, and he rode with the front group. He said that they are very unorganized and dangerous at times compared to the Roswell Thursday night rides.
Wednesday was nothing. It was a holiday damnit!
Thursday I tried to get in some intervals on my bike, I only got in 4 and then averaged probably 17mph the rest of the ride. More to follow on this below.
Monday I tried going to Osborne High School again for my track workout. This time they had it on lockdown. I didn't feel like climbing the high fence. This sucks. I have payed taxes for years now, as has my family, and a portion of that goes to pay for the public school system. All I want to do is use the track at a PUBLIC SCHOOL. Oh well, there is another high school to try about 5-10 minutes down the road. Yeah!!! it is open! Wait, what are all the people doing here? Soon to find out there is a coaching organization called Get Fit Atlanta had there track workout that day as well. I just mixed in with the group, and did my own thing. I later that night checked out their website, and they are raking it in, if they have enough members of course. There were about 40 people there.
Tuesday, as I stated before, James came with me for his first try at the Sandy Springs ride. I know that this ride is easier than riding up in Roswell, so he should end up in the front behind a few people (only because it was his first time). I stayed with the group this time further than I have ever been before (getting dropped), and it was to my detriment. I ended up as a basket case for the rest of the first half of the ride, and finally recovered enough to finish in an average time for the entire ride. I am kind of sad for the entire group. The past couple of years there were about 10-20 people that we either as fast as me, or just a bit slower. So on those past rides there would be about 3-4 of us and then the remainder would be in the final group behind me. I think due to the pace of how the front group wants to run, people got demoralized and quit coming. This now puts me at the back. Not that I have a problem, however, this is supposed to be an 18mph recovery ride, and ALWAYS turns into a 20mph ride easy. Only reason I did not finish dead last this week is that someone wrecked in the Lake neighborhood.
Wednesday I spent the afternoon at my sister's pool (at her apartment complex) and imbibed just a bit. I then had to work. We stayed late afterwards and had a few beers, and then I went home. I had a bad headache, and decided that the best course of action would be to take Excedrine Migrane. Bad idea!!! I don't drink caffinated beverages much anymore. There was enough caffine to keep me awake most of the night. I was a train wreck on Thursday. That basically translated into my crappy workout last night. I just did not feel on. I did get some intervals in though.
This weekend is going to be rough. Double today, double tomorrow, Sunday lunch at the Puck, and then double Monday. Skirted my swims again this week. Bad Andy!!! I think I might have an open water for Sunday morning. If I get at least 1 swim in with my brick and endurance run this weekend, I will be happy.
Working this 2nd job is really wearing on me. When I first started, I was working 4-5 shifts a week making more money, and having a good time. Now I am working 3-4 shifts a week, making less money, and my attitude has changed at that job. I try to be as positive as possible (since it is a customer service oriented job), but it just leaves me drained at the end of the day. Oh well, it is a means to an end. Hopefully be the end of the year the majority of my debt will be paid off and I will not only have that money to save, etc, but I will have all that time back to do what I want to do. No more debt = New tri gear!!! :)
I'll keep you posted on my weekend, other than that, I am just going to read all of your blogs!
Murtha...
Monday was a track workout where my main set was a 6x400
Tuesday was the Sandy Springs ride. James came with me, and he rode with the front group. He said that they are very unorganized and dangerous at times compared to the Roswell Thursday night rides.
Wednesday was nothing. It was a holiday damnit!
Thursday I tried to get in some intervals on my bike, I only got in 4 and then averaged probably 17mph the rest of the ride. More to follow on this below.
Monday I tried going to Osborne High School again for my track workout. This time they had it on lockdown. I didn't feel like climbing the high fence. This sucks. I have payed taxes for years now, as has my family, and a portion of that goes to pay for the public school system. All I want to do is use the track at a PUBLIC SCHOOL. Oh well, there is another high school to try about 5-10 minutes down the road. Yeah!!! it is open! Wait, what are all the people doing here? Soon to find out there is a coaching organization called Get Fit Atlanta had there track workout that day as well. I just mixed in with the group, and did my own thing. I later that night checked out their website, and they are raking it in, if they have enough members of course. There were about 40 people there.
Tuesday, as I stated before, James came with me for his first try at the Sandy Springs ride. I know that this ride is easier than riding up in Roswell, so he should end up in the front behind a few people (only because it was his first time). I stayed with the group this time further than I have ever been before (getting dropped), and it was to my detriment. I ended up as a basket case for the rest of the first half of the ride, and finally recovered enough to finish in an average time for the entire ride. I am kind of sad for the entire group. The past couple of years there were about 10-20 people that we either as fast as me, or just a bit slower. So on those past rides there would be about 3-4 of us and then the remainder would be in the final group behind me. I think due to the pace of how the front group wants to run, people got demoralized and quit coming. This now puts me at the back. Not that I have a problem, however, this is supposed to be an 18mph recovery ride, and ALWAYS turns into a 20mph ride easy. Only reason I did not finish dead last this week is that someone wrecked in the Lake neighborhood.
Wednesday I spent the afternoon at my sister's pool (at her apartment complex) and imbibed just a bit. I then had to work. We stayed late afterwards and had a few beers, and then I went home. I had a bad headache, and decided that the best course of action would be to take Excedrine Migrane. Bad idea!!! I don't drink caffinated beverages much anymore. There was enough caffine to keep me awake most of the night. I was a train wreck on Thursday. That basically translated into my crappy workout last night. I just did not feel on. I did get some intervals in though.
This weekend is going to be rough. Double today, double tomorrow, Sunday lunch at the Puck, and then double Monday. Skirted my swims again this week. Bad Andy!!! I think I might have an open water for Sunday morning. If I get at least 1 swim in with my brick and endurance run this weekend, I will be happy.
Working this 2nd job is really wearing on me. When I first started, I was working 4-5 shifts a week making more money, and having a good time. Now I am working 3-4 shifts a week, making less money, and my attitude has changed at that job. I try to be as positive as possible (since it is a customer service oriented job), but it just leaves me drained at the end of the day. Oh well, it is a means to an end. Hopefully be the end of the year the majority of my debt will be paid off and I will not only have that money to save, etc, but I will have all that time back to do what I want to do. No more debt = New tri gear!!! :)
I'll keep you posted on my weekend, other than that, I am just going to read all of your blogs!
Murtha...
Monday, July 02, 2007
Recapping the weekend...
Well,
This weekend went really well. I did not double up on my workouts like I would have wanted to do, but that is fine. I had more important things to do, like hang out with friends, family, etc. Saturday morning I worked, and then went home and got some stuff done. Laundry, Cleaning the bathroom, cleaning the bedroom, etc... I was also waiting for the temperature of the afternoon to come down a bit. I also was in the hunt for a different running location. If any of you are ever looking for something different for the bike or the run, I think you need to choose these two websites out.
Map My Run
Map My Ride
I ended up doing a 5K from Kennesaw Mtn State Park over to downtown Marietta, 5 min break for Gu and Stretching, and then 5K back to my car at the Park. I will have to say, I probably should not have stopped for that short break (as much as I needed to stretch), since my lap average really suffered after that. I was taking it easy, so I was trying for 9:30/mi pace, and I pretty much hit that on the way out, but on the way back in there was a large stretch of road that was 11:30-11:45/mi. The last mile was flat/downhill, so I was able to get my heartrate back down and increase the pace faster again.
Sunday, I got up early (8:00a for Sunday) and I went to the gym to put in some laps. This is the one workout I have been slacking on lately. I did a 100M warmup, 50M worth of drills (just swimming on my sides) and then did 2x400M free drills. I did not time myself, I just did them as best as I could technique-wise. Halfway throught my second 400M I had to keep refocusing on what the heck I was doing. There was a lady who was in the lane next to me, and we were swimming about the same pace, so it was easy for me to see if I was off pace or not, from my RPE.
After that I spent the rest of the day down on the south side of Atlanta visiting with my aunt and uncle, and then my best friend and his wife. It was good to see all of them again.
This week is going to be pretty hectic for me. I will be working all weekend long, so I will have to get in over half my workouts during the week. I am also working at night on the 4th. Booo. The funny thing is that the fancy 4 star restaurant next door is only going to be open early in the morning for the Peachtree Road Race, and then closing promptly at 10:00a. We're opening at 2:00p and then staying open until 9:30p. Now you know at 9:30p no one is going to be there, because they are all going to be out watching fireworks and cooking out. They are going to waste all that money on labor and operating costs for the little money that they are going to make. I am sure Wes can throw his two cents in (since he is in the restaurant business) about how well as fast casual restaurant does on the holdidays (not well).
Oh, I also was up Sunday morning checking out the European Ironman Championship. I used to speak German very well, and now I hardly know any. I picked up some on what the announcer of the program online was saying, but mostly I was just focusing on the race. It was the perfect time in the morning for me as well, since Germany was six hours ahead. By the time I pulled it up on Ironman live, the men were in the last few kilometers of the finish. I was very suprised to see how far back Norman Stadler and Faris Al-Sultan ended up in the race. I guess every race cannot be your best race. However the duel between Nicole Leder and Andrea Brede was awsome!!! Just like a close superbowl or BCS championship game, this finish was great to watch.
Workout tonight, and then two tomorrow. If I can get two in on Thursday or (Thu nigh/Fri morning) then I will be really happy, since that will leave me with two remaining workouts for the weekend, as busy as I am going to be.
Murtha...
This weekend went really well. I did not double up on my workouts like I would have wanted to do, but that is fine. I had more important things to do, like hang out with friends, family, etc. Saturday morning I worked, and then went home and got some stuff done. Laundry, Cleaning the bathroom, cleaning the bedroom, etc... I was also waiting for the temperature of the afternoon to come down a bit. I also was in the hunt for a different running location. If any of you are ever looking for something different for the bike or the run, I think you need to choose these two websites out.
Map My Run
Map My Ride
I ended up doing a 5K from Kennesaw Mtn State Park over to downtown Marietta, 5 min break for Gu and Stretching, and then 5K back to my car at the Park. I will have to say, I probably should not have stopped for that short break (as much as I needed to stretch), since my lap average really suffered after that. I was taking it easy, so I was trying for 9:30/mi pace, and I pretty much hit that on the way out, but on the way back in there was a large stretch of road that was 11:30-11:45/mi. The last mile was flat/downhill, so I was able to get my heartrate back down and increase the pace faster again.
Sunday, I got up early (8:00a for Sunday) and I went to the gym to put in some laps. This is the one workout I have been slacking on lately. I did a 100M warmup, 50M worth of drills (just swimming on my sides) and then did 2x400M free drills. I did not time myself, I just did them as best as I could technique-wise. Halfway throught my second 400M I had to keep refocusing on what the heck I was doing. There was a lady who was in the lane next to me, and we were swimming about the same pace, so it was easy for me to see if I was off pace or not, from my RPE.
After that I spent the rest of the day down on the south side of Atlanta visiting with my aunt and uncle, and then my best friend and his wife. It was good to see all of them again.
This week is going to be pretty hectic for me. I will be working all weekend long, so I will have to get in over half my workouts during the week. I am also working at night on the 4th. Booo. The funny thing is that the fancy 4 star restaurant next door is only going to be open early in the morning for the Peachtree Road Race, and then closing promptly at 10:00a. We're opening at 2:00p and then staying open until 9:30p. Now you know at 9:30p no one is going to be there, because they are all going to be out watching fireworks and cooking out. They are going to waste all that money on labor and operating costs for the little money that they are going to make. I am sure Wes can throw his two cents in (since he is in the restaurant business) about how well as fast casual restaurant does on the holdidays (not well).
Oh, I also was up Sunday morning checking out the European Ironman Championship. I used to speak German very well, and now I hardly know any. I picked up some on what the announcer of the program online was saying, but mostly I was just focusing on the race. It was the perfect time in the morning for me as well, since Germany was six hours ahead. By the time I pulled it up on Ironman live, the men were in the last few kilometers of the finish. I was very suprised to see how far back Norman Stadler and Faris Al-Sultan ended up in the race. I guess every race cannot be your best race. However the duel between Nicole Leder and Andrea Brede was awsome!!! Just like a close superbowl or BCS championship game, this finish was great to watch.
Workout tonight, and then two tomorrow. If I can get two in on Thursday or (Thu nigh/Fri morning) then I will be really happy, since that will leave me with two remaining workouts for the weekend, as busy as I am going to be.
Murtha...
Friday, June 29, 2007
Just plodding through the week
UPDATE: Pics to be posted this weekend when I get some time to get my scanner working again. I am also going to order the race pics once they are posted from the race's official picture site.
My legs were sore until Tuesday. I went on my Tuesday night ride, but I had to cut it short (in half to be exact) so that I could get Jackie's camera back before she went on her business trip. It was about 12-13 miles in 54 minutes. Sandy Springs ride. I kept up with everyone past the golf course this time until I got about a mile or two after that, and then I got dropped. See I am getting a little further every time.
Swimming did not end up working out Wednesday morning for logistical reasons. Thursday either. I really need to take care of that situation. Especially on nights where I am able to go to bed at a decent hour.
Thursday night was an endurance ride for me, 2 hours in the saddle. I forgot to bring half my stuff to work with me, and I really, really needed to pick up my dry cleaning, so I went to the Silver Comet Trail. I got started about 6:40p in the evening, and it was getting really cloudy and dark outside. I kept getting hit with sprinkes, but nothing serious....... until I made the turn to come back. After my first hour, I turned around and it hit me. for 5 miles it was drenching rain. I was probably riding 1/2 inch deep in some places, and I had to move the cellphone to the front of my tri shirt to try and keep it dry. That did not help too much, but my phone still works today, so that is promising. I did about 37.3 miles in 2 hours, averaging 18.6 mph. I purposely tried to average 18mph at the beginning of the ride as it was a tempo ride, but once I got about 20 miles into the ride, my legs loosened up and my body wanted to go faster. My mind was thinking control, but that is not how it played out. There was one area of about 1/2 mile where i felt burnt out for a moment (it was a false flat incline), but I kicked it in gear again when it flattened out. Once I got back to the car it was light rain, and I headed home to wash up and then get some dinner (Taco Mac).
I am pretty open this weekend, so I am going to try and get 4 workouts in this weekend (especially swimming) to make up for the week. Most of them are interval/speed training, so there will not be heavy volume of workouts back to back. I am not worried.
In other news, I have kind of mapped out what I think I am going to do over the next 12-14 months. I am toying with the idea of doing IM Louisville. It does not interfere with the wedding, it is fairly close (I can get there in 6 hours), and it is not at the end of the year (like IMFL). The ONLY negative is that it is not as flat as IMFL, but I don't think I want it to be. I also want to get some key events in before hand (such as Half-Mary in Nov, Mary in March, Century ride sometime between April-June). I had no clue until I started writing everything down how much planning and time you need to look ahead to do an event such as this.
And the $$MONEY$$!!! Now I know why the average person only does 1 Ironman Event a year (whether or not they do one close to them or they make a vacation out of it). In theory, I would leave Thu night to louisville, and get there late. Then I would take Friday and Monday off of work, and then come back Monday afternoon. 4 nights hotel, gas, 4 days of food, spending money for entertainment/Ironman SWAG, etc. I think the budget, including entry fees is coming somewhere near $1500!!! Since this is not an event that is popular enough to sell out, I am not too worried about signing up for it the day after yet....however, I am probably not going to take a chance. We shall see, I need to check on a few other things before I make a final decision on this one.
I just found out my schedule for next week at my other job, I am going to have to do the majority of my workouts during the week, because I am working double Wed, Fri, Sat and then I am working sometime on Sunday, but I do not know when yet.
Murtha...
My legs were sore until Tuesday. I went on my Tuesday night ride, but I had to cut it short (in half to be exact) so that I could get Jackie's camera back before she went on her business trip. It was about 12-13 miles in 54 minutes. Sandy Springs ride. I kept up with everyone past the golf course this time until I got about a mile or two after that, and then I got dropped. See I am getting a little further every time.
Swimming did not end up working out Wednesday morning for logistical reasons. Thursday either. I really need to take care of that situation. Especially on nights where I am able to go to bed at a decent hour.
Thursday night was an endurance ride for me, 2 hours in the saddle. I forgot to bring half my stuff to work with me, and I really, really needed to pick up my dry cleaning, so I went to the Silver Comet Trail. I got started about 6:40p in the evening, and it was getting really cloudy and dark outside. I kept getting hit with sprinkes, but nothing serious....... until I made the turn to come back. After my first hour, I turned around and it hit me. for 5 miles it was drenching rain. I was probably riding 1/2 inch deep in some places, and I had to move the cellphone to the front of my tri shirt to try and keep it dry. That did not help too much, but my phone still works today, so that is promising. I did about 37.3 miles in 2 hours, averaging 18.6 mph. I purposely tried to average 18mph at the beginning of the ride as it was a tempo ride, but once I got about 20 miles into the ride, my legs loosened up and my body wanted to go faster. My mind was thinking control, but that is not how it played out. There was one area of about 1/2 mile where i felt burnt out for a moment (it was a false flat incline), but I kicked it in gear again when it flattened out. Once I got back to the car it was light rain, and I headed home to wash up and then get some dinner (Taco Mac).
I am pretty open this weekend, so I am going to try and get 4 workouts in this weekend (especially swimming) to make up for the week. Most of them are interval/speed training, so there will not be heavy volume of workouts back to back. I am not worried.
In other news, I have kind of mapped out what I think I am going to do over the next 12-14 months. I am toying with the idea of doing IM Louisville. It does not interfere with the wedding, it is fairly close (I can get there in 6 hours), and it is not at the end of the year (like IMFL). The ONLY negative is that it is not as flat as IMFL, but I don't think I want it to be. I also want to get some key events in before hand (such as Half-Mary in Nov, Mary in March, Century ride sometime between April-June). I had no clue until I started writing everything down how much planning and time you need to look ahead to do an event such as this.
And the $$MONEY$$!!! Now I know why the average person only does 1 Ironman Event a year (whether or not they do one close to them or they make a vacation out of it). In theory, I would leave Thu night to louisville, and get there late. Then I would take Friday and Monday off of work, and then come back Monday afternoon. 4 nights hotel, gas, 4 days of food, spending money for entertainment/Ironman SWAG, etc. I think the budget, including entry fees is coming somewhere near $1500!!! Since this is not an event that is popular enough to sell out, I am not too worried about signing up for it the day after yet....however, I am probably not going to take a chance. We shall see, I need to check on a few other things before I make a final decision on this one.
I just found out my schedule for next week at my other job, I am going to have to do the majority of my workouts during the week, because I am working double Wed, Fri, Sat and then I am working sometime on Sunday, but I do not know when yet.
Murtha...
Monday, June 25, 2007
2007 Tri the Parks - Indian Springs State Park, June 23rd, 2007
Before we begin, I wanted to preview my race report with a little clarification on a definition.
BOMBED: (bombd) 1; v. the past tense of bomb, which is to cause a explosive device to detonate on a specified target. 2; adj. intoxicated by alcohol or drugs. 3; See Murtha's post below...
PRELUDE
Lets begin the night before, where I worked both jobs on Friday, and the manager for the night was nice enough to let me off a bit early. I think I got home somewhere between 10 and 10:30, and by the time I got done packing everything up, I got in bed around midnight. However, I don't think I fell asleep until about 1am. I woke up at 3:30am, took a quick shower, and downed some Gu and Gatorade. Got in the car and over to Jackie's house at around 4:40am. We packed everything up and then stopped back by McDonald's around 5am, and I got a Southern style chicken biscuit and some water.
YOUR DRIVING WHERE???
Flovilla, GA. Yes, about 45-50 minutes south of Atlanta. I have been close to there before cutting down Christmas trees, and I used to go camping at Indian Springs when I was younger with the family. There are some minor annoyances that I have with the race organizers of this "Tri the Parks" series, and I think most of it stems from the fact that they can get cheap venue setups by using the Georgia park system, and it benefits the park because we have to pay to get in the park (not included in race entry fee). I will state, however, that the park officials were "with it" this time (and the fact that we were not late due to freeway construction) and there were three guys moving cars through and taking money as fast as they could
MOUNT TRANSITION (DOOM)
It figures that my tri life is doomed. I don't know if I wrote about it on Thursday's post, but James told me that the best place to have my bike setup in transition is close to the bike exit, so that you run very little with your bike in T1 and T2. Of course my bike was at the very opposite end. I would not put too much emphasis on this, except that it was a parking area on a hill!!! Not a slight incline, but a hill!!! Again please see my aforementioned comment about the agreement between the organizers and the park system for this reasoning. I was at the end of the row, YES!!! extra room for my setup!
"YOU COULD NOT PAY ME TO TOUCH YOUR FEET....... BUT WAIT, THAT'S WHAT YOU GET PAID FOR!"
The only other issue I was worried about pre-race was my feet. For some reason they went to heck the last few days before the race, so I had to tape them up. Funny story, a lady, just before the race began, gave me a concerned look. I said hello, and then she asked me if I was racing with a broken foot. I was not paying attention when she told me that. Jackie then relayed the message to me, and I got a good chuckle out of it.
RACE TIME - SWIM (16:31.31, 24th/27 in AG)
I got in the water and swam about 100yds before the race began, and felt good. Gun went off, and I think I started the first 150M too fast because in the middle of the swim I had to breast stroke for about 50M to catch my breath. Otherwise, my breathing was good (bilateral) and I was breathing every 3 strokes. My sighting was also good, just that I purposely stayed wide of the bouys to avoid any hassles. The funny part was that slowed down once to sight, and I found someone drafting off my feet (i.e. running into me). I thought that funny seeing as how I finished almost last in my AG. I did get through it about 30 seconds faster than last race, but I felt like I did it 2 mins faster. Maybe because I was not swimming as hard as I needed to the last half.
MOUNT T1 (1:06.06 6th/27 in AG)
I had to run up sand and rocky forest area before I got to the top of the parking lot for T1. Forgot to have water up there, so I wiped my feet on the towel for a quick second and then planned what I practiced. Then I had to run my bike down the steep slope with my shoes undone, I was kind of paranoid, but made it out. I forgot to turn my Garmin on before the race began, so the satelittes did not pick up until 1 mile into the race.
BIKE - WHAT I THOUGHT WAS FAST REALLY WAS NOT (39:54.54 19th/ 27 in AG, 19.25mph)
Kind of worn out from the swim, and it took me longer than I needed to get velcro on shoes, since the velcro came out of the loops. Then the first thing I had to do was put up with the largest elevation climb of the ride (which would have normally not been that bad, but it was the first thing after the swim. Big geared it for most of the ride, and thought I did much better than my stats posted, since my Garmin was averaging 22-24mph. I guess I never looked down when I was going up those hills, and that first mile where my Garmin was down I was going pretty slow. I felt confident though, since I only had 4 females pass me this time, where I had probably a dozen catch me last time. Coming into T2, I took off my shoes and pedaled on top of them, and had no problems dismounting.
MOUNT T2 (1:30.30, 23rd/ 27 in AG)
Ok, so you ask, "how in the heck can you go from 6th in your AG to 23rd in your AG on T2?" Well, first off you have to have your rack position at the very top of the hill, such that you have to push your bike to the top. Then you have to have issues with your taped left foot and your running shoe, such that you lose 15 seconds playing with it. That would have put me down to 17th in my AG. I finally got out of there quickly after the tape debacule.
RUN - WHERE I "BOMBED" (30:00.00, 23rd/ 27 in AG, 9:40 min/mi pace)
I definately left the majority of the wad I wantd to blow on the bike portion of the course. Within the first half mile, my right hamstring locked up, and I had to stop for about 15 seconds and stretch it. I walked about 15-20 seconds, and then began jogging small strides. There was a female AG'er that was probably in the top 10 that I tried to stay with for about 100yds, but that was not happening. Hills were worse than John Tanner tri I did earlier this year. I got to about mile 1.5, when I had to walk part way up the hill because of my quads. the around mile 2.25 I had to do the same thing. With about .75 mile to go, my right hammie locked up again, and I walked it off for about 30 seconds, the jogged to the finish.
Total Time: 1:29:02.02, 21st/ 27 in AG
Thoughts... Well I missed my goal by just over 9 minutes. Do I care...? NO! I leared alot from this race, and also how my training has led up to the results of this race. I think the big problem is that I needt to figure how much letting off in one area will have an impact in another area. The problem therein lies that I don't think by letting off (for example) 1-2 min on the bike will significantly impact my run performance in a positive manner. I think I just need to up the volume a bit more OR change my training technique. I also did not taper for the event, as it is more of an event just to do leading up to my big race in the fall.
The biggest thing I have noticed is how I emotionally feel about my performance. I really don't care how I finished, just that I did finish (kinda the reason I got started in this whole tri thing three years ago). Even the fact that this was my slowest finish ever in a Sprint distance event does not seem to bother me.
I did not get to see Renee this weekend, mostly due to me having to cut out of the race as soon as I got finished to go up to Clayton (I did not get home until 1am Sunday morning, after being up for almost 24 hours). She got 7th in her AG! I am so proud of her! Totally kicked my butt by almost 4 minutes!!!
I will try and post pictures Tuesday if I have time, and get some of the other John Tanner pictures up as well.
Murtha...
BOMBED: (bombd) 1; v. the past tense of bomb, which is to cause a explosive device to detonate on a specified target. 2; adj. intoxicated by alcohol or drugs. 3; See Murtha's post below...
PRELUDE
Lets begin the night before, where I worked both jobs on Friday, and the manager for the night was nice enough to let me off a bit early. I think I got home somewhere between 10 and 10:30, and by the time I got done packing everything up, I got in bed around midnight. However, I don't think I fell asleep until about 1am. I woke up at 3:30am, took a quick shower, and downed some Gu and Gatorade. Got in the car and over to Jackie's house at around 4:40am. We packed everything up and then stopped back by McDonald's around 5am, and I got a Southern style chicken biscuit and some water.
YOUR DRIVING WHERE???
Flovilla, GA. Yes, about 45-50 minutes south of Atlanta. I have been close to there before cutting down Christmas trees, and I used to go camping at Indian Springs when I was younger with the family. There are some minor annoyances that I have with the race organizers of this "Tri the Parks" series, and I think most of it stems from the fact that they can get cheap venue setups by using the Georgia park system, and it benefits the park because we have to pay to get in the park (not included in race entry fee). I will state, however, that the park officials were "with it" this time (and the fact that we were not late due to freeway construction) and there were three guys moving cars through and taking money as fast as they could
MOUNT TRANSITION (DOOM)
It figures that my tri life is doomed. I don't know if I wrote about it on Thursday's post, but James told me that the best place to have my bike setup in transition is close to the bike exit, so that you run very little with your bike in T1 and T2. Of course my bike was at the very opposite end. I would not put too much emphasis on this, except that it was a parking area on a hill!!! Not a slight incline, but a hill!!! Again please see my aforementioned comment about the agreement between the organizers and the park system for this reasoning. I was at the end of the row, YES!!! extra room for my setup!
"YOU COULD NOT PAY ME TO TOUCH YOUR FEET....... BUT WAIT, THAT'S WHAT YOU GET PAID FOR!"
The only other issue I was worried about pre-race was my feet. For some reason they went to heck the last few days before the race, so I had to tape them up. Funny story, a lady, just before the race began, gave me a concerned look. I said hello, and then she asked me if I was racing with a broken foot. I was not paying attention when she told me that. Jackie then relayed the message to me, and I got a good chuckle out of it.
RACE TIME - SWIM (16:31.31, 24th/27 in AG)
I got in the water and swam about 100yds before the race began, and felt good. Gun went off, and I think I started the first 150M too fast because in the middle of the swim I had to breast stroke for about 50M to catch my breath. Otherwise, my breathing was good (bilateral) and I was breathing every 3 strokes. My sighting was also good, just that I purposely stayed wide of the bouys to avoid any hassles. The funny part was that slowed down once to sight, and I found someone drafting off my feet (i.e. running into me). I thought that funny seeing as how I finished almost last in my AG. I did get through it about 30 seconds faster than last race, but I felt like I did it 2 mins faster. Maybe because I was not swimming as hard as I needed to the last half.
MOUNT T1 (1:06.06 6th/27 in AG)
I had to run up sand and rocky forest area before I got to the top of the parking lot for T1. Forgot to have water up there, so I wiped my feet on the towel for a quick second and then planned what I practiced. Then I had to run my bike down the steep slope with my shoes undone, I was kind of paranoid, but made it out. I forgot to turn my Garmin on before the race began, so the satelittes did not pick up until 1 mile into the race.
BIKE - WHAT I THOUGHT WAS FAST REALLY WAS NOT (39:54.54 19th/ 27 in AG, 19.25mph)
Kind of worn out from the swim, and it took me longer than I needed to get velcro on shoes, since the velcro came out of the loops. Then the first thing I had to do was put up with the largest elevation climb of the ride (which would have normally not been that bad, but it was the first thing after the swim. Big geared it for most of the ride, and thought I did much better than my stats posted, since my Garmin was averaging 22-24mph. I guess I never looked down when I was going up those hills, and that first mile where my Garmin was down I was going pretty slow. I felt confident though, since I only had 4 females pass me this time, where I had probably a dozen catch me last time. Coming into T2, I took off my shoes and pedaled on top of them, and had no problems dismounting.
MOUNT T2 (1:30.30, 23rd/ 27 in AG)
Ok, so you ask, "how in the heck can you go from 6th in your AG to 23rd in your AG on T2?" Well, first off you have to have your rack position at the very top of the hill, such that you have to push your bike to the top. Then you have to have issues with your taped left foot and your running shoe, such that you lose 15 seconds playing with it. That would have put me down to 17th in my AG. I finally got out of there quickly after the tape debacule.
RUN - WHERE I "BOMBED" (30:00.00, 23rd/ 27 in AG, 9:40 min/mi pace)
I definately left the majority of the wad I wantd to blow on the bike portion of the course. Within the first half mile, my right hamstring locked up, and I had to stop for about 15 seconds and stretch it. I walked about 15-20 seconds, and then began jogging small strides. There was a female AG'er that was probably in the top 10 that I tried to stay with for about 100yds, but that was not happening. Hills were worse than John Tanner tri I did earlier this year. I got to about mile 1.5, when I had to walk part way up the hill because of my quads. the around mile 2.25 I had to do the same thing. With about .75 mile to go, my right hammie locked up again, and I walked it off for about 30 seconds, the jogged to the finish.
Total Time: 1:29:02.02, 21st/ 27 in AG
Thoughts... Well I missed my goal by just over 9 minutes. Do I care...? NO! I leared alot from this race, and also how my training has led up to the results of this race. I think the big problem is that I needt to figure how much letting off in one area will have an impact in another area. The problem therein lies that I don't think by letting off (for example) 1-2 min on the bike will significantly impact my run performance in a positive manner. I think I just need to up the volume a bit more OR change my training technique. I also did not taper for the event, as it is more of an event just to do leading up to my big race in the fall.
The biggest thing I have noticed is how I emotionally feel about my performance. I really don't care how I finished, just that I did finish (kinda the reason I got started in this whole tri thing three years ago). Even the fact that this was my slowest finish ever in a Sprint distance event does not seem to bother me.
I did not get to see Renee this weekend, mostly due to me having to cut out of the race as soon as I got finished to go up to Clayton (I did not get home until 1am Sunday morning, after being up for almost 24 hours). She got 7th in her AG! I am so proud of her! Totally kicked my butt by almost 4 minutes!!!
I will try and post pictures Tuesday if I have time, and get some of the other John Tanner pictures up as well.
Murtha...
Friday, June 22, 2007
Last workout pre-race
T-minus 15hours and 15 minutes (roughly) before Tri the Parks, Indian Springs State Park!!!!
Excited is the word I would use right now, not nervous. Ready to get this thing the hell on. Do I think I am going to best my fastest sprint time? I am not sure, but I am going to have a good time doing it.
Last night was my last workout this week before my race. Actually I really slacked this week, but it will turn out ok. Bike + Transition Practice (yes I will get more to this later) on Thursday, full tri on Saturday (so it picks up 3 workouts) and then an open water swim on Sunday. So my week will be lopsided, but that is ok.
So last night, James was to help me out with my transition times. My fastest times in a Sprint race have been a total of about 2:20-2:30. So last night we practiced in his cul-de-sac, and although the distance was shorter than my average run through transitions, we compensated for this by adding 10 seconds to T1 and 10 seconds to T2. I think the point I want to hammer home to everyone (and I am sure that I am preaching to the choir, save the people that have never actually practiced their transitions), IS TO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A (SOME) SYSTEM IN PLACE, MEMORIZE THAT SYSTEM, AND THEN EXECUTE THAT SYSTEM!!! Other than that, you can skin the proverbial cat anyway you want (**Note** - no cats were injured in the creation of this post ;-)
Here is my break down: Total times for both T1 and T2 in practice (including the added 20 seconds) 1min 20 seconds!!!! An improvement of 1min 10sec-1min 20sec!!! Cutting my time in half! Here is what I did to achieve this
1) NO SOCKS!!! I have been told any race shorter than an Oly you do not need to wear socks, but take the appropriate precautions by a) training without socks and b) athletic tape, band-aids etc... or better yet band-aids and then tape over them so they do not fall off during the race.
2) Rack bike (within race regulations) so that your bike is facing the most efficient way towards the exit of transition. If you have the option of putting your bike wherever you want, put it close to the bike exit (this gets complicated when the bike and run exit are on the opposite sides, but getting there early can help you determine location).
3) Set up your system as efficiently as possible, and anything that is mandatory goes where I have to move something (i.e. sunglasses and helmet on aerobars, race number goes on top of running shoes). I also have my running shoes equipped with the slip on shoe laces (where you fix the elastic laces to how tight you want your shoes to your foot) and my bike shoes are already opened up as much as possible.
4) Do not clip/strap down shoes until you are on the bike (from t1)!!! What you say??? Won't they fly off! I thought so too, and then I went through three practice runs. The trick is to run and take smaller steps so that you are not flexing your foot as much with the possibility of it flying out. I have noticed people during races not locking down there shoes until they are a mile down a road once they have started.
5) Practice unstrapping your shoes before you get off and leave them on there (run barefoot to your spot in T2). My shoes scraped against the ground a few times, and once my rear wheel popped up because my right cleat got caught on the ground, but I just kept running with my bike. If you have a downhill, you can unstrap them earlier (1/4 mile left to go). If it is an uphill or turns you will have to wait later.
6) Do not be afraid to just throw the stuff you don't need anymore anywhere in your space.
7) Make sure you "run" through transition!!! This is an ok time to max out your heartrate. The shorter the race the more T1 and T2 count.
8) When you are coming into T1 or T2, then you need to be visualizing what you are going to be doing in transition.
After my transition practice, we went on an 18.5 mile bike ride through roswell on some fast flats and steep hills. He kicked my butt, but got me averaging 24mph on the flats (maxed out on 28.5 on flats) and then had to granny gear it on the hills, I could not handle it.
I'm ready...
Excited is the word I would use right now, not nervous. Ready to get this thing the hell on. Do I think I am going to best my fastest sprint time? I am not sure, but I am going to have a good time doing it.
Last night was my last workout this week before my race. Actually I really slacked this week, but it will turn out ok. Bike + Transition Practice (yes I will get more to this later) on Thursday, full tri on Saturday (so it picks up 3 workouts) and then an open water swim on Sunday. So my week will be lopsided, but that is ok.
So last night, James was to help me out with my transition times. My fastest times in a Sprint race have been a total of about 2:20-2:30. So last night we practiced in his cul-de-sac, and although the distance was shorter than my average run through transitions, we compensated for this by adding 10 seconds to T1 and 10 seconds to T2. I think the point I want to hammer home to everyone (and I am sure that I am preaching to the choir, save the people that have never actually practiced their transitions), IS TO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A (SOME) SYSTEM IN PLACE, MEMORIZE THAT SYSTEM, AND THEN EXECUTE THAT SYSTEM!!! Other than that, you can skin the proverbial cat anyway you want (**Note** - no cats were injured in the creation of this post ;-)
Here is my break down: Total times for both T1 and T2 in practice (including the added 20 seconds) 1min 20 seconds!!!! An improvement of 1min 10sec-1min 20sec!!! Cutting my time in half! Here is what I did to achieve this
1) NO SOCKS!!! I have been told any race shorter than an Oly you do not need to wear socks, but take the appropriate precautions by a) training without socks and b) athletic tape, band-aids etc... or better yet band-aids and then tape over them so they do not fall off during the race.
2) Rack bike (within race regulations) so that your bike is facing the most efficient way towards the exit of transition. If you have the option of putting your bike wherever you want, put it close to the bike exit (this gets complicated when the bike and run exit are on the opposite sides, but getting there early can help you determine location).
3) Set up your system as efficiently as possible, and anything that is mandatory goes where I have to move something (i.e. sunglasses and helmet on aerobars, race number goes on top of running shoes). I also have my running shoes equipped with the slip on shoe laces (where you fix the elastic laces to how tight you want your shoes to your foot) and my bike shoes are already opened up as much as possible.
4) Do not clip/strap down shoes until you are on the bike (from t1)!!! What you say??? Won't they fly off! I thought so too, and then I went through three practice runs. The trick is to run and take smaller steps so that you are not flexing your foot as much with the possibility of it flying out. I have noticed people during races not locking down there shoes until they are a mile down a road once they have started.
5) Practice unstrapping your shoes before you get off and leave them on there (run barefoot to your spot in T2). My shoes scraped against the ground a few times, and once my rear wheel popped up because my right cleat got caught on the ground, but I just kept running with my bike. If you have a downhill, you can unstrap them earlier (1/4 mile left to go). If it is an uphill or turns you will have to wait later.
6) Do not be afraid to just throw the stuff you don't need anymore anywhere in your space.
7) Make sure you "run" through transition!!! This is an ok time to max out your heartrate. The shorter the race the more T1 and T2 count.
8) When you are coming into T1 or T2, then you need to be visualizing what you are going to be doing in transition.
After my transition practice, we went on an 18.5 mile bike ride through roswell on some fast flats and steep hills. He kicked my butt, but got me averaging 24mph on the flats (maxed out on 28.5 on flats) and then had to granny gear it on the hills, I could not handle it.
I'm ready...
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Countdown.... (Yet again), And pro sightings in Atlanta!!!
I was a total slacker yesterday. It was one of those days where Jackie was allowed to call me out for being lazy. She even drove out of her way to go to my gym because they had a class later in the evening that she wanted to attend. No excuse. Oh well, you can't win them all, can you?
So I am participating in Tri the Parks, Indian Springs State Park this weekend. Renee is competing in the event as well, and I am kind of excited about that. Hopefully we can hook up.
This time there is no road construction that splits the freeway and makes the left lane an express one, so we should be ok on getting to the race site at a decent hour of the morning.
I will also once again be representing Team Javelin, so I will definately be visible (probably from space) with my highlighter yellow and green suit.
Tomorrow it is double duty on my workouts (that is what happens when you slack off), however, both of them are light workouts so as not to make me wake up Saturday morning sore as hell. James is going to help me with transitions tomorrow night, in the hopes that both my transition times will be sub 1 minute (forgoing any 50 mile treks from the water to t1). He told me straight up the other day that socks are not allowed. NO SOCKS!!! Oh well, I suppose Band-aids are cheap, as well as Neosporin. Who needs feet? At least I am not battling with plantar fasciitis again.... (boooo!!!). Maybe I will be worthy of a 2007 foot picture entry on Kahuna's blog.
I think the fastest transition time I have logged was just over 1 minute, and that was mostly due to the fact that I had to back track a bit in T2 during a sprint race because of where I was located. I need all the help I can get if I finally want to break 1hr 20 min... ;-)
Have I told you I am kind of excited? This is only my 2nd tri of the season (and 3rd event). I really need to log a few road races over the summer. They are low maintenance, and they are much cheaper than a triathlon (no $9 USAT one day fee!). I am still signed up for the Tri-PTC in September. I think I am going to make that a yearly event, unless some other tri event or lifestyle change prevents it.
I am also thinking about starting my own tri team... Wha? (like i need to add anything else to my plate!!!) I dunno... I think what I really need to do is join Tri-Atlanta or North Atlanta Multisport first, and then see where that leads me. What can I say, I am just a sociable person, and as well all know, this sport can be just downright lonely at times. For now I think this subject will be on the "back burner".
And guess who was in ATL last weekend??? I'll give you a hint, the winner of the 1st Ryka IronGirl Atlanta event (at Lake Lanier).
Michelle Jones!!!!!!!!
I had to work at Wolfgang Sunday morning, so I missed my opportunity! Oh well, I am sure once my "habit" takes me to some larger events, I will see many more tri-personalities. I was kinda suprised about her winning time, but I think a week or two before she had just competed in a major event and this was more of a recovery thing. Hey, she beat my best time in a sprint tri.... I think Wes went with his wife, and I told a couple other people about it who were interested, but I have not heard of anyone else who went.
If any of you ladies are participating in the Ryka IronGirl event this year, I (meaning Jackie) would love to hear about it.
Signing off for now,
Murtha...
So I am participating in Tri the Parks, Indian Springs State Park this weekend. Renee is competing in the event as well, and I am kind of excited about that. Hopefully we can hook up.
This time there is no road construction that splits the freeway and makes the left lane an express one, so we should be ok on getting to the race site at a decent hour of the morning.
I will also once again be representing Team Javelin, so I will definately be visible (probably from space) with my highlighter yellow and green suit.
Tomorrow it is double duty on my workouts (that is what happens when you slack off), however, both of them are light workouts so as not to make me wake up Saturday morning sore as hell. James is going to help me with transitions tomorrow night, in the hopes that both my transition times will be sub 1 minute (forgoing any 50 mile treks from the water to t1). He told me straight up the other day that socks are not allowed. NO SOCKS!!! Oh well, I suppose Band-aids are cheap, as well as Neosporin. Who needs feet? At least I am not battling with plantar fasciitis again.... (boooo!!!). Maybe I will be worthy of a 2007 foot picture entry on Kahuna's blog.
I think the fastest transition time I have logged was just over 1 minute, and that was mostly due to the fact that I had to back track a bit in T2 during a sprint race because of where I was located. I need all the help I can get if I finally want to break 1hr 20 min... ;-)
Have I told you I am kind of excited? This is only my 2nd tri of the season (and 3rd event). I really need to log a few road races over the summer. They are low maintenance, and they are much cheaper than a triathlon (no $9 USAT one day fee!). I am still signed up for the Tri-PTC in September. I think I am going to make that a yearly event, unless some other tri event or lifestyle change prevents it.
I am also thinking about starting my own tri team... Wha? (like i need to add anything else to my plate!!!) I dunno... I think what I really need to do is join Tri-Atlanta or North Atlanta Multisport first, and then see where that leads me. What can I say, I am just a sociable person, and as well all know, this sport can be just downright lonely at times. For now I think this subject will be on the "back burner".
And guess who was in ATL last weekend??? I'll give you a hint, the winner of the 1st Ryka IronGirl Atlanta event (at Lake Lanier).
Michelle Jones!!!!!!!!
I had to work at Wolfgang Sunday morning, so I missed my opportunity! Oh well, I am sure once my "habit" takes me to some larger events, I will see many more tri-personalities. I was kinda suprised about her winning time, but I think a week or two before she had just competed in a major event and this was more of a recovery thing. Hey, she beat my best time in a sprint tri.... I think Wes went with his wife, and I told a couple other people about it who were interested, but I have not heard of anyone else who went.
If any of you ladies are participating in the Ryka IronGirl event this year, I (meaning Jackie) would love to hear about it.
Signing off for now,
Murtha...
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Awake Time (5:30a-12:30a) + 2 workouts = WORN OUT!!!
My body (and eyeballs) are composing this post under protest!
Tuesday was a good workout. I did not keep time, HRM, anything. I just let my body do the talking and completed a bike sprint workout (8x1 minute sprints), with what I thought was about a 5 minute rest in between each sprint. Legs were pretty torn up after that!
Wednesday morning I was in the pool by 5:45am and I did a straight 1/2 hour with no stopping. Again, just feeling, working on technique, and there were a couple of laps that were breast stroke and butterfly. I lost count of laps (what else is new), but I know for a fact that I completed somewhere close to 1500 M give or take a few hundred.
After work yesterday I went straight to Chastain park for a track(hill) workout. 8-10 minute warmup and then I found a good hill on the run where I did 5x1 minute hill sprints (actually it went 1:24, 1:11. 1:11, 1:10, 1:13). Notice the hill was a bit longer than 1 minute to complete, but I did not complain. I did not get in 8X1 min, but that is due to the fact I got tired out, and there were three more hills for me to jog up back to the car on my cooldown.
I met up with Jackie yesterday evening and we ate at Cheyenne Grill in Buckhead, and then went to the Landmark movie theatre in the Highlands where there was an independent film contest called the 48 hour special. All over the country are people who put together mini movie clips in 48hours or less, and then the audience in each city that they do the competition in votes on the best so they can go to the national competition.
It was supposed to start at 9:30, but did not get started until 10:00pm. I have to apologize to a couple of people who made a few of those movies, I fell asleep during two of them. I was really tired, and I was slumping in a comfy chair and it was dark. Most of them were pretty good, and there was one that was really funny because it had a fight scene and the sound effects were about 10 seconds behind the actual action sequence. Jackie's co-worker had a movie and it was pretty cool, I voted it number one for the night, and then we went home. Got in bed about 12:30am, and did not sleep well last night. I need to go next door and get a starbucks double shot.
I might scrap tonight's workout in favor of getting some rest, I am almost 100% from this sinus thing, but not quite yet. Also, Jackie has a small work shindig with her co-workers, and since I am an unofficial employee (for moral support) of her company, I feel only obliged to show up and partake in the ongoings of drunken debauchery that will ensue tonight :-)
I am going to try and post some more pictures from my tri at John Tanner State Park. I also have the Tri the Parks - Indian Springs state park next weekend!!! Wow, next weekend already?!?!?! Oh well, how time flies. My weekend is packed. I have a swim, endurance run, brick, and I should have one more workout in there somewhere, but I might scrap it. Next week is week 5 in my training plan, and I will make it light for a) reovery from weeks 1-4, and b) it is a race week, even though it is just a sprint. I do not need to be extra sore waking up Saturday morning for a race.
Murtha...
Tuesday was a good workout. I did not keep time, HRM, anything. I just let my body do the talking and completed a bike sprint workout (8x1 minute sprints), with what I thought was about a 5 minute rest in between each sprint. Legs were pretty torn up after that!
Wednesday morning I was in the pool by 5:45am and I did a straight 1/2 hour with no stopping. Again, just feeling, working on technique, and there were a couple of laps that were breast stroke and butterfly. I lost count of laps (what else is new), but I know for a fact that I completed somewhere close to 1500 M give or take a few hundred.
After work yesterday I went straight to Chastain park for a track(hill) workout. 8-10 minute warmup and then I found a good hill on the run where I did 5x1 minute hill sprints (actually it went 1:24, 1:11. 1:11, 1:10, 1:13). Notice the hill was a bit longer than 1 minute to complete, but I did not complain. I did not get in 8X1 min, but that is due to the fact I got tired out, and there were three more hills for me to jog up back to the car on my cooldown.
I met up with Jackie yesterday evening and we ate at Cheyenne Grill in Buckhead, and then went to the Landmark movie theatre in the Highlands where there was an independent film contest called the 48 hour special. All over the country are people who put together mini movie clips in 48hours or less, and then the audience in each city that they do the competition in votes on the best so they can go to the national competition.
It was supposed to start at 9:30, but did not get started until 10:00pm. I have to apologize to a couple of people who made a few of those movies, I fell asleep during two of them. I was really tired, and I was slumping in a comfy chair and it was dark. Most of them were pretty good, and there was one that was really funny because it had a fight scene and the sound effects were about 10 seconds behind the actual action sequence. Jackie's co-worker had a movie and it was pretty cool, I voted it number one for the night, and then we went home. Got in bed about 12:30am, and did not sleep well last night. I need to go next door and get a starbucks double shot.
I might scrap tonight's workout in favor of getting some rest, I am almost 100% from this sinus thing, but not quite yet. Also, Jackie has a small work shindig with her co-workers, and since I am an unofficial employee (for moral support) of her company, I feel only obliged to show up and partake in the ongoings of drunken debauchery that will ensue tonight :-)
I am going to try and post some more pictures from my tri at John Tanner State Park. I also have the Tri the Parks - Indian Springs state park next weekend!!! Wow, next weekend already?!?!?! Oh well, how time flies. My weekend is packed. I have a swim, endurance run, brick, and I should have one more workout in there somewhere, but I might scrap it. Next week is week 5 in my training plan, and I will make it light for a) reovery from weeks 1-4, and b) it is a race week, even though it is just a sprint. I do not need to be extra sore waking up Saturday morning for a race.
Murtha...
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Yeah!!! Its Here Finally!! And other things...
So Tuesday the joy of my month (other than my fiance, which is every month), came in the mail. I skimmed it real quick while doing the laundry (I got let go a bit early from work due to the sinus bug from lake Altoona, more on that later) and said I would wait until at least tomorrow to plow through the magaznine.
Today we were late at work, so I came home and put in a speed workout on the bike. 8 x1 minute sprints with 5 minutes of recovery/80% of race pace in between. I did not focus on distance or cadence. Just feeling. It felt good. I did it on the SCT of course to ensure fairness (oh I think I mean flatness).
Cutting down my hours for June was a great idea! I am getting to spend more time at home, working out, and of course with Jackie ;-). I am also getting in at minimum 85% of my workouts each week now, where as before it was more like 40-50%. I am on Tomorrow(2x), Thursday(2x), Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon. Wes is getting out on the SCT with his wife Dee Dee early Saturday morning, but I cannot get out there because I will be at the bank. They also have me on the opening Sunday shift at Wolfgang Express, so I should be done about 2pm, and then it is soooo on!!!
So far I have made it through about 54 pages of my favorite magazine. I love this month's point-counter point! I kinda side with both people though on the issue.
Well as for last weekend, I put in a 2 hour ride on Saturday for about 32 miles (there was a 2 mile portion where I forgot to turn my watch back on. When Jackie bought me my newest tri gear for my birthday, the shirt is a bit narrower in the back than my others (Zoot is always a bit smaller than Sugoi), so I now have tan, burn, and white on my back. Sunday I swam about 1000-1200M and I got burned then too. It was in lake Altoona again solo, on the same route that Wes and I swam a few weeks ago, but in reverse. I also did not stop when I got to the other end, but immediately looped back and finished. I swallowed a bit of water due to boat wakes (there were a lot out) and I kinda got a light case of sinusitus. I am back at about 85% of normal now, I have been sucking down Sudafed like crazy!!! Odwalla C-Monster helps out as well.
Lastly, for the few of you who read my blog (just kidding, I look at the stats from time to time on who is reading), I want some advice (both generally and technically). I want to keep better track of my stats on a long term basis (i.e. my garming training center, Microsoft Excel, etc). I also want to post my weekly monthly stats on my blog, but I have not figured out how to do the table in the sidebar yet. Any thoughts or suggestions on how do to either or both? How do you keep track with you long term stats? Really with the table, I just need someone to give me some code and explain it to me so that I can manipulate it every week/month and post it to my blog.
I will hopefully be back again on Thursday, if not I will keep up with all of your blogs and get back to you this weekend. Jackie and I are going to watch some Independent film contest tomorrow night that one of her co-workers is involved in.
Murtha...
Today we were late at work, so I came home and put in a speed workout on the bike. 8 x1 minute sprints with 5 minutes of recovery/80% of race pace in between. I did not focus on distance or cadence. Just feeling. It felt good. I did it on the SCT of course to ensure fairness (oh I think I mean flatness).
Cutting down my hours for June was a great idea! I am getting to spend more time at home, working out, and of course with Jackie ;-). I am also getting in at minimum 85% of my workouts each week now, where as before it was more like 40-50%. I am on Tomorrow(2x), Thursday(2x), Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon. Wes is getting out on the SCT with his wife Dee Dee early Saturday morning, but I cannot get out there because I will be at the bank. They also have me on the opening Sunday shift at Wolfgang Express, so I should be done about 2pm, and then it is soooo on!!!
So far I have made it through about 54 pages of my favorite magazine. I love this month's point-counter point! I kinda side with both people though on the issue.
Well as for last weekend, I put in a 2 hour ride on Saturday for about 32 miles (there was a 2 mile portion where I forgot to turn my watch back on. When Jackie bought me my newest tri gear for my birthday, the shirt is a bit narrower in the back than my others (Zoot is always a bit smaller than Sugoi), so I now have tan, burn, and white on my back. Sunday I swam about 1000-1200M and I got burned then too. It was in lake Altoona again solo, on the same route that Wes and I swam a few weeks ago, but in reverse. I also did not stop when I got to the other end, but immediately looped back and finished. I swallowed a bit of water due to boat wakes (there were a lot out) and I kinda got a light case of sinusitus. I am back at about 85% of normal now, I have been sucking down Sudafed like crazy!!! Odwalla C-Monster helps out as well.
Lastly, for the few of you who read my blog (just kidding, I look at the stats from time to time on who is reading), I want some advice (both generally and technically). I want to keep better track of my stats on a long term basis (i.e. my garming training center, Microsoft Excel, etc). I also want to post my weekly monthly stats on my blog, but I have not figured out how to do the table in the sidebar yet. Any thoughts or suggestions on how do to either or both? How do you keep track with you long term stats? Really with the table, I just need someone to give me some code and explain it to me so that I can manipulate it every week/month and post it to my blog.
I will hopefully be back again on Thursday, if not I will keep up with all of your blogs and get back to you this weekend. Jackie and I are going to watch some Independent film contest tomorrow night that one of her co-workers is involved in.
Murtha...
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Getting Impaitent...
Boy, am I frustrated right now...
WHERE IS MY ISSUE OF TRIATHLETE MAGAZINE!!!!
Ok, I know that they are already nice enough to send it out to customer's a month before the publication date on the magazine. I also know that you get it about 2 weeks or so sooner by subscribing rather than going to your local bookstore (However if you go to your local tri shop they have it at the beginning of the month).
But it is the expectation of receiving the magazine! I spend the rest of my monthing going through Bicycling Magazine, Runner's World, Running Times, Inside Triathlon, and the other triathlon publication (that I cannot remember). And let's not forget the quarterly publication for the USAT magazine.
How come there is not more quality content? I dunno, maybe what we (I) need to do is create some form of media for triathlons that has current daily content, and I can make money at it (I don't have time to do things for free right now, except charity and training).
I just feel that there is so much information and stories that the average triathlete is missing out on, and tri - geeks like myself seem always starved for more of it. I have links to all the major (and minor) tri websites and I am part of the Tri - Blogger Alliance. And while I do not read everyone's blog, I get to quite a few of them. Although the pro scene isn't even as large as some women's college sports, There is quite a more bit of depth I feel than some of the major sports.
I mean what other sport has three different types of races (now four with the tri One o One race series) and competes worldwide at all levels (pro, amateur, age group, clydesdale/athena, club teams, relays)? We've got the sponsors, and there is no shortage of sponsorship from private to club (ie team gu, javelin) to pro.
There are more races every year than hockey, baseball, football, and basketball combined (based off of number of games each team plays in a season, I think, don't quote me on that yet :-b) and let's not forget the training, and days leading up to and following major races. Expo after Expo, Interbike (need I say more), training camps both near and far(exotic), Team In training stories (and any other organization using triathlon for the bettement of community and society), and anything else that I could not think of goes here.
There are even podcasts with about 3-4 bloggers from the tri-blogger alliance who have weekly podcasts (You can probably guess that I am impatient with Iron Wil and the Kahuna right now, but I still love those guys!), not to mention that USAT now has a podcast and I think that ironman has live event podcasts and videos.
If I could figure out a way to put all of this together, have fun doing it and make money ($$$) at the same time (to support both my private and triathlon lifestyle), I would quit my jobs right now in a heartbeat!
Not that I need to add any more to this post, but I just went to Ironman Live's website, and there are 46 officially sanctioned Ironman events (both full-distance and 70.3). That's almost 4 per month, averaging almost 1 per week! Then you have the ITU series, USAT series, Escape from Alcatraz series, Lifetime fitness series (going to be the biggest prize purse yet), Xterra series, and I think there is one other major series as well. Please note that these are only series that are familiar to us in the North America and does not include any popular ones overseas.
Again my question from earlier arises yet again; how come it does not feel like there is enough content out there for the volume and depth that surrounds our sport? I don't know if there is enough ad revenue (actually there probably is I am just being pessimistic) for a TV channel, but there could be a supersite like espn.com where it would encompass all parts of the sport, and then have contributing reporters, video, podcasts, interviews, etc...
I am a tri-geek! So sue me! I want more! So who is going to help me launch this concept? My email is at the top of the page if you are interested...
Murtha...
WHERE IS MY ISSUE OF TRIATHLETE MAGAZINE!!!!
Ok, I know that they are already nice enough to send it out to customer's a month before the publication date on the magazine. I also know that you get it about 2 weeks or so sooner by subscribing rather than going to your local bookstore (However if you go to your local tri shop they have it at the beginning of the month).
But it is the expectation of receiving the magazine! I spend the rest of my monthing going through Bicycling Magazine, Runner's World, Running Times, Inside Triathlon, and the other triathlon publication (that I cannot remember). And let's not forget the quarterly publication for the USAT magazine.
How come there is not more quality content? I dunno, maybe what we (I) need to do is create some form of media for triathlons that has current daily content, and I can make money at it (I don't have time to do things for free right now, except charity and training).
I just feel that there is so much information and stories that the average triathlete is missing out on, and tri - geeks like myself seem always starved for more of it. I have links to all the major (and minor) tri websites and I am part of the Tri - Blogger Alliance. And while I do not read everyone's blog, I get to quite a few of them. Although the pro scene isn't even as large as some women's college sports, There is quite a more bit of depth I feel than some of the major sports.
I mean what other sport has three different types of races (now four with the tri One o One race series) and competes worldwide at all levels (pro, amateur, age group, clydesdale/athena, club teams, relays)? We've got the sponsors, and there is no shortage of sponsorship from private to club (ie team gu, javelin) to pro.
There are more races every year than hockey, baseball, football, and basketball combined (based off of number of games each team plays in a season, I think, don't quote me on that yet :-b) and let's not forget the training, and days leading up to and following major races. Expo after Expo, Interbike (need I say more), training camps both near and far(exotic), Team In training stories (and any other organization using triathlon for the bettement of community and society), and anything else that I could not think of goes here.
There are even podcasts with about 3-4 bloggers from the tri-blogger alliance who have weekly podcasts (You can probably guess that I am impatient with Iron Wil and the Kahuna right now, but I still love those guys!), not to mention that USAT now has a podcast and I think that ironman has live event podcasts and videos.
If I could figure out a way to put all of this together, have fun doing it and make money ($$$) at the same time (to support both my private and triathlon lifestyle), I would quit my jobs right now in a heartbeat!
Not that I need to add any more to this post, but I just went to Ironman Live's website, and there are 46 officially sanctioned Ironman events (both full-distance and 70.3). That's almost 4 per month, averaging almost 1 per week! Then you have the ITU series, USAT series, Escape from Alcatraz series, Lifetime fitness series (going to be the biggest prize purse yet), Xterra series, and I think there is one other major series as well. Please note that these are only series that are familiar to us in the North America and does not include any popular ones overseas.
Again my question from earlier arises yet again; how come it does not feel like there is enough content out there for the volume and depth that surrounds our sport? I don't know if there is enough ad revenue (actually there probably is I am just being pessimistic) for a TV channel, but there could be a supersite like espn.com where it would encompass all parts of the sport, and then have contributing reporters, video, podcasts, interviews, etc...
I am a tri-geek! So sue me! I want more! So who is going to help me launch this concept? My email is at the top of the page if you are interested...
Murtha...
Friday, June 01, 2007
Some much awaited pictures (and more to come)...
Hello All,
Here are a few pictures from my Tri the Parks - John Tanner State Park and a couple of pics from the NY bike tour. I have some more from the Tri (on the bike), but I have to scan the pictures in first. Funny how the swim cap matches the uniform. I think the color is growing on me.
Murtha...
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
"That's life...."
What a buzzkill...
I have now learned that I am too nice of a person, and I have issues saying no. Why is this? Because I feel I have always been a team player and just a helpful person in general. I figure that somewhere down the line that I will get something back out of what I do for others. Does it usually occur? Nope, but I always hope it will.
How this relates to this blog?
Tuesday I am all ready for my ride. 25 miles with the Sandy Springs group, and my boss from my 2nd job is planning on showing up (the uber good duathlete/triathlete).
About 2 'o clock, the front of house mgr comes over to tell me that two people are not showing up for work and she could really use the help. Insert "Mr. Good Guy/Team Player" here...
I told her I would do it for her. I get there at 5:30 pm in a kind of bad mood, but decided if I was going to be there, I would work. 45 min later, she says, "You know, I'm sorry it is really slow, do you want to go home?" Hmmm let me think... YES! So I literally run out to the car and get my gear, come back in and change, then head up to the ride (which I will be late for, more on that later). As I am on the way I call my boss to let him know plans have changed yet again (it went from riding to not riding back to riding again), and if he is still up for it, to bring it on! He says traffic is bad, but he is on his way. As I am pulling in the parking lot, he calls and is about 10 min away, but that is not the problem. The problem is that he forgot his bike cleats(shoes) at home. He said he had his running shoes, and was going to the Chattahooche to run instead.
So I am off at around 7:00p, and I immediately decide that in 10-15min the A group will be starting the 2nd half of the course, so I might as well start there. Not to mention the fact it would be almost completely dark outside if I tried to do the whole ride. Tried pushing it, but was not working (due to hard workout weekend?). I did ride in some bigger gears spinning just as hard as I would normally in a smaller gear, which was an improvement on some hills. And there was a roller section where I pounded through without gearing down.
I got caught almost halfway around Chastain park (almost done with the ride) and came to the last section of big rollers. When I got to the bottom of the first, I moved to my small ring......and the chain came right off!!! And it was not just that the chain came off, it did in such a way that it got stuck around the bottom bracket and the chainrings. Needless to say this killed my momentum. It took an extra few minutes to fix, and luckily somone was passing me by and I sucked their tail all the way to the finish.
Better some training than none, right?
On a positive note, I changed my entire schedule for June at my 2nd job to be more tri friendly!!! Only 3 days a week, and no Tuesday/Thursday (in case I actually want to do those group rides. Also I have that next tri on June 23rd. I have been really thinking about doing the Callway Gardens with Wes, but the distance is even shorter than a sprint, and I don't feel like getting up at 3am for a race! I also don't want to get a hotel room for a local GA event. So that leaves doing a race that is closer. I used to camp at Indian Springs/High Falls State park(s), so I know how to get there, and I know the area fairly well. Should be some nice hills on the bike course. Maybe we will even go over the bridge on the ride by the waterfalls, that would be cool.
Talk to y'all soon...
Murtha...
I have now learned that I am too nice of a person, and I have issues saying no. Why is this? Because I feel I have always been a team player and just a helpful person in general. I figure that somewhere down the line that I will get something back out of what I do for others. Does it usually occur? Nope, but I always hope it will.
How this relates to this blog?
Tuesday I am all ready for my ride. 25 miles with the Sandy Springs group, and my boss from my 2nd job is planning on showing up (the uber good duathlete/triathlete).
About 2 'o clock, the front of house mgr comes over to tell me that two people are not showing up for work and she could really use the help. Insert "Mr. Good Guy/Team Player" here...
I told her I would do it for her. I get there at 5:30 pm in a kind of bad mood, but decided if I was going to be there, I would work. 45 min later, she says, "You know, I'm sorry it is really slow, do you want to go home?" Hmmm let me think... YES! So I literally run out to the car and get my gear, come back in and change, then head up to the ride (which I will be late for, more on that later). As I am on the way I call my boss to let him know plans have changed yet again (it went from riding to not riding back to riding again), and if he is still up for it, to bring it on! He says traffic is bad, but he is on his way. As I am pulling in the parking lot, he calls and is about 10 min away, but that is not the problem. The problem is that he forgot his bike cleats(shoes) at home. He said he had his running shoes, and was going to the Chattahooche to run instead.
So I am off at around 7:00p, and I immediately decide that in 10-15min the A group will be starting the 2nd half of the course, so I might as well start there. Not to mention the fact it would be almost completely dark outside if I tried to do the whole ride. Tried pushing it, but was not working (due to hard workout weekend?). I did ride in some bigger gears spinning just as hard as I would normally in a smaller gear, which was an improvement on some hills. And there was a roller section where I pounded through without gearing down.
I got caught almost halfway around Chastain park (almost done with the ride) and came to the last section of big rollers. When I got to the bottom of the first, I moved to my small ring......and the chain came right off!!! And it was not just that the chain came off, it did in such a way that it got stuck around the bottom bracket and the chainrings. Needless to say this killed my momentum. It took an extra few minutes to fix, and luckily somone was passing me by and I sucked their tail all the way to the finish.
Better some training than none, right?
On a positive note, I changed my entire schedule for June at my 2nd job to be more tri friendly!!! Only 3 days a week, and no Tuesday/Thursday (in case I actually want to do those group rides. Also I have that next tri on June 23rd. I have been really thinking about doing the Callway Gardens with Wes, but the distance is even shorter than a sprint, and I don't feel like getting up at 3am for a race! I also don't want to get a hotel room for a local GA event. So that leaves doing a race that is closer. I used to camp at Indian Springs/High Falls State park(s), so I know how to get there, and I know the area fairly well. Should be some nice hills on the bike course. Maybe we will even go over the bridge on the ride by the waterfalls, that would be cool.
Talk to y'all soon...
Murtha...
Monday, May 28, 2007
A long Memorial Day Weekend...
It's Almost over (writing this at 10:00p on a Monday night).
It started on Friday, where I had to work at both jobs, and the same went for Saturday. Sunday after work, I went out for my brick workout (the stats are below). Jackie just rode for a straight two hours.
Sunday morning, it happened...
I GOT TO HANG OUT FOR THE FIRST TIME WITH A TRI - BLOGGER!!!
And who was it you ask? Well it was none other than Wes, who just happens to be up the road from me (actually about 45 min up the road). Wes has been talking about getting some open water swims in, something that I am much in need in, and so I thought I would oblige. Sunday I thought I would send him an email to see if he was still interested, I knew he had a pretty busy weekend scheduled. Lo and behold on Sunday evening I had and email that was in my inbox, and started like this...
"Woo hoo! It's on :-) Dee Dee just asked me the same question. I guess I can't back out now ;-) ..."
Needless to say I was excited. I did not get a great night of sleep since my roommate is having issues with the HVAC running cold, so I did not actually get to sleep until about 3:00am. Up at 6:45am, I quickly got ready and headed out. Made a wrong turn on the way, but Wes quickly guided me back to where I needed to go and soon I was at his humble abode and met him and his wife, Dee Dee. Nothing but wonderful, I tell you!
We were then off shortly thereafter ( I got to see the new ride in person as well, it was sweeet!) and got to the lake close to 8:30. There were a number of cars in front of us, and the gate booth is not as quick and high tech as most things I am used to, so it took a bit longer. There were about 20-30 cars in there as well, and people already grilling, children swimming, etc. Off went the exterior clothes and there we all were in our swim gear, goggles and caps.
I asked Wes how he wanted all of this to go down, and it ended up being like a rectangular swim, close to shore. Which was fine with me, I was not about to get run over by some drunk people piloting jet skis and boats (come to find out later I had some friends at lake Lanier that experienced something similar). We completed 4 laps of somewhere close to 400 meters per lap. We thought it closer to 350, but on the last lap, after the final turn, I stroke counted similar to what I do in the pool, and I came up with about 150M from pole to shore. Who knows.
I think I finished everything in about 42minutes, with breaks inbetween each lap, so in all, not too bad consider we collectively swam about a mile. Wes was sporting some great form, and his sighting was great. He was usually ahead of me, and I would end up about 50 yards on either side of him. For those of us who joke about adding a few meters to our final distance due to getting of track, that was definately me today. Thought I felt a snake in the water at one point, but I think it was a piece of rope coming off one of the shallow bouy markers that I got close to (I hope). Dee Dee was not so fortunate, finding a dead snake in the water, and she was done.
Wes, it is so on for the rest of the year until it gets cold again!!! It is great getting away from the pool and swimming in an element that you will compete in eventually.
That is about all for now, more to come later. Due to the holiday weekend and such, I will forego posting my stats and just let you know that Sunday afternoon I bricked it with a 17mile ride and a 5K, and then Monday was the (some where close to a) mile swim with Wes.
Murtha...
It started on Friday, where I had to work at both jobs, and the same went for Saturday. Sunday after work, I went out for my brick workout (the stats are below). Jackie just rode for a straight two hours.
Sunday morning, it happened...
I GOT TO HANG OUT FOR THE FIRST TIME WITH A TRI - BLOGGER!!!
And who was it you ask? Well it was none other than Wes, who just happens to be up the road from me (actually about 45 min up the road). Wes has been talking about getting some open water swims in, something that I am much in need in, and so I thought I would oblige. Sunday I thought I would send him an email to see if he was still interested, I knew he had a pretty busy weekend scheduled. Lo and behold on Sunday evening I had and email that was in my inbox, and started like this...
"Woo hoo! It's on :-) Dee Dee just asked me the same question. I guess I can't back out now ;-) ..."
Needless to say I was excited. I did not get a great night of sleep since my roommate is having issues with the HVAC running cold, so I did not actually get to sleep until about 3:00am. Up at 6:45am, I quickly got ready and headed out. Made a wrong turn on the way, but Wes quickly guided me back to where I needed to go and soon I was at his humble abode and met him and his wife, Dee Dee. Nothing but wonderful, I tell you!
We were then off shortly thereafter ( I got to see the new ride in person as well, it was sweeet!) and got to the lake close to 8:30. There were a number of cars in front of us, and the gate booth is not as quick and high tech as most things I am used to, so it took a bit longer. There were about 20-30 cars in there as well, and people already grilling, children swimming, etc. Off went the exterior clothes and there we all were in our swim gear, goggles and caps.
I asked Wes how he wanted all of this to go down, and it ended up being like a rectangular swim, close to shore. Which was fine with me, I was not about to get run over by some drunk people piloting jet skis and boats (come to find out later I had some friends at lake Lanier that experienced something similar). We completed 4 laps of somewhere close to 400 meters per lap. We thought it closer to 350, but on the last lap, after the final turn, I stroke counted similar to what I do in the pool, and I came up with about 150M from pole to shore. Who knows.
I think I finished everything in about 42minutes, with breaks inbetween each lap, so in all, not too bad consider we collectively swam about a mile. Wes was sporting some great form, and his sighting was great. He was usually ahead of me, and I would end up about 50 yards on either side of him. For those of us who joke about adding a few meters to our final distance due to getting of track, that was definately me today. Thought I felt a snake in the water at one point, but I think it was a piece of rope coming off one of the shallow bouy markers that I got close to (I hope). Dee Dee was not so fortunate, finding a dead snake in the water, and she was done.
Wes, it is so on for the rest of the year until it gets cold again!!! It is great getting away from the pool and swimming in an element that you will compete in eventually.
That is about all for now, more to come later. Due to the holiday weekend and such, I will forego posting my stats and just let you know that Sunday afternoon I bricked it with a 17mile ride and a 5K, and then Monday was the (some where close to a) mile swim with Wes.
Murtha...
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Aaannnnnnnnnd There Off!!! (And I really mean I am off and going!)
HI!!!
So, I came up with this brilliant plan a couple of weeks ago, and announced it to you recently...
So far, so good! I put the Stats so far this week at the bottom, so that if you do not want to bore yourself with my data, I don't have you scrolling through everything.
I hate to say it, but after the back to back weekend workout (and lets just say I have not exactly been consistently working out), I actually felt great on Monday, and could have done a workout. However, I am having electrical problems at the house, and I also just did not want to go (I had more important things to do). This morning I got up and ran (you can see the breakdown above) and it was great. Not quite light yet, I got to use my Valentine's Day gift for the first time (other than fumbling around in my dark bedroom this morning). And LED head lamp!!! It was great, since it was cool, and there were no people out there to run into.
The other night was Tuesday night ride with the Sandy Springs Cycleworks group. I was not able to get my hill repeats in before the bike ride, since I was trying to get my cadence/speed sensor to work. This was my endurance ride for the week, so I would not have been worried if I had destroyed my legs before I went on the ride. Instead of killing the first hill like I usually do trying to keep up with the pack, I held back, and I was able to hang until I got up and around the golf course into our next set of elevation changes. There were two other people that I rode with in the back (one of which was on team Cycleworks, must have had an off day if they were riding with me). I also saw one of my Fraternity brothers, Kevin, with one of his GA Tech team cycling buddies. They got a flat in the first 4 miles, and they passed me again around mile 11-12. Kevin said that his teammate was pulling him at around 21 mph both UP and DOWN hills to try and catch up with the front group. They got lost at one point and put in a couple of extra miles, so they never actually caught up with the group.
I don't know why, but I got blisters from my Tuesday morning run. I hate blisters. They always put a cramp in my training. I had Wednesday off, since I was working a double, and then Thursday I was down and out with the flu. I could not keep down breakfast or lunch, and then I finally made it through dinner. It made Friday even worse, since we had a potluck to wish someone off on their last day at the bank. Tons of food, I was directed to the chicken noodle soup, ham sandwhich, and a couple of chicken fingers with no sauce for saftey. Worked both jobs on Friday.
Wes, you are the man! I am going to try and get in with you for Memorial Day morning swim, and then after that we can play it by ear...
As for everything else, I have my eyes on the horizon for the Tri the Parks towards the End of June (Indian Springs???). I have not signed up for it yet, but after the next paycheck, depending on training, it is looking pretty promising.
Hopefully soon I will be able to get back on my computer at home. We have had a change of email policy at work, plus some other stuff going on in my extracircular life, and so I really need to play catch-up and sift through all the emails I just forwarded to my gmail account.
Now to my workouts this week. I need to work on a spreadsheet and some weekly totals, I think I will "borrow" some of your blogger ideas.
05/19/2007 (Saturday)
Workout - Endurance Run
Time: 52:29.00
Distance: 5.50 mi
Pace: 9:32.54/mi
Tot Cal: 727 calories
Avg Hr: 171 bpm
Max Hr: 186 bpm
05/20/2007 (Sunday)
Workout - Brick (Bike Run)
Total Time: 1:25:14.00
Bike Time: 57:00.81
Bike Distance: 17.08 mi
Avg Speed: 18.0 mph
Max Speed: 26.6 mph
Avg Hr: 136 bpm
Max Hr: 169 bpm
RPE: 5
Run Time: 28:14.00
Run Distance: 3.02 mi
Run Pace (AVG): 9:21.00/mi
Avg Hr: 169 bpm
Max Hr: 179 bpm
RPE: 7
05/21/2007 (Monday)
NONE - Rest Day
05/22/2007 (Tuesday)
Workout - Light Run
Time: 30:58.00
Distance: 3.13 mi
Pace (AVG): 9:53.00 /mi
Avg Hr: 163 bpm
Max Hr: 174 bpm
Cal: 446 cal
RPE: 6-7
05/23/2007 (Wednesday)
None - Both Jobs
05/24/2007 (Thursday)
None - Sick - Flu
05/25/2007 (Friday)
None - Both Jobs
Workout (05/22/2007) - Endurance Ride (Sandy Springs Tue Cycleworks)
Time: 1:35:27.80
Distance: 24.93 mi
Avg Speed: 15.7 mph
Max Speed: 39.3 mph
Avg Hr: 147 bpm
Max Hr: 175 bpm
Cal: --- (not accurate on bike, calculates based on speed as well)
RPE: 5-8
Murtha...
So, I came up with this brilliant plan a couple of weeks ago, and announced it to you recently...
So far, so good! I put the Stats so far this week at the bottom, so that if you do not want to bore yourself with my data, I don't have you scrolling through everything.
I hate to say it, but after the back to back weekend workout (and lets just say I have not exactly been consistently working out), I actually felt great on Monday, and could have done a workout. However, I am having electrical problems at the house, and I also just did not want to go (I had more important things to do). This morning I got up and ran (you can see the breakdown above) and it was great. Not quite light yet, I got to use my Valentine's Day gift for the first time (other than fumbling around in my dark bedroom this morning). And LED head lamp!!! It was great, since it was cool, and there were no people out there to run into.
The other night was Tuesday night ride with the Sandy Springs Cycleworks group. I was not able to get my hill repeats in before the bike ride, since I was trying to get my cadence/speed sensor to work. This was my endurance ride for the week, so I would not have been worried if I had destroyed my legs before I went on the ride. Instead of killing the first hill like I usually do trying to keep up with the pack, I held back, and I was able to hang until I got up and around the golf course into our next set of elevation changes. There were two other people that I rode with in the back (one of which was on team Cycleworks, must have had an off day if they were riding with me). I also saw one of my Fraternity brothers, Kevin, with one of his GA Tech team cycling buddies. They got a flat in the first 4 miles, and they passed me again around mile 11-12. Kevin said that his teammate was pulling him at around 21 mph both UP and DOWN hills to try and catch up with the front group. They got lost at one point and put in a couple of extra miles, so they never actually caught up with the group.
I don't know why, but I got blisters from my Tuesday morning run. I hate blisters. They always put a cramp in my training. I had Wednesday off, since I was working a double, and then Thursday I was down and out with the flu. I could not keep down breakfast or lunch, and then I finally made it through dinner. It made Friday even worse, since we had a potluck to wish someone off on their last day at the bank. Tons of food, I was directed to the chicken noodle soup, ham sandwhich, and a couple of chicken fingers with no sauce for saftey. Worked both jobs on Friday.
Wes, you are the man! I am going to try and get in with you for Memorial Day morning swim, and then after that we can play it by ear...
As for everything else, I have my eyes on the horizon for the Tri the Parks towards the End of June (Indian Springs???). I have not signed up for it yet, but after the next paycheck, depending on training, it is looking pretty promising.
Hopefully soon I will be able to get back on my computer at home. We have had a change of email policy at work, plus some other stuff going on in my extracircular life, and so I really need to play catch-up and sift through all the emails I just forwarded to my gmail account.
Now to my workouts this week. I need to work on a spreadsheet and some weekly totals, I think I will "borrow" some of your blogger ideas.
05/19/2007 (Saturday)
Workout - Endurance Run
Time: 52:29.00
Distance: 5.50 mi
Pace: 9:32.54/mi
Tot Cal: 727 calories
Avg Hr: 171 bpm
Max Hr: 186 bpm
05/20/2007 (Sunday)
Workout - Brick (Bike Run)
Total Time: 1:25:14.00
Bike Time: 57:00.81
Bike Distance: 17.08 mi
Avg Speed: 18.0 mph
Max Speed: 26.6 mph
Avg Hr: 136 bpm
Max Hr: 169 bpm
RPE: 5
Run Time: 28:14.00
Run Distance: 3.02 mi
Run Pace (AVG): 9:21.00/mi
Avg Hr: 169 bpm
Max Hr: 179 bpm
RPE: 7
05/21/2007 (Monday)
NONE - Rest Day
05/22/2007 (Tuesday)
Workout - Light Run
Time: 30:58.00
Distance: 3.13 mi
Pace (AVG): 9:53.00 /mi
Avg Hr: 163 bpm
Max Hr: 174 bpm
Cal: 446 cal
RPE: 6-7
05/23/2007 (Wednesday)
None - Both Jobs
05/24/2007 (Thursday)
None - Sick - Flu
05/25/2007 (Friday)
None - Both Jobs
Workout (05/22/2007) - Endurance Ride (Sandy Springs Tue Cycleworks)
Time: 1:35:27.80
Distance: 24.93 mi
Avg Speed: 15.7 mph
Max Speed: 39.3 mph
Avg Hr: 147 bpm
Max Hr: 175 bpm
Cal: --- (not accurate on bike, calculates based on speed as well)
RPE: 5-8
Murtha...
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
The Jumpstart (Mondays!!!)
Well,
I would say my friend who I train with, but I should actually call him my pseudo coach (for kicking my butt!!!), James, was nice enough to go out with me on my run last night. We went over to Chastain park and took the Garmin so that we could finally get the exact mileage for the loop.
05/14/2005
Workout: Endurance Run
Breakdown
Distance: 5.12 miles
Time: 50:59.00
Avg Pace: 9:58 min/mi
Tot Cal: 707
Avg Hr: 177 bpm
Max Hr: 192 bpm
Basically I blew my wad in the first mile and a half, and then struggled the rest of the first loop (which has the majority of the elevation). By that time I had decided to let him go and get his workout (as nice as he was to stay back with me, I did not want to feel as if I was holding him back). He went and did two more laps, and I completed one more. I had to stop twice for about 45 seconds or so to get my heart rate back down to below 160 before I got started again. For some reason, no matter how slow I was running/jogging, I could not keep my heart rate below 180 bpm.
2nd lap was just miserable. I can tell you why though
1. Treadmill in temperature controlled gym.
2. Silver Comet Trail (technically flat)
Yesterday's run. 85 degrees and humid, and hills. What a difference a course makes!
After we both finished we sat down a talked for awhile, mostly about base mile training and staying under a certain heart rate max %. I think that makes a lot of sense, considering that I usually do not jog at an easy pace, even when it is a fun run.
I got caught up on my blog reading over the weekend, and it is nice to see that everyone seems to be finding themselves in races and other tri events.
I am considering volunteering for the first time soon. There is a free Sunday (I think) that I will have coming up soon, and I would like to see if there is any way I can get in there and volunteer.
I don't know if I previously mentioned, but I signed up for the Tri-PTC (peachtree city GA) on Sept 8th. I do not know how many years that they have been hosting this event, but it has been selling out now, and it has quickly jumped to a not selling out 300-400 people to a sell out of just over 700 people in 3 years.
I think next week I am going to sign up for one of the next Tri the Parks series races in June/August. There is Indian Springs on June 23rd, and then there is High Falls on Saturday August 18th. There is an event in July, but It would take me about two hours to get there, and I really do not want to get up any earlier/obtain a hotel room, for a race I want to be considered a "local event." Yes, I know that will decrease the number of events that are available to me, but we all know that this is an expensive and time consuming sport. Anywhere you can cut costs and save time/santity can be well worth it.
Next week begins week 1 of my 20 week HIM training schedule. I am kind of excited. I was not able to get to the pool this morning. I have to go and get a Bike pump after work since I left mine in NJ (present for uncle Les). tonight is speed work/hills on the bike. Depending on what time I get home, I might be able to get the swimming in as well. Otherwise I can move the swim to tomorrow morning.
(Quads screaming, Hammies screaming, we all scream for ice cream!)
On some of the other blogs, people (the Kahuna) have been posting about future potential races. I am all about me some Nevada triathlons, especially when they are near my family, I mean Las Vegas...
;-)
Murtha...
I would say my friend who I train with, but I should actually call him my pseudo coach (for kicking my butt!!!), James, was nice enough to go out with me on my run last night. We went over to Chastain park and took the Garmin so that we could finally get the exact mileage for the loop.
05/14/2005
Workout: Endurance Run
Breakdown
Distance: 5.12 miles
Time: 50:59.00
Avg Pace: 9:58 min/mi
Tot Cal: 707
Avg Hr: 177 bpm
Max Hr: 192 bpm
Basically I blew my wad in the first mile and a half, and then struggled the rest of the first loop (which has the majority of the elevation). By that time I had decided to let him go and get his workout (as nice as he was to stay back with me, I did not want to feel as if I was holding him back). He went and did two more laps, and I completed one more. I had to stop twice for about 45 seconds or so to get my heart rate back down to below 160 before I got started again. For some reason, no matter how slow I was running/jogging, I could not keep my heart rate below 180 bpm.
2nd lap was just miserable. I can tell you why though
1. Treadmill in temperature controlled gym.
2. Silver Comet Trail (technically flat)
Yesterday's run. 85 degrees and humid, and hills. What a difference a course makes!
After we both finished we sat down a talked for awhile, mostly about base mile training and staying under a certain heart rate max %. I think that makes a lot of sense, considering that I usually do not jog at an easy pace, even when it is a fun run.
I got caught up on my blog reading over the weekend, and it is nice to see that everyone seems to be finding themselves in races and other tri events.
I am considering volunteering for the first time soon. There is a free Sunday (I think) that I will have coming up soon, and I would like to see if there is any way I can get in there and volunteer.
I don't know if I previously mentioned, but I signed up for the Tri-PTC (peachtree city GA) on Sept 8th. I do not know how many years that they have been hosting this event, but it has been selling out now, and it has quickly jumped to a not selling out 300-400 people to a sell out of just over 700 people in 3 years.
I think next week I am going to sign up for one of the next Tri the Parks series races in June/August. There is Indian Springs on June 23rd, and then there is High Falls on Saturday August 18th. There is an event in July, but It would take me about two hours to get there, and I really do not want to get up any earlier/obtain a hotel room, for a race I want to be considered a "local event." Yes, I know that will decrease the number of events that are available to me, but we all know that this is an expensive and time consuming sport. Anywhere you can cut costs and save time/santity can be well worth it.
Next week begins week 1 of my 20 week HIM training schedule. I am kind of excited. I was not able to get to the pool this morning. I have to go and get a Bike pump after work since I left mine in NJ (present for uncle Les). tonight is speed work/hills on the bike. Depending on what time I get home, I might be able to get the swimming in as well. Otherwise I can move the swim to tomorrow morning.
(Quads screaming, Hammies screaming, we all scream for ice cream!)
On some of the other blogs, people (the Kahuna) have been posting about future potential races. I am all about me some Nevada triathlons, especially when they are near my family, I mean Las Vegas...
;-)
Murtha...
Friday, May 11, 2007
The Plan!!!
I am writing this on one of my few free nights, but I am not sure if I will finish it tonight (not that you will know anyways, it will all show up at the same time).
I began listening to the GYGO podcast last night before I went out to run some errands, I did not get that far through it, and I was only halfway paying attention, until I heard Iron Wil exclaim something about flashing. I will have to spend some extra time to listen all at once.
In other news, my youngest sister's graduation is Saturday morning at my old Alma Mater, the University of Georgia. I cannot believe that she is already graduating. She has a job already lined up in the fall, and will be moving to Atlanta in the late summer.
Also, I might not have mentioned in previous posts, but I have found some fraternity brothers (whom have moved back to Atlanta since graduation) that are participating in endurance and multisport events. It seems at this time that our schedules conflict, but I hope to be able to trian and maybe even complete a few races with them.
Ok, now on to business (right....).
Since my last race and the bike tour last weekend, I have been working on a plan for the rest of the year. It involves only 2-3 races later in the summer and is spread out through October. I have only signed up for one of them, due to selling out early, and the fact that I have made a point to complete the race every year (Tri - PTC). The rest of the races I am going to completely play by ear, so that if I don't want to do them or can't, it will make no big difference.
It is a 20 week program, and I have about 2-3 weeks before it begins, and hopefully will culminate in either a Oly or Half Iron distance race at the end of the 20 weeks. I am also trying to get some sort of consistent schedule going with my second job (if that is possible) so that planning my training on a week to week basis is not so screwed up. Usually I do not find out my schedule until around Friday afternoon for the following week. I am also planning to take a full week off of my second job before I start this whole "PLAN", so that I can make sure I have all the little things taken care of (I need to get caught up on some stuff anyways.
When I look at last year as compared to this year, I see many differences in what was/is going on in my life, but one major difference is that I had some sort of gameplan to take me throughout the entire year. This time around (2007) I just decided to wing it. Fast forward to today, and I can see now how that just was doomed for failure, combined with what all is going on.
Another certanity is that I will promise to use and rely on the support of my family, friends, bloggers, (i.e. anyone) who is willing to help me with this small cause in my life, as well as all other aspects of my life. As some other people have stated in their blogs (and i whole heartedly agree with them), this is a loner sport at times, and you tend to become selfish, self-sufficient, and/or individual-centered due to that fact. There are some ways around it, such as joining a club/team, masters swim programs, yet at the end of the day it will be the course and yourself. Because of this I have unconsciously shunned the support of my family and friends who have wanted to provide support that would most ultimately lead to my own personal success and betterment (not just in triathlon, but in general).
This week I have tried to put everything in perspective (including your comments) and I have greater positive mental attitude about things than in previous weeks. Happy Andy is back :-) (not that he ever really left...).
The Picture Nazi (he he he, just could not help myself J, sorry!) still has not let loose on her death grip of the pictures from the last two weeks, but I promise that I will get them out there as soon as possible (she distracted me last night by making me replace the fixed tire back on her Jeep).
I am going to take some of you up on that open water swimming offer here in the next few weeks if I can find out when I get some free time on the weekends. I still owe Wes a ride on the SCT, or I need to get up on Kennesaw and ride around the mountain with him.
Mutha out...
I began listening to the GYGO podcast last night before I went out to run some errands, I did not get that far through it, and I was only halfway paying attention, until I heard Iron Wil exclaim something about flashing. I will have to spend some extra time to listen all at once.
In other news, my youngest sister's graduation is Saturday morning at my old Alma Mater, the University of Georgia. I cannot believe that she is already graduating. She has a job already lined up in the fall, and will be moving to Atlanta in the late summer.
Also, I might not have mentioned in previous posts, but I have found some fraternity brothers (whom have moved back to Atlanta since graduation) that are participating in endurance and multisport events. It seems at this time that our schedules conflict, but I hope to be able to trian and maybe even complete a few races with them.
Ok, now on to business (right....).
Since my last race and the bike tour last weekend, I have been working on a plan for the rest of the year. It involves only 2-3 races later in the summer and is spread out through October. I have only signed up for one of them, due to selling out early, and the fact that I have made a point to complete the race every year (Tri - PTC). The rest of the races I am going to completely play by ear, so that if I don't want to do them or can't, it will make no big difference.
It is a 20 week program, and I have about 2-3 weeks before it begins, and hopefully will culminate in either a Oly or Half Iron distance race at the end of the 20 weeks. I am also trying to get some sort of consistent schedule going with my second job (if that is possible) so that planning my training on a week to week basis is not so screwed up. Usually I do not find out my schedule until around Friday afternoon for the following week. I am also planning to take a full week off of my second job before I start this whole "PLAN", so that I can make sure I have all the little things taken care of (I need to get caught up on some stuff anyways.
When I look at last year as compared to this year, I see many differences in what was/is going on in my life, but one major difference is that I had some sort of gameplan to take me throughout the entire year. This time around (2007) I just decided to wing it. Fast forward to today, and I can see now how that just was doomed for failure, combined with what all is going on.
Another certanity is that I will promise to use and rely on the support of my family, friends, bloggers, (i.e. anyone) who is willing to help me with this small cause in my life, as well as all other aspects of my life. As some other people have stated in their blogs (and i whole heartedly agree with them), this is a loner sport at times, and you tend to become selfish, self-sufficient, and/or individual-centered due to that fact. There are some ways around it, such as joining a club/team, masters swim programs, yet at the end of the day it will be the course and yourself. Because of this I have unconsciously shunned the support of my family and friends who have wanted to provide support that would most ultimately lead to my own personal success and betterment (not just in triathlon, but in general).
This week I have tried to put everything in perspective (including your comments) and I have greater positive mental attitude about things than in previous weeks. Happy Andy is back :-) (not that he ever really left...).
The Picture Nazi (he he he, just could not help myself J, sorry!) still has not let loose on her death grip of the pictures from the last two weeks, but I promise that I will get them out there as soon as possible (she distracted me last night by making me replace the fixed tire back on her Jeep).
I am going to take some of you up on that open water swimming offer here in the next few weeks if I can find out when I get some free time on the weekends. I still owe Wes a ride on the SCT, or I need to get up on Kennesaw and ride around the mountain with him.
Mutha out...
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
30th New York Bike Tour - May 6th, 2007
Hello All,
First off, thanks for all the responses and support after my last post. I think I am stressing out over nothing, but I just need to focus where I am at in my life right now, and adjust accordingly.
I hope that everyone got a great start to their week. I just got in late tonight from my trip back from NY/NJ where I completed a bike tour with Jackie and her Uncle Les. Here is the story...
Friday
Left for NY at 5:00am - Nice ride until we got to VA. It takes forever to get through VA. We stopped there for lunch in Petersburg at around 1:30p. Just being off the freeway for that short period of time scared me. No one in VA knows how to drive (at least off of the freeway)!!! It was plainly crazy. Not knowing how to yield at a 4 way stop, not knowing how to properly merge, etc...
Hit rush hour in both DC and Baltimore. We got in to Red Bank about 9:30 to meet up with a fraternity brother for dinner and coffee. We would have went out for drinks if we would have had more time, but it was late and we only got 3 hours of sleep the night before.
Saturday
Visited both sides of Jackie's family with her uncle, and then picked up some bike gear which Uncle Les was nice enough to get on his dime (I appreciated it very much if you read about race day). That evening before bed we set up all our gear, portioned out our nutrition and bottles, and then went to bed around 10:30-11:00p.
Sunday - Tour Day!!!
Did I tell you that this was the NY Bike Tour, or the NY Bike/Walk/Stand Tour? Well it was more of the latter. We parked at South Beach on Staten Island at around 6:00am and I had a banana (for those of you who know the NY area) and then biked five miles to the ferry. Oh and that light windbreaker that I got the day before ... I wore that on top of a long sleeve tee and a bike shirt, regular bike shorts, summer gloves, and the wind chill was 33 degrees. How about them apples? The ride to the ferry was a warmup, but then we waited about 20-30 minutes to get on the ferry since there was a crowd of cyclists that filled the car ramp. After we got on the ferry I used the facilites, took some pictures and then we arrived in lower Manhattan. Got off and went about 2 blocks north before we stopped dead with all the rest of the people waiting to start... We would walk and then stop, repeated the process until around 9:00 where we were up to the world trade center area, and then we were able to get on our bikes and slowly ride to the start line. We passed the official start at around 9:20am. Felt numb at that point but excited abou the ride.
Somewhere between miles 2-3...
We stopped!!! What, stop you ask? How could you possibly stop during a bike tour. Well here is your answer. Have one in the Greater New York City area. For some reason (later to find out there was one street where the police and race marshalls had to let traffic and pedestrians bleed through a particularly heavily traveled street (somewhere between 51st and 55th Street on 6th Ave). It took us almost an hour to complete a 5K. We then again got on our bikes and traveled north to Central Park only to be stopped again dead in our tracks. This time the bottleneck was due to the fact of 1)pedestrians trying to get to and from Central Park and 2) they were splitting the riders into two different parts of central park (later to be merged again), which caused us to have to stop again.
Central Park ...
We rode through a quater of a mile of Central park and then again had to dismount and walk another half mile or so before we could start biking again. We got through Central Park and it was almost 12:00p. At this point it began to thin out.
Bridges, Bridges, and Freeways Oh my!
I think the best part about the ride other than the sightseeing portion, was the ability to go on roads, bridges, and freeways that on the other 364 days of the year, are for the most part a no-no for riders.
We had multiple stops for me (it seems that if I get too much potassium in my diet in the morning with a combo of hydration, I need to make frequent stops), and witnessed some really bad accidents, which in some places were kinda crazy since it was uphill or somewhere where riders were going really slowly.
THINGS OF NOTE...
This also brings about the point of the casual rider. Those of us who have decided to take the next step and make riding more serious in our lives (at whatever level, cycling, triathlons, etc) have taken the time to figure out riding etiquette, tips and tricks of cycling, etc. Those of whom are of the more casual rider alone on their street, or some large park, do not know what in the heck they are doing when they get on a tour or race.
1) I saw more weaving by sober cyclists than drunk drivers leaving a Falcons Football game. How hard is it to ride straight when you are able?
2) Certain bikes should not be allowed on tours/races. These include tandem bikes, the kid add on bike to the back of yours, tandem with the kid add on the back, and seated two wheel bikes. Oh wait and those kid carrier 3 wheel ones you hook to the back of your bike. I personally witnessed these devices wreaking havoc on other cyclists!
3) Do not bring kids younger than a certain age to ride, or kids that have not learned how to ride in large groups. I saw one kid get plowed because he wanted to take a break and just stopped right in front of this guy that was 6'2" and riding about 15mph. Was not pretty.
4) DO NOT STOP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD FOR ANY REASON OTHER THAN EMEREGENCY!!! If you were riding where I was on the tour, and you decided that you needed to stop for some reason, did it not enter your head that there might be about, oh a combined 15-20,000 more riders coming up behind you collectively? There was an asain guy who wanted to stop for some reason, and literally stopped fast (in the middle of the street) and a 15 year old girl slammed right into him, almost endoed over her handlebars.
Other than all the previous stuff written, both good and bad, I had a wonderful time!
The whole entire ride (standing and walking) took just under 5 hours. I have not looked to see any stats, just due to the fact that this was not really a race in nature, so what is the point in analyzing the data when there is really nothing to analyze. I know that I did not push that hard due to the pace we were going, and I am fine with that.
POST RACE
Then there was the 5 mile ride back from the Staten Island Park (not too far away from the Varazano Bridge (?), which was the home stretch of the ride) to South beach where the truck was to take us home. I am glad that we did not park in Manhattan, since there was a 45 min wait to get on the ferry to get back to Manhattan.
However, I did sleep for almost 12 hours Sunday night!!! I was just plain worn out! Which is really funny considering that I felt I did not do much of anything. Post race pizza and beer was great (compliments of Jackie's uncle). I think I had 8 slices of pizza. Still did not feel full when I was done with those, but I knew better than to continue. That was to make up for all the actual food that I did not eat during the race.
That is all for now. Someone has the camera hostage right now, which has prevented me from posting any pictures from either event. I will remedy that as soon as possible. Bye for now...
Murtha...
First off, thanks for all the responses and support after my last post. I think I am stressing out over nothing, but I just need to focus where I am at in my life right now, and adjust accordingly.
I hope that everyone got a great start to their week. I just got in late tonight from my trip back from NY/NJ where I completed a bike tour with Jackie and her Uncle Les. Here is the story...
Friday
Left for NY at 5:00am - Nice ride until we got to VA. It takes forever to get through VA. We stopped there for lunch in Petersburg at around 1:30p. Just being off the freeway for that short period of time scared me. No one in VA knows how to drive (at least off of the freeway)!!! It was plainly crazy. Not knowing how to yield at a 4 way stop, not knowing how to properly merge, etc...
Hit rush hour in both DC and Baltimore. We got in to Red Bank about 9:30 to meet up with a fraternity brother for dinner and coffee. We would have went out for drinks if we would have had more time, but it was late and we only got 3 hours of sleep the night before.
Saturday
Visited both sides of Jackie's family with her uncle, and then picked up some bike gear which Uncle Les was nice enough to get on his dime (I appreciated it very much if you read about race day). That evening before bed we set up all our gear, portioned out our nutrition and bottles, and then went to bed around 10:30-11:00p.
Sunday - Tour Day!!!
Did I tell you that this was the NY Bike Tour, or the NY Bike/Walk/Stand Tour? Well it was more of the latter. We parked at South Beach on Staten Island at around 6:00am and I had a banana (for those of you who know the NY area) and then biked five miles to the ferry. Oh and that light windbreaker that I got the day before ... I wore that on top of a long sleeve tee and a bike shirt, regular bike shorts, summer gloves, and the wind chill was 33 degrees. How about them apples? The ride to the ferry was a warmup, but then we waited about 20-30 minutes to get on the ferry since there was a crowd of cyclists that filled the car ramp. After we got on the ferry I used the facilites, took some pictures and then we arrived in lower Manhattan. Got off and went about 2 blocks north before we stopped dead with all the rest of the people waiting to start... We would walk and then stop, repeated the process until around 9:00 where we were up to the world trade center area, and then we were able to get on our bikes and slowly ride to the start line. We passed the official start at around 9:20am. Felt numb at that point but excited abou the ride.
Somewhere between miles 2-3...
We stopped!!! What, stop you ask? How could you possibly stop during a bike tour. Well here is your answer. Have one in the Greater New York City area. For some reason (later to find out there was one street where the police and race marshalls had to let traffic and pedestrians bleed through a particularly heavily traveled street (somewhere between 51st and 55th Street on 6th Ave). It took us almost an hour to complete a 5K. We then again got on our bikes and traveled north to Central Park only to be stopped again dead in our tracks. This time the bottleneck was due to the fact of 1)pedestrians trying to get to and from Central Park and 2) they were splitting the riders into two different parts of central park (later to be merged again), which caused us to have to stop again.
Central Park ...
We rode through a quater of a mile of Central park and then again had to dismount and walk another half mile or so before we could start biking again. We got through Central Park and it was almost 12:00p. At this point it began to thin out.
Bridges, Bridges, and Freeways Oh my!
I think the best part about the ride other than the sightseeing portion, was the ability to go on roads, bridges, and freeways that on the other 364 days of the year, are for the most part a no-no for riders.
We had multiple stops for me (it seems that if I get too much potassium in my diet in the morning with a combo of hydration, I need to make frequent stops), and witnessed some really bad accidents, which in some places were kinda crazy since it was uphill or somewhere where riders were going really slowly.
THINGS OF NOTE...
This also brings about the point of the casual rider. Those of us who have decided to take the next step and make riding more serious in our lives (at whatever level, cycling, triathlons, etc) have taken the time to figure out riding etiquette, tips and tricks of cycling, etc. Those of whom are of the more casual rider alone on their street, or some large park, do not know what in the heck they are doing when they get on a tour or race.
1) I saw more weaving by sober cyclists than drunk drivers leaving a Falcons Football game. How hard is it to ride straight when you are able?
2) Certain bikes should not be allowed on tours/races. These include tandem bikes, the kid add on bike to the back of yours, tandem with the kid add on the back, and seated two wheel bikes. Oh wait and those kid carrier 3 wheel ones you hook to the back of your bike. I personally witnessed these devices wreaking havoc on other cyclists!
3) Do not bring kids younger than a certain age to ride, or kids that have not learned how to ride in large groups. I saw one kid get plowed because he wanted to take a break and just stopped right in front of this guy that was 6'2" and riding about 15mph. Was not pretty.
4) DO NOT STOP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD FOR ANY REASON OTHER THAN EMEREGENCY!!! If you were riding where I was on the tour, and you decided that you needed to stop for some reason, did it not enter your head that there might be about, oh a combined 15-20,000 more riders coming up behind you collectively? There was an asain guy who wanted to stop for some reason, and literally stopped fast (in the middle of the street) and a 15 year old girl slammed right into him, almost endoed over her handlebars.
Other than all the previous stuff written, both good and bad, I had a wonderful time!
The whole entire ride (standing and walking) took just under 5 hours. I have not looked to see any stats, just due to the fact that this was not really a race in nature, so what is the point in analyzing the data when there is really nothing to analyze. I know that I did not push that hard due to the pace we were going, and I am fine with that.
POST RACE
Then there was the 5 mile ride back from the Staten Island Park (not too far away from the Varazano Bridge (?), which was the home stretch of the ride) to South beach where the truck was to take us home. I am glad that we did not park in Manhattan, since there was a 45 min wait to get on the ferry to get back to Manhattan.
However, I did sleep for almost 12 hours Sunday night!!! I was just plain worn out! Which is really funny considering that I felt I did not do much of anything. Post race pizza and beer was great (compliments of Jackie's uncle). I think I had 8 slices of pizza. Still did not feel full when I was done with those, but I knew better than to continue. That was to make up for all the actual food that I did not eat during the race.
That is all for now. Someone has the camera hostage right now, which has prevented me from posting any pictures from either event. I will remedy that as soon as possible. Bye for now...
Murtha...
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Ford Ironman Florida 70.3...........NO MORE
Hello Everyone,
So I told you that I would have an announcement to make pending an email that I was supposed to be receiving. Well, I never received the email from NA Sports, so I decided that I would go ahead anyway, and inform all of you what is going on.
During the last mile of my race this past Saturday, I realized that if I was completing the Ironman Florida 70.3, I would have to do what I was doing then 4 more times (to equal the 70.3 distance, roughly). I then thought to myself, "Andy, if you really drive your butt all the way down to Orlando and attempt to do this upcoming race, you are either a) going to be in the medical tent DNF with multiple IVs in you, b) in one of Orlando's finest Hospitals, or c) possibly worse than the first two."
Nice positive mental attitude while attempting to finish a race, eh? I thought so too. On the car drive home, I told Jackie of my intentions, and she was in full support of me no matter what I decided. On Sunday I composed an email and sent it to NA Sports (after reviewing their NEW cancellation policy), and my heart sunk just a bit further knowing there would be NO REFUND, and most likely NO RACE TRANSFER. I have yet to hear from NA Sports concering this matter.
I have now had plenty of time to let this marinate in my head. I know I made the right decision, but it has led me to view my 3rd year in the sport as uncertain. Just yesterday there was an incident at work that prevented me from getting in my afternoon workout (on top of the fact I did not get up early enough to go swimming), and then my other job called me to try and pick up a shift someone dropped. Being the nice guy (sucker) I am, I said yes instead of going home and "taking care of business."
Training is spotty, motivation is not there everyday, etc...
I have seen a few other posts from people's blogs having this same situation occur. I would like to see how they panned out.
I am still going to complete the NY Bike Tour this weekend (due to the fact that I will probably be riding 12-15 mph for 42 miles will not be a problem for me), but the rest of the season is really up for grabs. I still want to do the South Carolina HIM in October, but I am not sure about my race schedule for the rest of 2007, and if I do complete any other races, they will probably only be sprint races to save my sanity.
One phrase, mental turmoil, describes it all.
One person cannot do it all, and like the prelude to my race report in my previous post, triathlon has definately not been my priority of any sort this year.
I am working on a schedule (about 22 weeks to South Carolina HIM) that should have me ready for the race, but the problem can and will most likely be the execution.
Now I am just ranting... I will leave this subject for now, I know it is a downer for the rest of you and I want this blog, as well for all you reading it, to be a most enjoyable reading experience. And while reading both the ups and downs are great, it seems as of late there have been more downs than ups.
Good Luck training/racing,
Murtha...
So I told you that I would have an announcement to make pending an email that I was supposed to be receiving. Well, I never received the email from NA Sports, so I decided that I would go ahead anyway, and inform all of you what is going on.
During the last mile of my race this past Saturday, I realized that if I was completing the Ironman Florida 70.3, I would have to do what I was doing then 4 more times (to equal the 70.3 distance, roughly). I then thought to myself, "Andy, if you really drive your butt all the way down to Orlando and attempt to do this upcoming race, you are either a) going to be in the medical tent DNF with multiple IVs in you, b) in one of Orlando's finest Hospitals, or c) possibly worse than the first two."
Nice positive mental attitude while attempting to finish a race, eh? I thought so too. On the car drive home, I told Jackie of my intentions, and she was in full support of me no matter what I decided. On Sunday I composed an email and sent it to NA Sports (after reviewing their NEW cancellation policy), and my heart sunk just a bit further knowing there would be NO REFUND, and most likely NO RACE TRANSFER. I have yet to hear from NA Sports concering this matter.
I have now had plenty of time to let this marinate in my head. I know I made the right decision, but it has led me to view my 3rd year in the sport as uncertain. Just yesterday there was an incident at work that prevented me from getting in my afternoon workout (on top of the fact I did not get up early enough to go swimming), and then my other job called me to try and pick up a shift someone dropped. Being the nice guy (sucker) I am, I said yes instead of going home and "taking care of business."
Training is spotty, motivation is not there everyday, etc...
I have seen a few other posts from people's blogs having this same situation occur. I would like to see how they panned out.
I am still going to complete the NY Bike Tour this weekend (due to the fact that I will probably be riding 12-15 mph for 42 miles will not be a problem for me), but the rest of the season is really up for grabs. I still want to do the South Carolina HIM in October, but I am not sure about my race schedule for the rest of 2007, and if I do complete any other races, they will probably only be sprint races to save my sanity.
One phrase, mental turmoil, describes it all.
One person cannot do it all, and like the prelude to my race report in my previous post, triathlon has definately not been my priority of any sort this year.
I am working on a schedule (about 22 weeks to South Carolina HIM) that should have me ready for the race, but the problem can and will most likely be the execution.
Now I am just ranting... I will leave this subject for now, I know it is a downer for the rest of you and I want this blog, as well for all you reading it, to be a most enjoyable reading experience. And while reading both the ups and downs are great, it seems as of late there have been more downs than ups.
Good Luck training/racing,
Murtha...
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