I Love My Bike

Two more rides in on the new bike. Did the same loop on Friday that I did on Wednesday. Averaged over 18 mph. It really is amazing how much of a difference 5 lbs, aero bars, and skinny tires makes. I'm looking forward to putting it to use in 2 weeks when I do my next triathlon. Had to sneak the ride in between thunderstorms though.

Saturday it rained. A lot. I drove out to the race track where my boss was supposed be racing his motorcycle ( he races AMA/CCS 600cc SuperSport class ). He got in one race before the skys opened up. Spent the next couple hours under the tarp waiting to see if it would clear. The races don't stop in the rain, but if you don't have good rain tires ( he didn't ) then it's really not advisable to try. ( For what I hope are obvious reasons ).

Last night was going to do some work on the computer, but came down with a splitting headache that pretty much wiped me out. Took a bunch of advil, which usually works, with no effect, so I just trundled off to bed to sleep it off.

This morning I felt much better. No sign of the headache, and I woke up pretty early considering it was a weekend and I didn't have an alarm set. Sun was out, and though it was a bit chilly and wet from all the rain, it was warming up to be a nice day. So, after a nice breakfast of two eggs, veggie sausages, wheat toast, glass of fresh OJ ( what else! ), and coffee, it was time for a warmup jog around the block a bit, stretching, then off for a roughly 30 mile ride. Had the trail mostly to myself when I started out. Scared a couple squirrels who were apparently not expecting a rider that early. Finished first 25 miles ( the distance I have to ride in my next tri ) in about 1:25, and wasn't pushing too hard. Then I did my 'hard hill' a couple times to get in some strength work and headed home. Total time, 1:40. And still had a few hours before lunchtime. Yeah.

Really looking forward to my next tri. It'll be my first olympic distance, and the third tri ever. I don't want to get too much anticipatory, but I think I'll come close to the 3:00 mark. I hear the run course and the bike course have lots of hills, so I'm not sure how that'll affect me though. This being my first "oly", I'm just going to go, and have fun, and get it under my belt. The next after that, 2 weeks later in Colorado, is supposed to be flat and very fast course. I have no doubt that I'll break 3:00 on that one.

Oh yeah, how insane am I. For my birthday, as a present to myself, I'm doing an olympic distance triathlon. :) I need help. Seriously. :D

Alright, ta ta for now, off to watch the closing ceremonies!

Inspiration

Take verbatim from: http://tvnz.co.nz/view/sport_story_skin/439619%3fformat=html

Pyambu Tuul's Marathon run, Barcelona 1992

This was an incredible and emotional story. Here was a Mongolian running in the 1992 Olympic marathon. His country was previously mainly known for its prowess in wrestling. And that's all. But Pyambu Tuul trained and trained and was sent to do his best in the Games' most gruelling event.

Soon after the start of the race he fell back to the rear of the field. Everyone was going too fast for him. He must have felt keenly the speed with which the other runners ran way ahead. In the end when Hwang Young-cho of Korea crossed the line in the Gold medal position, clocking 2 hours 13 minutes and 23 seconds, Tuul still was about two hours away from the stadium.

Officials looked anxiously at their watches. The closing ceremony was fast approaching and the configuration of the main stadium floor had to be changed around to accommodate dance sequences and the like. Millions would be tuning in the see the Olympic conclude with due dignity.

So a decision was made that any runner slower than three hours would be guided away from a main stadium finish and would instead complete his marathon on the training track next door.

In the end the only one that hasty rule applied to was Pyambu Tuul of Mongolia. He was directed to the training track and in the dark with only one spotlight from an official to show the way, he jogged painfully to the finish. His time when it was officially announced was a couple of minutes over four hours.

Reporters rushed to see Tuul as this was deemed a good story. Tuul was asked, "How come your time was this slow? Is this the greatest day in your life? Questions like that.


At a press conference Tuul answered quietly and calmly. Through an interpreter he said, "No, my time was not slow, after all you could call my run a Mongolian Olympic marathon record." That was an excellent reply I thought.


He carried on. "And as for it being the greatest day of my life, no it isn't."


The reporters craned forward with their notebooks at the ready. Tuul said, "Up till six months ago I had no sight at all. I was a totally blind person. When I trained it was only with the aid of friends who ran with me. But a group of doctors came to my country last year to do humanitarian medical work. One doctor took a look at my eyes and asked me questions. I told him I had been unable to see since childhood. He said 'But I can fix your sight with a simple operation'. So he did the operation on me and after 20 years I could see again. So today wasn't the greatest day of my life. The best day was when I got my sight back and I saw my wife and two daughters for the first time. And they are beautiful."

Here fishie fishie!

So, I think I must be growing gills. I can swim and swim and swim and swim. I've always loved the water, never been scared of it. Some people have trouble relaxing in the water, but in the water is where I'm the most relaxed. I'm part fish I think.

Tonight I swam 2700meters in the pool. Took me 53 minutes. And the last 200 meters was cool down at a pretty slow ( for me ) pace. 2500meters was done at just over 48 minutes. Not exhausted or overly tired when I was done either. This bodes well for my next race I think. That distance is only 1500meters, so I can step up the pace a bit even more I think.

I do need to think about getting a wetsuit though. Not so much because of water temps ( it's projected to be in mid 70's at the race ), but because I have a problem with sinking! I have to swim at a bit of an upward angle because otherwise I sink to the bottom. The additional buoancy from a wetsuit will help with that, and I should be able to drop my swim times even further. Yay! More gear/toys! :)

This is my last 'long' swim of the season I think, as I'm going into my taper for the races coming up in Sept 11th and Sept 26th. Then I'll drop into 'off-season' mode for a bit, let my body recover from everything I've put it through to go from moderately ok shape to doing 2 sprint and 2 olympic triathlons this year ( and a couple 5k and 10k races too! ). It certainly has taken it's toll.

But then I'll start building my endurance base again probably around mid-November or so, as one of my goals for next race season is to break 6 hours in a 1/2 Ironman ( 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 1/2 marathon run ).

Fassssssssssssssssssst!

Oh yeah, can you say fast?

New bike owns. Took it out for a 16.5 mile loop ( my "time trial loop" ). I usually average about 15mph on my mountain bike. Acutal speeds are a bit higher, but there are a few spots where I have to cross busy intersections, so I have to stop for a few minutes. So, typical time is just over an hour. And that's with favorable tailwinds on the long straight section of the ride.

Last night, between bouts of thunderstorms, I tooled out on the new bike for a spin to test it out. First, it was raining a lot of the day, so there were puddles and wet leaves on the course, and I had a 15-20mph headwind on the long straight section instead of a tailwind. Usual HR is around 160 bpm at this pace on the mtn bike.

The results you ask? 16.8 mph average on the new Tri bike. I pushed it up to 25mph on the flats and kept it there for a 3 mile stretch. This was first ride, so I'm still getting comfortable in the aero position and used the handling characteristics of the bike. Also, despite going nearly 2mph faster than on the mtn bike, have a pretty wicked headwind, and it being non-optimum conditions, my average HR was 151 bpm. Roughly 10 bpm lower!

So, in my last 2 races, I've average 17.8 and 18.2 mph on my mountain bike. The top 10 finishers in my age bracket have averaged around 21-23 mph on the bike. If you add 2mph to my previous times, I'm nearly there. Add in a bit more due to just being more comfortable on the bike, pushing it harder, and having better conditions, and I'll be up there with the leaders!

Two more races on tap for this season, and both should be good tests. First one on 9/11 is a pretty hilly course, but I should do better on hills with the new lighter bike. Last one this season is on 9/26 and is a very flat course, so I should smoke it. We'll know in about a month.

Now, if I could just get my running down to 7 minute miles, I'd be a real contender! :D Training this winter I should be able to get close to that by next season I think. We'll see.

Toys!

Guess who got a new toy!

The answer to that would be me! If you know me, you probably know that I'm doing triathlons now, and that I'm fairly serious about it. Well, up until now I've been racing on my mountain bike, which is a pretty dang sweet machine. It just isn't well suited for racing in triathlons. At least not at the level that I want to be competing.

So...I've done a lot of test riding and research, and found the bike I wanted. My local bike shop carried them, then when I had the money together, they were sold out. Last night, they got a new shipment in ( of 2 total bikes! ) so I sped home from work, grabbed my bike shoes, helmet, and threw on shorts, and then sped over to the bike shop.

It was raining off and on all day, and there were tornado and severe storm warnings, but nothing was going to keep me from my appointment with Destiny! ( Or at least from my appointment with Chris from Missionbay for a bike fitting ).

I took it out for a 2 mile test ride one last time to make sure it was what I wanted. It rocked. Of course. So I came back to the store, and proceeded to get the seat height, placement adjusted, change out the stem for a shorter one, adjust all of the aerobars, and add the all-important bike comptuer ( with cadence display of course! ).

So, without further ado, I present to you one very happy triathlete, and his new bike:



For the gadget geeks:

It's a Felt S25. Shimano 105 front, Ultegra rear, Dura-Ace shifters. Shimano SPD pedals. FSA carbon fiber cranks. Selle Italia Tri-Matic saddle. Profile Aerolite bars. Alex ALX-320 wheelsets. Carbon-fiber fork.

Hopefully if weather holds tonight, I'll be able to take it out for it's first real ride! Woooohooooo!

Fisher Price - My First Blog

Yeah, so I've been reading some other peoples blogs, and it's been interesting.

Nothing earth shattering to see here. I'm usually not a very verbose or that interesting. Somewhere out there you may feel differently, so I've decided to write a blog, when I've got something to say, share, etc.

-Chris