Tag: triathlon (Page 6 of 7)

I’m reading– February 27th through March 10th

March 10, 2011 / Scott / 0 Comments

Mandatory DNA sampling threatens constitutional liberties – Check out my boy BCM in the Washington Examiner.

Spotlight-Chasing Candidates of 2012 – Some of these things are not like the others. Mr. Will focuses on two of the three spotlight-chasers. Thankfully, he doesn't even give the third a passing mention.

Make a Local Backup Of Your Gmail Account – Was just telling someone how awesome the cloud is…and how you need to have every bit of it backed up locally.

Triathlon as a means of birth control – I'm only one case study, but I can't recommend this method. One thing they didn't discuss is what happens to testosterone levels when training is cut back (post "big" race). That may explain a lot in my case.

The changing face of fame – Based on the "stars without makeup" photos I've seen, I credit improvements in makeup and lighting mostly. I have a feeling Natalie Wood and Audrey Hepburn didn't look too shabby in sweats at the grocery store.

January 28th through February 17th

February 21, 2011 / Scott / 0 Comments

I haven’t had a chance to read as much lately, but here’s some stuff I’ve really liked. Hope to pick up the content consumption rate again soon!

Telecommuting: Transparency and Fluidity – I expect this to become more and more the norm. I’d also be interested in knowing what the typical turnover rate is for telecommuters. My guess is that it is significantly lower than turnover for traditional office workers. Then again, the current economy may not provide the best sample set.

Why Are You People Defending Apple? – Word. All of your applications, the content they contain, and their means of distribution are belong to us.

Chrissie Wellington on Sports Addiction – I’m more of a binger right now. I used to be a daily addict, and I plan on relapsing once again when it fits my schedule.

Why Fiverr Is Great for Online Entrepreneurs – Some good ideas here for saving money. I’m cheap.

Triathlon Is a Stupid Sport – Charlie is not a fan. I LOL’d at most of this article. Parts were funny because they are so ridiculous. Other parts were funny because they are so true.

Training For a 6 Hour Half-Ironman

January 9, 2011 / Scott / 0 Comments

NOTE (2.7.2014): What you will find below is one strategy. I don’t think it’s the best strategy. In fact, three years after originally writing this, I don’t even think it’s a very good strategy.

This is not the way I currently train for 70.3s. I’ve gained mucho experience and knowledge in the last three years, and you can read most of that in the articles listed here.

There are much more effective ways to train, even with time constraints. And I’ve realized that setting time goals for a 70.3 is maybe not the smartest thing to do, at least for me. A time range is reasonable, but race day is full of unexpected events and factors you can’t control. Read on, but at your own peril.

Ok. I’ve noticed a lot of people are landing here looking for the answer to that one simple question…”What is the best way to train for a half iron distance race (70.3 miles) and finish in under six hours?”

I wrote a longer, more detailed post about one strategy to do this a while back. But if you’re looking for a simple (and logical) approach, I’m going to summarize it here. I’d advise going back and reading the whole post, which contains a little more detail. Keep in mind, I’m not a certified triathlon coach. I have absolutely no credentials other than the fact that I’ve actually done it while weighing over 200 lbs, eating higher quantity and lower quality of food than I should, and skipping a workout here and there.

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Here’s my strategy: Prioritize the race (and your training) in the order of time spent in the race itself. That means concentrate on bike first, then run, then swim.

The bike is going to be about half of the race, right? So make biking the main focus of your training. That means you are probably not going to get a PR for your half marathon during this race. So be it. If you wanted to PR a half marathon you’d be training for that exclusively anyway, right?

Running will probably benefit from having a really solid base before you start training for the race. Build that up in the off-season, and you can put the running portion of the training on auto-pilot. It probably isn’t necessary to rack up a ton of miles running, but it’s a good idea to be mentally prepared for 13.1 by making sure you still hit a long run every week, preferably on tired cycling legs. For me, I did that along with a 10% brick of my rides, and it worked out. Again, I was a long way from PRing the 1/2 marathon in my race, but I’d banked so many minutes on the bike that I had a huge cushion.

Swim–fuhgetaboutit. If you can swim the distance, you will be fine. No need to spend hours in the pool so you can shave off 3 minutes of swim time when you could spend those hours biking (or resting). If anything, spend your swim time in the open water so you are comfortable with it.

Keep in mind, the point here isn’t to “do your best” or “run the perfect race”. If you want to do that, you should hire a coach, measure everything you eat, take vitamins, etc. Not knocking anyone who wants to do that either, but that’s a different (and very worthy) goal than just trying to arrive at 5:59:59.

Some Linkage for Lookage

November 17, 2010 / Scott / 0 Comments

Ironman – The Inner Revolt and Busting Out – I think there’s even more to this. Part of it is convincing yourself that you are as tough as you’ve convinced everyone else you are.

An Even Tougher Deficit Plan – Sounds good to me, except for the VAT

Dr. Drew on Obamacare: ‘You will see a massive flight of physicians from the field’ – But he only plays a doctor on TV, right?

Stay Worried – “One way or another, it was worth having Microsoft Word with the expectation that the zillionaire Bill Gates’ shower is still no hotter than ours, and his private jet goes not much faster than our own cut-rate Southwest Airlines flights. All that seems simple enough — until now.”

The Parallels between Today and the Great Depression – To quote the great Jackie Martin Jr., “You all know the rules, they’re very much like Pyramid, but different.”

2010 Health First Triathlon Race Report

October 4, 2010 / Scott / 0 Comments

First, let me say that this was a very well run race. Everything went smoothly as far as I could tell, there was a small army of very supportive and helpful volunteers, and the course was set up as a great venue for spectators to view the race. I’m not sure about the accuracy of the distances, but I’ll get to that later. In the end, that doesn’t really matter–everyone has to do the same course.

Swim (1500m)
I’ve heard that you can’t win the Ironman on the swim, but you can lose it there. This wasn’t an Ironman, but I think that’s what happened to me today. I did a 28:22, which I would normally be very happy with for an open water race. I had a bad start because the water seemed to never get deep. I actually started swimming once, but my hands were dragging the bottom, so I got up and ran into the water some more. Running in water really jacks my heart rate up, and it took me a while to calm down from that. Throw in the usual punching and kicking and the fact that I didn’t do a single open water swim leading up to this race, and I probably got the results I deserve.

I found some really good feet to draft off of when we started the longest leg of the swim, which was headed north against the wind. This gave me a good chance to rest and settle down. That’s my usual goal for a non-sprint swim anyway–just take what the course give you, and don’t expect too much.

I never really thought I got off course that much, and my time doesn’t seem to say I did, but I ended up 96/195 over all and 6/9 in my group for the swim.

Weird results. Were there really 3 guys over 200 lbs who swam that under 23:00?!?!? In the past, I’ve usually in the top third or so overall on the swim and near the top in my group. This one has me a little flummoxed. Did I swim a really slow short course?

T1
Let me just say that both of my transitions were really bad so I don’t spend any more time on them. I spent enough time on them during the race.

Anyway, I didn’t have my watch on for the swim and didn’t know what to expect from my time, but coming out of T1 I heard the announcer say “We’re now starting to see a more steady stream of swimmers arriving to transition.” That had me thinking I was right where I usually am–top 1/3 or so. Wrong.

Bike (27 miles)
I jumped on and quickly accelerated up to ~20mph, when “wirrrrrrrr’ a guy zoomed by me with a disc rear wheel. Oh well, not catching that guy anyway, right? I was soon passed by another cyclist, which had me (again) thinking I had put in a pretty good swim–all the guys who are fast on the bike and weaker on the swim are passing me. However, I passed that guy back in the next mile or so. I was a net +17 passes on the bike. There may have been a couple more, but once the sprint distance racers were in the mix it was harder to keep up.

The heart rate monitor I’d spent so much time putting on was completely non-functional. I probably gained back all the time it cost me to put it on just because it wasn’t working, and therefore wasn’t holding me back at all.

My strategy was to push the northbound sections of the course (into the wind), take it easier on the southbound sections (wind at my back), and blister the causeways. If you are from the area and are reading this, let me apologize, but…Those. Are. Not. Hills. I knew I would have a psychological advantage biking and running those causeways because I’ve spent most of my life riding and running big hills and mountains. I know a lot of people here train by riding the causeways, but I think my method of getting on the spin bike and doing 5-8 minute intervals of “hills” on there is a much better training method.

The one hiccup on the ride was at the water bottle exchange. I had about a third of my water left, and threw it to the side. I then dropped, 1, 2, 3 different bottles the volunteers tried to hand me. Oh well…only 10 more miles to go–hydrate more in T2 than planned.

I have to say, that’s the best ride I’ve ever had during a race. My time was 1:13:55, 35th overall and 2nd in my group. I put in a lot more time training on the bike for this race than I usually do, and it really paid off. I didn’t care if I cooked myself because my run hasn’t been that great lately. I wanted to have a good bike.

Run (6.2 miles?)
My run definitely isn’t at it’s all-time best right now, and I knew I was going to tear it up on the bike, so I didn’t have very high expectations for the run. Strategy was to start off slowly and try to build something decent–no use trying to run fast off the bike anyway, because that wouldn’t happen. I estimated I was doing 9:30 miles, but when I clicked my watch at the first mile marker it said 8:30…huh?

Mile 2 was 7:48…what? Mile 3 was 8:4x…ok, maybe. But the next two miles were down into the mid 6:xx range…no way. My 5k PR is a 6:50 pace, and I clearly remember my entire body being on fire for that entire race. That isn’t what I was feeling during this race. The last 1.2 didn’t feel especially long, but my watch said I ran it at 9:36, and I know I was going faster than that. Probably closer to 8:00 miles at that point. I felt pretty good the whole way, and I followed through on my plan to push the causeways, where I think I gained some good ground. There were lots of people walking up.

Final run time was 49:43. Being honest with myself, I think that’s about what I could run right now in a stand alone 10k, but not in a tri. Regardless, we all ran the same course. My time was 2nd in my group and 78th overall.

My overall finish was 2:35:52–65th overall and *gulp* 5th (?!?!?!) in my group. Swim really killed me. I still have a hard time believing I finished in the top third overall and in the middle of the Clydesdales. Two and a half minutes out of the money. Ugh. Probably could have pulled another minute of that back from the transitions as well.

That’s the cool thing about triathlon though. You focus on one thing (bike) and slip someplace else (swim). You don’t practice transitions, and you have bad transitions. And that’s what keeps you coming back–there are so many should’ve and could’ve situations you can improve on.

I’m dropping down below 200 lbs for a while to do some running, but I think I’m going to be back with the fat kids next year to vindicate myself!

My Triathlon Packing Plan

October 1, 2010 / Scott / 2 Comments

It’s been four years since I’ve done an organized triathlon. Ick…that means four years of no open-water swimming. It also means four years of not packing for a triathlon or setting up a transition spot. I’m probably overthinking this, but I thought it would be a good idea to make my packing list official, that way I can make notes as I go and also refer back to it for ideas of things I can do differently.

I like to be pretty minimal on race day–no socks, no glasses, and no shirt unless the rules force me to wear one. This gives me the added strategical benefit of turning the stomachs of the competition in a tight race. The one thing I max out on is food.

Swim:
* Pack goggles, swimcap, race chip, watch
* Make sure to eat a Gu before starting the race

Bike:
* Pack bike shoes, helmet, heart rate monitor
* Make sure bike computer is set to 0 miles and average speed when setting up, one bottle of water on the bike (exchange for gatorade at mile 17).
* Eat an already opened Gu before leaving T1.

Run:
* running shoes, visor, race belt with 3 Gus, water to drink in T2 (not in a cycling bottle). Socks are coming with me this time–I have a really annoying cut on the bottom of my wee-wee-wee piggy.
* Shoes are untied, feet are clean and dry before putting on shoes, race number and Gus are attached to belt, ditch the HRM

Misc.:
Sidewalk chalk to mark my bike row, small towel for transition, big towel for post-race, beverages, plastic cups, many Gus, water, water, water

Wear To The Race
* Trishorts with same board shorts over to wear post-race, flip flops, t-shirt

Am I forgetting anything?

It’s Better To Be Undertrained

September 17, 2010 / Scott / 0 Comments

I once heard from a wise runner that it’s better to go into a race 10% undertrained than 1% overtrained. If that’s true (and I live like it is), I’ll be hitting my October 3 race in the sweet spot. Moving has cut into my training opportunities for the last couple of weeks, and at this point I’m hoping I can just maintain what I had long enough to make it to the taper.

I’m even having to cut my taper down to two weeks for this race. I generally like to taper for 2-3 months. 🙂

Logging Workouts For Posterity

August 12, 2010 / Scott / 0 Comments

I first started running in 2003. Not that I didn’t run before that, but that’s when I became “a runner” (arguably). That’s when I started running with running performance as the end goal instead of running with rugby as the end goal. The first thing I did was seek out some people who were already runners and drain their brains of whatever info I could. One of the best pieces of advice I got was to keep a training log. Back then, lots of people who logged their training did so in a hand-written training diary, but I was lucky that I was beginning at a time when CoolRunning was already available. This meant I could have all of my training logged online without having to go back and re-enter old information.

CoolRunning was great–nice analysis tools, kept up with miles on shoes, etc. But then they sold out to Active, and I didn’t like the interface as much. So I started trying other sites like MapMyRun and Livestrong. It’s great to have the ability to map training courses, but they are all lacking something. There are either too many ads, not enough analysis tools, whatever. As a result, I have training data spread out across multiple logging sites, and what I really want is one place to keep all of my data.

Now I’m the one who has to re-enter old information when I find a logging tool I like.

I recently started using DailyMile, and I like it a lot. Sure, there are a couple of issues with it too. The analysis tools and interface are great. It’s also social–sort of like the “Facebook for training”. But you can’t go back and do analysis on lifetime data (yet). It’s also difficult to import old data. They have an API, and some guys have started a Java client library, but there’s still a lot of going back to the sites I used before and collecting the data.

What I’ve been doing is entering my new workouts as I do them, then going back and entering the data from the same date on previous years. If I have time, I’ll go back and enter some other old workouts as well. This seems like a hassle and something that would be best to do automatically.

But there’s an upside to doing it manually too. As I’m going back, I’m actually reading my old training logs and doing mental analysis on them. It’s helping with my current training. For instance, it’s encouraging to see how far I’ve come in the swim compared to the first swims I logged back in 2005. And holy crap…I was on a training tear in the summer of 2004. And while I feel like I’m so much slower right now than I was when I was marathon training in 2003, it’s nice to see that my times and splits are comparable to what they were then. I’ve also noticed that I was much more negative about my training back in 2003 (maybe pressing too hard?). I expected every outing to be a PR and to feel great all the time. That’s funny to me now, knowing how “normal” it is to go out and have crappy training days every once in a while.

What I’m getting at is that it’s great to keep a training log, but it also may be worth your time to go back and review it periodically so you can see your growth and improvement. That isn’t always going to show up in the calculated pace from the workouts. A big part of it will show up in the notes you kept. Even if you have hand-written training logs, it may be a good idea to spend a few minutes each day going back and reviewing your logs from the previous years on that exact date, just to help keep things in perspective.

Keeping a training log is a good tip. I’d say reading your training log is a good tip too.

Image Credit

Keeping Your Own Training In Perspective

July 15, 2010 / Scott / 0 Comments

The next time someone thinks you are crazy for going on a “short” 10 mile run or spending three hours on your bike, let them know about Charlie Wittmack’s World Triathlon.

12,000 miles total, beginning with a 275 mile swim down the River Thames and ending with a climb of Mt. Everest. And sandwiched in between:

The 9,000-mile bike ride might seem relatively easy compared with the swim and the climb up Everest, but even there Wittmack has his work cut out for him.

“I have to get to the border of China and Kyrgystan by the end of October in order to get over the Tibetan plateau to India,” Wittmack said. “I’ll be riding over harsh deserts through areas with political instability.”

So…(talking to myself now)…you probably can squeeze in that workout today you’re not sure you have time for.

Swimming Kicks My Butt Vol. MCMVI

July 8, 2010 / Scott / 0 Comments

Here’s today’s workout. I picked the easier of two options.

Other than the obvious mental fatigue in the third set of the Meat, I have no idea how to look at these split times and interpret them. All I can gather from them is that my kick is really bad, which I already knew.

Warmup

300 – 5:32
100kick – 3:17
100 – 1:51

Meat

100 – 1:36
50kick – 1:28
50kick – 1:28

100 – 1:45
50kick – 1:29
50kick – 1:34

100 – 1:42
50kick – 1:33
50kick – 1:33

100 – 1:39
50kick – 1:27
50kick – 1:32

100 – 1:42
50kick – 1:33
50kick – 1:23

Swimdown

250 – 4:42

What Is Your Swim Goal?

July 1, 2010 / Scott / 0 Comments

The plan for today’s swim was to warmup with a 300sw/100kick/100sw. Then some sprints, 4×200, and a 200 swim down. The warmup was so atrocious that I changed my plan–technique was all over the place and I felt like I was kicking to stand still on the kick part of the warmup. Instead of the 4×200 I decided to do a straight 800 and try to find an even stride. I sort of zoned out for the whole middle portion of the swim, so I guess it worked.

Patience.

When I finished my 800 and was checking my HR, the lifeguard at the pool asked me, “What’s your swim goal?” He was asking because he noticed my soft kick off the side at the end of each length, and once I told him I was training for open water tris he understood why I was taking it easy on the turns. But still, it was a good question, and it gave me some things to think about and focus on during my swim down.

What are my goals, really?

keep my heart rate at 120-130 during the race
find someone to draft as much as possible
make it through the swim with as few strokes possible (stay on course)

Ultimately, I would like to duplicate my best in-race swim ever if possible. The only thing I really remember about that swim was getting out of the water with a huge smile on my face and thinking, “This is really going to happen!”

Some Stuff About Swimming

June 29, 2010 / Scott / 0 Comments

I’d originally planned to do an Olympic distance triathlon locally in October, but I had a schedule conflict and decided to do one in August instead. But the idea of traveling 3 hours to race didn’t seem like a good idea, so I decided to do one a little closer to home in September. I liked that decision since I’d missed a two weeks of training due to illness and traveling. Then my schedule conflict for the October race went away, so I switched back to that one, which put me ahead of my training schedule.

So I decided to step back to the correct point in the schedule, which made my training distances shorter again. Not really a big deal for running and cycling (I’m just better rested), but I can already tell a huge difference in the swim, which is what I really wanted to concentrate on this season.

My longest swim session before stepping back was 2250 yards, and it involved a lot of kick drills. I suck at kicking, and it made the swim sessions long and brutal. But I think it made me noticeably faster. The last two days’ workouts have only been 1000 yards total. Yesterday’s workout featured a 500 yard sprint, and I swam my best 500 ever. I mean, yeah, it’s still really slow, but it’s my best one by almost 20 seconds. Today’s workout had 5×100 with 15″ rest between. I was a little bit faster than normal on the 100s, but the real noticeable change here was the consistency. I only lost 2 seconds between my first 100 and my last 100.

Also, I’ve (finally) realized that the purpose of doing sprints in the swim is to raise your individual expectations of what “taking it easy” means. I’ve never gotten that before in the swim because I’ve always jumped into the pool and just did full distance at a slow and steady speed. I’m hoping this pays off in October!

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Stuff You Should See– May 24th through June 29th

June 29, 2010 / Scott / 0 Comments

Understanding Your Motivation – I stay in all 6 states at all times.

FamilyShield is a No-Setup Adult Content Blocker for Your Router –

Best Place to Set Up Shop Online? –

Greener Than You — Entrepreneurial Foraging – This is nothing new. Broke college students have been foraging in bars for half drunk bottles and in the student ghettos for morning-after "yard beers" for decades.

Banksimple – Long overdue, and supposed to be launching in 2010. You can sign up for an invite right now. Loooooong overdue.

The Breaking Point for Children in Sports – The middle ground between letting kids live a sedentary lifestyle and pushing them to the point of injury and psychological distress is pretty wide. I can see where parents at both extremes would point to the opposite extreme for justification, but it's only a justification.

Soluto – This looks like a promising solution to help you diagnose and end PC problems. I'm signed up for the beta, hope to get my account soon, and will let you know!

Mark Twain autobiography to be published in November – Can't get enough. This is one I'll be looking forward to.

Stuff You Should See– April 2nd through May 24th

May 24, 2010 / Scott / 0 Comments

Lost Finale Heads Into The Light – Newscoma writes some of the best Lost summaries/observations around. I’m going to read this…as soon as I get to watch the finale.

How to Tweet Your Way Out of a Job – Hilarious.

After Housing Bust, Builders Dust Off the Boom Machine – Demand is demand, even when it is manufactured out of thin air.

Build Your Own Backyard Fire Pit – Ain’t nothin’ better than your own backyard

Top Ten Reasons You Should Quit Facebook – Really only need one. I’m not convinced they are competent enough to protect people’s data even if they wanted to.

18 Week Olympic Distance Training Program – Intermediate –

Can Science Explain the Concept of Heaven? – I was really just looking for a yes or no.

Florida Ironman 70.3 Triathlon (As a spectator)

May 17, 2010 / Scott / 0 Comments

I went over to Orlando yesterday morning with one of my buddies to watch another friend compete in the Florida 70.3 triathlon put on by IronMan at Disney. It was absolutely amazing. I’ve done triathlons myself, but I’ve never gone to see one as a spectator. When you are competing, you’re pretty focused on yourself and what you need to do, so it’s hard to take in the whole event. Even if you aren’t personally into endurance competitions, it’s something I’d recommend going to see once in your life.

It was completely inspiring.

It’s hard to say what the best part of the race was. It may have been watching competitors complete the 1.2 mile swim just before the cutoff time–one lady exited the water with a huge smile and obvious sense of accomplishment on her face, and stopped and broke into tears as soon as she crossed the timing mat.

It was also great to see so many people of different ages and body types doing the race. There were very few elite athletes in the 2,000 person field. They were mostly regular people who have decided to sacrifice a lot of time and effort to take on a race this size knowing they’ll have to make it work around the rest of their lives. As my buddy who went to watch with me noted, “I bet there are so many great stories here.”

After seeing another competitor with only one arm exiting the swim, and yet another getting ready to run with two prosthetic legs and 1.5 arms, you realize that anybody can do a this. All that matters is whether or not you think you can.

Gettin’ After It!