Zack's Shack

Girlie Bike Part 2

2005-07-05T08:23:00.000-04:00

Well it turns out I'm not riding a girlie bike afterall! Trek has updated their web site and now they list a Woman's Specific Design version of the Equinox 7.

Ridin' a Girlie Bike!

2005-06-28T20:24:00.000-04:00

So last night I'm flipping through the pages of the July Inside Triathlon magazine and as I turn to page 60 I see my pride and joy, the Trek Equinox 7 on the page. Upon closer inspection I see it's part of the "Go girlfriend" article, umm, ok, so I look down and read the following blurb:

"TREK Equinox 7 Developed with pros, the Equinox 7 features women's-specific geometry for a more natural, aerodynamic position. $1650, trekbikes.com"

What I want to know is where in the world did they come up with this information? This is the first I've ever seen that the E7 was designed with women in mind. I suppose the plus side to it all is when I get fast enough to start placing in my age group I can always say "Yeah, and I did the bike leg on a girlie bike" :)

Indian Springs Triathlon Race Report

2005-06-26T19:13:00.000-04:00

6/25/2005 26 out of 28 Clydesdales
600 meter swim
12.8 mile bike
3.1 mile run
Times (official)
Swim - 0:16:44.806
T1 - 0:02:11.984
Bike - 0:49:16.158
T2 and Run - 0:44:03.316
Total - 1:52:17.264
Times (mine)
Swim - 14:51.50
T1 - 4:16
Bike - 48:46
T2 - 1:49.90
Run - 43:13.54
1:52:23

This was my first triathlon after my DNF at the Rock N Rollman half IM. It is part of the Tri the Park series of triathlons that are held throughout the state of Georgia. I had planned to do the first event in the series in April but when I hurt my foot I rescheduled that triathlon to the last one in the series which is on August 20th. Lately I've been concentrating on my running and was looking forward to having a good run, but it didn't turn out that way :(. My run for this triathlon was slower than the last sprint triathlon I completed. Seems I have a lllooonnnngggg way to go on my running.

I try to learn from each triathlon and did learn several things during this one:

1 - I don't like my bike computer. At one point I was grinding up a hill and according to my bike computer I was going less than 3 miles an hour. I'm not sure if the magnet was lined up properly or not but I sure didn't feel like I was going that SLOW. What makes matters worse is in years gone by (meaning when I was a skinny guy) I loved hills; these days I had half of them. I hate the up hill part but love the downhill part!

2 - Drafting off a faster swimmer does you no good if that swimmer goes off course. I thought I had found a guy to draft off of and did for a little while until I realized he was heading off course so I let him go on his way and corrected my course position.

3 - I like out and back courses. The bike and the run were out and back courses which allowed me to see my buddy Jason. It's always good to hear words of encouragement from a friend.

4 - Enthusiastic volunteers are the best! There was a father and son team manning one aid station and you could hear them cheering folks on from quite a distance away.

5 - I love going down hills. On my bike I run what is referred to as Junior gearing. It's a 14 - 25 9 speed cassette and is legal for junior USCF cyclists. I use it because under normal circumstances I never use the smallest sprocket. Yesterday while flying downhill at 37 MPH I completely spun out my 53/14. It was SO much fun!

6 - Mile markers on the course are nice. On the bike and run course they had mile markers out. On the bike they had them out every 2 miles and every mile on the run. It's nice watching the numbers go by.

Triathletes are cool people. As I was approaching the 3 mile mark a lady came up beside me and our conversation went like this:

she: "We're almost there, kick it in with me."
me: "Yeah we must be close you can hear the announcer."
she: "When we get to the chute you can go first."
me: "No way, ladies first."
she: "you're younger, you can go first"

As we finished she crossed the line before me which is fine with me.

Something I need to figure out is why I'm so tight for the first part of the run. Coming off of the bike yesterday my legs were very tight. After about the first mile things started to loosen up and I could ran better. I wonder if I should spend a little time stretching during T2. Perhaps 30 seconds or a minute spent stretching will save me several minutes on the run. I'll have to give that a try in August.

Miscellaneous Topics all Rolled into One :)

2005-06-10T13:40:00.000-04:00

- I've been doing a ton of reflection and research on the mental aspect of triathlon. In a sprint distance triathlon I never had to confront the issues I faced during my unsuccessful half IM attempt.

- I have reconsidered my idea of doing Ironman Florida in 2006. I have no specific reason for picking 2006 as the year I would do an Ironman distance triathlon so I may put it off until 2007 or even 2008 or beyond. It's not like they're going to stop holding them anytime soon. I'm thinking about focusing my efforts like so:

Rest of 2005 -> Sprints and preparation for Disney Marathon.
2006 -> Sprints and international distance (I have never done an international distance triathlon)
2007 -> International with at least one half IM during the season
2008 -> Half IM or if I'm up for it IM.

- Weight loss. I have been the loss/gain yo-yo for way too long. I can remember when in 1984 I stepped on a set of scales, fully clothed in my military uniform and thought 187 pounds was heavy. I would be VERY happy to weigh 187 pounds now. I know that before I can complete longer distance events I will need to shed several pounds. I won't be trying any fancy diets or magic potions, just simple hard work and less eating will do the trick. It will be slow, but I'd rather loss one pound every week and to lose 2 in one week and then none the next. This is going to be a challenge for me cause I really love to eat.

- HRM. I've decided to put the HRM away for a while and train with out it. In years past I was able to race bikes, 5Ks, and complete triathons without it so why must I have one now? I will probably use it when I race just to see what my heart is doing but I'm not going to let it slow me down. I think this contributed to my DNF. I kept seeing my heart rate over 151 (my AT) and it freaked me out.

- Next triathlon: As a kid whenever we'd fall off of something or get hurt doing something we, if we weren't too hurt, would get up and immediately do it again. (Yes us Jones boys are a stupid/stuborn (your choice) lot. My brother and I have the scars to prove it). We did this so we wouldn't be afraid to do it again. Well I may not be prepared enough to complete a half IM but I can complete a sprint and will be doing one on Saturday June 25. I think its about 400 yard swim, 13 mile bike and 3.1 mile run. Sub 2 hours is my goal for it.

- Running on a treadmill. This week I have been using my treadmill to help me with my running. On days when I want to walk I'll either set a steady pace and walk or will gradually increase the speed by 1/10 MPH per minute until I reach 4 MPH and then I'll slow things back down 1/10 MPH at a time until I reach 3 MPH. On days when I run I'll run at 5 MPH for 2 minutes followed by 1 minute of walking at 3 MPH. I have gotten off of the treadmill totally soaked with sweat but you know what, it feels GREAT! I do think jamming out to Linkin Park helps though :)

I hope all is going well for my triathlon brothers and sisters out there!

Secret Weapons

2005-06-06T08:00:00.000-04:00

In a previous entry I made mention of a secret weapon I had planned to use in my half ironman. Actually I had two of them.

The first was a simple phrase, written with permanent marker on the palm of my left hand "You can do this". I figured when I needed a little motivation I would look at my hand and it would give me the strength to continue on and it worked, for a while. It seemed as more and more negative thoughts flooded my brain the more the ink on my hand faded. I do remember one distinct moment in time after I had quit the triathlon - I looked down at my palm and pretty much off of the wording had been erased. It's as if the ink faded as fast as my resolve did.

My second secret weapon, which I didn't even get to test out was 13 mint oreo cookies. Seriously! I love those cookies and figured I'd bring along one for each mile of the run as a reward for completing each mile. Too bad I didn't get a chance to try 'em out.

Rock and Rollman Half Ironman Race Report

2005-06-05T14:54:00.000-04:00

Rock and Rollman Half Ironman

Summary Report:
Swim 2 loop course
Loop 1 - 16:48
Loop 2 - 18:23
Total - 35:11
T1 - 6:26(same 1/4 mile run to bike area)
Bike
15 Mile - 1:07:00
28 Mile - 1:14:45
DNF @ 30 mile rest stop
3:03:22

Long Report:

I tried but I didn't have it in me to make it through the half ironman. This was my first attempt at this distance but it certainly won't be my last, though when my next attempt will be I am not certain. I am now certain there are 4 events in a triathlon, the obvious 3: swim, bike and run. The 4th event for which I am woefully undertained is the mental challenge. I really need to work on my mental toughness.

I had a fantastic swim! I was a bit shocked to see my time upon completion of the first lap, but I was wasn't going to wait around on the beach until the clock read the time I had expected :). During the 2nd lap it seemed no matter where I was in the swim there was always someone in my way :). I would try going to the left and then to the right and it didn't seem to matter. I think the fact that the first wave was lapping us had something to do with it. I started in the 4th wave approximately 8 minutes after the first wave started. It was good to receive the cheers of my coworkers, Scott and Pam and from Jason's wife, Angie.

Nothing really stood out about T-1. I got to my bike area, dressed, filled my aerobottle (with a bottle I had in a mini cooler), stuffed pockets and took off.

I started drinking accelerade and took a GU right out of transition. At mile 10 I took another GU and kept on riding along. I was trying to maintain a good pace yet hold something in reserve for later in the bike and on the run but I wasn't doing too good of a job doing it. My average HR for the first 15 miles was 154 which meant I was anaerobic the whole time :(. Upon reaching the first of 3 aid stations I was surprised to hear that all they had left was Gatorade. My whole ride centered around taking water at each of the 3 aid stations and mixing it with the concentrated accelerade I had in a water bottle. Fortunately a mile up there road some folks were handing up water bottles so I took one. I dumped it into my aero bottle and added some concentrated accelerade to it. I also ate one of the 3 PBJ's I had stuffed in my jersey pocket and washed it down with the gatorade I had taken at mile 15.

All was well through mile 19. At mile 20 I took another GU and somewhere between mile 20 and 27 I totally cracked. I do not have any idea what caused it but I was done, I felt as if I had nothing left in the tank. I was also involved with several left brain versus right brain arguments. The left side (the side that produces negative thoughts) won the battle today. At one point in the ride I stopped on the side of the road. I was done - ready to quit but told myself to get riding again and at least ride to the next mile marker and then quit. As luck would have it the next mile marker was right in front of a chicken farm. If you've never been around one let me just say they smell really, really bad. So I told myself I would go to the next mile marker and then quit.

This is when the fun really began. Ahead of me I saw a rider, whom I later found out is named Jim, that had stopped on the side of the road. Seeing this my left brain went into a tizzy. Filling my mind with "You can't make it up this hill", "You're only going 7 miles an hour" and all sorts of negative thoughts and then it happened. I totally caved in and called it quits. For the first time in my life I stopped, unclipped and walked a bicycle up a hill. I was really hating life at this point in time. As I approached Jim I asked him how his cramps were doing. When Jim passed me earlier in the ride he mentioned that he was cramping. Technically he wasn't cramping he had a serious case of gas pains. Seems he was sucking air while swimming and somehow got a belly full of it and it was causing him terrible pain. Jim said that he was calling it a day and in my state of mind at the time it sounded like a great idea. As Jim and I walked our bikes up the hill we shared a tear or two as it set in that we were going to DNF in our first attempt at completing a half ironman.

As we reached the crest of the hill we remounted our bikes and enjoyed a fantastic descent! I was absolutely flying down hill! Gravity works wonders when you're as heavy as I am (269.6 official weigh in weight). When we reached the 28 mile rest stop we stopped and told the staff we were calling it a day. As I waited for a ride back to the transition area I noticed that even sitting still sipping water my heart rate was 125 BPM.

Eventually a van came along and gave Jim and me a ride back to the transition. On the way in I saw my coworker Jason at around mile 54 and I was able to wish him luck with his run. As I was typing his Jason called and said that he, too, had a DNF today. He was pulled from the race at mile 6 after he suffered a series of cramps all over his body. I'm sure there's more things I want to say about my experience today but I can't think of them now. For now a nice hot shower and nap sounds exactly like what I need.

Thanks to all of my triathlon brothers and sisters for your well wishes before I took on this challenge. I didn't earn the finisher’s medal but there's always next year.

T-12 Hours

2005-06-04T19:20:00.000-04:00

Approximately 12 hours from now I will start my first ever half ironman triathlon. I'm nervous but I'm also excited about the adventure that lies ahead. I'll be sporting #21. They obviously assign numbers based upon when you sign up and not upon your expected finishing order :). I'll post more tomorrow after my adventure is complete.

Gonna Go for it!

2005-06-02T20:06:00.000-04:00

Well after much thought I have decided to go ahead and attempt to complete the half IM this coming weekend. I will go out and give it my best effort and if I don't make it at least I won't be sitting around wondering if I could have done it or not. Instead of replying individually I thought I'd post replies to the comments you folks left for my Macon Triathlon race report.

commodore: You are right about focusing on the positives and letting the run sort itself out. Instead of looking at it as a 13.1 mile run, which seems really long, I'm looking at it as a series of 1 mile runs followed by 528 feet.

Linae: I felt fine after the race. On the bike ride I was drinking Accelerade and had a post race Endurox drink as soon after the race as I could. I also think the nice long nap I took after the race helped with recovery :).

nancytoby: I plan on going as slow as I can but still make the cutoff times. You have to have the swim finished in 1 1/2 hours and the bike finished 5 1/2 hours after the race starts. As a cushion I want to be on the run course in under 5 hours. I would like to have a 3 hour window to work with for the run.

Flatman: I have emailed MHR asking for his advice but he hasn't responded :(. I guess work has him tied up or something. I did make it out to Colorado, but didn't get to hook up with Brian :(.

tarheeltri: I assume you're either a tarheel fan or from North Carolina? I call Winston-Salem home. My parents, brother and sister all live in North Carolina.

Wil: The world is not ready to see me in a speedo :).

I also have a secret weapon I plan to use. If it is successful I will tell you all about it Sunday afternoon. I will be thinking of my tri-brothers and sisters while out there Sunday if you all think good thoughts for me I'm certain I'll get through it :)

Macon Triathlon Race Report

2005-05-31T18:59:00.000-04:00

Summary Report:

Macon Triathlon 5/30/2005
800 yard swim - 17:44
T-1 - 6:22
20 Mile Bike - 1:22
T-2 - 23.7 seconds
3 Mile run - 41:24
Total 2:28:54

Long Report:

Give or take a few days it's been 16 years and 10 months since I last completed a triathlon. The last triathlon I completed was on July 4th 1988. Boy, has a lot changed in that time. Back then my bike had 12 speeds, I raced the entire race in just a speedo and the run was my least favorite event. Today my bike has 18 speeds and there's no bloody way I was going to race in just a speedo! :) Oh, and just as before the run was my least favorite event. The triathlon I completed today was the Macon Triathlon benefitting the Georgia Industrial Children's Home. My $45.00 tax deductible entry bought me the privilege of swimming 800 yards, biking 20 miles, and running 3 miles.

The alarm went off at 5:45 but for some unexplained reason it was 6:15 before I made it out of bed. I really don't like running behind schedule so this started my day off on the wrong foot. I managed to get to the race site and get all checked in, body marked #241 was my number for today, and head down to the swim start with a few minutes to spare. On the way to the race I was thinking about my goal times: 16 minutes for the swim, 2 minute transition, 1 1/2 hours for the bike, 2 minute transition, 40 minutes for the run - 2 1/2 hours total.

I deliberately seeded myself towards the back of the field at the start of the swim. When the gun sounded we were off and I was totally surprised not to see a black stripe to lead the way :). There is no way to prepare for open water swimming while swimming in a pool and it has been a long time since I had done any open water swimming. I had a pretty good swim, other than the few times I felt like I was going to puke :(. I guess my body wasn't prepared for the smell of the lake water or something but 3 or 4 times during the swim I felt like I was going to puke. Fortunately I didn't puke and made it out of the water in 17:44. My transition took longer than expected because it was a good 1/4 of a mile between the swim area and the transition area.

The bike course was pretty much rolling hills. You were either going up a hill or down one. I'm glad I brought along a water bottle "just in case" because I certainly needed it. There were no water stops on the bike leg. The bike leg was pretty uneventful. I was passed by several people and may have even passed a person or two along the way. The Trek Equinox 7 performed flawlessly and is a joy to ride. My transition from bike to run was nice and smooth. I took one last sip of water
from the water bottle and off I went. I absolutely love the jello leg feeling you get as you transition from biking to running. I will admit that the transition from biking to running seemed easier today. Perhaps that tri position stuff really does make a difference.

As another triathlete and I headed out on the course we ran past an aid station. She asked if they had water and was told that they only had gatorade. We both skipped the station, assuming there would be others on the run. This would prove to be a stupid mistake! I really wasn't in the mood for gatorade though and figured that at a minimum there would be an aid station at the turn around. Wrong! As I headed further into the run my co-worker Jason and I passed each other. He was enroute to a 3rd place finish in his age group. A short while later I saw Drew, a guy we swim with at the pool who was completing his first ever triathlon. I ran as far as I could and then started the run/walk routine to get me through the run. Heading out to the turn around the run was on a gradual incline and upon turning around the return trip was on a steady decline. I used gravity to my advantage on the return and run/walked a negative split on the run. As I was approaching the 2 mile marker I saw my other co-worker Scott and we both agreed that neither of us is quite ready for the half IM. I crossed the finish line in 2:28:58 I had made my goal time!

It became painfully obvious today that I am way undertrained to complete the half IM I've signed up to do June 5th. I could get through the swim and could probably struggle through another 36 miles of rolling hills but there's no way I'm ready to try and run/walk 13 miles. I got through the run today but it was tough. I felt, on numerous times, as if my legs were going to cramp. Fortunately neither one did. After finishing the race and getting some additional fluids in me my legs felt much better. So now I have a big decision to make. Do I bag the half IM or try to complete it or do the swim and bike and then voluntarily withdraw. Right now I can't honestly say what I'm going to do. Something weighing heavily on me is that I want to run the Disney Marathon in January 2006 and I’m a little afraid to try pushing my luck with my foot. If I were to screw it up again it would really put me behind in preparing for the marathon.

What a weekend

2005-05-22T23:40:00.000-04:00

I have never been involved with any of the Special Olympic events my son has participated in over the years due to him living in Texas and me living in Georgia. This year I had promised Zack that I would fly out and watch him play basketball and I am SO glad that I did. I experienced so many wonderful things over the past few days:

- Amazing play #1: At the buzzer a kid launched the ball from his foul line and made a basket! Everyone in the gym went nuts. Unfortunately he didn't quite get his shot off in time so the basket didn't count which is too bad.

- Amazing play #2: A very small player was passed the ball and this really big guy got in front of him to block his way. Undeterred the small player simply passed the ball between the big players legs, ran around him, retrieved the ball and made a basket.

- Amazing play #3: A kid scrambled after the ball to save it before it went out of bounds and as he did he fell to his knees. He grabbed the ball and then took the shot from his knees - you guessed it nothing but net!

- Although I was there to visit with my son I soon became, dad, big brother, uncle, friend or any other title you want to use to all of the kids from Zack's School. Each day as Zack's mom and I arrived we were greeted with hugs and high 5 hand slaps from the kids. Each day as we left we said our good byes to hugs and handshakes by all that were around.

- I learned several things about my son simply by watching him play basketball.

--He is a very giving player. Numerous times he'd bring the ball down court and instead of taking the shot himself would pass the ball off to another player so that they could make the shot. I'm certain every player on his team made at least one basket as a result of Zack passing the ball to them.

--He's a good defender. He pulled down several rebounds, stole the ball, blocked shots, and got away with a foul or two :)

-His team placed 3rd, earning the bronze medal, but you'd never know they didn't win the gold by the smile on their faces.

-If his mom can find him a suitable basketball camp I them both I would cover the cost.

-Next year they're supposed to be playing in the Arlington, TX area. You can bet your bottom dollar that I'll be there on the front row!

-Each day as we drove from San Antonio to San Marcos and back I had several memories of riding along I-35 come back to mind. I've literally ridden thousands of miles in the Texas hill country and to roads were calling me back for more. One day I will make it back to San Antonio with a bike and I'll go visit those old roads and it’ll be great riding, just like it was back in the good ole days.

Catch up Post

2005-05-19T11:23:00.000-04:00

Since it's been a while here's a quick catch up post:

- Running is coming along well. I'm doing longer run/walks with only minor discomfort the next morning.

- Swimming is mixed. One workout the clock on the side of the pool flies by and before I know it the workout is over. On other days it just drags along at half speed.

- Bike, let's see, I have a bike, somewhere :(

- Work schedule - Lightening up. I'll only have 5 hours of overtime this pay period compared to 69.5 for the last one.

- Proud pappa moment - My son, Zack, jr, was named athlete of the year at his school.

- Road trip - In half an hour I head home to pack and then catch the shuttle for the Atlanta airport. I'm flying out to San Antonio tonight to meet up with Zack and watch him play in the state wide basketball tournament. On Sunday I head for Colorado Springs. I return late Wednesday night.

- My first triathlon is only 5 days after I return and the half IM is 6 days after that!

The fun never stops!

Foot Pain is Gone!

2005-05-09T23:12:00.000-04:00

Today I had my first pain-free run since February 21st. It seems my left foot has finally healed to a point where I'm able to run on it without pain. It seems I have stiff ankles, especially my left one and that is preventing my foot from rotating as it should. I have 4 different stretching exercises that I'm doing to try and loosen things up. I hope I have finally gotten past this barrier once and for all.

Of course now I'm way behind on my running schedule but I'll just have to make the best of it. I'm convinced using a run/walk approach is the right one for me. I'm probably going to stick with 2 minutes running / 1 minute walking to get me through the sprint triathlon later this month and the half IM the following weekend. By the time I run the Disney marathon in January I plan to be up to 4/1. Since it's late and I need to get to bed I'll stop here. Sometime tomorrow I'll post my reasons for why I'm a big fan of the run/walk approach.

Damn You Blinking Cursor

2005-05-06T20:12:00.000-04:00

I've just experience what I will call a "Wil" moment. Just a she discussed in her 3:30 a.m. entry I have found an enemy.

It's that stupid blinking cursor on the screen. It is just sitting there, blinking at me, taunting me because I can't think of the right command sequence to type to accomplish the task I want to accomplish. It doesn't care that I've been here at work slaving behind a hot keyboard since 6:00 this morning. All day it has been there blinking at me and finally, after 14 hours, it has worn me down and finally gotten my attention.

Damn you blinking cursor, go away so I can think....

Intro

2005-05-05T21:02:00.000-04:00

I just wanted take a minute and introduce a buddy of mine, Scott and add a link to his blog sg-man. Scott is one of the two guys I work with that are training for the Rock 'N RollMan Half Ironman Triathlon coming up exactly one month from today. He'll also be doing IMFL next year.

Colorado Trip Changed Again

2005-05-03T22:35:00.000-04:00

As some of you know I'm taking a trip out to Colorado Springs, CO soon for work. Originally I was scheduled to fly out the weekend they had the major snow storm. I changed it to another week and then the big project from hell came along and I changed it again. Today I called Delta and changed it for the 3rd and final, I hope time.

I'm really psyched out this trip now. In route to Colorado Springs I'll be flying out to San Antonio, TX to spend some time with my son, Zack Jr. What is going to make this trip especially special is Zack's basketball team is participating in the state-wide Special Olympics basketball tournament and I'll be there to watch him play. In past years his team has done quite well and he says there's going for the gold this year. It's going to be one great trip!

Triathlon Cancelled

2005-04-30T19:26:00.000-04:00

Today my two co-workers were supposed to do a sprint triathlon but due to rain and lightning they ended up cancelling the triathlon. This is the one I was originally supposed to do but rescheduled it after I hurt my foot.

It looks like May 30th will be our first chance to do a traithlon together.

P.S. I want to call your attention to this guys blog: Turning it all around It's a very inspiring read. Best of luck to you Mike on your journey!

Triathlon Order is Wrong

2005-04-26T14:39:00.000-04:00

After reading A Salamander in Motion Tends to Stay in Motion it occurred to me that there's a way to solve the problem with mass swim starts.

Instead of starting triathlons with the swim we should start them with the bike. Send riders off every 30 seconds. If you miss you appointed starting time you go to the back of the pack and start there - next time be on time.

After the bike leg we'd do the swim. Afterall who wouldn't enjoy a refreshing swim after a hard bike ride?

Finally, you end the triathlon with the run.

How about just reversing things: start with the run. Afterall most of us have done at least one mass start running race before entering a triathlon so this shouldn't be anything new to us. Then onto the bike and then swim.

So what do you think? Is this a totally crazy idea or does it seem to make sense?

Open Air Swimming

2005-04-25T14:48:00.000-04:00

Recently the pool where I swim removed the huge cover they put over it in the winter so today I had my first chance to swim outside in the open air. Fortunately the water it still being heated so it wasn't too bad. It's time to switch from clear to tinted goggles though - the sun seemed to be exceptionally bright when wearing the clear goggles. Perhaps now that we're swimming out in the open air I can even up my farmer's tan -- well on my back anyway.

On tap for tonight after my monthly adjustment at the chiropractor is a 45 minute run. I must have snorted too much chlorine at the pool today because I'm actually looking forward to it!

Looking Ahead

2005-04-25T07:20:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I was a total slacker but I'm not going to worry about it. After working from 8:00 am Saturday morning until 3:30 am Sunday morning I just didn't have it in me to do much more than loaf around the house. Donna and I talked about going out for a walk after lunch - didn't happen. We talked about going out for one after dinner - didn't happen.

I'm looking forward to this week. On Tuesday I start the first of six visits to the PT clinic for ultrasound treatments for my foot. I almost think I don't need them but since the doctor ordered them I'm going. I will be running tonight after work so if there's any pain I'll be able to pinpoint its location so they can treat the right spot.

This coming Saturday I should have been doing my first triathlon. Instead I'll be on the sidelines watching my two co-workers Scott and Jason doing it. When I hurt my foot I decided to reschedule this triathlon for one later in the season. I didn't want to take a chance on doing anything that would prevent me from doing my half IM in June. I'm 5 weeks out from doing my first sprint triathlon on May 30th. It's a dress rehersal for my half IM the following weekend. I'm confident in my swim and bike abilities and will get through the run. I can't wait!

Back Online & Trip to Orlando

2005-04-21T22:33:00.000-04:00

Well I'm back home from my trip to Orlando and I'm once again connected to the rest of the world. From now on I will absolutely refuse to say at any hotel that does not offer high speed internet access. Being a web geek I have to be connected :)

Ok so here's a quick run down of my trip to FL:

- I take off early Monday morning and and haul booty down to Lake Mary, FL where I meet up with fellow BikeForums member skydive69. After spending seveal minutes drooling over his new Guru bike we change into riding gear and go out for close to a 2 hour ride. We had a great ride and it was supposed to be an easy day for him but, boy was it a hard day for me. My HR average for the ride 154 BPM which makes it a hard ride for me. I can't wait to hook up with him again for another ride.

- Tuesday after doing the things I had to do for work I headed out to the West Orange trail which is the nearest trail to the hotel where I was staying. I did a solo 25 mile ride and really enjoyed the super smooth trail. Why is it that some bikers don't wave back? I experienced this while motorcycling and it seems to hold true in bikes as well which I think sucks. How hard is it to give a little wave when meeting another biker?

- Wednesday I went back to the West Orange trail and planned to do a 20 mile ride but it got cut short to 11. I rode 5 miles out in the direction of the trail that I rode on Tuesday and then do 5 miles of trail that I didn't do on Tuesday. I started heading down the trail and then somehow got off of it. I couldn't seem to find where the trail picked up so I just turned around and went back to the car. Speaking of cars a Chevorlet Impala does a great job of hauling a Trek Equinox around. I folded down the rear seat and after removing the front wheel I could easily put the bike into the back of the car.

As I was getting ready to leave I saw a guy ride by on a three wheel bike that looked like a recumbent with 3 wheels but he was very low to the ground. I'm going to have to find out more about that bike - it looked totally cool to ride.

- No ride today. I didn't get out of Orlando until after 4:00. I had originally planned to leave at noon :(.

Orlando is a very cool town for riding. I really enjoyed riding on the trails and several of the roads I had to drive on had bike lanes. I'll be volunteering for all trips to Orlando in the future :)

Quest for 30 MPH

2005-04-17T21:01:00.000-04:00

Last night while reading BikeForums I read a post about a guy and his quest to achive 30 MPH on his is bike. After putting in 8 or so hours at the office on our big project Donna and I went out for a nice ride. The weather was beautiful! The temp was in the 80's and there was a light breeze, traffic was light, and best of all my Equinox was shifting quite well!!

After about 45 minutes of riding the loop we were riding Donna decided to call it quits and I decided to get in one more loop. There's one particular section of road that's very nice. You know the kind, freshly paved and painted, not a single dip or pot hole on it. It's the kind of road that urges you to hammer as fast as you can.

So I went for it. I shifted up on the big ring (smooth as silk I might add) shifted through the gears until I was in 53/14* and then I hammered for all I was worth. I didn't bother trying to see my speed I just keep trying to ride faster and faster. I gave it all I could and as I backed out of it I glanced at the HRM which was flashing 171, 171, danger! danger! :)

As I slowed down I toggled through the readout on the bike computer until I reached max. 30.4 is what it read - I did it! It took a hell of an an effort but I did it. I'm most pleased.

*I get quite a bit of teasing out of my "junior" gearing because I run a 25/14 cassette instead of 23/11 or 25/12 but I want a set of gears that I can actually use. I don't have the power to turn 53/12 or 53/11 so I don't have them on my cassette. If I ever reach the point where I spin out a 53/14 I'll just coast for a bit :)

Inside the Actors Studio

2005-04-16T12:27:00.000-04:00

I really dig having a Tivo. I have several shows programmed to record, Everyday Italian, Good Eats, 24, CSI, Bike Racing on OLN, and what is fast becoming one of my favorite shows Inside the Actors Studio. I like the mournful sound of the music for some reason - though I doubt there's an Inside the Actors Studio CD out :). It amazes me the things that James Lipton is able to dig up on his guests and I like seeing the other side of his guests. When we watch a movie we see that actor, well acting, but on the show they're just talking. If you've watched the show you know he ends it by asking his guest a series of 10 questions. If he were to ever ask me here would be my answers:

1 - What is your favorite word? - Hello because so many friendships start with that simple word.
2 - What is your least favorite word? - Hate
3 - What turns you on or what is your favorite thing? - Food. A very close 2nd is the Internet.
4 - What turns you off? - false assumptions
5 - What sound or noise do you love? - the ocean waves crashing onto the beach
6 - What sound or nose do you hate? - the wind in your hears when you're screaming downhill on a bicycle. That really bugs me.
7 - What is your favorite curse word? - F*ck
8 - What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? - Lawyer
9 - What profession would you not like to do? - High School teacher.
10 - If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? - Welcome my faithful servant, your new bike is over here.

Feel free to answer the questions or ask about my answers.

Flats - had another one

2005-04-15T19:03:00.000-04:00

After spending the night at work, working, not sleeping, going home long enough to shower, change and working all day I decided to ride the Equinox home. Oh and for those keeping up with my derailleur woes we did a little adjusting here and it seems to be working OK for now.

Anyway as I'm leaving work I noticed the rear wheel feeling kind of odd so I stop and check the tire and it's a little soft so I use my pump to pump it up and continue heading home. I make it 2 or 3 miles and have to pull over again and pump it up again. Once again I take off and I'm enjoying the ride home and once again things start to get soft. As luck would have it my wife Donna called me and asked where I was. I told her my location and she came by to pick me up.

Once we got home I removed the rear wheel and tire. The problem was the stem had started seaprating from the tube and it was allowing the air to leak. I installed a new tube, put the wheel back on the bike and now it's good to do.

What's the deal with all of the flats this year? So far this month I've had 3 of them, all on the rear tire and Donna has had one and it was also on her rear tire. How about you? Are you having more flats this year than in past years?

UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2005-04-15T00:09:00.000-04:00

Guess who had trouble with the front derailleur today???? Actually yesterday since it's just past midnight. When I leave work today around lunch time I'm heading straight for the bike shop.

Finally Brought my Bike Home

2005-04-14T08:14:00.000-04:00

Well I finally have my Equinox 7 back at home. Since things didn't work out with the Equinox 9 frame the bike shop swapped out parts and once again I have my triathlon bike. I also picked up a new Trek computer to put on it. What I like about the Trek computer is that it has speed and cadence and reads the speed from the rear wheel. I also like that the Trek computer mounts on the stem. Once bit of info I'm not sure I'm really going to like having is the current temperature. When it's 90 degrees out am I really going to want to know?!

I brought the Equinox 7 into work today and will take it out for a spin at lunch. I sure hope nothing goes wrong with this one.

No Pressure....right who are you kidding?!

2005-04-13T19:02:00.000-04:00

Two of my coworkers were in a meeting today discussing a web based application we'll be building when our management dropped a bomb on 'em. They were told (paraphrased) "You have 17 days to build this application and we have a 238 million dollar contract riding on you getting it completed." Yikes!

Their timing with this little tidbit of info is terrible. Next week I and the next senior developer will both be out of the office for business trips. I'll be in Orlando (tough, I know but someone has to do it) and the other will be in Vegas. That means we have to have this application designed enough so that we can turn it over to our two junior developers to build while we're on the road.

I'll be pretty much working 'round the clock to get things ready to hand off. You guys think about me here slaving over a hot keyboard while you're out having a nice training session.

Bike Problems Continue

2005-04-12T22:21:00.000-04:00

This afternoon as I'm leaving work the bike shop calls and says my Equinox 8 (a mixture of Equinox 9 frame and Equinox 7 components) is ready to pick up. I rush home, put the bike rack on the Xterra and head for the shop along with my wife, Donna.

Sure enough there's my bike, well my components mounted on another bike. Right off the bat I wasn't really happy with the outcome. You see the Equinox 7 is silver and 3 other guys that I work with and I bought Equinox 7's at the same time. 3 of us ride together regularly so now I'll be the oddball (which is really nothing new) riding my red framed bike. After paying the bill I pickup the bike and start to turn it around so I can roll it out of the store when I notice there's a serious binding when you turn the bars to the left. It was making a scraping noise that was loud enough that Donna could hear it a couple feet away. Why this wasn't discovered earlier by the mechanics is a mystery to me! The mechanics roll the bike back into the work area and start working on it. 30 minutes and 3 mechanics later the problem is still there and my BP is steadily rising :(.

Since the shop has an Equinox 7 on the showroom floor the store owner agreed to take that bike and swap out my wheels, crankset, bottom bracket, bars, stem, seat and seat post. So sometime tomorrow I should be able to pick up my bike. Although I have enjoyed riding around on my old Fuji Ace I've really missed my Equinox. Besides I have a trip down to Orlando Florida next week and I'm taking a bike with me and I really want that bike to be the Equinox.

If this new Equinox gives me troubles like the last one did I'll just ask for my money back and try a different bike. There's several triathlon bikes in the $1600 range, in fact some of them come equipped with better components than my Equinox has on it. There's something about the Equinox though that I really like. It's one of the few bikes that I've ever ridden that feels better the faster you go. Although I'm not fit enough to hold 20+ MPH yet it loves to be ridden that fast or faster.

How 'bout you? Are you having any issues with your bike this year?

Back in the Pool, Finally

2005-04-12T14:14:00.000-04:00

For the past month or so there's been issues with the pool where I swim. Those have finally been resolved and so I hit the pool today at lunch and it felt great! I can tell I've lost some upper body strength from not swimming but I'll be back on my 3x per week schedule now and should be ready to go by the end of May.

So what do you do if you can't swim for an extended period of time?

Race Schedule

2005-04-12T07:56:00.000-04:00

Here's a list of my planned triathlons for this year:

http://www.macontriathlon.com/ - May 30th. Macon Triathlon (sprint) My first triathlon in over 17 years. It'll be a dress rehearsal for the next triathlon.

http://www.gamultisports.com/rocknroll.html - June 5th. Rock 'N Rollman Half IM. My first ever half IM distance triathlon. My only goal for this triathlon is to finish prior to the 8 hour cutoff time.

http://www.tribluesky.com/Information%20Page%20Indian%20Springs.htm - June 20th Tri the Parks Race Series - Indian Springs State Park (Sprint). Assuming I survive the half IM that is :).

http://www.tribluesky.com/Information%20Page%20Richard%20B.%20Russell.htm - July 30th Tri the Parks Race Series - Richard B. Russell State Park. My first ever international distance triathlon. I don't know why I've never done this distance before but this will be my first one.

http://www.tribluesky.com/Information%20Page%20High%20Falls.htm - August 20th Tri the Park Race Series - High Falls State Park. Series Championship. I have to compete in 3 or more events to be eligible for the state-wide rankings.

After August I will concentrate on building my running base in preparation for running my first marathon - the Disney Marathon in January 2006.

How about you? What does your race schedule look like?

What a Day

2005-04-11T01:01:00.000-04:00

So today I was supposed to fly out to Colorado Springs and hook up with fellow Bike Forums member MHR. I got up early and checked the weather and expedia web sites and according to expedia my fight to Denver was on schedule. 15 minutes into the 1 1/2 hour shuttle ride up to Atlanta Delta calls me and tells me the flight is cancelled.

After calls back to Delta, the hotel and rental car place I have my trip rescheduled for the last week in April. The day wasn't a total wash though. After I got back home I went out for a nice 1 1/2 hour training ride.

Foot Update

2005-04-09T00:07:00.000-04:00

Back on February 22nd I hurt my left foot while out running. Today I went to the PT clinic and had it checked out. Fortuantely I do not have a stress fracture like I had originally thought. The doc I saw was very cool and discussed my problem at great length with me. He may have found the root cause of my problems with my left foot. It seems our heels are supposed to rotate side to side as we run. When you step down you land on the outside of the heel and then roll towards the inside and the toe off. The problem with my left foot is the heel doesn't rotate as far as it should so I'm toeing off on the middle of my foot instead of the toe. He showed me an exercise to do to get some additional flexibility into my heel. I will also be going back to the clinic twice a week for 3 weeks for ultrasound treatments on my forefoot where the pain is. Unfortuantely due to two back to back business trips I have to take (Colorado Springs next week, Orlando, FL week after) I won't start my treatments until I get back.

New Frame

2005-04-09T00:00:00.000-04:00

I won't bore you with all of the gory details, but after the bike shop having my '05 Trek Equinox 7 for 3 weeks trying to fix a problem with the front derailleur hanger a representative from Trek gave them the OK today to replace my frame. Trek is currently out of the frames for the Equinox 7 so instead they are replacing it with the frame from an Equinox 9. I guess I'll be the only rider in the world with a Trek 7/9. It would have been nice if Trek would have just given me a whole new Equinox 9. Also, the Equinox 9 frame is red where my Equinox 7 was silver.

What sucks about the deal, other than not having my bike for 3 weeks, is I had my bike fitted to me and now with them moving all of the stuff over to the new frame I'm sure my fit will be off :(. I'm going to check with the guy in Atlanta that did the fitting and see if he'll check things out on the new frame for free.

Jeff Galloway Running School

2005-04-03T22:45:00.000-04:00

Today I spent the day up in Atlanta attending the Jeff Galloway "Run Injury Free" class. I picked up so many tips and tricks that I'll be trying out in my running. One of the best parts was going outside and having Jeff review my running technique. He found a few things wrong, learning too far foward, too high of a leg kick, etc and then showed me drills on how I can improve. If you ever get a chance to attend one of his schools I'd highly recommend it.

Wind Sucks!

2005-04-02T17:00:00.000-05:00

Today Donna and I completed the 18 mile ride of the Tour De Pike. I was beginning to have my doubts that we would even start the ride. Aside from it being cold and windy I had to change two tubes before we could start the ride.

I was pumping up the rear tire on Donna's bike and when I removed the pump chuck from the valve stem all of the air gushed out of the tire. It seems the stem separated from the tire. No biggie I thought, I'll just put in her spare tube. As it turns out the valve stem on the spare tube was too short so I had to remove one of the tubes from my bike which have longer valve stems on them and install it on Donna's bike.

Tubes swapped we started our ride and battled the wind the whole 18 miles. We made it though so I as they say what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger :).

44 Miles Cut Short

2005-04-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

Today I turned 44 years old and to celebrate the occasion I thought I'd go out and ride 44 miles. Even though it was raining I was committed to getting in the miles. 7.70 miles, and two flats later, I called it a day and drove home. So much for the big ride :(