It's Been A Hundred Miles

It's been a hundred miles since I bought my new bike.  The majority of those miles where logged in one ride, last week's 61 miler.  The remainder miles on random rides.

This morning I set out to do a 30 mile, easy ride.  Not sure why, but today i didn't want to venture far from the house, so rode to a nearby park and looped it several times for the majority of the miles.

I used today as an opportunity to test my familiarity with the bike.  The shifting, the aero bars, breaks, clips, etc.  Also, I wanted to know how fast I could push it.  The back side of the park lends itself to pick up some speed.

With each loop, I found myself wanting to go faster.  Because of where the Garmin had to be placed, a slight down look is necessary to see the data.  At the speeds I was approaching and because of the winding road, I did not feel to comfortable taking my eyes off the road to look at the speed, but I could tell that I had never "peddaled" that fast.

I was right.  When I downloaded the data to the computer, I saw that I had reached speeds of 28mph!  The average speed for today's ride was slightly under 17mph.

What I'm mostly enthused about is that with my previous bike, an average of 15mph was the norm.  What I'm most excited about is that after a bike ride, I still have legs left.

I'm looking forward to see what I can do at the Steelhead Ironman 70.3 Triathlon in 12 days.

Fourteen Days...Just. Fourteen. Short. Days!

Two weeks from today, it's Steelhead Ironman 70.3 Triathlon!

Yesterday I received my last two weeks training plan from my coach.  In the body of the email it read:  "It's taper time my friend!"

Sweeeeeet!

Struggles to Tackle and Resolve

The date of my next "A" event approaches rapidly.  July 31, 2010 will be here in no time at all.  As of this post, there are only 14 days left.  In the world of triathlon training, that is no time at all.  Steelhead Ironman 70.3 Triathlon is in the horizon.


To cram or not to cram?  To go hard, harder than recommended?  To go outside what you know is best?  Sometimes just doing the "right" thing is the hardest thing to do.  In just a couple of days I will enter the taper portion of my training.  If history is to repeat itself, this will be a very difficult time.


Difficult because doubts will set in.  Have I done enough?  What else could I do?


Discipline will have to be the rule of day.

Featured on Endurance Geeks Website

I have recently received the honor of being the featured athlete on my coach's Client Spotlight page of  his website!

This for me is a great honor in many ways.

First and foremost because I have not been one to think that what I have done so far is worthy of comparison to the achievements and accomplishments of those tremendous athletes around me.

I thank my coach, Barry Baird for thinking that I am worthy of this honor.  I will do everything in my power to make you proud.

Quintana Roo Seduza Vs. Cervelo P2

As I have made the decision to embark in the quest to complete the Louisville Iromnan 2011, I also realized that it was time to shop and acquire a new tri bike.  I have been riding on a road bike for the past three seasons.  I have enjoyed my Felt Z80 for it has taking me where I've wanted to go.  But now it's time to upgrade.

I've researched brands, models, components and more important pricing.  Yes, pricing is a big issue.  I do not want to overspend, I do not want to underspend.  Once I learned that for my goals I should be prepared to spend between $2,000 and $3,000 I set out to find options.

I visited with my  local tri store, ACME Multisports in Goodlettsville, TN. several times.  I asked 1,436 questions and they answered them all, every last one of them.  Thanks guys!  The options were narrowed to two:  The Quintana Roo Seduza and the Cervelo P2.

I have also done my homework and read several reviews online, both bikes fared pretty much the same.

There are three "major" differences between the QR and the P2.  As explained to me these are:  The handle bars, the front derailleur and the seat.  Apparently the P2 version of these is what justifies the price difference.  Everything else is pretty much identical.

On Thursday, July 1st I took the QR out for a 15 mile ride.  On Saturday, July 3rd I took the P2 for the identical 15 mile ride.  I also did a 15 minute brick (run) immediately after each ride.

This was the first time I would be on a tri bike for any distance.  It took me about a mile or so to get comfortable with the machine.  After that it was just a matter of getting the feel for it.  How would it shift, how would it pedal, how it handle, how would it turn, how would I feel on the aero position?.  The QR was delivering up to my expectations.  The pedaling and the shifting were smooth as silk. The effort to turn the wheels was dramatically easier than on my road bike.  I guess this is what a tri bike is supposed to do.

The aero position took some getting used to.  It felt like I was going to fly off the bike.  I sat back on the saddle but the pedaling was not as smooth, so I moved forward (as instructed) and it became better.  After a couple of miles, I became one with the bike and I continued with my test drive.

Somewhere along the ride I thought it would be smart to do a brick following my ride.  How would I feel after the ride?  Would the bike make a difference?  The answer to this was a surprising one.  The first half mile or so, my lower back was bothering me.  It had never done that before.  After the adjustment, the run became easier than it had ever been following a bike ride.  So yes, the bike did make a difference.

Then it was the turn to test the P2.

I set out to do the same, identical ride.  I wanted the conditions to be as equal as possible to make a smart, informed decision.  I rode the same route, I ran the same brick.

Everything I found on the QR I found on the P2.  No difference in the pedaling, no difference in the shifting, no difference in the handling.  So, at this point I set out to do the only thing I could.  I wanted to find $800 worth of difference.  I couldn't.

The decision was made.  I went with Quintana Roo.  One minor add-on.  I bought the Cervelo saddle!  This was more comfortable.  For the money, I feel I got the best bike.

Resilience or Something Else?

It has often been said that endurance athletes are cut from a different mold.  Come to think of it, if you ask any other athlete involved in any other sport, I am sure that they would tell you the same thing; they too, are cut from a different mold.

However, not being an athlete in any other sport, I have become a student of the endurance sports, specifically Triathlon.  One thing that seems to be a common denominator amongst all triathletes is that we thoroughly believe that what we do, day in, day out, has no rival.  Hence, we are cut from a different mold. This is in no way intended to disrespect any other athlete in any other sport.

Yesterday, I had a fifty mile bike ride, followed by a fifteen minute brick on my training schedule.  As I went to bed on Friday night, it was my intention to wake up early enough to be out on the road by 6am since the heat and humidity was to be intense early in the day.

Unbeknown to me, those plans changed as I slept for when the alarm went off at 5:15am, I could hardly move.  My bulging disk (L3-L4) and my herniated disk (L4-L5) decided that it was time to remind me who was in charge... or so they thought.

It was a struggle to get out of bed and move around, I must admit.  For anyone who suffers from this kind of issues, it is a common occurrence.  Some days are good, others are bad, others like yesterday are really bad.  With each step I took I saw my chances of riding/running today diminishing fast.

I have been here before.  I know what to do.  Stretching is the key.  By doing this, I can help push the discs back in place reducing or totally eliminating the pain.  Most of the time this works. Most of the time the pain is not so intense however.  What this means today is that the discs bulged out more than normal.  But stretching I did.

Slowly but surely I started feeling relief.  As time passed I began to notice that the pain had become manageable, so I began to make plans to go ahead and get on my bike.  And so I did.

Around 10am I felt like I had to give this a try.  I wouldn't venture to far from the house just in case I got in trouble while on the road.  And so I went.

The ride started with no consequence and as the miles added up, I was feeling great.  I made it to a park near my house that has a mile loop.  I practiced my aero position, practiced my pedal stroke working on a smooth rotary movement as opposed to a piston like motion.  I also worked on gear management to help increase cadence.  This I did for about fifteen miles.  And then a very familiar sharp pain shot all the way from my lower back all the way down my left side.  I remember thinking, "now I've done it."

So I headed back home.

When I finished the ride, I had completed 2 hours with some 26 miles of pedaling.  There was no sign of pain so I thought I would give the brick a try.  Fifteen minutes was on the plan, so fifteen minutes I did.

I felt good, physically.  Mentally I felt great.  I had overcome an obstacle that could have been devastating for my training plan.  The rest of the day my back was tight.  Last night I had a good night, woke up this morning sore and in slight pain but no where near what it was yesterday.  Today I think I will take it easy.

So, was this an exercise in resilience or something else?  Only time will tell.  But, if history is a teacher, I know that all will be good and I shall go on.

Steelhead 70.3 = T-Minus 50 Days...

 Training for the Steelhead 70.3 in Benton Harbor, Michigan on July 31st. has been on track and coming along as planned.
As of this writing, there's just 47 days until d-day.
When discussing what my goals are for this event with my tri coach, I expressed to him my wish to better last year's Augusta 70.3 total time. He looked things over and his estimate is to work on the run time by better managing the bike leg.
So that we are doing.
Yesterday's bike ride, a total of 53.6 mile ride, in the sweltering heat, was a measure of where I am today and where I need to go in the next 47 days.
The ride started off pretty much like any other ride.  I had my route planned (in my head) and I estimated it would be around 40-42 miles. I had always been pretty accurate on this.
Through the majority of the ride, my concentration was to practice my aero position, allowing my legs to use the correct muscles.  This I thought I did pretty good because, as my spin instructor always says: "make sure you feel your quads burn"!  and that they did.
I was pretty happy as well that my speed was higher and the ride was more constant than it had been.  Around mile 40 I noticed that my average speed was 17.5mph, this is about 1.5mph faster than my normal speed.  Sweet!
My concentration was such that at this same point I ran across three friends that were riding, I recognized one of them, didn't recognized the other two... sorry guys!
I made a quick stop to get a cold sports drink.  The weather had become a factor.  Filled my bottle with ice and some of the drink and left for the last leg of the ride.
And then my quad began to cramp.  I adjusted my pedaling some and this seemed to help some.  I noticed as well that the muscles inside both my upper legs were cramping as well... this had never happened!
I finished the ride, stretched my muscles and the cramping was history.  I am going under the assumption that I was short on electrolyte replacements.  Will adjust for next week's ride.
This week's plan calls for more of the same, but still kicking in it up a bit.  We shall kick!