I have a confession.
I don’t like to stretch. I also don’t like to lift weights… unless I have someone like Tyler around to give a hard time to the way guys who are good friends do.
I am an action oriented person. Which seems a little strange as I type that, since most of my life has been spent sitting (at a computer). I’ve been “into” computers since I got to use my first TRS-80 at age 10. I’ve been making my living from computers since I started my first company at age 12 writing software for Commodore C-64 computers, which was a significant upgrade from the first computer I owned.
Action hasn’t always meant running Marathons, or riding fixed gear double-centuries, or completing Ironman triathlons. Before my life with fitness, it meant staying up all night coding, or running a record label with Punk bands from Seattle, or whatever other crazy idea I got into my head.
But the fact of the matter is…. I have not yet found a spark in stretching… flexibility.
I tried Yoga… I think I had a pretty good teacher… but it didn’t stick.
I also don’t get massages regularly… which I probably should. My PT says I have “very compact muscles”… I take it as a compliment… but it almost sounds a little like when you brought artwork home to your mom in pre-school and she said “Oh isn’t that INTERESTING”… Uh… is that a euphemism for crap?!
So today… the day after an 18 mile run… a day in which I’ve been too busy to workout… would be a perfect day to go do 30 minutes of stretching… but instead… I’ll blog… and then get stuck reading wikipedia’s definition of euphemism.
Filed under: Cycle, Fitness, Flexibility, Ironman, Run, Yoga, double century, euphemism, exercise, recovery, triathlon
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Long Run - Thank Goodness it wasn’t a Brick
I thought I was going to do a 50+18 brick today… but I just didn’t have the time (5.5 hours) to give up… Instead I just did the 18mile run… and thank goodness that was all I did. This has been the longest run I’ve done in a while, and my legs let me know about it!
I have about 50 days left before my Ironman, and I feel behind schedule thanks to all my feet issues… but I still have plenty of time, so I’m not going to panic.
My plan is to do 22 for my next long run (early next week), and then a 26mile long run the next week. I will be doing at least one “near race pace” mid-distance (10-12 miles) run a week as well. I think I will try to make these mid-distance runs bricks. I need to add back track workouts which I haven’t done in months because of my running being interupted by injury.
The good news is that I had no pain at all in my knews, hips, or feet on this long run. My pace started out good, but I whithered pretty quickly… finishing with just under a 9min/mile average pace. My last 3 miles were definitley a death shuffle…
I am pretty sure the main reason for my slowing pace was that I bonked. I took the equivilent of 4 gels with me (watered down in belt flasks) which according to the package was 3 hours of recommended fuel… but by the time I got home I was starving, and when we ate dinner after my stretch and shower my stomach was revolting. I didn’t get full blown hypoglycemic shakes, but I was definitley feeling spent.
Lesson learned! It’s all about the fuel!
Workout:
- Type: Run
- Date: 07/25/2007
- Time: 15:00:00
- Total Time: 2:41:00.00
- Average Heart rate: 149
- Max Heart rate: 167
- Calories: 2029
- Distance: 18 miles
- Average Pace: 8:56.51/mile
- Max Pace: 7:45.12/mile
Filed under: Ironman, Run, fuel, triathlon
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Just a thought: How to end doping.
How about a Life time ban for all parties involved! The rider, the personal trainer, the doctor, the coach, the team manager, the sponsor, the technician, everyone on the team… guilt by association. Ban them all.
When will these teams take this seriously?!
It’s human nature, if the rewards are great enough, and the risks seem to be minimal, then too many people will make that risk/reward trade off decision to go for the reward.
So, clearly we need to make the risk — the result of getting caught — greater.
I am serious… total disbarment from ever participating in professional cycling again. No appeal. No return. You’re out.
Of course, I think there should be some reasonable due process… don’t get me wrong…
The most significant change I am suggesting would be to go after the sponsors as well. What I am proposing is that if an athlete is caught… then of course they are out… but I am also saying the ENTIRE TEAM, including the manager, including the sponsors are out forever, and including the other cyclists who didn’t get caught.
Picture this scene… Basso is doping, he is caught, and ultimately he admits it… ok, so what, he can come back in 2 years… heck he’s cooperating, so he figures no big deal… power down, get clean, come back, be a hero.
Now instead, I am suggesting that because Discovery signed Basso, and Basso got caught, that EVERYONE involved in Discovery is permanently banned from pro cycling. Discovery is out; all team owners (including Lance as part owner); all other riders: Leipheimer, Hincapie, Popovych Cantador; manager: Bruyneel.
Sounds harsh? It is… that’s the point. Would Lance have stood for it if he knew Basso was doping, and he knew that if Basso gets caught that he, Lance Armstrong, can no longer have any association with Cycling? No team, no manager position, no ownership, nothing! I don’t think so. Would Hincapie, Popovych, or Leipheimer turned the other way when Basso scurried off to the doctor while in training? No way!
Let’s not kid ourselves… these guys know what is going on. They are turning a blind eye… if they aren’t in on it themselves. If we want to put an end to this, we need to get tough!
Filed under: Cycle, George Hincapie, Ivan Basso, John Bruyneel, Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer, Team Discovery, Tour de France, doping
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Open Water Laps
Rode my bike to Mathews Beach for an open water swim session. I haven’t swam in about a month… and so this was mostly a get in the water in my wet suit and play in the water… The swimming area is about 75 yards long, and so I did 10 laps/20 lengths.
Workout:
- Type: Swim
- Date: 07/24/2007
- Time: 15:30:00
- Total Time: 00:30:00.00
- Distance: 1,367.94 m
- Average Pace: 2:11.58/100m
Filed under: Swim
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Commute to Mathew’s Beach for Open Water Swim
Rode my bike to Mathews Beach to do an open water swim. Normally this would be a 14 mile total ride… But I forgot my lock and didn’t realize it until about 5 miles from my home… so I had to head back and get an extra 9 miles of riding.
Workout:
- Type: Cycle
- Date: 07/24/2007
- Total Time: 1:20:00.00
- Distance: 22 miles
- Average Speed: 16.5 mph
- Max Speed: 20 mph
Filed under: Cycle
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Great blog post on Race Nutrition
I just read a great blog post on practicing a race fueling strategy by Gary Ditsch. Check it out… it’s a good read. With some links to some good archival posts as well.
Filed under: Races, food, nutrition, triathlon
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10 miles with 10 extra pounds
Well, the damage from a week of essentially no exercise, and sitting in a car all day, every day (Yellow Stone is big, and you pretty much end up driving around a lot to see it), and eating like a Cowboy (Wyoming, after all is the home of Cowboys)… was 10 extra pounds. Yep! I gained 10lbs in one week.
So now I have 53 days to my Ironman, and I need to get back into the swing of training.
We’ll call today’s run a mid-distance run 10 miles. Made it in less than 8min/mile, but just barely. I could feel the extra weight around my gut as I ran… I need to get in an 18 miler on wed, so I can get in a 22 miler early next week and get back to long runs.
Knees felt great…. which is a very good sign.
Workout:
- Type: Run
- Date: 07/23/2007
- Time: 15:30:00
- Total Time: 1:19:40.00
- Distance: 10 miles
- Average Pace: 7:58.09/mile
- Max Pace: 7:30/mile
Filed under: Run
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Pictures from STP
My Mom snapped these photos of me from my Seattle to Portland Double Century on my fixed gear bike.
Hey, if you’re gonna ride 200 miles on a fixed gear bike, you gotta stretch!
I don’t know why I had this look on my face. Maybe I was tired of my Mom taking pictures of me. But frankly, if this is how smug I looked on the ride, then I can understand why Rider Zero and his team didn’t want me to ride with them.
Safety first! Notice the light!
Almost there! This is about 30 miles from the finish line.
At the finish line!
Related Posts…
Filed under: Portland, STP, Seattle, double century, fixed gear, fixie, single-speed
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Fitness Center Workout
We have two days left of our road trip and today we’re stopped just outside of Butte Montana at the Fairmont Hot Springs. They have a typical little hotel fitness center with a recumbant style bike, an ellipitical, a stair stepper, a couple treadmills, and some weights.
When I got there, someone was on the bike, so I did the ellipitical for about 5 minutes, and then when the bike was clear jumped on it for another 25 minutes. Very low effort stuff.
Workout:
- Type: General Cardio
- Date: 07/21/2007
- Time: 09:00:00
- Total Time: 00:30:00.00
- Average Heart rate: 100
- Max Heart rate: 120
They have 4 pools here, 2 indoor, and 2 outdoor. Two of the pools are at 90F and two are called “hot pools” at 105F. They aren’t exactly set up as lap pools, so no laps… which did get me thinking, what is it like to swim laps in 90F water?
Filed under: General Cardio
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Seattle to Portland: Miles 100-200
Leaving Centralia
Knowing that my day was going to be a long one, and that although I still felt strong after my first hundred miles, I thought it would be best to schedule my next stop at Lexington, which is not quite three quarters of the distance of the route.
I also needed to rethink my hydration. My Redline 925, is a perfectly reasonable commuter bike, and for my short or mid-distance distance training rides (say 40-50 miles) having only one water bottle is no big deal. When training, I don’t mind stopping after about 15-20 miles to refill my water bottle. But today I was trying to keep my stops to a minimum. In fact, other than red lights, I had only stopped twice so far today. I hadn’t taken advantage of any of the mini-stops or services along the route. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: Cycle, Portland, STP, Seattle, cycle, double century, fixed gear, fixie, single-speed
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