Bike Leg Question & Contact Info

Hey Craig, have you had a chance to check out the bike course? If so, how did you find the conditions? My brother gave me a heads up that his partner, Scott Angove, said that a road bike would be a poor choice due to the rough conditions. Do you have the option to bring one of each, or at least a change of tires?

Just something to consider...

And in case anyone needs to try and reach me this weekend, here are the digits that should cover my bases:

My cell: 804/519-9046
Tara's cell: 804/519-6188
My mom's home: 814/726-0229
Tara's parents: 814/723-3246

Support on the Course

Casey, Shawn wanted to make sure you caught the FAQs about the support. I don't believe there is any water support on the course (Shawn's case the water is the support). Also, we are not able to give water to whoever is doing the leg, except swimmer. Just wanted to make sure Casey had a means to carry water, if you need it.

Also, Shawn I saw you can be handed food & drink from the boat, you just can't touch the boat. So, I spoke with my sister-in-law and the boys are planning on having a cooler, if you think you need something.

I'm getting excited. Look forward to seeing you all.

Latest Tango Update

My brother has formed a tandem team with Scott Angove for the race. He just emailed me the links below outlining the maps for each leg. He said he got them from the Tango home page.

First Run Leg:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1189669

Bike Leg:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1189632

Swim Leg:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1189672

We were sort of right. The map says the distance is actually 2.38 miles.

Orienteering Leg:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1189682

I am guessing the line simply marks the perimeter of the course, but I am not sure.

Second Run Leg:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1189689

Canoe Leg:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1189706

Tango Update

When our applications were submitted we were the 12th relay team to enter. I'm guessing this is including High School and Corporate teams.
So the road that goes by the his cottage was scheduled to be tarred and chipped on Thursday. He informed Thad of this. Thad is going to make a call to see if they can hold off on that project. Pennsylvania Ave is already enough of a problem....
Thad also said that he'd run up Rte 59 that night in case that becomes the first part of the race.

The Canoe ends at the point of Conewango Creek and the River.

Craig you mentioned the double ended oars. Could you also have a single end available. I have a feeling I might be more powerful with a single ended. (have to try and keep up with Shawn).

Dad just Instant Messaged me. Up to 20 Teams! Hemlock is going to be the run. Tar and Chip isn't going to happen.

Outside is different

Today, I tried another outdoor run. This one was very short because I didn't have a lot of time, but I wanted to do an experiment. I've been doing a lot of that lately. I set out to run a half mile at the high school track (which is closed due to construction, but can be gotten into in the evenings) so I could be sure I was correct with the mileage and I could benefit from the fact that it was flat, which resembles the treadmill, except my treadmill has a minimum incline of "2," whatever that means. What exactly is 2? 2%, 20%, 2 degrees, some randon number assigned by a treadmill guy? I don't know. What I do know is my treadmill is never flat; I am always running up hill. So I wanted to run around this track at what I consider to be my normal treadmill pace several times and see how it felt. My first lap was a little too fast at 2:15 (setting me up for a 9 mile), so I slowed down on the second to a more comfortable 2:30 lap. For the math challenged, that is a 4:45 half mile. I'm suggesting I can keep up the 2:30 pace, but not the 2:15 pace (I know, it's still pathetic, and I used to be able to do a quarter mile in 60 seconds...but those days are long past...so bear with me here), which means that I am now looking at a 10 minute mile outside, possibly sustainable. All I have to say about that is "That's incredible!" Either my treadmill is way faster than is says it is, or it is way easier to run outside on flat earth. I'll still be training on the treadmill, but I am simply going to take the speed with a big grain of salt and focus on HR and time running. Getting the feeling of my pace on the track took a while. I can hardly make myself go as slow as I need to go to be in the sustainable range. It feels so dang slow to run a ten minute mile, but if I go faster, I start to spike the HR. I'll definitely need to take the monitor and run outside a lot before the Moose. If I end up maintaining a 10 minute mile pace in the real thing, I will be very pleased. That wasn't even on the radar last week. I figured 12 was the best I could hope for. Feeling better about how well the training is working now.

Anyway...I'm ready to swim like the wind this weekend. I don't care how delusional I am, I'm going for the fastest swim split in the race. I just read Dean Karnazes' book Ultramarathon Man, and if he can run 226 miles in a row (10 marathons without stopping!), I can surely swim my guts out for 2.2 miles. Pain is weakness leaving the body. If it doesn't hurt, you're going too slow. Yes, I am slightly insane right now, but I've never felt better.

Applications are in

My dad was supposed to drop them off at the Y Monday afternoon. I haven't heard from him so I'm guessing we are in.
Should we come up with a team name?
How about Echo, Charlie, Sierra, Mike.
1st initials of our first name in radio code.
Every time I hear Tango, I think Echo, Tango, Alpha.... I'm brainwashed by something.
Anyhow, if someone thinks up a good team name, let's hear it.

Bike, Flat, Jog, Bike

You can tell I'm at the start of my exercise campaign because after another night of wakeful baby syndrome I still felt compelled to strap the bike on the back of my car for a ride this morning. All excited that I had brought my bike to work I set off for a ride on the D&R canal. On my way there I came up behind two young ladies jogging along and had to pass to the left of the path. Unfortunately the small cluster of weeds that I was going to run through was actually a small stump. I nearly flew over the bars and onto the trail in front of them. Fortunately I stayed on board and with a bruised ego I pedaled off to the sound of their giggling. I got to the canal and started paying attention to my HR with the goal of keeping it around 145-150. No sooner did I get into my zone when something didn't feel quite right. My front tire was flat as a pancake. D'OH!!! It's a pinch flat from hitting that damn stump. I'm about a mile and a half from the university without a patch kit or a pump, but at a crossing of a road that I know (Harrison). So I took off my tire, ditched the bike in the bushes and jogged the half mile to the Sunoco station where I usually get gas. Still without a patch I pull a McGyver and used electrical tape to patch the two small holes and pump up the tire and pray that it holds long enough to get me back. Fortunately it maintained its pressure well enough to get me back to the gym and then some ... actually it was still pretty firm, so keep that in mind if you are in a pinch for a flat repair. I got a workout, but it wasn't the one that I had planned. C'est la vie.

Post Race Party?

My Dad has offered to have us down to the cottage for Burgers & Dogs if that is something everyone would like to do. Family is welcome. It would be good to get an idea how many folks will be down if we decide to do that.
If anyone else has another plan for us that evening let me know. I was just thinking my Dad's cottage has some room to run around. Croquet and Canoes....

Fi's Triathlon

Since we're in the kid-story mode, I thought I would update you all about Fi's first triathlon experience on Saturday. This tri was broken up in age groups by year, and there were 19 9-year-olds in it. That was the biggest group. The pool only has six lanes, so even with sharing they had to have two heats. Fiona looked acceptable in the swim, despite trying to do 4 different strokes by the time the 100 yards was over, but she came out the water in 6th place (out of 9 or 10). She passed at least one kid in the transition (no socks!) and took off on the bike now in 5th place. The bike portion is a mile long, so the kids all disappear around a corner into the trees and all the parents wait like Mission Control watching for the Apollo mission to come around the dark side of the moon. Imagine my surprise when Fiona comes streaming back toward the next transition in second place. T2 took but a second as we grabbed the bike and she tossed off her helmet. This was a fun place to watch kids as some didn't even stop their bikes, they just jumped off and the bike went rolling away. Anyway, Fiona then puttered along in the half mile run, waiting for her friend (girl) to catch up, and letting another kid (boy) pass her. She picked up the pace a bit toward the end, but her friend went faster (ungrateful little...), and neither of them could catch the boy who passed them. So she ended up in 4th place in her heat, second girl in. She says she wants to do it again, but I think we need to work on the running (surprise, the family curse!). It was a fun day.

First Real Run

I went for a leisurely bike ride on Saturday afternoon with Kryste (my wife), Ian, Matt and Genine along the Delaware / Raritan canal path in Princeton. My bike computer isn't really working, but Matt's said that we went about 15 miles in ~1:17 for an average of about 12MPH. Not too fast, but we were really just puttering along and enjoying the scenery. It really is a nice path with Lake Carnegie on the left and the canal on the right and beset by poison ivy the whole way! Fortunately I haven't had any ill effects from the ivy. Ian really liked it as well, but I don't think I was going fast enough for his tastes because he kept hitting me on the butt like a little jockey. It's a good thing I didn't give him a riding crop!

Then on Sunday I worked around the yard and didn't really get a proper workout in. The bad thing is that Ian caught his finger in the door of the shed. Ouch! His middle finger now looks like E.T. and he was up no less than 6 times last night. Needless to say, it was pretty hard to get motivated to go to the gym this morning, but I made it. Armed with my now functioning heart rate monitor I hopped on the tread mill and after a couple minutes of fast walking (~4mph) I ran for 30 min at 6mph. My heart rate quickly climbed to 160bpm and sat there for about 20 minutes. Then in the last 10 min it slowly creeped up to 170. I was sweating pretty good and was definitely tired by the end, but it wasn't all that bad. This is without any hills programed in mind you. During the cool down my heart rate went back to 150 in 1 min, 140 in 2 min and was flirting with 120 by the end of 5 min. I'm not sure if that is very good or not, but I'm pretty happy with it. One of the perks of the treadmills at my gym is that they talk to the heart rate strap so I can see my HR without even looking at the watch.

Race & Bike Ride

Rainday 5k, the good news is all three kids ran faster than last year. Maddy was 10:03, Levi was 11:15, and Eleanor was a 11:50. This was a minute & half faster for Maddy (5th place in her age group), this was 1 minute faster for Levi (4th in his age group), and this was almost 2 1/2 minutes faster for Eleanor, who defended her title in the 0-5 year old girl category. She has brought home metal two years in a row. I thought this might be inspirational for us.

I didn't break any records on Saturday. My strategy was to go hard in the beginning because of a big hill. Well, when I hit the first 1/2 mile marker, I was 3:30. I thought wow I feel good. I hit the first mile at 7:54, not bad, big hill. My heart rate then hit the roof. I hit mile two at 16:40. I started doing the math and 25 mins was about the best I felt I could do. Well, mentally I was upset with myself for going out so quick, even though that is what I wanted to do and I ended up 25:31, not meeting my goal of under 25. It was hot, but that is no excuse. The mental part is as much as the physical. Just something to think about. I should just relax and enjoy the race.

Big ride yesterday on the bike. 22.5 miles. I did it in 1:26 minutes (16 MPH). Had two pretty large hills, plus I went in the middle of a rain storm. Sprinkling when I started, but the lightning and the rain came hard. It rained hard a good 15 minutes, then on and off for another 20 minutes. It felt good. I think I ride better in the bad weather but my times don't usually show this. Luckly I didn't have to do any big down hills during the rain.

I will probably work out tonight (run 45 mins easy), then a bike ride Wednesday (10 miles), and a short run on Thursday. Rest on Friday or just walking a little around Rimrock area, if I get there early enough.

Orienteering Prep Run

I was hoping to run outdoors today but I was rained out. So I fired up the treadmill and varied the incline often. I was keeping close track of my HR. So on the biggest inclines I would only be doing a quick walk. Although even when I flattened out I never pushed over 12 minute mile pace.
The good news is by watching my HR I was able to cover 6.5 miles in 90 minutes and was never out of breath the entire time.
Running conditions were rough. 90 degrees, 100% humidity. I couldn't have been more soaked even if I jumped into a pool.
What's the suggested workout volume a week before a race? I figure my toughest day this week will be my swim class.

Tango Start Time?

I can't find it on his website. I found this link which says 7AM.
Tango Start
I'm guessing it's somewhere on the forms, I'm just not seeing it.
If it's 7AM start. I'll meet you at the end of the swim around 10, gotta get my sleep. Ha!

Tango Arrival

So when is everyone going to arrive in Warren? I'm hoping to arrive late on Thursday night. So I'll be there all day Friday.
Is everyone going to attend the Friday night meeting? I will just to get a clue about the orienteering.
Has everyone sent their forms in?

Looking forward to seeing everyone. Should be a fun day.

More HR stuff

So, I decided to run today, after doing a pretty hard swim with fins and paddles, and I wore my HR monitor. As a reminder, according to Mark Allen I should be keeping my HR around 142 while running to train my body to burn fat. If I go much above that, I start burning glucose, of which I only have about 2,000 calories worth to burn, whereas I have about 500,000 calories of fat available. Okay, so I get running at a leisurely pace of about 4.6 mph (according to my treadmill), and I get my HR up where I want it. Keep in mind I'm pretty heavy (around 265 now), so it takes a lot of work to keep that mass moving at any kind of speed. Okay, so a song that really gets me going comes on my iPod (Dropkick Murphys doing Amazing Grace), and I speed up to a blazing 5.5 mph, which for me is pretty fast. It's a short song and I am using it like an interval or a hill or something, and I get my HR up to the 180's, then the song ends, and I want to get the HR back down in the zone quickly, so I drop the speed back to 4.6, and my HR won't go below 160. So I drop it further until I am walking, and it eventually gets to 142. Then, I leave it at 3.8 mph (still walking, though quickly), and my HR stays in the zone. I can walk like this all day, and keep it there (which is what Mark tells me to do), so as an experiment, I pick up the 20 pound dumbbells and walk with those for a while like I used to at a very comfortable 3.0 mph, and it goes backs up in the 160's. This is no problem for me to maintain, not nearly as much of a problem as running in that HR zone. Then after an hour at or above the zone, I did some standing kettlebell work, and my HR went up in the 170's, yet this was even more comfortable than the walking with weights. I think I could do K-bell work for an hour with much less difficulty than running for an hour, even though they put me at the same HR. My questions are: Is there any benefit to doing HR work at anything other than running, if what I really want to be able to do is run? Is walking in the zone eventually going to lead to running in the zone? Should I just be patient, or should I do glucose work (intervals, higher HR stuff) until I can run in my zone? Is the whole issue here that I need to lose weight? Can somewhat overweight people be exceptionally aerobically fit, or is that just not something that goes together? And if I want to lose weight, isn't burning fat the way to go anyway? I'd love to know what you guys think about all those questions based on your readings and experience.

Back in the Mix

Hi Everyone. You're all probably saying "Who the heck is this?" Matt's brother-in-law is ready to throw my hat back in the ring. With just over 300 days left till Mooseman '08 I think it's time to get my act together. I'm feeling a little ashamed of my current weak conditioning. After a week in New Hampshire watching Matt tear up the road on his bike and drown small children with his wake in the lake I'm feeling a little flabby. Traditionally I've been the one to be able to hike Mt. Cardigan with minimal effort, but this year I didn't even attempt it. "Old Man Carlson" showed me up big time.

I renewed my gym membership here at the university yesterday, so I'm all set with every bit of equipment that I need. I just need the appropriate motivation ... Oh yea, the scale says 202.5 pounds. That should do, as if the burning legs and lungs when I run weren't enough. I think that a competitive race weight for me will be about 175-180. We'll see if I get there or hit a plateau like Matt has.

Work out timing is tricky for me since I have a 30-45 min commute and a 1.5 year old son to keep me busy (his name is Ian and I'll probably refer to him often). I'm planning on working out in the morning after I get to work. I'm a biologist and typically come in in the morning and start experiments, then wait for a bit while they finish (incubate, hatch, react, whatever). This should be a great time to workout. Traditionally I have been playing squash (sorta like racquetball) during this time, but my partner has moved to Hong Kong and won't be able to make our morning games any more. I should be able to fill this void with plenty of running, biking and swimming in preparation for the Mooseman. In addition, I'll be able to bike a bunch in the evenings with Ian on the back of the bike. That should be like swinging a bat with weights on it before being at bat!

I'm a little behind on all of the trends in heart rate training that you all have been posting about, but I'll see what I can glean from your posts and try to let you know what I'm thinking. My wife and I have a 2 profile Polar watch that needs a new battery, but I'm planning on fixing it up tonight and setting up my profile. Hopefully the battery in the strap is still functioning.

I went for a run on the treadmill this morning, but I messed up the computer in mid run so I don't know how far I went. I started out slow (5.5 MPH) but it was really awkward and I got tired fast. Interestingly when I kicked it up to 6.6MPH it was much more comfortable and I was able to maintain it for a while. No Heart Rate info this time. But that should follow soon.

Glad to be back in the mix. I'll try to post with at least some regularity.

Todd and Shawn Canoe?

I got an email from Todd yesterday. He will be in Warren the weekend of the tango. He's willing to Canoe or just help out where he can. I'm not married to the canoing and I believe Shawn will be the powerhouse for that event anyhow.
What do we want to do here? Or because it's "Shawn's event" should he decide?
Also where is the finish for the Canoe Race?

Craig were you going to road bike? This was from the FAQ on the Tango Homepage.

What type of bike should I use? The bike course is not technical. A couple folks used road bikes last year but most felt it was a little too rough (gravel roads) for a road bike.

Out of the loop

I have returned from an educational conference and am now getting back on the ball. I didn't eat much at that thing, but did have one pretty big meal every day, and then just a few all-bran bars and pop-tarts in between. I lost a little more weight. I went to the pool this evening with Fi and one of her friends where I swam with paddles and fins for an hour straight. I have no idea how fast I'm going, but with those hand paddles I can really motor. I showed them to the lifeguard and he was like "Those are huge!" In reality, they are only about the size of a piece of paper. Anyway, the problem in the pool is that it literally takes about 5 or 6 strokes with my arms before I hit the other end, so I can never really get into any kind of rhythm before having to coast or turn around. I have to be vigilant because if I hit my head on the wall right after a two-handed thrust, I will have a serious concussion. I can't tell how long I will be able to maintain any kind of form or how often I will have to switch from arms to legs or really anything! But when I have both arms and legs going, I can go faster than I ever have...which still may not be saying much (Hah). I can tell you that I will not struggle in this event. I will simply swim until I am there, and it shouldn't take that long. I hope to be faster than average, unless it is really longer than Thad says, as Casey proposed. We can probably tell by looking at the online maps at somewhere like http://www.topozone.com
It looks more like 2.6 miles or so to me, but I am not "orienteering," and I am trying to measure over multiple screens rather than printing them out and checking correctly. This site might be useful for the orienteerers to use as a preparatory tool, though, unless someone has found a better alternative. Whatever the case, I am going to do my best, and I feel pretty good about my ability to persevere. I hope I am not deluding myself.

If we come in second, I will buy a round of beverages for everyone that evening.

Matt, what are we supposed to do for your Dad? Is there a way to e-mail the forms?

Okay everybody...get one more good week in, then we have to taper!

Back From NH

I'm feeling a bit better about the swimming and biking parts of the Mooseman. It's not that I think I can do it right now. It's just that now I've been on the bike course and did a couple of long open water swims, I'm sure I could do each part separately. I'm glad I still have time to work on putting all 3 together.

Casey sent me a note regarding the 20 year gathering up at the farm next year. I keep meaning to bring this up. I'm not sure how family friendly it would be up there early June. As we know, the lake is going to be 62 degrees (on average). The mosquitoes are likely to be thick from wet spring. So for all out family fun, maybe we should think about picking a week in July or August.
Maybe that's out of the question. We should probably think this stuff through a bit. A good time to do that will be right after our Tango Win in a couple weeks. Ha!

Rainday 5k

Got the big Waynesburg Rainday 5k on Saturday. Longest continuous Race in Southwestern Pa (whatever that means and what defines southwestern PA is questionable, we will take them at their word). This was my first 5k race back in 2005. I hope to bring my time down again this year like I did last. This has a bad hill in it about the one mile mark. Yikes! It burns.

The kid's are signed up for the 1 mile fun run. Eleanor is the defending 5 & Under champion with a blistering 14:26 mile with her closet competition being over two minutes behind. Levi was 12:30, & Maddy was 11:13 last year, but they did not place in their divisions. We only hope they are happy when they finish.

The race is actual the day before the festival. Here is a little history of the festival:

A most notable small fest, Waynesburg's Annual Rain Day Celebration, is also held in PA. It all began in the Daly and Spraggs Drug Store in Waynesburg when a farmer walked into the store and mentioned to the owner that it would rain the next day, July 29. The owner of the store asked the farmer how he knew and he replied, "It's always rains on my birthday." The next day it rained just as the farmer said it would. Out of curiosity, the owner of the drug store kept a July 29 Rain Day Journal for many years. It's been documented that it's rained on July 29th 109 times in the last 131 years!

The only festival in the world that hopes for rain to make the festival happen.

Application and Waiver

OK. My dad said he would submit our forms for us if we send them all to him.
Jon Carlson
106 Orchard St
Warren Pa
16365
I'll send him a check for the whole amount. We can Square up later on.

The weather improved in NH. I got in a bike, run and a bit of swim in today. Toes were cramping on the swim. I can't escape these swim cramps.

Competing for 2nd Place

I don't know how to break this to you guys, but we might be competing for second place in the Tango. I know, I know that is a shock to most of you.

After talking to Thad the other day and hearing Toby Angove's name, I checked out an adventure racing site, called Grass Roots Adventure Racing, Toby is involved with. So, I dropped Toby an email (if I didn't mention in previous post, he was my tent mate at the 1985 Boy Scout Jamboree, plus ran into him all the time in Boys Scouts). I told him we were competing and wondered if he was going to compete also, that I would love to catch up with him. He replied and said he would be competing and was glad I dropped him a line. Some other pleasantries were exchanged.

I believe he is pretty big time into this sport. He designs courses for other racing outfits. So, back to the original statement we are competing for no better than 2nd. Thad had told me Toby did the Tango in just over 7 hours last year, the only leg I remember his time on was the 1/2 marathon, 1 hour 20 mins. What do you think Casey, hang with him, after I stay even with him, Shawn can wear him out during the swim.

Just food for thought.

Pseudo Brick

So I climbed Mt. Cardigan today, easy hike HR never went over 130 until I decided to do a bit of running for a few minutes. I remember having to work quite a bit harder making the same climb last year.
So because the hike was feeling kind of easy.... (3 hour hike). When everyone went to the beach. I pulled my bike off the car and took a lap around Newfound. I had thought "Cardiac Hill" was along the west shore of the lake and that Genine and I had climbed it yesterday. Not the case. It's not until you are going along the north shore. I'm happy to report that I didn't have to stop and walk anywhere on the ride. the 39/26 crank combo worked.
So I made it around the lake 16.5 miles in 64 minutes.
The weather is taking a turn for the worse unfortunately. It may rain the rest of our vacation, Ugh! I'm still hoping to make another ride around the 2nd half of the Mooseman bike. I'd like to have biked the entire course before next year. I might be back up later this fall, so if it doesn't work out this trip. I'll just bring the bike up on the other trips.

Tango Info

Spoke with Thad about two hours ago. For some reason his emails are not getting to me. Shawn told me he had no problems. I sent two to Thad and nothing. He told me he had replied to both, so we just talked about my issues.

Canoe - we need a real canoe. No tandem kayak. So, my parents have the fiberglass. Not super fast, but works. The problem with my brothers is the bottom is smooth. It is lighter than my dad's but the smoothness slows ya down. Double sided paddles (Kayak paddles) are legal and I have two of those available.

I am using my road bike on the course. It doesn't sound rough enough to just use the mountain. I will use a little lower pressure tire to keep myself from getting flats.

Orienteering - 1:25,000 scale map with six points marked. You have a compass and go. It appears that the goal is not to go directly from one point to another in a straight line but to find, topographical the easiest way to get from one point to another. So pacing or distancing is not as important to making sure your map is oriented right and you understand the terrain. The compass's most important function is to orient the map. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orienteering a link explaining orienteering a little.

Finally, times. The person who won it last year was just over 7 hours. You may know him, Toby Angove, that is correct the son of Mr. Angove, our physics teacher. He is bordering on world class. I ran into his brother Scott three years ago. Scott also does adventure racing. Toby is good (wins lots of races). Toby may not be there this year, he is currently active duty in the military. By the way he beat the best relay team by an hour.

Updating the chart based on Thad's average times he gave me for each event:

Goot News is the Caone looks shorter & if Shawn can Finish the swim in an hour, we have a huge lead. He did say the swim is an average and some people really struggled. Also, the orienteering time had one team that was on the course for 6 hours before Thad went looking for them. I would be shocked if my bike time was average, that is only 12 MPH. I hope 15+ is not dreaming, I usually don't drop under 17 MPH. He said the best bike was sub 70 minutes. Runs were right about what I thought. The wild card is the orienteering. The best time was around 2 hours. Much slower than I realized, sorry about that.

May need to bone up hard on that map. A walk about about a week before should have been the plan, but I can't squeeze that in now.

Hope this helps.

Hand paddles

I got my hand paddles. They came quickly. I have yet to put them in the water. They seem as if they will be quite helpful in propelling me forward, but only practice will tell, and my arms need to be conditioned. I have been doing more high-rep weight lifting but I really need to hang upside down or do cable pulls or something, which I don't have access to. I guess I better just go swimming. If I am doing the canoe too, I think I will be having some sore muscles two days after the Tango. Oh, well. I'll take it for the team.

In looking at the orienteering section of the previously-posted time chart, I am thinking that 10 minutes per mile is extremely ambitious, considering you have to navigate, the terrain is terribly steep, and I know I can't even run that fast when I know exactly where I'm going, on a flat surface. If he makes you go up to Rimrock from the beach, there is no way you are going to go 10 minutes per mile. That is merely my opinion...I may be mistaken.

How are we doing the application?

Here is the chart again. Looks like Casey & Shawn are trying to drive us to the good pace. The only thing I am not sure about is the canoe pace. Now that I see it, it looks too slow, but I lack a real reference point. Remember, Good is a set pace, Not as Good is 25% slower.

By the way Casey, good job. I ran 8.00 mile/pace on the 4th of July for only 3.1 miles. Not sure if I could have held for 5.

I think I am ready!

I won't lie...I had my doubts about whether I would be in shape in time. I have been following the Hal Higdon training plan, but I was struggling. I felt really out of shape and not impressed with my progress. Fortunately, I have noticed significant improvement over the last few weeks. The first few weeks of the plan only call for shorter 2-3 mile runs. I had a hard time with those distances because I didn't have my wind yet, which made a much longer distance seem unattainable. However, now that I am up to 5 miles three days a week and a longer 7-10 miles on the weekend, I am feeling much more confident. I did 8 miles comfortably last Sunday and am planning for 9 or 10 this Sunday. This is slightly ahead of Hal's plan, because he only takes you up to 10 miles. I really want to have at least one 11 or 12 mile run in prior to the race. Now that I have the mindset that 5 miles is a "short" run, the longer distances don't seem too daunting.

My next phase is to work on my pace. I finished 5 miles this morning with an 8.06 minute/mile pace. My goal will be to finish with an 8.25 minute/mile pace, which puts me across the finish at just under 1 hour, 50 minutes. My stretch goal will be an 8 minute/mile pace, which gets me there in under 1 hour, 45 minutes. All that said, I will consider any time under 2 hours a success. After all, a lot can happen between the Y and the beach.

I am planning on driving up to Warren next Friday for a weekend with my family. I will be solo because I need the space coming home. My sibs and I will be helping my mom clear my dad's things out of the house. It has been almost 5 years since he passed and she is finally ready to take that step. Anyway, while I am there, I will check out the first leg of the race. I thought I heard from somewhere that we will be running up Hemlock and crossing the damn, but I can't say for sure. It makes sense, because I can't see them closing down or otherwise impeding traffic on that stretch of Rte 59.

Tango Refresh

I just want to prepare for any eventuality. Here is the way I see the four man team. I will lay it out, you let me know if you don't like it.

1/2 Marathon: Casey
Bike: Craig
Swim: Shawn
Orienteering: Casey & Matt
4.5 mile Run: Craig
Canoe: Shawn & Matt

I am not trying to leave anyone out. We can fill in where needed. This appears to give Casey a lot of time running and I believe the most time doing something. I can orienteer if Casey wants to run the 4.5. I thought it would be best to not make someone do two events in a row. Of course I hope Shawn isn't blown after the swim. I know he is Spartan/Ninja, but it's like my cats. They can only do amazing feats for short periods of time. Ha Ha!

Also, is Genine still interested.

Safety Canoe - I could talk to a nephew for some help. I know he has football, but probabl not on Saturday. Any spouses interested in doing it. Tamara would but she can't come because she has to work that day.

Just some ideas.

Back from Warren

A simpler life on that boat.

Met up with Shawn on Saturday. He brought Fiona, a friend Franz (sp), daughters Rosa & Merle (I couldn't pronounce it very well so I'm sure I didn't spell it right). Had a great time, Kids all swam. This would be the second year in a row that Shawn introduced the Kinzua-Wolf Run Marina to international travelers. Took a speed boat and house boat ride. Also partook of the Hotdog buffet bar a fellow boater set up on the dock. It was like a tureen diner with Hot dogs and toppings as the provided meat. Of course most of them were not drinking lemonade or tea like most Churches serv, as the beverage of choice.

Shawn did a good 1/2 mile plus open water swim. I ran the kayak for safety. He looked good. The fins definitely help him motor. If he keeps up a pace like he was on Saturday, he will make us look good.

It was nice seeing him.

I didn't ride the bike course, because I left the bike at home. I did drive some of it. It won't be too bad after the first hill.

I also took an open water swim after Shawn left. Tamara ran safety boat for me. I jumped off the dock and swam over to the Casey Bridge's east bank and back, about 1/2 mile. Went well. I just wanted Shawn to know the water was like glass when I did my swim. It was pretty rough when Shawn did his.

My dad has a canoe & my brother does too. I forgot to ask my dad about a fast canoe we could borrow from somebody he knows. I don't know if it exists, but he knows a few people who owns boats.

Just a side note, my parents house will be empty except for me the weekend of the Tango. So anyone coming on Friday, if you need a place to lay your head, let me know.

Matt, I could not find topo maps at my dad's house, but he didn't think he had that grid in the big map. Sorry.

Tango practice?

Craig, if you are gonna be at the boat all weekend, would you be available to spot me on a two mile swim? I would really like to see how that feels. Of course I don't know if I can make it up there, but it seems like a hard opportunity to pass up.

Swim 2.2 and a brick

Well at swim class last night, I couldn't find my rotation for about 30 minutes. I kept trying to drive from the shoulders instead of the hips. Once I got it going, I maintained it for quite awhile. Still have a ways to go at figuring it all out I suppose.

Today Genine and I went up to Mountain Park again. Not many people around so I walked a couple laps, then pulled the bike off the car and started riding. I'm guessing I was on the bike about 30-40 minutes, then I hopped off and tried to run. That transition is a trip. I would run most of a lap, then walk my HR back down. Then start running again. I think after the 2nd walk my run was finally something that felt somewhat normal.
I'm hoping that park continues to stay that wide open, it's an excellent place for a beginner biker and easy to transition into a run. Once I get the computers on the bike I'll Know what kind of distances I'm doing. Should be great practice for the Morgantown Sprint.

Going to Warren

I keep forgeting all the things I am doing. Heading to Warren Thursday morning, staying to Monday Morning. Up on the boat almost the whole time. Will check out the Tango.

Matt any news on the sign up.

Mountaineer Triathlon

Volunteered this past Sunday for Mountaineer Tri in Morgantown. Big turn out this year. I bet they had at least 50 participants mor than last year, maybe more. Total would be close to 400. I did bike transition stuff. I started out writing numbers on contestants. Then when they finished the swim, I stood in the transition area directing them out to bike mounting area. The leaders don't need help, but it is pretty funny to watch normally intelligent people who surveyed this area before the race try to reason out what they need to do. It should be hilarious when I do it in a longer race. After everyone got out of the transition, I stood on the road letting the Half people know they had a second lap and the Olympic (International distance) where they needed to dismount to go back into the transition. I was there a total of 8 hours. Last hour I spent walking around talking to people, not that I didn't talk to others during the whole day. One girl was originally from Wisconsin, now living in London, England and came over to do the Tri with a friend. Had to borrow a bike from friends in the area.

I met the ultimate Clydesdale. A guy from Kentucky. He was at least 6' 5" (Shawn's Height). He did the half tri. He was trying to qualify for a half ironman championship thing in Missouri. I mentioned how tall he was and he wasn't the typical triathlete. He said he had been biking for an Olympic tri two years ago with a training partner who was going to do a half. After a training ride of 50 miles with his partner, the partner said what are you doing an Olympic for. You look better than I do after the 50 mile bike. So this guy started doing half ironmans. He told me he felt he needed to break 5 1/2 hours. He did 5 hours 19 minutes. He took first in the XL2 Division (200-225lbs). He was the second place Clydesdale overall. An XL1 (185 -200)beat him. Of course Shawn, he was skinner than me and I think I probably had him by 5 pounds.

The most impressive dude, and I mean dude was the winner of the Olympic race overall. Mainly just his bike. He is a 19 yr old college student form Virginia. He was clad in all University of Virginia clothing. He was noticeable because of this. I know he wasn't the first guy out of the water, but he was flying leaving on his bike. We started to debate when the first Olympic person was coming in off the bike. I told everyone, we got about 5 to 10 minutes. A minute later here he came. He had a 6 minute lead on 2nd place. He had done the 24.8 mils in a hour and 2 minutes. He was riding 24 MPH. No one else in the Olympic race was over 23 MPH. I ran into this kid after the race and I asked if he won. Man he was excited. I asked him details of how he ran and biked. "I don't know man, I just know I won by 7 minutes". He has only been doing tri's for a year, and biking seriously for 1 1/2 years. I think he said only his third Olympic Tri.

I ran into a girl who had a Mooseman 07 shirt on. Her and her husband had done the Mooseman the last two years. Love the race. She said they will be back to the Mooseman next year. She said the hills aren't too bad, she felt the one on Sunday was probably worse. She was from Lancaster, PA.

Fun to be around a race like this. I ran into my now buddies from Michigan. They have come all three years this event has existed. I have talked to them every year. I sat with them for half hour in the hospitality tent talking Tri's. The better of the two of them, Alan, was only going to do some Olympic tri's for the rest of the summer than go to Lake Placid Iron Man. This was Gary's only Half scheduled this year. He had some Olympics and a marathon scheduled.

Fun time.

5K Race Tomorrow

5K Race at the Big Fairview, WV 4th of July Celebration. I ran a 25:17, last year. I definitely want to go under 25, I would be ecstatic with a 24:30, but I don't feel like I have been running much, I could go way slower, not a good feel at this point, especially since I haven't went for a run in five days. The race is free, and the first 50 to sign up get a T-shirt. Only 46 people did it last year. If you don't get your time at the race, they never post them anywhere else. I am excited to run hard. My runs lately have been longer for me, but I have not opened it up since Rocky Gap focusing on the heart rate stuff. I am hoping I respond well. I'm struggling with strategy. Go out hard, or lay off and end hard. I will have to think about. A lot of high school kids do this race. It is funny, they all go out hard, but only half have trained and can keep it up. The half that didn't train you pass at the mile mark & they are shot. Of course I have had them pass me at the finish in races, so I believe they recover well.

Newton's Running Shoes

Just wanted to share this site.

Shoe Technology
Run Better
Click the boxes beside where it says lower stress. I like the stick figure showing the difference between the two styles of running.

June workouts

I decided I'd look to see how many workouts I got in. 15 workouts but I was sick for a few days early in the month. I should probably write a training schedule for July and try to stick to it. I'll let you know how that goes.

More swim experiments

We went to the pool twice today. The first time we got kicked out due to thunder, but we went back in the evening and got some serious laps in. I talked to a lifeguard (girl) who used to swim distances in high school (recently) and she said she did a mile in 18 minutes or so normally. Even with my fins on, and my daily practice, I am not yet going that fast, so I was correct when I said earlier that I think real swimmers will still be faster than me. I wonder if real swimmers put on fins whether they would actually go all that much faster over distances than they do without, or does it tax their muscles in different ways resulting in similar times overall. Whatever the case, based on my rough experiment today, I would expect to finish 2.2 miles in about an hour. Not having to turn 30 times per mile might reduce that. I sure hope so. Plus I always slow down as I approach the wall, because I am usually doing the backstroke and I'm afraid of getting a concussion. But even if I can keep up a pace of 1:30 per 100 meters, I am still looking at nearly 50 minutes. I feel like I'm going really fast, and I can usually outpace all the masters lap swimmers I'm up against, even if they are doing speed drills, but I guess I'm still not going that fast compared to competitive swimmers. Ah well...I'll go as fast as I can. I'll consult a friend who is a swim coach some more soon to try to improve my stroke so maybe I can speed up without increasing my HR. It's all about efficiency. I've definitely improved since the beginning of summer. I am starting to enjoy swimming a lot.

Physics of Crank Length - On my Bike of Course

I ran across an article about Crank Length on a bike. I was purposely looking for it so it would make sense that ran across such an article. I determined that if I had a longer crank that I could effectively increase my torque. You know if I had a long enough lever I could move the earth.

http://www.nettally.com/palmk/Crankset.html

He gives a formula for crank length.

The standard typically put on bikes is between 165mm & 175mm most bikes come with 170. Both my current bikes are 170. I had to measure inches and convert. It was fractionally off of 170, but close enough.

So, I went through the formula in the article above and discovered my optimal crank length should be 185mm. So, I did a little geometry and determined that the optimal angle between my foot and lower leg when the crank is ninety degrees from top dead center (horizontal compared to the ground towards the front of the bike) should be 58 degrees, based on 185mm crank. A picture would be helpful, but just trust me. So, with my current 170 mm crank I am closer to 61 degrees at this point. You understand this means my foot is not allowed to bend an extra 3 degrees on every pedal compared to someone who's optimal crank length is 170 mm, hence losing some of the power stroke. He has some theories about how this hurts a tall guy when hill climbing or sprinting.

So, I have been looking for a 185 mm crank. I have found some, none made by Shimano or SRAM. The one I found was over $400 (not a mis-print) for the crank, custom built by a dude in Colorado. So, off to eBay I went. A 185mm not happening. So, I checked 180mm. Saw one sell for $75 that was so well used that the manufacturer name was rubbed off the side of it. I looked the next size down which was 177mm, I have found them selling for about $35 to $40 dollars.

You may ask why do I care. I will tell you. From 170 to 185, I could achieve a 8.8% increase of torque at the 90 degree position. This probably does not translate into 8.8% increase in power over the whole revolution, but something higher than I am currently doing.

Now before everyone goes out and starts getting all crank happy, I must warn you that a smaller rider than I , must stay in his optimal range. A crank too short for you has never shown to do knee damage, but a crank to long has the potential. From what I have read, professionals have used them to get an advantage, but the advantage only lasts as long as your knee holds out from the constant increase in angle change.

I may not be able to get the 185, but am hoping for a 180, will settle for 177 which gives me 5.88% increase in torque, or 4.12% increase respectively. I believe I currently am losing power compared to someone with optimal crank length, so you could say I have crank envy. Ha Ha!

Tango approacheth

I bought a cheap snorkel today to see whether that would be a benefit for swimming speed in any configuration. I was reminded of some things that I have not experienced for years, since I don't really ever have occasion to snorkel, normally. First, it is hard to breathe with your whole body underwater. The pressure of the water makes it harder to expand your lungs, giving a kind of asthma-like feeling. I couldn't quite ever get enough air into my lungs. The deeper you go, even to 3 or 4 feet, the harder it gets. The snorkel also adds drag. More length to the snorkel will add more drag.

I spotted a cheap set of very stiff and long fins tonight at Ollie's outlet, but they turned off the lights on me before I could tell whether I should get them or not. If I were going to drill holes in a set of fins to make my whale tail by adding some kind of custom plastic appendage, this is the sort I would want. I may go back and check them out. I think they would be 17 bucks.

I am still thinking that if I don't use my arms, a professional swimmer could beat me using the crawl, even if I have fins on. This concerns me. I want to go faster! I have not yet experienced tired legs in the water. I just run out of air when I really push it using all four limbs. I need time to experiment. The Tango is only 38 days away! I also need some webbed gloves so I can get those muscles and joints in shape.

In the meantime, I will keep up with the HR training so I can set the reservoir on fire.

Swim Class round 2.1

Really starting to get a feel for the torso rotation and arm stroke.
Getting your hip out of the way is key. Otherwise you pull wide and your legs will likely sway to the sides.
Still need to work on finishing the stroke strong and quick. I feel that's where muscle strength is needed. I could stand to put some more time in with weights. Of course a ton of laps would help too.
The kick is improving. During the kick board drill my feet were actually doing what they were supposed to. If I would have continued for more than 2 laps, my calf would have cramped up tho'.

Heart Rate differences between events

I was chatting with Shawn about HR and I couldn't remember how much lower your HR would be for different events.
Running should be the highest. Biking is typically 7 beats slower. Swimming another 7 beats slower than that. Though it would be best to actually test for your "VT" Ventilation Threshold for each event. This was just an estimate of what is typical.
What that means is if your HR is the same biking as running, you are probably training in the next higher zone while biking.
Your HR is highest while running because of the vertical orientation and you are using basically all your large leg muscles.

A few things TANGO

1) We drove up to Kinzua beach and to Dew Drop this weekend. Genine wanted to see what the run from the beach to the canoe launch would be like. She may be on board for this event as long as people aren't expecting record paces.
2) I saw Todd this weekend as well. He's going to check his schedule but I think he'd like to join us and be part of the canoe team. Casey should apply some arm twisting here.
I did do a bit of canoeing but didn't really leave Putnam's Eddy.
3) On the way up to Dew Drop I was glad Craig was going to do the bike.
4) Looking at the swim... Well I was wondering if you would want to try to take the straight line across to the beach or if you would want to reach the other side so that you could take a break now and then by standing.
5) We need to register. I was going to do this but the Y was closed on Sunday. I Guess I need to find out if he can modify our participants, or if whomever we register is the group and that's that.

Hill Climbing

I rode the bike last night. I got to the top of Breezy Heights (previously mentioned hill). First Half mile not to bad. My heart rate was getting up, probably about 150. Last quarter mile, hill steepens. I would say I had to be 170+. I know this because when I really accelerate the heart, it isn't the pain in my legs that holds me back, but my inability to get oxygen. I also noticed the last 200 yds my back started to hurt. I think this is a misalignment from the zero MPH crash I had last Wednesday. Falling hard on my left elbow has caused my right shoulder to be tight. Hence I believe pulling on the bars on this climb started to fatigue my back. I already got the chiropractor set up for tomorrow because of last Wednesday.

I went almost 17 miles last night I did the first 15 without stopping (slow on this hill but no stop). Kid's were at a vacation bible school at the 15 mile mark or the 2 mile mark going backwards. I have posted a map with the elevation changes below so you can see what this looks like.
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1082336

I am not doing this to show you my hill climbing prowess, but to let you know about the first hill in the TANGO bike up to Jakes rocks. My climb last night was 400 ft vertical in 3/4 mile. Jakes Rock climb is 600 ft vertical in 1.25 miles. Pretty similar grade, I believe Jakes Rock will have a couple points that you might shift up a gear for 100 yds, but makes you pay with the overall length and a couple real steep points.

I looked at the 5th street hill. Not as long or steep overall, but right before you turn to the High School and half way up the high school drive some nasty little walls. The hill to my parents up Jackson Street is the least daunting of all. It just has that little wall right before their driveway. I have walked this many times.

HR testing

I wore the HR monitor on a bike ride today. I went with my training partner, who is older than me, but in good shape. I can't keep up with him, especially on the uphills. So I would say that when I ride with him, I constantly have to push myself to keep up, which is good. Since this was my first bike ride with the HR monitor, it was instructive to see what was happening inside. What I found was that going at about my race pace (at the moment), my HR hovered between 145 and 155, with spikes into the low 160's when I was powering over small hills or trying to accelerate. This is significantly lower than the HR I get when running at my race pace, which is slow. When I tried to go faster in an effort to keep my HR in the 160's, my legs couldn't handle it. This endurance stuff is still all new to me. I can sprint like the dickens for short distances, got over 40 mph at one point, but I just can't seem to keep up any kind of speed going up hills. I'm hoping that I will lose more weight as I improve aerobically, thus giving me enhanced effects. This ride was also quite hilly, though they were rolling hills, nothing major. I'm sure a flat course would give me a much better time. This is why I like to rate myself against other guys my size on whatever course we do, rather than use times.

I think I also got a good sense of what it is going to feel like to try to run after biking that far. Not too good is the description.

I also swam for two hours, so overall it was a good day. I'm ready to Tango.

basically...resposes.

So, as for the HR monitor. Matt got me one for my birthday and I've been using it. I think I mentioned that I spike of 225 on my road rides. Matt finally figured out that it's picking up the power line frequency. It makes sense since there are local feeder lines that I go under just a block away.
As for bombing down hill... I intentionally take a route that allows me to have a nice downhill run. Now that my bike is tuned up I can hit 40mph. I usually tuck and don't think about hitting the brakes until the hill runs out. I've never shied away from a good downhill 'tho. I used to ride up to WAHS just so that I could bomb down 5th Ave. (usually on a Sat or Sun with little traffic) I guess I have always figured that I don't go very fast otherwise, I might as well let gravity give me an assist. However, there really isn't a sustained downhill on the Mooseman course. I'm getting the impression that there usually aren't many hills on ironman courses.
I'm glad to hear that Thad has a good sense of humor. The walking across the bottom bit made me laugh out loud. I think that the swimming is overlooked and ends up being the most daunting. I'm glad that you guys are taking it seriously. I'll have to try to spend some time in the open water soon (I was gonna say "this summer" but it's here).
As for the "Clydesdale" division. I'm sure I'll be in it too. I've lost some weight this spring but I don't imagine that I'll ever get under 200 without major sustained effort. CC and SJV are big guys, I'm just flabby but I've haven't been under 200 in 15 years. HOLY Crap! That's horrible! Oh, well.
Finally... You nearly broke your toe off playing with your daughter in the pool? Well, wow. Wear that f#!*'in t-shirt! I'm sure there's an award for that somehow. Maybe we shoud have our own annual awards and have a "most stitches" category! I ended up with three staples on fathers day 2005... but I digress.
Oops, finally, finally. MC, You had some cramps while doing laps in the pool? YOU PUSSY! Walk it off! Otherwise, well done on beating those jocks!
Later.

HR monitor

Well, my wife bought me a heart-rate monitor for Father's Day. It came a little late, so I got it last night. I put it on, and it seems to work, but haven't run with it yet. I think I will tonight. I'll finally get to see what this running is doing to me. The directions say it's okay to use in the water as long as you don't push any buttons. That kind of scares me. I think I'll use my finger to check my pulse for a while when swimming. I did that at the pool today, and I had trouble getting over 130, even when I was gasping for air. I am very interested in seeing how this works out.

While at a garage sale, we bought a book called "You don't have to be thin to win." It was written by a woman who started doing triathlons after her doctor said she was "morbidly obese." I'm pretty sure no matter what I do, I am never going to be light, so this might inspire me as well as my wife.

I also looked for a Clydesdale specific podcast on iTunes and found nothing. Maybe Craig and I should start one. We would be the world's first and only podcast dedicated to the larger man. And woman. What do you think, Craig? We could interview big peeps at all the races and report times and stuff. Talk to exercise physiologists here at the college and ask them why Clydesdales can't win. Complain about sizism. Clothes cost more for me, but not for every other size! If the argument is that they use more cloth for my shirts, then a medium should cost more than a small too! This world ain't fair. Big people get screwed.

I have all the equipment we need.

Gotta go run.

Cramping Links

As I was looking for some help regarding my leg cramps I found this thread in a forum. Thought it was worth sharing.
Post Race Cramps

More Tango Swim details

I sent another e-mail to Thad at the Tango. I asked about snorkels and building strange hand-paddles. Here's what I got back:

Dear Shawn,

Snorkels are allowed...bore and length? no greater than 6 feet (humor). That
bore and length question makes me curious to what your plans could be....are
you thinking of walking across the bottom?


If you come with hand paddles..go ahead and use them...just so you don't
some how fashion them into a boat. Did you consider kite power? (again
humor...maybe).

Fair Winds

Thad

Okay, so I think this will again give me more food for thought. My plan at the moment is to fashion a pretty long flexible snorkel with a small floatation device at the top, so it won't submerge. This will allow me to cruise the entire way under the surface (hopefully just a few feet), which gives the dolphin kick much more power. I want it to look like that scene in Jaws after they harpoon the shark and attach the 55 gallon drum to the cable, and he just takes off dragging that thing across the water. Of course this is all completely guesswork until I get to test it out, and see if I can maintain the dolphin form for that long. The reason that I asked about the hand paddles is that I need a counterbalance on my front end when doing the dolphin kick, especially if I fashion a bigger tail. My head moves up and down too much. So last time I was at the pool, I held my arms out like superman and used those as a sort of hydrofoil to stabilize the bow. I would like that force to be bigger, so am considering making a neutrally buoyant water wing that I can hold out in front of me and kick with a whale of a tail behind. Assuming the snorkel doesn't provide too much drag, I think this will be a pretty efficient way to go.

Matt's speedy 50 has encouraged me to see how fast I can go fully outfitted. I sure hope it's faster than people with no fins and snorkels. I guess I'll find that out soon. Gotta test this stuff, since we don't have a whole lotta time to practice now.

P.S. My local lake, where I planned to try the open-water swims has banned swimming due to e-coli. Terrific. I might have to make a few road-trips to Warren or I'm afraid I might not get any open-water experience. We don't have many deep lakes around here.

Biking: Hill Climb Article

Thought this was worth posting.
Hill Climbing

Gearing and Cadence

Swim Class Round 8:

This is the last class of the session. I was doing a decent job of keeping track of what we were doing up until I started cramping up. About the 60 minute mark my calf started to tweak. Then he calls for fins drill. I didn't even try it. I hopped out of the pool to try and work it out.
Finally jump back in to try without fins and I'm cramping so that my toes are crossing.
I hop back out again. Stand and talk with the coach about stuff while the rest of the class is chuggin' along.
So he decides since it's the last class of the session. We will do a relay, guys vs girls. They talk me back into the pool so it's 4 vs 4. 50 yds each person.
They say that competition brings out the best in you. Just for reference. 10 weeks ago I was doing 50 yds in 70 seconds. Last week I felt that I was clocking in near 50 seconds during class. Well for this relay, I was the lead guy and finished in 41 seconds. I was stunned as was the coach and everyone else I think.
Too bad the mooseman isn't a 50 yd swim....

So talking to the guys about the leg cramps. They all seem to get them but they seem to be able to tough it out and keep swimming. I guess I'm going to have to try and work through them while I'm still swimming. Ugh! Not looking forward to that.

Brake Pads are Cheaper Than an Ambulance Ride

I didn't take an ambulance ride. I didn't even get hurt. But I ain't got the nerve I use to and my brakes don't seem to stop my carcass as easily as when I was 17 (or I never used the brakes when I was 17).

I did an out and back ride last night. Got to the bottom of Breezy Heights hill (windy at the top, not a breeze to climb). This hill is also known as Happy Jack, Rt 218 hill, and Daybrook Hill. It has three roads that climb it from different sides. I travel it every day to work. The side I was coming from was the steepest. It is about 3/4 of a mile long from my side, over a mile from the other two. I made a plan to only ride five minutes up and see how far I got, without stopping and keeping my heart rate in Zone 2 (70% of Max). I did the first two, not sure about the third. It was burning. I went just over 4/10 of a mile. I checked a topo map, this was a about 220ft vertical in that distance. The total hill is about 375ft vertical (a nasty 100 yd wall at the end, maybe I will do next time). I wanted to check my Heart rate, but I had to make the turn in the road, my feet were clipped in, so I just swung around and started back down.

5 minutes up, 50 seconds down. Now that 50 seconds says I was going only about 25 to 30 MPH, but I didn't have the nerve to look at my watch until I had done an extra 10th of mile at the bottom. I took my heart rate at this point, it was over 130 (not sure from fear or exertion). The unnerving part was I was apply some rear brake and an occasional front brake, I never felt like I could have stopped the bike if I needed to and I didn't remember the roughness of the road in my car, and the shocks in my car aren't that great.

The thought was "You dumby, your the father of three, and the husband of a stay at home wife". Also tomorrow is your Wedding Anniversary, was a clear thought once I was safely on the flat again. I believe I do this a couple times I will be more comfortable, I am also looking at the brakes to assure they are as tight as they need to be. The hill definitely reminds me of something like Jake's Rock Overlook hill.

Speaking of hills. I was bored or excited about the Mooseman, so I went on to their website. They have a forum about the Mooseman there. I linked this thread about the discussion of "Devil's Hill" at about mile marker 5. Sounds like a good time and Matt your 39X26 combo on the new bike looks like a check list item. At least we will only do it once.

http://timbermantri.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2014

Good news about Rocky Gap

A site called Iplayoutside.com listed the Rocky Gap results. It showed the whole clydesdale division. The bad news is I did not read all my pre race info and did not weigh in for the Clydesdale. I know I would have qualified.

The good news is if I compare to these gents, I would have been fourth in this division. I would have also had the third best swim and the third best run. Feeling a little better. Of course I would have been ticked off if I would have not weighed in and won, but I wasn't that close to the winner so no harm no foul.

Excitement in the Pool

I went to the pool again today with Fiona, because she wants to swim every day. I was swimming wonderful laps with the fins for a while before she asked me to play with her. We were playing tag, and she was chasing me around, when I unwittingly stuck my toe in a seam in the concrete and pushed off forcefully in an attempt to get away from her. Part of my toe did not come with me.

That's right. I broke my toe.

I took my profusely bleeding foot to the lifeguards, who were proclaiming this was the most action they have seen in at least a year, and put on a temporary bandage, then headed home to a wonderful meal made by my wife. I decided this might be the last meal this toe ever got, so I thought I better eat before going to the hospital. The end result was that I had to get a tetanus shot in my shoulder, and 4 or 5 stitches to put my toe back together. Three of these stitches go right through the toenail, which reminds me of some kind of torture. I broke the end of that toe bone off, but it's still in there. It looks like it will be okay, if all goes well.

I am not supposed to swim for at least a week, and running is out for two weeks, probably. Looks like I will have to go back to juggling dumbbells, and possibly biking more. The dumbbell juggling might be good for swimming and paddling anyway, so that may not be so bad. I am going to try to do aerobics in the target HR zone using this technique.

Happy Father's Day.

Got my bike

I struggled with this purchase. It was more than I had in mind originally but I'm sure I'll enjoy it.

'06 Trek 2200: ZR 9000 Aluminum with Bontrager Carbon fork and OCLV carbon seat stays.
The front derailleur is a 105, everything else is Ultegra.
Dual Crank: 53/39
12-26 9 speed SRAM cassette. 12,13,14,15,17,19,21,23,26.
It weighs 20 lbs. To compare, my hybrid bike weighs 31 lbs.

Now I have no excuse not to be riding. My other bike was really uncomfortable. I'm looking forward to trying some of the bike shop's group rides and finally feeling like I'm actually training for all 3 events.
I'm also going to be very curious to find out if I can ride the Mooseman course with a Dual Crank. If I could have found a triple, I would have bought it. Perhaps knowing I don't have that option, I'll train harder.

Swimmin' like a Tuna

Okay, I put on the fins for the first time and leapt into the pool. I promptly swam the entire 25-yard length underwater using the undulating motion of a dolphin. After that, I swam very fast laps for quite a while, trying different kicking motions. I am going to have to ask Thad if snorkels are allowed now, because that might be an important consideration. I am happy to report, however, that the back stroke seems to be ideally suited to this type of fin, due to the way the knee bends. I was able to cruise at quite a clip on my back for extended periods. I'm looking forward to trying that in open water. I'm not looking forward to feeling my legs in the morning, but I didn't experience any cramping or blisters or anything like that, so that was good, but I may have gone too long for my first day. We shall soon know. I like the flippers. I'm not sure if they are the fastest things in the world, but I'm feeling better about my chances every day.

Soon I'll have to experiment with timing different kicks for 100 yards and checking my HR to see both which provides the fastest time, and how each affects my heart.

If snorkels are allowed, I have some adventurous ideas.

Got my fins

This evening I received some fins from our daughter's horse-riding instructor. They are Deep See Aqua Glide fins. I checked on the web to see how good they were and found them for about 36 bucks, so they aren't super expensive, but they look much more high tech than my old black rubber models from a few years back. The claim on some websites is "Twice the speed for half the effort." If that's true, I'm all for it. Another site said "This type of fin allows a 1500 pound tuna to swim at 50 mph." That's close to my weight, so I should finish the 2.2 mile Tango swim in what...looks like under three minutes! I'll be trying these out tomorrow somewhere. Either in the pool or some open water. Matt, maybe I'll head up to Warren next weekend instead and go swimming in the lake. Want to be my safety canoe? Speaking of that, we might want to practice canoing a little too.

That's my update for this week.

Heart Rate training

Essentially this will be how I improve. Remembering how relaxed the winners look at these races, they have to be doing training like this.

Last night I ran slower than a 10 min/mile pace. Which I haven't done for two years, at least for a whole run and less than an hour. I kept myself just at the point where I was starting to sweat. When checking my heart rate I was 114 to 126. My legs did not feel any worse on mile three than mile one, they felt great. I was below my aerobic maximum (calc. 143) and I was about 60 to 65% of my Maximum Heart Rate (calc. 187). I feel like I could have gone for 10 miles at this rate.

So, Eric Harr's book indicates that most of your training should be Level 1 and Level 2 Heart Rate zones. He also said most of your race will be Level 2. Which I believe is about 70% of your max. In my case about 130. His Six week Training program doesn't get you into Level 3's and 4's until about week four.

I just want to assure I got this totally right, please let me know if I am off base. I run in a zone that is very comfortable, this would be about 80% of the time spent training. This burns more fat, and increases my bodies ability to use Oxygen. This causes me to be able to go faster with less effort. Seems almost insanely stupid that I would think I need to finish my workouts with a sprint or push my aching legs beyond their limit when my aerobic level can't handle it.

In contemplating all this I go back to Shawn's original theory of life from High School. He started the SLUG club, and we even had T-shirts. The slogans were "Work Why" and "Laziness Breeds Success". Shawn probably had this type of training in mind, he just didn't realize it.

Bike Seat Comfort

I thought this was worth posting.
Seat Comfort

Aerobic Maximum

I am going to start running tonight. My new focus is to increase my aerobic level by running under my aerobic maximum, calculated at 143 BPM. No Heart Rate Monitor, so I must go by perceived exertion and check at 10 minute intervals to assure I am not too high. I believe this will be my focus for a good six weeks, to see if I can go faster at the same Heart Rate.

http://www.duathlon.com/articles/1460

This link I found after talking to Shawn over the weekend has led me to think I need to only focus on aerobic when biking and running, then focus on form in swimming without going anaerobic. Finally go anaerobic when I do strength weight training.

I am trying for six weeks, starting today. Of course I have two 5k's in that period that will surely be somewhat anaerobic.

Trek Bike Deals

I was going to post this as a comment to follow up on but I wanted to make sure you saw this.
Here is a big Chain Store in Eastern Pa. Check out their closeouts.
Trek Closeout
The Equinox are the Tribikes. I was on a Trek 1500 and a 2100 tonight. I'm really thinking the 2100 is going to be the best deal I'm going to find. Carbon Fork and Carbon Seat Stays. I'm hoping I can get them to upgrade the shifters to Full Ultegra. I'm going to call them back tomorrow. If not, I'll some other shops and see what deals I can work out.
I'm not terribly comfortable on a road bike yet. So aero bars seem to be off in the future to me. Though I probably should drive out to Bethlehem just to ride that Equinox 07, then I'd know for sure.... more later.

More Rocky Gap Photos

A Happy Craig with Shawn at his side getting ready to cheer him on.

A tired Craig rehashing the lack of race strategy with Shawn as Levi prepares himself for a race, which race we do not know.

Link to a bunch of pictures of Rocky Gap race. Specific pictures of other athletes in the transition areas that seem repetitive are of Vinnie (winner), or Meaghan Durst (Morgantown local radio personality who we met that day and shared a spot next to me on the bike rack). Other photos are just ones Bill took of other athletes. Picture of a Canondale bike by itself was probably the best bike there and owned by, wait for it, . . . . . . . Vinnie the winner. It is a tri specific bike.

http://picasaweb.google.com/mart0721/2007June9CraigRockyGap

Swim Class Round 7:

Sadly this should have been the 9th Class. Can't help being sick sometimes.
The two main coaching points for me tonight.
1) Keeping that relaxed hand while out of the water. It's amazing how much easier swimming feels if you keep that part of your stroke easy /relaxed. My problem with that is turning it back on once I get to the "catch".
2) Hip Turns: He kept saying that you gain speed by turning your hips over quickly from side to side. That's back to that core strength. It's tough to maintain those turns over a long interval. I did notice my stroke count would drop a couple per 25 yds when I was really focusing on the hips, so there is an effect.

I'm definitely catching up to the class. (I think the new suit helps more than I thought). I was sharing a lane with the guy that did the Mooseman the other week. Speed wise I was ahead of him, I can't say that I was aerobically.

Bike Shopping

I've been to a bunch of bike shops in the last few days. It's been a bit frustrating. Most of the shops only have these "comfort" road bikes. Meaning the top tube is sloped for a more relaxed geometry. Then for Race Geometry they were all the $2000+ bikes. They weren't dealing in the entry/mid level race bike.
So I started to look west of me in PA and Western NJ. I came across a site that was listing closeouts on 06 Treks. Then Found a shop in Princeton that was also closing out 06 Treks. So I called them. I guess they were able to buy quite a few '06s in models I was interested in. If you are shopping for a bike too. Now might be the time for those '06 deals at your shop too.

Craig I'm curious of your opinion regarding Tri vs Road bike. I was interested in those low end Tri bikes like the cannondale optimo 4 or the Trek Equinox 5 but nobody has them. I'm going to look at Trek 1500's 2100's and 2200's tomorrow night. Time to spend some money!

The good thing about going to all those other shops. They all had group rides on various days of the week. I'm going to have to add one to my schedule and learn from these people.

Rocky Gap Photos

The only photo I have so far are ones someone else owns.

Here is a link to me:

Swim
http://www.tristaterunnur.smugmug.com/gallery/2979460#161307947

Here is a link to the winners photo, Vinnie Monseau: I think he is photo 242, then 245-248
http://www.tristaterunnur.smugmug.com/gallery/2979460#161309155

Just compare and contrast his facial expressions at the end compared to mine coming out of the water.

Another great side note, Vinnie was set up on the same bike rack in the transition to me. This was the 8th race in a row where he has won the race or his age group. He also was planning to go do the The EagleMan Ironman 70.3 Triathlon in Cambridge, Maryland the next day, Sunday, June 10. So, I looked up to how he did. He finished 2nd in his age group and 29th overall, of course about 15 of the 29 in front of him were professionals. Just thought I would let you know, his streak ended. Don't worry he had already qualified in St. Croix last month for Hawaii. By the way he was a super nice guy and joked with me about Rocky Gap, how I was going to have to use gears here, not like Morgantown. I thought he was joking, no joke.

2 29 VINNIE MONSEAU 38 MORGANTOWN WV 4:13:38.65 total time

Rocky Gap Results

http://www.wmtiming.com/2007/Tri07Splits.txt

This is the web site to view the results. Just to start off, the best part of my day was the friends that came to watch me. I had some support. My friend Bill Martin, his wife Mary, his son Scott, Levi (my son) and arriving just in time to see me start (he really made it fifteen minutes early) my brother from another mother Shawn Vashaw. So, just spending time with these people was the best part.

I was 107 out of 192. I lost a solid 25 places in the run. It was as I deem it a cataclysmic meltdown. The problem was not the run. The swim did. Open water sounds nice, but the constant banging into others, the sea (lake) weed and actually swimming into too shallow of water threw my rhythm way off. I lost it mentally. Could not breath right during freestyle. I told Shawn I thought I did Breast stroke 60% of the time but it was probably closer to 70%. This was to get more air and avoid obstacles mentioned above. I was two minutes slower in the swim than I thought. And my heart rate was way too high. I could not get enough oxygen.

The bike went well, but "Rolling" country road means you are climbing a hill or descending a hill the whole way. So I still was not disappointed until I hit the run. At ten minutes into the run I was convinced I had passed the mile marker and missed it. A minute later I found it. My air finally came back at the turn around on the run. I ran well then, but the damage had been done.

A couple good lessons about open water swimming learned, I also may be a bigger fan of heart rate training after talking with Shawn and experiencing what I did here.

All in all, my performance not what I expected, but it is a great race, beautiful setting and it was a great day. Just as a final note, I would go back. Also I think doing something this early in the summer is tough if I don't maintain over the winter, which I didn't do this year.

I will tell you about the winner of this tri in another post when I have more time. or Shawn could let you know. He is very impressive.

Need a Swimming Plan

I've been having a hard time pushing myself to swim longer distances when I'm doing my own workouts.
So today I decided that I wouldn't swim less that 100yds at a time. I figured that would be a good place to start. I should probably make that 150yds at a time by next week and force myself to stick with that progression. (warmup/cooldown excluded).
I also think I need to take a printout of some sort of workout with me. This would simplify keeping track of yardage and hopefully track progress.
Or maybe it's worth doing this workout the other 2 days outside of class.
1 mile in 6 weeks

Swim Fins / Kick Timing

So I've used my zoomers fins a few times now. I found an interesting article online which might explain why my first day with fins was such a mess.
Kick Timing 1
Kick Timing 2
Basically I think without fins I could get away with a very sloppy kick. Once I added the fins it created so much extra force that when I tried to swim, I felt like a car with one of the cylinders not firing. It was really really awkward feeling.
I really think it was the timing of my kicks. The next time I worked out with the fins it was much better. I think you just naturally work yourself into proper timing with the fins on.
I'm just guessing this is the case. I haven't actually stopped to think about my kicking to the degree that they are talking about. As I've mentioned, I already have so much going through my head while I swim, I can't even count laps.

Good Luck at the Rocky Gap

I'm bummed that I'm not going. It would have served well as a benchmark one year ahead of the mooseman.
Looking forward to hearing all about it.

Back at it!

Finally, I went to the pool tonight. I was curious how the breathing was going to be. I've been having most of my issues the past few days, during the evening hours.
Fortunately, everything went very well. I was rather quick tonight. I was doing 50yds in 50 seconds. Some of that time could be the fact I replaced my baggy suit with speedo jammers. From what I can tell this is about 10 seconds faster than anything I can find I've reported. That's the good news. The bad news is that I'm wearing speedo Jammers. I can't lose 20 pounds fast enough now. Ha!

Tri Group in Morgantown

They have a Morgantown Multisport Group here. I don't belong, but am seriously considering. They do group runs, brick workouts, transition training events, and Open Water Swims in the Mon River & Cheat Lake. Last night they had, because of peoples work, three different swim times in the Mon River and a group run. I know this because they have a yahoo group they opened up to the public. These people are pretty active Triathletes. More than a few seem prepared to go to Rocky Gap. The open water swim was preparation for Saturday. Of course they are gearing up for the MedExpress Mountaineer triathlon here on July 1. One guy was even posting the water temps of the river so those without a wet suit knew to come or not. It would be nice to train with people who are doing the same thing as me, Actually it would be nice to train with anybody.

Foot & calf felt great this morning. Legs overall felt fatigued. It might have been the hot pool last night or I need more sleep. I am not getting down as early as I would like. I need to get to bed by 9:30 tonight. They always say you are working on your sleep from two days ago. Also, I am very focused on fluids before an event. I am drinking a ton, which means I am peeing a lot. I should be drinking like this all the time, but I get more focused before an event. I hope to get to the chiroprator for an adjustment in the next two weeks. May be I will ask him about the foot. If I don't get there I think I will call the family physician. Feeling good today.

Tamara always comments on how impressed she is with how I am preparing for an event when it gets close, but then she usually comments on me getting a little disconnected from the family and her. I usually disagree with this assessment, but I have been known to have tunnel vision, so I am working hard to make sure my triathlons don't get in the way of the family, one of the reasons I didn't get the sleep I wanted last night, was taking time to spend with her.

Bike tire fixed. The tire thingies worked great. I bought three, I may have only needed two. Also re wrapped handle bars. Previous wrap was done by me, not a very good job. I did it 12 years ago or so. Tired of living with it.

I did this last summer too. Had tons of time to know I was doing something and waited to the last week to make sure things got fixed or were the way I wanted. I know I am posting alot, but thought you might want to know what happens with your little anxieties before you do a triathlon. I didn't touch worry about how the transitions will go. Of course knowing Shawn and how relaxed he is this may not make any sense to him. That is a compliment by the way.

Looking for Excuses

Well I may already coming up with an excuse if I do poorly in the Rocky Gap. My foot pain happens the morning after I run. Once again my calf has been very tight, even before I run. So, I believe it is from this. When I stretch and lift it feels a lot better. It has not affected me during a bike or run, but I also haven't stressed it like I am going to Saturday. I am not use to any kind of injury. So, this could be minor, and my taper and rest this week will probably go along way in making it feel better. I have been stretching a lot before and after working out to make sure it is good and loose. The foot pain is non-existent during the day. I probably am fusing over nothing, but will keep my eye on it.

Well, I am resting good this week, took Sun & Mon off essentially. Ran 20 mins last night, which almost seemed pointless, but was part of the schedule and rest. Tonight 25 minutes in the pool. Thursday 25 minutes on the bike. Nothing too hard.

I did puncture a tire Monday working on the bike. I am picking up a new tube tonight. I don't trust a patched tube. I'm also picking up enough tire thingies to change a tire without cheating with a screw driver. Not to smart on my part. I wanted to re tape the inside of the rim because the piece protecting the spokes from the tube didn't look too good when I changed tires last year. Should have left it alone.

Will keep you updated. By the way I'm shooting for 1 hour 2 minutes. Under 1 hour would be awesome. I also hope to bring home the coveted Clydesdale first place, but I'm sure some big swimmer will show up and out do me.