Feed: Quadrathon - AggScore: 69.8

Atta Boy!

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I am not one given to self congratulations, there is always something that could have been better, but upon reflection I decided to give myself a wee pat on the back for this last week’s training. It’s by far the biggest week in miles and pretty close to the biggest in time for the last six months and it reaffirms the power of a step back week. I am also pleased because I wanted a big week and I managed to get one with being derailed. Here’s the breakdown, with the exception of today’s Monday through Thursday are before and after work workouts:

• Monday Swim 1800 yards / Bike 21 miles on the trainer in 1:14
• Tuesday Bike 21 miles on Trainer 1:10 / 5 mile Tempo run
• Wednesday Swim 2000 yards / Core work and foam roll
• Thursday Bike 31 miles on Trainer in 1:43 / 7 miles run including 8 x 400 intervals @6:30
• Friday 2000 yard swim
• Saturday 2300 yard swim
• Sunday Bike 70 mile ride in 4:07 followed by 7 mile run average pace 8:12

Totals: 19 miles run, 143 miles ridden and 8100 yards in the pool, total time 15:06 total distance 167 miles

Some other mentionables: I hit 400 miles on my Newton Distancias.

A little worn on the toes and a little flat on the forefoot but plenty left in the heel! Just pre ordered next gen in same shoe for March delivery!

I am getting more comfortable on the TT bike and although this weekend I decided to mix it up and take my road bike although I have piled on nearly 300 miles on the new Adamo saddle in the last month

My swim is coming together and my plan to simply add 50 yards a week to my “non assisted” section is really working and I am up to 600 yards, still a long way to go to get to 2.4 miles, hell it’s a long way to to the 2.1 miles I will have in July but every journey starts with a single step!

Three weeks to race day!

I am 5!

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771 posts…jeez I have a lot to say about nothing! Thanks for reading and commenting! Still can’t ride a skateboard!

Wordless Wednesday…drool!

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Google 'n' Goggle!

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There has been a shift in my goggles style over the past few months. As a “newbie” swimmer it was all about vision and non leakage, both are highly required as it is always good to see where you are sinking! A few years ago post 100 in the Hood while recuperating I swam in a good old fashioned pair of Speedos, I didn't know any better and had black tinted ones. Given that I was swimming outside (in a pool) in November and December this was, with hindsight, a pretty dumb thing, the tint would only be effective on a sunny day or during a sunrise or sunset, certainly not after dark which was when I was using them.

Above all beyond the lack of visibility due to light, (to whit I was oblivious to) they leaked…which was a pain! More than a pain it made swimming a misery and when you don’t really like something you really don’t want to make it worse! So when I started to go to the pool which some goals late last year I turned to my "mad Goggle skillz", did a bit of research and made several trips to Sports Chalet and the like in the area to try some alternatives on. After some trial and error I settled on a pair of AquaSphere Vistas, They worked, the vision was perfect, no leakage, zero, nada, nothing! Now as the yards have gone by, by my count a little over 70,000 since September, my form has improved and I started to notice that the goggles was a source of drag in the water. So back to Google I turned, this time I picked up a pair of AquaSphere Seal XPs.

I liked that the still had the semi mask seal but had a lower profile and therefore less drag…it’s actually noticeable when you swim. Nearly a month in them has confirmed that they too are pretty much leak proof, let me correct that, they are leak proof! The one complaint I have actually relates to the seal which is a little pinchy on my nose and after 40 minutes or so I am left fiddling with them and my experience has been as soon as you start mucking about with them they seem to fog up. Fine for a short course swim I thought but no good for a 70.3 or Ironman both of which are coming my way later this year!

So once again I went back to Google, well actually I went to Amazon and I went straight for a pair of AquaSphere Kayannes, I had tooled around on the AquaSphere’s website and these were the goggles (there are way too many references to Google and goggle in the post) of the likes of Amanda Beard, Terenzo Bozzone, Faris Al Sultan and the like.

To be a swimmer…do what swimmers do!

And so I am still transitioning into them but so far, oh my they are nice, as you can see I got the smoked lenses thinking that they would be only used for race day, but they are so comfy I am now awaiting a clear pair for the pool. The decision also covers the train in what you race in angle.

 Top to Bottom: A goofball in; Vista, Seal XP, Kayanne

I suppose this is sort of a review but I have something a little more deeper planned for the future. So now I am left with several pairs of unworn Vistas as they were on special deal way back when!

Finally stay tuned for my Spring Cleaning post due soon…you know what that means; deal time!

Step back, move forward…

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This week was a step back week for me, quite simply I planned to eliminate doubles. Somehow the planets aligned and I managed to pick some snotfest lurgy. I felt it coming on last Sunday and then thought I had shrugged it off on Monday, but Tuesday morning I woke up with what felt like my head in vice so with a pragmatic head on I missed Tuesday’s run and missed Tuesday’s commute and stayed at home! Come Wednesday I was back in work but I skipped the scheduled swim. By Thursday I was starting to feel a little more human I passed on the scheduled tempo run and took a somewhat sniffy cougy fiver miler before dawn. By Friday I was feeling on the upswing and was back in the pool for a slower than usual 1800 yards. I switched out Saturday’s swim for a return to the tails and spent a glorious two hours running around the local trails at Chesebro Canyon.

This is an old picture but you get the idea!

With one day left of rest week I decided to ride short and fast and tack a run onto the end of it, the original plan was to head to the coast and hit PCH but after 30 minutes of being blown left, right, up and down and at one point I was blown clean into the middle of the road, it was no fun and was to be honest just plain dangerous so I threw the bike into the truck and headed inland. After a short drive I was out of the wind!

Here is quick video of the ocean, the waves are rolling in at around 6-8’, you get an idea of the windiness, there were some seriously scary gusts!

So Take Two. Four laps around a local lake, it measures a little over 5 miles and is essentially a square ride, one side is downhill and the other three are up, there’s not a lot of climbing but there’s not a lot of coasting either. The first mile was a bit fudgy as I was getting out a parking lot but I soon settled in. A little over an hour later I was done with 21 miles on the clock. Overall I was very happy with this as M2-15 was completed in 43:44 (19.31mph) my first Tri in 4 weeks has a 14m ride so hopefully I can hit 20mph+. I was hoping for 19mph+ as an average and prolly would have got it were it not for the start and few uncooperative traffic lights!

Ave HR 142 Ave cadence 93…me likey! Right on the red line of Tempo pace!

One thing I am noticing is that the hydration system is not encouraging me to drink, while its more aerodynamic to have the bottles mounted behind the seat I am not drinking from them! This is getawayable for shorter rides or cooler rides but cometh the Summer I am going to be blowing up left, right and center so I am rethinking my set up. After the ride I jumped into my Newtons and set of for another lap around the lake. Overall it went pretty well although I got a bit thirsty and went out a bit too fast but settled into my stride, it certainly was a lot better run than last week!

Picked up the pace in the last mile

So step back week is over and my cold is more or less gone…four weeks to race day, three to build one to step back!

Review; Hood to Coast, the movie

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I missed Hood to Coast when it went in general release last year so when I was contacted to review the DVD I jumped at the chance, let’s be honest there are not a lot of movies about running so it’s good to see the ones there are.

For those of you who have not heard about Hood to Coast here’s a overview taken from the films website:

The annual Hood To Coast Relay has run every year since 1982. The race started as an inauspicious event for a group of dedicated runners to stretch their legs and expand on the everyday running experience. Bob Foote, the race founder, had run track with the famous Men of Oregon at the University of Oregon. Marathons had lost their appeal, and to keep himself interested in the sport he loved, he decided to organize an unheard of adventure, running from Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood to the Oregon Coast.

The idea was that 12 people would divide themselves into two groups of six, run three legs each and cover the nearly 200 mile distance from the mountain to the ocean. Running all through the night, it was an adventure for hard-core runners and sleep was secondary to striving for their fastest time.

In 1982 only 8 teams ran, but within a decade, the race had grown to the point where they had to cap the number of teams at 1000. The route shifted to avoid heavily trafficked highways as they needed to find convenient stopping points for the thousands of vans that now made their way through the Oregon countryside.

More importantly, the race had become an adventure not only for serious athletes, but amateur runners and thrill seekers. Team names began to describe not only the origins of the team, but the attitude they would carry with them on the course. Today, teams decorate their vans and take on a race persona, lending a carnival atmosphere to the nearly 200 miles of the race.

Sounds like fun right! In the spirit a picture is worth a 1000 words here’s the trailer;

So on with the review. The film is well made, the production quality is high and overall it makes for really interesting viewing, it’s a good mix of perspectives, history and interviews. The problem was with my expectations, I had set them in the wrong place. What I had failed to realize is that the movie follows four teams rather than the race and this I think is why I was left a little disappointed. The human element of the four teams is interesting to a point and they do cover the gamut of the teams; an over 50 female team; Heart N Sole, a rookie runners team; Thunder and Laikaning, veteran runners; The Dead Jocks and a team running to remember a team mate who died; RBowe.

There are the usual high and lows and funny and sad moments but the excitement of the “race” is lost, after all this is a race and by all standards a really competitive one and this element is given minimal coverage.

Overall I did enjoy the movie but I would sum it up as a movie that follow four teams that run a race rather than a movie about a race and the teams that run it.

It’s available to buy through their website here or you can rent it through Amazon Online here. These are the only places that I could find it although it is listed in Netflix it’s not available yet.

This product was provided free of charge by Hood to Coast. If you have a product you’d like reviewed, contact me at quadrathon@gmail.com

Out with a bang!

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And back with a sniff!

January is in the bank, I have to say I am very pleased with how it all went with the exception of right at the end where I have caught a stinker of a cold from my one of my mobile germ warfare factories (aka kids), I thought I had shrugged it off but it hit me like a ton of bricks today! Off work and everything!

But let’s focus on the good stuff. I have created a nice little routine over the last two weeks which is:

• Monday – morning swim, evening bike
• Tuesday – morning bike, evening run
• Wednesday –  morning swim, evening bike
• Thursday – Morning bike, evening run
• Friday – morning swim
• Saturday – morning swim
• Sunday – Long ride and brick run

Yeah there are no days off but the back to back swims allow for recovery, especially as I improve in the pool, but I like having the 4 pool sessions as my swimming endurance is slowly building up and the shorter sets allow me to focus more on my form. That being said it’s not going to be sustainable to train 7 days a week when the distances get longer so some tradeoffs are going to have to be made. I managed my first brick run this weekend and while not a massive run; 5 miles off a 50 mile ride I was pleased that I could finish it in 40 minutes and that was with my first mile at 9:40 pace!

I also had my first race of the year which was very the 13.1 Los Angeles (report here) it was never going to be fast and I was pleased that I could go out and run a HM with very little training for it. Another success was that I tried my wetsuit for the first time, it was a a very quick dip in the local pool late on Sunday but I felt it was necessary to make sure that I could swim in it, finding out on race day that I couldn’t would have been really bad! It might be a tad too short; the curse of being tall and slim, typically as things get longer (taller) they get wider! The last big thing was settling on a saddle; an ISM Adamo Break Away for my TT bike, putting some mileage on it and riding on both the flats and through the hills if my road bike was anything to go by it’s going to take 1500 –2000 miles to get comfortable on it so I have a fair way to go!

Last Sunday’s ride; 25 mile flatish, 25 mile hilly

So let’s look at the numbers:

• 530 total miles (15 less than December which was my biggest mileage month for 2011)
• 50.01 time, so about 12 hours a week (around a 90 minutes per week gain over November)
• 57:58 miles running in 8:07 (December 9/1:19) Longest run 13.1/1:53
• 453 miles cycling in 27:49 (December 524/33:07) Longest ride 55/3:40 on Slice
• 25,525 yards swam in 12:35 (December 21,278/10:39) Longest Swim (x2) 1800yds 53:00 (Jan 7) 47:00 (Jan 30)
• Starting weight 171.2lb ending 172.4lb

I am pleased about having such big back to back months. What I am really pleased about is my swimming, just this last week it has felt like it has clicked a bit more, my form feels like it is improving. I am building a more than a nod rapport with the folks I see at the gym (5am starts will do that) and they have commented that I am looking better in the water. I am still very focused on my form as having that correct will set me up for the next stages which are endurance and speed although I am seeing an improvement in my speed already (see the times above). I am still adding yardage each week to the distance I swim unsupported i.e. no pool buoy and it is getting easier as it gets longer.

So this week is a step back week, a good job with this cold. February’s focus is adding in more core work (i.e. doing some) and then I will have three more build weeks and a taper week to race day.

One last thing is that, hopefully I have been a bit of better blogger (try saying that three times fast!) both in posting and commenting, I shuffled up my blog roll and cut some, it was crazy long and a lot of them when I dug into them had died, so I am keeping it fairly short and manageable, as always I really appreciate you for stopping by, leaving a few words and not pointing and laughing too much!

Friday funnies…

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This used to be me…

But recently I am all about the...

I hope I never have this conversation with myself... I<3flapjacks!

Have a great brick weekend!

The Claret and the Blue

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This is not a post about West Ham United Football Club! This is however a quick post about the, well Claret and Blue!

The Claret, if you saw this post you will have noticed I bought myself a new bike, a sexie fixie! The rational was to have something to ride with kids. They are almost off of training wheels (the youngest who is 4 has almost got it, but his stupid bike is also a fixie and he forgets to keep pedaling when going round corners and grinds to a halt!) I see a new bike for him coming real soon! I did not want to take $xxxx worth or carbon fiber to the park so I spent literally $250 and you know what happened on the the first ride it got scratched, kinda proved my thinking but inside of me a little piece really did die. I contacted the manufacturers to see if they sold touch up paint, they didn’t! So off to CVS I went and twenty minutes later I left with two bottles of nail varnish and taa daa one matched! If you need to know it’s #670 Violet Top Speed (who knew you could have fast nail varnish) by Revlon

The Blue, so on the back of my Tri bike is this elaborate hydration system, a frame is bolted to the seat rails, inside of it is a holder for C02 cartridges, outside of it is two water bottle cages. I had previously fitted it to the stock saddle that came with the bike and when I undid it I broke the seal on all the Loctite on the threads, this is the blue seal that stops you nuts from coming loose, something you do now want to have happen on a bike (or anywhere mind you!). I noticed that the frame had slipped down a lot after last weekend’s ride and when I checked all the nuts were loose! So thanks to Amazon Prime 48 hours later I have my tube of Henkel Loctite Blue 242 to recover the threads and make my nuts secure again…yes please feel free to comment away!

What colors work for you?

Five fast weeks!

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This would have been Six weeks of Speed but one week has passed! A few people have emailed me asking about my speed work plans so without further ado here they are:

All of these work out are from the FIRST 5K training plan so I can’t claim any ownership to them other than getting them done and making them my own! They are based on a 20:00 5k which right now would be a bit of a stretch but hey if it was easy everyone would be doing it!

This obviously doesn’t include any “off the bike” runs, next time I will leave my keys under the mat!

Setting expectations!

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I am usually late, actually that’s not quite true, in my professional life I am usually on time, occasionally early, in any typical week I spend 20-25 hours in meetings in various buildings as my company has expanded so I am often seen “fast walking” along corridors or playing frogger across the four lanes that runs between buildings. In my personal life I am a disaster! Why do I mention this, well because the expectation is that I will be late and so people, it would seem, bake that into their timelines.

So as mentioned yesterday my plan today was to run off the bike for 30 minutes. I was almost on time arriving back and figured that I would be able to squeeze in a quick 25 minutes or 3 miles, all I had to change shoes and ditch some of the cold weather clothing I was wearing, leg warmers etc. As I rounded the corner I could see my house and I could also see the SUV was off the drive…no one was in, I had no keys either! I dismounted and dug out my phone texted and called my wife but there was no reply. 50 minutes later she showed up.

“…well you’re always late so I figured you would be this time…”

Yep expectations set and met! No biggie I sat on the front step in the sunshine and chillaxed, not quite the Brick I hoped for! That being said my ride went well it was very much a two parter, the first 20 miles spent on flat and fast loops around a local lake, the next 30 miles climbing through the Santa Monica Mountains and then an easy 5 or so rolling home.

It was by far the longest ride on the new Cannondale Slice with the newly installed Adamo Break Away saddle, it went pretty well and all things considered I was comfortable, it’s going to take a little getting used but I did make a point of wearing Tri shorts rather than cycling shorts as that’s what I will be wearing on race day, I have also fitted my hydration solution which is an XLab Turbo with double Gorilla Cages, the bottles stayed in ok for the whole ride although I did notice that they were working their way out. something to be weary of in the future! 

So this end another week of training and all things considered it went pretty well, 4 days of doubles, the only miss was today’s brick run so I was about 3 miles/25 minutes behind the curve, with 134 miles covered in 12:18

Turning the Screw

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My first Triathlon of the 2012 season, hell my first Triathlon evah!! is a scant 6 weeks away. It’s a Sprint; it should take me approximately 80-85 minutes to complete the 500 meter swim (15 mins) 14 mile bike ride (43 mins)  3mile run (24 mins). Of course I hope to be done sooner. Now while for the last 8 weeks I have been really really focused on the swim and really focused on the bike (albeit my road one and not my Tri one, pending recent saddle resolution) the one thing that has taken a back seat has been the run, in fact that’s not been anywhere near the front since late November.

That’s ok in my mind as it makes little sense to practice what I am good at (good is of course relative) and ignore what I am crap at and that is why I choose to do what I did, but with the race coming up it’s time to start turning the screw on the run, after all this is not like a usual 5k, I will have been in motion for around an hour before! With three successes (5k, 10k and Half Marathon and a partial success at the Marathon distance) it’s no surprise that I am returning back to the FIRST plan for some interval and tempo run workouts.

The first week (no pun) is in the bag and on Tuesday I ran 400m Intervals, I ran it on a Treadmill so I am reliant on a Garmin Footpod which is not as good as GPS or a Track so I am a little dubious over the splits but even with a margin of error they are not too bad.

Thursday I ran a 5m Tempo run and my Garmin had a heart attack (another reason I am doubting my Interval times, it also mucked the first mile from last weekend’s 13.1 race) AND I forget my HR strap, which I hate! #virgo

But according to the Treadmill, it was 8:20, 8:00 and then 3 x 7:40 so again I am not setting the world alight but it is nice to know that I can pull a reasonable run out of the bag. The other thing I need to dial in (by that I mean do!) is run off the bike i.e. a Brick, which is totally new to me. I did a short run after a ride a couple of weeks ago but it was so long after (20 minutes) that it probably had no benefit, so this weekend I’ll be running 30 minutes after a 4-5 hour ride, assuming I last that long on a new saddle…that might be a bit bold!

Do not panic….well maybe a little!

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Saturday night…

No Gmail, Blogger including this blog, Reader, Picassa…all gone! OMFG!

And 36 hours later…..

Phew….ahhh!

What would you do if it all went?

13.1 Los Angeles

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This would be the third time of running the 13.1 race. I am officially on a streak! It was never going to be fast and I was a bit worried about if I could pull it off at all seeing as I have not run more than 20 miles in total since November!

The game plan was to go out steady and stay there, enjoy it hopefully bump into some friends and just have a good time. I turned up at the start and managed after a little stress to park in the VIP parking, basically $20 allowed to park right by the race start which is a huge perk although it can get a bit fraught if you get there late.

The race is getter bigger each year and this year 2800 people ran the Half Marathon, that’s a lot of people squashed up against the Ocean but they seem to fit in ok, the race organizers kept everyone entertained. Due to perfect timing I had little wait time and after a decision on shorts over tights I was rubbing shoulders on the start line ready to go. I had no real idea what my time or pace would or should be so I had decided to be conservative and stick to a 8:30 pace, I have not run any real miles since my last 50k and nothing fast since the Santa Clarita Marathon so this was essentially a Z2 run; a solid base builder.

This year presented a new course which instead of being an out and back along Venice Blvd took the runners south around Marina del Rey and along the beach path to Dockweiler Beach which you passed and then returned along a short road section to the finish, as it was a point to point there were buses laid on the take you back to the start. The route itself is pancake flat and on the whole very pretty, running along a beach path is really hard not to like! The only downside was a short section where you run past the water treatment plant…consider that an incentive to hustle some!

I worked pretty well at keeping my pace steady and chatted with a few runners on the way, I had no iPod and it was actually really nice to not have to have the crutch of music, it’s also good mental practice as there are no iPods allowed in triathlons. All in all I am happy with my splits, nothing to set the world alight but a good solid set.

Something funky happened with the first one…oh well!

At the finish, there was large area set aside with the usual array of vendors, they also have 4-5 Food Trucks on hand. I didn’t hang about as the while the weather was perfect for running, cloudy and gray, it was not good for hanging out in and so I jumped on a bus and headed back to the start to pick up my car.

All in a grand day out and although my miles and time are down for the week I am really really happy that I still have the legs to go out and essential drop a Half Marathon with little or no training.

Finally as mentioned this is the third time I have raced this race and I was comp’d the entry, for which I am really grateful. Honestly each year it’s really only gotten better. I loved the preferred parking right by the start (best $20 you can spend), this year had more running along the beach front which was great, again there were hoards of volunteers and plenty of water and mountains of Cliff gels, the start was well organized, there pace lines and a great vibe. Although I didn’t linger I am sure the finish was fun with some great LA food trucks and the usual entertainment and oddities that you expect from the Venice area. As this was a point to point they also offered a drop bag service which I did not use but seemed really organized. I also got a really nice Craft tech shirt and the bling was nice and hefty!

2010, 2011 and 2012…streaking!

I know that the 13.1 series has added some more cities this year so if you get a chance to run one of these go for it!