Bike 10/30

The sun peeked out a bit this afternoon, so I took advantage and rode from my house to the Sammamish River Trail, and out towards Bothell and back. 21.7 miles in 1:32.

I need to get back in the habit of wearing my heart rate monitor when I bike. I stopped doing that a while ago.

Run 10/29

Tonight's run was actually an event put on by Karen from my running club. She hosted an evening running party. About 40 of us gathered at her home, and ran an out-and-back from there and along the Burke-Gilman trail in Bothell.

It was fun! I did NOT have any reflective clothing on, so I ran with a friend who had a reflective hat. I never really noticed my heavy running jacket, from Road Runner Sports, just doesn't have any reflective stitching.

I suppose this is a great excuse to go buy some new clothes! However, I do have an Illuminite jacket. Plus, I'm not going to run after dark very often. So, I probably won't get anything except batteries for my flashing light.

I'm not sure what the distance was; running time was 45 minutes.

Swim 10/29

I slacked off last night and didn't ride my trainer. That's because today I'll swim and run, and I decided to then bike both days on the weekend.

Anyway, at lunch I swam 1200 yards in about 40 minutes. I think it is coming back to me slowly - I'll build up my yardage and will aim for 1500 yards twice a week, before I take off for the New Zealand trip.

Bike 10/27

40 minutes on the trainer, while watching a DVD.

My neck ached after 15 or so minutes in the aero position, so I sat up for most of the remainder. How in the world do the pros keep that position for 5 hours?!

Bike Fitting

I had my race bike fitting last week, with Erik Moen of the Pro Sports Club, and it was well worth it.

I've ridden my bike three times since, twice on the trainer and once outside, and now I am far more comfortable in the aero position.

He made the following changes:

• raised saddle 13 mm - This makes my thigh less likely to hit my chest at the top of the stroke. Hip angle at the top of the stroke isn't as compressed.
  
• move saddle forward - I don't have to stretch as far to grab the aerobars. Saddle nose is now 4 cm in front of the bottom bracket, and as a result my weight is a bit forward. This distribution isn't ideal, but should be OK as long as I am aware of the possible balance implication.
  
• move aerobars back - Same thing, don't have to stretch as far. Unfortunately, my aerobar stem length can't be adjusted (adjusting stem length is preferable because the saddle wouldn't need to move forward as much).
  
• changed angle of the aerobar pads - This means the angle my forearms are aiming forward.
  
• centered my cleats - This will help me cut back on an outward motion at the top of my pedal stroke, which is noticeable on my right leg.
  
• shorter crank arms - He suggested trying 170 mm cranks arms instead of 175's. Less distance over the top of my pedal stroke.
  

Other suggestions:

• shorter crank arms - He suggested trying 170 mm cranks arms instead of 175's. Less distance over the top of my pedal stroke.
  
• isolated leg pedaling - Work on this technique drill. Of course, with my powercranks I'll have that well covered!
  
• hamstring stretch - A good goal is to be able to raise your leg to a 90 degree angle. I am only getting about 80 degrees, so he suggested two hamstring stretches.
  
• keep right knee from swinging out - The cleat alignment helped, but I can also work on this improved form.
  
• new saddle - My saddle has a seam, which doesn't bother me as far as I know. If I get a new saddle, try to get one with no seams.
  

To be really comfy in the aero position, I also need to work on lower back flexibility and neck flexibility. Plus, a new saddle might be in order - without being too blunt, my saddle presses a bit in the center and on the sides. The first source of discomfort may be alleviated with an ergonomic cutout. I'm not sure about the second, other than the symptom is pinched circulation. Basically, I fidget in the saddle, moving side to side or lifting up a bit, every few minutes. Right now, my saddle comfort isn't excruciating, but probably can be improved on.

Swim 10/26

I swam 1000 yards, in 100 yard chunks, in just under 30 minutes.

Yeah, that's slow, but I rest about 30 seconds in between each set and I am taking it easy. I concentrate on swimming with good form, but I still feel like I'm thrashing a bit.

When it feels like I'm flowing better, I'll increase to 1200 yards. Otherwise, there isn't much point this early - I'd just be practicing how to swim bad and imprint lousy form.

Waterproof MP3 Player

This caught my eye on Gizmodo: the SwiMP3.

The 128 MB of memory will hold all but the last two tracks of Paul Oakenfold's Great Wall (126.6 MB), or my recent birthday presents: the Drive-By Truckers' Dirty South and Franz Ferdinand's Franz Ferdinand (125.5 MB). If I were to re-rip my music at a lower bitrate (I do either 160 kbps or 192 kbps), I could pack even more on.

Either choice adds up to around 1.8 hours of music, more than enough for my typical swim workout. Heck, either of those should see me through the entire ironman swim! ;)

It even comes with a pair of goggles!

Balance and Flex 10/25

I tried out the wobble board while watching CSI Miami.

This is essentially a disc with a bump, and you are meant to balance on the bump. The beginning exercises involve standing, and rolling your weight back and forth, and then side to side. It was quite tricky to do without flailing my arms, but I improved in the few minutes I did it. Later I tried rolling my weight in a circular motion, which again was difficult at first.

I could feel my leg muscles working to maintain balance, which I suppose is the entire point. Another minor benefit to me is a nice stretch of my ankles and achilles tendon. Eventually I'll figure out some easy workouts with the exercise ball I have, and some easy yoga positions to work on. I would like to do 1 hour of this kind of training as often as possible, ideally every day but that is likely very optimistic. Balance, flexibility, and core strength are my home goals, while the actual strength training will occur in the gym.

Tonight I did 15 minutes on the wobble board, and then 10 minute stretching my hamstrings.

Week Without Soft Drinks

I completed my week long experiment of drinking no soda, and celebrated by having a Sprite at lunch. :) Overall, I'm not sure of the results. I'd have to keep a detailed food diary - something I am thinking of trying for a week or so.

I drank water for lunch and dinner during the week. However, over the weekend, instead of soft drinks I substituted, at various times, milkshakes, beer, and raspberry lemonade. Clearly, drinking milkshakes and beer instead of diet coke is not an improvement!

One clear benefit is saving a little money when I eat out. Most restaurants charge at least $1 for a soft drink, which isn't that big a deal... unless this fact is brought to your attention. I can afford a soft drink with a meal, but now it irritates me to think about what I am charged for basically convenience, so I'll probably keep carrying around my water bottle, and try to adjust to thinking of a soft drink as an occasional treat rather than a meal staple. Same goes for milkshakes and beer - after all, I'm hardly an elite athlete and can treat myself once in a while!

Base Week 2

Oct 18 - Oct 24

	Time
Swim	1:00
Bike	3:15
Run	0:24
Strength	0
Weight	142.2 lb
Body Fat	16.3 %

I bought a wobble board at the new Road Runner Sports store, and I plan to do some balance and core training with it. For next week, I'll lump that with flexibility training into strength training.

Run 10/24

This morning was the Dawg Dash, a 5K/10K put on the the UW Alumni Association. It is a fun race that winds through campus. The exact route has changed every year I've run it. It is a challenging course, since it involves a few stairs, and is uphill on the way out.

T1, T2, EN, MM, and myself met beforehand. We all ran our own pace, except I decided to run with EN, who is a bit faster than myself. So, I let EN set the pace: I finished in 24:02, and EN finished a few seconds ahead.

This is my 5K PR, so I am pretty happy. What I do know is I won't be doing much training at that pace, ironman training is all about endurance and not speed. But I thought for the occasional 5K it is OK. Plus, this was my first event as a 36 year old (sigh...) and I thought I could at least try to do my very best at it.

I'll see what the official chip time says when results are up. It would really be cool to come in at 23:59 so I could then say I did sub-24 minute 5K!

Bike 10/23

Slight shuffle in the schedule - tomorrow several of us are participating in the Dawg Dash, so we decided to bike today and run tomorrow. Since we also got a break from the rain, and the day was relatively nice (except just a little chilly), we decided to ride outdoors.

I met with T1 and T2, and we did a figure 8 from T1's: out-and-back along the BG trail to Golden Gardens, and then out-and-back the other way to Matthews Beach. We did about 26 miles in 2 hours.

The bike definitely feels more comfortable after my fitting. I haven't blogged about that yet but plan to do so soon. I worked on pedaling while keeping my right leg from swinging out, and rode in the aero position as much as possible. Which wasn't all that much, as this was busy trail riding and I wanted my hands near the brakes most of the time. Plus, extended time in aero means neck strain from looking up to see the road ahead.

During the ride, I got to thinking maybe the whole aero position is overrated for many courses. What percentage time would I spend in that position anyway? IMCdA is supposed to be a fairly technical course - there aren't many long or flat sections which is where the aero position really shines. Maybe I should consider doing the event on a regular road bike - I never ever thought about bike comfort when riding my good old Trek.