First Post Race Report

Well that was the first Tri.  And after I showered when we got back home - this is where I spend a little time.   Contemplating the days achievements.

Contemplating

 

So what did I learn?

Training:

Well if I want to get any better I have to train harder.  That is fairly obvious.  I really wasn't prepared to exercise for two and a half hours.  All my training is 40 minutes to just over an hour, with about one and a half hour maximum,  I do the odd ride over 2 hours, but not very frequently.  However I also have to weigh this up with time and inclination.  I don't have a lot more time, I am already exercising over an hour a day most days of the week and while I would like to get better, how badly do I want to get better?  In the short term I think I will just try to better tailor my workouts to match what I need to do.

Note:  I downloaded all the results into an Excel and ranked everyone who had a finish time on; the swim, T1, the ride, T2 and the run.  This gave me a good idea of where I stand within this group on each of the legs.  The results include everyone (Men, Women, Relays) for all 212 that finished.

My standing were:

• Swim (26:59), 69th
• T1 (2:04), 82nd
• Ride (1:08:00), 48th
• T2 (1:45), 133rd
• Run (49:18), 103rd
• Overall (2:28:06), 62nd

Swimming - 26:59

I definitely need to practices open water swimming more, because "never" isn't exactly creating more experience and it will lead to more time in the wetsuit.  I really thought that swimming was going to be my weakest leg and it wasn't, plus I know I can go faster.  I probably spent 30 seconds on the beach and starting slow.  I pulled up into breaststroke 10 to 12 times just to stop swimming, to get my bearings or defog my goggles.  Probably wasting 5 or so seconds each time.  So I think there is a bit of improvement to be had in the swim without getting any better at swimming, just getting better at swimming in the specific conditions.  I am really glad it wasn't in choppy water like the bay, or the ocean as that would have really messed me up.  I think that an open water swim once a week in the wetsuit would make me a fair bit quicker than I was.

Transition #1 - 2:04

This wasn't too bad.  I think just being a bit more familiar with what to do, and having your kit in a good location would help enormously.  I certainly didn't sprint in and out and I took a bit of time getting out of the wetsuit.  I wasted some time putting sock on that I probably didn't need.   It seems like all the fastest people were around a minute.  I think I might be able to get back some of that, but not all of it.  Colleen told me about one of the leaders somehow getting his wetsuit off while running.  I am pretty sure if I had tried that I would now have a dental appointment to fix some teeth.

Riding - 1:08:00

There really wasn't any issue here.  One hour and eight minutes over 40km (24.9 miles) was fine with me.  I generally do my rides at 21mph for 20miles (~34km/h over 32miles).  This was flatter and I did it a bit faster, averaging 22mph over the distance (35km/h).  I need to figure out what was going on at the start after the swim as staying low on the aerobars made my hips uncomfortable.  Later in the ride it all seemed to be OK.  I am not sure if I need to just practice on the areobars, or it is just after swimming that it is uncomfortable.  I probably need to work on some core strength because going from the swim, basically stretched out flat, to almost folded in half using the areobars requires some strength in the mid-section, and while i have a mid-section it unfortunately has no strength.

Transition #2 - 1:45

Here is one I can definetly get faster at.  I pretty much walked in and slowly did everything because I was dreading the run.  Also having lace up shoes didn't help, not only because of the time to do them up, but also because they came undone.  Most people going fast were doing this in a minute - I think I could get closer to that than I am without too much trouble.

Running - 49:18

This was really odd for me.  I have always thought of myself as a pretty good runner, but apparently not in the Triathlon world.  Before the race I really would have thought that would have been closer to the ride as my "stronger" skill, but apparently not.   The average time for the run (doing my maths on the results) was 51:38, I was just over a minute under the average and middle of the field as well (103 of 212).  So I gather I need to work on that.  Before the race, making an assumption about how tired I would be I though 9 minute miles would be pretty good (5.6 min/km).  In the race I did a pretty good job of keeping it under 8 minute miles (5 min/km) so I thought I was doing great.  It was about the 4th person who passed me that let me know that wasn't the case.  There is nothing to do to fix this other than run more and run faster.  I will give myself a bit of a pass being just 7 months removed from ACL surgery (this pass expires at 12 months)

Tri Two?

The Silicon Valley International (link) in pretty much on the same venue on June 12th.  The swim is in the same lake, the ride is exactly the same and the run is different, going round the lake and not away and back.  But this malkes both want to and not want to do it.  I want to do it because it will be easy to measure improvement, but then again, it is just the same, no new challenge. Also in between now and then, on Sunday the 5th I am probably riding 100 miles at Tahoe which is going to be a significant challenge in itself and mess up the week before the Tri for training

Lets see how many people read this blog, in the comments I want a vote for one of the following.

1. Do the Silicon Valley International, but do the Sprint distance and do it with Colleen,
2. Do the Silicon Valley International, Olympic distance again to compare and see it there is any substance to the talk of being able to go faster,
3. I don't read the blog, or
4. None of the Above

You vote means something ...

First Tri

So, you have to get up pretty early in the morning to do a tri.  Not only that you spend the night before fretting over making sure you have everything you need.  Which make sleeping difficult and then waking up harder.

So.  Saturday night I am on about 30 websites reading about Tri checklists, going over the rules, printing out the course maps and watching videos of professional people doing their transitions, going from the swim to the bike and the bike to the run.  None of it is making me feel more relaxed.

By about 9pm I have all my gear stowed and I am ready to at least stop thinking about it.

For the Tri overall I have:

• tri suit,
• timing chip,
• number for bike
• number for ride and run
• number on helmet

For the swim I have:

• wetsuit,
• lubricant (for around the ankles helps get the wetsuit off faster),
• anti-chafe (back of the neck and around the shoulders),
• swim cap, and
• goggles

For the ride I have:

• bike,
• bike shoes (attached to bike),
• helmet,
• sunglasses,
• socks,
• water bottle on bike,
• goo (taped to the bike cross bar), and
• bike pouch with tube, CO2 bottle, bike tool

For run I have:

• running shoes
• hat

 I debated taking the bike pouch, but then decide that firstly it didn't actually weigh very much, and secondly I wanted to finish and not having it in the event I got a puncture would pretty much rule out finishing.

So when I finally get to sleep Saturday night I seem to wake up immediately - it is 5:30am and apparently it is Tri Time.  I get up and get everything in the car.  Then make Colleen's coffee and have a bowl of Coco Crispies (Coco Pops for the Australian), purrfect tri food.  Just before 6am we are out on the road.

On the road

Get to the Tri at just after 6:20am and start figuring out what we need to do.  I take my stuff in and find somewhere to set it up.  I do this mainly through looking how other people have done it and then copying it.  Put the bike in the bike rack, lay a towel down beside the bike and on it put my riding/running number my running shoes and my hat.

Setting up the transition area

Put my helmet on the bike in it my socks and my sunglasses.  The goo is already taped to the crossbar and the water bottle is in its holder.  I take the wetsuit and the timing chip with me and go to get my number on.  I stand in a queue until a guy with a marker pen writes "179" down each of my arms and "40" on the back of my right calf.  I feel a bit like a cheat.  The USA Triathlon rules are you compete in the age group that you will be that year.  Since I will turn 40 this year I am in this age group even though my birthday isn't until December, so I am likely to be one of the youngest people in the age group.

I wanted to get there early enough so I wouldn't be rushed and I did that, probably bit to well.  Colleen and I stand around for a bit.  Her waiting for me to do something, me waiting for others to do it first so I would know what to do and when to do it.

Playing with my watch while waiting to be shown the way to Tri

Finally some people started putting on their wetsuits and testing the waters ... so sun screened myself.  Then I lubed up my ankles and anti-chafed my neck and shoulders and put on the wetsuit and went for a swim.  This probably wasn't the first time I should have been doing this.  I am pretty for optimal results I should have tried this at least once or twice before the tri, not just right before the tri.  But you know what they say "half-assed is blissfully ignorant".  At least thats what I was hoping.

Unfortunately I wasn't blissfully ignorant.  I got into the water fully aware that I didn't know what I was doing, how I was going to do it and fearing both the cold and drowning ... in that order, as I was pretty sure I wouldn't drown ... I don't think you can drown from embarrassment.  That initial swim wasn't too bad.  But I didn't exactly fill myself with confidence either.  I tried not to think about anything other than swimming and then actually tried to do it.  It half worked  I felt cold and probably looked like I was trying to swim.  Mercifully the announcer told everyone to get out and get ready.  I got out and hoped to eventually to have a semblance of readiness.

Hopefully resembling ready

The first wave went and they looked fast - they got the second wave to line up, my wave.  I moved to the back and tried to not think about not being able to swim.  I thought it would be important to at least pretend I felt like I knew what I was doing.

Oozing Confidence ...

The announcer counted down from 10.  "10 ... 9 ... 8"  I adjusted my cap and took my googles off, trying to appear nonchalant, but really wondering if I could get out of this by loosing my goggles.  "5 ... 4 ... 3".  I put my goggles on resigned to my fate.  The gun went off and I walked into the water like I was walking towards my executioner.  Others ran and jumped, while I strolled rather sadly into the lake.

Fate sealed, I walk towards it ... slowly

I start swimming and then start to panic.  I feel my heart rate skyrocketing and start gasping.  The water is cold and I don't like it.  There are people all around me splashing and I don't like that either.  I tell myself to get a grip of ... myself and to relax.  I start to get a bit more comfortable and start to just swim and gradually found a rhythm.  I started to pass some of the people that had run past me at the start and by the first buoy I was starting to at least not be scared.  I still stopped and did breaststroke every now and again, or stopping to wash out my goggles that were fogging regularly or just to take a bit of a break.

The swim course was two 750m (just under 1/2 mile) loops with you having to exit the water and run around a marker on the beach.  I have no idea why they did it this way, but they did.  As I finished the first lap and started the second I was starting to feel the wetsuit weight on my shoulder and I started to play with my swim stoke.  Shortening my reach a little seem to make it easier so I kept that up for a while.  This guy was swimming right on my toes.  Hitting my feet every couple of meters so I put in a big kick to move him, which seemed to work.  Coming in towards the shore for the final time I started to really be confident, the fact that I was going to survive was now obvious to me so I swam pretty hard to the beach.

Clever watch showing my swim course

As I got to the beach Colleen was cheering for me ... right up until the point I obviously wasn't going fast enough.  "You better run faster babis!!!" came her cry, followed by the peels of laughter from the rest of the crowd.  I bowed my head and tried to pickup my pace.  It was at this point I realized I wasn't finished.  My little moment of euphoria as I finished the swim disappeared quickly as I realized that I had to keep going.  I jogged up the beach, and into the transition area.  It is amazing how such a simple set of tasks becomes so complicated when you are physically drained.  I stumbled out of the wetsuit.  Put my number on, then helmet, sunglasses and socks ... then ran my bike out of the transition to start the bike course.

I choose this photo, not just for my flattering position,

but because 170 there is down in the results as a female called "Mising Name"

193 over there beats me by two minutes pretty much all in the run section.

I surprise myself and get my bike shoes on relatively easily while riding, and then I start trying to find a tempo.  While playing with clever watch trying to get the normal riding screen up (operation is a little different while in MultiSport mode) I hit the wrong button and the watch thinks I am in T2 (the second transition between bike and run) and refuses to show me any of my normal riding information, cadence, heart rate, speed, etc.  I sigh, put my head down and start riding.  No fancy electronic update for me for the next hour plus.  I feel pretty good on the bike, but have trouble getting all the way down on the areobars.  Whatever muscles near my hip I use (or don't use) for swimming I am annoying terribly when on the areobars, which is a pretty serious disadvantage since I am riding into a block headwind.

I feel like I am riding pretty well when this guy just blows past me on a very flash bike.  I don't even consider trying to go with him.   I pass two people riding with those flash disk wheels, which incidentally cost more than my whole bike which makes me happy.  There are a lot of people here with very flash bikes and I feel a great deal of satisfaction in passing them, right up until the guy on the old squeaky old bike passes me.  The first half of the ride is flat and into the wind.  just after half way the loop starts coming back and hits a steep little uphill.  I to my personal satisfaction pass about 7 people going up the hill that is a little over a mile (1.6km) and then another couple at the top and a half-dozen or so on the way down.  I start to pick up the pace on the downhill section on the way back in.  The wind isn't right behind but definitely helping.  I keep passing people on the way back and back into the transition area.

Coming into the second transition

I jump off the bike and wheel it to my stand.  Put on and lace up the shoes and turn my number around to face front and run off forgetting my hat.  A guy there just before me runs off with the crowd shouting at him to stop he is going the wrong way.  He (with fuzzy headed exhaustion I am sure) completely ignores them and runs out the swim in area.  I do up my shoe laces and start my run, going out the correct exit to start the run.

Starting the run

It is at this point I really wonder what I am doing.  Why exactly am I running away from all my stuff now to go out 3 miles and then back 3 miles to pickup all my stuff?  I run out with this guy who has 28 on the back of his right calf.  I pass him during the first half mile and then watch him pass me.  The a guy with 52 on his calf passes me, then a 48, then a 42, another 48, then a 41 and a 50.  I am feeling pretty shattered by this stage, as I think I am running pretty well.

I also come to the conclusion I am old at this point.  It is amazing how quickly becoming physically exhausted can mess with you mental state.  Perhaps instead of "enhanced interrogation" they should just get these suspects into Triathlons.  I have only been exercising for 2 hours and I have conceded my youth.  Every time someone older than me passes me I attempt to stay with them.  When it is someone younger I think to myself "off you go kid, no reason for me to keep up with you."

I reach the turn and start to head back.  Three miles doesn't really seem that far now.  One of those old guys going past me lets me know my shoelaces are undone.  I mumble something incoherent at him.  The 4 mile marker passes me then the 5.  I check behind me and I am in a vacuum, I can't see anyone behind me or in front.  I go past the 6 mile marker and the volunteers are all cheering and telling me not long to go.  I keep running hoping to see the finish.  I finally round the last corner and see it.  I try to sprint but don't have the will power and perhaps not the energy to.  The clock says 2:33:?? and I am finished.

 Crossing the finish line

I managed to get clever watch sorted out after messing it up for the ride.  Here is how the run looked.

Clever watch reporting on the Run

So you can go to the website here and find my results - or you can trust me and read them here.

Swim (1500m or .935 miles)	26:59
Transition #1	2:04
Ride (40km or 24.9 miles)	1:08:00
Transition #2	1:45
Run (10km or 6.2 miles)	49:18
Total	2:28:06

So that was that - through the week I will do a follow up of what I think I have learnt from the first tri and how I can get better.

Credit where credit is due - thanks to Colleen for all the great photos.  Thanks gorgeous!

Pre Tri Week

So I am actually signed up for a Tri, so this week preparing for it.  I decide to work hard the first half of the week Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and then Thursday, Friday and Saturday just easy sessions.

Monday:
Colleen needs to go to her storage shed to pick up some gear.  So I map out a 4 mile run to the shed to meet her there.  I decide to go out pretty fast.  I run 4.1 miles (about 6.6km) in 30 mins.  I was pretty happy with that, it was a fairly tough run.  Different sections of the run were straight into a stiff breeze, and I feel it affected me more mentally then actually slowing me down physically.

Tuesday:
Into the pool.  Do two quick laps in in under 40 seconds.  Then push out for the 100 laps, complete them in 38:35.  Which is pretty decent.  Then I finished up the rest of the mile and a half with a 4 lap IM.  I do breaststroke down, and backstroke back.  I then bust out perhaps the worst 25 yards of butterfly the pool has seen for a while and then cruise back with the freestyle.

Wednesday:
Out for a ride on the normal loop.  I do it at about 85% because I lack the desire to harder.  The ride is OK, my moving average is just under 20mph (32km/h).  The ride looks better than it might have otherwise as I get lucky at a lot of lights.  I am a bit disappointed about how quick it was without going as hard as possible, I sort of felt like maybe I should have tried harder and done a really good ride.

Thursday:
Start the second half of the week and into the "taper".  Out for a run with Colleen, just a quick 3 miles.  I do it at Colleen pace and we wrap it up right on 30 minutes, for 10 minute miles.  A nice little loosener to just keep active.

Friday:
Out for a ride with Colleen, and we really don't push any pace, about a third of the way through Colleen realizes we need to be somewhere soon.  So we turned around an got back with a little hustle.  It turns out to be only 14 miles and only with a 15mph moving average.  Not much of a ride compared to most of those I usually do - but enough.

Saturday:
I go to the lake where the tri will be held to firstly get used to swimming in the wetsuit, and secondly to get some experience swimming "open water".  The last (and only) time I did an open water swim I didn't do particularly well and I am starting to think about that poor attempt.  I get to the lake and it is all closed off, because of the tri tomorrow.  I think seriously about going in anyway but decide I don't want to get thrown out.

Go home and ride to the pool and do a quick half mile (800m), about half the length of the swim - not out of any specific planning, but because I got the pool hours wrong and they were closing and that was as much as I could do comfortably.  I finish up and ride home.  I think the week went pretty well, next up the first tri.

No Tri yet, but soon ... Tri!

So I didn't get to the Tri this weekend.  There we some ... complications.  I will get into those as they occur in the timeline of the blog.

Monday
Off to Soccer at EA.  Nothing particularly special just a nice run.  3.74miles under an hour.  Not too bad not to good.  Soccer is getting better though and it is helping  my overall fitness.

Tuesday
The reverse alpine loop on the bike with Colleen, she is in form and does a really good job.  Her moving average is 17.7mph which is really tidy.  She spends a lot of time in my draft, but she is still getting better at the hills, not necessarily enjoying them, but definitely getting better.

Wednesday
Soccer at EA again, another 3.7 miles in just over an hour this time.  Nothing else to talk about there.

Late in the evening out to the pool.  The normal 1.5 miles (1.4 miles timed 4 laps warm-up and 2 laps cool down 100 laps timed).  Do the timed laps in 39:10 which I am fairly happy with - still need to get quicker.

Thursday
Out for a ride.  Do the Alpine loop as I haven't done it in quite some time.  Manage to get a lot of love from the traffic lights and from my quads and bust around the lopp really quite quickly (for me anyway).  Complete the loop in under an hour with a moving average of 21.5 mph.  Riding is something else I need to try to pick my speed up at.  I think I need to get to the gym to get my quads stronger as I am sort of stuck at ~21mph at the moment.

The Ride of Chafe

Click for a bigger version, back to return here

It is during this ride that my plans for the triathlon come unstuck.  I am not sure what was going on with my bike pants, but I get some chafing in a very unfortunate location.

Friday
Soccer again, only 3.5 miles this time, in just under an hour.  Going to have to do some more running and some less soccer.  While soccer is good and I like it - it probably isn't the best running training.

Sunday
No tri, I made the decision Saturday afternoon not to, because my chafing was still giving me grief.  Which i really annoying as I haven't had that particular issue before.  Perhaps those bike pants are done.
So I go for a swim.  Manage to do the whole 1.5 miles (106 laps) in 40:01 which I am pretty happy with, which means I have done the 100 (which I usually time) in well under 38 minutes.

I am registered for the San Jose Metro Triathlon next Sunday (the 22nd), the race website is here.  It is a full Olympic length triathlon.  1500m Swim, 40k Ride, 10km Run (or 0.94 mile Swim, 24.9 mile Ride, 6.2 mile Run).  So next Sunday is the big day.  I will try to do daily updates through the week as the big day approaches.

The Week before the Tri?

I still haven't registered, but Sundays Tri might be the go (link).  It is a bit longer (especially in the run department) than I wanted to start with, but them's the breaks.

Getting back to the week that was, this is how it all happened.

Monday
In the pool for a swim, do the normal 1.5 miles.  Still working on the 10 laps/4 mins pacing and with some suspected miscounting, but righting by watching the clock.  I bring it in in 39:15, or 45 seconds under the schedule for the 100 laps.  I am feeling fairly comfortable doing it.  Need to ensure that I am doing all the laps, and hitting the time properly.  I was going to get one of these clever little watch/lap counters (link), but there were out.  I need to order one on the interwebs.

Tuesday
Lunchtime soccer at EA for a 3.5 mile run.  The field is smallish and gets relatively full, so it makes it difficult to go much further.  I am going to actually have to go back to running at some stage, especially for the longer runs.  I have a very positive opinion of how running in soccer prepares you for distance running (harking back to helping Colleen train for her 1/2 marathon), when I ran 11 miles without much difficulty, without any previous distance running but a lot of soccer.  However I was playing a lot more soccer then.

Wednesday
Out for a ride and around the normal loop.  pretty decent ride.  21mph moving average, and it was windy!  Nothing particularly noteworthy happens on the ride.  Fairly weary when I return though.  Looking back at the stats I am a little disappointed with my cadence.  I try to keep it over 90, but for the ride I averaged 86.  Need to work on that.

Thursday
In the pool again and I take the garmin.  The plan is to hit the lap button every 10 laps to get a really good idea of the splits.  Once again trying to make each of those 4 minutes or better.  I was pretty nervous about leaving my $400 super sports watch on then edge of the pool, but I did it anyway, and I was lucky enough to still have it at the end.  So here are the splits:

Count	Time
1-10	3:50
11-20	4:01
21-30	3:58
31-40	3:59
41-50	3:53
51-60	3:58
61-70	3:54
71-80	4:19
81-90	3:51
91-100	3:42

Somewhere between lap 71 and 80, I think it was 78, this woman stopped me to ask me to move.  I have no idea why she felt the need to do this - or why she couldn't swim somewhere else.  I didn't hit pause straight away, so some of this is extra time.  it also took me about 30 second to let her know I was busy swimming and she could go somewhere else and swim.  So it gave me a bit of a rest but I am pretty happy with that.  I am not sure if doing it with the $400 watch sitting on the edge of the pool is the best was to accomplish this - but the results are great.

Friday
Out to EA for soccer again, 3.58 miles in an hour.  Not too bad not that good.  But it is a very enjoyable way to burn 600 calories.

Saturday
Out on a ride with Colleen, we do the normal loop with some of Canada tacked on, to up the mileage a little.  It ends up being about 27 miles.  We take it fairly easy, and it isn't a bad ride except for the howling wind.  Colleen keeps trying to tuck in behind me while I am trying to talk to her.

I get back from the ride and turn around and off to soccer.  My legs are a little weary, but the game is on a much bigger field than a EA and it goes for longer - as a consequence I run a lot further.  A lot further.  I manage to run 6.4 miles (~10km) in 90 minutes playing soccer, which is much further than I have gone before while playing.

Saturday Soccer Track

 

Click to enlarge, back button to return here

I am thinking of making a new goal for soccer, much like the swimming goal.  Each mile for playing soccer should be no slower than a 13 minute/mile, as that is about walking pace.  Slower than that I am obviously standing around too much.  Of the mile splits during this Saturday game only one of the miles was under 13 minutes.  So I should be doing even more running that this.  Actually looking back last time Colleen and I walked, (walking at the dish) we averaged about 14:30 minutes/mile - so that will be the new standard.  By that my average pace over the saturday soccer game was right on course (14:13 min/mile), with the EA soccer games being way slow at 17:07 min/mile

Don't do anything Sunday.  LAZY.  Am I tapering for the Tri on Sunday, you guess is as good as mine!

A Full Weeks Work

So finally I exercise every day.  First some anecdotes and news.

So when I bought some new wheels for the Trek, somehow I bent them up pretty good only after a couple of rides.  So I tried to "true" them myself.  "Truing" is the process (art?) of tightening and/or loosening the spokes to bring the wheel back into straight and round, or "true".  So I played at this for hours, with no real joy - I thought it was a bit better, but not much.  Finally I decide to cough up the $15 to get the guys at Sports Basement to do it.  When I go to pick them up there is a note on the receipt.

"Don't let whoever tried to true this wheel ever touch another wheel again.  It was so messed up it took three hours to fix.  This should be a $30 charge rather than $15.  Don't ever try to true a wheel again"

The guy that was returning me the wheel wasn't the author of the memo on the receipt and started to apologize for it, when I stopped him saying "No that is probably a fair cop, I did mess with it a lot without having any idea what i was doing".

Secondly I put the 11-28 on the back wheel (finally, I have had it for about a month).  I was going to buy a new back wheel specifically for it and swap them in and out.  But as the guy at Sports Basement pointed out while talking me out of buying a wheel, "is there really that much difference you want a $600 back wheel?".  After a small amount of research, it seems there is not.

11-25:  11,12,13,14,15,17,19,21,23,25
11-28:  11,12,13,14,15,17,19,21,24,28

Probably should of thought of that myself.  So I just swapped them and put the 11-25 away for when i am a better (stronger) rider.

Monday

Finally I do some exercise on Monday, and I am into the pool.  I was all keen to do a fast swim and was watching the clock trying to do 10 laps in 4 minutes.  I felt like i was keep that up, from lap 10-100, every 10 laps i was pretty close to doing 4 mins.  I definitely wasn't losing time.  The clocks are not always the easiest to see and when I finished up, once again I has somehow missed pushing the button on my watch.  So I put down 43 minutes - which is kind of my default time for the 1.4 miles (2.2km).

Tuesday

 I was going to swim and ride but got home late.  Colleen wanted to do a quick ride so she could get to the gym, and once we hit the road she didn't really feel like she was up to it.  She was still feeling the effect of the weekend ride.  So we just did a little out and back for 11 miles (18km).  I was tempted to go out again, but never mustered the drive to do so.

Wednesday

Soccer at EA.  Running is feeling more fluid and I am starting to get to the point where my whole lower body isn't aching after playing soccer.  Enough or my stabilization muscles are starting to get stronger and used to the shocks of stopping, starting and lateral movements after a four weeks of soccer at least twice a week.  Did 4 miles (6.4km) of running in the hour of soccer.

Colleen was keen for a run when we got home, and so we went out on a little 3.2 mile (5km) loop.  She did pretty well, we averaged 10 minute miles (6:15 min/km).  When she hit 3 miles I told her to walk the rest of the way and i tried to sprint the rest of the way home.  I got half way.  I still don't have the endurance or strength in my quads yet.

Thursday

Out for a solo ride, with the new gearing on there is only one place to go. Old La Honda.  I ride out trying to go slow and fail dismally.  I get there a little tired, it is ~9miles (14km) from home.  I check my time at the bridge at the bottom, 31:13 and start up.  I put the clever watch to showing me just distance and time.  I know it is 3.3 odd miles (5km) and I know i want it to take me less than 26 minutes.  So I just look at them and ride.  I get to the top at 54:05.  New Record!   22:52.  Pretty happy with that and when I get back I am talking myself up to Colleen.  But then when I check the last ride I did, it wasn't so special.

I was much faster up the hill, once of the mile splits I was 71 seconds faster over just that mile.  But over the whole ride I was only 3 mins and 23 seconds faster.  I checked every split verses the last ride and over the first 17 miles i was 3 mins 30 seconds faster - over the last 9 miles I was actually 10 seconds slower.  To busy being chuffed with my performance up the hill.

Friday

Lunchtime soccer again.  It was a slow game I had to run two laps around the field to hit my minimum distance requirements for Colleen (3.5 miles).  The lack of distance was probably due to playing sweeper for a fair duration of that game.

Out for a swim in the evening.  I pay close attention to ensuring I hit the start button on the watch and pay close attention to the clock as I o each 10 lap segment.  I am always on target, and somehow over the last 30 laps I get 3 minutes to the good.  I hit the watch at the end and I am done in 37:15.  I think that is too fast, but I know over the last 30 laps I was on count - and earlier on my base wasn't showing me to be that fast, so I am a bit confused.  It is much faster than I usually do the 100 laps (generally around 43 mins) but it is the first (second really) time I have been on it with both the pool clock when I am in progress and the stop watch at the end.  Just have to compare it to next time and see how it looks.

Saturday

Out for a ride with Colleen and Todd, same ride as last weekend.  We do it in about the same time and speeds.  The ride is fairly flat and without the wind would be a fun, fast ride.  With the wind it is less fun and a bit more of a struggle across the rolling hills than you might otherwise expect.

Sunday

I decide after my first ride up Old La Honda with the new rear cassette I plot a somewhat crazy ride.  First up OLH and then up Kings Mountain Road, or Twin Peaks, is my catchy name for it.  Sunday I do it.

Out to OLH takes just over 29 minutes it should have taken longer, but this guy tries to race me at the bottom Sand Hill, after 280 he goes past me and I just ride his wheel to the top.  At the top he accelerates and starts down, I just tuck and roll.  He is about 30 yards (~25m) ahead at the bottom, but he rolls into the short sharp uphill and I wind up still on the big cog and blow past him and keep the momentum up the hill.   The smart thing to do would have been to ignore him and keep my strength for the hills ahead.

Up OLH I keep good pace, one guy goes up past me flying, I catch him while he is talking to a guy riding up.  Then he passes me again, and I don't see him again.  Another guy passes me about 100 yards (90m) from the top and says as he goes past, "I finally got you".  I just grab his wheel, and follow him up I push him a bit and tap him on the shoulder as he stops at the top while I ride off to the next hill. The ascent takes 24:28.  Going down down Skyline is the best part of the ride.  I need to borrow Kris's GoPro and attach it to my bike to get some video of my decent.

Over to KM (Kings Mountain) and up again.  No-one passes me on the way up KM and I pass a few people on the way up.  It takes about ~32 mins it is a less steep and less windy climb but the extra length is a killer.  The annoying think about it is the top isn't the "top", you keep going up hill after the climb and then, there is a lot of down hill, which almost makes it all worth it.  But not quite.

Details of the ride are here. 

Profile: Twin Peaks

A Neither Here Nor There Week ...

So I really didn't start to well this week.  I am having trouble with Mondays.  Looking back through the calendar, I haven't exercised on a Monday since last month.  4 weeks.  So that is the goal for next week.  But back to this week.  Monday, I didn't do anything.

Tuesday
Out with Colleen around Alpine (reverse) she is quick again.  Our moving average is 17.5 mph on my watch.  Her best speed ever.  I am beginning to believe she has been sand bagging all this time.  Nothing particular exciting happen other than Colleen newfound speed.

When I get back, I go out to the pool for a swim.  Just go through the motions doing my usual swim, 4 laps warm up, 100 timed and 2 to cool down.

Thursday
Out to EA for lunchtime soccer, maintaining my adherence to Colleen's "rule" (which dictates I have to do at least 3.5 miles) I run 3.8 miles in just over an hour.

At the pool in the evening to try to change it up a little, I try to do my laps in a much more structured manner.  For the first 70 laps, doing 10 laps in the time, trying to keep the set of 10 under 4 minutes.  10 laps (250 yards, ~230m).

#1: 01-10 - 3:57
#2: 11-20 - 3:55
#3: 21-30 - 3:49
#4: 31-40 - 3:47
#5: 41-50 - missed hitting the button on my watch
#6: 51-60 - 3:58
#7: 61-70 - 3:59

For the last 30 laps i try to keep it under 12 minutes (the same scenario as above 4 minutes/10 laps, just not stopping every 10).

#8: 71-100 - 11:25


So with all of it added up - when I generally do the 100 in about 43:30, these add to 38:49.  I probably waited 6 minutes (1 minute between each group).  So all in all so a bit slower overall but faster in the water.

Friday

Up to EA for lunchtime soccer again.  Another fairly good run, it was about 4 miles, but i forgot to turn the watch off, so it counted the walk taking back the goal and driving off for a bit.

Saturday

Out for a big ride.  Colleen, Todd and Kris all along for the ride.  We start at our place, and do a looong reverse Alpine loop.  All in all the ride is about 40 miles.  It was fairly social (for me) although Colleen worked a lot harder.  We average 16.8 mph (moving average) over the 40 miles.

On the Canada stretch, Colleen is keen to "go fast" so we start to wind up the speed.  We kind of catch Todd and Kris off guard and with Colleen drafting me we do a 5 mile stretch quite quickly.  Colleen down on the aerobars and me still sitting up trying to give her as much wind shadow as possible.  When we get to the end quite to Colleen satisfaction Kris and Todd both admiringly tell her they they could catch us.  Sure she was using me, but she was also riding at over 25 mph and up to 32 mph.

On the way back, the last 10 miles are a nice downhill run home.  Colleen a self confessed "downhill sprinter" leads us all for a fair amount of the way home and at different stages averaging over 27 mph for  nearly 3 miles.

Colleen (with Jerky) and Todd

Todd, Kris and me

Everyone does well on the ride, but especially Kris, who hasn't been on the bike for quite some time and his bike isn't exactly in the best condition, I was calling it "Mr. Shakey" and "Mr. Rattlely" which should give a fairly accurate indication of the condition of the bike.

After the ride I head off to soccer.  I try to convince Kris to come but he declines - preferring the company of his couch and cable TV.  Soccer is fun and I surprise myself in an just under an hour and a half I run 5.4 miles.  It hurts and it wasn't all pretty but it was a good workout.

Sunday I am to busy hiding Easter Eggs for Colleen to hunt, we don't get out for any exercise.

Tri Schedule is starting to get fleshed out.  Colleen is away the first week of May and I am not allowed to do my first Triathlon without her.

Option #1:  Morgan Hill Sprint Triathlon (link), May 15th,

Option #2:  The Metro Triathlon (link), May 22nd,

Registering soon hopefully ...

Then hopefully Colleen's first Tri will be ...

Mermaid Triathlon (link), June 11th

This Last Week ...

So this week wasn't anything special either.  I am having some issues with exercising every day and I like taking Monday's off.

Tuesday:
I went for a ride with Colleen, we did it pretty solid.  Out on the normal loop, Colleen does a real good job, average speed of 16 mph and a moving average of 16.8 mph.  It is a pretty normal ride.  Colleen rides down a couple of guys, who I smile at as she leaves them in her wake.

Thursday:
Up to EA for soccer.  I played for an hour and run 3.14 miles.  It was a pretty slow game so I didn't run as far or as much as I should have.  Afterwards Colleen told me I have to run at least 3.5 miles (preferably 4) or I am not allowed to play.  That will male sure (1) I get back more and defense, and (2) look at my watch more to see how much I am running.

Saturday:
Out for soccer again.  Taking heed of Colleen advice, I do a bit more running.  I play for just over an hour (1:05) but this time I ran 4.5 miles.  it is nearly 1.4 miles more than last time.  I keep looking down at my watch and then think about having to do more running.  I end up getting up and down the field more often, which will obviously both help my fitness my leg strength and eventually my soccer.

Sunday:
Out for a ride with Lloyd and Dennis.  They are a third of the way through their 60+ mile ride when we (Colleen, Todd and I) hook up with them, they take us out, and up Kings Mountain Road (it is 6.8% over 4.3 miles/~7km, climbing 1540ft/469m).  Colleen doesn't really enjoy going up too much, and about 900 yards (800 meters) from the top she decides enough is enough.  I bust up to the top and get everyone else and we come back down, then out around Alpine, then back up to Woodside and back down Whiskey Hill and back home.  Todd wraps at the bottom of Sand Hill having done about 30 miles, Colleen and I get home having done 45 miles.

The ride, with elevation

Click for a bigger picture, back button to return here

I felt pretty good afterwards, my quads are a bit weary, but I am OK.  I make a late call to go for a swim and hit the pool.  Once again I am up against the clock and closing time.  I jump in the pool with about 35 minutes before it closes.  I get in 88 laps (1.2 miles/2km), I have to be real careful on the tumble turns as it seem like every time I push off my calfs are going to cramp.  The pool is busy and at one point there are two other people sharing my lane, which is messing with my chi and my times.  I do the 88 laps in 37 mins 30 seconds.

Things I need to do better:

• Swim more regularly, I need to be getting into the pool at least twice a week, but I want to get in at least three times.
• Run properly, not just play soccer.  The soccer playing (although much more fun) isn't as helpful for the fitness.  Although when I did play a lot of soccer I could run really well.
• Ride more.  I need to go up more hills and ride a little longer faster.  Actually ride out to 25 miles (the length of a Olympic course ride leg).

So basically I need to do more exercise.

A Not So Solid Weeks Work

So, last week I was bragging, this week ... not so much.  Colleen came back from her Sales Conference sick and so used the following litany of excuses to avoid exercise.

Monday:  Tickets to the San Jose Sharks, couldn't exercise, fun to be had.
Tuesday: Just bone idle lazy.
Wednesday: Dentist in the morning had to work late.
Thursday: Optometrist in the afternoon, pupils dilated, exercise could be dangerous.
Friday: Driving to LA to see MS*, however within 5 minutes of arriving I had fallen off his skateboard and scratched my elbow, not exercise, but activity.
Saturday: In LA hanging with MS.

Not only hanging with MS, but eating fantastic naughty food as well

Click for an even bigger, tastier picture, back button to return

Sunday: Driving back to San Francisco.

Late Sunday afternoon I tried to redeem myself with a last minute flurry of activity.  Getting back from LA just after 4pm:

• I went to the pool and swam until they kicked me out, which only turned out to be 33 minutes and 30 seconds, however I swum just over a mile in that time. 
• Then home and onto the bike, bust around the normal loop as quick as I can, average moving speed of 20.8 mph.
• Then quick turn around and out for a run.  Colleen rides along side, talking to her Mum, while i puff and pant trying to maintain some kind of pace.  It doesn't work 3.4 miles in 29 minutes  fairly slow.

I wore myself out good and proper though, and now at least can say I exercised 3 times this week, sure they were all on one day, so for the first 160 of the 168 hours of the week I was doing nothing.  But you can't let the facts get in the way of a good story.

* Go buy his album on iTunes

A Solid Weeks Work

After two relatively poor weeks, this week was better.  It was way to heavy on the running (for which I am suffering now), but it was much better than the last two weeks.  If you count "exercise events" I did more exercise last week than i did in the two weeks prior to it, also if you count miles and time it pretty much even.

Monday

Start the week with cycling, out on the normal loop.  I bought some aero bars on the way home from work, and I put them on before the ride.  I think it makes me faster.  It is one of the faster rides to date and I seem to be a little faster on the downhills.  But over a long period of time, they feel quite uncomfortable, squeezing my elbows in and it seems I change gears a lot more than I realized.  The are fun to play with though.  Several other cyclists look at me strangely ... I think they are just jealous.  I complete the loop in 58 minutes 30 seconds with an average moving speed of 20.8 mph.

New Aerobars.

Elbows on the pads.

Hands grasp the ends way out there.

Makes you all "aero"dynamic.

click for a bigger picture

hit the back button to return here

Tuesday


In the pool Tuesday afternoon and swim a mile and a half.  A girl/woman gets into the lane beside me and she is pretty quick.  I have a bit of trouble keeping her behind me.  I had done about 30 laps before she got in and by 60 she has caught me (gained about 25 yards on me), I hold her even until 70 and then she gets ahead of me but stops.  I finish out the 100 and complete them in just under 44 minutes.  With the un-timed 2 laps warm-up and 4 lap cool down it is a mile and a half.

Wednesday

Get home from work and map out a 6 mile run, the run length of an Olympic distance triathlon.  I try to get through it with moderate pace but don't push myself too hard.  I increase speed pretty consistently through the run, with the minutes per mile as follows:

#1: 9:15, #2: 9:04, #3: 8:39, #4: 8:51, #5: 8:40, #6: 8:21, #7: 7:21

The 7th split is only for the last third of a mile that I lamely tried to sprint to the finish.  In the end the 6.3 miles ~10km) took 55 minutes and 8 seconds, with an average pace of 8 minute 45 second miles.  Not too bad and the furthest I have run thus far.

Thursday

Work in the morning and then up to EA for lunchtime soccer.  Good to see a lot of familiar face there.  Played for an hour and wore myself out.  Was a little upset I forgot the GPS watch.  I am sure it would have looked pretty interesting.

Friday: Part 1 - Soccer

Working from home on Fridays is pretty much the norm at the moment, so take the opportunity to get another soccer game in.  Remember the GPS watch this time and the results were pretty fun.  I was back a lot more than I thought I would be, but obviously only when I has to as it narrows towards the defensive end (lower left).  Th long line out and back is me retrieving the ball after a missed shot on our goal. Forward I am all over the place.  The attacking goal were a little bit further upper right than the stop and start markers.  Th defensive goals were basically in line with where the field narrows towards the bottom left.  Play for an hour cover 3.59 miles (5.7km).  Fastest speed 15.3 mph (24.6km/h) pretty happy with that!

Map of Soccer Run

Friday: Part 2 - Cycling

After soccer back to work.  Once I am finished up out on the bike for the second ride with the aerobars.  This time I do the short alpine loop, reverse as it is the first time I am riding it solo and want to set a best time.  It is sad I know - this continual desire to always be faster.  Thankfully I am faster, and not just faster on this ride but faster than ever.  Perhaps these aerobars a worth something after all.  I go round the 20.29 miles with a time of 57 minutes 14 seconds.  With a moving average of 21.3 mph.  It is tough to know how and why I am getting faster.  There are a couple of thing, obviously I am (hopefully) getting fitter and better at this.  Secondly I have a new bike - so all my times are tainted a little by the bike now being faster than the old, but faster times on the new bike have to be because I am getting better, or thirdly, the aerobars throw another complication into the mix, making me faster without getting better.  Also I have no real way to measure how much effort I am actually putting in.  But as long as I keep getting faster as I have been it isn't so important.  When I stop then I'll need to look at all these things to try to figure out why!

Friday: Part 3 - Swimming

I get home after the ride and realize I have time to get to the pool.  So I get myself together and get to the pool.  As I start out I debate the wisdom of this move and throughout the swim I am definitely feeling the  rest of the days exercise.  It has basically been a triathlon in reverse, with generous rest in between.  I do the normal now the 100 laps with the 2 lap warm up and 4 lap warm down, swimming a mile and a half, timing the 100 which is about 1.42 miles.  I do it in 43:30, which is about the same as Tuesday's swim without any other exercise on the same day slowing me down.  This confuses me a little because I didn't feel very quick in the water.  Makes me wonder about my lap counting abilities.

Saturday

Out for another game of soccer on Saturday, play for an hour and twenty minutes and cover 4.55 miles (7.32km).  Fastest speed of 15.4 mph (24.78 km/h).  I am pretty sure that is a fairly short burst.  Hmmm, just did some playing with the calculator and discovered 24.78 km/h is 6.883 m/s which means at that pace it would take me over 14 seconds to complete 100 meters ... 3 seconds slower than my best times as a kid.  Not as impressed as I was, but I know my quads are still not fully back yet since the surgery, so there might still be some left in me.

The knee feels a little dodgy after and I know why, the 6.3 mile run, an hour of soccer thursday, 3.59 miles over an hour of soccer on Friday plus the 4.55 miles over 1 hour 20 minutes of soccer on Saturday.  That is 14.4 miles then the unknown amount on Thursday which is probably about 3.5 miles again (like Friday, same field same amount of time), so about 18 miles of running ... way to much.  Got too excited playing soccer again.  It does help me to realize why I was so fit and good to run before the ACL tear.  I was playing soccer 6 times a week, probably doing around 22 miles.

Sunday

Out for a ride with Lloyd and Jeff, we do a loop that consists of what is the reverse alpine loop with an extra 14 miles up and back on Canada Road.  We ride for about 2 hours  20 minutes covering 39 miles.  It is fairly relaxed but still well paced.  The moving average is 18.1 mph.  Nice day with a nice ride.  Not much else to report.  I am pretty sure we could have all gone a bit quicker - but we keep it nice and social.

Exercise Logs & Views

Quick update:

I have a new page that shows the exercise I have been doing, at a relatively coarse level, you cannot actually see what I did with too much detail during the exercise, but you can see what I have been up to.  Check it out here.  You can also see it anytime you want by clicking Monthly Exercise Logs over there under Content on the right.

Also I found out when I logged in that you can look at the blog in a bunch of different views.  I thought it was pretty cool.  You an check out the views here, I have put it into my favourite, you can change the view where it says "sidebar" in the top left.  In doing this, looking specifically at the mosaic and snapshot views, I realized how few photos I have on the blog - will make sure I change that going forward.

The views don't show any of the Ads so I am not sure how long they are going to last in their current form.  The Ads I have on the site here I did for a bit of a joke, I have earned one cent so far.  Cashing in.

Oh I am so Lazy ...

Sorry - it has been a while.  Almost 15 days!  Rubbish.  Probably have lost all my readership!  I gather this will have to be good, regain some momentum.  So, this is going to be quick and punchy.

Two weeks ago:

Monday (14th): Swimming, an old guy on my right and a 8 year old girl on my left, both making me look slow.  The old guy's gut was hanging down, but not slowing him down.   The only consolation I had was he stopped before I did.  The little girl - she was wearing flippers, but she was rocketing up and down the pool.  I do just under a mile and a half (1.4 miles/2.3km) 100 laps.  I realize that another 6 laps will take me to 1.5miles - that is my new goal.

Wednesday (16th): Riding with Colleen, we did the Alpine loop in reverse.  Weird to do the same ride backwards, uphill when it usually down, etc.  Colleen had a great ride.  Her moving average is over 16mph.  She passes some guys who I smile at as I ride past them in her wake.

Thursday (17th): Swimming, do two-thirds of a mile, not really feeling like it.  Probably still emasculated due to being constantly lapped by little girls last time I swam.  My goggles feel too tight, my cap feels like it is sliding off ... wait a minute am I becoming a little girl!?!

Saturday (19th): Snowboarding, takes nearly 15 hours end-to-end to get to the cabin in Tahoe.  Due to the late arrival at the cabin (5am) no one is very keen to start early.  We get to the slopes around midday and ski till about close.  Colleen does well, I do OK.  I have one fall that hurts my knee a little that scared me a little.  I take the tricky GPS watch and hold it checking my speed every now and again.  The top speed I see is 32 mph.  I thought I could go faster but we were sticking to the junior blue runs to keep me safe.

All-in-all it is a fairly light week.  I get most of my exercise over the weekend digging the car out Sunday morning.  The weather is really killing the riding and running and isn't making going to the pool easy.

One week ago:

Tuesday (22nd):  Swimming, do the 106 laps to get to 1.5 miles (2.41 km).  2 laps warm-up, 100 laps, then 4 laps cool down.

Wednesday (23rd): Running, Colleen has been off 8 weeks, so we go for a run.  Just a little out and back and we keep it fairly slow.  She does well considering it has been so long since she has run.  She makes it through without any pain.  My knee feels a little dodgy all the way through.  Probably still a little tender after the fall while snowboarding.  We do 2.5 miles averaging 9:47 min/miles.

Sunday (27th): Riding with Colleen, do the normal loop.  Just a lazy ride to wrap up the weekend on the only barely nice day of the week.  The weather is still really killing the riding and running and still isn't making it easy to go to the pool.

Another slow week and I still haven't picked a Triathlon.  I need some focus.  I will try to find one ASAP.

A Week of Idleness and Lethargy ... and a surprise

So,  there I was Monday, not really interested in exercise, which flowed into Tuesday, Wednesday and almost into Thursday.  I think it was a combination of factors.  Firstly I have been doing a fair bit of exercise since I started this side show and secondly since the cancelling of the swim leg and my inability to participate in the Standford Tri, I haven't got a goal at the moment of the next Tri to participate in.  Thus finding motivation this week was a little ... difficult.

Thursday

Finally got motivated and out on the bike and around the short Alpine Loop.  I started a little under 100% and wasn't pushing myself to my limits but measuring my effort, then as the long up hill started I pushed pretty hard.  I was looking at the average speed through the ride and I was keeping it so high that I was worried I would be decreasing it at the end, rather than increasing it.  Overall I was incredibly happy with the ride, the fastest average speed ever (moving average of 21.3 mph).  Apparently the three days off was worth it!

Saturday

Spent Saturday morning after picking up a bike stand working on the bikes.  On the Thursay ride there was a fair bit of water on the road from the recent rains and the bike was a mess.  So I cleaned both Colleen's bike an mine and then oiled the chains made sure all the wheels were correctly seated.  Check the tire pressures and the brakes.  I figure if I am going downhill at over 45 mph (72 km/h) I should probably make sure the bike is in good shape.

After the bike was sorted out - off to soccer.  No not a misprint a typo or a lie.  I played soccer.  Probably not the wisest move, but I was just so keen to go an play, I have no idea why.  Up until this point I had no real desire to, partially to not try to hasten my recovery perhaps, partially because I was busy with all this Tri stuff, but whatever was diminishing it evaporated Saturday morning , because I was keen.  So Saturday afternoon I was back out on the pitch.  Colleen came to make sure that I didn't do anything more silly than I already was in just participating.  Luckily or perhaps because of excellent physical preparation nothing untoward happened, at least to my surgically repaired knee.  I slipped once, but everything was ok.  I ran into Blake and we both fell, bruising him up and bruised the inside of my right knee pretty bad.  I also had a lot of very ordinary passes, crosses and three terrible shots on goal.

One and a half hours later I was yanked.  Colleen decided that that was enough and I was taken off the pitch.  She was a saint or letting me go for that long.  Th next day, and the day after that and the day after that I hurt.  There is something so much more dynamic running around playing soccer that isn't captured in riding or even running distance or anything in my day-to-day life.  My quads hurt, my back hurt, my calves hurt, my groin hurt.  I was a mess.  The good news is one of the few things that didn't hurt was my left knee, which of course is an awesome result.

It was five calendar months to the day from my surgery (October 12th - March 12th) which was one month faster than I had planned.  One hundred and fifty one days or twenty-one weeks and four days.  A pretty exciting development, but not one that will repeated regularly.  I was pretty cautions through most of it and didn't try anything too clever.  Mostly because basic things were beyond me since it has been well over seven month since I last played soccer.  A game every other week might be the goal just to get a different sort of running, and to strengthen all those lateral movement muscles.

Sunday

Out for a ride with Colleen around the normal loop in a break in the weather.  Colleen was being a little lethargic, due to her lack of exercise through the week as well.  However a woman coming down the hill when La Honda meets Portola in front of us gave her the carrot she needed, with a good dose of prodding from your truly.  Colleen chased down that woman and then the next guy and then another guy as we went through Woodside.

The highlight of the day though was when Colleen spotted a "bobcat".  She yelled at me and we doubled back.  I pointed out what a poor idea it was to head back to see a bobcat, but we went anyway.  I advised her if it came at us to keep the bike between her and the wild, vicious animal.  When we rode back along the line where Colleen saw the "bobcat" we saw a larger than average black house cat sleeping on the fence.  Be sure that there was a lot of ribbing about the bobcat during the rest of the ride home ...

So my goals for next week are to do more exercise and select a new Triathlon to aim for.

The Week that was

So after the let down of the Triathlon being cancelled (well truthfully it wasn't cancelled - I just cancelled for _me_ because there were going to be two runs and no swims).  I had to make sure I didn't "fall off the wagon" and stop exercising.  So I made sure to get out every day ...

Monday:

Into the pool, and I set myself the goal of doing 100 laps, which is about 1.4 miles or 2.25km.  I did it in about 44 minutes, which I was pretty happy with.  The issue I am currently finding, while there isn't a drop off in the speed the longer I go, but I don't seem to be getting any faster.

Tuesday:

Tried to push myself on the run.  Decided to try 5 miles (8 km), I got through it pretty well, just under 40 minutes.  My watch said it was 4.9 miles, Google maps said it was 5.1, so I am happy guessing it at 5 miles, so I did it in 8 minute miles (or 5 minute kilometers).  Through the run I felt fine.  But afterwards it wasn't so good.  My knee swelled a little and was a bit achy for the next couple of days, which is a bit of a concern.  5 miles is probably a little to far.  I may try two 3 mile runs next week and see how I go.

Wednesday:

Back in the pool, but not really feeling it, and I have to pick up Colleen from the airport, so it has to be short.  50 quick laps (.7 miles, 1.1 km).  I forgot my watch and I was in too much of a hurry to check the time properly.  I think it was around 20 minutes.

Thursday:

There is a big ride coming up on Saturday, so I try to take it easy.  I go out relatively slowly for me riding on my own and I go around the normal loop in just over an hour.  There was a lot of time stopped at the lights, with the difference between the total time and the moving time of about 7 minutes, over an hour 7 minutes this is nearly 10%!  The moving ride time is 1 hour and 1 minute and my moving average is 19.7.  It seems that this "slightly" off full paced ride only slows me down by a minute or 1 mph, but my heart rate was reduced by 10 bpm on average.  So while riding at 95% of my top speed, I was 90% of my average "hard working" heart rate average.  However without looking too deeply into it - it is easy to see one issue here.  Since I know I was basically stopped for 8 minutes - the non-moving time has to be taken into account as well, as these rests may play a big role in reducing the average heart rate overall.  Not sure how much time I want to spend "deeply" analyzing the stats, but I have the watch and the ability, if I really want to get the benefit from all the fancy stuff I bought, I probably should *sigh*.

Friday:

Colleen convinces me to go for a walk so we walk around "the dish".  As it was getting late we didn't have the chance to do the "normal" dish walk of about 5 miles.  So we had to take a different path onto the loop to reduce it so we could get it finished before dark.  The walk in total then was just under 4 miles, and we had, what I thought, was a fairly impressive average walking pace of 14:30 minute miles.  I think some, if not all of this was born out of Colleen's sense of competition when a mother and daughter went past us right at the start.  Colleen saw to it that we caught and passed them.  We were so far in front of them, that by the time they were approaching the finish they were still to far away for us to yell insults at them about their slow walking from the car as we drove away.  We were that far ahead ...

Saturday:

The big ride.  About 6 months ago I promised Koen (a Director at Cisco) a ride when he was back next, however when he called me on it - I had just had the surgery.  This time he was out (he works in Amsterdam) I had to deliver.  So I planned out a fairly decent ride where we would do about 50 miles.  Colleen cam too however she went around the hills that we went over.

We started out picking him up from the hire place, out to OLH (Colleen went straight to the bottom of Canada for pastries).  Koen sorted me out up OLH, he was probably finished for a minute before I got to the top.  The gears were killing me, I couldn't keep a cadence.  I have the new cassette at home and it will be going on this week.  However despite that, and Koen.  I looked at the clock not too long after I started (33:20), and checked at the top (57:20) and it showed a difference of 24 minutes.  Assuming a whole minute had passed at the bottom before I looked Koen still pushed me a minute faster than I had gone before, meaning he must have done it in about 24 minutes.  Very well done.  I am very keen to see what I can do with the "easier" cassette on the back.

The rest of the ride was fairly tame in comparison.  Up Canada, with Koen and I doing a loop through the back of San Mateo and chasing Colleen back down Canada, then back home.  All in all about 52 miles with a moving speed of 16.5 mph, which is not too bad considering being on OLH for 30 minutes at about 7mph.  Koen did really well on a hired bike (especially on OLH from which i am still smarting).  Link to the ride here.

Sunday:

Did feel like doing much, but when Colleen went to Yoga I convinced myself to hit the pool, which I later learnt from this article may be the best thing I could have done.  Although it specifically call out riding ... that is close enough to riding in my mind.

I did 2 km (1.24 miles), 88 laps.  The tough part was making sure I wasn't passed by those in the laps closest to me.  A guy jumped into the lane to my right as i hot about lap 20 and he went fairly quickly for 10 laps before stopping.  Then at about lap 30 a guy jumped in sharing my lane and he put me into a bit of tough place trying to keep him from passing me.  But a he stopped and started doing sets and I was keeping in front of him while he was doing those as well.  The biggest challenge in this self created racing was the girl that started sharing the lane on my right.  She was really fast and the only reason she didn't pass me is she started doing backstroke for 2 laps out of every 6 or so.  Even then it as tough for me to keep in front of her!  In the end I did the 2k (1.24 miles) in less than 37 minutes (the watch said 36:xx but then I bumped the button before memorizing it).  That is over 3 miles of swimming this week.

Overall:

I definitely need to get that cassette onto my back wheel for OLH, and then I need to practice so I am ready for Koen's next ride!  I need to figure out how to get faster in the pool, which will probably require doing some sort of planned activity, rather than just jumping in the pool and swimming bunch of laps.  I need to ensure that the running I do is enough for the exercise I need, but not too much for my knee to handle.  I also need to find a new triathlon, hopefully with a swim in water over 55 F (13 C) degrees, a long way over that ...