Month: March 2012

Categories
Cycling Running Swimming Triathlon

First Pond Swim!!!

The weather has been so nice that last Thursday evening some of us decided to head to the pond for the first swim of the season. That’s right, on March 22, 2012 a group of us did the first crossing of Stiles pond for the season. The water temp on Stiles beach was 54 degrees and felt even colder. I forgot how much it hurt to put your feet in water that cold, no less your face! This is by far the earliest we have ever been in, for me personally I have never been in before the beginning of May. There are some really drastic temperature changes in Stiles this time of year. By the time we got to Camp Rotary (other side of pond) the water had warmed up considerable and we were able to hang out and chat a while. I would guess it was at least 60 on that side. The bad news was that we had to swim back through the cold. Great to be in the pond again though!

Swimming

Had some good swim workouts last week. I’ve been pushing up the yardage on Monday and Friday to around 4000 yards now. May push it a little further to 4500.

Biking

No outdoor biking this past week. Sunday it rained and was cold. I did manage to get in 3 days of riding. I took Saturday completely off to give my legs a rest. Hoping to make it out at least once this week, maybe Friday.

Running

I added some more running to the program last week. On Wednesday I went out for a 10 mile run. Felt pretty good and averaged around between 7:15 and 7:20 per mile. Here is the Garmin recording http://connect.garmin.com/activity/160064607. Also did a coouple of shorter runs. I need to get in another good week of running before my half-marathon coming up April 7. Looks like I will probably fall short of the 60 mile goal I set for the month, but not by much. I’ve managed to get in all of my biking and swimming miles for the month of March already.

Weight: 156

Categories
Gear

X-LAB Torpedo Mount and Bottle Cage

Recently I decided to change things up a bit with my hydration system on the bike. I’ve had a number of different solutions on my bike, from the Specialized aero water bottle specifically made for the bike, regular old metal cages, to the Speedfil tank with the tube. Each had their pluses and minuses. I liked the Speedfil the most of those three, but the problem is that it is very large, not very aero dynamic and a pain in the ass to clean.

For spare bottles I have the XLab Wing with carbon cages. Perfect for carrying two extra water bottles and stays out of the way. It is very convenient to grab one of those bottles and fill the Speedfil, or switch it out bottles on the down tube. I’ll be sticking with the XLab Wing on the seat.

Up front though, wasn’t really sure what a good solution would be. I liked having the tube from the Speedfil in front of me, it reminded me to drink. I also didn’t have to take my hands of the handlebars or come out of the aero position. I saw a lot of the Pro triathletes simply put a water bottle between their aero bars using zip ties. I tried that, but never felt comfortable with the way the zip ties were holding the cage in place. That led me to the X-Lab Torpedo Mount.

XLab Torpedo MountX-Lab Torpedo Mount

This mount worked great. It comes with four Velcro straps that wrap around the aero bars to hold the mount in place. I was going to use a regular old cage, but X-Lab also sells the Torpedo Cage made of carbon as well. This cage isn’t quite as long as a normal cage, which is kind of nice for inserting and removing your water bottle.

I tried the entire system out last weekend on my first outdoor ride. So far so good, it was easy to get a quick drink from the water bottle. So much easier than grabbing one off of the down-tube cages. Also having it right in front of me was a constant reminder to drink. Switching bottles with one of the ones on the wing was also pretty easy too.

The only downside to the setup is the expense.  The price for both of these items is $84.90 on Amazon. That is a bit much for a water bottle holder, which is why you see a lot of people using the zip ties and an old cage.

Categories
Cycling Running Swimming Triathlon

Back on the road

This past week I ended the week with over 9 hours of training. I think that is the most I have done since sometime before Ironman Lake Placid last year. Most of that time was spent on the bike or in the pool.

Swimming

I had a good week in the pool. Monday morning was awful, but Wednesday I managed to get a couple of thousand yards in and then Friday was a very good workout. Mike K. showed up in the morning and that kind of motivated me to keep up. Ended that morning with 4400 yards and was pulling 4×200 @ around a 2:40 clip. We did them on a little under a minutes rest. From now on Monday and Friday the goal is to get in at least 4000 yards.

Biking

Tuesday morning wasn’t very good. It had been warm the day before and the garage was warm and I started getting way too warm. I barely was able to finish the 4th of my 6 intervals and called it a day. That afternoon I ordered up a fan with a remote to try and help keep cool on the trainer. Cranked up the fan on Thursday morning and had no problem completing the 2×20 minute intervals.

This weekend was the first outdoor ride for the season for me. Well, the first outdoor ride in the Northeast anyway. It felt good to get outside. Still a little chilly at the start, but I had plenty of gear on. It will be nice when I can start the ride without all the gear. I managed to average around 18.4 for the ride. Felt very comfortable and never really pushed that hard, heart rate stayed between 140 and 150 while leading. The only time it ever popped over 160 was for a short sprint up a hill. I know the spot is one of the segments on Strava.com where everyone compares themselves to others. I’m ranked 16 of 78 at the moment.

Running

Only one run this past week. I need to get out at least twice this week and make one of them a long one. I’m thinking of making my Wednesday run a long one.

Weight: 157

Categories
Cycling Running Swimming Triathlon

Daylight savings….

Where is the savings? Just as it was starting to get a little bit light in the mornings when I run daylight savings comes along and takes it away. I don’t mind running before the sun comes up, but when you start way before the sun comes up it’s still dark when you get back! I wasn’t a big fan of Springing ahead this weekend as you can tell and I really felt it this morning in the pool.

Swimming

The last couple of swim workouts have been just ok. Haven’t had much speed. I think the problem Friday was that I was still sore from my shoulder and back routine from the previous day. This morning though it was all about daylight savings! I got to the pool and wanted to take a nap. Lucky it was a short workout, I extended it out to about 3800 yards just by swimming easy at the end. Hoping this Friday is better.

Biking

Had some very good workouts on the bike this week. The 6 x 6 minute intervals on Tuesday were very tough, but made it through them. Sunday I rode the Timberman course again on the CompuTrainer and shaved another couple of minutes off. I have it down to about 2 hours 50 minutes. My legs are starting to get used to the longer rides again, which is good, I wanted to get them ready before actually heading out on the open roads.

Running

The run was pretty much non existent last week. Did a measily 5 miles on Wednesday, I will have to pick up the pace a bit if I’m going to get in 60 miles this month.

Weight: 159

Categories
Cycling Running Swimming Triathlon

Back from Vacation

This is the first full week back from vacation. No blog entry for last week since we were away in Florida.

It was nice to be out running without having to use hand warmers. The first run was kind of tough because it was so much warmer than I was used to. The humidity was the big factor really. The 9 mile run on the first day wasn’t bad, managed to hold a 7:30 pace. The second run was better though and I managed to get it down to 7:15. There was a little more wind, but that doesn’t seem to be a big of a factor as the heat.

The swimming in the outdoor pool was great. The water temperature is perfect for swimming long. I hit the pool twice and basically did 500s. 500 swim, 500 pull, 500 kick and just repeated until I had about 3500 yards in each day. I wish I had tinted goggles for the swim though, the clear ones made it tough to see with the sun out.

I brought my Garmin for my bike so I would know where I was going and how far I was biking. The bike I used was a 1980s Peugot. I think I might have mentioned this last year. Nice bike, but I missed my biking shoes, you can really tell the difference when you bike with just plan old pedals. I also missed being able to shift from the handle bars instead of the down tube. Not mention there was no indexed shifting so you kind of have to hunt for the gear you are looking for. It was nice to get outside and ride though, much nicer than yesterdays 3 hours in the garage on the CompuTrainer!

The good news about vacation was that I didn’t gain any weight.

Weight: 158lbs