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11-32 to 11-34

August 30, 2010

I moving back to 11-34 cassette because I’m a puss.  Last time I ran 11-34 was 2008 and I had a great year.  Reviewing my data files, my cadence was much more ‘stable’ during races.  Running 11-32 my cadence is all over the place.  I can’t find my groove.  Either too easy or too hard.  I was hoping the legs would just get stronger but doesn’t seem to be the case.  I did buy XTR cassette to help absorb the additional weight of a 11-34.  I know it’s minimal, but given how much I suck at climbing, the last thing I am willing to do is add additional weight.

I’m will have to make a decision for next year on what I want to race:  Mountain bikes or triathlons.  Doing both is causing me to perform about average in both sports.  Since doing triathlons, my mountain biking has tanked.  Seriously tanked.  One idea is staying focused on triathlons and moving back to sport category for mountain biking.  Or just do one or two triathlons and focus all on mountain biking.  It will be a tough decision, but something has to give. 

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How About Some Pics

August 10, 2010

Just some random pics from the races this year.

 

4 2 IMG_1465

22836184-IMG_9886

22167848-2010 State of Michigan Games-8709 IMG_1908 
Brighton Stage TT 64962-1511-011f
ZF-10628-98238-1-001
Yankee TT20448764-IMG_5585

______________________________________________________________________________

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Five Ways To Get Ahead

August 9, 2010

Taken from Triathlon Plus May 2009 Magazine


  1. DON’T OVER FOCUS. It can sometimes be detrimental to over-focus on one specific race.  Putting you ‘eggs in one basket’ can result in you beating yourself up over one bad race.  Instead, if you have a bad race, look ahead to the next one and focus on ways to improve.

  2. STAY POSITIVE. Never give up until the race is over.  This applied to me during Millennium Triathlon this past weekend.  The first mile of the run was just brutal.  I was also getting passed by just about the entire field.  Despite how much I’ve trained for the bike-run transition, I just felt miserable.  Instead, I did everything possible to stay positive, and in the end I had a great run.

  3. PREPARE LIKE A SOLDIER. It’s essential to be organized to have a good race.   Knowing your pre-race routine, and practicing it, will allow you to relax more the day before the race.

  4. LEARN TO CHILL OUT. A little bit of nervousness is good, too much is destructive.  One reason athletes get nervous is that they worry to much about what other people think.

  5. PUSH YOUR LIMITS. Don’t expect to improve if you don’t give 100% during your training.  This is very hard for me because I have nobody to train with.  My structured workouts, coupled with a powertap and Garmin virtual training partner, keep me pushing and pushing.

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Race Season Update

12 races down, many more to go.  Yet I still don’t feel like I’ve done many mountain bike races this year. 

 

3/24: Barry Roubaix (mountain bike): COMPLETED
4/18: Yankee Springs TT (mountain bike): COMPLETED
4/25: Pontiac Lake TT (mountain bike): SKIPPED
5/2: Fort Custer XC Race (mountain bike): COMPLETED
5/8: Fifth Third River Bank Run (10k): COMPLETED
5/15: Brighton Stage Race (3 races in two days): COMPLETED
5/23: Xterra: Fort Custer Last Stand (triathlon): COMPLETED
6/6: Hanson Hills XC Race (mountain bike). COMPLETED
6/12: 8 Hours of Cannonsburg (mountain bike) SKIPPED
6/19: Xterra Torn Shirt (triathlon): COMPLETED
6/26: Michigan State Games (mountain bike) COMPLETED
7/7: Boyne Challenge (mountain bike) SKIPPED
7/17: Tri Del Sol Triathlon (sprint) COMPLETED
7/25: Stoney Creek TT (mountain bike) COMPLETED
8/7: Millennium Park Triathlon (sprint) (tentative date) COMPLETED

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Building Mental Toughness

July 13, 2010

Triathlete Magazine, June 2010 by Mark Allen (six time winner of Ironman World Championship in Hawaii)


Mental toughness was my strength three years ago.  Back when I spent a lot of time passing people.  Last two years, after moving up to Expert, mental toughness is my weakness.  Being passed by EVERYBODY starts to wear on ones mental state.  I thought this article had some good pointers.


Goal 1: Have Quiet Attention


Exactly what it sounds like.  Quiet your mind to stop all thinking.  This is suppose to prevent any negative thoughts.  If you find yourself moving towards destructive self-chatter, just to yourself to STFU (I added the TF part).  This is something I try to do now.  Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t.


Goal 2:  Suspend Judgment


Here’s an awesome quote: “There is no perfect race, but you can race a race perfectly”.  Basically that means you deal with every situation that comes your way in a calm manner.  Think of the Seinfeld episode: “Serenity Now!!!!!” 


Goal 3.  Find Strength Before You Need It


Where will you draw your strength from when you want to quit?  This is the story of my last two race season.  There are times I pray for a broken chain or flat tire.  Some excuse to end a race.  Think ahead of time where you will draw your strength to overcome this obstacle.   I tend to be very hard on myself, so the thought of looking at myself in the mirror knowing I quit would not turn out good.  Also, there’s the fact you have to tell your family and friends you quit, etc. 


Anyways, I thought these were good tips for mental strength. 

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Training for off-road runs

July 12, 2010

As written in Triathlete magazine in August 2010, by Melanie McQuaid (3x winner of Xterra World Championship)


Xterra’s are significantly harder than road triathlons (Olympic and Sprint).  The mountain biking and trail running will test your limits like they’ve never been tested before.  Below are some training tactics I read about in the latest Triathlete magazine.

  1. Hill Repeats. These train not only your uphill strength but your downhill speed.  Short hill intervals followed by easy downhill running will help mimic most trail conditions.  Sample workout includes 6 x 30 seconds and gradually start to increase the length (up to two minutes) as your fitness improves.

  2. Long, Hilly Runs.  Running on flat roads will not prepare one for Xterra style running.  You need to run hills, the bigger the better.  Try to avoid technical terrain so you don’t get an ankle injury.

  3. Trail Races.  Any type of races pushes your limits more than you can even in your best training workouts.  Adding trail races will push your trail running limits and improve your abilities.



The idea of running up hill is not new, I just don’t like it. I usually run up and down the local ski hill.  It’s a killer workout.

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Break Through Run

July 11, 2010

I finally saw some real improvements in my run.  I just ran a 5k at a 7.36 pace.  This was a day after hard interval training on my mountain bike, so I had sore legs.  I even stopped a couple times to flush the sweat from my eyes (I couldn’t see).  My previous pace was 8.55.  I’m not much of a runner, so I’m very happy to see this improvement. 

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Recovery Secrets from the Pros

July 9, 2010

Article in August Triathlete Magazine had some interesting recovery tips from various pros.  I can’t list them all, but some of the pros include Sarah Hammer (3x World Champion), Samantha McGlone (Olympian and Ironman World Champion), Ruvell Martin (NFL Wide Reciever) and Joe Friel (if you don’t know Joe Friel then you don’t belong here).

 

From this article there are two things that really stood out. 

 

  1. Massage with foam roller.  Now I just started doing this and it is amazing.  I also bought ‘The Stick’ which is great for doing right after a race. 

  2. Compression clothing.  In particular, they mentioned Zoot Tights. Of the eight pro athletes interviewed, five used compression clothes. I’ve been a skeptic of compression clothing and thought it was more marketing than proven science.  However,  given the endorsement from such accomplished athletes, I decided to order a pair.  Now these such is not cheap, which is another reason I stayed away.  However Pro Bike Kit out of the UK had the Zoot tights on sale, plus an additional 15% off with code: PBK15.  I’ll follow up on the results.

 

Some of the other items mentioned were ice bath (even the mention of that causes shrinkage), recovery ride and nutritional needs, such as Recoverite, etc.  I’ve noticed a big improvement when I started using Recoverite a few years ago.  Lately I’ve been using the Gatorade Recovery drink, mainly because it taste good.  There is also good old chocolate milk.  

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Myths About Stretching

June 22, 2010

Source: Uncovering the Myths About Stretching by Jeffrey Sankoff, MD (Triathlete magazine July 2010)

 

Can’t find the article on-line and I’m sure not typing the whole thing, but will take some excerpts that I found interesting.

 

First, what are the myths.  I’ve always been told that stretching helps reduce soreness, injury and range of motion.  That makes sense to me, but Dr.Sankoff points out that there has been very little scientifically investigation into these claims. 

 

“While it is true that stretching does improve both range of motion and flexibility, this had not been shown to translate to any other objective markers of performance.  Specifically, large trials have shown that stretching either regularly or before strenuous activity does not prevent DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness).  In fact, studies have shown that stretching may be detrimental to performance”

 

Detrimental?  How is that possible?

 

“A great deal of evidence now exists demonstrating that stretching reduces both muscle strength and ability to perform anaerobically…these findings have been constant across numerous types of stretching programs and exercises.”

 

Now I have heard that stretching BEFORE exercise is not good, but I always thought that stretching after is very important.  Dr.Sankoff says stretching doesn’t need to be removed from your exercise plan, but should be done with the understanding of the benefits or lack of.

 

So if stretching helps with flexibility and range of motion, then the focus should be on how flexibility and range of motion help with athletic performance.  At least that’s the next obvious question to me.  Guess I need to research that. 

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Testing Your Swim Fitness

June 17, 2010

Testing Your Swim Fitness.

I don’t think I’ve ever actually ‘tested’ my swimming fitness.  I know I’ve improved significantly but never really tested.  I just figured the actual race would be the test.  If I climb out of the water alive, I passed the test.  I will definitely give these tests a try and see if I can start building a benchmark for my swimming fitness.

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Swarm of Bees

June 15, 2010

Was doing a nice long road ride the other day.  I was coasting during a recovery break taking in the views around me.  I subconsciously was batting away these bugs that kept flying into me.  Soon it became apparent that these were not bugs, but honey bees.  Before I could brake I flew right into the swam.  I don’t mean 10-20 bees.  I’m talking about the kind that we see in cartoons that form shapes.  It was a black cloud of bees.  As soon as I entered I was out the other side.  I stopped to watch the swarm and they continued on their path.  Not one bee sting. 

 

This is the second time in my life I’ve seen a swarm like this.  After some research on the internet as to why they swarm, it became clear that it’s rare to see a swarm.  Has something to do with mating, the queen, relocation, etc. 

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18 Miles and Short Run

June 3, 2010

Bike Stats
Run Stats

Nice relaxing ride on roads that had minimal traffic.  Suppose to be cruise intervals today, which are very stressful on legs, but I changed to more of an endurance recovery ride since I felt my legs needed that. 

The transition from bike to run is still painful, but after a mile, my legs do just fine.  That first mile is pure torture.   I’ll try to always throw in a run after a bike even if it’s only a mile or two, just so my legs get use to the transition. 

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Training Peaks

May 26, 2010

You will notice in the right sidebar that I’ve added training peaks.  I’ve used it on and off over the past year but slowly migrating away from sportracks to TP. I know TP cost money but have access to my training plan via iPhone is awesome.  I also find it much more user friendly.  There are some downsides to it, including equipment tracking.  With ST you can track components (chains and cassette) mileage which helps with knowing when it might be time to replace them. 

You can see my profile by clicking on link, however historical information is not entirely accurate (hours, etc) since I didn’t use it 100% of the time.  I am going to use both ST and TP for the rest of the year and decide then which to stick with. 

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Race Day Checklist

May 25, 2010

Found this site to be very valuable, especially early on in the season when not really in a groove yet.  You can chose from different events under the list tab. 

Race Day Checklist

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