Progress

I thought I would give a little progress report on my my marathon training.  I have been biking and swimming as well, but only as additional time allows.  For the last two months  I have prioritized running, and here is what I have to show for it.

Weight

My most significant limiter when it comes to running and so I set out an ambitious goal to lose nearly 35 lbs before the marathon  in July.  I admit that this goal is pretty extreme, and a severe diet is not conducive to retaining your muscle strength, but I tried haphazardly to lose weight over winter and I just wasn't successful.  Now that the pressure of the marathon is here I am hoping that it will provide that extra motivation that I need.  Also, I don't need to worry too much about losing weight too quickly as the higher your body fat percentage the more you can loose without having bad side effects.  I was starting out with a body fat percentage of 29% so I have plenty to lose.  Here is a chart of my progress so far.  The data has been smoothed by taking the rolling three day average.

As you can see, I started out losing a bit faster than expected and I got my hopes up a bit, but things have stabilized and pretty much I am losing weight on track to my goal.  So that is the good news.  I started out at 247.8lbs @29% body fat and was 235.6lbs this morning @26% body fat.  So that means I have lost 10.6 lbs of fat and 1.6lbs of lean tissue.  The small amount of lean lost was a happy surprise as I expected that I would lose more in what has been a pretty extreme diet.

Performance

So what effect has this had on my running.  I certainly feel much faster and a very easy pace for me is an 11 minute mile rather than a 12 minute mile, and my tempo pace has gone from 10:30 to 9:50.  I have also notice that my heart rate is generally lower for the type of run.  This has forced me to readjust my perceived effort levels of exactly what hard is.  So I am pushing myself a bit more, and going by pace in my workouts rather than heart rate.  Many times I only look at the heart rate data after the run is over and I am actually surprised that my heart rate was lower than I thought because the run felt hard.  This is all a sign of my threshold pace increasing which is all good.

My goal for San Francisco is to go 4:30.  It still sounds a bit out of reach but there are a few signs that are making this goal more realistic.  First, my training plan proscribes training paces based on "Planned Marathon Pace" and I can finally actually do these paces now where before I could not.  That is the first great sign.  

Second I did some Yasso 800s today and average 4 minutes and 24 seconds for 6 repetitions.  Supposedly if you can hold a pace for 10 repetitions that pace is a reasonable estimate of what you can do in a marathon if you change the minutes to hours.  So basically if I could have held that 4:24 pace for 10 full repetitions that would predict a 4:24 marathon.  I probably couldn't have done 10, but I think I could have done 8, so I am getting there.  

Lastly, I have been tracking my Polar running index.  This index is calculated by my heart rate monitor by comparing my heart rate to my pace.  It is a good predictor of VO2max and also running performance at various distances.  Here is a chart showing the upward trend in my Polar running index.

It appears I am at about 45 right now.  According to Polar that is on the cusp of "Average" and would predict a 4:15 marathon.  That seems much too fast to me, but in any case it is another sign that at least I am going in the right direction.  

Oh, to be Average

I recently read this blog post by Matt Fitzgerald, a writer on running and triathlon training.  He talks about the "running index" function on Polar heart rate monitors.  Basically, the monitor takes some basic information, such as your heart rate and running pace and puts it together to get a number, and this number can be used to compare your run against other runs that you have done, or even against other people.  The index is somewhat correlated to VO2max so it can track fitness over time and also can be used to predict performances at various distances similar to Jack Daniels VDOT pace tables. I have a Polar device and noticed the number, but up to this point I hadn't paid any attention to it.   After reading the article, I wondered what my numbers were.

This is a chart of my running index numbers since January first.  You can see that they slowly moved up to a 50 on 1/31/09.  It was pretty consistent too, except for the poor run on 1/18/09 where I got a 32.  That run was a trail run on an unfamiliar trail and I did a little bushwhacking, so it is to be expected that the run wasn't very good.  You can also see that there is a big gap after 1/31 where I missed quite a few runs, and now my score is back down again.  I can feel the fitness lost and here you can see it one the chart.  Actually its pretty amazing.  This running index thing might be more interesting than I originally thought.

In the user manual for my Polar device there is a chart that rates he running index number.  50 is in the "average" range.  Wow, I have a hard time believing that I could be average at running.  I think that is pretty incredible in itself.  To think that I could be average at my worst sport.  It also estimates a 4hr marathon time for someone who can average a 50 running index over time.  That just happens to be my stretch goal for the San Francisco marathon, so that is great news.  I just have to work on getting the running index number right back up there.

First PIG Session

I mentioned in an earlier post that I would be increasing the intensity on my bike rides in an attempt to increase my sustained power output.  This is harder than it sounds.  Usually I just head down to the trainer in my garage and pop in a DVD, start riding.  The DVD makes the trainer ride bearable, but also distracts me from what I am trying to accomplish in my workout.

I think to get the full benefit of these shorter workouts I really need to dial in my wattage targets, so what I really need is a plan that specifies particular wattage intervals and times and gives me a clear target.  The problem is that it takes a lot of time to come up with a good plan, particularly coming up with specific wattage numbers.  If you're lucky you have a coach who can create that for you, but that is something I can't afford.

But I think I have come up with the next best thing.  The Computrainer PIG training plan.  PIG stands for Performance Improvement Guarantee.  Basically they guarantee that if you buy their product and follow their free program you will improve your functional threshold wattage by 10% (or something like that. I don't plan on buying a Computrainer.) However, you don't need a Computrainer to follow the program.  You just need any type of powermeter.  Theoretically you could even use speed so long as your trainer has a consistent speed/resistance curve that would allow you to translate power numbers into MPH.

The best part of the plan (other than that it is completely free) is that it downloads as an Excel file.  You simply input you CP30 wattage (the highest wattage you can sustain for 30 minutes) and it calculates all your workouts with power targets for the next 5 weeks.  Then you retest your CP30 and do it all over again. 

I did a 30min time trial last Saturday and held an average of 195 watts over the 30 minutes.  I think perhaps that is a little low because I felt I probably could have went a little harder, but it works as a starting point.  My first session was today with a Tempo workout with 15 minutes of warmup and 45minutes at 166 watts. I definitely worked harder than normal, so I think this is going to work.

 

Ramping Up the Training

I've been back on the training bandwagon for a full four weeks now and thought I would supply an update. I wanted to start slow and build steadily, and that is indeed what I have done. In fact, this has been the most consistent training I have done in many, many months. I think cutting back on the hours has actually allowed me to train more, because I am more willing to do a workout even if I don't have available the full time alotted. Before I would try to fit in these hour and a half trainer rides and then ditch it if my life only allowed 30 minutes. That's real growth as an athlete, people. Here is a nice chart showing the build over the last few weeks.



Last week was bit more hours than expected because I was able to go on a four hour ride with a friend due to the MLK holiday. I expect my swimming hours and time on the bike to stabilize where they are, but my average weekly run time will increase. I just added a fourth run day this past week, and will maintain that for a couple more weeks. After that I will add one more for a total of five runs a week. This much running is very new to me. Even in my marathon training last year I never did more than three runs a week, but I am hoping the increased volume will lead to some big gains and also help take off some weight.

I had a fantastic run yesterday in Hahamonga Watershed Park. I did two laps around the park (around 6.7 miles) without having to stop for a walk break once. Even on the hills. Yeah!

Training Lessons from 2008, Goals for 2009

Planning my 2009 has to start with a look back at 2008. What was a success, and what was not. First the successes:

Increased threshold power on the bike by 10% over winter.
Finished my first marathon.
Completed my first 100 mile bike ride (with 11,000 feet of climbing no less).
Did more races/events than ever before.

Then the failures:
Did not complete training for marathon due to sickness.
Swim training never really got off the ground causing me to bail out on the Dwight Crum Pier to Pier Swim.
DNF the Grand Tour Double Metric by not being prepared (co2 is not enough on a century ride -- you need a pump, not just one tube and lots of patches).
Actually lost some threshold power on the bike training for the double metric century.

Looking back I think I tried to do too much. At the end of last year I realized that my triathlon training was unsustainable. I wanted to do longer and more challenging events, but could not realisticlly train for them with the time I have and still succeed in the other other areas of my life that are important to me. So instead I planned on doing single sport events so that I could focus on one sport at a time and let the others become crosstraining. Not a bad plan, but running a marathon turned into doing a marathon, a two mile swim and then a crazy long ride. Lots of people can do all these events, but apparently I am not one of them.

So my only stretch endurance event will be a marathon. Probably the SF Marathon. An because it will be my main endurance event for the year, it makes sense that I do it later in the year. I really would like to shoot for under 4.5 hours. I'm not really tested on the running front because last year's run training was devestated by a six week double occurance of the flu, but I think if I am to reach this goal, I need to really up the volume and frequency. So I am going to aim for 4-5 runs a week. That means more mixing in running with swimming and biking.

But I still want to do some other events. I think that I was able to significantly increase my power on the bike over the winter because I was doing short intense trainer rides and longer slower paced runs. Looking back I think that this mixture was effective because on the bike you can really build the muscle with intensity without your joints getting to beat up (unlike doing track repeats) and the long runs develop a metabolic endurance that passes over to your cycling. So I think that will be a combination that I will pursue again this year. No long rides over two hours. Just short, intense rides to boost power. My goal is to raise my threshold power on the bike to 250 watts.

I think that the fact that my swimming never really got off the ground was mostly due to frustration with not improving. To improve, I really need to focus on technique rather than volume. The clinic I went to late last year was a good start, but I need to drill, baby drill. As a result I don't plan on doing any swimming events this year. I will just do short swims where I can drill and maintain quality throughout the session. I plan on doing that 'til the marathon, at which point I will add in a bit of volume to prepare for a late season Olympic distance triathlon. I would like to get my thresold pace down to 2:00 per hundred meters.

Epic Ride #1: Calabasas to Pacific Coast Highway via Mulholland

So I have been preparing for the LA Wheelmen Grand Tour Double Metric Century Challenge and have been doing some incredible rides. I don't have time to do a very long ride every weekend, but I have been able to negotiate with my wife to get some long days in. I probably have done about 6 rides over 4 hours and feel pretty comfortable with doing the 200k next week.
Most of these rides were LA Wheelmen trainer rides, which they start in the spring with a new one each week. These ride slips are a great resource because I have really wanted to expand my list of available rides from the usual trek up Angeles Crest. Sometimes I am able to go on the regularly scheduled day, but usually I just print out the route slip from the webpage and go on my own.
The first ride I did with the LA Wheelman was a ride from Calabasas to the Pacific Coast through the Santa Monica Mountains. It was only my second chance to through these mountains. If you look at the profile of the route below, you'll see that the ride starts with a very steep but short climb in the very beginning. The climb is not very tough when you are fresh, but on the way back I was dreading that climb the entire way.

The first quarter of the ride was just beautiful. It was pleasantly cool with penty of shade through rolling hills with farms and ranches along the route. The next quarter of the ride started to get tougher. You had to climb up over the mountains to get to the ocean. I got a flat because there was slash in the sidewall of my tire. I felt pretty stupid about it because I had gotten a flat in the last ride I did and forgot to check the tire. I first tried to patch the tube, but it didn't hold. Then I felt really stupid because I should have just replaced the tube since I had one with me and now I only had one C02 cartridge to do it. It seemed like it took me forever, but I finally got it fixed by putting some cardboard separating the inside the tire and tube and replacing the tube. Now I had no CO2 left so I just crossed my fingers that I would make it through the rest of the ride with no more flats.

The climb was beautiful and there was still cool temperatures, but descending down to the ocean was just fantastic. It was incredible. You had to be careful to avoid stones in the road, but the views were spectacular.

Down along PCH the group stopped at a fish and chips joint for lunch, but I decided to press on back. First, it was only 10am and too early for me to eat lunch, but also I am slow and I figured I really needed that time to get back over the mountains, so I gobbled down a Balance bar and some Clif Shot Bloks and was off.

The way back was rough. First, it really started to heat up. It was probably around 85 degrees and I was pouring out sweat. Secondly, my bike keep ghost shifting out of my 29 cog onto my 27 cog. It was incredibly annoying. The route slip showed a different route on the way back. It was very steep, but incredibly beautiful. I wish I had my camera, as there was some incredible red rock formations and wildflowers out there.

The last fourth of the ride was just terribly painful. The ride had an assigned stop at the Rock Shop, and I should have stopped, but I was too concerned about making it home in the time I had told my wife I would be back. So I just pressed on. I guess I just took off more than I could chew with this one. I was stopping under every shade tree I could find. There was another rider that looked to be about 80 riding a hybrid and wearing sandals and I was doing everything I could just to try and keep up with him. It was so hot, and I ran out of water. I thought I was going to die so I stopped at a house, and when no one answered the door I just used their hose. I think I drank a whole bottle's worth of water right there.

I keep grinding slowly on, just dreading that last final climb. I don't know how many times I just thought of throwing in the towel and calling my wife to come pick my ass up. I knew that damn climb was coming up, and I just dreaded it. But I didn't call for the SAG wagon because I knew it would take forever for her to come get me, and I didn't want to wake up my four year old daughter from her afternoon nap. So I just pushed on.

Pretty soon I ached all over. My feet hurt. My hamstrings ached. My quads burned. My hands and shoulders were numb. But then something happened. I realized that I was at the peak of that very first climb. I was there and I didn't even know I was doing that last climb. I was so shocked and happy that I just powered down the last descent to my car with just a huge grin on my face. Sixty-four and a half miles done (GPS battery died on me so the profile above has the last few miles cut off), but how in the world was I going to finish 126 miles? I had a lot of work ahead.

Next time. . . the Terrible Tujungas!

FIRST Marathon Training Plan

As I mentioned in an earlier post I'm following the FIRST Marathon Training Plan. the plan I am following is for first time marathoners, but that is not why it is called FIRST. FIRST stands for the Furman Institute of Running & Scientific Training. The plan (as do all of them I believe) is based on the principles I described in post yesterday about the three intensity zones. Every week you have three run sessions and each session focuses on one of these zones. Other days of the week you do cross training. I think these plans are especially valuable for triathletes since we have so much crosstraining to do and rarely have time to run much more than three times a week. I also purchased the FIRST running book and I'll let you all know what I think.

Doing the Holger

Since my ocean swim was cut rather short yesterday I tried going for a little longer run. I have been working on my speed lately and usually that means intervals. I do a good 5 to 10 minute warm up at a 12 minute per mile pace and then try to kick it up a notch to a 10 minute mile pace for around five minutes. My heart rate usually jumps up to 90% and then I rest by slowing back down to a 12 minute per mile pace for five minutes or so. Then I just repeat this over again for the rest of the session. So far this has been a success. I have noticed a decline in my heart race for relatively higher speeds. I can now run about an eleven minute pace at the same heart rate that I used to get from a twelve minute pace.

I also have to work on my form. As I increase my speed there are opportunities to improve my form. For example, a common drill that runners do is butt kicks. You run and try to get you legs to continue up past horizontal after each push-off until they touch you butt. This is really exhausting to do if you are running slowly, but as your speed increases these kinds of drills make more sense. If you are running slowly and have a proper cadence (around 90 steps per minute) then your stride is very short and it would take a whole lot of extra energy to push you legs back that far. All that extra energy is just wasted, but as you increase your speed your stride opens up and it becomes more natural. As speed increases raising your leg behind you actually becomes an energy saver in that it decreases the length of your leg as it swings forward with each stride. Why is this important? Because you leg acts as a pendulum when it swings forward, and the shorter the pendulum the quicker it will swing simply from the force of gravity, and it will require less work from your hip flexors. Essentially, you can move faster and use less energy, which is what running efficiency is all about.

Another aspect of form to pay attention to is the arms. Most runners keep their arms at about a ninety degree bend at the elbows. Ideally you pump the arms straight forward and back and minimize the movement of the shoulders and torso. Moving your arms takes much less energy that your shoulders or core. You may have noticed that some runners, as fatigue begins to set in, tighten the shoulders and raise their arms. All this does is cost the runner more energy. By decreasing the arm angle the arms are becoming shorter, and as short pendulums they require less energy to move, but unlike the legs this is not a good thing. This is because the movement of your arms is to counter balance the movement of your legs. Without a strong pumping of the arms the entire upper body and core will have to compensate by moving. Your shoulders will move back and forth and this is much more costly in energy terms than moving your arms.

I tried something out the other day that I call “Doing the Holger.” I mentioned Holder Beckmann before, another member of my tri club. He is a great athlete and a great guy, but he does have a unique running style. As you can see from the photo he keeps his arms almost straight as he runs. It looks a little unusual, but actually it is not that uncommon among endurance runners. My theory on this style is that by lengthening the arms he is creating large pendulums that can easily counter balance his legs without moving very much. Less movement means less energy expenditure and more efficiency.

So I tried it out. It definitely feels strange at first, but as I got into a groove I looked down at my Polar S625x heart rate monitor to check my speed, and I was going a whole mile per hour faster than my usual ten minute per mile pace with no noticeable increase in heart rate. It was really working! So I kept it up and averaged six point six miles per hour for the last third of my five and a half mile run. Another breakthrough.

Swimming Time Trial PR

I am very slow in the pool so whenever I can get even a little faster it makes me really happy. I have been down on swimming over the winter, because it is hard to get motivated to get out into that cold water in the early mornings. And it is not just the cold. The warm, smelly water of the indoor pool at my gym is not too pleasant either, and frankly swimming can be pretty boring if you are just going down the lane over and over again. Drills can help with the boredom, and swimming with others definitely helps, but my favorite way to swim is in the ocean. Sure its really, really cold. But you get the excitement of the crashing waves, the camaraderie of the other swimmers and most of all you are just out there in nature. You see the sun rise over the hills, fish swimming below you and even the occasional seal or dolphin. Sometimes you just stop look around and think to yourself, "this is just really cool." So I had my first ocean swim of the year last Wednesday and now I'm psyched up on swimming. I have my next ocean swim tomorrow, and I cannot wait.

But today I had to deal with my disgusting indoor pool, as the normal pool I go to on Tuesdays is closed for maintenance. My gym pool is rather small and filled with senior citizens having a social hour so it is hard to get any solid swimming in, but I decided to have a time trial because it has been a while since I tested myself. Result: I swam 2500 meters in 55 minutes. Still slow, but a solid improvement.

Inspiration from Harry S. Truman

In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves… self-discipline with all of them came first.

--Harry S. Truman

Another hump day, another struggle and another chance for success. I'm a bit tired, but also feeling pretty high in that I have just finished a whole week of training and didn't miss any workouts. I have this minor sinus thing going on that started yesterday afternoon, but it seems to be holding and not getting any worse so I am going to Press On!

It took me a while to come up with my new training schedule just because I was conflicted on whether I should use the spin bike at the gym or use my actual bike at home. I think using my actual bike prepares me better for an actual race where I will be using my bike, but it is difficult to come up with the time because of commuting issues. If I want to use my own bike I have to get up extra early. I am already getting up around five am, and would have to get up at least another extra half an hour earlier to fit in any decent time on my bike, and later in my training plan when I need more time on my bike I will need to probably get up at four in the morning. I don't really mind getting up that early. In fact I kind of like being up and about while everyone else is asleep. Everything is really calm and quiet and you get to see some beautiful sunrises.

But I am the type of person who really needs my sleep. I can survive on seven hours of sleep but I really need eight. During heavy weeks of training I could really use nine hours of sleep. When I don't get my sleep I am miserable the whole day and tend to come down with colds. The answer is to get to bed early, but of course, life being what it is, I can only go to bed so early. It is a struggle now to get to bed by nine and usually it is more like ten o'clock. But in the end I think I just plain enjoy being on my bike and am just going to have to suck it up, and just get used to being tired. I think this year it is all going to be about getting out side and try to avoid the gym with its treadmills, spin bikes and indoor pool as much as possible.

So here is the new schedule:
Monday: AM: Bike, PM: Swim
Tuesday: AM: Trail Run
Wednesday: AM: Long Swim
Thursday: AM: Bike, Transition Run
Friday: AM: Swim, PM: Run Track Work
Saturday: AM: Long Bike
Sunday: AM: Long Trail Run

I was happy with how everything is spread out during the week with recovery days between run and bike sessions, but you'll notice that I don't have a rest day. I think I'll try it out and see how it goes. I noticed that last year I would take a rest day and then one or two days later I would have to take a day off for one reason or another and then I really regretted taking the rest day. Rest days seem to happen magically one their own anyways regardless of our intentions. If I am actually able to complete a couple weeks of this schedule with no rest days then I'll allow myself to worry about it.

LA Times Article on Blood Lactate Testing

This morning I was looking at the health section of the LA Times and came across this article on the blood lactate testing being done at a local gym. The gym is called Phase IV and is a place I know pretty well as I just had some lactate testing done there a few weeks back, along with a gait analysis. Jennifer Ischayek is the technitian who ran me through my paces with my bike on a trainer. She took blood samples and then used an andvanced looking device to analyze it all. You can see pictures of the what it all looks like in the LA Times article.

Bob Forster is the founder of Phase IV and is also a sponsor if my triathlon club. He is a great guy, and offers other great services for the endurance athlete such as strength trainig programs, stretching clinics, running gait analysis and much more. I'll post the results of my latate test in a few days, and when I get the video of my gait analysis I'll post that as well so you can see what it is all about.

As for actual training, I didn't get in my trail run this weekend because it was raining. Instead I did an hour and fifteen minutes of intervals on a treadmill. I ran between 4 and 6.3 miles per hour with inclines ranging between 0 and 6 percent. These new treadmills are pretty cool in that they automatically adjust to your heart rate to get you in the right spot. Not as fun as running in the hills, but still cool nonetheless.

A Cold and Gloomy River Ride

This morning I went on my first long ride of the year. I decided to start slow with my training and limit it to 30 miles of flats, which made a river trail ride the optimum choice. I choose the Rio Hondo is the closest to my home and has the advantage that I can spend more time on the trail and less on the street getting to the trail. The trail is in pretty good shape with very few potholes, but there are large cracks in the pavement which can rattle an aluminum frame pretty hard.

Today's ride was thirty miles, and while it was cold and dark, my spirits were up. I am excited about training again, and excited about trying out new things. The new thing to try out today was winter bike clothing.

I still have not got my wardrobe down for this kind of winter riding. I have tried different combinations of things over the last two months and have made improvements, but I still have much to learn. I wore some heavy weight cycling tights, but they have no wind resistance. At speed I am really cold, but while stopped at a light I warm up. On top I wore a long sleeve base layer, a short sleeve jersey and a wind breaker. It was probably too much, because I was soaked with sweat when I got home. I wonder if leaving off the short sleeve jersey would work better, or perhaps I need a windbreaker that breathes more.

On my head I wore a windtex headband, and a fleece muffler around my neck. The muffler works great because you can move it up or down to give you more or less ventilation as needed, but the headband did not work too well. It certainly is good when you start out the ride, because it protects my sensitive ears from the the wind, but halfway through the ride my head was starting to pound from the cold. I took the headband off, and I was actually warmer. I think the headband was causing my head to sweat and the sweat was causing my head to freeze. Ugh. It hurts just to think about it.

Here is a picture of the Rio Hondo. As you can see there is actual water in the river, which is only the case in the middle of winter. The rest of the time it is just a big concrete ditch.

The clouds were coming in and I thought it would rain, but then they broke and the sun finally came out. This picture was taken just as dark clouds were starting to break up. It is spooky in the gloom from the clouds, but the pond is the prettiest spot along the trail. The wildlife included some geese and a few homeless people. In the background you can see the outline of Mt. Wilson. That is where I am going next week.

I've Finally Joined the iPod Nation

Over the holidays I got a little gift for myself -- a 2nd Gen iPod Nano. I resisted the idea of getting a music player because I just don't listen to that much music. I am more of a talk radio fan. I'm totally hooked on podcasts, and even before there was such a thing as podcasts I would record streaming audio on my PC and download it to my PDA. But I had my PDA that could play music and do all these other things, so why would I want to buy a separate device that only plays music. The trend is to combine the functionality of multiple devices into one. If anything, I should get a new cell phone that takes over the duties of my PDA and plays music. And that is what I looked for, but there just isn't a really good MP3/PDA phone out there that is a reasonable size, at least until the new iPhone comes out (drool).

My PDA is showing its age. It takes forever to sync audio files. Sometimes I will put it in the dock when I get home in the evening and by the next morning it still would not be finished syncing. The controls are also barely usable as they require the use of a stylus. It is certainly not something I can do while driving.

Enter the iPod. I was considering getting an iPod shuffle just because it is so small and cheap, but I finally decided that I wanted a screen to select what tracks to listen to, and that it was worth another sixty dollars, so I went with the 2Gb Nano.

Now what do I think about it after using it for over a month? Awesome. First of all the controls are great. That touch wheel is even better than I though it would be. All the options you might want are in one simple control. I can change tracks, fast forward and change volume, all without even looking at the device. It has plenty of memory for podcasts. People might want more if they want more music selection on their device, but if you are going to listen to something and then delete it, 2Gb is really more than you need.

Did I mention that it syncs really fast ... yessiree! Download the audio files themselves can take a minute or two, but putting them on the iPod literally takes seconds! I boggles my mind how fast it is after enduring the slow downloads to my PDA. The battery life also seems really good

The device is really small. Almost too small. it can easily fit into a pocket, but is slick and it is easy to drop because it is so small. So I tried to find a protective case for it and nothing is really exactly what I want. The silicon skins are great because they protect from abrasion and moisture and also have a nice feel in your hand, but their drawback is the slip cases are hard to get on and off. I also wanted an armband to use the Nano while running and none of the armbands will fit the Nano with the silicon case. I would have to take the device out of the silicone skin to put it in the armband, and that is just too much of a pain. I hope it is just a matter of time before someone comes out with something to solve this problem. In the meantime I'll just have to use my pocket.

On the training front I cannot help but get excited because it has been three days of solid traing. I think I'm finally serious about getting faster. Today was 1800 meters in the pool followed by a 4.8 mile run. My legs even feel sore, and it has only been 12 hours. Awesome.

Relegated to the Garage

When I first found out that I would be receiving a new CycleOps Fluid 2 bike trainer, I wanted to set it up in my living room so that I could ride my bike while watching DVDs. Biking on the trainer can get aweful boring and something to watch would certainly help. But now I realize that the living room is really not the right place (not that my wife would have stood for it anyways.) See, the living room isn't really my spot. It really isn't my wife's spot either, even though she decorated it to her specifications with a new leather couch and beautiful custom drapes. No, the living room is my daughter's. She has accumulated a broad array of accouterments and they all seem to end up in the living room. Basically the living room is her play area. I did not think it would be a good idea to put the trainer there because I don't want her fingers to get caught somewhere while she is having fun turning the wheels. So I put it down in the basement/garage.

There is a storage spot in the basement in front of where our cars park that I have basically converted to an office. I have a computer, bookshelves and a fridge for beer and wine. The only problem with it is that the ceiling is really low. I am six feet tall, and I have about a half an inch of clearance. In addition, right in the middle there is a large wooden support beam where I constantly hit my head.

Here is a photo of my setup. I had an old TV in the garage that has a distorted picture (everything in the top of the screen, like people's foreheads, are huge), but it will have to do. I'll get a cheap DVD player for $20 and be all set. Above it I have a fan to keep cool. On the left out of view is a large mirror, that I also had laying around. I can now use it to check my form and positioning. All in all, it is pretty sweet.

I was concerned that because of the low ceiling I would not have enough clearance, but actually I have enough room so long as I don't sit up. I guess that is just more incentive to stay aero.

In training news I ran 4 miles on Monday, swam 1500 meters Tuesday and today I biked for 32 miles today. I can tell that I have lost much of my biking fitness as my legs are very sore. Got to use that trainer!

Ironman World Championships

Now on to a different type of championship. Ironman. The big one. This is the one, the only -- Kona. Ironman, what many consider to be the pinnacle of Triathlon started in 1981 on the island of Kona with a handful of athletes doing what seeming simply crazy. Swim 2.4 miles in the ocean, cycle 112 miles along the windy and blistering hot hills, and then finish with a 26.2 mile run. The Ironman has since become an incredible icon in the world of endurance sports and now many thousands of athletes dream of their chance to go to Kona. Because of the huge demand, one can only race at Kona of one qualifies at another Ironman race or wins a precious lottery spot. The big event takes place this weekend!

I have mentioned before that I am a member of the Los Angeles Tri Club, the largest triathlon club in the US. You would expect that among the ranks of such a large club, would be quite a few athletes going to Kona, and you would be right. This year the club is sending an astounding eleven members to Kona. Seven members have qualified and four lucky souls received lottery spots.

Today I wanted to mention one of these athletes, whom I have had the pleasure of training with -- Holger Beckmann, bib number 856. This will not be the first trip to Kona for Holger. You can read about Holger's first journey to Kona here. Holger is an incredible force, and I have heard other club members literally lament that Holger will always be in his age group.

But more than just an incredible athlete, Holger is a great person. He is a regular at the LA Tri Club's "Gladstone Swim" in Pacific Palisades on Fridays. We usually swim in the ocean for just over a mile and then head up to the hills for a trail run, a great time had by all. Here I am, a total newbie who can barely run at all, and he is always encouraging and supportive with a kind word and good advice. He is very friendly and incredibly enthusiastic about the sport of triathlon. Fortunately the LA Tri Club is filled with such great people and why I love being a part of it.

Go Holger!

You can follow Holger and the other participants at Kona on race day at Ironman Live.

On a training note, I did a treadmill run for 50 minutes and 4.2 miles.

More on National Club Championships

Ok, I promise this is my last post on the National Club Championships. I just wanted to point out this article on the event from Inside Triathlon. As you can see, the LA Tri Club got plenty of members to come. LA Tri Club members also placed well in the rankings, taking some of the top overall spots. Why did the LA Tri Club take second place? Because you will note that points are given for the distance each member has to travel to the event. Because, CMC members traveled all the way from Missouri they got extra points for just showing up.

That's fair, considering the cost of getting all your members across the country along with all the bike equipment. But just getting people to Las Vegas from Los Angeles is quite a task too, considering that every member needs a bike transport, a plane ticket and a place to stay. you add all that up and it is not much less costly that coming out from Missouri. How did CMC do it? They apparently raised over $32,000 to get their members to Nationals.

Next year Nationals will be in St. Louis in CMC's home turf. I'd say this is a great opportunity for the LA Tri Club because for every member we get to Nationals next year we will get extra points for the distance we have to travel. Come on LA, we can do it!

On a training note, today was my first day back in the pools for a few weeks. I did 1500 meters in about 35 minutes. 400m warm-up, 4x150m drills (3 stroke skate, fist swim then crawl 50m each), 4x100m descents, 2x50m sprints. Felt really good, and to top it off the gym pool wasn't even crowded. I hope this is what I can look forward to all winter.

Columbia Multisport takes the Title

Well, my tri club did not take the Division I National USAT Club Championship after all. That honor goes to Columbia Multisport, for the third time! We actually had a great of advantage of a numerically much larger club and we are not to far from the event in Las Vegas, but we just could not get all our members to the event. I am a perfect example. Another 130 club members did the Hermosa Beach Tri, so that was another hurddle for us. My hat is off to Columbia who got over a hundred participants out to Las Vegas all the way from Missuori, and by all accounts they are a great bunch of people. We'll see about next year!

I woke up too late to swim this morning, so instead I went for a bike ride to the Rose Bowl. This was my first bike ride in a month, and I could really feel the loss of fitness. I decided to be really relaxed and not worry about my heart rate or speed and just have fun. It was really too cold to be "fun." I was able to find my arm warmers that I had lost, but I didn't have anything to cover my legs, so I started to lose feeling in my knees halfway through the ride.

No, I'm not dead!

Today is my first day back training. I hadn't scheduled a break from training, but I got one anyways. I have been sick for the past few weeks, one thing right after another. The last one was really bad. My daughter had it, and we had to take her to either the doctor's office, urgent care or the emergency room for four days in a row. She was a trouper though. She didn't complain or cry. I was very impressed, and I know how bad it was because I came down with it a few days later. I was laid up in bed for five days, and basically couldn't eat anything for three days straight. I lost 10 pounds in those three days alone.

I finally feel normal again. This morning I went for an easy run on the treadmill for 40 minutes and 3.5 miles. Tommorrow I can try swimming.

In other news, my tri-club had a really good shot at the Division One USAT National Club Championships this year held yesterday just outside of Las Vegas. I was really bummed that I couldn't sign up, but I would not have been in any condition to race in any case. I have been waiting to hear how we did, and I still haven't heard. I can't take it any longer! Arggh!

It's Getting Harder

Sorry, still no Malibu race report yet. I'm still waiting for some photos!

I have been pretty wiped-out since Sunday. I guess it took more out of me than I thought. More on that in a bit, but first I have to say that I don't consider my triathlon adventure over, not by a long shot. I am still considering whether I should do another local triathlon, or just wrap up the season and start planning for next year. I guess this is rather silly, but the main motivation for doing another this season is so that I will have done three USAT events. When you do three in one year you get a national ranking. Now, I have to admit that I am a little embarassed to admit this since I think it is rather shallow. But for some reason I think it is cool to have a national ranking, even if I am number one million!

But I don't think that I have the time to improve much more this season, and if I start now I can start working on a solid base for next year. For some reason the idea of building this base fitness sounds really appealing to me right now. I don't have next season mapped out, but I do have some ideas of what I want to work on over the winter. Mostly I think I need to work on my running. My swimming and biking both need a bunch of work too, but I think there is the most room for gain in my run, so I think that should be my focus. Secondly I should take the opportunity to throw in some exercise that I don't really have time for in the regular season such as weight training.

So that is my general plan. Either way I am not taking any significant time off. I ended up taking a week off after Santa Barbara and that was just too long. I took Monday off and was back training on Tuesday.

Actually an embarassing thing happened on Tuesday. I forgot my dress shoes. It would have taken me a few hours to go back home and get them, and I really wanted to do my swim workout, so I talked myself into the idea of going to a store and buying a pair after my workout. But after my workout I thought about it more, and the more I thought about it, the more I didn't like that idea. I am rather particular about what I wear, and I didn't want to have to spend my hard earned money on a pair of lousy shoes that I don't love. So I just wore my running shoes to the office. I was embarassed as my Asics really don't go with my pinstripe suit very well, but figured I would just hide in my office most of the day and perhaps no one would notice.

Uh -- No. The first thing that happens when I get in is that I get an e-mail from the law partner in charge of my department to come into his office for an assignment. Ugh. Well, he didn't say anything, and I know he is a runner, so perhaps he understands. We talked a bit about my doing triathlons and running, so I guess it was ok. Just a bit embarassing.

After work I did a spin class. I haven't done one of these in a while because there really is no substitute for getting on your bike, but I have been having to work later and the sun has been going down later so I figureed it would have to do. One thing I noticed is that my heart rate was relatively low, around 130-140 range (70-75%), but I was still really tired. I was ok with that because this is really a recovery week, and it is very natural for your heart rate to be lower when biking compared to running.

But then this morning I went for a treadmill run, and I had basically the same senario. My heart rate was only around 130-140, but I would get really tired. I had to start walking around 30 minutes, when I normally run for at least an hour. I guess I am just still recovering from Malibu and shouldn't worry too much about it. I'm just concerned that it is flagging motivation. A weak spirit concerns me much more than a weak body.

DietPower Update

I has been a bit anticlimactic after my first triathlon. I'm not sure why but my enthusiasm has gone way down. I was actually expecting this. Is has been around six months since I started this journey, and I have often had difficulty in sustaining interest in any project for over six months. I have been frequently thinking of all the things that I have given up to participate in this sport, which does produce a bit of longing for the gold old days of sleeping in and having relaxing weekends.

this troubling new attitude, in combination with recent family issues and work issues I just haven't had the focus on training that I need. The Nautica Malibu tri is less than two weeks away which puts me right in the end of what should be my peak training period. Instead I went 6 days last week without any training at all. The week before that was really light, and the week before that was another 6 days straight with nearly no training. I could definitely feel the effects of the lack of training on the Santa Barbara Tri. While I did better than I expected I would, I could have done much better. Now I am looking at Malibu and just don't seem ready. The course apparently has a very hilly bike segment which really scares me. I haven't trained much on hills. I assumed the course would be pretty flat since the tri is near the ocean. I guess that will teach me.

So where is the bright side? While I am feeling a bit down on triathlon right now, I have to admit that it has changed my life. I feel much better. I look much better. My daughter was sick over the weekend and I didn't catch it! I have met some great people and have really enjoyed the time spent outdoors. I remind myself of this as much as I can.

Today, I wanted to check in on my weight loss progress. I have been using the DietPower weight and nutrition manager as a integral part of my training and I give it a lot of credit with my weight loss. I could train several hours a day and still not lose body fat if you don't pay attention to nutritional inputs. DietPower gives my tools to evaluate where I am in regards to water intake, calories, fat, sodium, etc. It doesn't do all the work for me. I still have to not eat the double cheeseburgers (or eat less of them), but without its guidance I don't think I would have gotten this far.

Here is a screenshot of my weight history. You can see a bump up a few months ago where I changed blood pressure medication. I got through that and now I am nearly back on track.

You can see that I have a ways to go. According to the chart I have lost 25.5 lbs, but if you count the fact that I was 280 lbs just late last year, I have lost 43.5 lbs! My goal is to lose another 46 pounds, which puts me at nearly the halfway point.

One of the effects of lagging training motivation is the difficulty in keeping to my nutritional plan. I find that under times of stress I will binge eat. You can see from next screenshot of my calorie history. There are some serious red spikes which is where I went through a period of over eating. You'll notice that often these times also show low training levels (dark purple lines along the bottom).

I had a spike yesterday. Ugh! I missed my spinning class and ate an extra 1000 calories. Not a good combo. Today has been much better. I still have over 700 calories left to eat and I am not hungry. Into the bank they go.

The next two weeks are critical. I need to kick up the training this week and next week do a reasonable taper, and I'll be ok.