Better Write Something and Quick

Hey, the loco local folks took me out for a spin on some trails. I was going to go it on my own, but it was nice to have some company. I didn't have time to whip out the camera, cause I was too busy being last. Rest assured, after a few weeks of R&R, I'll be even slower!

I'm going to have to do some running, if I'm expected to show progress at Stump Farm in early May.

I may put my head down here for a bit. Buckle down, if you will. Once we're in swing, I'll try to get some posts out here.

Watch for an up and coming review of some tires I used all winter..

Other news, work has been gettin' their money's worth lately. I'm happy to provide, but likewise hoping this will be fully recognized as the weather gets nicer.

See you all out there.

Coming Together

I said before, this year's goal is a picture of myself at the Chequamegon Fat Tire 40, thinner, faster, and fitter. I'm not sure if I said that picture included a new bike or not.

Well, a cheq cashed to the Fat tire folks.

My weight has had a slight, steady, even, negative slope.

I sent my prepay check to Prairie Peddler for one of those Swift frames.

And aside from this on-call week, I've been pounding the pavement pretty good. Last week marked about 8.5 hours of running or riding. It felt very reasonable.

I'm working hard at work. Sleeping good at sleep. And it's coming together. I hate to post success so early in the year. It's a journey. I'm happy just to be heading in the right direction. Feet, balance and focus don't fail me now!

I'm Not Going to Podcast

I was out for a slowish, longish, short run (10km) on Sunday. Out there on the trail, I had quite a few brilliant ideas for blog postings. This may come as a big shock to regular readers, but it is true. Waves of in bound subscriptions to my FREE bl0g might have caused who knows what kind of massive flapping in the route tables of the Internet.

Alas, we will not be subjected to such writing. My brilliance only endures the run. Once I return home, there is other work to be done.

It occurs to me I could start a podcast where I run and say my ideas. But that is being and has been done. No one needs a windy, heavy breathing, eleven minute mile "podcast" added to the already good selection.

There you have it. I'm not going to do it. Now what the heck were those ideas?

I Got Brand New Shoes, Now I Run Like Someone Else

OK, I don't run that much different than I did two days ago. I just felt a need to play on a semi obscure Van Halen lyric.

It's worth noting that two days ago, I was having trouble running four miles without needing to hire a masseuse afterward (or at least wanting one). Yet today I cranked up Operation Mindcrime and ran a few miles (7.12 according to gmap-pedometer) in my brand new shoes.

Now here's the thing. I blame the new shoes. I started out slightly to very tight. A few miles in, I was relaxing slightly, but I figured the whole run would be a bit of a chore. Yet the last two or a bit more miles, I felt very strong. Maybe those last couple tunes really had me going. Maybe it was seeing two Cafe Hollander team riders out braving the night on their bikes. Those last couple miles of my first longer run, I usually just want to be home. But not today. Today I felt strong. I wanted more.

Here is where I recall back to the last time I ran early season, wanted more, and took it. I spent much time recouping the injury after that. This time, I headed home and replenished the carbs. I'll be out there next time getting more.

Just in case you're a running newbie or happened to forget (again, like me), new shoes rule.

Recovery (v2)

Balance

Work but a little extra
and the run starts late.

Run but a little too far
and the shins go tight.

Stretch the shins but a little too long
and the beer does not get drunk.

Drink but a little extra beer
and the bike does not get ridden.

Push but a little to far on the bike
and the dishes don't get done.

Recovery from one thing needs the next thing
When to jump is the key.

Take Sunday to reflect on a week well filled with work, play and fitness
But not too long, it all starts again tomorrow.


Penance

Oh that hill.
Oh that last hill.
Oh that last hill of the ride.
Oh that last hill of the ride on which I hadn't had breakfast.

I stood up.
I stood up my legs drained.
I stood up my legs drained of the calories which sat in them from the night before.
I stood up my legs drained of the calories which sat in them from the night before, yet I crawled.

I still felt the night before.
I still felt the night before where good conversation.
I still felt the night before where good conversation and a beer.
I still felt the night before where good conversation and a beer and some more.

Up at the top.
Up at the top the sun shined on me.
Up at the top the sun shined on me spent of old.
Up at the top the sun shined on me spent of old, now new.

I will do.
I will do what I say.
I will do what I say when I plan ahead.
I will do what I say when I plan ahead and succeed.

I did it.


PS

It's going to be a good year.

Recovery?

(warning self indulgent "status" post)

The last few days have been well needed, devil may care, jwm style.

Friday night I went "out" to sample various beers. More, in fact, than I had sampled in quiet a number of years (normally that number approaches zero). I stayed up a few extra hours past bedtime enjoying my hard earned, pain free state.

Oh but wait, there is a Saturday morning ride that I told myself I would do. At some point, I was certain I would not go. Yet, I awoke with enough time to be there. I racked my bike and grabbed my stuff. I left the kids with breakfast, Qubo, and their Mom. (and before this becomes anti-TV, they did shut it off on their own. She wrote/drew a book, and he played with cars).

Fast forward to actually riding. This was supposed to be an easy ride. Fear not, I will not let anyone get behind me. Uphills were pronounced (read difficult for my 1st day out butt). I more or less hung on, minus a hill or two.

I might have pulled something. On an uphill I came unclipped, and probably did some goofy looking save. Today, I've got my ankle talking to me.

Bagels and coffee with the boys after. I have a new goal for Chequamegon (if I get in). Something about passing someone and staying in front of them without the aid of air pump in the spokes and such.

Long story short, beautiful day with good company.

Today, I think I'll practice the Yoga position, "relaxing Dad".

An Apology to the Reader

I'll make this quick, as I have some riding to do.

At the time of the last post, I was stuck inside for an overabundant amount of time.
Deprived of regular workouts for two (2) entire days.
I was starting to hallucinate of summer and open trails.
I can see this future me oh so clearly.

In such a scenario, my normal 15+ year old 26er bike would suffice. Alas, I was stuck in a dreamy state of lust for material thing. I am sorry, this demonstration is not what people need right now.

(OK. I still want the bike, but I have grounded back to a much more patient state.)

Time to go for one more round of "make myself look like I want to look while I ride this summer". (i.e. ride the rollers and get fit)

Chronicling My Descent into Madness

Sometimes I get over focused on the wrong thing. Nevermind last Sunday's "This American Life" on our world situation. Or our Treasury Secretary on Planet Money. I'm listening intently to what indicators I can.

Yet, the air has warmed ever so slightly. Sure it is raining cats and dogs. The trails may not be ride-able for months. I'm already dreaming of a future. And even hoping for a new chance at this future.

I have never bought a frame online. I know many folks are perfectly happy to say "I need a 56", not even knowing the units for 56.

I'm certain I can list a number of ways I have been fitted, and purchased a bike successfully. Many of which would be scoffed at, but turned out fine.

• "yeah I can stand over it, what else is there?"
• Take a 5-10 minute ride. Do not to get anywhere near anything resembling a bump or dirt. Was I going to trail ride that later successfully?
• "this one's 1/2 price". That's a good fit!
  
• I've very confidently listened to a trusted LBS employees who said, "no, you need a 60" (and they were right). (and they later fit me on the frame after I put all the parts on it)
• The tri bike "trainer ride fit included with bike".

After all this, I'm contemplating getting something on-line based on 10-30 different quoted measurements. It has become an interesting exercise to see if I can psych myself out or not. After a week of "which tool should I use to draw this" (you'd think a computer guy could find a blueprint tool easily). I nearly resorted to pencil and paper. Luckily, some of the locals went to NAHBS and let me know about Bike Forest's tool to punch in frame geometry and see what ya get.

So, using the following:

• Frame specs from the Singular Swift L and XL sizes.
  
• A more or less straight side shot of my current mountain bike.
• Gimp
• An unhealthy amount of, I'm going to get this done and I don't care if an LBS in my state is going to start stocking them.

I more or less used this procedure:

1. Take a photo of my bike.. and tons of measurements.
2. Throw out 99% of the measurements and realize that if I just make the seat height right, I can try to line up the seat and BB in different layers and see the diff.
3. Plug the L frame specs into the online BikeCAD tool. Turn that into a layer in GIMP.
   
4. Plug the XL frame specs into the online BikeCAD tool. Turn that into a layer in GIMP.
5. Save your work!
   

** Disclaimer - I did my best to use the right specs for the frames. I don't represent the manufacturer. It could all be so wrong that it's not funny.

What I might have learned:

• I'm not sure I trust this picture. But if it's right. It surprises me how little the difference between L, and XL is.
• I could probably use the extra 50mm in the seat tube.
  
• Are (current) my bars too low?
• Hrmph. Does it line up if I draw a midge on the Singular?

Enough of this. Time to turn on the brain clearing device and do some core.

Vacation Day

Woke up to snow I had no idea was coming.
Fed the boy and walked him to school.
Dropped past the neighbor's house for a quick chat.
Did the dishes.

Took my daughter to meet Grandma for lunch.
Got to get the full workup at the dentist's office.
Grabbed a pizza for the boy on the way home.
Leftovers for me (soup, pasta).

Sliver of ice cream.
Watched "Medium" with my wife.
Played a computer game.
Wrote a blog entry.

Then crashed hard in bed.
Will be up early for a run.

The Danger of Balaclavas

I didn't think it was that cold out. That is until I got home and couldn't pull my balaclava off. 20 miles of "road riding". I can't wait until it warms up a bit.

It can be done.

A Ride

I went out for "a ride" today. It wasn't training. It was riding. I believe one should get out even in the throws of winter (not that now is then). Ride you trainer or rollers as much as you want/need to. But get a bike outside once per week if you can. Your effort level may not be that of "training". Chalk it up to sanity and bike familiarity.

First I rode over to the local trail, only to find boot prints in the ice with a thin layer of snow to reduce the coefficient of friction.



Going solo, I decided to try the creepyfriendly style of photo takin'. This proves I was either on the ride or staged an elaborate studio setup taking much more work than an actual ride. Note, I'm still wearing that same Perl Izumi stuff I reviewed a while back. It's holding up well.

For the triathlete crowd. Normally I might stop at the site of the former Xterra swim for a dip. Here we see it would be unsafe, as there is no lifeguard. Never mind the snow bank protecting the water. Do you think my wet feet would freeze to the snow on the way back out?

Flag flying high.

I thought this was a good view of the sun coming out over Milwaukee. I had a tune in my head at the time, but who knows what it was now? (not the Beatles)

There you have it. "A ride". Soft tires ready for a trail that wasn't ready for me. Maybe tomorrow would be a good road ride day.

Multithreaded "What are you thinking?" Process diagram

I was reading Fatty's blog (like I always do). And I found myself answering similar to "I don't need a thing to think of, there is lots I'm s'posed to be concentrating on."

So I made a little diagram.



I just tossed it together. As such, I wouldn't recommend using it in an actual race. Also, there are clear things I missed. What if you have a flat or endo? I left out power meters and HRMs. Of course there's the "if camera, then smile" function.

In case it's not clear. The point is that you could be focused on racing. You do not have to try to remember the Chinese remainder theorem to stay mentally busy. I realize that this righteous babble means very little from a slow dude. Just sayin'.

Win Susan.

Diagram made with Open Office.

No Shortage of Droolin'

Some bike guy got me droolin' over a bike some months ago.

Originally they weren't shipping to the good old USA. I thought I was going to have to drum up a fictitious cousin in Europe to get one. As of late though, they started shipping to the good old USA.

All good news. But low and behold, some dude living in a land of French prairie dogs has a bike shop and decided to stock some of these bikes.

Sheet fire, who thinks I need to suggest a "camping trip to Wyalusing" with a quick stop to the LBS? Too thinly veiled, I suppose.

Anyway, I'll keep you posted. I should really start up that "product review Tuesday" idea..

Is anyone stayin' back for a weekend of riding in the rain while the cool kids go to NAHBS? I'll be here, savin' my pennies (and catching up on training).

Trust Your Feelings

Come (go?) to the dark side.

Any of you trail riders who are starting to think your biking needs a swim and a run added might take a look here.

Look, I know WORS has their stuff together for a reasonable price. And, it's tough to want to out of state. I'm just sayin' here it is. If you click, you click.

Re-Nay-Sance

Catchin' all my loyal readers up. Sorry you had to resort to reading the back logs, or worse (gasp) someone else's good blog. Ahem!

In no particular order.

I passed a test today. It means I'm certified to tell you all why you should turn off your mail server unless you really need it (and know what you're doing), encrypt all your traffic, and develop your programs right so some bad guy doesn't smash the stack on it.

To celebrate, I purchased a long held off "to do". I picked up a Boss Micro BR fer cheap. This is a re-learn guitar stimulus package. It's the one item that will kickstart said guitaring. It records really nice. Only problem now is that I don't play better.

I took my last antibiotic today. I can't say I feel totally normal. I hope that not taking the meds will improve how I feel.

I've been in a mood to eat less.. once I feel like exercising I am hopeful of the results.

Oncall ends Monday morning.. So, my prayers are for trail riding next weekend. A beer to relax at some point. Mayhap I can wrangle a buddy to go play 9 ball.

There you have it. This post pretty much gets in 1/100th the stuff I enjoy and or been thinkin' the last while or so.

Recovery Drink

NyQuil. Not that fennel-effervescent stuff, the good stuff with whatever the pharmacist doesn't want you to have direct access to.

One more day, I hope. The outdoors and even my rollers miss me. Nightie night.

Having Trouble Keeping Up

Rest assured I'm confident the season will get rolling as planned. But currently I can't speak. My throat has decided I should shut down for a bit. I'm going to lay low until I get it fixed.

I'm anxious to be doing something. Today would have been a wonderful opportunity to be road riding. Here I am. I'll be back.

This Is Not a Week in Review

Looking back my training logs say I put in over 6 hours. Not bad considering I don't feel like I'm in the swing of things yet.

And I managed to evade the paparazzi on the weekend ride. Awful nice of R. Tools to call "waiting on JWM" "taking a break for smart talk". Thanks guys.

Shortly following the ride, I made an appearance at the multisport expo to pick up my schwag bag for Tri Wisconsin. I think I threw a few tri-heads for a loop in my sweats/parka/brown hat combo. I don't want to tip anyone off that I'm already down 1/2 a stone for the season. I'm finally posting a loss in the weight column again.

10km is going to be my long run for a bit yet. It's plenty for now.

Other than that, when I'm not studying, I'm studying. Time for bed. Rollers don't roll themselves on Monday mornings.

Situational Conditioning

I've got a test coming up. I want to get re-certified.

I don't fully appreciate many of the certifications in my line of work, but this one was a challenge. The list of certified professionals is relatively short. I was an early adopter. And I felt it was worth keeping.

It's been some time since I've had to study in any capacity. There is the hitch. Now, I have seen some commercials about "the new learning" and all. New learning, indeed.

I have received mp3's of my material. It's Unix security related. So, my headphones are spitting out about 40 hours of Unix threats from the past 25 years. All the while I'm gasping and choking on 15F degree air. I've done some wacky things, but listening to "how to hack and protect computers" while running is most definitely different.

So, will I need to get a treadmill for the test?

I like it. Maybe I should swap this for the TV while doing rollers.

What It Is

How many times can a guy post a "getting back at it" or "now I'm really hitting it" resolutions style post?

Here I am again. Viruses ran amok in the family again. Things are clearing up for me. And now I ran. I biked. I'm curtailing my eating properly.

Where I am is the good ol' US of A. As such, I was hoping for some more immediate results. Yet, perhaps this is the year of knuckling down. This is the year to watch every move and get them all right. Now is the time to act like we deserve that big ol' "I'm an American" stamped on your forehead. Instead of telling everyone else what's good for them. Take some stock in yourself. It's time to shine.

(self pep talk over. I have to go study for a test)

Moab

I could not help but be inspired to go through 1-2 old photos this week.

Back story:

It was the early 90's. Love was in the air. And my girl planned us a trip out West. I had me a brand new, over sized, could not be heavier if I brazed on some lead tires Giant Iguana. I took my new tank and a trusty pair of jeans shorts out to Slickrock with my girl, and we had ourselves a ball. (also, I really dug the beef, Cheddar and peppers on toast in town).

Also "en route" over that spring break would have been Sedona, and a few other fun stops.

Fun times indeed. Minus doing the math wrong on coming back. Some how "still in AZ on Saturday" doesn't match up with "class on Monday" too well. Indeed, it was a thirty some hour drive straight back, save the pancake house stop and a few naps.

It wasn't until I got back wherein I noticed a few of the places we had been in some of my magazines. Heck, she took me out to some signed and sealed mountain biking Mecca's. Take note kids, if you find a girl like that.. hang on.

Not Blogging...

On the off chance you read this and haven't been here yet. Now you've been told.

Snap Out of It

So, I've been riding. Posting, not so much. Bear with me until things get better.

In the mean time, check out the commuter's next must have!

Bike lines for every road.

I for one, am rather anti bike lane. This version though, I love. Maybe it's just bright enough to wake a few of those motorists up. Or more likely, accidentally flash in their eye. Hopefully taking their attention off the cell conversation long enough to keep them from buzzing you.

Cheers!

Feed a Cold

All that New Year's resolution stuff is out the window. Some virus thinks I need to follow the "feed a cold". I'm trying to do so in moderation, but food does seem to help my overall health-o-meter.

Luckily I know better than to sweat a few days lost at the start of a year.

Keeping up with the core workouts.. The rest have been replaced by sleep. The worst part is when I stop riding, I spend more time lusting.

The Obligatory Resolutions Post

I spent New Year's Day biking down to watch some crazy polar bear swimmers at the lake. My best estimation was there were way more spectators vs participants this year. It gets more crowded every year. The '09 swim brought wall to wall (or shoreline to beach house) onlookers. The street was all boogered up with traffic. It was quite a sight.

We took the kids to see Bolt. That was fun.

On the way home we caught some Kopps. I manned up by NOT ordering fries, but in true JWM fashion had to reward myself (for not getting fries?) with a sundae of the month. The January sundae has truly delicious flavoring. It also has quite a story dating way back to when JWM had just met Mrs. JWM. More on that some other time.

As flavorfulishiously rewarding as the sundae was, I couldn't shake the felling that I ate too much of it. And the result was I didn't feel tip top. I went for a 4 mile run. Said "good night" to the kids. and hit some core workouts.

All this leaves me to reassess why I eat such things (again). It's a new year and time yet again to hit the button and reflect on self improvement.

Additionally, I've got an "new mountain bike" incentive for myself. It's hanging as a carrot (or an ice cream sundae). I have a mental image/goal of me whopping it up at Chequamegon on a new 29er single speed bike. This picture is my resolution and goal.

Happy New Year!

Go do your polar bear swim or whatever it is you are going to do this year.

Reset your counters and such. Don't forget the lessons you learned last year.

Good luck.

Hard Days

As hard as the hard days are, it's so much easier than regular days.

It's easy to go when no one is out. When temps are -1F. When wind chill is -20 or less. It's easy to suit up.

It's easy to go on days when you can claim to be the crazy one. Even if it's only to yourself.

If I can go today, I can go any day. This is more or less true. But it can be much harder to go every mundane, non-extreme, "get your workout in" day. That is where my challenges lie this year.

First Fixed Roller Ride

Yesterday, I was a bit tentative about hooking up the ol' Milwaukee fixed gear to my rollers and seeing what happens. I even considered the likelihood that video could make me famous on youtube.

Alas, such was not to be. It was a smooth, comfortable, uneventful ride.

One thing for future first time subscribers to the fixed roller rides. Note the difference on the rollers. When you stop pedaling, everything stops. This is wildly different than the road, where you are reminded immediately you may not stop pedaling.

It's -1 F, I'm considering a run outside. Better go.

-5 ? Really?

Or that made up wind chill number of -24.

It's looking an awful lot like a roller ride kind of day.

Snow Day

She didn't have to shovel.

Moles and Trolls

"Nobody has any fun around here anymore. Last week there were no entrants to the M. Curie lookalike contest. Well, there was one. But he was later disqualified." -- a movie ( I probably paraphrased it )

Anyway, last week my job was like the IT equivalent of ER. We'll maybe half ER and half cosmetic surgery. I came out slightly better than I have in the past. I didn't quite make the whole "rollers everyday" thing. I'm doing core and I'm itching to run. Sure last night before I hit the hay, it was 45 degrees out. This morning when I awoke, it was 4 degrees. But it's a dry 4 degrees.

Somehow, when it was 17 degrees coming home, it seemed not so bad.

I'm looking forward to a couple of (hopefully) non-70 hour weeks. I'm ready to roll. I'm ready to run.

So, anyone recall the movie? "Ice is nice!"

Speaking of a Roller Derby

I ran into a few headed to last week's roller derby. I read of even more who were there.

Then I read about an entirely different kind of roller derby on the other side of the world.

The first type roller derby I've seen on TV or heard about all my life. The second one, not so much.

I have been trying to hook up my old, semi unreliable cyclo-computer to my road bike. I want the cadence function only. I now know I've been going about my cadence-o-meter all wrong. I will be needing the plans for that huge pie plate on their wall. (though I don't need one that says 400 on it).

Time to hit the basement and see if I can get to 122 RPMs on my rollers.

It's All True

One day I wrote this.

The next day I read this.

Internet advice is funny, most of it is true for someone at some point. It's up to the reader to figure out which advice is applies now.

Limiters from the Back of Pack

I often have my own internal conversations about what easy, low hanging fruit I can pick off with regards to my endurance performance. I am writing this list for myself to read in the future. If anyone else can gain perspective off it, great!

1. Consistency. How many times do you have 2-5 great weeks followed by the flu, work, family, or other commitments? And do those other commitments (never, sometimes, often) build into multi-(day, week, month) lapses in your workouts? Fix: get in a workout. Figure out your minimum levels. For me, a 3 mile run is still a run. Or more recently 20-30 minutes on the rollers is very doable daily.
   
2. Repeatable. Yep, this is the corollary to rule #1. But if you're doing stuff that will leave you sleeping in the next day and missing your workout. You blew it. Once is OK. But if you don't write it down and learn from it you will be here again and again.
   
3. Weight. I should put this much farther down the list. Not because it's not important, but it's the known factor. Everyone knows the less you have to haul, the faster you will go given the same amount of power. If you spend $5000 for a 1lb lighter bike, great. But look at that 10, 15, or 20 pounds of cushion covering your six pack and ask what it's costing you first.
4. Genetics. I'm only listing this to mention you can't do anything about it. Cross it off your list and stop using it as an excuse you're not better. Have you fixed everything else?
5. Diet. Never mind your weight. Do you notice how you feel after drinking tons of soda and burgers/fries vs. fruits/vegetables/lean protein?
6. Core. How much difference does this make? After two weeks of fit-ball exercises, I perceive a fairly significant difference in my running stability. One might argue there are much faster folks who don't do these exercises, but we haven't sat down and tested their base against your base core strength.
   
7. Flexibility. Much like core. One will hear "I don't stretch." Or even read articles on why stretching is bad. Touch your toes (or try).. How do you think your range of motion compares to mid-pack or faster folks?
8. Leg turnover / cadence. While it's clear one can look at different cyclist and runners and find that there is no one cadence that works. How much time have you spent pushing your envelopes to see what works? (do you even know what you run/ride at?) If you plod around at 60 cycles per second normally, 110 is going to blow you up but quick. If you toss a few accelerations here and there, you can gradually bring up your cadence. After giving yourself a bit of a range, you can then better determine which is more efficient for you.
9. Form. Here we're getting to level 2 stuff. Doesn't form come from core, flexibility, and practice? If you think you have all the level one stuff and you're still slow, how's your form?
   
10. Focus. How many 1, 3, or 6 hour trainer rides have you done watching Lord of the Rings movies or what not? Are you anywhere near riding a bike, or just turning pedals and keeping your heart rate in a particular zone? I'm combating this on rollers where I have to at least focus enough to stay on them. Ditto with running and i-Pods. I dig the the music too. There is a time for it. Spend time focusing on form, pedal stroke, and just plain being in the moment. On race day (especially endurance ones), you will do much better by staying focused. This doesn't happen by trying it for the first time while racing.
11. Don't spread it too thin. If you've spent years not improving at skiing, swimming, biking, running and underwater chess, knock it back a bit. I pared back to just cycling recently, only to add in running finally. I'm going to stay away from the pool for a while and focus on improving what I'm doing now.
    
12. Sleep. It's shocking how much I perceive sleep/diet/training all hinge on each other. Is your case of the "training Mondays" because you stayed up later Friday and Saturday than the rest of the week?
13. Work harder. Caveat, this can't be in conflict with rule #1 or #11.
    
14. Water? Do you drink enough? OK, I'm out on a limb here. Yes, you need water.

The bigger point is, there are a large number of variables for general health. Many seem to effect endurance performance. Which one could really be keeping you down? Is it obvious? Grab the easiest one or five and knock them out. See what happens. My personal experience is it's hard to keep all the balls in the air at once. Then again, when I work on consistency and core, my diet likes to fall in line.

Feedback welcome.

Disclaimer, I'm not a coach and I just peel this stuff off once in a while to see if it sticks.

See you out there!

Stuffed

I started the morning giving myself hope for my cadence. I did rollers workout #1 again. I may do it yet one more time in the name of "one hour on rollers". Then I'll see what happens when I build into the plan.

Turkey, potatoes, several cran-* dishes and rolls. That was some good eats. Then pie. Tomorrow, I may have to crank up the iPod extra loud to drown out the blubbering on my run.

I hope everyone else had as good of Thanksgiving as I did.

Pre-Turkey Day Burn

I don't really want to be a "workout blogger". Having not posted in some time, I should update from the "Life" post. I did have a fortnight totally off of workouts due to fatigue and illness. I hopped back on when I was sure I was ready. The first roller workout was pretty steady compared to starting up last month. And here I am this week...

Sunday, two hours on the single speed outside in 40 degrees. Someone remind me to put it back to fixed so I can work the cadence. I felt I could push the low end but topped out quick.

Monday, gasp! I ran. I had to crank up the nano something fierce to drowned out the sound of my pleas and wailing.

Today, I'm really happy with today's workout. Sixty minutes on rollers doing Ron Rogers interval workout #1. First time I ever attempted these on rollers. I have some feed back for how to improve getting it done next time.. but basically I'm on my way.

The current go forward plan will be: Run M/W/F. Interval program T/R. And a nice outdoor ride on the weekend. As for swimming, I have to remember to cancel my membership before I'm stuck swimming another year.

While I'm at it, IT security stuff has been buggin' me more lately.. Tip of the day, "Turn off autorun". Especially if you take your thumb drive and/or memory stick to photo kiosks.

See you out there.

Life...

Here is where the rubber hits the road.

• I've got 3 flat tires in the basement.
• Some kind of virus is going through the family.
• Two birthday parties canceled today.
• Wifi users now have to worry that not only is WEP a flimsy substitute for encryption, but WPA is on it's way to the "do not use" list.
• SP3 is out, when to install these "fixes"?
• Boxes in the basement need to go to the attic.
• Whitefish Bay schools looks caught up on the wrong side of financial leverage.
• Update your Adobe Acrobat.
• Winter is coming.

Reboot

I hope there is some tail kicking going on at ICEMAN.

Kettles South

Man was my ride ever sweet on Sunday. I got up at the crack of re-un-adjusted CST 6AM and headed off to Kettles Southern Unit. I pounded out two smoother than ever before laps. I "cleared" many of those previously mental block, put my foot down, obstacles.

I've still got a bone to pick with the incline at mile 9.1-ish. I feel there is hope for me.

I do not yet know if I can learn to ride fast over this terrain (or any!). Every ride is and will be a learning experience.

I forgot to hit the lap button on lap 2, but it seemed like I negative split it. I was pretty beat, but much less worse for wear than my last excursion. I cleared 20 miles steady/smooth vs. bonking at 15 of 17.

See you out there!

In other news, I had to wait behind one person to vote today after work. All I have to say about the morning voters is "Suckers!" I mean, "Great job for getting out and voting!"

Help Fat Cyclist (and get new gear)

I've been waiting for the Fat Cyclist jersey to come back out ever since I realized it's availability was "pre-order only", a bit too late. Luckily, November rolled around. And Twin Six was true to it's word and re-released it.

Not only did they re-release it, but they juiced it up by sending half the cash to the Fat Cyclist family (if you're big like me). See twinsix.com for details (this week).

Win Susan!

Game Day Decision

I'm taking my extra hour to Kettle South. Set your clocks back. See ya!

Blip.

October is done. I took the day off to celebrate Halloween, last day of October, and our anniversary. It worked out beautifully for me.

News of flames at the Milwaukee CX scene made it all the way out to New York City.

Yesterday was beautiful. I put in some recon at Estabrook. Afterward I ran into Tosa Crosser. His used his keen senses to point out that all my "recon" was for the local cross country race, and probably not the CX course. Then he showed me around today's Kletch Park CX course. A great course, and today would be a great day for it. But I wimped on it for the prospects of a slightly flatter Estabrook.

Get in your last "nice" rides of the season, because I'll bet old man winter is a knockin' on our doors (at least in Wisconsin).

Last night, we headed out on the town for our anniversary. We caught a showing of "The Pool" at Downer Ave Theater. Director Chris Smith was there for Q&A afterward. It was a marvelous movie and overall a great experience.

Just a perfect fall day.

As for "the numbers", October is the most consistent I've been in some time. The LFM marathon was head clearing. It made me remember what I want. I took 4 days off post marathon, then it was cycling every day but two for the rest of the month. Rollers have me sturdy if not strong. It's a base/steady feel. I will be out gunned yet again at CX tomorrow. But it's fun to go "all threshold" for 4-7 minutes of a 30 minute race !

See you out there!!

Small Victories

I took the day off yesterday. I was cashed. I slept in unintentionally. I tossed the wee ones into their classroom and headed off to work.

Today was another thirty minutes on the rollers. It was "nice". I need to hook up that crusty old cadence-o-meter if I'm going to do Ron's Interval Workouts on it.

Today, once I got going, I was feeling pretty sturdy. Sure I had the errant 2-4" waggle on my rollers. So, I watched some TV. Turns out TV kinda sucks, and I'm not good enough to watch movies yet. So onto other "wins". I went for the water bottle. I got it to my mouth and had to grab the bar. Undeterred. I did it again and got a decent drink while riding.

Yes, it's a tiny victory. But it's also a new personal best.

Will it help me while I'm seeing stars at Estabrook?? Doubtful.

Bring On The Pain!!!

OH! No! Wait! Did I ask for the pain???

Yep. In the form of Halloween CX race.

How hard could a little ole 30 minute, cat4 race be after a season with a 70.3 mile triathlon, 40 mile mountain bike race and a marathon? These questions can only be answered about ten minutes into said race when you're just trying to hang on to the wheel of "Mr. Third to last". Maybe I wasn't fit enough going in, but I never felt like tossing my cookies.

As per usual, I saw a guy behind me early on. He must have dropped from the race when he noticed he couldn't even stay ahead of "that guy" (me).

I held off 2nd place (a.k.a. getting lapped) until I crossed into lap 3. After that it was all over. I'm sure I felt like I was running and look like I was walking any of the hills/obstacles/tall grass.

As for the coffin jump.. It went down like this. I swore to myself I'd give it a go. I was seeing spots on lap one and just wimped on it. Lap 2, they gave me a by, due to construction. By lap three, it was on fire.. My words were something like "Oh NO Way!". I'll have to practice for next year.

I stand by the fact that it's good, clean (more or less), laugh out loud, bike racin' fun! If you haven't tried it, at least go watch the craziness.

Kick the Tires and Light the Fires

I got my 38 tooth, rocket chain ring back on the Milwaukee Orange One.. (rockets are fast)

I reinstalled the Cross Blaster tires.

I put the wheel singlespeed cog on the drivetrain side.

The chain is lubed.

Who's up for Halloween CX? Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

Consistent and Repeatable

Day 14. Short in the context of a month, year or lifetime. But this is day 14 of consistent workouts. Of them, 13 involve bike riding. There is one run, and core workouts to fill it in.

I'm so lucky.

What's Right? (and other random updates)

There is knowing what's right. Then there is doing what's right.

What's right? Consistent, repeatable training stresses. Once I have that we can talk about building.

What I do every year? Add in random acts of on-call, sick, vacation, and various other excuses. I know it is by far my largest limiter. So I'm starting early and easy.

This year I'm starting early. I've got the rollers already setup and I'm doing 30 minutes per day without excuse (unless I ride outside).

I'm looking forward to Ron's Winter Interval program. I've been recklessly eyeballing it for some time now. I have never attempted it on rollers. I'll need to hook up a large view timer, and a big cue sheet. And I'll have to put a cadence-o-meter on my road/roller bike.

Tonight I threw in my first run post LF Marathon. It went fine. I took it easy. My knee is still there, but no real pain.

I'm four workouts into my favorite core workouts.

Also, Zentri has been talking about focusing on one sport and how great that is. I'm all in (at least that's the plan). Minus the fact that he's running and I'm biking. Maybe once we hit the "who cares what the ***** windchill is! it's cold" weather, we can talk about a run focus.

And I'm sending my good vibes to the fat cyclist and his family this week. I missed my chance to pre-order, but I'm watching out for one of these.

And finally, I'm coming out of hiding for the annual Halloween CX race. Riding or hiding? I can nearly guarantee that if you race cat4, you won't be last. (at Estabrook, I'll have my sights on 2-5th to last).

Happy Halloween

A.K.A. Fun with GIMP.

Just Ride

I did some exploring (trail riding) out at Muir today.

Looks like they're doing some logging out there.

A quick stop. Here is where I came from.

Here is where I'm going.

Get out there while you still can. It was a beautiful day!

All in all, I hit a blue loop and a green loop.. I took the blue loop like I had two kids and not enough insurance. I started the green loop like I had some insurance and did pretty well. About 15 miles in, I ran out of gas. Mucho fun the whole way!

If I can shake that "getting feet wet" first 6-10 miles, and not run out of gas at mile 15, I'll be rockin'!

Rollin' Again

I went back and read my prayers from before LFM. Last night, I got my bike and rollers all ready to go. This morning I managed a mere 25 minutes. My knee is still ginger. Clipping my left foot out is quite painful.

On the plus side, this is my first roller ride of the post season. I managed to do a one-handed sweat wipe several times. I've got my forearm lean on the treadmill down already. In a week or so, maybe I will be able to drink while riding. I don't dare put a time on being able to watch TV while riding.

As of today, I don't see CX or WORS shevegas happening this weekend. But as always, my favorite things about these races are the ability to make a game day call. (now that I look CX is next weekend). No excuses.

Salvation

I did what I said I would. Now I will think twice on signing up and not training for a marathon.

Notes about my "if you only get me through this I will shape up really" thoughts before the race. (before I forget):

• I want to run 2-3 times per week. One 90 minute run, to keep me honest. Later build to a tempo run too.
• I want to bike 3-7 times per week. As much as I enjoy riding outdoors, I will setup the rollers and ride them tons this winter. You can't argue with the time it takes to dress for indoor riding.
• Swimming is for suckers. (not really, but I want to back off so I can really focus on biking).

With that out of the way, here's how it went yesterday.

Got up at 5:30. Made my self a double espresso with a bit of milk, oatmeal with some organic brown sugar (it's what we had, I'm not claiming the high road). I did some dishes so the dogs wouldn't do them while we were gone. Hit the rain box, and got dressed.

I chose to over dress. I wore some Pearl Izumi tights that seem to hold my legs together a bit more than normal (I had contemplated the CX compression tights at the expo, but the CFO gave me the "eye of disapproval". Never mind that she was right.) Then I used my crucible tri shirt under another Mizuno long sleeve, half-zip, super wicking top. Between the two, I had two pockets. Livestrong socks and Saucony Hurricane 10 shoes, if you must know.

We (T, Pete and I), headed down to the lake around 6:20 am. We caught a bus up to the start in Grafton. Our bus driver was a lead-foot, so we passed a good three buses on the way up. I noted it would be the only time that day I'd pass 100 people so easily.

At the start, I ran into many others that I knew. The neighbors, my coworker, TriWisconsin peeps and many others were everywhere I went. It was nice to see familiar faces.

...

The singing of the anthem is always a great reminder of how lucky we are to be running/walking/limping/participating.

...

Gun goes off. There we go.

Aside from the usual race start stuff.. I had to convince my wife and bro-in-law not to wait for me. I would have gone too fast if they stuck around.

I started a bit tight. Otherwise the run went really well. I planned a 9:30/:30 run/walk. The first two miles I couldn't convince myself to walk. By three miles I figured if I didn't start now it would get tougher later. I felt great. I ended up running near Linda from Oconomowoc for a while. Her husband had a video camera, and we passed her supporters a shocking number of times.

I stayed slow and steady. At the half way point, I was pretty much dead on 2:30. With no training, a 5:00 marathon would be superb. One minor problem, around mile 11 my knee started a small twinge. I stayed upright. I kept my form even. I held off the inevitable as long as I could. Then about mile 15.5, I stopped to stretch it out. After that I couldn't forcibly bend my knee. I was stuck walking the rest. I couldn't complain on no training, but I was frustrated that I felt so good and just couldn't bend my knee.

I sent Linda on to her finish. Before I knew it I was walking with Joe. He had been pushing for a 4:45 BQ and had some severe leg cramping very early in his race. He was a great pacer and I'll wish him luck in the softball tourneys in Phoenix in two weeks. He had superb support also, but they didn't show until mile 24.5.

That last mile in LFM is killer. There is tons of winding around. I had no idea that I couldn't manage a curb until I hit Bradford Beach. The grass was also suprisingly tough. T and Pete were waiting at the end. They were in about 4:30 and did great. Good thing they had a change of clothes with them, because I had the car keys. I grabbed some quick food, then we all hobbled back to the car.

Yep. I'm going to be sore for a few days. I'll spend the time greasing my rollers. I heard winter was coming.

Dinner was at Hector's. I didn't short on the taquitos, BBQ chicken burritos, or the tequila.

Some Days

Some days you rush out the door and end up with a Newfie on your table.

Killing Time

Here are a few things I listened to in the car this week. (maybe it will keep you off your cell phone)

• The Moth
• The Age Grouper Podcast
• Of course Zentri
• Who doesn't put on This American Life once per week? (according to iTunes, most of you)
  
• A real live Fred.
• Even though I am back from Japan, I can't help but shout my answers out loud to Sachiko Nakagome in survivalphrases.com's Japanese podcasts.
• Wait! Wait! I might as well include this last one.

See you out there.

All In?

I'm not one to go around quoting Hemingway, but I like this particular quote.

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut." -Ernest Hemingway

In that vein, I'm going to do a marathon that I didn't train for. No, I wasn't drinking when I signed up. Here is some of what I've gone through.

Pros:

• My wife, brother-in-law, neighbors across the street are all doing it. (see also, If your friends jumped in the lake....) (note, I haven't done the polar plunge, yet).
  
• I did Ironman for land sakes. This won't be easy, but I know how to suck it up and get through something.
• Last time I signed up for Lakefront marathon, I got mono. This would be the second "no show" for me, with much less of an excuse.
• Today, I ran 90 minutes just to see how it's gonna feel. I won't be breaking any land speed records. I feel there is a good chance I'll lumber through it just fine.
• I signed up. Period.
  

Cons:

• I do not want to appear to disrespect the distance or those who really trained for it.
• There is a possibility this is stupid and I could hurt something (me).
• I didn't want to just "do" a marathon and walk it in. This is also a very possible outcome.
• WEMS Muir is Saturday. What can I say, that race is calling me. I even have a wild hair temptation to try to do both. And, yeah, I know how that sounds.
  

What happened? I was all starry-eyed for Chequamegon. I didn't run much. Sure, normal life got in the way too. I'm starting to think October is a bad month for me and marathons. August - October is when I most feel like biking. If I want to run it's when the weather goes south.

See you out there Sunday!!

Welcome..

This guy is responsible for getting me to do more "fun" stuff on a bike than I can list. Stuff I would done, but maybe not talked myself into. Stuff that had I known, I wouldn't have done, but then later he said "when I say 'easy', you knew to double it and add 30, right?". But now I look back (alive) and smile about all of it.

Need I say more.

Welcome to the blog-o-sphere TmonT.

Random Bike Links

How many of these did you click on today?

Yehuda Moon

Fat Cyclist

Interbike Blog

Milwaukee 29er Bike Builds

Some people even post pictures of bike riders

Riding the Vuelta with Astana - I'm afraid to read most of this. If I do, I might end up riding around Europe some time over the next few years.

Catching Back up Since Fat Tire

I'm signed up for this marathon. I talked my wife and brother-in-law into it. My neighbors are doing it. It's a party. Hard to argue with that kind of fun.

Now, recall for a minute that I have been doing last minute cramming for some mountain bike race that was last Saturday.

When I singed up for all this, "everything looked so easy after the Ironman" (in the tone of Smitty talking about the K2 in Better Off Dead). Yet, here I am having not run a lick in what seems like weeks (OK, is weeks and seems like months). I guess a marathon three weeks after fat tire 40 is harder than it looks. Or it'd be more fair to say, more than I could commit to in this carefree post-ironman training year.

I'm hearing a good bit of, "but JWM you can muster up and do this." Which, of course, I can. The question is, at what price? Never mind that I'm just digging biking right now.

Add to this, I'm sure I have some kind of virus since fat tire. No not the psychosomatic kind. The sinus infection, sore muscle kind. I've also been dropping weight like no tomorrow this week. My guess is not from the virus, but a decompression from my week of "free, good food in Chicago" otherwise known as "how much weight can JWM gain in five days?"

(insert JWM weight tip of the week.. oatmeal for breakfast. oatmeal for lunch (not cause you like oatmeal, but it's laying around work and you're out of pocket cash), then a "reasonable" dinner) By Wednesday you're pretty ready for some Oakland Gyros or other protein infused meal.

I told my loyal fans and now you, if I drop silly weight without getting sick by the marathon then I'm in. If I have to kill 200+ lbs on my knees then I'm thinking "see you at the cyclocross races." One "loyal fan" has already promised me a list of runner's maladies which can only be cured by cycling.

Pretty well caught up.. I didn't mention oncall at work, because it's been pretty good so far. Minus the page I was working on a few minutes ago.

Two of My Favorite Things

Mix up Linux and cycling and what do you get?

Qranium

Did I mention my 305 frizted after recording my 77mph downhill at Chequamegon?

No new toys for a while now.  And data certainly not first on my list.

Empirical Analysis of Fun

Graphs are just numbers on a chart. This one is elevation (in green) and speed (in blue) vs distance in my race (x-axis). Here we see my elevation and speed between mile 5 and 6 of the Chequamegon Fat Tire 40.

Notes :

• At point A, my elevation is at an all time low while my speed is about 33 mph on a grassy trail.
• At point B, my recorded speed is 77 mph. I do not know how my Garmin could have known that I felt like I was going 77 mph. I certainly wasn't traveling 77 mph.
• The elevation around C should not be represented by a flat line. There was clearly a 27" hole in the ground here. I know the hole was 27" because if I'd had a 29er, I'm certain my fear of front wheel magnet syndrome would have been unfounded. Also, I'm not sure, but did I see the Gary Fisher marketing department out there digging that 27" hole so I'd be more encouraged to get a 29er? Probably not. It's more likely I just imagined that.
• I did clear the hole and probably rubbed the rear wheel on my shorts in the process. I managed to keep the shorts clean, miraculously. Perhaps it was all in my imagination.
  

But still 77 mph??

Cheers.

Chequamegon - From a Beginner's View

The overall was, "Wow!" I had a great time.

Yesterday morning was race day. I woke up a bit before 8 a.m. Wasn't much feeling like breakfast. Also, I felt like my week of "not enough sleep" was catching up with me. I'm sure I was getting a cold. I had half a free organic bar and some Advil / Sudafed (this would be incredibly abnormal for me). I drank a bunch of water and just sat there for a while. Not long after I grabbed my bike and headed down to the start line. I tossed my "post race" bag in the pile and lined up in the back. I was next to Rick, Bubba and a couple of other dudes that wanted to stay out of the press for security reasons. Also, there was some guy that clearly had escaped from somewhere. He was riding what appeared to be the next wave in mountain biking, a 36er. That thing looked like it would kill on the downhills!

Before I knew it, the canon went of and we were rollin'. I got a few unsolicited pushes from the geared dudes. I was cold at the start line so I spun out something serious gettin' warmed up. Turns out that we hit the grass with 38 miles to go and I was gonna need some of that energy if I was to make the rest of the way. Blown up, I wavered back and forth between "uphill mode" and "recovery mode". It all evened sometime later.

Here are the (low)/highlights (in no particular order):

• Yeah there were some bad mamajama downhills. One of which I gave in and just rolled at max velocity. The bad news is I notice that crater at the bottom kinda late-ish. I did my best beginner's butt-scrapes back tire impersonation. Miraculously, I lived.
• Another proud moment was when I cleared a downhill that many were walking down. I followed some obviously capable women down a rocky, eroded decent. Picture said same newbie butt scrapes tire move. If you really want to be in the moment, my back brakes were squealing like no tomorrow. I made it all the way to the sand at the bottom. (the lost the battle to the sand).
• I cleared some uphills that I didn't think I would on my single speed.
• I walked some I thought I would make. Note, I was gaining on / keeping up with the bikes on these uphills.
  
• I made it through all but one mud puddle.
• My downhill mud slide really had a chance to improve significantly.
• All the "really scary" stuff is well marked. And "really scary" isn't that bad. But the first time you go through, you don't really know what you're in for.
• My back ached, but I had my 50 oz of water and a bunch of clothing in case my drugs didn't work and I ended up on the side of the trail shivering in the fetal position.
• With 5 miles to go, it DUMPED rain. The road opened up and the rain didn't effect me too much at this point.
  
• With 2 miles to go, it was back on the grass. This was ugly in the rain. Even on the non-existent flats, I couldn't move well. Lots of hopping off and running/walking.
• At some point, I could smell the brats and I knew I was there.
• Woohoo!
  
• My unoffiical donut hole number is 10.. +/- 2%. For those not there, I'd hate to see the donuts these came from.. They were rather large.
  

Post race it was still dumping rain. I had a hard time finding my family and my core temp was going south quick. I ran into the monTs and stayed warm in the lodge for a bit. Then I knew I had to make an effort to look for the car/kids/wife. I found 'em. They got me a piece of pie from the Norske Nook. MMMMMMMM!! Good!

Later it was pizza at Coop's. Though I didn't see Coop. We hit the pool back at the hotel. I think hot tub/cold pool variations on the legs did some good. But I'm still sore today.

See y'all out there!

One Last Night

One last night in the windy city. I don't think I can call Cheesecake Factory carbo-loading. But I had a nice walk up there and back.

See you all at the Fat Tire Fest. Anyone want to take a stab at the over/under on LA showing up, fresh out of retirement? Oops. I guess I'll take the under.

Chequamegon Checklist

When I get home, I'll need to grab my stuff and head north. I thought I might take today to pre-think this up. I like to hit the ground running or I will forget my shoes.

• Bike - Pre-lubed and set to go.
• Helmet - ANSI/DOT/whatnot certified.
• Shoes - the pedals are on the bike, no shoes would be bad.
• All the bike clothes I own. Why not? Who knows what the weather could be? See: arm warmers, gloves, jacket, shorts, jersey, etc.
  
• Eye wear - especially important when 1699 others might kick up some dirt on you.
• C-back.. OK, I'm going to severely modify how I load it up. But I'm thinking I will still bring the m.u.l.e.
• Tools - one must have a tremendous set of tools when they are 7 hours from home racing participating in a mountain bike festival.
• Other clothes.. Freeing myself from the shackles of work clothes and taking some comfy after race attire will be the highlight of my packing experience. (maybe not, but comfortable attire sounds great right now)
• I could not pick up any brown bike shorts for hiding my decent fear output.. Black will have to suffice.

Maybe I will bring a spotted cow. After this weekend, work sounds like it's going to get a bit ugly. I might as well relax to the fullest with a beer.

See you all out there. Good luck, and if you see Mr Brown shorts.. Go easy on him.

More Fat Tire Prep

No. No prep really. Just a walk up around Navy Pier, and stopped off for some pizza at Giordano's.

I'd have some neat-o pics of some sails, but my camera/laptop interface seems to be back home.

As for prep, I should spend some time meditating on what's going to go down when it all goes down. It will be a quick, late ride up. One day working in the windy city, the next barreling down some big hill I've never seen with 1699 other crazy folks.

Perhaps Thursday I will setup for some reflection here.

Gearing up for Chequamegon

With few resources pre-fat tire 40, I set off for a run up to Navy Pier and back, last night. Today, I had a great Guinness and a shepherd's pie.

I miss having not brought my bike with me. It will be crazy enough getting back north by race time.

Given a few minutes, I may seek a local bike shop and peruse.

I'm doing my best to stay hydrated and get good sleep.

I nearly ran into McCain today, but beaucoup security prevented me from doing so. I did hear the cheering though.

Greased, Lubed, Doped. Ready.

I adjusted the bike. I cleaned and lubed the chain. I re-adjusted the brakes. I took apart the bottom bracket and copper dope lubed it. It's gonna hang wet and ready to leave for Chequamegon this week while I work my fingers to the bones. When I grab her Friday and head North, she'll be ready.

I did my best to find some brown bike shorts for the harrowing descents, black will have to suffice.

See you out there!

Side note: Ironman Wisconsin is tomorrow. Good luck to all you participants. I hope you have a great day out there!

Post WEMS, Pre-Chequamegon

Getting the kids ready for school. The boy got his first bee sting today. He was a trooper.

Since WEMS Stump farm, I haven't given in. On the road every day since, and hard down at night sleeping. I'll ease up significantly next week. But I'm going to make it hurt this week. (It already does).

WEMS Stump Farm

I missed out on a good number of decent posts here recently.. The secret mountain bike trail I found on vacation.. My train ride home where I had to climb over an engine to make the train (this was authorized in case you're with the rail system). All the newbie rail riders whining about a late train.. Anyway, the stump farm deserves a few minutes to hammer out.

After an abnormally rough night's sleep, I woke up late (about 8:00 am). I brewed an espresso drink, and made some oatmeal. Around 9, I headed north to Suamico. I'm used to 7am starts and getting up at some ungodly hour.. This is nice. Oh wait, the morning temps were good, but by 1pm (race start time) it was sunny and somewhat warmish. Thanks to the trees, it wasn't too bad out there.

For those not in the know, WEMS is a race series where you are given an allotted time and you complete as many laps as you can. I chose the six hour race. I just wanted an excuse to ride as long as I could (which would certainly not be more than 6 hours on a mountain bike). I wanted to try out my nutrition plan for Chequamegon. I wanted to see how I felt.

There were some great riders out there. I'm such a newbie. I think I did a good job of staying out of the fast guys/gals way and they were all appreciative and nice about it.

Here are some of the questions I wanted to answered before that fabulous September day:

I have some new Camelback Elixer, which seems a grand idea. Scant on calories and it's got the electrolytes. Camelback may not be able to say it, but seems similar to Nuun. I'm in the very beginning phase of trying these two products out. I tossed 100 oz of water in my c-back M.U.L.E. and 3 (24oz water per tab) tablets of Elixer and left it in the fridge. OK, in hindsight this may have been a heavy decision, but I was trying it out. The Camelback itself was a trial run for Chequamegon.

How far can JWM go on a mountain bike without extreme soreness of back, shoulders, or whatnot parts? While Stump Farm ain't Chequamegon, it's a question I have.

And I wanted to say, "Hey" to my peeps. This is not a question. But I thought I'd toss it here.

Lap by lap analysis:

Lap 1: Just getting a feel for "will I die on this course". The answer was a definitive "you could, but it's not the course's fault".. I felt I was always on manageable ground, minus the steep sand downhill. Aside from this, I had all kinds of new problems like my back hurt VERY early on. I was even getting leg cramps. I won't say I never get them, but I'd imagine they are so infrequent I could say never and it would be close enough to the truth.

Lap 2: I tied the gut strap on my c-back to help alleviate my back pain and carried on. Wow, "I can do this". I wasn't fast, but I was the slow version of "Woohoo I'm the king of the world! I'm gonna make it!" from Simpsons just before Homer doesn't make it. I didn't crash my skateboard though.

Lap 3: A slightly slower version of lap two. Things hurt but I was still there.

T1.. I decided to eat my post race sandwich.

Lap 4: I'm not going to use the sandwich as an excuse, but I'm certain my metabolic efficiencies all went to my gut. I dragged through and this was it for me.. I was happy to have cleared 32+ miles for the day. And I was at least 2-3 out of lantern rouge.

Analysis:

Were the cramps due to the Elixer? Maybe I need to back off the mix, or go with the Gatorade that I know works. I had Gu too. So there were calories (maybe not enough).

Back pain definitely could have been all the extra weight of the c-back + 100 oz water. I will be thinking hard on this one before the big day.

Last word:

Training for Chequamegon or not, WEMS is a great, super relaxed, low volume, event series. Everyone there is super cool. Not to mention there are some monster bikers out there. Thanks to Bill for putting on a fun event.

I will aspire to one day do this race and keep up with the slow guys.

Special thanks to Toolshed for the T-shirt and coke, Rick for granting me the power to stop, TmonT for telling me not to (and the cookies), and a few other monTs for general support, and Liz for just being nice to me in spite of losing sleep so I could watch my first Madison race. Also, the seemingly 1000's of racers that asked "Are you OK?" on my 4th lap. I'm happy to report, I'm OK (until someone proves otherwise).

Extra special thanks to my family for finding all their last minute school supplies on their own. They took one for the team and saw Kung Fu Panda (again) at the budget cinema.

No Phone

No Internet
No phone
No cell coverage

A trip to town got this message out.

Ahhhhhhhh, vacation.

Trail Ridin'

A couple locals named Rick and Bubba pulled me around some trail at about 1/3 speed last night. It was definitely good for me. By the 3rd lap, I mostly knew my way, and had gained enough confidence to only lean on a tree or two. I was given some expert advice to "go around said trees". After that it went a lot better.

Post ride I made a snap decision to be seen eating pizza in public. Coop, Anne, Rick and Liz all can all vouch for my existence. This will no doubt call into question my elusive status. I figured I was safe as long as there were no Olympic tool guys there.

Don't worry. Now, I'll go into full hiding mode until Chequamegon.

See you out there.

And they're off!

Well almost.

Good luck at Ore to Shore today all!

Update on the push ups: I actually read the plan. It's pretty aggressive to be starting a month out from Chequamegon Fat Tire 40. I'll use it as inspiration to do a few here and there, but a plan like that is for the off season. Oops, what off season?

Need Something New To Do?

How about one hundred push-ups?

jwm's Initial test: 19

Bad News

Bad news. Not mine, mind you. My life is great. Sure, it's a bit hectic. All in all, I have very little to mope about. And without enumerating specifics on woes of those I know.

Every time I turn around, I hear new cancer news. Bad news.
Divorce is on the up.
Folks are selling/losing houses.

I'm glad that last post is there to keep things in some perspective. Man, woman, child if you're out there in the thick of it. Please, keep your chin up.

Remember These Days?

Enough said.

Downer Ave Superweek

Weekend update: The Saturday Night Version

Wow! Thrills! Speed! Corners! Every lap the excitement changes. We walked around the circuit at least one full turn to see action at each stretch of the road. It's really fun to see the speed of the backside straightaway. Watching the south end double corner was something else. And the overall death defying tightness of the pack. I can imagine myself doing lots of things in the name of fun, but hats off to these guys.

Admittedly, I missed out on the all Belgian Beer Festival aspect of it. We had the wee tots with us and I had to keep my wits about me. Then again, after a few juice boxes in them, I'm not sure a beer or two wouldn't have helped me a bit.

Never a dull moment (ok the introductions aren't whiz bang). All in all, great fun. Big crowds. A must see.

Product Review: Eurostyle Chamois Butt'r

Last week I stopped in the LBS looking for chamois cream. The salesman pointed me to the Eurostyle Chamois Butt'r.

Sunday I broke the cardinal rule of racing. "Never try anything for the first time while racing." I broke this rule at the Spirit of Racine 1/2 Iron distance triathlon. The night before my race, I lathered up the chamois with a fair bit of this Euro butt'r to let it soak in. The morning of the race, upon final suit up, I followed the direction and applied it liberally to the shorts and to me.

After a mile or so in the lake, I hopped on my bike. Right away I could tell the difference. I've done this race six years in a row. This was the first time I didn't feel the much less comfortable on the bike. If you don't swim first, it's not as bad. But as soon as you apply water to your bike shorts, the difference is significant. After one use, I'm sold.

This product may be the secret that everyone knows about. If you didn't already know, consider this your notice.

** review disclaimer - I purchased this product on my own will, with money out of my own pocket. I think what I think and wasn't influenced by the company that produces and sells the product.

SoRT 2008 Race Report

Gearing up for this race I was relaxed, but I didn't hold much hope in the PR I claimed to want back in January. My "on" weeks have been good. My "off" weeks have been plenty. And the two weeks prior to the race, I was choosing mostly sleep over workouts. This left a big gap after two good, hard weeks.

Having not done much in two weeks, I relied on the fact that I have done this race every year and just know it. I saw zero evidence of any speed in the workouts I had done. I was concerned about a bust year. As a result, the end goal was "to just have fun".

On the good side, I think I know what I'm doing in transition now. I'm completely relaxed and handle setup from a semi minimalist perspective. I had bags in case it rained, but got rid of them last minute as it appeared to be clearing up. I was calm entirely up to the gun.

During setup everyone was talking about the water temperature. It was reported at 55F (official USAT reading in three spots). That's "numb your feet" cold, folks. Looking out at the lake, I wondered "am I the only one who sees the fog and not the lake?" Shortly after, they announced a rolling delay in the race. Long story short, it was pushed from 7am to 8am to wait for the fog to clear.

About 7:00, I headed down the beach to the start. I got in the water to get acclimated a few times. Yep, it was cold. Though, I discussed with another entrant, "It's going to be a good day."

At 8:15 the horn for my wave goes off. I hit my watch. We were out of there.

It was cold getting in. It was cold on the hands and face. I'm not sure it was worth all the whining I heard. But it's fun to be miserable about something. I'm not small. If I was smaller, maybe it would have felt a lot colder.

I lost count of buoys and wasn't sure how many there were in the first place. The next thing I knew I was going for that final yellow buoy. Whoops, there is another yellow one to go way around out in the lake. I wasn't too far in before I noticed this. A few minutes later I was walking the sandbar and pulling off my stuff. Getting out of the water I glanced at my watch. I see "about 40 minutes" and smile, then I realize the swim was probably short.

Nothing eventful in transition. I'll have to wait for official results. I'll guess "about 2-3 minutes". Maybe 7.

Out on the bike, I took it stupid slow for a while. In the past, I have done this with some success. I break the bike into thirds and follow a slow, medium, harder strategy. And it's much nicer to be passing folks at the end of the bike. I didn't really follow a rigid eating strategy on the bike, and this may have contributed to my pace on the run.

I kept an eye on my likelihood to break three hours. My bladder and my "PR" were fighting each other. Finally at mile 45, I figured it would be a shame to lose on both accounts. I stopped at the aid station. Some guy went by me on the right, just before I went to turn in. He apologized and I was happy to narrowly miss a crash. Right after that I pulled up to the port-o-let and promptly set my foot down on what must have been ice. Next thing I knew I was picking me and my bike up. No big deal, but I don't want to be "one of those guys". Too late. I have a small knee road rash to prove it.

The last miles of the bike are nice and smooth, mostly downhill, and one of the more fun parts of the race. I cruised in somewhere around 3:05 - 3:10.

T2 was also uneventful. Grabbed my shoes, shirt, race number and took off. Hopefully I PR'd that one.

The run. Who turned up the temperature. I think it was warm, but I was overheating. The first loop I broke it down and it didn't even seem that long. That second loop I was falling apart. I was really over heating. My knee started complaining about mile 8-9. In lieu of tweaking it further I opted for more walking than I want to admit. I never completely gave up on running, but my run/walk ratio went way down.

The whole family was waiting down by the lake to see me run in. They are real troopers.

After I finished, I hobbled back to them to tell them I was going to eat. I was very hungry.

I grabbed a few sandwiches, some fruit, beans (the beans guy loaded me up like he was afraid he was going to have leftovers), and a soda pop. Sitting down to eat, I ended up chatting with Ron Ottaway, the reigning world champion at Ironman Hawaii in the 70-74 division. It sounded like he put down a 5:3x at Racine. Wow.

All in all a great day.

Post-OP. I am more sore than I thought I would be.

Last Minute Prep (aka First tri since September)

I figured out sleeveless was the way to go last year at IronMan. Sunday's water is going to be somewhat chillier (last hear 56F). So where exactly did I put my full sleeved wetsuit?

Otherwise I'm pretty much set for Sunday morning. Goals you say? My current favorite goal is to nail the transition time. I would have a sub-3 bike goal, but I'm really not feeling it. As always, my goal is to put my toes in the sand, wait for the gun to go off, and have fun.

Who knows, if I start to dig on mountain biking this could be my last tri for a while. I commit to nothing on this though.

Spirit of Racine - T minus 1 Week

Who's in?

It's been windy, bring your full aero gear!

See you out there!


In other news, my taper today consisted of the following. 17.5 miles of SS mountain bike riding on my own. Then strap a kid on a trail-a-bike with a kite and we headed down to the lake for some kite flying. Whee! If you haven't done that it a while, I highly recommend it. Then back home. Tack on a few extra miles logged there and call it a day.

Cheers. Next week we start trail riding, no?

Dazed

Ten hours 2 weeks ago.

Twelve hours last week.

Work has been hectic. Workouts are going well. I'm behind for the season, but it's all fine.

Swim this AM. Run this PM.

Mid-run. I wasn't feeling it. Shins were tight. Pace was slow. I was breathing too hard. The sky was looming. I had a dog walk to put in yet. I cashed it. It's no time to play hero and wear myself out.

Got the dog walked in lightning and rain. T-storms are a comin'.

I call myself lucky to call a two mile run and a dog walk a bad evening.

Better Late...

Not sure why I waited so long this year. But, I'm heading out to commute by bicycle.

More later, maybe. Don't run me over, please.