Okay…so I'm applying for a campus representative job for Microsoft. Among other things, the decision is based off your ability to disseminate information….that is just my fancy word for a social media storm. Anyways, if anyone reads this blog…just click the video..and let me get you counted as a view! it’ll help me get hired.
I know its dorky, and i’ve misplaced my FLIP video camera…major, MAJOR bummer.
thanks so much!!!
In case you don't already know, DC-Rainmaker is giving away a forerunner 310xt. Id rather you not enter, but if you do, check out his site. It has just about everything you might need know about triathlon, at least from a beginner/intermediate level. Great stuff.
And thanks Ray for giving away such an awesome prize!
http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2010/08/garmin-forerunner-310xt-giveaway.html
BTW-I've got a race this Sunday. Maybe I'll actually write up a race report…
I had a pretty rough swim & bike workout Saturday done during midday, aka, the hottest time of the day. I decided to swim at the outdoor pool for a change and minorly neglected to think through the weekend afternoon pool schedule. For those who don’t know (me), Saturday afternoons are the prime time for families to go to the pool. I wish i had a picture of it: I rolled up on my TT/Tri bike, wearing a trisuit to a pool with ~300 kids, parents, and assorted preteens. Thankfully there is an activity pool to hide most of the real young kids in, but the pool was crowded nonetheless. I was able to sneak in to one of the three lanes *the only one not being hung on or used as a public forum* and knocked out a quick workout. I forgot how much difference the sun makes in a pool swim, it sure was nice to be in natural lighting.
I finished my swim and lazily got my things together, left my bag at the desk, and set out on my ride. I was excited about doing the whole multisport thing and was anxious to get out of the city and into the boonies. About 20 minutes in, i quickly realized that we had a problem. There was some serious action going on in the gastro-intestinal region and I was about to pass the point of no return, with no public building within a 10 minute ride. It was at this juncture, combined with the heat, I decided to turn around and just run some circuits in the neighborhood where I swam.
My stomach problems never really went away and I just tried to ignore them as much as possible. After I got home, I started to try to think through what was going on. it didn't take long to put together the complete lack of an even remotely healthy diet. All i had eaten on Saturday pre-workout was a fruit smoothie. The meals that I have been eating, on the other hand, have been far from “nutritional" :
-Pork Shoulder, Cole Slaw, Baked Beans and Macaroni & Cheese Casserole
-Costco Burgers, complete with grilled onion, bacon, Heinz 57, and the sole veggie, lettuce (which is really more like 97% water, but whose counting)
After looking at these pictures, and thinking through the whole ‘training routine’ I think it might be time that I make some dietary changes…Just Sayin’
*just a heads up, I just purchased some Rudy Rydon Photochromatic Riding Glasses from Try Sports-Raleigh and they absolutely rock. I might have to do a little behind the scenes on them in a bit.
Stay Classy Tri-World
So it’s been a little while as in like, two and a half months. Oh well. I find that whenever i do ‘start’ blogging again (as this has happened a couple of time) I feel guilty when i fail to keep up semi-frequent posting.
First things first, check our DC Rainmaker’s giveaway, or don’t, as it would only increase my chances. We’ve all been waiting on a giveaway from Rainmaker, and he has not disappointed with his inaugural endowment.
In other news: its the summer, so its actual legitimate training, or as legitimate as it gets for me. Maybe *hopefully* I'll take some time later today or tomorrow to at least write it all down, holding myself accountable.
I don’t know why i always chose a FAIL picture to put up. Maybe I'll start posting some of my mediocre photography :D
But until then:
After procrastinating for FAR too long I finally went to get new running shoes. The last three pairs I've run in have been Asics Nimbus-Gel 11’s, and I really haven’t had any complaints about them. Thus, it would make no sense to try a different pair of shoes, right? Well, for some reason unbeknownst to me, I decided to mix it up a little bit. I went to the local tri/running store, and decided to go through the whole shoe, fit, test, treadmill camera thing again. Good news, I'm still a neutral runner, with a little pronation on my right foot, but nothing to be worried about. However, as I tried out the different pairs they suggested, I started to like a pair slightly more than the Nimbuses. Long story short, I bought my first pair of Reebok running shoes. I don't know why, but I have a terrible opinion of Reebok, but these shoes, the Trinity KFS IV, whatever that means, were far more comfortable than the Asics. I can’t think of a better word for the fit than “bouncy.” That seems to have some negative connotations, but I really did enjoy the fit.
Now, here is the real point of this post. It is pretty commonly accepted that Rotating Running Shoes helps to avoid injury and increase the life of your shoes. Two pairs of shoes that are rotated by usage can actually last longer than three pairs of shoes used one at a time. I’ve known this for some time, but my running simply hasn't warranted needing two pairs of shoes. Lame I know, but hey, I’m a poor college student.
However, the question I am posing today, is: Is it MORE helpful to rotate two different kinds of running shoes or two identical pairs. To me, this question sounded strange at first, and I didn't readily find the information in a quick Google search... Maybe I should try BING. This assertion does does seem to make some sense though. Assuming both pairs are of a good fit, and are appropriate shoes, injury should not be a significant issue. Some pretty smart people have studied the issue, and determined that different shoes have a different strike/plane of first contact with the ground. So, here is my theory: wearing different types of shoes may actually help to PREVENT injury. By changing the tendons/ligaments and exact points of stress every other run, this practice ought to decrease the overall chance of injury, as it would relate to fit injuries. This ‘cross-training’ of sorts could help to strengthen a runner's feet, ankles, and knees. Minor tweaks in strike could lead to an increase in overall stability, so long as the differences are not extreme.
A study was done to test the effect of different types of shoes and their ability to influence joint loading in the hip. While the test was done with walking, and on hip-implant patients, I THINK there is a connection here. Maybe I'm stretching, but at least it is food for thought;
…No relation was found between the different type of shoes and the load increase, only shoes with very hard soles were clearly disadvantageous. Soft heels, soles or insoles did not offer advantages.Gait stability seems to play the most important role in increasing the joint loading and should be the criterion for the choice of footwear. Influence of shoes and heel strike on the loading of the hip joint
-Journal of Biomechanics, Volume 28, Issue 7, Pages 817-827
I have access to this online because I’m a student, but it won’t let me post a direct link, and I’d rather attempt to avoid copyright issues.
Okay, enough of my pseudo-scientific stretches, back to the regularly scheduled programming of rare, non-inspirational posting.
If you’ve seen a study or have heard something about this, let me know :D
Can’t say I'm too upset about this…
Let me preface this by saying I am not an expert, nor do I claim to be. I also acknowledge that there are many many people out there who are much more knowledgeable and experienced than I am on this subject, I simply wanted to share a little bit.
okay..enough of that.
Since about 6th grade, i have been interested in health professions. yes, I know that is a broad term, because it has been a broad interest. I have gone back and forth a lot on what I want to do (have been pretty settled for some time now) but I have always be interested in a couple of fields of study. One of those would have to be orthopedics/athletic training/physical therapy stuffs. I have been relatively fortunate in my life to have avoided any major chronic injuries (IT band, stress fractures, lower back, etc.) regardless, I have done my best to attempt to keep up with what will help me avoid injuries.
The one true chronic sports injury I have struggled with has been shin splints. While this isn’t anything major, and probably every runner/basketball player/anyone who exercises has had some bout with them, they still suck. It is an annoying pain, one that I especially want to run through *note: bad idea* After casually talking to several different sources (an ATC, Orthopedic, and a PT) and some online research, I self appointed one of my treatments to be barefoot running. This was as easy self-prescribed treatment as i love running barefoot. There are two large soccer fields near my house, and they work great. The general idea here, for me, was that I needed to change my running stride. I was/am a heavy heal striker, and I often over stride. When barefoot running, 99.99% of runners will turn in to forefoot strikers. Add in the bonus of running of grass as opposed to asphalt/concrete/brick/gravel, and it seems like a good idea.
I only bring all of this up because about once a month, a new study is released saying this is either good, or bad, for injury prevention. As soon as one set of results is released, they are contradicted or invalidated. A recent study released by Nature brought some results showing decreased impact force and decreased loading rates when running barefoot. You can check it out, or see what the Sports Scientists have to say about it. I just thought the study was interesting, though little conclusion was made. This study pretty clearly states that running barefoot will not HURT you, but the preventative values are not quite ironclad.
If you have something to add or feel that I missed something, let me know! I enjoy running barefoot, though it only makes up a fraction of my running time. I enjoy the chance to mix it up just a little bit.
____________________________________________________
side note: finally found a friend to swim with, my tri buddy Charles. We both did our first race together, and raced White Lake Sprint together last year. He says he’s probably doing B2B this year, so should be great! now i just have to get him a blog ;-) Yay for getting back in the pool, less yay for sucking this AM.
and because i don’t have another picture to put up here:
pissed off renter or clever rouse to scare the cops away? wonder how it worked out for them…
My toe is almost normal, after only about four days. I have to say I'm pretty surprised by it. Other than a “cosmetic” problem, i think I'll be in the pool tomorrow, and in cycling/running shoes by Friday.
On another note, I’ve decided to simply replace my Forerunner 305. Ouch, that hurts to even say. It sucks having to buy it, but it sucks even more the fact that I'm re-buying it. And it sucks EVEN MOST that as of now, I will pay more for it the second time:
Below is a screen capture of my order from 2008:
Please note the price tag of 149.99, with free shipping. Fast-forward almost 14 months, and check out Amazon's price TODAY:
If someone could riddle me Amazon’s pricing scheme, I'd appreciate it. The price jumps around what seems like at an hourly rate, but I just don’t understand how 14 months after i bought the 305, with no coupon/special circumstance, I am going to end up paying more for it.
Go figure.
*anyone coming here from Dr. Cramer’s blog, sorry if this wastes your time, but possible I'll cover some interesting endurance sports/physiology stuff in the future. I plan to take this pseudo-sports science in the coming days*
So, last year when i tried this, i think i might have raced four of the 9 races that I originally said i would. Granted, I added two other races, but id say race/training structure were nearly absent last year. Twice I decided to race with less than a week ahead of time. Don’t get me wrong, I had a lot of fun, but it is my goal this year to race these races listed, and anything else will be a cherry on top. Raleigh Rocks will be my first legitimate 13.1 and I’m really excited to go and tear it up. A few sprints and an international distance later, the clear A race for this year, again, will be the Beach2Battleship half. I originally wanted to do the full this year, but realistically i can’t commit 20 hours a week to training. However, I feel i can break 6 with even a moderate training plan, and quite possibly, id like to go :25 2:40 2:00. The run will be the determinant. The swim is totally with the current, and I swam :30ish last year with pretty awful swim training. I know I'm making excuses, but hey, we’ll go with it.
There, I put it in writing, it is going to happen now, right?
It’s going to be a lot of fun, doing my hometown race *Mission Man* which should be a lot of fun!
On a side note, I am currently working with the Chapel Hill YMCA and the Chapel Hill Parks & Rec to organize a sprint TRI here in Chapel Hill sometime soon( read: realistically next season, hopefully). If anyone in this area has any interest, or has some inside sway with either SetUp Events or Finish Strong, please let me know!!! I’d appreciate it greatly!
I always have to leave with a picture, and this one could quite possibly hurt some feelings, but I can’t help it.
These were taken at a Wendy’s in western NC…
wow?
So, I haven’t posted anything of significance in a long time, and this won’t really change that.
I’ve been busy: “doing” school, work, family, friends, and the occasional, unnecessary, supply of drama..but welcome to college.
I haven’t really had anything that I truly cared to post about, but i think i might decide to change some of that. I think I'm going to incorporate some real life into my posts on triathlon, most likely solely for my own purposes. Anyways, we’ll see if Windows Live Writer helps the cause, and if I can manage to find more than 6 people to read what I have to say. However, I guess that means I need to have something to say that is worth reading.
On the plate for upcoming *soon* posts:
-Tyler the “race director”- yes, I am currently attempting to plan a triathlon in the Chapel Hill Area. Let me know if you have any interest
-Starting a triathlon club/training group at our local YMCA *where I also happen to work*-I have talked to an upwards of 15 people at the Y about tri’s, and even, for some reason, have handed out some really, really, basic training plans
-How to replace a Garmin Forerunner 305 in the most economically efficient way- debating re-buying it from Amazon, or possibly purchasing the FR60 and buying an Edge 705 at a later date…we shall see
-The recovery of “The Toe”
for explanation of the last one, I'll just leave you with this picture….
I apologize for the grotesqueness of this pictures… such is the life of runners feet, and trying to play Intramural basketball…hmm
I made it! Wow. Didn’t really have any expectations going in to today other than to finish, and i crossed the line in 6:33ish. I’ll take a 30 minutes swim, a 3:15 bike, and a 2:40 something half. The. Run. Sucked. But NBD. HTFU, actually RUN, and cross the line.
Race Report to follow soon, with pictures :-)
So this is a totally, 100% random update, but i figured id put some thoughts down before this weekend. In about 36 hours, I will be running on the beach and plunging into the cold waters of the North Carolina inlet Waterway. Why you may ask? Well, i guess I'm going to try to finish the Beach2Battleship half-iron race this Saturday.
It may sound as if I'm being callous about this race, and I am. I am approaching this race as more or less a pure test of testosterone. I am not going to race, I am going to finish. I haven’t legitimately “trained” in just about a month. A little over a month ago, I started having some funny heart issues. They have sense been cleared up (as of earlier this morning), and i am good to go. I am no longer RACING, but just want to pride my way safely across the finish line. I feel grossly unprepared for this race, both in preparation and in simple knowledge base of how these bigger races are run. I’ma just hope that i get all of my transition bags packed correctly, and hopefully this time Saturday night, I'll be putting a 70.3 sticker on the back of my jeep.
If i don’t update this, well, I either died, or have once again become content to simply read DC Rainmaker's Blog and train as possible
Today I leave you with the damage done to my kitchen by my roommates dog….FAIL?
Okay, I'm not on a boat, but i cant get the song out of my head. If you haven't seen the SNL skit with Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and T-Pain, you should watch it. *PARENTAL ADVISORY, it might be offensive*
Anyways, boats float on water, which must be a nice characteristic. I don’t float, thought i really wish i did. The past week has been fairly swimming intensive. I've ridden semi-consistently for the past month, and running is a fairly regular activity. However, my swimming has severely dipped off. With my first tri of the season coming up may 10th, i figure its about time to take a crash course in reestablishing my stroke. The first two or three days in the pool were a FAIL, as to be expected. My breathing was way out of rhythm, arms weak and inefficient, and my could not keep my head low in the water. Long story short, these few days SUCKED. When swimming is work, it isn’t any fun, for me. I tried my best to not fight the water, but i knew that's all i was really doing. Anyways, after 6 swim workouts, i think my learning curve is finally going up. I am no where NEAR where i need to be, but I'm not struggling to swim the whole workout, which is a plus. Fortunately, i work at the YMCA, so swim instruction, as least at a basic level, is readily accessible.
So that’s a quick summation of my last week..two 30+mile rides, and about 3,500 yards in the pool. Today calls for a 60 minute run, which i will knock out once i get out of class, and i plan on going back to the pool tonight, not to exert myself, but simply to try to log as much quality time in the water as possible in the next two weeks.
Hope all of you out there…(all 5 of you :-D) are doing well. Its full training season, as least for me, as classes are winding down, with only exams standing between me and a summer full of, summer school. dang.
much love,
peace, love, chick-fil-a
T
NBC is showing coverage (not live) of the Ford Ironman World Championships 70.3 This show covering the half ironman, should be sick. It comes on today at 4:30 on NBC.
just thought id share, DVR rocks
Could have been titled, Sure, Why Not?
This was more of an impromptu race. I found the flier at a local ice cream store, and decided it might be fun.
THE RUNDOWN: 10.5(6) mile time trial in Mebane, NC put on by Chapel Hill, NC cycling team TriCyclists. This was a more professional race than anything I've done before. There were many Cat 1&2 riders there along with a whole bunch of 3-5’s. Alas, there were are few of us “citizens” rounding out the remaining participants.
Not much of a story to tell. I was one of probably 20 bikes there that did not either have full zipps or a rear disc wheel. Let’s be honest, i was lusting for the better part of an hour. I waited in line, my time came, rode hard, rode aero, and rode pretty well. There was a really young kid in front of me on what I’m guessing was a 46 cm bike..if that’s possible…with a zipp setup. My two goals today were to make sure i passed him, and attempt to keep from getting passed by anyone else. I caught him at the top of the first climb, road a few lengths behind him for about a minute as i waited for my hear rate to come back down, and then engaged the slingshot, passing my young competition. I feel like a jerk writing this, but having a target in a time trial makes life so much better. At about mile 9, i failed my second goal, as a guy who started 4 positions behind me, meaning 4 minutes behind me, came flying passed me.
Interesting side note..i uploaded the course from mapmyride.com to my Garmin 305, and FAIL!!! My Garmin told me i had a mile left, when actually i had 2 miles left. When i look at my speed graph, you can tell an obvious hike in speed, followed shortly by an O $#!+, a slowing, and then a true sprint about half a mile later. If i can figure out how to get this graph out of training center, I'll put it up. I'm guessing i should switch to sports tracks. We’ll see.
Anyways, at the end of the day, I averaged 20.4 MPH for something around 31:40. It could have been anywhere from 31.10 to 32, as i didn’t stop my Garmin when i should have, and the course was not exactly 10.5. I was told it was a little bit over 10.6.
Long story short, it was a lot of fun, I actually stayed in aero the majority of the time. It was a lot of fun, and in other news, I WON MY AGE Group. I’m not telling how many people were in my age group though ;-)
i leave you with more FAIL:
Total expense paid to chik-fil-a $0
Total damage done to my body. -10 years of life + busted knee from frozen t-shirt contest...
I might write up a full "review" of this later, but eight now, I wanna sleep. Been up 27 hours in a chikfila parking lot....
T
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
3:15 AM. Its chilly. I planned for 80's and its like, 50 right now. Met the first person, jannet from carry, this is her 17th first 100!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
It sure is easy to get caught up in the world around you..losing track of everything else (read training).
So, after a month-long break from blogging, mostly because i was guilty about not having anything to blog about, I’m back!, I think. So what have I been up to?
Okay so, the bike is ready to go(aerobars repaired, new tires, full body wipe-down), and the pool i normally swim at is about to be more available, reducing my potential excuses not to go swimming. I have had to stop running due to my knee and toe, but am at a point now where the toe isn’t going to get any better, and my knee will rehab itself as long as i don’t screw it up again.
What has sparked this return to blogging?
Half Marathon in 3.5 weeks (Possible), a sprint tri in may, olympic in april, two other tri’s over the summer/before my big race… Beach2Battleship half Iron distance in Wilmington, Nc on November 7. This is going to be my reach. I debated between several 70.3 distance events, and decided to go with this one over Augusta because of location. 2 hour drive far better than 6-7 hour drive.
Anyways, i’ve been following all of my blogs in Reader, its just my turn to begin to contribute to the community.
--> i’m realizing that i am secretly trying to convert all of my friends to triathletes…can’t tell if its for a training partner, or someone to share the experience with, or a way to see a girl in a bathing suit (o yea 1 pieces!)…who know ;-)
hope all is well,
piece
for some comedic relief, i leave you with this:
this picture doesn't do the damage to the bottom of my feet justice....wearing shoes (ie running of biking) is out of the question for a few days...mad lame.
