Thursday, May 15, 2008
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| Anyone Can Do An Ironman |
| Posted by: Viince |
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In my last entry, I made the statement "Anyone can do an Ironman." Mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters have become an Ironman and you can too.
It's easy to say you're going to do an Ironman but the time it takes to train impacts your life. You get up early in the morning, you skip lunch for training, you leave work early in the afternoon, and you fit in sessions right before you go to bed. In the heavier weeks, a standard plan will have you training for 20 hours. If you're like me, finding 20 hours is like finding a million dollars. But if you're committed to it, you'll find the time. And while we're on the subject of commitment, you might want to let your family & friends know you'll be unavailable for the next 9 months.
Continue reading "Anyone Can Do An Ironman"
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Category: Training |
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Friday, May 09, 2008
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| An Idle Mind |
| Posted by: Vince |
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It seems like only yesterday that I was just signing up for this race and now, as you can see above, it is approaching rather quickly. I am in "Build2" with approximately 5 weeks before I start my taper. In this period, my volume has decreased but the intensity of the workouts has increased. My current week consists of about 16 hours of training. Unfortunately, that isn't enough to keep my idle mind from wandering.
While looking over my schedule this week, I caught myself trying to add in a few more workouts. I thought another open water swim, a 30 minute tempo run, and a third session of weights might fit into those open gaps on my calendar. What might accumulate to little more than two hours would most likely provide little benefit but might actually harm me. The reason why the volume decreases in the build period is because the intensity has increased and more importantly, the potential for injury also increases.
Continue reading "An Idle Mind"
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Category: Training |
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Monday, May 05, 2008
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| Running in Iowa |
| Posted by: Vince |
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Being the great traveller that I am, I found myself in Waterloo, Iowa this weekend. But not because I threw a dart at map and was haphazardly taken to this metropolis of corn. My reason for traveling here was because I was invited to a wedding. But he's a good friend, and I'll even travel to Waterloo (pronounced WaterLOO with the emphasis on the "loo") to see him get married.
Continue reading "Running in Iowa"
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Category: Running |
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Tuesday, April 29, 2008
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| I Went to a Gun Show |
| Posted by: Vince |
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Not only did I get to run in the Nashville half marathon this weekend, but I also got to go to the gun and knife expo. It all started with a friend of ours who lives in Nashville and decided she wanted to run a half marathon. My wife and I signed up for it thinking we could make it a group event. And for me it worked out perfectly because the race would fall at the end of my rest and recovery week.
Our friend started her training program a few months ago and was on her way to running her first half when work interfered and halted her training. We were already committed, so our friend decided to be our cheering squad instead.
Continue reading "I Went to a Gun Show"
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Category: Running |
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Monday, April 21, 2008
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| Choosing the Right Gym for You |
| Posted by: Vince |
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| I have a free membership to the best gym there is... the outdoors. I bike and run on the roads and trails of Northern California and when the weather is warm, I can swim a 1.8 mile loop in a 60' deep quarry. But what if I wanted to join a gym? Well, for me, that would be as easy as finding the closest one to my home. Maybe your needs aren't as easily met as mine so I decided to ask someone who put a little more thought into this process...
Continue reading "Choosing the Right Gym for You"
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Category: General |
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Sunday, April 20, 2008
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| Tierra Bella 200K |
| Posted by: Vince |
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On the schedule for Saturday: The Tierra Bella Hilly 200K plus a 30 minute transition run. The Tierra Bella is an organized event put on by the Almaden Valley Cycle Touring Club. The description for the ride is as follows:
"The Hilly 200K (121.9 mi, 6940 ft) follows the 100 Mile route from the beginning, with climbs up to Henry Coe and Gilroy Hot Springs. Finally, at the 92-mile mark, the 200K heads back north and west for a scenic loop around Chesbro and Uvas reservoirs before returning to Gavilan College.?
Continue reading "Tierra Bella 200K"
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Category: Biking |
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Monday, April 14, 2008
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| AIDS LifeCycle |
| Posted by: Vince |
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The AIDS LifeCycle will take place June 1-7, 2008, as cyclists and volunteers will travel 545 miles through beautiful California from San Francisco to Los Angeles. The event is now closed for registration but donations can still be made to participants.
Here's a story from someone who has actually done the event...
Riding from San Francisco to L.A.
I moved to California a week after I turned eighteen and as soon as I saw the ocean I knew I had to ride my bike down the coast. So I joined a group called the AIDS Lifecycle. They organize a ride from San Francisco to L.A. every year. The ride is completed in seven days and is 545 miles long. Before the trip, the riders and support staff ?roadies? raise much needed money for AIDS and HIV through donations and fund raisers. We managed to raise over $8,000,000 for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center.
Continue reading "AIDS LifeCycle"
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Category: Biking |
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Saturday, April 12, 2008
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| Introducing Marko... |
| Posted by: Vince |
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I thought it would be interesting to get a realistic view of the pro life from someone who is very much like us but managed to get to that next level. Marko is a former Navy SEAL and a former pro Ironman triathlete.
Q: Why did you become a Navy Seal?
When I was in high school, I used to use the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps recruits to get free lunches but I never signed up until after my first year of junior college. My uncle had been in the Navy and talked about UDT and I had heard it was the toughest thing in the world. After doing a few triathlons and being pretty gung ho, I thought I would talk to a Navy Recruiter a little more seriously. In an attempt to scare me, he told me "Those guys are crazy! They jump out of airplanes, get shot out of torpedo tubes, and carry telephone poles on their backs!? My response was something along the lines of "Yeah, that?s for me!? At the time, I wanted a challenge, and I also wanted a way out of what was becoming a boring life living at home with my grandparents.
Continue reading "Introducing Marko..."
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Category: General |
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Thursday, April 10, 2008
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| Felog - Version III |
| Posted by: Vince |
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| Felog.net is an online triathlon training log. Essentially, it is my Excel spreadsheets gone wild. It initially started out as a way for me to track my fitness level and exercise routines but it has since evolved into what you see here today. There are two key aspects to the application:
Continue reading "Felog - Version III"
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Category: The Log |
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Monday, April 07, 2008
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| The Mind Killer |
| Posted by: Vince |
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We spend a lot of time focusing on the three disciplines but there are other aspects of triathlon that also require attention. As I was looking at my schedule this week, I was not really concerned about any of the workouts except for what was scheduled for today. It consisted of a three hour ride with climbing followed by a three hour run. Actually it was three hours or 20 miles whichever comes first. Having missed my two hour run a couple of weeks ago due to being sick, I knew three hours was going to try to have its way with me. It's this kind of negativity that will try to take hold of you in training and in racing. There comes a point when your body is hurting and you're trying to fight it off but it's fighting back. In marathons, they call it hitting the wall. It's the point where you feel like every step is getting slower, every mile is getting longer, and every muscle in your body is screaming for you to stop. What you have to do is fight back. You have to climb over, dig under, or punch through that wall.
Continue reading "The Mind Killer"
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Category: Training |
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Tuesday, April 01, 2008
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| Cheater, Cheater, Pumpkin Eater |
| Posted by: Vince |
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| For the purpose of this entry, cheating is defined as: "to violate rules dishonestly". So what are the rules? For starters, there are the USAT rules and the biggest one that we hear about is "drafting". The "drafting zone" according to the USAT Rule Book: "The term "drafting zone" shall refer to a rectangular area seven (7) meters long and two (2) meters wide surrounding each bicycle. The longer sides of the zone begin at the leading edge of the front wheel and run backward parallel to the bicycle; the front wheel divides the short side of the zone into two equal parts. With respect to a moving motor vehicle, the "drafting zone" is a rectangular area extending 15 meters to each side of the vehicle and 30 meters behind the vehicle." And then there are the rules specific to the race itself. For example, at Ironman California there was an area where passing was not allowed and the speed limit was set at no more the 25MPH.
Continue reading "Cheater, Cheater, Pumpkin Eater"
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Category: General |
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Monday, March 31, 2008
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| Ironman California 70.3 |
| Posted by: Vince |
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After three months of base training, I finally get to race but there was one problem. As I was about to enter my taper week, I came down with a nasty flu. And after it hung on for days, I thought for sure I was going to have to bail on the race altogether because I just couldn't seem to get rid of it. I decided that I would go to Oceanside anyway because I had already paid for the hotel room and I was looking forward to the time off. As Friday rolled around, I felt better and I became excited at the possibility of getting to race.
Continue reading "Ironman California 70.3"
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Category: General |
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Tuesday, March 25, 2008
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| Lose Weight Now, Ask Me How |
| Posted by: Vince |
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The annual Harris Poll about some of the most important health risks showed that 78 percent of adults over 25 are overweight compared to 58 percent when the survey began 25 years ago.
Basically, every 8 out of 10 people I know are overweight. And when 8 out of 10 of them go on a diet, they start to ask me questions because I fall into the other 22 percent. Actually, my group is a much smaller percentage. It's the group that includes neurotic triathletes that are starving to death from too many burned calories and not enough consumed. But that's another story altogether.
Continue reading "Lose Weight Now, Ask Me How"
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Category: Health & Nutrition |
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Sunday, March 23, 2008
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| Sickness and the Triathlete |
| Posted by: Vince |
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| Oh crap, I'm sick, now what? I see this often enough on the forums and the answer I always provide is this: If it's the neck up, you can continue training, if it's below the neck, you should stop. This is pretty generic advice and is usually directed towards someone with a cold or flu.
Continue reading "Sickness and the Triathlete"
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Category: General |
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Friday, March 21, 2008
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| sub10 Ironman |
| Posted by: Vince |
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| When it comes to Ironman, if it's your first, finishing is your goal. But after you complete the distance, and if you go back for more, you're most likely doing it for a better time. When it comes to time, there is a magic number, and that number is 10 hours. When you go sub10, there are possibilities that could open up to you. Those possibilities could include: a Kona slot, getting sponsorship, becoming a Professional, and earning the respect of the other 98% of the field that didn't get under 10 hours. Two percent! That's right, on average, only two percent of the field is able to achieve that goal.
Continue reading "sub10 Ironman"
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Category: General |
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Wednesday, March 12, 2008
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| Freaks of Nature |
| Posted by: Vince |
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| I've heard the term thrown around when discussing world class athletes such as Lance Armstrong, Floyd Landis, Alberto Salazar, et al. But are they freaks of nature? It seems like everyone who is at the top of their class is given this title. Is it because we can't conceive of putting that much effort into getting faster or are they biologically different? I've heard that Lance Armstrong has a high tolerance for lactic acid. But I've also heard he's training when everyone else is taking the winter off. So is it that he's biologically different or that he's just putting in more time while his competition is not?
Continue reading "Freaks of Nature"
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Category: General |
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Friday, March 07, 2008
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| Athletes for a Cure Race Kit |
| Posted by: Vince |
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| In a previous blog entry titled "Are you an Ironman...", I mentioned that I wanted to take the focus off of me, my training, and the race and bring the attention to a charity: Athletes for a Cure which raises money for the Prostate Cancer Foundation. I signed up in January but I knew that starting too early would cause my effort to lose its momentum for Coeur d'Alene. So I've been waiting patiently.
Continue reading "Athletes for a Cure Race Kit"
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Friday, February 29, 2008
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| Swimming was the Bane of My Existence |
| Posted by: Vince |
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| Like many of you, swimming makes me absolutely crazy. In the past, if I had put in some time at the pool for a few months or a few weeks, the end result seems nearly the same. So I basically wrote off swimming thinking that it is an insignificant loss of time (5-10 minutes) and I should focus my energy on the bike and run. My logic being that any lost time on the swim could be made up with in either of those two. It's really dumb logic but it's just a way for me to rationalize that I'm a middle of the pack (MOP) swimmer and that I?m not seeing any improvement. Well the truth is, I'm not giving swimming the respect it deserves. But let's get to the part where my swimming takes a nose dive.
Continue reading "Swimming was the Bane of My Existence"
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Category: Swimming |
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Friday, February 15, 2008
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| Oatmeal Balls |
| Posted by: Vince |
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On the longer weeks, I'm logging hours into the high teens and I expect to go over 20 soon. With all all of this exercise, I'm burning a million calories and therefore I am hungry all the time.
I was at the gym the other day and as usual, I was starving. I went into their cafe and they had the standard bars which I'm SOOOOO tired of. They also had globs of what appeared to be uncooked oatmeal in the shape on a bar wrapped in saran wrap and they looked homemade. I asked the guy behind the counter about them and he didn't really have anything to add to what I could see other than it was oatmeal and fruit. I decided to purchase one and I didn't regret it one bit. It was absolutely delicious.
Continue reading "Oatmeal Balls"
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Category: Health & Nutrition |
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Sunday, February 10, 2008
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| What is the Scheduler? |
| Posted by: Vince |
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| The Scheduler is sort of a hidden secret at this point in time. I haven't officially released it although you can get to it from the logging application if you click the text link on the Profile page.
Continue reading "What is the Scheduler?"
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Category: The Scheduler |
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Saturday, February 09, 2008
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| Those Damn Flip Turns |
| Posted by: Vince |
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| As a triathlete, we look at swimming as something we have to do and not something we want to do. Swimming is for swimmers, we are triathletes, and we're better than them. Well, except for when we have to share the pool with them. It's sort of like comparing a goldfish to a barracuda and we're not the barracudas. They are slender, aggressive, and FAST. And not only that, they do those damn flip turns. We'll rationalize the flip turns with a statement like "I don't need to do flip turns, I swim in open water!" I have personally held on to this belief for over 10 years.
Continue reading "Those Damn Flip Turns"
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Category: Swimming |
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Thursday, January 31, 2008
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| Are You an Ironman ALL THE TIME? |
| Posted by: Vince |
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| Are you an Ironman? Are you an Ironman all the time??? I'm trying to break the habit of being an Ironman all the time. What does that mean? It means that as a triathlete, we tend to let everyone else know about our conquests. One of the greatest accomplishments a triathlete can achieve is completing an Ironman.
Continue reading "Are You an Ironman ALL THE TIME?"
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Category: General |
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Thursday, January 10, 2008
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| I Got Race Wheels |
| Posted by: Vince |
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After you get your tri bike, the next thing you start thinking about is race wheels because all of the cool kids have them.
Continue reading "I Got Race Wheels"
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Category: Biking |
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Friday, December 28, 2007
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| My First Triathlon |
| Posted by: Vince |
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| In the late 90's, I was working for a dot com. Due to the long commute and longer hours, my exercise became non-existent. I purchased a treadmill and started waking up at 5am in order to fit in a 3 mile run. This routine went on Monday through Friday for about 6 months until I killed the treadmill. I decided to join a local gym near the office. The idea was that I'd get up early, beat traffic, run outside and use the gym to shower and dress. This was the perfect plan. In fact, I managed to get to work early and get a head start on everyone else.
Continue reading "My First Triathlon"
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Category: General |
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Saturday, December 01, 2007
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| What is the Log? |
| Posted by: Vince |
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Essentially, the Log is my Excel spreadsheets gone wild. For years I had tracked my data in Excel but in 2007, I had reached my limit or its limit... I'm not really sure.
I had decided that a web application would be a better solution and it's been out of control ever since.
Continue reading "What is the Log?"
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Category: The Log |
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