I have seen the future....

.... and it is spelled: C-o-n-t-a-d-o-r! Alberto Contador from the Discovery team finally gave me one of those "jump off the couch, fist pumping, yelling" fits after he won the 14th stage of the tour in epic fashion. Dueling it out with Rasmussen throughout the last climb... be bolted around at the line to win in an Armstrongesque move. It was great to see. At the time, it was (for me) good to see Vinocourov get toasted. How any American can not pull at least for an American team rider is beyond me. That would be like pulling for a European team over the Green Bay Packers in the Super Bowl. Sure I respect many of the European riders.... I was a big Jan Ulrich fan... but I'd never pull for him over Lance or any other American cyclist or even a European rider on an American team. Call me an old fashioned patriot if you like. I'm cool with that. Turning your back on Discovery may be the trendy thing, or the "alt bike culture" poser thing to do... but I'm gonna pull for the Discovery team until they fold or until another American team forms that I like better. Don't tread on me!

Well, well, well. "Vino" got busted. Failed a drug test and now the whole Astana team is out. If I was Kloden I'd be whipping his ass as we speak. What a selfish bastard. Now Kloden is out when he had a legitimate chance of at least a podium spot. The only upside to this is we won't have to see Mr. cocky "Vino" for a while.



Saturday is Hurt, Pain, and Agony. Everyone keeps asking if I'm ready. You're never ready for that. The first 6 miles is a cat. 2 climb. It's tough because you're not even warmed up yet! You're climbing while still burning sugar and carbs. The switch to oxygen hasn't occurred yet. Makes the climb really hard. Then, at mike 50, there is another long hateful climb that ends with an 18% gradient! Brutal. It's still not as bad as Bridge to Bridge. But it's rough. Thank God I still have some training time for that. Then, one those two big rides are done... it's time to really focus on the run and swim.

Hey Jon! Look below at the last post and read about my donut!

Workouts and donuts...

I just ate a freakin huge cream filled chocolate covered donut!!! A member brought it from this awesome donut shop where she's from. It was just sitting there staring at me... taunting me. So I put it out of its misery. It was good. Very good. I feel better now.

Saturday's in July the club is pretty dead in the afternoons. Everyone is at home chillin or doing what I would like to be... outside! Friday I ended up not riding on the spin bike and just ran 5 miles. Today (Sat) I rode outdoors 10 miles with my sons then ran a 5k. Not a bad workout. Tonight... I'm taking Nancy and the kids out for Bar-B-Q! Yeee Haaa!! Tomorrow I'm riding a hilly course. I need to be ready for the ride next week... so it'll be a week of hills leading up to Saturday.

Stuck.....!

I'm stuck indoors today and most likely tomorrow (Sat.) too. I'm running the club by myself so can't leave. I'll do a brick workout today. I'm gonna do 30 minutes on the spin bike followed by 30-minutes on the treadmill. I'll strap on my iPod to keep me from dieing of boredom. I hate indoor workouts. I put together an hour mix of some heavy stuff to keep me charged through the workout. Endorphins and hardcore music mix well :-) I might be able to get outside tomorrow since the club closes at 5pm. I need to do a brutal hilly course Sunday and suffer a little.

Everyday is a good day to SUFFER!

Mmmm mmmm good?

The heat's been unbearable this summer. The mid ninety temps coupled with the oppressive humidity has been awful. I've been trying to up my sodium intake to combat this. An ultramarathon/cyclist friend of mine who runs a Fleet Feet store in town recommended Campbell's chicken noodle soup. The combination of the pasta, chicken, and extremely high sodium rich broth serve as a great ally against dehydration and fluid imbalances. It's worked for me. Try it an hour before a hot ride or run or after your training to put it all back.

It's been a lot of cycling lately. I've thrown in a couple short 5k runs... but I've been on the bike alot. Hurt, Pain, and Agony metric century is next Saturday. I'ts a tough ride with lots of steep climbing so I want to be ready. Then it's Bridge to Bridge in mid September which is really tough. 102 miles with the last 50 all climbing. I'll need the extra training on the bike over the next few weeks for those rides. Once those are done... I'm gonna back off the bike and really focus on the run and swim. I'll be a freakin fish this winter.

I'm down to 185lbs. now. Probably around 11-12% body fat. My goal is 178lbs. at around 8% body fat. I'm on track. It's comin off pretty quick now. I've hit a groove with my nutrition and seem to have dialed in my calories to output ratio to stay strong and still drop fat. I'm pretty darn lean at 178. I hope to be there by Aug 1st.

Happy training kids!

Selling your soul....

I'm pretty sure that this is one of the signs that the Apocalypse is near. Wal-Mart is now selling carbon fiber bikes. Now, of course the frame is a budget, Taiwanese mass-production soulless frame (then shipped to Italy in an attempt to add credibility). The components I have to admit aren't bad... but c'mon! Buying a carbon bike at Wal-Mart?!?! You are permanently selling your soul to the corporate oppressors who lead the redneck army who I'm convinced will one day take over the world and force us all to eat liver mush, watch NASCAR, and wear clothes supplied by cigarette companies while riding Wal-Mart bikes!!! I noticed that there's a disclaimer that says the bikes does not include pedals. I can see it now. Billy Bob: "No pedals?!? All these other bikes have pedals... and where is the daggone kick stand!? I need to see the Manager!" Please.... visit your "soon to be a thing of the past, endangered species" local bike shop and get properly fitted on a real bike... then support it or it'll be gone!






Today's workout is a recovery ride. The 80 miler yesterday has me a little fatigued. I'll just do an easy 17-18 mile spin today with my son Tyler. Tomorrow it's back to the run followed by some drills in the pool. Happy Monday!

80 Miles... heart rate, heart rate, heart rate!!! BPM... BPM... BPM... thump, thump, thump...

Did one of my yearly riding traditions today. Each year I ride from my front door to the end of US 64/NC 90 where it runs into hwy. 40 in Statesville. It's just a simple out & back... but it serves as a great gauge of my endurance. It's rolling terrain with a few long annoying climbs. The kind of climbs that are not terribly steep... but steep enough and long enough to take you out of your rhythm and cause some pain on the trip back. All in all we did 80.3 miles in a about 4 and a half hours. Jon Hogan went with me. His longest ride to date. He did great. My goal today was not to exceed 161BPM and my main goal was to end with an avg. BPM of 147 or under. I fell a bit short. My max HR was 176... but that was only for a very short period while pushing it up a climb. I noticed that most of the time my HR never exceeded 167-168. My avg. for the day was 148BPM... so my overall goal was within 1 BPM... not too bad. Next week it's back up 181. I'll now begin looking for hillier courses. My endurance is basically on track (as good as it's gonna get this year) so now I'll focus on climbing since my two big organized rides this year are practically nothing but suffering climbs. It's tough lugging my 185lbs. around so I better get climbing. last year the last 2.5 miles of the Bridge to Bridge about killed me. I hope to do better this year.

Do what they say, not what I do...

I finally had a good run on Thursday. I listened to all the run coaches that I've read and decided to run slower... and by using ONLY heart rate as my guide. I disregarded pace, speed, time... and just went on heart rate. For me, staying just below my lactate threshold is a heart rate just under 161bpm. This is the point for me that my body is still utilizing oxygen (aerobic) and fat as my primary fuel sources which allows me to build greater endurance. If I go over 161bpm, then my body crosses over its lactate threshold and my body can no longer keep up with the demand for oxygen, and I begin to "switch" and burn sugar and carbohydrate in the muscle for fuel which produces blood lactate (lactic acid) and a burning sensation begins along with labored breathing and fatigue. This can only go on so long before I fizzle out and have to slow dramatically or walk. This is no good. So, my goal is to remain under my lactate threshold during runs regardless of my speed/pace. Logically, as my endurance increases, my pace will also. Once my aerobic base is properly build, then I can work on speed.

I learned a lesson from cycling that applies to my running. I noticed that when I run, I will often push my pace on downhills. I guess I'm trying to make up some time. But when a subsequent rise in the road occurs, I struggle to maintain any kind of pace. Then I thought about how I conserve energy on the bike. If I'm on a hilly course, I will often coast and rest on a downhill to lower my heart rate and prepare for the next climb. This helps me balance my energy to be able to complete longer courses and be fresh at the end. So I began to use this philosophy on my runs. It worked! I relaxed and "coasted" on the downs which helped me big-time on the rises. I often remind myself of the turtle and the hare story. Slow and steady wins the race. Now, while I don't believe that slow and steady "wins" the race, I do believe slow and steady completes the race. For a guy like me who spent a lifetime building fast-twitch muscle and is lean at 185lbs. I'll never be one of those 140lb rolling toothpicks that fly up mountains like a bird. But slow and steady for me works to finish long rides with confidence. And the total sum of the parts equals decent times and less suffering. I'm actually hanging well now with some of the "A" riders. I'll take it. Now if I can just get to where I can hang with the "C" runners and swimmers!

Today is a 77-mile endurance ride. I'm going out with two other guys. Should be fun and a good test of where my fitness is right now. Peace!

If only every day were bike day!

Today was bike day. I only had time for about 17-20 miles so we did our Hickory loop. Had Tyler along today so I really couldn't hammer. That's okay cause riding with Tyler (my 14 year-old son) has caused me to slow down, build some endurance and focus on mechanics. I really believe it's made be a stronger rider. To enhance workouts... I'll climb in bigger gears on do climbs 2 times to his 1 and get some repeats in. Anyway... I felt good today. I climbed the Hilton park climb (a 1 mile non-stop climb at around 17-18mph with peaks at over 19mph today (that's good for my 185lb physique.) I'm ready for our 77-mile ride Sunday... looking forward to it. Tomorrow it's back to running. Didn't make my 4:30am run this morning. Nate cancelled so I blew it off for some needed rest. Got up at 5:00 (that's good for me) and just chilled with a pot of coffee. Good stuff! I'll also hit the pool tomorrow for about 750 meters of drills (woo hoo!!) Ate well today... but I must confess... I ate a brownie at my Mom's house when I dropped the kids off. There... I feel better. I need a good run workout. I'm waiting for a breakthrough.


Man... could the tour please hit some hills?!? Some of the finish sprints have been pretty exciting... but c'mon. Let's suffer in some mountains already!

There will be bad days...

I ran today.... then I stopped after about 2.5 miles. Then I ran some more... then I walked a little... then I ran some more.... I was on a nice rolling green-way but is was brutally hot. It was 94 degrees, no clouds, and about 98% humidity. Walking on the black asphalt with a black baseball hat... well, it got me. I zapped. I ended up doing a miserable 4 miles in around 40-minutes. Terrible... but the heat made me a zombie out there. I've decided that I will go out tomorrow morning at 4:30 and run 5K at a good pace then do my slower run that I do with Nate on M/W/F. I can ride in this heat... I of course, can swim... but run? No. At least not now. Maybe when I have a bit more fitness. There will be bad days. Tomorrow will be better. I'll eat good today, get plenty of fluids, watch the Tour tonight, try to get some quality sleep... then hit it again tomorrow. I'm gonna do my run in the morning... then it's a lunchtime bike ride of about 21 miles. Thursday.... I'm gonna focus all my efforts on the swim. It's absolutely pouring rain right now... wish it had been an hour ago when I was running.

Rest.... and a retraction

Okay... so it's a rest day. I can't believe how hard it is to rest! I ran last night and have to say I had a bad workout. I felt like crap... ran poorly... and just could not get into a rhythm. It was so hard for me to not get out and run again today to make up for my bad performance yesterday. But I resisted... and feel pretty good. I can't wait to get back to training tomorrow and see if the day off served me well. I'll run and swim tomorrow. I plan to drive down the street to a local walking trail to run a flatter course to build some easy endurance. I'm trying to keep my heart rate below 147. We'll see... that's tough for me... especially in this heat. Then it's into the pool for an hour's worth of drill work. About 750 meters in all.

So now for my retraction. In an earlier post I was dogging the Tour De France. But when I happened to ease by a TV today that was broadcasting it.... I was sucked back in. I think it the voice of Phil Liggett. You hear that familiar British accent doing the "play-by-play" and you can't help but get the fever. It was even a boring flat stage... but I watched it like a train wreck. I immediately jumped behind the computer and logged onto my Dish Network account and upgraded to the bigger (and more expensive) package that included the Versus Network that broadcasts the Tour. Oh, well. Guess old habits die hard. What can I say... when I'm wrong... I'm wrong. Vive' Le Tour!

Swimming, cleaning, coffee, cycling, baseball, babies...

It's been a good day. I ended up riding 22 miles with Alex. I think Alex rode 20.... I kept turning around to double climbs and pace Alex up. I do NOT say this to brag. Alex is doing great. It was his 3rd ride and he rode hard. My cycling form is good. I feel like I'm on target. Next Sunday it's a 77 mile endurance ride that I do every year to test my progress. I'm confident I'll do OK. Then it's up 181 for some more recon training for the Bridge to Bridge the following Sunday. Not to mention Hurt, Pain, and Agony at the end of the month. That's a tough one with climbs reaching 18% grade.
I had a good day in the pool. My coach (Phil) said he say very noticable improvement. We went over some stuff. .. and he added 3 new drills to work on next week. I'm also working on my breast stroke. The breast stroke is a great "fail safe" stroke if I need some rest in an open water swim. I'm beginning to feel like I belong in the water. I have a loooong way to go before I feel confident doing 1.2 miles in open water.... but I feel very confident I can get there. I am finally at the point that I look forward to pool workouts.

Never got to painting today... took too long to just clean up. Got a lot done though. It's always nice to be in a clean house. Especially when you get up at 4:30am everyday and the downstairs is your domain so you don't wake the wife and kids. My morning ritual is sacred to me. get up... eat (protein shake, whole grain cereal, vitamins, and EFAs.), then it's my coffee. I love coffee. Take anything away from me but don't take away my coffee! When I run (M/W/F) at 5am... the hot pot of coffee waiting on me gets me through the run. Then it's back home... hot cup of java... and I'm behind the computer checking news... most likely I'm on the forums at BeginnerTriathlete.com. It's a great forum with great members and good real-world advice.

In a moment we're off to the baseball game to chill with friends and coworkers. Should be nice. I'm really looking forward to getting some sleep. I've never appreciated sleep more than when I began a tri campaign. Guess that all ends when my daughter is born. Oh well... it's worth it. Peace!

777

Okay, so the date today is 7-7-07. This has to be a good day. I'm meeting Alex Bentley (a trainer at the gym) for a 17 mile ride today. This is only his third ride... so I'm keeping the distance manageable. After the ride it's off to the pool for a session with my swim coach Phil. I'm not sure I've progressed that great since we last met... I'm sure I'll get some constructive insight today. I look forward to the day I can hit the pool and just swim for an hour straight. One day!

'll pick up the kids from my parents after my swim and it's to the house for chores! I have to finish some painting and really give the place a good cleaning. We're hardly home and when we are it's eat, shower, sleep. Not much time for cleaning and other stuff. Plus with Nancy being pregnant it's pretty much just me and the kids.... which ultimately means me. Speaking of Nancy... I can feel the baby kick now. That's always cool. Only 4 more months.

Tonight I'm taking the family to a minor league baseball game. The Hickory Crawdads a AAA team affiliated with the Pittsburgh Pirates. We have a skybox (suite) for the game. We get the skybox as a perk for being the official gym of the team. They workout at my gym. It's pretty sweet. There is also fireworks after the game. That's usually pretty cool. I just need to watch my beer and pizza consumption. Especially since tomorrow we have church, house work, and I have to do a 45 min run. Training never ceases!

Tour de what? (We'll miss you Lance & Jan)

The Tour starts this weekend. It's so sad. For the first time in years I could not care less. Pro cycling is on such a sad decline. I hope it can be resurrected. Doping has killed the sport. I'll check the daily recaps.... maybe watch a mountain stage or two.... pull for Levi and the Discovery team... but that's about it. I guess I can still watch my old DVDs I have of 1999 through 2005. Always good stuff.
Summer is in full bloom. It's the week of the fourth. My training has been more relaxed this week. I had a good run on Tuesday.... a walk/run with my son Tyler on the 4th. Rode Tuesday (recovery, 9 miles) and did our airport loop on Thursday. Felt good. Freakin HOT! Also swam a quarter-mile Thursday as well. I'll focus on my drills today. I'm also doing a quick ride with Shannon and Tyler at 1:00. I'm gonna try to get a massage in today as well. My legs need it baaad.
I registered for Bridge to Bridge today as well as Hurt, Pain, and Agony. With the Ironman 70.3 just over the horizon and the possibility of IRONMAN Florida later in 08'... these rides have turned from my year's focus to training rides. My goal on both will be steady endurance pace as much as possible (yeah right). Anyway... apart from these two rides I plan to focus hard on my tri training. Definitely need more pool time. I think next week I'll begin using the aquatic center (Lenoir) pool due to the longer distance. I can go right to the pool at 6am immediately after my 5am run with Nate. It's time to get real serious about my swimming and running. A 57 mile flat bike leg right now would be easy... but the 1.2 mile swim and the half-marathon... well, not so much.
Sticking to a cleaner diet. Less starchy carbs, more veggies and fresh fruit... more protein. Plus... I'm literally amazed at how adding EFAs into my daily routine has helped my hip. I was having some serious sciatica (piriformis syndrome) in my left hip for some time. Killing me in the mornings and often during the first mile of a run. I've been preaching the use of essential fatty acids for years but have gotten out of the habit of taking them. EFSs are a natural anti-inflammatory along with have many other fantastic health benefits. After only three days of EFA supplementation... the pain is all but gone. I take three gel-caps in the morning and 3 more at night.
Happy training!

Run...run...run

It's 6am and I'm out to run. These days (base building) I run for time goals not mileage goals. This morning kids, we'll be doing a 45 minute run focusing on form and cadence. I'm trying to maintain a stride that has me landing 21-23 foot strikes per 15 seconds. It's a foggy, cool July morning... should be good for running. Later this afternoon it's back into the pool for more drills. Swimming is beginning to get so so slightly more enjoyable now that I can actually feel like I'm not on the verge of drowning all the time.

My nutrition has been dialed in a bit. No more heavy starchy carbs except right before, during, or after a training session. I'm upping my protein to 2gms. per 2.2kg of body weight. Adding more water dense fruit and more veggies. My goal is 178lbs. I'm currently 188.

Speaking of training... if you are a triathlete, cyclist, or runner... I highly suggest invest in a Training Peaks.com account. It's the best way I've found to plan your training and keep yourself accountable.

Tomorrow is the 4th of July. Going to take Nancy and the kids to Butch's house (he's the owner of the club I run) for a pool party/ cook-out. It's gonna be burgers and hot dogs so I guess I'll have to bring a couple chicken breasts for me (boo). I'm also running again in the morning.... another 45min. Peace!

181... done.

Well we went up 181 today... I felt pretty good. I could literally feel my body switch over from anaerobic (burning carbs and glycogen) to aerobic (using oxygen, burning fat). The first 8 miles I felt like crap (on Adako Rd.)... but when the switch occurred (at the start of 181) I felt much better. I went up 181 without too much difficulty. I was slow... but felt good. All-in-all we did 45miles.

This week is the week of the fourth... I intend on focusing on run training this week. I'll run tues/wed/thur/sun this week. 320 days and counting to Ironman 70.3 Florida. If my training goes well... I may bite the bullet and register for IRONMAN Florida.... the full Iron distance. We'll see. My swimming really needs to improve.

181...

So today Shannon, Jon Hogan, and I are climbing hwy 181. If you're not familiar with it... it's a non-stop 10 mile climb and probably the toughest section of the Bridge to Bridge course. Our total mileage today will be around 40 or so. Shannon and Jon have never rode 181... so it will be a treat for them. We are all taking part in the Bridge to Bridge Incredible Cycling Challenge this year... so it's time to start doing some reconnaissance training. bridge to bridge is a 102 mile ride with the last 50 being mostly climbing. This will serve as a great training ride for my IRONMAN. My goal is to do much better than last year. Last year I ate and hydrated wrong... pulled a hip-flexor muscle on 181... and pretty much suffered the last 40 miles to end up with a horrific time of 7 hours and 50 minutes. My goal is to finish around the 6 hr 30min mark this year.

Run, swim, ouch!!

I began my run training on May 28th. I was demoralized! I had lost all run conditioning that I had in 2005 and early 2006. I had completed a tough Duathlon in 2005 (Run, bike, run) down at Clemson, SC and my running was getting decent. I learned how quickly it could all go away. I literally had to walk/run and I felt like my heart was going to explode. I would have to work on my run training. It’s now the first of July… my runs are improving. I feel better with each run. I feel very confident that I can get up to the half-marathon distance by the end of this year easily. Just takes time. I have 321 days as of today before the gun fires in Orlando.
My first swim workout was on June 5th and I was more inept swimming than running! I know the mechanics of running… so I knew it would just take time out on the road. However, swimming was a completely different ballgame. I sank like a freakin stone… and was wiped out after only a couple laps. Back to the drawing board. I bought some books, read every article I could find, and started over. I made some slight progress, but knew if I was going to be able to swim a mile and a half in open water with a thousand other swimmers… I would have to know what the heck I was doing. I hired a coach. I literally put up a sign on the bulletin board of the health club seeking a swim coach. About a week later, a very nice member of the gym popped his head into my office and offered his assistance. His name is Phil and he swam competitively in college and swims 1500 meters daily. We started the following Saturday. Coach Phil evaluated my stroke… tore it apart, and began the task of making me a swimmer. After one hour with him, I saw noticeable improvement. He wrote down several drills that I would work on through the week. He wanted me to swim as much as possible. With each workout, I’m getting better, and better. I would guess that hiring a coach has taken months of my learning curve for swimming. If you are looking into triathlon… please take my advice… hire a coach!
Lessons learned: Just because I can ride a bike well… does not mean that it will spill over to running and swimming. I will have to work twice as hard on the swim and the run. So be it.

Let's get caught up...

So let’s get caught up on my training for 2007. First of all… I officially registered for the 2008 IRONMAN 70.3 Florida. It will be on May 18th at Walt Disney World (my kids are stoked). The 70.3 means it’s a half-IRONMAN triathlon. 1.2-mile swim, 57-mile bike, and a 13.1-mile run. Being my first triathlon I wanted to do a half distance to gain some perspective and experience before jumping into the commitment of a full IRONMAN (2.2mi swim, 112mi bike, 26.2mi run). If my 2007/2008 training goes well… then I may go ahead and register for an IRONMAN later in the year 2008. We’ll see on that.
My training for this year began late. My first bike ride of the year was on May 9th and was a puny 8.8 miles. I was totally out of conditioning. I had been recruited for a new job in the latter part of 2006 and the transition took me completely out of my aerobic training. All I did from November 06 to May 07 was lift weights and eat like crap. I put on some muscle (and fat)… but my aerobic conditioning was in the toilet. So, my training started late. So making 2007 a training year seemed like the wise thing to do. I still have 3 charity/century bike rides planned that will now serve as hard training rides.
By the end of May 07, I had nearly a month of bike training in and was, to be honest, getting bored! I had been riding since 1999 and this year I just wasn’t as inspired as years past. Though I registered for some pretty tough bike rides this year (Bridge-to-Bridge, Hurt, Pain, and Agony) something was tugging at me to do something different. I had always been intrigued with the multisport thing… but felt that my schedule and family would prevent me from being able to train properly. It occurred to me that now that I was working in a more structured job (Manager of a health club) that maybe I could do this. The club I run has a pool (though small, 20 yards), treadmills, spin bikes, etc. I could go on 15-20 mile bikes at lunchtime and my morning we’re more available now as I go to work at 8:30 now as opposed to 5:30 when I was a full-time personal trainer. I could run and swim in the early mornings. Saturday mornings I could do my long rides, runs, and brick workouts. So, I decided to go for it. I would do a tri. Luckily, my wife Nancy was supportive. I have 3 kids 14, 12, 8, and a baby on the way due in late October! So, you see family obligations will be a challenge. Luckily, I’m a morning person. I’m usually up at 4:40am. Morning training while everyone was still sleeping was going to be a given. Time to get serious. Now is the time.