Spin Class

I'm a fairly ambivalent about Spin classes. At this time of the year, they become quite the talk of the town as the weather begins its slow downward spiral.

Spin classes are inherently intense. I would be surprised to find out that there wasn't some secret competition between spin class instructors/studios to create most gut-busting, anaerobic class possible. Intensity is fine and all for the average joe/jane trying to burn some calories and lose weight, but for endurance athletes, it has to be used judiciously.

Spin instructors are not interested in what your goals are and when you will be racing -- they just want you to feel like you are inhaling pepper spray and your quads are going to set your bike shorts aflame.

Now is the time when plenty of athletes start to flesh out goals for next year and get really psyched -- hey, july is a long time from now, lofty goals are now within reach, and preparation can begin NOW. Time to hit the pedals hard now, right?

There's a problem.

If I start hitting spin class 2-3 times a week during off-season & base training, I can forget about peaking in June-July-August for a few reasons:

1) I haven't built an aerobic worth building an anaerobic base on top of. There's a few wackos out there who insist on doing things the other way around, but they are few & far between, and tend to experiment on those who are already world class athletes.
2) How will peak weeks be different? Friel and Carmichael won't be sending their athletes up Alpe d'Huez in January....why do you need to blow your head off now? You should be doing it a week or two before your intended peak performance.
3) I can easily burn myself out by April, not to mention August. Who, other than the pros, can sustain 3 or more high intensity workouts a week for months on end? I can't. This is especially telltale when you observe the difference in gym traffic between January and April--everyone tries to lose weight that weight, overdoes it, and they can't sustain what they started. I'm beginning to come to grips with the insanity associated with trying to do the Birkie on top of a season of triathlon/cycling. It might be time to pick one or the other, or drop the priority of one way below the other.

My general strategy has been to hit the spin room when class is not in session. That way I can focus on the needs of my training PLAN, staying in target heart rate zones and avoid drifting from them when the testosterone goes airborne during those spin classes. Bring a movie or some good music -- laying down 3 hours of zone 2 on a spin bike will get monotonous. I had several such session in March.

And there's no point in going to spin class in June...I've three bikes and the city has roads! (And I have a trainer if it's crappy outside ;) )

However, I still tend to belive that consistency is more important than just about anything when it comes to training, including periodization. If you can do spin class so religiously, my hat is off to you.

Season's over

Well, for the standard races anyways.

This is the scene after my last race.
No worries, it was staged after the race in the parking lot.

Anyways, I'm pretty sure I've secured a top 5 age group finish in the points standings on the triathlon series this summer. Not quite the top 3 that I'd hoped for, but as I've told lots of people -- Damn...people are getting fast this year.


I have one off-road tri this weekend which should be pretty fun. I'm was out last night for the whopping 2nd time all summer on my mountain bike and had a frickin' blast despite my complete lack of skills. I went out to my favorite trail and rode relentlessly for 2 hours in the afternoon heat -- I used up an entire camelback.

I'm having drinks at my party room on Saturday. Let me know if you want to show and I'll send you the evite.

Hard Swim Practice

The anatomy of my last swim practice during peak week. I've got a great outdoor pool at my gym, so this is where you'll see me practicing on warm summer afternoons.

5 minute warmup/stretch

3 times:
50 drill (fist, 8 kicks per side, catchup)
50 crawl

These are my 3 favorite crawl stroke drills. I'll write an article on this one of these days.

100 easy

10x150 (100 moderate pace/50hard pace)

100 easy

3x200 lungbuster
(1st 50 3 strokes/breath, 2nd 50 5 strokes per breath, 3rd 50 7 strokes/breath, 4th 50 9 strokes/breath)

The lungbuster set is one of my favorite workout from the days of wayback. I usually breathe every 4 strokes, so this set challenges me to bilateral breathe. (breathing on alternate sides)
It also has a few other functions:
1) it takes you to the redline quickly. If you're already a fit athlete, you'll probably start to feel it around the second breath on the 7's. You have about 85 meters left at that point.
2) it teaches you to use your air wisely. You'll be exhaling while purple in the face with 3 strokes to go....sounds counterintuitive but you want a lungfull of fresh air.
3) it takes you anaerobic and leaves you there for quite some time. by the last 25 meters, I feel the pain dissolve because I'm so lightheaded. Very weird feeling, but you're teaching your muscles to work completely without oxygen to metabolize.

2x50 all out sprint
2x25 frogstroke, no breath.

warmdown

strut past girls tanning (you like that? I thought so. wink)

total: ~3000 meters

Cycling Heaven

So Dr. J has been completely unaccessible(due to work) for the last week -- I haven't even talked to her on the phone since Tuesday.

Not the worst thing, although this is the most time since we've been dating that we haven't talked.

With all this extra time -- I've been on my bike.

Wednesday: 29 hard miles with Gear. Great course & roads, but my friends on their TT bikes don't leave much of a draft.
Friday: 52 Miles on my Cervelo out to the West 'burbs. A few hard surges slipped in.
Saturday: 78 miles of masochistic bliss from Prescott to Stockholm & back.

South of Maiden Rock has some of the best roads I've ever biked on. It feels downhill in both directions, even if the wind is in your face.

And the view is spectacular.




On the way back, we had a tailwind. This intuitively is a good thing, but not when you consider that biking up a monster hill leaves you with no moving air to cool you off. My riding companion was continually turning around on the hills to get some wind in his face.

I became a sweat machine--I drank over 8 liters of gatorade & water during & immediately after the ride.

Today: 57 miles -- Sunday coffee ride + commuting to & from.

Hopefully I can rock out at my next tri this weekend.

Base Training is over

Yesterday, after a long 2 hour bike followed by a 30 minute treadmill run, base training officially concluded for the first half of my tri season.

Today, I felt a little stiff, and in lieu of an hour run with some pickups, I did some lifting. To warm up however, I hopped on the treadmill, and after getting the blood moving, I "pushed on the throttle" a bit, and took the treadmill up fast.

It felt good. Even more encouraging was how effortless the speed I was at, ~8.5mph, felt. That's way faster than last year's best pace.

I thought all that base stuff was a waste of time, but maybe that guy who wrote Triathlete's Training Bible knows what he's talking about. We'll see, I guess.

I hope he's right, because I really don't want all those miles I ran around town at a ridiculously slow pace to be a waste of time.

Base Training

This Base Training is sheer drudgery.

Last week I put in 9 training hours, this week 10 hours. My training plan for the week ahead calls for 12 hours.

And it's all Zone 2 & Zone 3 Heart Rates.

For me, that's between 148 & 111 BPM. To put it another way, this really doesn't feel like working out. Masturbation feels more aerobic than this, for crying out loud.

How in the world did I actually come to plan this? I've been voraciously reading about Tri training -- The Triathlete's Training Bible, training sections in tri magazines, articles in my weekly mailer from Active.com, and even XC ski training articles. From all this gained knowledge, I've crafted a plan that will take me to the Liberty Half Iron & beyond.

In the past, I've never felt like I'd be getting a good training session in unless the intensity was at or above the "I kinda wanna puke right now" level. I've always been the guy at the front of the pack at the Wednesday night rides pushing the pace, sprinting up hills, and being told, "do you think we can keep it under 25mph?, gasp, gasp."

I've now learned that an early base training *at low intensity* has a very specific purpose. Low intensity training allows you to work exclusively in your aerobic zones, thus making your aerobic motors more efficient. This can also have the effect of increasing your lactate threshold--the point at which your body switches from using Oxygen as a primary fuel and switches over to sugars & carbohydrates--producing lactic acid---the chemical that makes your muscles burn. Incidentally, it's also what they consume at this intensity.

After you build a training base, you can then build & peak, pushing your body above the lactic threshold, and teach you anaerobic system to handle this lactic acid more efficiently, and allow you to push harder & faster with greater ease.

Joe Friel's Training bible is the most renouned work on triathlon training, and it's only a fraction of his catalog. He also has a blog.

I'm sore

So I've been XC skiing 3 times in the last 4 days. This is the first time since last winter--probably in the late February timeframe.

XC skiing is unlike any other sport. It requires tons of coordination, balance, and strength...at the same time as being as cardiovascularly demanding as trail running.

Right now, I'm trying to retrain all those little balance muscles that I haven't been using all summer, as well as other muscles that just don't get as much use. I did start dryland in early November, but it hasn't done much for me.

I've been trying to get 1 hour workouts in right now, but it's sooo difficult. Your muscles just get so sore. I have been resorting to poling in the Classic track when my legs are sore, and free-skating sans poles when my arms are spent.

Anyways, I'll probably be spending 5-6 nights/week at skiing at Clifton French Park in Plymouth until the Birkie. French has some decent trails for hillwork, and the Birkie, which I haven't completed, is 52km of hilly pain.

See you there?

Well, I feel a little better.

A good bike ride can burn frustration pretty quickly.


A good place to start, I suppose.

R&G TT

So I decided to do a Time Trial with the Ride & Glide team this evening. It was a trail benefit for ski trails, and I wanted a fitness check for the Half this weekend.

The 13.4 mile course was out in Withrow, MN,(NE of White Bear Lake) a place I've never been to, but it seemed like it wouldn't be that difficult to get there from work (in Chaska) by 5:30pm. I had my bike along, and I would just shoot up 494/694. I wasn't changed into my Gear West kit, I had no sports drink, and I'd been drinking water all day, so I figured I'd stop off at a gas station and take care of all 3 once I got off the highway.

This never happened, because apparently, nobody needs Gatorade, gas, or a public restroom ANYWHERE north of White Bear Lake. After driving for 1.25 hours, passing the race site, I drove for about 20 effin' minutes back toward civilization before finding a gas station. I swore a whole lot.

I finally checked in late, and was in the company of some of the fastest cyclists of the evening.

I took off FAST. I was averaging 28+mph in the first couple miles. This didn't last. I ended up getting past by a couple (really fast) guys, the pain set in, the lungs started burning, and I got into a pace. The course wasn't challenging, but any rise had me really pushing hard to hold pace--my goal was to go above 23mph. I haven't seen my time yet, but I'm confident I achieved that.

Highlight: I did pass one guy on the course, and this made me very happy, because he was on a $6000 titanium Litespeed bike.

Ouch. And REALLY OUCH!

So I've been feeding my mountain biking habit quite a bit this summer, and have been riding Theo Wirth quite a bit lately--mostly due to the fact that it's really close.

Theo is a tight windy course through trees--great for learning to handle a mtb bike. Since I've gotten back from scandinavia, the trees have grown out, hiding the trees a bit, and last week I smacked my left shoulder into a tree going at a moderate pace. This ripped the top layer of skin off even though it was underneath my shirt.

Yesterday I foolishly left my SPF "Vampire"-rated sunblock at home and got caught outside after the tri showing too much skin an sunburnt both shoulders, effectively sunburning the scabbed up wound.

THEN,

Today I went mountainbiking at Wirth again, and did the same thing on the right shoulder. This hurt pretty bad, since I tore off sunburnt skin. Since I was wearing a white shirt, it stained through my shirt.

Anyone wanna see pictures of the gore?

Training Tips

A friend is getting into running/cycling/etc. and asked me for some pointers on training & nutrition. Here's what I wrote. *I added a little in after thoughts since.

As far as running:

#1 Listen closely to your body. Know the difference between good pain & bad pain.
If you are running for distance, you should increase your mileage incrementally.
Figure out your lactate threshold--that can help you fit your training to your goals. (There's easy & sophisticated methods)
A heart rate monitor is mandatory equipment, but you don't need to buy anything fancy. $90 should get you what you need. It will help you gage your workout intensity, and establish your limits.
Make sure that you are running with proper form. The expert say to either a)run as if you're falling forward, or b) run as if you'll being pulled by a string that's attached to your belly button. This will help you strike with a flat foot, knee slightly bent.
Run alot in terms of frequency. The more you run, the better you will become, and your body will become acclimated to running--it is tough on joints.
If you're sore from running, cycling is a great cross training substitute.

Cycling:
If you don't already have one, go to a reputable shop, and buy a bike that fits you, not the one with "curb appeal". Don't be afraid to spend your money--I feel like I could've bought a better bike.

A sore butt is usually a product of poor cycling shorts--not your bike seat. The saddles with the slots in them are often marketing gimmicks--every rider in the Tour de France wears cycling bibs, but you'll be hard pressed to find one that uses a "slotted saddle."

Don't just push down on the pedals. Your power stroke should encompass as much of the revolution as possible. Some people liken it to scraping mud off the bottom of your shoe--but remember to pull up too. Cycling shoes and clip-in pedals are like a dream come true when you first try them--not 100% mandatory, but they really add efficiency to your pedaling, and are just very very very very nice to have.

When riding, focus on your pedal cadence. 90rpm will give you higher efficiency and better power transfer. Many cycling computers have this option, but you can always count them off over a given time.

Side notes:
a)PLEASE WEAR A HELMET! Head injuries often have life long side effects. Ask my sister if you're not convinced.
b)MOTORISTS DON'T PAY ATTENTION TO CYCLISTS! BE AWARE OF YOUR SURROUNDINGS. Remember on your driving test, where they ask you about how far away you should follow busses? how about where they ask you how much you can legally drink? or where they ask you where to put infant seats?......How about when they ask you how to pass a cyclist???????? They don't. Drivers aren't given instructions on what to do. There are 2 types of cyclists: those that have crashed, and those that will.

As far as food:
I guess it's obvious that you should eat "good food." Just about anything at restaurants these days has large proportions of junk calories, and the portions are astronomical!

My staples are (in no particular order) yogurt, salmon, almonds, arugula, couscous, strawberries, raspberries, apples, lentils, hummus, black beans, olive oil, and clif bars.

Drink lots of water. That recommended 8 glasses a day will suit normal bodily functions. You will need more when you add the exercize. An important side note is to recognise the difference between hunger and thirst--try drinking a few glasses of water every time you think you're hungry--you might be surprised.

It's important to have some carbohydrates about a half hour before you train(I like yogurt), and immediately afterwards. There are special sports drinks that cater to "recovery" such as Endurox R4, but chocolate milk is a close (and waaaay cheaper)equivalent.

Protein is an overrated nutrient, and it's pretty easy to get what you need if you're not a vegan. Protein supplements are a waste of money in most cases.

You will also need a meal within 2 hours of a training session. Don't skip eating, even if you're training for weight loss. If you don't fuel your body, you won't have energy for your next session--it might even be damn difficult to even get out the door.

Avoid alcohol--it's loaded with empty calories, and more importantly, avoid alcohol within a few hours of a training session. It will dehydrate when you need hydration.

Learn about serving sizes. It's difficult to gage how much you're actually eating, and how much you need. Fitday.com is free and can help you figure out exactly how much you're eating.

yum^2

Dal Makhani from Byerly's
Per Serving:

190 Calories
10g Fat (10%)
5g Sat. Fat (25%)
0 Cholesterol
700mg Sodium (29%) ----(to replace all that I lost in my first Mt. Bike race this morning)
19g Carbohydrate (6%)
2g Dietary Fiber (8%)
7g Protein

On top of:

Organic Inca Red Quinoa from Byerlys
Per Serving:

163 Calories
3g Fat (4%)
0g Sat Fat
0 Cholesterol
5mg Sodium
29g Carbohydrate(10%)
4g Dietary Fiber (15%)
6g Protein

This is Unpossible

I'm a little proud of myself.

Today I rode 100 miles on my bike in the Minnesota Ironman Bike ride, and I didn't get a sunburn. I even got a little suntan. This is unpossible. My skin, for my entire recollection, is one of three colors, ghastly, red, or peeling.

This is like divine intervention. It's April, and my skin hasn't seen the sun since September. I spent nearly 7 hours in 80 degrees sun with very little cloud coverage.

I did, however, shellack all exposed skin with SPF 50 at 7:30am, but I didn't expect it to last.

Anyways, I hope to keep this up and not get burnt this summer. I've done it way too many times.

Long detail on the ride below........

As far as the ride goes, I spent the first 30 or so miles riding with Clif and Jesse, who are both in phenomenal shape, as they've been training for Ironman Zurich. After a while, I just couldn't hold at their pace.

So I rode alone, and as I was passing through the tiny town of Montgomery, I was passed by a large group of riders (who came up on my left). There was a right turn that the front riders didn't see, and one came across the entire group and caught another cyclist. The unlucky guy he ran into was directly in front of me, and cartwheeled over his handlebars, helmet smacking the pavement. I was able to get out of the way, but missed the rest stop. 20 miles down the road I was out of fluids, with another 15 to the next town.

That hurt.

I stopped and chugged gatorade, water, and had some nutrigrain bars. I took a salty nutroll with me. That salted nutroll provided some great energy when I was on the road. I'm going to use them in future long rides.

Nutrition on long endurance events is something I'm still honing. My sweat composition, as I've discovered, is very salt dense. I eventually got behind on my electrolyte intake, got some leg cramps, and bonked. I ran into Jesse and Clif at the last rest stop, and Jesse gave me a salt pill, which probably helped me for about 5 miles. The last 15 miles had a heavy headwind, which was exacerbated by a slow leak in my back tire. I stopped to pump it up a couple times, but it ended up flatting with about 3 miles to go.

The last hill back to Lakeville High parking lot was some of the slowest cycling I've done. Ever.

Lessons Learned:
+I sweat alot, and have a high need to replace electrolytes.
+Get ahead on hydration and calorie intake
+Don't ride with a leaking tire.
-Dont buy Specialized tubes. They suck

What I've been doing lately.

Dang it's been a long time since I've posted here! Well, I've been very busy. I just finished another race on Sunday, so I'm taking things easy for a couple days...maybe I'll post a few other blogs in the works.

The st. paul tri was at Lake Phalen, I competed in the international distance. Setting up in the transition, there was little organization--bikes were placed just wherever, and there was little room between some of the racks. I made the mistake of clipping my bike shoes onto my bike--I'll get to that in a minute.

There was a rectangle of buoys in the lake, and our we started in-water at about waist deep. I started the race in wave 3 as a clydesdale: behind all the international competitors. There was lots of lakeweed in the beginning, but I think it was chopped up fairly well by the previous waves. I had to do 2 laps around the buoys.

I eased into an easy pace, and felt good. I was wearing my Gear West singlet for the first time, and it felt pretty decent. I was happy to know that I wouldn't have to put it on at T1. About 1/4 into the race, my heart rate monitor strap slid down my chest and onto my waist. After a few failed attempts with one arm to pull it back up(with the other arm still stroking), I pulled it up and tightened it while doing breaststroke kicks on my back. Back to swimming, and onto the second lap. I was able to hold my pace, and even speed up. I had been recently working on my sighting abilities, and it was paying off. I was doing much less zigzagging, more straight swimming. I pushed hard after rounding the last buoy, kicking to get blood in my legs as I started to see the bottom of the lake, and swam until it was too shallow to swim.

I had a nice run into T1, and even passed some people on the way to my bike. Unfortunately, my feet were covered in sand. There was no water to step in after the sand on the beach, or even grass to run on for that matter--just straight to pavement. I spent an easy 30 seconds trying to de-sand my feet. Oh yeah--and the rocks. The parking lot wasn't swept, so my bare feet got even dirtier running in the parking lot. I didn't want to run out of transistion barefoot and try slipping dirty feet into my bikeshoes, so I unclipped my bike shoes, put on the shoes, and ran with my bike out of transition.

I hopped on my bike, clipped in, and took two pedal revolutions to find out my back tire was dead flat. I'd pumped it up really good that morning, but I was a bit suspect of the valvestem & I was right. I pulled my bike off the road and was getting ready to take my aerobar waterbottle off so I could lay my bike to change the tire. A guy ran over and told me he was a bike mechanic and said he could change it. I ran over to the county cycle tent and snagged a new tube, and ran back. He already had the tube off the bike and quickly slapped the new one on. He had everything ready to go really fast--It took about 4-6 min to get it all ready to go, and then I had my C02 cartridge inflater, which I used. It worked great, and I rode off.

I got going, and my legs had tightened up while I was changing my tire. I also noticied that in the change, my speedometer was not working. I still had my cadence readout, but I wanted to have a more accurate feel as to how hard I should be exerting. That in addition to the flat & my sore legs brought me down mentally, but I did not give up--I started to hydrate, the pain in my legs eased, and I pushed hard.

In the end, paying more attention to my bodily exertion and pedal cadence might've helped out more than not having a speed readout -- during the entire bike leg, nobody passed me. (except, of course, when I was fixing my tire) I also raced well from a technical standpoint. The one big hill on the course--a switchbacked half mile at 5.0% grade was of little challenge to me as it has been in the past on the way up, and I smoked on the way down--all the way without touching my brakes--something I've never been able to get myself to do in the past on that hill. I felt pretty satisfied with my bike overall. My average speed was 20.2mph including stopping for the flat.

My T2 was ok. Except for having to dodge the sprint distance finishers who were just hanging out, walking around in the already narrow paths between the bike racks. You know who you are; next time I'm going to give you a stiff arm.

The run felt good--better than usual at the beginning considering the transition--and I was able to feel comfortable at a decent pace. I ended up with a decent time --49 min 11 sec -- about par with my liberty tri run(which has become my gold standard for a "good race"), but not nearly as hilly. Not bad considering I was running on a gimp knee that I smashed on a tree earlier in the week while mountain biking.

I was looking at my watch frequently to determine how fast I needed to run to beat my PR, and to gage my running pace. As I rounded the south end of the lake for the second time, I started to increase my pace with the finish line in view. I don't remember the last few yards & crossing. I just remember them taking the band off my ankle, and telling me that I had to walk from the finish line to the shed 100 yards away to get water.

Why I liked the race:
+The challenging switchback hill on the bike course.
+The nice run around Phalen
+Cheerful, encouraging volunteers! (I think that's because most of them were triathletes)

Why I didn't like the race:
-bumpy bike course
-unswept transition area
-chaotic transition area
-unmowed weeds in the lake
-my registration was screwed up. I was placed in Age group Sprint instead of Clydesdale International despite me emailing the race director earlier in the week AND requesting the change at packet pickup. Therefore, I officially had the slowest sprint distance finish time. (but not the slowest sprint swim & bike splits. ha ha!)
-no water at the finish line. WTF?

The Numbers:
----------------------
Overall 19/57
Men 17/37
Age Group 5/7
Clydesdale 1/1
10th fastest swim split overall.

More Bicycle Maintenance

Yesterday, Brian and I rode our aluminum horses out to stillwater to watch the last stage of the bike race. I watched these little teeny guys ride bikes faster than I've ever seen up a hill that make me grasp for something bolted into the ground.

Brian had engagements, and left before the race was over. As I left, I ran into my auntie, who talked me into having a beer with her and her boyfriend on the waterfront.

The rest of the day was a sufferfest. Stillwater, for all practical purposes, is a hole. Earlier in the day, Brian and I glided down to the waterfront at about 35mph without pedaling at all. I left at an agonizing 7mph, huffing away in my climbing gear. Once I got back to the bike trail, a good 4 miles north of Stillwater, I met a 10mph headwind. Then I realized that most of the ride back would be uphill. Then I got rained on. Then I realized that I had a rear flat tire.

It was a slow leak, and I decided that I would just air it up and keep going as best as I could--I'd never replaced a tube, and since it wasn't a blowout, I didn't want to chance fucking up my spare unless I really needed to. I had to refill about every 3 miles, but I was pedalling my ass off to cover as much ground as I could between refills. I estimate that I refilled about 6 times before getting back to Brian's house and my car in Roseville. 58 miles for the day on my bike.

I was kindof dreading having to take my rear tire off and change it out, but I really enjoyed myself this evening. It wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be, and I even got some other maintenance in for the fun of it; cleaned the chain & cassette, washed off my frame, etc.

I found my nemesis as well. A little piece of metal (looks like a staple) that jammed right through the tire, and lodged in the tube. I'm lucky it stayed there.

Now, even after thoroughly scrubbing my hands, I have little black grease stains all over them; that feels very natural to me, even though I rarely get my hands dirty. I feel like that kid that loved growing up on the farm. I feel very much like me.

Challenge

I just scouted the bike route for my triathlon this weekend, and I must say, it is fearsome. I didn't know real hills exist in Minnesota. Given this fact, in addition to the fact that I'm doing my first Olympic distance race, makes me a bit uncomfortable in that I might not have trained as hard in recent weeks as I should've. (damn you, beerfests and summer holidays)

That being said, my goal will be 3 hours, 10 minutes.

Anyways, I just spent 2 hours giving my bike some much needed TLC. You wouldn't believe the amount & kind of shit that can build up on a bike after 300 miles. There is alot of it, it gets everywhere, and I'm probably going to throw my shirt away and try to bleach my hands. Think hairdye will work?

I met Ironman

No, I'm not talking about my two triathlon coaches who have finished Ironman Triathlons, I'm talking about the dude I rode with today. I was on a 40 mile ride, whipping through downtown on my way to the river. As I was just taking the bike ramp from Hennepin avenue to West River Parkway, a guy on a bike behind me yelled and asked where I was going and if he could ride with me.

"Sure, man! I'm headed to Minnehaha parkway" (then I would hit harriet on the way back home)

He told me to set the pace, and he'd follow. I'm whipping along at about 22mph, and he's a little back....whatever....he can't keep up with this shit, right? Well, there are a couple wild hills on this road, and and I don't skip them because this is where you need to work hard to strengthen your legs and increase endurance. I'm about 85% up the first monster hill, and this guy pulls up & passes me.

"nice job, man", I say with surprise.

Then comes a fast downhill. I slam into my fastest gearing and hunker down on my aerobars and pedal like hell. See ya later---I mean business.

I set an Andy + Bike speed record. 40.0mph. For anyone who's never ridden a fast bike......this is like re-entering the atmosphere in the space shuttle.

I'm crusing along keeping my momentum, and the franklin ave. bridge is up next. This is a wikked pissah tough climb. Before long I'm screaming along at a paltry 8mph, huffing and puffing, and crying to God for mercy.

And then that guy passes me. I stop to look at his bike, and I see he has a fixie. One speed, no coasting allowed.

I'm pretty sure guys like this eat nails for their daily iron intake.

Basic Bicycle Maintenance...

If you ever need a pedal wrench, don't buy one. I already did, and it was in a fit of rage.

I'll let you borrow mine.

A few weeks ago, I bought some new pedals & cycling shoes(the most expensive shoes I've EVER bought) and was VERY excited to take a ride with them on that very sunny & warm spring day ...

I carefully installed the cleats onto my shoes, and got out my toolset to take the old pedals off my bike. I grabbed my crescent wrench with my muscled arm in the same fashion my father, grandfather, and great-grandfather have been doing for the last 110 years.

I yanked. And yanked on that motherfucker until I rounded off part of the nut on the pedal. "Ah, SHIT!" I yelled as I wiped the beading sweat from my brow. I deduced the thread was seized, so I sprayed some WD40 on the threads and waited anxiously for a half hour as the daylight burned away....

I tried again, this time on a different orientation to the smashed hardened Chrome-Molybdenum steel on my first try. I looked at my hand, which had the reddest & deepest indentation I've ever seen on flesh. No more screwing around. I can get some ice later.

I close my eyes and mustered every last sodium-potassium receptor in my left bicep, deltoid, and lat. I feel the wrench move abruptly.........because I broke the wrench.

Our hero spreads his arms, fists clenched, teeth bared and looks to the sky/ceiling while emitting a primal roar.

I come to consciousness in my car headed toward the nearest bike shop, Erik's in St. Louis Park, to get a pedal wrench and slap down $30. Yes. I paid $30---a satisfying evening at the Herkimer.....for one wrench. This wrench has a slot to grasp the pedal nut, and a long handle. That's it.

I got home and pulled the wrench from it's bag. Which....appeared to have directions on the back.

Huh....the left pedal has a reverse thread.

Oh.


I had a good ride.

1st Try

I just completed my first triathlon of 2006. Sort of.

I just participated in Lifetime's first annual Indoor Triathlon. Now, something this insipid doesn't really count given that I got into triathlon because I loathe treadmills, but I figure I could chalk it up as a decent workout.

10 minutes pool swim
30 minutes on a stationary spin bike (all bikes set to the same resistance)
20 minutes on a treadmill. (2 degree incline)
Everyone was scored on the distance the completed in each leg.

I got to Lifetime only to realize I forgot my goggles, so I had to buy a crappy pair at their overpriced sporting goods shop for $15.

I thought I swam ok, got up to the cycling studio only to find out the girl next to me swam EXACTLY THE SAME DISTANCE. Fuck. Well, I kept talking to her and found out that she's a professionsal swim coach, and swam for Minot (ND) High School--a phenomenal swim team, hands down. Well, maybe I didn't do so bad, but she is a girl.

The guy cycling on the other side of me is fucking cruising. His pedal cadence was probably around 125-130 easy--which means your shoes are a blurry white(or whatever color your shoe is) circle. I'm going at a decent clip relative to him, and all the Lifetime employees were sure that he was going to beat the day's record by a mile. He goes 17.5 miles, I hit 16.4....which was also really fast for the day, according to the proctors.

The run was painful. They made you set an incline to replicate running outdoors, but I think everyone agreed it was more difficult. I ended up hitting 2.46 miles which was an attempt to best my last tri's run pace. I would've run faster given the views of Lake Harriet instead of stupid R&B videos on the TV. I a nice consolation would've been some some nice-heinied(sp?) women running in the treadmills in front of me.

I spent a good 30 minutes in the hot tub afterwards, and now I'm relaxing with a Summit Maibock and listening to some all-encompassingly kickass music. (thanks J-Mo)

This is the way Sundays should go.


UPDATE: I took 2nd place in points.

Milestone

Yesterday I ran 3.55 miles at the gym. This, in and of itself was no big achievement. That's not the point of today's entry.

The point is......... that I've ran over 100 miles since January 1st, 2006.

I've been keeping track of all of my mileage in the gym, and I'm fairly pleased, given that I've been away from the gym for 2 weeks this year during my ski vacations(which did not keep me conditioned, somehow), and out for yet another week feeling under the weather for working out.

Unfortunately, about 90 miles has been on a treadmill. I hate treadmills. There's such little inspiration to work hard on one--like watching Jeopardy and Ricky Martin videos could inspire anyone. True inspiration is being 3 miles from home and telling yourself that you wouldn't dare walking home.

My longest run yet this year was 8.26 miles....mapped out for you right here. I pulled this off on saturday in a little over an hour.

I hope to reach 365 miles this year on foot. That's a good number, no?