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I signed up for a bunch of events today - July 31 was the deadline for discounted registration fees for many events. I am now a registered participant for:

• "Take On The Heat" Sprint Tri - another tri with a pool swim (350 meters); doing this one with Jarrod (who got an even more discounted registration fee through TNT)
• Hotter Than Hell - the biggest bike race in Texas and one of the biggest in the nation; couldn't miss this one; Jarrod and I are signed up (Jonathan and Mike may join us); not sure where we are going to stay - hotel rooms get booked a year in advance; worst case, we have a 2+ hour drive and leave the house at 3:00 AM!
• Texas Man Tri - Jarrod signed on for the Olympic distance (1500 yard swim, 23 mile bike, and 6.2 mile run) and so Derek and I decided to join him. Jonathan is signed up for the Sprint. This is the TNT event for which Jarrod and Jonathan have been officially training.

I'm a little worried about doing the Olympic distance for Texas Man. I'm going to have to train a lot harder to be ready for it (race date: September 16). But this is in line with my two longer-term goals - doing the "50.5" distance (.93 mi Swim, 40.3 mi Bike, 9.3 mi Run) for Tri 101 at the Woodlands in November and running a half-marathon in the November or December.

In other news, the Burleson Honey Tour which was rained out back in May has been rescheduled for September 1.

Unfortunately, training will be a little sporadic the next few weeks due to some (much-needed) vacation. Hopefully, I will be able to do some running, hit the hotel gyms on occasion, and squeeze in a bike ride and some swimming when I am in town. Actually, finding some time for vacation workouts is a must. The Take on the Heat Sprint Tri is on August 19 - two days after I get back from vacation!

I think I can, I think I can ...

The Goatneck

I rode the Goatneck 100 yesterday. Did the "100K" route (advertised as 69.5 miles, but my GPS and bike computer both tallied a little over 70.5 miles) with Jarrod. It took 5 hours and 6 minutes (4:18 of ride time).

Not a great pace (13.82 mph) because we had to make four rest stops (about 2 more than I had estimated) due to sore back (me) and neck (Jarrod) and I also got a flat tire just after leaving the 56-mile rest stop which cost us another 15 minutes. Thanks, Jarrod, for helping me change the tube. Note to self: be VERY careful where to lay bike at future rest stops - I'm sure it was just a burr or something in the grass that caused the flat.

Jonathan & Alexis and Mike & Simone rode the 27-mile course. I carpooled with Jonathan & Alexis, but never saw Mike & Simone. Of course with over 2,500 participants, the whole race site was pretty busy.

The Goatneck was a fairly hilly course and some of the longer, steeper ones got their own names: Mount Antenna and Mount Goatneck were especially challenging. Not sure if it was tougher than the Peach Pedal. Maybe a little tougher since it was 10 miles longer, but not necessarily tougher hills.

All in all, a great ride and definitely on the "must-do" list.

One final note: Regarding the ride's strange name, from http://www.bicycle-stuff.com/reviews/07_July/goatneck.htm:

C.A. Pierce, one of the early settlers of the area, was asked to describe the piece of land for one of the legal documents necessary to the transfer. According to legend, he said, "It's just a little ol' goat's neck out in the cedar brakes along the river." The name stuck, and goat's neck eventually became Goat Neck." - Steve Bell, Johnson County History Book.

Ride Review:

• Course: 4.5/5 - road conditions were pretty good; hilly, challenging course; good traffic support; wish they had a 100 mile route!
• Rest Stops: 4/5 - good refreshments and drinks; fun themes at the stops (luau party, rock and roll); Pickle Juice available at 47.5-mile stop, and PB&J crackers at 56-mile.
• Logistics: 3.5/5 - easy online registration; reasonable entry fee; sufficient parking at Cleburne Middle School despite the crowds; horrible web site - badly needs a redesign; decent T-shirt (but I would have preferred the white ones that the volunteers wore instead of electric blue!) and water bottle; they had just ran out of the post-race hot-dogs when we finished - boo!
• Overall: 4/5 - will do again; the good, challenging course and excellent ride support

Garmin Forerunner 305

Picked up a new gadget this week. I picked up a Garmin Forerunner 305 - following the lead of Jonathan (who has one), Derek (has Garmin Forerunner 205 - same form factor, but no heart rate monitor), and Don (has Garmin Edge 305 - similar, but larger and optimized for cycling).

After using it for a 5K practice run and the Goatneck 100K, my thoughts are pretty much in line with the other reviews out there. It gives great heart rate and GPS info - I love seeing the Google maps via MotionBased. Its elevation sensor is not very accurate (the Edge 305 doesn't suffer from this problem since it combines the GPS elevation with a barometric altitude sensor). It is fairly comfortable to wear despite its "largish" size.

I wish it had more accurate elevation readings like the Edge 305 and I also wish it was completely waterproof so that I could swim with it (it is rated at only 30 minutes at 1 meter and the manual explicitly says that "this product is not intended for use with swimming").

Other than that, it is a great device and a great addition to my training arsenal.

Getting Faster Slowly

Yeah, it's an oxymoron, but the title is apropos. Although progress is slow, I am definitely getting better. I swam 2,000 meters at North Lake College with Jarrod and Derek on Monday and they definitely pushed me to go faster. I really tend to slow down as time drags on if I swim by myself - I need to break that habit (it's one thing to slow down due to exhaustion, but another to just naturally drop rhythm/cadence). Did the whole 2,000 meters in 48:34!

My splits:

• First 500 meters: 11:34
• Second 500 m: 12:15
• Third 500 m: 12:15
• Fourth 500 m: 12:29

Derek and Jarrod did even better than me. They picked up the pace in the final 1,000 meters and finished about 30 seconds ahead of me. But regardless, this is my fastest time yet for a 2,000 meter swim.

Too Hot To Handle

Derek and I ran the Too Hot To Handle 15K race at White Rock Lake in Dallas this morning. Originally, I was just going to do the 5K run but Derek talked me in doing the 15K (9.3 miles) with him, which was one loop around the water. (I can't believe that I've lived in the DFW metroplex for over 10 years and this is the first time I've gone all the way around White Rock Lake.)

It was a pretty nice day with some early morning clouds so the sun wasn't too intense. As the morning wore on, the sun grew stronger and the humidity became more apparent, but the route had quite a bit of shade and was mostly flat, which was very nice.

Derek was a great motivator and I was able to keep up with him at a 10-min/mile pace for the first 6 1/2 miles. Our splits were 31:05 for the first 5K and 32:03 for the second. However, I ran out of gas after that (and had to stop and use the restroom) so I split off from him. I ended up finishing at 1:40:52 with 37:44 for the last 5K. I was 573rd out of 789 finishers. Derek finished 505th with a time of 1:36:22. Great job, Derek!

Overall, I am very happy with my effort, especially considering that 15K is the longest run distance that I have run for an organized event ever. And the last 10K that I ran was probably in 1993 or 1994!

Afterward, my legs did cramp up a little bit. Luckily, a couple SaltStick capsules and a self-massage helped - I was worried that I would have trouble pushing in the clutch on my 5-speed-transmission vehicle. But other than the cramps and a little tenderness on some of my toes, I am feeling pretty good. I guess tomorrow morning will be a real test of how much of a pounding this event was on my legs. Here's hoping for the best ...

Now, I'm looking forward to doing another 15K (Run For Shelter 5K & 15K), and possibly a 20K (Tour Des Fleurs 10K & 20K) and/or half-marathons (Dallas Running Club Half, Dallas White Rock Lake Marathon & Half-Marathon), this fall/winter ...

More Elliptical Trainer

Didn't have time yesterday or today to make it to the gym (work is BUSY) so I've just been working out on the home elliptical trainer. Did about "2.05 miles" in an hour yesterday and about the same today, which feels pretty good. Hopefully, my running shape has improved.

Derek is signing us up tomorrow for the Too Hot To Handle race at White Rock Lake in Dallas on Saturday. Originally, my plan was to run the 5K and see how much I've improved since the 5K I ran on July 4 (my treadmill speeds at the gym have slowly crept upward). However, Derek convinced me to try the 15K distance. He said he would run with me - so I will hold him to his word - or try my best to catch up to him as he shoots way ahead of me. :-)

I placed another tri-zone order today - got a 4-Bottle Fuel Belt (it's probably going to take me 1.5 hours to do the 9.3 miles so I will need some water), some more SaltStick capsules, and several pairs of Speed Laces and Sqeezums (for speedier transitions for upcoming tris and also because I'm too lazy to tie my shoes). Hopefully, I will get this order (mainly the water belt) before this weekend's 15K.

Follow Me To The Peach Pedal

Finished the 100K (bike computer said 60.5 miles) at the 2007 Peach Pedal in about 4 hours (or just over 15 MPH) with two stops. It was a nice ride in Weatherford with partly-cloudy skies (for pleasant temps in the 80s). The route in and out (or rather down and up) of the Brazos River valley presented a hilly challenge at times. Lots of tough climbs at around the 41-mile mark. It didn't help that my rear tire had a slow leak - by the time I reached the last 5 miles it was nearly flat (didn't want to waste a CO2 cartridge when I was that close to the finish line). According to my pump gauge, I was around 20-30 PSI when I got back to my car. I guess I will be patching/replacing that tube.

Jonathan & Alexis and Mike & Simone were also in attendance and did the 11-mile route which had a later 8:00 AM start. Don, Derek, and I started at 7:30. We weren't paying complete attention to the time/crowd and were almost late getting to the starting line (which was actually about 1/2 mile away from the registration tables!)

I rode with Derek for the first 13 miles or so until he had to turn left for the 27-mile route (he had to make it a quick ride to attend a lunchtime appointment). Don was just a little behind me and caught up as I was leaving the 28-mile rest stop. We rode for a while, but I wanted to push myself and started pulling ahead. Unfortunately, I found out later that he had a wreck which resulted in a broken clavicle soon after we split. I hope he has a speedy recovery.

Ride Review:

• Course: 4/5 - road conditions were pretty good; hilly, but in a good way; needed better signage (painted arrows on the road when turning left from a major road onto a residential street are not sufficient!)
• Rest Stops: 3/5 - I only stopped at two stops and due to food allergies I could not partake of the titular peaches and bottled water at rest stop 3 was a pleasant surprise (but it wasn't on ice so it was not cold); however, I was disappointed at the watered-down Gatorade and lack of any snacks other than fruit (no cookies or crackers - we need carbs!); stops were well spaced out and had enthusiastic volunteers
• Logistics: 3/5 - easy online registration, reasonable entry fee, not enough portapotties at the registration site (long lines!), decent T-shirt, free pass to the Parker County Peach Festival (although I did not use); too many people at the starting line and wimpy "let's go" send-off; bad traffic when leaving due to Peach Festival
• Overall: 3.5/5 - will do again; the good, challenging course outweighs the shortcomings

On and Off Training

Monday: slightly on - recovering from Tour de French Fry so just some weights, 10 minutes on the StairMeister and a light swim (500 meters)

Tuesday: ON - Lunch time: 30 minutes on treadmill with a 5K completed in 26:13 (about 7 MPH) - then 500 meter swim (was too dizzy/tired to do more). Afternoon/Evening: Biking at Texas Motor Speedway - two laps of the 5 mile "outer loop" - first lap slow, second lap fast (average 19+ MPH)

Wednesday: OFF - too much &^%$ going on at work - paged at 5:30 AM for a production outage - tired, cranky Andy

Thursday: ON - Jarrod and I completed 2,000 meters of swimming (24:33 for the first 1,000 and 24:52 for the second) and then did 2 laps around the North Lake College pond in about 12 minutes (probably just under 1.5 miles)

Friday: OFF - resting up for Peach Pedal

Whey Protein

After several discussions with teammates about various post-workout recovery meals/supplements, and all coming to the conclusion that protein should be a part of it, I decided to give the whey protein thing a whirl.

So I went ahead and got some "Body Fortress" brand whey protein from the Roanoke Wal-Mart. It was $12.97 for 2 pounds, but they also had a 5 lb can for just over $28.

1 scoop has 23 grams of protein, 1 gram of carbs, 110 calories, 55 mg of sodium, 230 mg of potassium, and only 1.5 grams of fat (.5 grams of saturated fat). I think if you added some complex carbs (a sandwich on wheat toast or a good energy bar) you would have a decent post-workout snack/lunch.

Anyway, I got the chocolate flavor and it doesn't taste bad at all. I mixed it with milk and it tasted like chocolate milk (although not quite as sweet - some might want to add some Splenda). But what I really liked was adding a scoop to a glass of caffeine-free Diet Coke - looks a little disgusting, but it was actually a very tasty "Chocolate Coke". :-)

Random Stuff

1. Saturday was July 7, 2007 - 07/07/07 - how lucky ...

2. One way to remove bicycle chain grease from hands, legs, etc. --> Lysol Sanitizing Wipes (baby wipes also work, but in my opinion the Lysol wipes smell nicer)

Tour de French Fry

(I've recently theorized that French fries might be a good post-hard-workout food - carbohydrates and potassium from the potatoes, sodium from the salt, and they taste good. Okay, so there might be a trans fat issue somewhere in there, but nothing's perfect ...)

The 2007 Tour de France started yesterday. And while my interest in that event has increased due to the amount of cycling I'm doing - I can much better appreciate the pain, effort, and achievement that goes into this 3,500+ km race - I still take even greater interest in the biking that my teammates and I get to do ourselves.

This morning Don and I drove up to the Denton Water Works parking lot and met Jarrod and Matt at 8:00 AM (well, 8:10 because we were late due to gassing up the car!) to do the (approximately) 30-mile Team-In-Training loop. It was a nice route on mostly country roads with little traffic on a Sunday morning. There was one stretch on the I-35 service road that was quite rough with a lot of patches, but I think we can avoid that whip next time by taking some alternate roads that parallel the highway. There was also a pretty steep hill at mile 12, but it passed by fairly quickly, and hills are part of the training!

Anyway, with the late start and a few stops, we finished up the first lap almost 2 1/2 hours later at 10:50 AM. It was Matt's first time on a road bike but he performed admirably and finished the entire 28.6 mile lap on the old Centurion (yep, "Old Bessie" has been passed on to its next rider). Great job! I guess those spinning classes at the gym helped him out. Jarrod had to meet his wife a little after 11:00 so he had to call with quits with Matt; so it was just me and Don for the second go-round.

Unfortunately, as the time neared and passed noon, the Texas sun finally showed its force; the temperature today hit 95 or so. Although our overall pace was pretty good for the second 30 miles, we still had to hit the convenience store "rest stops" and at the second stop at Lake Ray Roberts's "The Dam Store" (so named because it is on the Lake Ray Roberts dam :-), Don had to call it a day.

So I rode the last 8.6 miles by myself back to the parking lot to get our "SAG wagon". This part of ride wasn't too bad - a few rolling hills, but nothing horribly steep - and the road was fairly smooth. However, the skies were definitely darkening. About 5.5 miles from the car and "salvation", I felt the first sprinkles of rain drops. At 4.5 miles from finish, the air became completely grey and I was PELTED by hard rain with wind and very low visibility!

It didn't matter if I rode slowly or quickly, it was just as bad, so I tried to keep up a good speed and hoped that it would let up soon. Luckily, there was no lightning and it eased up after about 4 or 5 minutes (and thankfully, my bike computer and cell phone still functioned despite the water), but I was completely drenched and my shoes were heavy and squishy.

The rain eventually became intermittent droplets and then the sun grew sunny. By the time I got back to the car, all traces of the storm were gone, save for my wet cycling jersey and shoes. Per my (still functioning) bike computer, I did the final 8.6 miles in 31 minutes - I was quite happy to have been able to keep a 17+ mph pace after 49 miles of biking and some nasty weather. The total ride was 57.2 miles in about 5 hours (with all the stops). Not the fastest time, but a good warm-up to Saturday's 100K Peach Pedal.

Anyway, after driving back to The Dam Store, Don and I were both so hungry that we decided to get "The Dam Lunch Special". Jarrod had mentioned earlier (when we stopped there for the first lap) that it was a tasty treat, and he was right. A very delicious burger, refreshing drinks, and (you guessed it), crispy French fries.

Ever Feel Like You're Just Running on a Treadmill?

Well, in my case, I actually WAS running on a treadmill today. I was able to complete 3.1 miles (a 5K) in 28:05. And then did a little jogging to round out the 30 minute timer. Not a bad pace - just slightly slower than my 5K time on July 4th's race (27:55).

Although I don't really like running on a treadmill, I think for the time being this is the only way that I can check/ensure my running pace. I resolve to get on this thing at least twice a week.

Finished up my workout with a 1,000 meter swim, but the times were slow. 12:46 for the first 500m and 13:04 for the second - or 25:50 for the 1,000 meters.

In other news, Don told me this afternoon that Wilhe (another guy from work) attended LA Fitness today using one of Don's guest passes. Like Don, he signed him and his wife up for memberships by the end of his workout. So I guess the LA Fitness marketing plan is working (and LA Fitness needs to pay me commission)!

And finally, Jarrod, Don and I plan to do a 60-mile bike ride by ourselves on Sunday. We got a map and directions for a 30-mile route between Denton, Sanger, and the southern end of Lake Ray Roberts. The plan is to do two laps of the route in about 4 hours (including the stops).

Spin Cycle

Today, I did a "spin cycling" class during lunchtime at the LA Fitness branch in Las Colinas (1 mile from my office). Actually, this is the second spin class I've done - I also did one with Jonathan last Wednesday. I really like the class - a very good and fun workout - and very intense. Probably equivalent to about 15 miles of biking in an hour with lots of tough "hills". I originally thought that the class would be fairly easy after doing (near-)century bike rides, but because the motion is pretty much non-stop, if you don't cheat and really use a decent amount of resistance on the fly-wheel, you get a great cardio and leg-strength workout.

Afterword, I did about 500 meters of swimming - as a cool-down and also because I like swimming. Don was at the LA Fitness pool as well on a 7 day trial guest pass. Well, it ended up that he didn't need all seven days because he signed up for a membership before we left the gym! So now I have another LA Fitness gym workout buddy - along with Jonathan and Alexis (and, of course, my wife :-)

Running for Freedom

I ran and completed the 7th Annual Denton Parks & Rec Liberty 5K this morning. Jarrod wasn't feeling well so he had to bail out and Jonathan & Alexis decided to do the 1 mile walk option, but it was a fun and rewarding race all the same. No rain, but it was a little humid and halfway through the run, I was dripping in sweat.

Unfortunately, I didn't come anywhere close to my goal of running 8 minute miles (and definitely a far cry from the sub-7 minute miles of my college days), but I crossed the finish line at 27:55 or right at 9 minutes per mile. This is almost 2 minutes per mile faster than the TWU tri from 3 days ago and I didn't have to stop to walk at all so that was certainly good news.

But I don't really know exactly how to improve my speed (except obviously to train more and train harder). I hit the 1-mile checkpoint at about 9:34 so my pace started off slow (and that was planned - I didn't want to burn out right away), and I obviously sped it up for the final two miles (I think I hit the 2-mile point at 17:[forty-something] or just over 8 minutes for the second mile). But except for a late sprint a few hundred yards from the finish line, I couldn't find any more speed in that final mile.

I even tried to do some analysis during the race on why my pace was slow, but nothing jumped out as the culprit: Legs? - tired, but still willing; Heart? - seems like an aerobic rate, not pounding; Lungs? - also not too bad. I just didn't have any more "gas" to give.

So I guess all comes back to the original point: It's not one single thing that needs "fixing" - if I want to improve my run speed, I will just have to train more and train harder in this area.

Swim Today, Run Tomorrow

Did some swimming today at the gym for my first post-race workout. It felt pretty good, and I think I am completely over Sunday's cold. I completed 2,000 meters in four 500m chunks. Had a pretty good pace at the start, but it definitely slowed after the first 1,000.

First 500 m - 12:05
Second 500 - 12:10
Third 500 - 12:29
Final 500 - 12:59 (was supposed to be a cool-down, but when I saw halfway through that I could still break 13 minutes, something snapped)

Tomorrow morning (Happy Independence Day), Jonathan & Alexis, Jarrod, and I will be meeting up in Denton for the 7th Annual Liberty 5K. This is the first time I've run in an organized event in over 12 years. It will be interesting to see how well we can do when we haven't swam and biked just prior to running.

Let’s see how close I can get to my time from 12 years(!) ago - http://www.coolrunning.com/results/ma/baycolon.htm. I honestly feel like I am in the best shape of my life right now, but I can't completely discount the fact that I still am 12 years older and 15 pounds heavier than "Andy from 1995" ...

Sick

On another note, I couldn't post the tri results yesterday because I was sick/sleeping. Somehow I caught a cold or something right after the race because I had a sore throat and stuffed-up nose by early afternoon. Some research postulates that intense exercise can weaken the immune system and make the athlete more susceptible to illness. (And for me getting 3 hours of sleep Saturday night certainly didn't help.) Luckily, after a nap Sunday afternoon and a good sleep last night, combined with taking the day off (workout-wise, duty called in the office), I feel much better already.

Tri #2

I finished my second tri yesterday - the Pioneer Power Sprint at Texas Woman's University in Denton, TX. The event was a 300m pool swim, 20K (12.4 mile) bike, and 3.3 mile run. I finished in 1:25:26.7 for 106th out of 204 finishers and 8th out of 21 in the Men 35-39 age group. [Of course, I'd be 19th (out of 23) in the 40-44 age group. And second from last in the 50-54 age group. I also got a kick out of the existence of the Men 80-84 age group – that’s amazing!]

Derek and Jarrod finished in 1:19 and 1:22 respectively for 65th and 90th places. Jonathan, who was doing his first tri, finished the swim and bike portions and did a lot of the run as well - way to go!

It was a little tough to wake up for the 6:45 AM start (with 5:30 AM check-in) – I’m always too excited/nervous the night before a race. I didn’t go to bed until almost 1:30 and had to get up about 3 hours later. The morning wasn’t too bad – adrenaline, I suppose – but I was very tired yesterday afternoon. We went out to sushi in Addison (Tokyo One) for lunch and I made my wife drive so I could nap. :-P

I showed some improvement over the Metroplex Sprint Tri from last month. My swim was faster, my run was faster, my bike was about the same (which is actually good because this course was not as flat as the MST), and my transitions were faster.

The pool swim was not too bad. I was number 283 and the first bib number was 201 so I only waited for about 80 x 10 seconds - maybe 14 or 15 minutes - until it was my turn in the water. I thought it would be crazy to have 3, 4, 5, 6 (?!?) people swimming in the same lane (and sometimes trying to pass!) times five bi-directional 25 meter laps (the first and last 25 meters were one-way). However, it wasn't too bad - the swim order was determined by swim speed and most people were truthful/accurate on their entry forms. I only passed one swimmer and never got passed myself (although the person following me was never more than 1/2 a length behind).

After again taking way too many attempts before being able to clip in (need practice, or better pedals), and also trying to put on my helmet with my swim cap still on (duh - you can really lose your mind during transitions!), I felt very comfortable for the bike portion. Since it was an out-and-back course, Jarrod and I said our hellos as I hit the 5.5 mile mark and he was at about 6.5 mile mark after making the U-turn. Oh, and I love my aero-bars and "Aero-Drink". It was great to easily sip water without the distraction (and, for me, the danger) of reaching down to grab a water bottle.

The run was tough for me and the course started with a steep downhill and then a gradual uphill over the next 1/2 mile ... and then repeated for a second lap. I tried to do 4-1's (4 minutes running, 1 minute walking) and kept to that schedule for the most part (although I immediately skipped to a walk portion when I saw the water stations :-). I probably only walked about 7 or 8 times this race instead of 12-15 for the MST.

Here were my final stats:

Swim: 6:31.2 (2:10/100m)
T1: 2:29.6
Bike: 39:50.5 (18.7 mph)
T2: 1:01.0
Run: 35:34.2 (10:47/mile)
Total: 1:25:26.7

Full race results at http://www.doitsports.com/results/page.tcl?id=171572

Another nice thing about this race was the excellent weather. It was a little sketchy watching lightning over the Denton skyline as we drove north on I-35W at 5:00 in the morning. Luckily, by the time we arrived, the rain had passed, and although there were a few wet spots on the bike and run - it was nice and sunny by the time we crossed the finish line. In fact, we had to seek some shade after the race while we munched on bananas and bagels and rehydrated.

And last, but definitely not least, we had our own cheering section! - in attendance: Jonathan's wife, Jarrod's entire family, and our friend and riding teammate, Don - who took these wonderful photos.

Great weather, great race, great friends ... what a great way to start July 2007!