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Jacksonville, FL, United States
In Life as well as in running the secret is Pace.

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

MAF Test

I'm just about half way through the Maffetone book  but I thought I'd go ahead and do a pre test.

And since I am in essence starting over.  I thought a weigh in was in order as well…



I did the test on a treadmill at the Y @ a 1% incline.  I figured this would allow me to have constant test conditions even when it's 95F outside next summer.

Warm-up 10 minutes

Mile 1:  8:38 (132 BPM)
Mile 2: 8:46 (135 BPM)
Mile 3: 9:03 (135 BPM)
Mile 4: 8:54 (136 BPM)
Mile 5 9:00 (135 BPM)

Cool down 10 minutes

I guess I'll do this test every 2 weeks as I begin to implement my new training strategies…


Friday, October 26, 2012

CX Series Finale

Last night was the 5th and final race of our series…  the first 4 had been progressively better

Race 1: 5 crashes
Race 2: no crashes
Race 3: 6th place in the 4/5 division
Race 4: 4th (and in the money)

Optimism and excitement were high…

Being near Halloween costumes were encouraged.

Triathlete was what I had decided on…  but I had decided to forego the aero helmet…  it was just too hot for that.

We got their a bit late…  and Judi volunteered to sign me up and get my number while I did a warm-up lap…. About halfway through my lap I ran over a stick..  not much bigger than a pencil.

*SANP* *CHINK* *GRRRR*

I came to a halt pretty quickly pedals would not move and something was in my spokes.

That "something turned out to be my derailleur.


Broken derailleur hanger…  race over

Well..  the bike was finished for the night but I got a second chance

One of the RDs lent me his 29er

It was a bit too big for me but…  I was grateful


The race went pretty well… here's a couple of action shots from my pal Chris




After a few laps I started having shifting problems on his bike too…

I ended up a lap down but… 

There is nothing like riding a bike around in the mud…  jumping over stuff…  getting dirty and drinking beer.

already looking forward to next year

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Movie Review - The Levi Effect


Let me preface this….  I am a huge cycling fan

I start watching cycling in February with the Tour of Qatar… and all the way to the Japan Cup in October… heck I even follow Pro Cyclocross in the Fall

I started competing in triathlons in 1997 and following cycling at about the same time.

I am no casual fan of the sport…  I compete in the sport (albeit at the lowest of levels)…. and one of the two dozen people in the metro Jax area that shelled out $25 ($12.50 per ticket) to see a cycling documentary.

Only it wasn't

The movie was wrapped fore and aft with another (very poor quality) video of the actual screening where Levi and an emcee spoke about the movie.  In the end there was a panel including McDreamy and Tommy D.

The movie started out well..  in Butte Montana and a 13 year old's dream to be in the Tour de France like his hero Greg Lemond…  and oddly enough chronicled his ski racing days more completely than it did his cycling career.

The movie all but completely skipped 1998-2010 (aka the doping years) although it did include a tearful recollection of how and where he was when he was summoned by the Feds to testify in the Lance Armstrong case.

The movie then focused on the 2011 and 2012 tours of California and Levi's Gran Fondo..  good stuff…  some good behind the scenes stuff here too.

My final impression was that it was just a tad self-indulgent…  and definitely not the "untold story"

 a couple of other reviews from different perspectives:


Thursday, October 18, 2012

Back in the day

Almost 13 years ago now…

I was DFL coming out of the water...


Check out the shorty shorts….


I need to go back there… 

Maybe for the 20th anniversary

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Gonna buy five copies for my mother

It ain't the rolling stone…  but…

That's me in the lower right corner.

What's even cooler is my friend Beth as Pocahontas in the upper left.



Friday, October 12, 2012

Advice given.... advice taken


I received some interesting and thought provoking insight from my last post.


And while my initial reaction was that of… "hey I've got aerobic base!!!"

I did get to thinking…  and thinking some more….  I have basically stagnated for the past couple of years…  going backwards even.

Maybe I should listen…  and it is always wise to learn…  and take in fresh ideas..

So to that end:

I've already started reading…  and learning.


Monday, October 1, 2012

Too Much

Sunday 0830 – I'm chugging along 11 miles into what is supposed to be a 16 mile training run at ~9 mpm

The legs aren't there…  my pace is somewhere around 12 minutes per mile I have recently decided to cut it short a couple of miles…  more in the interest of time than anything else….  That decided I have a few minutes and begin to try and assess how I got to this point and in this condition.

Well..  I felt tired when I got up… maybe I've done a bit too much…

I begin to review:

Tuesday was a pretty easy day… just spin and lift… But Wednesday…  that was "tempo day"… an 8 mile run… and despite the 90F heat I managed to nail the first 3 miles of Tempo and only sliding a bit on the last two… that workout kinda wore me out…  then on Thursday I didn't train all day I was "resting" (aka fasting for and having  a CAT scan done to try and figure out the source of my lower abdominal pain)

With the scan taken care of…  I had grabbed a bite to eat then headed over to the park for the cyclocross race….  Now anyone who knows me will vouch for the fact that I'm a pretty easy going laid back kind of guy…  but anyone who has ever ridden with me when "it's on" (race, hard group ride, etc) will also attest to fact that I get a bit…  um…  relentless…  I tend to go until my teeth go numb… 

Friday was supposed to be a "recovery run"  but in the sad state I was in after Thursday night's cross race…  7.5 miles in the heat was pretty much all I could do…

Saturday was easier…  just a two hour ride…  and an hour of weights

In the immortal words of Britney Spears…


Yep…  I do the math as I trudge along trying to hold a 12 minute per mile pace…. I have once again over done things a bit…

When will I ever learn?  Any half-baked training plan has recovery time built in…  I think I just need more days in the week…

But since that isn't going to happen I'm just going to have to focus on training smarter….  And just in time because this is my "recovery week".  I'm going to ratchet things back…  shorter and easier workouts…  at least until cross on Thursday…

Is it just me or does anyone else have difficulty finding time to recover?

September Totals

Swim –haha
Bike – 476mi
Run – 162 mi
Strength – 290 minutes

Good solid month…  and really the legs are pretty good.

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